บท 7: Training
The crimson clan might be a small-sized faction, but it still presented advantages to its members.
Perhaps the trademark benefit of the Crimson Clan was access to the [Dragon Beer], which was basically as valuable to body refinement acolytes as some of the low-quality elixirs that could be bought in the market floor of the Magical Court. However, the [Dragon Beer] could be bought at anytime, hence the reason why so many body refinement acolytes were joining the clan despite only being small-sized.
After a month spent in the clan, Lewis got a better grasp of its current standing in the Magical Court. Unlike what the empire and kingdoms could see, the Magical Court was in a constant state of war, where factions would oppose each other. Located on the Island of Bones, there were hundreds of ressource sites that were divided unevenly between each faction. The size and strength of a faction was directly correlated with the number and value of ressource sites owned by the said faction.
The Dragon Beer came from a contract with dwarves, and it was given for free in exchange for protection. However, this valuable resource was eyed by another faction: the [Blue Wolf Mercenary] group, which had recently lost its resource site to the Arcane faction, the [White Water Pool], an underground lake that could toughen one's skin. Over time, it could even grant you a permanent passive spell according to the legend, although no one managed to achieve it in the Magical Court besides the Blue Wolf Mercenary Leader, an intermediate acolyte called Arthur Moonlight.
Although it was bought on the surface for the measly sum of 5000 magic crystals, its value was much higher, and everyone knew that the Arcane Faction had forced the issue. The problem with major faction is that you could not refuse them, and once they set their eyes onto you, you would always end up yielding to them. Still, the 'revolution' that happened a hundred years ago and led to the destruction of four out of the seven major factions, was a kind historic reminder that they could not just do as they pleased, or face destruction, hence the reason why the Arcane Faction 'bought' the resource site instead of just taking it.
Plus, the arcane faction was an alliance of craftsmen, which traded knowledge about alchemy, golem manufacturing and many other crafts. They were not fighters in their hearts, but curiou individuals who would do a lot if it meant advancing their experiments.
Anyway, there were thus many conflicts between the Blue Wolf Mercenary faction and the Crimson Clan. Often there would be skirmishes when the two factions met on the Island of Bones, though the declaration of war had yet to be announced. From Lewis' memories, the war happened right before he joined, meaning that it would happen in three months. It eventually became a loss for both parties, with both factions losing many members and resources in the process, but the Crimson Clan retained its right and defended the entrance of the Dwarven mountain succesfully.
From the information Lewis gathered, there were currently 48 beginner acolytes in the Crimson clan, 30 of them being body refinement acolytes or knights who would eventually become one. Among the rest, more than half were necromancers and a minority were elemental acolyte. Besides Janna, there was no other intermediate acolyte.
The Blue Wolf Mercenary faction was very similar, but they possessed more experience in battle. The crimson clan valued knowledge a lot, and possessed a library with many body refinement spells and knowledge, the true purpose of the crimson clan being to accumulate as much knowledge as they could to grow stronger as an organization. The Blue Wolf Mercenary Faction was a gathering of mercenaries and cutthroats, united by the will to raid and plunder others, selling their swords and services to nobles and kingdoms in search for a power.
This is why Lewis could not just go on a mission right after joining, and decided to train for one month with Jorg and Orianna.
In the basement of the Crimson Clan Manor, the training facility truly was made for body refinement acolytes. Progressive overload was common knowledge to build strength, but there was nothing better than the arena to train intincts and battle prowess.
Lewis' upper body was exposed, and in front of him, Jorg was deflecting his blow with ease with his shield. Sometimes, Lewis would find an opening in Jorg's defences, but the skin of a lizardman was very tough, and the wooden blade of a training sword would leave nothing but slightly burning marks on Jorg's body.
Still, the progress of Lewis was evident. From a young, normal noble kid, he had grown tremendously. His body was much larger, as he gained over 15 pounds of muscle mass. Unlike others in his situation, Lewis possessed 30 magic crystals when he regressed, a fortune that came from the yearly stipend given to him by his family. Out of these 30 magic crystals, 20 were spent on a body refinement elixir to further increase his basic stats, and 10 were spent on Dragon Beer, monster meat, and toxins to train his constitution.
With knowledge of his past life, he was much more knowledgeable about the body refinement path than Janna herself, not to mention the other body refinement acolytes in the room. Lewis was a true scientist at heart, and he was the one who abided by the true purpose of the Crimson Clan the most. The library was the most valuable part of the Crimson Clan, although it was often overlooked by others.
