Nearly a month had passed since he awakened the Ten Shadows Technique, and Rudeus and Radeus's lives gradually settled into a routine.
They usually taught Eris and Ghislaine arithmetic and magic in the morning, practiced swordsmanship in the afternoon, read and studied the Beast God Language and Demon God Language in their spare time, and practiced magic on their own at night. Both led very disciplined lives.
"Argh, I can't take it anymore! What the hell is this Demon God Language?!"
Radeus sat at his desk, staring at the writing in the book and scratching his head in frustration.
He and Rudeus had been studying it for almost a month, yet their progress with the Demon God Language was practically nonexistent. They had at least gained a partial understanding of the Beast God Language.
"And there are way too few books on barrier techniques in the study! They're all beginner-level ones, too!"
"Be glad there are any at all. I read in a book recently that barrier techniques are mostly confined to the Kingdom of Millis. We're lucky to have any here!"
Rudeus spoke to Radeus while reading his book.
"I really want to go to Millis right now!!!"
Radeus slumped over the desk, drained of strength.
"Do you really want barrier techniques that badly?" Rudeus asked.
"Obviously. If we want to launch a magical revolution, then barrier techniques-in other words, magic circles-are an indispensable part of it."
"Besides, I'm planning to engrave Healing Spell magic circuits inside my body. That way, I won't need to consciously cast Healing Spell."
"As long as I have mana, my body will heal itself whenever it's injured. Even if I lose consciousness or get assassinated, I won't have to worry about my life being in danger."
Radeus explained his ideas to Rudeus.
"But is that possible? Engraving patterns inside your body?"
Rudeus voiced his doubts. Although Fate did have the concept of Magic Circuits, that wouldn't necessarily work in this world, would it?
And having it run fully automatically sounded a little far-fetched, didn't it?
"Hard to say. At the very least, I need to practice Healing Spell more for now, get familiar with the feeling, and engrain that feeling completely into my body."
Radeus wasn't sure whether it would work either. For someone who still only had a partial understanding of barrier techniques, it was a little beyond him.
Afternoon arrived, bringing Rudeus's most hated activity: sword practice. At the moment, he was sparring with Eris.
As for how it was going, that hardly needed explaining. Eris had Rudeus on the defensive, and all he could do was keep parrying.
"If only you could be this enthusiastic during my lessons!"
Eris answered Rudeus's words with even fiercer attacks.
"Rudeus, remember your footwork. Watch your opponent carefully and anticipate their movements."
Ghislaine kept giving Rudeus pointers from the sidelines.
Compared to an abstract instructor like Paul, Ghislaine was much better at teaching swordsmanship.
Unlike Paul, who only ever said things like "do this," "do that," "this feeling," and "that feeling." Who could understand any of that?!
Even Naruto Uzumaki would probably have been a better teacher!
While Rudeus kept parrying, Eris only grew more enthusiastic as they fought.
Every swing of her sword was stronger and more precise than the last. Her improvement was visible to the naked eye!
A powerful slash descended, and Rudeus could only hold his sword horizontally in both hands to block it, visibly struggling.
"Rudeus, if you're half a step slower than your opponent, shift half your body out of the sword's path. Predict their next move from their gaze and footwork!"
How am I supposed to manage that?
As Rudeus turned Ghislaine's words over in his head, a moment's carelessness let Eris land a strike on his stomach.
"Ow, ow, ow!"
Rudeus quickly retreated to put some distance between them.
"Idiot! Don't think with your head! Think about how to step forward and swing before your opponent does!"
Am I supposed to think or not?!
Rudeus was out of ideas, his head a complete mess.
He didn't know whether his swordsmanship had improved, but his body could certainly take more punishment than before.
While Rudeus was still lost in his wandering thoughts, Eris seized an opening and sent him flying with a single strike.
"That's enough!"
Ghislaine declared Eris the winner.
"Rudeus, you still need more practice! You're too weak!"
Eris spoke cheerfully to Rudeus. Although he was weak as hell, winning felt great!
Just like an expert playing in a low-ranked lobby, stomping weaker players still felt good every time!
"You could totally go a little easier on me next time!"
Rudeus said to Eris.
"No way! No matter who I'm facing, I'll give it everything I've got!"
Eris flatly refused Rudeus's request.
Rudeus sighed and looked over at Radeus.
Lately, to make his Sword of Light even faster, Radeus had asked Philip for some weights to wear. He had also switched his practice sword for a heavy iron one.
Rather than a sword, it was more like an iron rod. Its only distinguishing feature was its weight; there wasn't a single sharp edge on it.
Radeus was training by copying Kakarot's methods, and judging by the results, it had been very successful.
By now, Radeus's sword could just barely keep up with Ghislaine's. It seemed it wouldn't be long before he could match her.
Such was the power of superior stats!
If Rudeus tried training like that, he'd be dead before the next day.
Radeus, who was practicing his swordsmanship nearby, didn't have nearly as much on his mind as Rudeus, but he had recently gained some new insights into the Sword of Light.
The Sword of Light itself was hardly any different from a quick-draw slash. Both pursued speed!
Then Radeus suddenly had a Demonic Brain wave. It was called the Sword of Light, yet it didn't have a trace of the light element. What kind of Sword of Light was that? Wasn't that just outright fraud?
Shouldn't the blade be wreathed in the light element, with the whole sword glowing, both dazzling the opponent and looking cool? Now that would be a real Sword of Light!
You say the Sword of Light actually means moving as fast as light? Then let me ask you, could anyone here reach that level?
The speed of light was approximately 3 × 10^8 meters per second. Suppose a sword weighed 600 grams and could not be damaged, and someone swung it at the speed of light.
Using Einstein's mass-energy equivalence equation, E = mc^2, the energy produced by that single slash would be approximately equivalent to 12.89 million tons of TNT.
The Hiroshima atomic bomb was only 15,000 tons! That would be equivalent to 859 Hiroshima atomic bombs exploding simultaneously.
Fuck, that much power would blast the entire continent in half. Was that even possible?
Besides, an object with mass could never truly reach the speed of light, only approach it infinitely closely, and the closer its speed came to the speed of light, the more the energy required to swing the sword would tend toward infinity.
So the Sword of Light itself could never reach the speed of light!
And if someone really could reach light speed?
Sorry, I concede this round!
In summary, for the Sword of Light to become a true Sword of Light, it absolutely needed light magic. Whether it was strong didn't matter. At least it would look cool!
Final conclusion: the Sword of Light equaled Excalibur!
And so Radeus went further and further down this path with the Sword of Light!
Before you continue