Chapter 40 - The gap between us
Chapter 40 – The gap between us
When the students saw that Principal Galius was actually talking to the commoners they were shocked. This scene had caused a huge commotion in front of the school gates.
“Why is the Principal personally greeting those commoners?”
“Is there something special about those three?”
“What the hell?! How could this happen? Even when the son of a Duke came, the Principal didn’t greet him.”
The students were now in a state of confusion as they asked each other the same question, who were those three? Unaware of the students thoughts Galius was fully focused on Ren. Even without the glasses that could see through mana flow, Galius could feel the power Ren was trying to suppress.
The feeling he got when he saw Ren, was the same as the feeling he got back in the day when he was still roaming from to battlefield to battlefield. The feeling Ren gave Galius was the same feeling he got from war, it was like Ren was a physical embodiment of war itself.
This made Galius truly excited, with someone like Ren as his student, he might actually not only be able to train the strongest knight. He might actually be able to train the strongest mortal being in history.
While Galius was assessing Ren, Ren was doing the same thing to Galius. At first glance the old man doesn’t look all that powerful, but the mana he was emitting was special. He didn’t have the largest mana capacity, nor was it the most powerful, but it was different. Galius’ mana was like a sword, it was sharp and concentrated on one spot. Galius’ control over his mana was the best Ren has seen ever since he reincarnated.
Ren wanted to fight the old man, but then he noticed something as he was checking Galius’ body using mana sensing. Ren found out that the old man was sick and hadn’t much time left. At most he would last around ten years more, in the least he could pretty much die in a few months.
Knowing this made Ren feel disappointed, he didn’t want to fight a sick person. There was neither excitement nor honor to be gained in doing so. Unaware of Ren’s thoughts about him, Galius approached Ren.
“May I know your name, young one?” Ren looked at the old man and was thinking for a bit before answering.
“I’m called Ren.”
“It’s nice to meet you Ren.” Ren looked at the smiling Galius, and sighed it was obvious what this old man wanted to say to him.
“Is that all? I have other things that I need to do, so good day.” Ren was about ready to leave with Lara, but Galius spoke stopping them from leaving.
“Wait!”
“What? Do you have something more to say?” Ren couldn’t help but sigh again as he looked at Galius.
“Do you want to become knights? You and the lass, can join your friend Valdel in the academy. You wont even need to pay for anything. Food, lodging, and even equipment everything would be free. So what do you think?”
“Sorry I’m not interested.”
The students who were listening in, were shocked to hear the Principal such great benefits to a commoner. They were expecting that Ren would gladly accept with tears in his eyes, but the reality was different. Ren actually said he wasn’t interested and he said it with such a indifferent tone of voice.
This shocked all of the students, and made most of them angry. They were all proud that they were able to attend such a prestigious school, that had the most difficult entrance exam in the whole kingdom. Yet this commoner who was given the chance to become a part of this school, to become a knight, actually refused and he said it as if becoming a student was such a burden.
“Then how about becoming a teacher instead? I will even pay you five white gold coins per month. All you need to do is spar with the students every now and then, and just attend one of my classes once a week. That’s all you need to do. So what do you say?”
When the students heard this, they went into a frenzy. Was the Principal going crazy? He actually gave the commoner boy a job as a teacher, and he even offered him ten white gold coins for his wages! One white gold coin was equivalent to ten normal gold coins, which was a lot. A normal noble family like a Duke’s household receives one white gold coin a month, and Ren was actually offered ten of those.
“I’m still not interested.” The moment Ren said those words, one student couldn’t take it in anymore, and shouted at Ren.
“How dare a lowly commoner like you speak that way to the Principal! Not only was he being overly generous to scum like you, he even offered you a job beyond your abilities, and you were still ungrateful.”
The one who spoke was Alastair, the son of a Marquis and a second year student in the academy. He was proclaimed as the most outstanding genius the school has ever trained. At the young age of seventeen he already achieved the rank of an advanced rank swordsman.
Swordsmen same as mages and adventurers had their own ranking system. The ranking of swordsmen from weakest to strongest was initiate, beginner, intermediate, advanced, master, Saint, Divine, and Demi-God.
Those who achieve advanced rank swordsmanship are the only ones considered to be a true swordsman, and Alastair was one of the youngest to receive the rank. On the other hand Ren’s swordsmanship based on the criteria of this world would be barely at Master level. Since the forms of Ren’s swordsmanship which he invented was made to kill more efficiently.
It didn’t have flowery movements, nor did it have grace. Its forms were too simplified and lack the complexity of the sword forms of this world. Yet the power of Ren’s swordsmanship back in his peak was at the Divine level nearing Godhood.
