Chapter 5: Cross Blade
Ding!
Two steel swords clashed, emitting a crisp sound.
“Leylin! You are still not my match, give it up!” George used both hands and grabbed the hilt, and laughingly said.
“We aren’t done yet!” Leylin shouted, and his legs moved in a strange footwork, and once again initiated an attack.
“Hah!” George swung the long sword in his hands, which brought a sinister rustling of the wind.
The cross blade in Leylin’s hand swept, and blocked George’s attack.
“Good! Your parry posture is not bad!” George praised loudly. “Careful! My next attack will be on your left leg!”
“Bring it on!” Leylin made his preparations.
“Watch me!” George swung the two handed sword in his hands, and made a beautiful yet deadly arc towards him, sending it towards Leylin’s right leg.
Leylin retreated a step back, and blocked George’s two-handed sword in midair with his cross blade, “You definitely said the left leg, you didn’t keep your word!”
“Haha…..This is called tactics! It is to test your agility. My dad has always taught me, if one doesn’t know how to scheme, then one day he will surely be played to death by others! I only want to scheme, not to be the target of schemes!”
George laughed and said, and then pulled back his huge sword.
“No more! No more! You are getting better each and every time! I wouldn’t be able to beat you after a few more days!”
Scratching his puzzled head: “Leylin! My sword technique is passed down by a Grand Knight, I put in much effort, training with blood and sweat, so much so that my teacher said that my swordplay is better than the average Knight! Yet, you who can fight me to a standstill, how could you have been beaten by Ourin?”
“These sword techniques were taught to me by my father when I was younger, unfortunately
I had forgotten it, and I’m currently trying to practice more in order to recall it!”
Leylin clenched his fists, and his face turned red.
“Once I have strength, I will definitely seek revenge viciously, and break Ourin’s legs!”
He looks like a hot blooded youngster who was filled with determination after a setback. “My dear Leylin, I believe in you. You will definitely fulfil your wish!” George patted Leylin’s shoulder.
And with another look of pity:” Currently, with your ability, it is already sufficient to seek your revenge!”
After sparring, George had a rough understanding of Leylin’s strength.
“Right now I can deal with one or two of them, but Ourin has five members!” Leylin was fretting over it.
Actually, he was already confident in dealing with Ourin and his gang, but without an excuse, how could he fool George into continuously practicing with him?
“Oh right, you mentioned Grand Knights earlier, what are they?” Leylin remembered
George’s complaint earlier, and casually asked.
“You are talking about the Grand Knights? They are one realm higher than Knights. No matter where they go, they are considered a great existence! If one is lucky, a king might even be hospitable to them! And if one is willing to pledge loyalty, then they will definitely become a troop commander!”
“Their physical body has been pushed to the extremes, and rumours has it that apart from the long distance crossbow formation, even if a heavy cavalry troop were to charge at them, they won’t be able to stop them from advancing!”
“So powerful!” Leylin muttered.
A commander of a troop has the same status of an earl, and even Viscount John had to greet them if he saw one.
A heavy cavalry troop is the peak of a troop’s strength in this era of medieval weapons. Once they charged, even a smaller city’s walls might fall. For a Grand Knight to actually be able to use merely their physical body to fight with them, how strong would they have to be? Looking at Leylin who had a yearning expression on his face, George laughed out loud and consoled: “You don’t have to envy them, a magus has an even more mysterious and stronger power compared to that of a Knight. As long as you become a magus acolyte, your status is comparable to that of a Grand Knight. And if you become an actual Magus, then congratulations, killing a Grand Knight is easier than stepping on an ant. The various kings from kingdoms will all want to strive to be first and fear to be last in stuffing their beautiful daughters on your bed……”
“A magus is that powerful?” Leylin was skeptical ” Then why are the black robes so cold to us, who have the possibility of turning into a Magus? They are naught but Knights!” “Hmm about this? I am not too sure, but a Magus’s status is definitely very high. This was
told to me by my father! I can swear it upon my Borunin family’s reputation.”
George touched his nose and replied rather awkwardly.
