6 years later.
Gain spent those 6 years continuing to train, but focusing even more on Nim. When he was causing distortions in gravity, he realized that even if in a minimal way Nim could detect that, the only question he had in his own head was how much better his perception and senses would be regarding these things.
Of course, he didn't do what monks would do and isolate himself to train Nim. Gain was still the Sword Saint after all, so he spent part of those years going to battles or even small wars and cultivating the Divine Heart of the Mage Rachel. It may seem a bit macabre, but he kept that heart and continued to put all kinds of energies he could into it, many of them being Aura, Nim and Divine Power.
Raudes Hill.
"HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA." A fierce bearded man laughed with all his might. "Are you serious that they sent a 13-year-old teenager!? This is an insult, does the Shinda Empire really think that we are insignificant at this level?"
The teenager that the bearded man with the barbarian appearance was mocking was Gain.
Gain was facing the Barbarian, behind the Barbarian there were thousands or even more species of other barbarians, of course they are not common, among them there are different people without the appearance or clothing of barbarians.
"Yes."
"Ohhhhh, so you want to provoke, have you come to hand victory to us?"
"Hahahahah." Gain laughed at them.
"Bastard!"
"I'm sorry, but do you really think I know why you want to go to war against the empire? I only agreed to come to battle because I thought it would be something interesting."
"Are you saying that we are insignificant?"
"I don't know. But if you say so." Gain scoffed.
It's not really Gain's style to confront his enemies, even if he shows otherwise, but this battle is a joke to him, even though his mockery fills the barbarians with anger, he is completely at peace with it, it's not like they can hurt him.
'There are only small fish.'
Gain's thinking is not arrogant, with his Nim he realizes, some are Nim-using monks like him, and others are just barbarians who have an aura a little higher than the common average, while the barbarian leader has an aura at least at the level of a one-star knight, even though it means nothing to Gain.
"Kid, how about you take back those damn words of yours? I, Tuge, the great leader, will not accept any clemency from you, me and my one hundred thousand men will dominate the empire."
"I understand." Gain tightened his Hanfu, using it himself after six years. "So, Mr. Tuge, how about losing to a 16-year-old kid?"
"Lose?" Tuge turned to his army. "Did you hear that, guys? We're going to lose to a kid?"
"HAHAHAHAHA!" The army laughed.
They were looking down on Gain, but their luck had run out.
"Okay, looks like you don't know me." Gain stepped forward, getting closer to the barbarian Tuge. "I am Gain Snoathos, the Sword Saint of the Shinda Empire. And this will be the last day for all of you."
A monk approached Tuge.
"Sir." The monk whispered.
Tuge still had his back to Gain, not posing as a threat.
"Speak."
"He's the Sword Saint."
"I've heard that before, don't give me shit."
"This is serious, sir."
"Scram!" Tuge spoke in a threatening tone.
The monk stepped back.
"Today, near the Christmas ceremony, I, the Sword Saint, will wipe out your army."
"Do you think you can-"
The barbarian Tuge spoke but was not quick enough to finish his sentence, he was beheaded by Gain.
The army was startled, not by the death of their leader, Tuge, but by the sword that Gain was holding in his right hand, a blood sword with a texture similar to living flesh, the sword was hidden under the Hanfu but was pulled out.
"This is the Isveri-namuno! The blood sword-"
The monk who was speaking was cut in half by Gain's sword.
Blood fell from the monk's body, but the Isveri-namuno sword absorbed all the blood that fell and all the blood from the barbarian Tuge's body.
"You will all serve as great food."
A sword that feeds on blood and souls, this is the Isveri-namuno kept in the empire's vault until the Sword Saint wielded it.
Gain advanced against the army, piercing the bodies of several barbarians. He swung the sword and thousands were cut into pieces.
Even the traitorous mages of the church in this army tried to use light beam enchantments, but Gain cut through all the light beams that were inches away from hitting him.
It's not like the light beam was a threat, but there is divine power that the sword can absorb, so he would continue cutting.
Isveri-namuno continued to feed on the blood and souls of the dead.
"Come, are you afraid?"
Gain moved in all directions, advancing and cutting into pieces thousands of barbarians.
He had been annihilating the barbarians for several minutes, he was not serious about killing them.