…
Alastair who was now beside the Principal spoke to Galius. “Sir Galius please allow me to punish this arrogant commoner, for disrespecting you.” Even now Alastair couldn’t comprehend why Sir Galius a renown swordsman of the Saint Rank, was giving Ren a position as a teacher.
At this point he simply thought that, Galius was simply getting old and his ability to judge things was getting bad.
Galius looked at the most promising student his school has ever produced and wanted to say something. Yet he stopped himself, this might be a good chance to gauge Ren’s real skill. Mana capacity isn’t all one needs to be strong. You need to be able to control your mana to use it properly. Also it is possible to win against someone who has a stronger and denser mana flow, using skill alone. So Galius decided not to say anything, and simply watch how things will unfold.
Seeing Galius was not speaking, Alastair saw this as him giving consent to the fight. He took one of the four swords he had on his waist and tossed it to Ren.
“There take my sword, I don’t want you saying that this wasn’t a fair fight.” Ren who heard what Alastair said looked at him as if he was looking at an idiot. Lara and even Valdel was now feeling a bit sad for Alastair.
“Why aren’t you picking up the sword? Do you even know how to use one?” Alastair was now mocking Ren while sneering. Ren wasn’t bothered by the barking of the weak and signaled Alastair to come at him already, while looking a bit impatient.
Alastair seeing that look of Ren’s who was looking at him as if he was facing child, made Alastair angrier. Alastair took a stance both his hands which were holding the handle of the longsword was near his face as his sword tip was pointing at Ren. Alastair looked at Ren who wasn’t even in a stance, and saw a lot of openings.
Without hesitation Alastair charged forwards and pierced through Ren, aiming at his arms. The speed of his charge was incredible, the other students couldn’t even see him move. Valdel and Lara on the other hand who were also watching saw him moving so slowly.
Alastair who was sure that he had pierced Ren’s left arm, was shocked to see that what he just pierced was just an afterimage. He then felt something hit his leg, making him trip. Alastair who was trying to regain his balance saw what hit him.
It was Ren’s leg that was placed to obstruct his movement. After evading Alastair’s slow moving strike, Ren extended his leg to the side so that Alastair would trip. Ren was getting bored of this fight, and wanted to end it quickly, but he remembered the stupid crap Alastair said, and decided to show the stupid youth the gap in their abilities.
Alastair who saw that Ren wasn’t actually focused on the fight gritted his teeth and attacked. A downward slash followed by an upward slash and then a spinning slash. Alastair did all of these moves in one breath, yet Ren evaded them with ease. He didn’t even move from his spot, as he simply swayed his body.
Alastair then sped up as his attacks became sharper. A pierce to the chest, followed by an upwards slash, then a low kick. Alastair was even faster than before but even with the increase of his speed, Ren was able to easily evade.
Galius who saw how easily Ren evaded Alastair’s strikes still couldn’t understand how deep Ren’s skills go. He was sure that this is but the tip. Galius wanted to challenge Ren as well, so that he could determine just how strong Ren truly was. Yet in the end Galius decided not to do that, since he was still the Principal of the knight academy. Asking a young person for a spar no matter how strong, was not something he should do.
Alastair who was attacking Ren with no rest, was also trying different kinds of combinations in his attacks, but sadly no matter what he did, he wasn’t even able to touch a single strand of hair from his opponent. Ren on the other hand had multiple occasions when he could finish Alastair off, but didn’t. He wanted to see what else the boy called Alastair had to offer.
…
After awhile Ren had seen everything Alastair had to offer, and decided to finish the fight now. Alastair who slashed downwards with all his might, even using his mana to envelop his weapon was stopped by Ren pinching his sword.
Ren who had caught Alastair’s swords with his index finger and thumb broke it. Alastair who saw what Ren did to his weapon stared dumbly at his opponent. Ren then stood near Alastair and spoke to the stunned boy.
“You see that? That is the gap between you and me. I might be arrogant in your eyes, but as you can see I have the skill to back it up. So if you think, that what I said to your Principal was too much, then you can come at me anytime.” This time Ren didn’t give anyone a chance to speak, before he left with Lara. Galius didn’t stop them this time, since it would seem that at the moment he had nothing that could move Ren’s heart. So he gave up on asking Ren to join the academy, instead he was now going to focus all his attention on Valdel.
Everyone who saw what happened still couldn’t believe their eyes. Alastair the genius swordsman was treated like a little kid, as he was easily defeated. Seeing as Ren was now gone all their attention was now on his companion who was going to study in the academy.
Valdel who noticed that all the stares were directed at him, couldn’t help but smile wryly.