Time Flies

A year had already passed in the blink of an eye.

Every morning, he practiced swordsmanship. In the afternoons and evenings, he trained his physical skills. At night, he occasionally went to his master to ask about swordsmanship. Other than seven hours of sleep and mealtimes, all his time was spent practicing the sword and training his body.

During that time, he and his master, Roy, had sold intelligence together several times, earning over a million Beli.

As for the development of the Lightning Core, Werther had continued researching it. Besides the original Lightning Thorn, he had developed another new ability.

Rather than calling it a development, though, it was more accurate to call it the accidental product of repeated failed experiments.

After Werther's body had adapted to the low intensity of the Lightning Stimulation Method, he slightly increased the lightning's power. The results were obvious. The training effect jumped straight from three times to four times.

When he had just returned to the Sword Hall, he wanted to see whether he could increase the intensity further.

Sure enough, greed was a fine virtue everyone possessed. The moment Werther raised the lightning intensity another level, he experienced an instant of pain worse than death.

His entire body felt as though countless insects were biting and writhing inside him. Then, Werther happily passed out.

When Werther woke up, it was already bright outside. He was lying in his own bed, with an IV drip still connected to his right hand. Roy was talking with a middle-aged man who looked like a doctor. When they saw Werther awake, they came over.

"You brat, do you have to push yourself this hard? You trained until every muscle in your body cramped up. I honestly don't know how you managed it. Even the doctor has never seen symptoms like this. You passed out from the pain, right? Really? What a blissful experience."

Looking at Roy's mischievous grin, Werther really wanted to smack him. After getting familiar with the guy, Roy had become nothing like the steady, dependable man he had seemed when they first met. His sharp tongue suited that lecherous face of his perfectly whenever he smiled.

"Hehehe, you're actually laughing at me? I'll tell Second Senior Sister that you got a room with a restaurant waitress." Werther let out his distinctive laugh and said something that made Roy immediately uneasy.

At first, neither Roy nor Master Nisse had heard Werther's distinctive laugh before. Later, after everyone became familiar with each other, Werther loosened up. He still remembered the first time he laughed in front of them; both of them had looked at him as if wondering whether the brat was having some kind of episode.

"Hey, what kind of joke is that? Are you trying to get your Eldest Senior Brother killed? You absolutely cannot joke about something like that in front of An." Roy looked alert as he spoke to Werther with utter seriousness.

"Sigh, I'm hungry. What should I do? I suddenly want seafood fried noodles from town." Werther looked at Nisse with an expression that plainly said, If you don't buy it for me, I'll badmouth you in front of Second Senior Sister.

Roy smiled, called him a little brat, then went out to buy Werther seafood fried noodles.

Werther smiled as well, recalling the first time he had met his Second Senior Sister.

At the time, he had been training on the back mountain with Senior Brother Roy. From far away, he saw a tall, alluring older beauty approaching. She had long black hair, a tight purple top with a deeply open collar that revealed a hint of her ample chest, black pants, and black high-heeled boots. A dark red sword hung at her waist.

Just as Werther was wondering why such a beauty had come to this desolate mountain—and why she was carrying a sword—the woman said something that nearly made his jaw hit the ground.

"Husband, this must be the junior brother, right? He really is young," the beauty asked Roy in a soft, husky voice.

After hearing her, Werther's heart filled with admiration and respect for Senior Brother Roy. With your looks, how did you find such a beautiful and seductive wife? Please teach me your ways.

Roy was just about to reply when he noticed Werther muttering something under his breath. He vaguely caught a few keywords, including "flower" and "cow dung."

He kicked Werther squarely in the rear and roared.

"What rude thoughts are you having, brat? Don't you dare say them out loud." After saying that, he huffed angrily several times, making the woman laugh.

Roy composed himself and introduced her to Werther.

"This is my wife, Olivia An. She's also a swordswoman. You can call her Second Senior Sister, or Senior Sister An."

"Hello, Senior Sister An. My name is Werther. It's a pleasure to meet you. Please forgive any shortcomings on my part." Werther greeted An politely. Joking with Roy was one thing; they had spent half a year together, after all. But An was someone he had just met, so he still had to show proper courtesy.

An nodded to Werther as well, said a few things like, "Hello, Junior Brother," and asked how his recent training had been. Then she said no more. Apparently, she was not much of a talker.

"Honey, why did you suddenly come back this time? You didn't even tell me beforehand. Have things outside been settled?" Roy asked An.

"Not yet. I mainly came back because Master has some things to tell me. I also came to see the new junior brother. If there's nothing else, I'll be leaving first." With that, she turned and headed toward the Sword Hall.

Remembering all this, Werther smiled.

He took a sip of water and fell into thought.

Why had increasing the lightning's intensity caused such a huge reaction in his body? When Werther had first awakened his lightning, its intensity had definitely been far greater than this time. Yet he had only felt stinging pain then, rather than pain severe enough to make him pass out.

