Becoming a Swordmaster by Reading

Chapter 76. And (3)

Early in the morning.

The soldiers of the vanguard battalion headed to the training ground for their regular training.

There was not a single person who did not look tired.

It was only natural, as they had been suffering from repairing the earthen fortress until recently and had just started their regular training again.

It was only because they were soldiers of a front-line unit with firm discipline that they were walking in formation; otherwise, they would have been trudging along, yawning and rubbing their eyes.

It was as the vanguard battalion soldiers were barely overcoming their fatigue.

A group of soldiers appeared with a brisk pace.

"Huh? Aren't those them? The ones who survived the rear disturbance operation?"

"That's right. The Special Task Force Company."

"Wow. They definitely have a different feel, a different vibe."

"I know, right? They look incredibly reliable. And a little scary."

The Special Task Force Company was the biggest topic of interest in the vanguard battalion these days.

Whenever two or more soldiers of the vanguard battalion gathered, they would invariably talk about the Special Task Force Company.

However, this was not as negative as before.

On the contrary, the stories they exchanged were all quite positive.

It was inevitable, as the Special Task Force Company had not only survived the extremely difficult rear disturbance operation but had also made a significant contribution to capturing the earthen fortress.

Therefore, from the soldiers' perspective, the Special Task Force Company could not help but seem special.

And it wasn't just the soldiers.

The officers also praised the Special Task Force Company.

"I heard that there are several 1-star knights among the soldiers in the Special Task Force Company?"

"I heard there are about six of them."

"Ha. That many? I was wondering how they survived the rear disturbance operation, but they must have been born with luck."

"Luck?"

"If it's not that talented soldiers luckily ended up in the Special Task Force Company, how else would you explain the phenomenon of six 1-star knights gathered in one unit?"

"I heard that the Special Task Force Company's training method is unique, so maybe that's why?"

"Come on. No matter how special the training is, does it make sense for 1-star knights to be pouring out?"

"That's true, isn't it?"

"Of course. I'm so envious. I wish I had been born with that kind of luck."

"There's nothing to be envious about. It's because they were born with that kind of luck that they were assigned the rear disturbance operation. You know too. The gods don't just give good things."

"Ah. That's right. It might have been better not to have been born with luck and not to have gone on the rear disturbance operation."

Thus, the officers' interest was generally directed towards the numerous 1-star knights that the Special Task Force Company possessed.

They were curious as to how they could have so many 1-star knights.

However, not many people thought that this was due to the Special Task Force Company's special training method.

It was not a surprising reaction, as even during their time in the transport battalion, they had to go through great efforts, such as holding competitions, to prove the effectiveness of their training method.

On the contrary, it should be considered normal to think this way.

But the soldiers of the Special Task Force Company knew the effectiveness of the training method better than anyone else.

For that reason, they paid no heed to what others were saying about them.

This was the reason why the soldiers of the Special Task Force Company, while feeling proud of the envious gazes, silently walked to the training ground.

A moment later.

Roden arrived at the training ground where the Special Task Force Company was gathered.

"Alright, everyone, let's begin training."

"Yes!"

As soon as Roden's words ended, the soldiers of the Special Task Force Company began to warm up with stretching all at once.

***

'Everyone is training well.'

As Roden had announced a while ago, the soldiers of the Special Task Force Company were recently learning the Broom Swordsmanship.

However, swordsmanship was not something where one could learn the secret techniques and methods from the beginning.

It was only possible to receive them after gradually building up the basics and reaching a certain level.

For that reason, the soldiers of the Special Task Force Company were in the middle of training to learn the basics of the Broom Swordsmanship.

They would probably have to learn only the basics in this way for at least a month.

'And the one teaching these basics is the Infantry Platoon Leader.' The rıghtful source is NoveIꜰire.net

If he wanted to, Roden could also teach the Broom Swordsmanship.

But Roden did not want to go to such trouble.

This was because he could not train properly by teaching others.

"Over there! Your form is sloppy! Swing your sword properly!"

"Can't you do it right? Do you think you can train properly like that?"

The fact that Chevalier was shouting like this without a break during the basic training was proof of that.

'Above all, I need time to research the secret methods.'

Roden had many thoughts in his head while conducting the morning and afternoon training.

While others had to clear their minds of distractions and focus only on the sword to perform a single move perfectly during basic training, Roden was different.

Since he could perform the moves perfectly just by reading the swordsmanship manual, he had plenty of room for other thoughts.