“Alright! Alright! It’s not like I don’t believe you!” Leylin felt a little exasperated.
Speaking within his heart “A.I. Chip! Scan the person in front of me!”
Warriors who had started cultivating the Knight breathing technique and thus improved their physique, but had not been able to ignite their internal life energy yet, were commonly known as preparatory Knights!
George’s physique could be considered at the peak standard even amongst these preparatory Knights!
This was also linked to his nobility status and being able to use large amounts of expensive medicine to assist in improving his body’s physique.
“Alright, we have sufficient rest now, let us head back! I do not want to return too late and find those black robes staring coldly at me!”
George looked at his surroundings, and the bright moonlight coated the surrounding with a layer of silver colour light, the tranquility of the night was occasionally interrupted by insect cries.
Leylin did not wish to attract attention during the day as they were travelling, so he sneaked out to practice with George at night.
Naturally, this did not escape the black robes, but after a few encounters, Leylin found their attitude to be extremely cold. As long as one did not wander too far away from the camp and cause trouble, they would not care about them.
“Just once more round, we’ll head back!” Leylin said. “After this round, I’ll return this cross blade to you!”
“En……Eh? George was a little absent minded, and then his eyes lit up. ” Are you finally done using it? Gus had been bothering me for it!”
In order to train in sword techniques, the first requirement would be to have a cross blade! As nobility, there were many youngsters that wore warrior’s robes, with a sword attached to their waist.
However, the previous Leylin did not do so, the reason being that it was too heavy, and it restricted his movements!
Because he found it troublesome, the previous Leylin had travelled without even a dagger on him. This had caused Leylin now to be in the awkward situation where he was totally weaponless, without even a cross blade to practice with.
For the sake of practising, Leylin turned his attention to the first friend he saw when he woke up – George.
Using threats of exposing their friendship, he had made George lend him a weapon and train with him!
Thinking back when George’s eyes had turned white and had an expression as though he has met with a bad friend, Leylin laughed uncontrollably.
“Your swordplay is improving at an extremely fast pace! But do you really not need the cross blade?” George asked.
“I am rather familiar with Gus anyways so even if I were to lend it to you for a little while longer, it’s not a big deal……”
“Thank you for your kind intentions! But I really do not need it!” Leylin smiled as he rejected his offer.
After this period of sparring, he had already seen through the secret technique of the Farlier’s family. Furthermore, due to the A.I. Chip, his swordplay would always remain at its peak state so his skills will not go rusty due to not practicing the cross blade for a long time.
“Good, then we will fight one more match with the same rules. I will only use the same amount of strength as you will!”
As George said that, he picked up his big two handed sword and walked towards the centre
of the patch of grass, his sword emitting a cold light as it reflected the moonlight.
Leylin had also walked over, “Come on! This time, I won’t hold back!”
He had thought of an experiment and had sent out the invitation in order to carry it out. “A.I. Chip! Establish Task! Analyse the opponent’s strength and the surroundings to come up with the best plan to defeat him!” [Task Establishing. Beginning analysis.]
[Simulation results – Host is unwounded, target loses his ability to fight. Please confirm on whether to turn on the vision aid?]
“Turn it on! ” Upon Leylin’s command, countless of blue lines appeared before his eyes that, as if turning the area into some sort of virtual world.
“Heh! Watch the sword!” George shouted, and as expected, he initiated the attack first, waving his two-handed sword. He charged over, the motion almost mirroring the projected image.
Leylin’s lips curled, and dodged the attack, and he raised both his hands along with the cross blade. Leaping up high, he viciously swung it down.
Jumping Slash!
“Damn! How did this happen?” George cried strangely and ducked the cross blade with a roll on the floor.
Leylin’s cross blade struck onto the floor, which brought up some of the mud and small pieces of stones.
George got up, a serious look on his face. He felt as if Leylin had predicted his attack, almost as if he had read his motions and knew them like the back of his palm.
“If you are not attacking, then I am going to counterattack!” Leylin said smilingly.
“Bring it on!” George stared nervously at Leylin.