But the game was over.
Gain jumped back a few meters away from the army.
"Coward!"
He prepared himself.
He moved his arm back and gripped the sword hilt tighter.
Absolute Slash of the Great Celestial Soul, Primary Force!
Gain moved his arm immediately after a swing of the sword was unleashed and the entire army was cut into pieces.
He did not use all his strength so as not to evaporate the blood.
Isveri-namuno began to absorb the souls and blood that fell from the barbarians' bodies.
It was a demonic sight for something that the Sword Saint himself did, the bodies of all the barbarians and monks were dry without a drop of blood on their bodies.
The sword finished feeding and Gain kept it inside the Hanfu, that day was precious, it would be the fourth time he would feed the Divine Heart and cultivate it.
'The amount of Divine Power, Nim, Blood and Souls that Isveri-namuno fed on should be enough to make the Divine Heart complete. I could have left these six years to train even more, but if I didn't come to these battles I wouldn't have enough.'
At night.
Valgusah Church.
The third church to be founded in the empire, it was initially just a place to seek the presence of the ten gods, but it was abandoned and placed in the possession of the empire.
For having won a battle at the Millennial River, Gain was granted a wish, and that wish was precisely the possession of this church.
Underground of the Church.
Gain was face to face with a cube guarding the Divine Heart that exuded more Divine Power and Nim than it had years ago.
He removed the Isveri-namuno from the Hanfu and brought the tip of the sword closer to the Divine Heart.
'I've done this and come here how many times?'
Gain couldn't remember how many times he had come to the Divine Heart other than to cultivate.
Feeding and Feeding the Divine Heart with everything it could Isveri-namuno absorbed it.
'This is the last day, after you feed on this, I'll just have to wait for you to cultivate everything. And return to my training to the maximum.'
Isveri-namuno began to tremble, the sword itself was exuding a red aura different from Gain's white aura, the Divine Heart began to throb, absorbing the red aura into itself.
The Divine Power and Nim of the Divine Heart increased exponentially.
"Sorry, Isveri-namuno."
Gain covered Isveri-namuno in his own aura, an aura as white as snow.
It began to melt and be absorbed by the Divine Heart.
Gain sacrificed all of Isveri-namuno to the Divine Heart.
"Unify."
Isveri-namuno and the Divine Heart unified, the two energies that inhabited Isveri-namuno and the Divine Heart merged.
A new heart was formed.
A heart with an aura and color like galaxies.
"Celestial Heart. Cultivate yourself. See you soon."
Gain disappeared from the underground.
On Christmas Eve.
All the Celestial Holy Knights and supporting Nobles were gathered for the Imperial Palace's Christmas celebration.
Well, most of the nobles went to meet Gain, the Sword Saint, up close, many being daughters of dukes, while others tried to flirt with the Celestial Holy Knights.
Gain was talking to a Celestial Holy Knight.
Etael Naha, the Knight of War, is called by many as such, being the third most influential Celestial Holy Knight.
"Gain, are you sure you want to be in seclusion for four years?"
"Yes... I wasted my time in battles, now I will focus on my training."
"If you really want this." Etael handed him an amulet that said 'Reclusion'. "This amulet will give you access to my seclusion cave, so don't lose it."
"Okay, thanks for your trust."
"You are the Sword Saint anyway, so you need to get stronger. But make sure you don't destroy my cave."
"Isn't the cave made of Black Steel? That thing is tens of thousands of times stronger than diamond. Why would it destroy itself?"
"I considered it impossible for a 10-year-old child to defeat the One-Star Knight with one blow. So why would I think it impossible for that same child to destroy something made of one of the strongest materials? And it will be good if you take some of the Black Steel, you will be able to make a sword like mine."
"You are right."
If only Gain could get the Black Steel, it would help him. Isveri-namuno was absorbed and the Celestial Heart was born.
Because it was absorbed, he obviously no longer has a sword to use, and if the creation of the Celestial Heart was not so important, he would not sacrifice Isveri-namuno.
Hours later.
Black Cave, inside.
Gain was standing inside the cave, concentrating his Nim and Aura energies. From that moment on, the training for 4 years would begin, to reach the peak of the four perfect bodies. This was beginning.