*SPLASH*
After blocking a blow, Jorg winced in pain from the impact, Lewis' sword having found its way towards his thigh. Jorg tried to ripost in vain, as Lewis easily dodged his slow hammer blow. His style of using a shield and one-hand hammer was very complete and there were few openings, but Jorg had not urged Janna to take Lewis in for no reason. He had seen Jack Blast, a knight with twice the strength of Lewis, getting completely overpowered. Jorg knew the potential of Lewis, though he never realized his true strength until he fought with him for a couple dozens of times.
At first, he could easily beat Lewis, but over the days, Lewis adapted and found loopholes in his defences like no one did before. Jorg was no beginner, and his foundations were very sturdy, yet, Lewis could now easily see the loopholes in his defences.
Right after the blade hit his thigh, Jorg swung his hammer in the air and Lewis retreated. However, Jorg threw his shield at Lewis, who did not expect such a projectile and was sent crashing onto the wall, making a loud noise that surprised everyone in the room.
Lewis looked at his bent finger and sighed: "You just broke my finger, Jorg!"
Perhaps Lewis' most frightening trait was his cold blood. Something that would have made a warrior cry, was just a common wound to him. Jorg could still beat Lewis consistently, but he quickly grew to realize that Lewis was progressing at a monstrous pace.
Putting his finger back on place, Lewis cast the analysis spell onto himself and smiled:
[Name - Lewis Steelguard | Age - 15 years old
Attributes:
Strength - 2.2 | Agility - 1.8 | Vitality - 2.8 | Spirit - 4.9
Perk: Crimson Pact [Sealed]
Spells: Blood drain (156), Analysis (134), Blood Enchant (92) , Blood Shield (80), Sanguine Tracking (75), Blood Arrow (50), Blood Essence Gathering (36)
Sealed spells (not enough spirit): Blood Golem Summon (60), Blood wolf Summon (50), Tides of blood (40), Blood Curse (10)]
'I grew much stronger, huh...', Lewis thought inwardly
Orianna, the green-haired woman who had been assigned to their party, complained once again: "Are we not ready for a mission, now? Jorg, you are the party leader, so why don't you use your authority to begin a mission?"
Orianna was eager to take on a mission, but Lewis refused to take one before training first. If his past life taught him anything, it was that overestimating oneself would lead to death one way or another. Jorg was reluctant to lose a month at first, but made a bet with Lewis that he would not be able to beat Orianna, who had been raised in a Magus household and possessed the innate spell [Acidic Breath], which was a rare offensive spell that could melt steel, not to mention flesh.
However, to his surprise, Lewis easily defeated her, earning himself a month's worth of time to train.
Being the weakest of the group, Orianna ended up yielding to Lewis, but her patience was reaching its limits, and Jorg started to mutter nonsense again : "Parsssse tssss Klasss"
Unsurprisingly, Lewis nodded and translated: "He says to be patient"
Orianna squinted, but upon seeing Jorg nod, she knew Lewis had truly understood and translated Jorg's speech.
Lewis sighed and decided to give in: "But you are right. I think I am ready to take on a one-star mission"
Orianna smiled with excitement. Although it was a one-star mission, the crimson clan did not give a salary to its members in times of peace. Hence, it was very important to accept missions in order to get resources. Not everyone could afford to go one month without completing any mission.
Not everyone was like Jorg, who had some savings over decades of experience, Orianna, who came from a Magus Household or Lewis who received a generous yearly stipend. Still, even then, Lewis had ended up using all of his magic crystals savings, and he needed more to sustain this growth rate. He had focused on his physical attributes until now, for a reason.
Others would have to purchase magical knowledge, books and grimoire to learn new spell and deepen their understanding of arcane magic. Doing this and training their body past their genetic limits was unconveivable, and jack of all trades were looked down upon for a reason. By wanting to master two different fields, they most often ended up matering none and becoming weaker than they would have ever been if they focused on either path.
Lewis was different. He had already reached the pinnacle of the advanced acolyte realm in terms of blood magic, and even reached advanced-level knowledge of body refinement path as the leader of the crimson clan in his past life. Perhaps he was the only one among the thousands of acolytes in the Magical Court that was capable of doing so, but not taking advantage of this and walking both the body refinement and blood elemental magus path would be truly a mistake, especially since he would not benefit from a vampire constitution in this lifetime.
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