Leylin gripped his cross blade, took a step forward and pierced forward! Every action and movement had all been accurately performed as seen from a textbook.
George made a blocking motion, but his body moved to the side instead, and as he dodged
the pierce, he countered Leylin’s attack with a slash of his own!
Following the A.I. Chip instructions, Leylin dodged George’s large sword, and sent a horizontal slash, almost slicing George as he slashed.
The more they fought, the more perspiration formed on George’s face.
His every move and action had all been parried perfectly by Leylin and his evading range had gradually decreased.
“I can’t carry on like this any longer! I’ll stake it all on this!” George fiercely swung his large sword and sent it clashing with Leylin’s.
Bang! A piece of silver light flew out and directly pierced into the grass. It was the large sword in George’s hands! The blade had not stopped quivering as it let out a ‘weng weng’ sound.
In the sparring area, Leylin’s cross blade sword had touched horizontally at George’s waist. “You’ve lost!”
“Indeed! I lost!”
George muttered, and then immediately stared at Leylin :”How did you do that?”
“It is actually very simple, after training with you for a long time, I have already remembered the sequence of your movements!” Leylin withdrew his sword and bowed smilingly.
“The……sequence of my movements?” George repeated.
“Yes, to put it in a simple way, everyone has a habit when they strike. As long as you can remember them, then it will be easy to arrange a trap according to the enemy’s habits. I have used the same trick on you!”
“Phew!” George exhaled out a long breath, “I understand now!”
And then looking at Leylin momentarily, as if he was looking at a monster:” Your gift in sword technique is absolutely the best that I have ever seen! If you are not chosen to be a Magus acolyte, I will definitely recommend you to go to a kingdom’s capital’s Imperial Knight Institute!”
Chapter 6: Disagreement
“Imperial Knight Institute huh?”
Leylin knew that the Imperial Knight Institute was the best Knight’s institute in the Sarad Kingdom where George had come from. Not only were they recruiting nobilities, the entry requirements were also extremely high. It was said that only geniuses would be accepted! “Sword techniques are only my hobby, but being a Magus is my lifelong dream!”
A Knight’s strength may be great, but it was still comprehensible by Leylin’s standards, not exceeding the boundaries. However, the Magi from rumours were able to manipulate the elements, including lightning and thunder. They also attained a great longevity!
A Magus’s greatness obviously exceeded the boundaries of a human, and Leylin could not even imagine it.
Furthermore, every Magus is a scholar filled with knowledge. Magi had strict attitudes towards experimenting with the secular world. They tried to study the laws of nature in order to achieve a massive amount of power to use for themselves! This lifestyle was more compatible with Leylin’s previous life as a scientist.
“Yes! Even if it is a Grand Knight, they can only be the servant of a Formal Magus. The strength a Magus holds is something that is impossible for us to imagine……”
George’s face turned serious and spoke the words in a sing¬song tone.
“Why is it that no matter what words you say, I get the feeling that they were spoken by a bard……” Leylin rolled his eyes a little.
“Haha…… The reason I became like this is because my father sent me to court to undergo training for nobles!” George resumed his previous state.
Suddenly blinking his eyes, he said mischievously: “Leylin, you don’t have a fiancee right?
Why don’t I introduce my sister Molly to you! She is a beauty that is known far and wide……” “Scram!”
Under the moonlight, the two youths left the grasslands as they fooled around.
“Goodnight George!”
“Goodnight Leylin!”
After Leylin handed the cross blade to George and bid him farewell, he returned to the carriage.
The dimly lit carriage had only him inside. The interior of the carriage let off a very faint odour. The stench was a mixture of rot and sweat. Because of this, many noble youths refused to stay in the carriage any longer than necessary. Once they got to pit stops, they would escape to the grass fields outside like little wild horses coming out to play.
The concept of relationships in this world was very open-minded, all the more so for nobility. With the strong perception ability of the A.I. Chip, Leylin had discovered many affectionate couples around, which had led him to seek an even further location for him to train. Using his supervision eyesight to look at the wild battle scene, Leylin’s heart burned in rage as this had made him recall the former memories of the spoilt brat.