In the first months of training, Gain noticed more changes in his ability to sense Nim and the Evolution of his Aura. His punches thrown at the walls of the cave did not show any scratches, but his own bone structure was more rigid and powerful than before.
His Nim evolved in these first months, he could perceive further than before, his sense of Nim that he had against Mage Rachel was incomparable, he became able to sense even on a molecular scale.
He continued training without stopping.
Until the day to leave arrived.
A cave entrance closed by a giant stone was visible.
Black Cave.
Etael with his dark blue hair was standing watching the giant stone.
Four years ago he could perceive Gain's aura even weakly, but now he can't even feel that.
Other people would think that the reason he can't feel it is because Gain died, but that's not it, beings with an astronomical aura have their presence and their own aura invisible and imperceptible to beings with a lower aura.
Etael looked at the sun and measured the time, three days after Christmas this year, Gain had trained for a little over four years, there were three days left until the new year this time.
'I wanted to come, but will he leave right now?'
'Huh?'
The giant stone let out a sound, it was as if it was being slowly dragged.
Etael immediately jumped up into the air, reaching meters into the sky.
The reason for the jump immediately became apparent.
The giant stone was shot forward and disintegrated.
'My door!'
Dust rose from the surrounding earth, but was dispelled by a force that was coming out of the cave.
It was obviously Gain, the only one in the cave.
He didn't have the upper part of his Hanfu, only his defined training muscles could be seen, and also something in his hand.
'Is that?'
It was a piece of Black Steel.
Etael landed like a lightning bolt, he tried to run to Gain but was knocked back slightly.
"Not now. I'm covered in dust, I need to take a shower first." Gain said.
In addition to his defined muscles, other things were noticeable, Gain was taller, even taller than Etael himself who was 1.82m tall, Gain's hair had grown to his feet as well.
"And I want to cut that hair too."
'How did that kid evolve so much in four years?'
Naha Mansion.
Etael's office.
Gain was sitting on a couch facing another couch where Etael was sitting.
Gain had put on lighter clothes and taken a shower.
Just a black shirt and black pants.
"It's been four years, has anything happened?"
"A lot of things actually, what do you want to start with?"
"Can you tell me the most important things?"
"Well, we have a Saint for the Empire."
"A Saint?"
"You don't know…..a Saint would be the woman with the greatest divine power in an empire, the correct title would be the 'Saint of the Church' like your title Saint of the Sword."
"Right. If a Saint of the Church has appeared, then they are preparing something."
The title 'Saint of the Church' has a mythological origin just like the title 'Saint of the Sword', both titles were from the same mythology, the Mythology of the Saints.
There are a total of 3 Saints in this Mythology, but the third Saint is impossible to reach, the Celestial Saint.
"How can I say it, the empire made the preparations first. All the Celestial Holy Knights, the Princess and the Emperor, signed a decree of a new order against the church, in other words we will start a war."
"..."
Gain was analyzing this information, he was still briefly analyzing the information from the Saint of the Church, but now he had this information that would astonish anyone.
"The only signature missing…. Is mine?"
"Correct. Will you sign it?"
'...in seclusion I became certain that the reason I reincarnated in this world is to destroy the reigns of these ten gods, there was no way I could have come to this world without the gods of this world wanting to bring me...!' Gain looked seriously at Etael.
Etael was thinking that Gain would immediately refuse.
"I don't think you're going to get involved-"
"I'll sign."
"Seriously?!" Etael almost jumped off the couch in surprise. "Are you serious?"
"Yes, but I have one condition."
"One condition?"
"I want a meeting with the Saint."
That hit Etael, the decree was precisely to end the church, and Gain the Sword Saint wants to speak with the Saint?
"... I don't understand you."
"What do you mean?"
"You're the Sword Saint! Do you think you need to ask to have a meeting with the Saint?"
"You don't need to?"
"Of course not! The Saint of the Church and the Sword Saint can meet each other whenever they want, if you arrive at the church where she is she will be forced to have a meeting with you, the same goes for her."
"Hmm….and Asuta?"
"Asuta? He's completing several missions. In just 10 years he's already a Celestial Holy Knight, we haven't held the tournament to decide the current ranks yet."
"Can you tell me about any missions he completed?"
