Story, Alice Falls in Love with Adventure

After conducting an in-depth study of this world's swordsmanship ranking system.

Cui Ciyou finally closed the Treatise on Sword Styles in his hands with resignation and let out a long sigh.

He had come to his own conclusions as well.

The inheritance of swordsmanship in this world is so hard to understand.

He leaned back in his chair, rubbing his brow as he rapidly sorted through his thoughts.

Sword God Style swordsmen from the Sword Sanctum pursued pure strength and technique. Their minds held nothing but battle after battle, and most of them were illiterate "boors."

North God Style swordsmen, popular among adventurers, believed in practicality and survival above all else. Their cultural literacy was generally poor as well.

You could hardly expect a bunch of brutes who could barely write their own names to author books and explain profound swordsmanship theories and shifts in mentality in simple, accessible terms, could you?

The only slightly better one was probably the Water God Style.

Because its swordsmanship leaned more toward defense and elegance, it was highly popular among nobles and knights, gathering more swordsmen with a proper education.

"But..." A trace of disdain flashed through Cui Ciyou's eyes.

"These nobles treat advanced sword techniques as family heirlooms and keep them secret."

"Most publicly published textbooks and books only cover intermediate-level material. The core content is hidden away tightly."

Just like Paul Greyrat, the father of Rudeus, the protagonist of the original work.

Born into nobility, he had systematically studied Water God Style swordsmanship from a young age.

After leaving home, he went on to learn beginner, intermediate, and advanced swordsmanship from the Sword God and North God Styles, making him a textbook case of someone broad but not refined.

Still, it was worth noting that the Sword God Style and North God Style did not seem particularly secretive about their teachings.

The Sword God Style only required swordsmen who reached Sword Saint rank or above to travel to the Sword Sanctum for deeper study.

It was more like a system for centrally cultivating elites.

Compared to swordsmanship's vague, mysticism-filled ranking standards, magic's classification was much clearer and simpler.

It was primarily defined by the types of magic a caster could master and the power of the spells they could cast.

For instance, in the original work, when Roxy conducted Rudeus's graduation examination at the age of five, Rudeus successfully cast the Water Saint-level spell Lightning Cumulonimbus.

Roxy directly declared, "Congratulations. Starting today, you are a Water Saint-level water mage."

Simple and straightforward.

Forget it. Rather than reading this gibberish here, I should just ask Ghislaine when I get the chance.

Thinking this, Cui Ciyou shook his head self-mockingly.

Though the chances of getting a clear theoretical answer from someone whose head is full of muscles are probably slim too.

Just as Cui Ciyou was pondering these questions, the study door quietly opened a crack.

A conspicuous little red head poked through, ruby-like eyes searching the room.

Cui Ciyou's heart skipped a beat.

She's here...

He did not know when it had begun.

But Cui Ciyou had found it increasingly difficult to quietly study and "recharge" in the library at night.

The reason was simple: Alice seemed to have taken him for her new, exclusive, walking storybook.

Whenever Cui Ciyou appeared in the library at night, the energetic little red-haired girl would stick to him like a tail he could not shake off.

Alice had no interest in reading herself, yet she never let Cui Ciyou read in peace either, constantly pestering him to tell her stories.

"Ciyou!"

The moment Alice saw him looking her way, she broke into a radiant smile. Hugging a thick picture book, she ran over with a patter of footsteps and plopped herself down in the chair beside him without ceremony.

"What is this book even about?"

"Ciyou, how do you read this squiggly word?"

"Ciyou, between North God II—Alex—and the current Sword God, Gal Farion, which one is stronger?"

"..."

Alice's little mouth fired off questions like a machine gun, bombarding Cui Ciyou with one after another.

From the strange symbols on the pages to historical legends so distant they might as well have been myths, there was nothing she would not ask about.

Recently, Alice had become fascinated by all sorts of adventure and hero stories.

Before, she had hugged a beautifully illustrated collection of adventure stories she could not understand at all, The Three Swordsmen and the Labyrinth Adventure, and stubbornly insisted that Cui Ciyou read it to her.

Whenever Cui Ciyou tried suggesting that she go find the more patient Teacher Edna instead.

She would pout in dissatisfaction and retort with complete confidence, "No! I want you to read it! You sound much better than Edna!"

I sound better? Cui Ciyou was speechless inside.

I haven't even fully corrected my accent yet.

After several days of Alice's relentless pleading and coaxing, Cui Ciyou had still struggled through the thick copy of The Three Swordsmen and the Labyrinth Adventure for her.

As a result, Alice developed an even stronger interest in stories about "adventure" and "labyrinth exploration."

Alice immediately thought of Ghislaine, once an S-rank adventurer, and eagerly ran off to pester her the next day, asking her to tell stories of her past adventures.

But for some reason, Alice would always end up dragging a helpless-looking Ghislaine to the library.

There, she would forcibly require Cui Ciyou to "sit in" on Ghislaine's rambling "adventure-sharing sessions," which were full of bloody battle scenes but sorely lacking in logic and detail.

For example, Alice had once asked Ghislaine with shining, expectant eyes, "Ghislaine, tell that story you mentioned last time about defeating the Cyclops again!"

Ghislaine thought for a moment, then said concisely, "Cyclops. Big. It charged. I dodged. Jumped on its back. One slash. Cut off its head. It was over."

Alice's little face immediately fell. "...Th-that's it?"

Ghislaine nodded as if it were only natural.

That was the end of the recollection. Holding a copy of Alex's Hero's Tale, Alice looked at Cui Ciyou with pitiful eyes. "Ciyou... read me a story."

Why is it so hard to quietly read for a while? Cui Ciyou had sighed inwardly over this more than once.

I'm not some kindergarten teacher whose job is to tell children fairy tales!

I still have so much knowledge about this world to learn, so many plans concerning the future to think through!

Yet after silently lamenting in his heart, he looked into Alice's expectant eyes and ultimately gave in.

Cui Ciyou sighed helplessly, took the book Alice offered him, and began reading Alex's Hero's Tale, the heroic adventure story of North God II, Alex.

Cui Ciyou cleared his throat and continued reading the passionate adventure legend in his Human Common Tongue, which carried a slight accent but was still clear and fluent:

"Amid the cold winds of the Northern Territory, Alex, son of Kalman, the First North God, gripped the sword his father had left behind."

"What awaited him was the legendary Frost Dragon perched atop the snow-covered mountains..."