“Who would have thought! After changing into a youngster’s body, even my desires have increased……” Leylin smiled bitterly.
Calming his emotions, “A.I. Chip, show me my body’s statistics!”
It had been over a month since he first began practising the Knight breathing technique.
Right now, Leylin’s body state had not only caught up to his peers of the same age but had also surpassed some. Against George, he had concealed his true strength, which had caused George to gauge his strength wrongly. “Not bad! I should proceed with today’s cultivation!”
Leylin settled into a good posture and entered the state of cultivation. This was his homework every day. According to the A.I. Chip’s instruction, after training at night, he should cultivate in the breathing technique again to have the best effects.
After 20 odd minutes had passed, Leylin was completely drenched in his perspiration, but the amount of black impurities that had flowed out were clearly less than before.
“Phew!” Leylin opened his eyes and looked at his body. He said in slight exasperation: “The breathing technique’s effect is reducing, which is logical. According to the A.I. Chip’s estimation, Farlier family’s breathing technique, even after optimising will completely lose effect by the times I’ve enhanced my body’s statistics to 2. This is the realm of Preparatory Knights. After this, I have I must use my own power, as well as the external stimulations from near death experiences, to attempt exciting the life energy. Only then will I be able to improve again……”
Thinking up to here, Leylin took out a yellow coloured fruit out from his pocket. There were some black spots on its surface, making it look quite horrifying.
Leylin directly placed it in his mouth, and then picked out a root of a herb, munching them together.
The A.I. Chip’s voice rang.
“That’s great!” These herbal concoctions had been created by Leylin over the past month from countless experiments using the A.I. Chip. It could reduce his fatigue, and increase the number of times he could cultivate in the breathing technique daily.
With the addition of a few more body¬strengthening medicine, the quality of Leylin’s physical body had improved at an extremely fast pace.
“Again!” Leylin once again entered the state for the breathing technique.
During the past month, the travelling party had already passed several small kingdoms.
Eventually, they had completely entered the wilderness.
There were very few people in the wilderness. It was only a desolate stretch of sand, with fresh markings from vicious beasts and horse mounted bandits.
Ever since the travelling party had first entered the area, they had already encountered danger several times. Although nobody had died, Leylin’s sense of crisis had slowly grown stronger. He could not wait to quench his thirst for power.
When the rays of dawn shone brightly, the travelling party once again resumed its journey. Leylin sat alone in a corner with his arms crossed in front of his chest. The youths around him had all avoided him with disgust, allowing him to have quite a bit of space.
“I don’t know what method Bessita used. The people in the carriage are still isolating me. If it were a regular youngster, this would’ve most likely driven them crazy ages ago! It’s just too bad that they met me instead!”
Leylin contentedly stretched his back. He had trained late into the night yesterday, which had made him extremely exhausted. This empty space was sufficient for him to rest for a while. “However, this world sure is huge; the travelling party has been travelling for half a year, but they still have not reached their destination yet. We haven’t seen the ocean yet either……”
As Leylin thought, he entered slumber with half closed eyes.
Ding ling ling!
At this time, the travelling party had already stopped. The black robed man shook the bell in his hands: “Ladies and gentlemen! It is time to get off the carriage to have lunch!” “It’s that time again?” Leylin opened his eyes. “This kind of lifestyle is really boring!” After alighting the carriage and receiving his own portion of food, Leylin chewed on a piece of white bread as he walked towards the grassy area beside the camp site.
He had already used up the previously gathered substitute herbs, so he was preparing to restock.
As he walked, he casually observed the surrounding plants. “This is a Jade Root Fruit, there are already files of it in the database. It is useless to me!”