"Defeated the Mystical Creature of Fire, the Dragon Serpent."
"Mystical Creature. He progressed."
Mystical creatures, beings that represent a force of nature, when or how they will appear is impossible to say, but one thing is certain: if they wanted to, they could devastate entire continents.
Studies conducted over 200 years ago have shown that they are born from a high density of natural forces. For example, the Dragon Serpent was born from the continuous use and concentration of fire in the Serpent Forest. It was born from the death of all the serpents in that forest, but it was not born in the forest, but on an isolated island. It took decades to find its origin.
"So Asuta can destroy continents?"
"HAHAHAHAHA!!! Are you kidding? Asuta has the power to destroy an island. A continent would only be a magician's fault. That's the limit a knight can reach. A mystical creature doesn't have the ability to destroy continents, but it does have the ability to devastate their surface. When the Dragon Serpent was alive, it could breathe fire that could vaporize our continent superficially."
".....Hahahaha! I exaggerated."
"I think someone who could destroy continents should be compared to a god."
"Really?" – 'So in my past life I would be a god to him, not even stars could survive against my attacks. I want to go back to my world soon.'
"I'm really curious, how did you get that piece of Black Steel?"
"I punched the cave wall and a piece of it broke, so I took the piece of Black Steel, will it be good for making a sword?"
"I don't need to be surprised if you broke it, about the sword it will be great, my sword is made of black steel, its durability is the best you can find. If you want, you can send it to a Blacksmith to make it."
Among all the Steels for making swords or even staffs, Black Steel is the most recommended for making swords, its density is 45 thousand times that of a diamond, and also for its special attribute.
When Black Steel is transformed into a sword it can absorb the Aura of whoever wields it to recognize its owner and become more powerful.
It is a perfect sword for Gain, he knows that, since he himself examined the Black Steel while training.
Gain got up from the couch and handed the piece of Black Steel that was on the couch to Etael.
"I will trust it in your hands, I will find the Saint."
"Alright, and don't forget to go to the palace to sign the decree."
"Alright."
Slatan Church.
In the afternoon
The Saint of the Church, or just Saint, was openly announced a year after Gain, the Sword Saint, entered seclusion training, her origin is from a commoner family. This is the basic information that Gain found out about her.
And now he was in front of the Slatan Church, a church created only for the Saint of the Church to live and heal the sick.
But there was a problem.
"Who are you?" A teenager dressed in commoner clothes asked him.
"I didn't understand your question." Gain replied.
Gain had said that he had come for a meeting with the Saint.
But the commoner security guard got in his way.
"Okay, what's your name?"
"Gain Snoathos."
'So he's a noble. He must think that just because he's a noble he can talk to Saint Hisea whenever he wants, I have to tell him to leave.'
His name was Silres Oring, a commoner who was a friend of the Saint and because of that he managed to get into her security.
And for some reason he didn't know the name Gain, he only recognized the Snoathos family.
That day, all the security guards except him were off duty.
Silres took a firm step forward.
"You can't meet the Saint."
"Why?"
Silres knew he couldn't say it because he thought Gain, the man in front of him, wanted to meet the Saint to court her.
"She's not here!" He spoke in a firm voice.
"I see."
'That's right, he's leaving!'
Gain turned around.
'Bye, you spoiled brat—'
Gain didn't leave, he turned around, facing Silres again.
A simple lie won't fool Gain.
'The Lord wants something else.'
'I think I didn't present myself ethically.'
There was still one thing, Gain could see with his own eyes through the walls of the church.
Nim's ranks were divided into ten levels, the lowest being one and the highest being ten, and they were followed by the word 'sense', the lowest could easily in the 'First Sense' see and feel changes in the air, the presence of invisible things and even perceive things hundreds of kilometers away, for a Nimist to reach the First Sense would take a long time.
'According to ethics? Is he still going to insist?' Silres thought angrily.
But there was one thing, Gain was not in the First Sense, much less in the Second, he was in the Sixth Sense.
"My name is Gain Snoathos." Gain's voice came out with a pressure of aura.
Silres' body trembled, as if he wanted to fall right there.
The Sixth Sense allowed him to see things outside the planet itself or even feel them down to the tiniest things like subatomic particles, but Nim did not only involve forces of physical nature, he could also see the spirits and souls of beings if he wanted to.
