Chapter 14 : Looking Up, Swordsmanship Advances
Chapter 14: Looking Up, Swordsmanship Advances!
At this moment, Leo recalled his previous life—when he first left his hometown to study in an international metropolis.
That kind of direct impact remained vivid in his memory even now.
He quickly returned to the castle.
On the way, he had deliberately taken a look at the street corner where he had previously seen that strange creature.
It was now completely empty. The underground hole had long since disappeared.
No traces were left behind.
Leo thought of the memory fragment from the warhorse—of the Golden Knight commander soaring into the sky and slaying an airborne creature with a single strike.
He also recalled the night when he had seen the monster from afar.
This indicated that beyond the city walls, there existed creatures beyond his current understanding.
Or perhaps those creatures did not exist only outside the city.
It was just that, due to the presence of powerful forces like the Golden Knight Order or Laforin, such creatures rarely appeared in the sight of ordinary people.
Leo felt like a frog at the bottom of a well, always seeing only that small patch of sky above.
He did not want to remain like this forever.
He remembered a line from the Knight’s Code: “A great knight rides freely, galloping across heaven and earth.”
Leo raised his head to look at the castle. The towering watchtower stood like a finger, pointing toward the vast sky.
……
Leo shoveled the horse manure, prepared the fodder, and then hurried toward the Training Room once again.
The Kingdom Merchant Caravan had only stayed outside Blackstone City for half a day before departing once more.
With the caravan’s departure, Blackstone City seemed to return to its usual calm.
However, Leo quietly increased the intensity of his training.
On the second night, Leo and Arthur moved their sword training location into the Training Room.
“I say, Leo, you’re not even letting me off today. I just officially passed the Horsemanship assessment and have entered the swordsmanship training phase. Shouldn’t we celebrate?” Arthur spread his hands, looking helpless.
Beside him, Hogg—who had also passed the Horsemanship assessment—chimed in, “Yeah, Leo. I heard the Kingdom Merchant Caravan escorted a mysterious distinguished guest this time. To welcome her, the banquet hall is holding an unprecedented grand ball. Shouldn’t we go take a look?”
“I’m not going. If you want to go, then go.”
“Forget it, then I won’t go either.” Arthur picked up his Wooden Sword and solemnly held it in front of his chest. “For our Xilin Family, loyalty to brothers is the most important. Putting women before friends is a great disgrace!”
“Your Knight’s Etiquette is well learned. Come on.” Leo picked up an Iron Sword.
Both of them were using unsharpened Iron Swords.
After six days of training, Leo’s Basic Sword Techniques had advanced once again.
【Basic Sword Techniques (White) Level 3 12/100 (Strength +0.3, Basic Sword Techniques Proficiency Level 3)】
At the same time, his Strength attribute had increased to 1.2.
Now, he could wield a five-pound Iron Sword and practice his swings proficiently.
“Oh? A five-pound Iron Sword—you sure you can handle it? Be careful not to get hurt.” Arthur looked at the sword in Leo’s hand.
After all, although a five-pound Iron Sword did not seem too heavy, to slash, swing, and even use it in combat was far from easy.
Arthur grinned, tossed aside his Wooden Sword, and picked up a five-pound Iron Sword as well, casually tossing it in his hand.
This was the weight he usually used—it fit perfectly.
Whoosh, whoosh!
As if showing off, Arthur spun the sword on both sides of his body, forming two sword flowers, before holding it upright in front of him.
This was the opening stance of an attack posture.
“Today, I’m going to be serious.” Arthur’s eyes gleamed.
“When are you ever not serious?”
Clang!
The Iron Swords collided, scattering sparks.
Both of them stepped back half a step simultaneously.
Immediately after—
Clang clang clang clang clang!
A series of collisions rang out like drumbeats.
The two Iron Swords were like two ferocious black serpents, both opening their jaws, desperately trying to suppress the other.
If their sparring in the past few days had been relatively evenly matched—
Then now, after Leo’s swordsmanship had improved again—
His offensive clearly suppressed Arthur.
In fact, Leo had several opportunities to win outright.
But he did not want to end the match too quickly—he was afraid Arthur would stop sparring with him.
Maintaining pressure while stabilizing Arthur’s mindset could stimulate his strongest competitive spirit.
Unfortunately, in the past two days, Arthur’s “stimulant”—Eve Sova—had not appeared.
It was said that her training had reached a critical stage, so she told Leo to continue practicing on his own.
However, for Leo, with the panel system, in terms of Basic Sword Techniques alone, Eve Sova no longer had much to guide him.
Compared to Eve Sova, Arthur was more important as a sparring partner—or rather, a human punching bag.
However, Leo also realized that as his swordsmanship improved and sparring with Arthur became easier—
The experience he gained from it was gradually decreasing.
‘Looks like I need to find a stronger sparring partner.’
As Leo thought, he continued striking.
Horizontal Slash! Diagonal Slash! Upward Slash! Thrust!
After reaching Level 3 proficiency in Basic Sword Techniques—
His swordplay had gradually turned into muscle memory.
Unlike the rigid movements at the beginning, his strikes now flowed as naturally as breathing, smooth and effortless.
On the other side, Arthur clenched his teeth, feeling his palms gradually go numb.
He had not expected Leo’s swordsmanship and strength to improve so rapidly in such a short time.
“Looks like that merfolk meat I treated you to wasn’t wasted.”
In such a short time, Leo’s strength had increased so much that Arthur naturally attributed it to the North Sea Merfolk meat he had bought for him.
After days of continuous sparring, even Arthur felt his own swordsmanship had improved.
Before they knew it, two hours had passed.
Since they were using heavier Iron Swords, they rested every half hour.
After several rounds, Arthur was once again completely exhausted.
The process was almost the same as before—he would start full of enthusiasm, gradually weaken, and eventually fall into a disadvantage.
Now, not only was his endurance inferior, even his once-proud strength was no longer an advantage.
In contrast, Leo still seemed somewhat unsatisfied.
“I’m done.” Arthur gripped his Iron Sword tightly, breathing heavily.
The usually flamboyant Arthur now had a rare seriousness in his eyes.
He could feel Leo’s obvious improvement—he could even sense that Leo had surpassed him in swordsmanship.
Before coming to Blackstone City, he had trained under a professional sword instructor for two and a half years.
Combined with regularly consuming Beastkin Meat to strengthen his body, he had been far superior to his peers in both strength and swordsmanship.
Yet Leo had erased this accumulated advantage in just a few days—and even surpassed him.
For someone as proud as Arthur, this was hard to accept.
A fighting spirit ignited within him.
He had wasted too much time these days.
From now on, since both he and Leo would be studying swordsmanship in the Training Room, he would definitely reclaim his lost advantage.