“Mn! Samun Grass, this is a kind of plant that can only be found in the wilderness. It can be harvested!” Leylin plucked a dirty, brown coloured stalk of grass. There were extremely sharp thorns on the grass’s sides. Leylin carefully broke the blade in half and used his fingers to dab at the jade coloured liquid that had been constantly flowing out from the grass. An expression of disappointment appeared on his face as he placed his fingers in his mouth. “I found it, Flowerless Snake Fruit!” Leylin threw the Samun Grass on the ground. As he casually walked over, he noticed, through the corner of his eye, the same yellow coloured fruit that he had eaten yesterday, growing on a shrubbery. His face expressed happiness. “Hehe! What’s this I see? Leylin! Should I be saying ‘as expected from a minor noble of the village’? Are you actually eating wild fruits on the roadside? You have really tarnished the reputation of the nobilities……”
Just after Leylin had plucked the Flowerless Snake Fruit and placed it into his pocket, an annoying voice was heard.
“Is that Ourin?” Leylin raised his head and saw the murderer who had killed the previous host of this body.
Ourin had fiery red coloured hair, and there were ripped muscles all over his body. His arms were as thick as Leylin’s thighs. He currently had his arms crossed in front of his chest as he smiled mockingly at Leylin.
There were a few nobility youths at his side, which had all coordinated to jest at him.
“A.I. Chip, scan their statistics!”
The A.I. Chip feedbacked.
Looking at the data in front of his eyes, Ourin’s strength wasn’t bad. His strength was almost as strong as two adult men. It was no wonder that he had been able to fatally injure the previous Leylin.
As a child of nobility, as long as they are able to endure sufferings and persevere in their training daily, coupled with the breathing technique, it is not strange to achieve such results. The nobles who were beside Ourin were not that strong; most of them were below 1. Leylin had even seen a pale¬faced youth whose stats ranged about 0.5, giving a run for the money for the previous Leylin.
Mentally calculating the stats, Ourin’s strength did not differ much from his. But his sword technique and moves definitely couldn’t rival Leylin’s, as he had the help of the A.I. Chip. As for the rest of the youths, they were only there to increase their numbers. The disparity between his stats and theirs was too huge. It would be extremely easy to deal with them, like an adult bullying a child.
“Is there a problem?” Leylin asked his voice calm.
“You……” Leylin’s reaction had obviously exceeded Ourin’s expectations. He actually had no fury or fear, and that made him speechless.
“If it was the previous matter regarding Bessita, haven’t I already apologised before? Bessita has also forgiven me……” Leylin added.
At the same time, his heart began to race; this could be a probe sent out by Bessita. After enduring for a whole month, had she finally been unable to endure any longer? “That’s right! It’s because of Bessita! She has forgiven you, but I haven’t!” Ourin spoke loudly, his hands tightly clenched into fists.
“Alright! Then what do you want?” Leylin spread out his hands, as if helpless. However, there was a glint of mockery deep in his eyes.
Ourin hadn’t imagined that Leylin would be so submissive, and struggled for a long time before spluttering: “You have to make an oath to never bother Bessita again in the future!” “Alright!” Leylin agreed immediately, and even placed his right hand on the crest pinned to his chest. The crest had a cross blade and a picture of a skylark on it, which was the emblem of the Farlier family!
“With my honour as a member of the Farlier family, I swear that I will never bother Bessita ever again on my own accord!”
Using a family’s reputation to make a vow was the most serious oath a noble could take.
Those who had gone back on their words would meet with the disdain of all nobles. “So! Mister Ourin! Can I leave now?”
Leylin bowed slightly, with perfect noble’s etiquette.
“Hold on!” It had not occurred to Ourin that Leylin would show no resistance, and at this point, his eyes contained an avaricious glint: “According to the noble’s conduct, you still have to compensate. Hand over all the magic crystals that you have!” “Magic crystals!” The surrounding onlookers gasped in surprise.
“Magic crystals?” Leylin repeated. According to his memory, the magic crystals were a kind of currency between Magi. They were items of necessity for acolytes with no credentials to enter the academy.
Leylin did not know the exact amount required to enter an academy because he did not have even a single magic crystal on him. Viscount John had tried several methods to obtain magic crystals. However, he was unable to get even one. From this, one could see just how precious magic crystals were!
Gifts
-- Gift
received Weekly Power Status
200+ Power
Ranking 
27 Power
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