"I am the Sword Saint."
Gain's voice came out again with a slight pressure from his own aura.
"The Sword Saint- ARGH!"
Silres' body couldn't take it, he fell to his knees on the ground.
'What the hell was that-'
Silres raised his head to look at Gain, he didn't know how that was possible, he was seeing a giant that reached the sky as if it were Gain's armor.
He didn't know if it was an illusion or something real, but the environment wasn't affected, he couldn't see it before.
'Did he allow me to see it?'
Silres remembered that Gain said he was the Sword Saint.
"S-Sword Saint?"
A flash of light appeared in Gain's eyes.
The Giant disappeared for Silres, the pressure and the illusion disappeared.
"It seems you recognized me, now can I have a meeting with her?"
"S-Sure you can." Silres got up from the ground. "Just a minute, I'll go and let you know."
He entered the church.
'How can someone be so disgusting? Couldn't you handle a part of my aura?'
A few minutes later, Silres left the church and invited Gain in. The Saint accepted the meeting with him.
The Saint's office.
Gain was standing in front of the Saint who was sitting on a sofa. Since that was the only sofa, Gain let her sit.
"Uh, so you're the Saint."
"Yes, is there a problem, sir?"
"None."
The Saint was too beautiful, with black hair that matched Gain's eyes down to her waist and the most beautiful eye color Gain had ever seen, blue like a diamond.
"My name is Hisea Alroly. It's a pleasure to meet the great Sword Saint, but you're different from what I was told."
"Excuse me?"
"You know, you're much taller than they said, you also have long hair, and you look more mature. Maybe it's because I'm basing this on four years ago, but when you went to war, that's what they said."
"War?"
"Yes, war, the empire spread the word that you were sent to war, didn't you go?"
"That's right, there were many wars so I had forgotten." – 'So that's what they spread so that people wouldn't know about my seclusion. It was an interesting lie.'
It was obvious, Gain was the Sword Saint, whether he liked it or not he would be the greatest force in the empire, if they found out that he was in seclusion and not able to help the empire they could easily start a war against the empire itself.
If the Sword Saint was fighting in a war then he would be able to help the Shinda Empire, it was a lie that made sense.
'He seems very calm and peaceful, it wasn't all that exaggeration that Silres said.' Saint Hisea thought.
The Saint's terrible expectation of Gain was shattered, Silres had told her that Gain was an aggressive person, all because she had seen the Armored Giant through the illusion.
"Mister Gain, why did you come to visit me? No matter how much I think about it, it doesn't make sense, you came back from a war and you come to visit the Saint of the Church?"
"To be quite honest…. I came to visit you for a reason, I want your divine power."
"What?! What do you mean my divine power?"
Hisea was surprised, the Sword Saint, wanting her divine power?
'Does he want to recruit me…..or is it something more serious?'
"I think you misunderstood, I don't want your divine power in a way that you are my ally or anything like that, in reality, I want to consume your divine power."
'Consume my divine power?' – "Sorry Mister Gain, I am engaged."
Gain laughed at that, and gave a more serious look.
"You misinterpreted, again, to be more practical, I'm going to absorb your divine power."
"Huh? You're kidding, right?! I won't let you absorb my divine power, is this an attempt by the empire to take my power away?"
"You're misinterpreting everything." Gain crouched down. "It's not the empire that wants to take your divine power, it's me who wants it, I'm not going to kill you so relax."
Hisea jumped off the couch and backed up behind the furniture.
"HELP!!!!"
"There's no point in screaming."
"YOU CRAZY!"
No one outside the office could hear the Saint's screams.
Gain covered the entire office with a sound barrier using his aura to contain the sound.
One of his techniques he created during training.
He refused to use divine power, and the reason he wanted Saint Hisea's divine power was to create a Divine Heart artificially, using a Heart made of aura and fusing it with Divine Power. Gain wants this now, he will absorb the Divine Heart and increase his power.
"You won't do this just because you want to."
Hisea tried to move but it was no use, her body was now floating and approaching Gain.
It was Gain's telekinesis, something that had improved after achieving Nim's various senses, now he could understand how to use his telekinesis in an improved way, it even transformed his gravity distortion into something new.