And among these thoughts of Roden, the largest proportion could not help but be the research topics.

The reason why Roden did not bother to step forward to teach the Broom Swordsmanship was because of this.

To buy research time amidst his busy schedule.

'Thanks to that, Chevalier is having a hard time. But Olinto and Liviano will learn the Bloom Swordsmanship soon, so it'll be fine if he just endures a little longer.'

Olinto and Liviano were bound to learn the swordsmanship much faster than the others.

This was because there was a difference between someone who had properly learned at least one swordsmanship and someone who had not.

Because he had entrusted the training of the Broom Swordsmanship to Chevalier, Roden was able to freely conduct research in his head.

'Aura storage...'

And the research topic that Roden was most absorbed in recently was the aura-increasing secret method of the Sesuran Swordsmanship, aura storage.

'At first, I didn't know what effect storage had on increasing the aura absorption rate.'

But now, he had no difficulty in grasping this principle.

Aura storage was to accumulate mana in advance near the heart where blood exchange occurs, and to supply it without any gaps so that it would not be insufficient.

Certainly, a normal person was bound to have gaps in the supply of mana.

This was because mana was not something that gathered around a person indefinitely.

However, for Roden, who could gather mana around his respiratory organs with the Aurasong, aura storage was not very meaningful.

This was because he was already supplying mana without any gaps.

For that reason, aura storage was actually not a very attractive secret method for Roden.

But Roden was not disappointed by this.

This was because, thanks to aura storage, he was able to come up with a new idea.

And that was,

'What would happen if I could store additional mana in the blood?'

This was the thought.

Mana was certainly being delivered to the blood without any gaps.

But the amount of mana delivered at once through the blood felt a bit lacking.

Roden, getting a hint from aura storage, planned to dramatically increase this amount.

'But it's not as easy as it sounds.'

Increasing the amount of mana stored in the blood was like loading more luggage into a cart with a limited cargo space.

'So, no matter how much I create a magic formula and order the blood to carry more mana, it won't work.'

The cargo space was already full.

So, from the blood's perspective, even if it wanted to carry more mana, it couldn't.

'In the end, there's only one way. To increase the blood's cargo space.'

Someone might ask.

Instead of increasing the cargo space, why not just reduce the volume of mana?

But since mana was energy, it did not have a volume in the first place.

The reason why the amount of mana that could be stored in the blood was fixed was because the material medium that stored the energy had a physical limit.

In conclusion, reducing the volume of mana was a story that did not hold water in the first place, so he had to somehow increase the blood's cargo space.

'How can I increase the cargo space?'

Roden first thought of stacking mana on top of the blood.

The blood vessels, which seemed to be full, actually had quite a bit of empty space.

Because of that, it was also possible to stack mana on top of the blood.

'But if I do this, when oxygen and nutrients are transported, the mana might not be transported with them to the muscles. The stacked mana is just stacked, it doesn't belong to the blood.'

In the end, the reason why Roden wanted to increase the amount of mana transported at once was to have it absorbed by the muscles.

But if it was not absorbed well, it was a meaningless action.

This would not become aura in the end.

'What if I made a cargo space with mana instead?'

It was a similar idea to making the cart itself out of sugar because not all the sugar could be loaded into the cart's cargo space.

Certainly, if he did this, he could not only easily solve the problem of insufficient cargo space, but also carry several times more mana with plenty to spare.

'It's worth a try.'

That evening.

As soon as Roden finished his training and returned to his barracks, he conducted an experiment to create a cargo space with mana.

All he had to do was create a magic formula, convert it into an Aurasong, and sing it.

'The magic was cast well.'

In other words, it meant that he had succeeded in creating a cargo space with mana and transporting additional mana.

However, he would not know until tomorrow how much the aura absorption rate would increase through this experiment.

***

The next day.

Roden, who had confirmed his aura absorption rate, clenched his fist.

'Success.'

The experiment of creating a cargo space with mana was definitely effective.

The fact that his aura absorption rate had increased by 6% compared to usual was proof of that.

'Now my aura absorption rate is close to 40%.'

It was a tremendous effect.

But Roden's research did not end here.

He still had to research the secret method of the Incapie Swordsmanship that he had received from Tobias.

'Fortunately, this one's effect is clearer than aura storage. I could guess what effect it would have just by looking at its name.'

The secret method of the Incapie Swordsmanship.

This secret method was 'Rapid Deep Sleep'.