Book 2: Chapter 314
Book 2: Chapter 314
Snow realised that she couldn’t teach Lukas like a normal Swordsman. This man in front of her was a rare breed of Swordsman who possessed a special never before seen battle style.
More importantly, he was very intuitive and had an outstanding personality.
Neither his intuition nor his personality could in any way be considered weakness.
In other words, Lukas didn’t need any help from her with regards to those two factors. This meant that she could focus her attention on other things.
For example, the openings that even Lukas himself didn’t realise he had. The most efficient way to do this was to teach him the pros and cons of specific stances.
Fortunately, Lukas’ comprehensive ability was extraordinary.
No, it was even more than just extraordinary.
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Snow had encountered many geniuses.
And among them, she’d even met ‘unprecedented geniuses’ with ridiculous talent like Peran.
But none of them had the same qualities that Lukas did.
For example, when someone became aware of a bad habit, it usually took them a few months or even years to fix it, even if they knew that they had it. (TL: I’ve been trying to stop biting my nails for 15 years T~T.)
Habits were called such because they weren’t easily fixed or changed, and in some cases, they were even harmful to the body if left unchecked.
But Lukas was different.
As soon as this man heard Snow’s advice, he would nod once and immediately get rid of the aforementioned habit.
‘That means he has complete control of his body.’
She was amazed by this fact, but she was all the more disappointed.
If the condition of his arms and legs was better, and if his tenacity towards swordsmanship was a bit higher, a Master Class Swordsman would have been born as easily as having a meal.
In fact, the thing that disappointed her the most wasn’t Lukas’ disability, it was the fact that he didn’t seem to be very interested in swordsmanship. This wasn’t that different from saying he had no talent for it.
In any field, it was impossible to succeed without tenacity and a certain amount of obsession.
—After she’d finished giving him a rough explanation about stances and swordsmanship, Snow focused on giving him more theoretical explanations.
“Consider the sword as your life.”
“…”
“…when I say this, people usually ask ‘What if I lose my sword after becoming obsessed with it’.”
Snow decided to not pay attention to his reactions.
“You have to be careful to not let such a situation occur. Is there anything worse than a Swordsman without a sword? For us, our sword is like our arm, our leg, even our torso. Of course, if you fight, there’s a chance of getting hurt. Your sword might get chipped, or even broken to the point where it’s unusable. But it’s just like your body. If you don’t take care of it, you can’t use it.”
It sounded like sophistry, but strangely enough, it also seemed plausible.
This wasn’t because Snow’s words had solid logic or anything like that. Instead, it was the confidence in her voice that made her strange, nonsensical words feel more trustworthy.
“That’s why you should never be neglectful when taking care of your sword. Well, this Queen’s sword doesn’t need to be taken care of, but yours is different. It’s not just about wiping off the blood and flesh that might remain on it. It’s about whether the joint between the blade and the hilt is loose, or whether the sheath is too large or too small. You must always make sure to check these things carefully. In a sense, you have to pay more attention to it than to your body. If you have any kind of discomfort in your body, your brain would send a signal immediately, but for your sword, you wouldn’t know until you see it and feel it for yourself.”
To put it simply, the importance of a sword to a Swordsman was something that could be emphasised hundreds of times. Lukas put his hand on the hilt of the sword hanging from his waist, his expression changing subtly.
…In all honesty, he didn’t think it was possible for him to consider this item as his life. For Lukas, who was a Wizard, a sword was nothing more than a tool.
Even as a Wizard, he didn’t pay much attention to weapons like staves or canes.
Perhaps it was this mindset that caused him to feel that the Warrior King Fist was more suitable than sword techniques.
“Alright, that’s enough for the boring explanation. Now, we will spar again. But this time, don’t focus on just defending like before. Use all the means you…”
Snow suddenly stopped talking. Her bright expression also fell, becoming serious.
Then, she turned her head and stared into the forest.
“…the forest.”
“What’s wrong?”
“The forest is crying.”
Snow tilted her head to the side, her long ears twitching slightly. It seemed that she was listening to something.
After a while.
An exceptionally cold expression descended upon her face.
Was that… killing intent?
Without turning her head, Snow spoke to Lukas.
“I’ll be right back. I won’t be gone for long, so wait here.”
“What?”
Taht.
Snow’s figure disappeared without another word. In fact, she’d left before Lukas had even responded. He hadn’t even managed to figure out which direction she’d gone in.
Lukas couldn’t help but look at the spot she had been standing in before she disappeared with a strange expression on his face.
Whoosh.
A warm wind blew across the clearing. It was unpleasant, like someone licking his skin with a slimy tongue.
…It was probably just in his head.
Shaking the thoughts away, Lukas decided to head over to where the tents had been erected in the clearing. There, he found cooking and eating utensils.
Now that he thought about it, he felt that he should probably eat something. After all, he hadn’t had a single bite since entering the forest.
Heading over to the nearby river, Lukas filled a bucket with water and caught a few fish. Afterward, he returned to the clearing and made a bonfire.
Luckily, firewood had already been stored beforehand, but it still took him a while to start the fire.
This was because he’d tried to cast Fireball with his steel sword.
As he expected, it was much less efficient than Deukid, so it took a while for him to get the hang of it. In the end, he was only able to make the Fireball after trying for 10 minutes.
If this was how long it took to just make a Fireball, then he wouldn’t be able to get much practice. Nevertheless, there was some fortune in his misfortune. It was the fact that he would be able to greatly reduce the time through practice.
Of course, for him to use high level magic, he’d probably need better equipment or a more suitable environment, but at the very least, he would be able to use low level magic after he got the hang of it.
There was another thing that he realised.
‘I can’t do it with my fingers.’
Nor could he use a tree branch.
In order to wrap mana around an object, it seemed that a certain amount of metal was required. In addition, the tip of the blade was very sharp, so it was very suitable for arranging and rearranging the mana. On the other hand, his fingertips were blunt, so it was impossible for them to carry out such a delicate task.
At this point, Lukas was no longer using his sword as a sword. Instead, it was more like a staff that just happened to be in the shape of a sword.
He roughly grilled the fish and ate it before continuing to practice his swordsmanship.
Lukas decided to simply name his swordsmanship the Zero Technique. (TL: Or zero style?)
It was only possible for him to use low level magic, but Lukas found that training with the sword was pretty fun.
However, he didn’t know if he could climb back to the Absolute level with just this.
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…To become an Absolute.
For now, he could only look at it as an incredibly distant goal.
‘…power.’
In the end, the thing Lukas lacked the most was power.
If he had power, he could have revealed himself in a spectacular manner during the meeting. He could have asked them about the strife in the Circle without needing to worry about anything.
He needed power.
But he didn’t have any now.
With this thought, Lukas immersed himself in his training.