As he slowly sensed the lightning within his body, Werther seemed to find a clue.

When he had first awakened lightning, he had not controlled it. So the lightning should have circulated through his muscles and bones.

The Lightning Stimulation Method, meanwhile, was something he had developed by drawing inspiration from the Raikage's techniques to stimulate the body's cells.

So the two could not be lumped together. One stimulated the body's bones and muscles.

The other stimulated the even more minute cells, so naturally the intensity they could withstand was different.

With that thought, Werther slowly circulated his lightning again. This time, he did not stimulate his cells. Instead, he stimulated his muscles and bones.

He began with a very slight intensity, then gradually increased the lightning's power. Once his body began to feel the stinging pain again, Werther stopped raising the intensity and maintained it at the highest level his body could endure without pain.

Looking at his body, the feeling was completely different from when he used the Lightning Stimulation Method. This time, a faint blue glow radiated from the surface of his body. He could also feel his speed and neural reaction speed greatly increase, to roughly double their usual level. His strength and stamina, however, only seemed to increase by about 50 percent.

This—this was a pretty good move. He had actually developed such a practical technique by accident. Just as Werther was rejoicing, a new idea suddenly appeared in his mind.

He got out of bed and opened the cabinet. Inside were two swords Werther had paid a high price to have forged by what was said to be the best swordsmith in Loguetown.

These two swords differed from the swords of the pirate world. They were straight swords, but they were also unlike traditional straight swords.

The blades were one meter long overall, with blades of eighty centimeters and handles of twenty centimeters. In appearance, they looked more like rapiers, except their blades were slightly wider than those of traditional rapiers, around eight centimeters wide—just under three finger-widths.

Rather than using a traditional four-sided design, they used an eight-sided design, enhancing both cutting power and durability. Even under tremendous force, they would not bend in the slightest. The blade was eight centimeters wide near the hilt, narrowing gradually toward the tip to form a perfectly streamlined straight sword.

At the bottom of each hilt was a black circular pommel, a final measure against enemies who got too close. Like the blade, it was made from an extremely expensive metal, nearly bankrupting Werther despite his million-plus Beli. The grip was wrapped in processed black hide from one of the large Sea Kings.

It felt soft and non-slip, with a matte texture.

The crossguard was not as long as that of a traditional rapier. Instead, it was made thicker on both sides and slightly narrower in the middle. It could block attacks while still looking elegant. Together with the equally black scabbard, the entire sword looked black when sheathed.

The blade itself had been treated along the ridge to prevent reflections. It had no other coloring and gleamed silver. Only a cold Flash gleamed along the blade, giving off a sharp impression.

The two swords as a whole were created by Werther by combining the eight-sided Han sword from Earth with the rapier.

As for their black appearance, that had been Master's specific request. When Werther had told Master that he planned to commission two swords, Master had told him to choose dark colors like black, red, or purple for their appearance. He was not to choose eye-catching colors like silver or gold. Master did not explain why, only saying that Werther would understand in the future.

Werther respected Master's request. After all, during his time at the Sword Hall, Master had taken good care of Werther.

He took the two identical swords from the cabinet and fastened them at his left and right waist. Crossing his hands, he drew both swords.

Although Werther was now around 1.8 meters tall, wielding two one-meter-long swords was still somewhat difficult for him.

I wonder whether this idea will work. If it does, I'll have struck it rich.

Closing his eyes, he activated the method from earlier, circulating lightning only through his muscles and bones. This time, after it spread across his body, he did not stop. Instead, it extended toward the two swords in his hands until both blades gave off a faint blue glow.

But Werther did not stop there. He continued increasing the lightning's intensity on the swords, and a faint crackling sound gradually filled the room.

The swords no longer looked as they had moments ago. Silver light now shone through their pale blue glow.

He gently brought a sword toward the corner of the table and slowly lowered it. Werther barely felt any resistance before the table's corner was severed and fell to the floor.

"Hehehe, just as I thought. Just as I thought, adding lightning to a weapon can increase its sharpness. If this cuts someone, then unless they're much stronger than me, it'll cut through wherever it lands. What a great ability. I should give it a name so it's easier to remember." With that thought, Werther withdrew the lightning and returned the swords to the cabinet.

With my current stamina, I can probably keep this ability active for about two hours. What should I call it? Micro-Lightning Stimulation of Internal Muscles and Bones Method? Lightning Muscle Method?

That name was so beautiful it was unbearable to look at. Better change it.

I'll call it Lightning Mode. Simple and easy to understand. Most importantly, it's easy to remember. What if I named one of my moves today and forgot it tomorrow?

Then, when fighting an enemy, I'd shout something embarrassingly dramatic like, "Take this!" and then blank out. That would be far too awkward. If that momentary lapse got me killed in the end, it would be an absolute tragedy.