"Coward! Nicholas, you're a coward! You don't even have the courage to duel! You don't deserve to be a rogue! You're a disgrace to your identity! You don't deserve the title of number one genius!" Ivan shouted, his face filled with childish earnestness.
Well, he was a child to begin with.
Jiang Jie's head was swimming. He really didn't want to argue with a child and couldn't be bothered to respond.
Coward?
Yeah, right.
What rogue duels for fun when there's nothing else to do? Do you think this is a game? Plant a duel flag whenever you're in a bad mood? Assassins are supposed to kill with a single strike! They walk in the shadows, and once they attack, it's a Thunder Clap!
A duel?
That was what Warriors loved most! Only they were that hot-blooded, with endless energy they needed to burn off!
Besides, I'm not a rogue, okay? I'm a Chinese martial artist!
Even if I use a rogue identity to conceal my real identity, I'm not going to choose to become an assassin, okay? My goal is to become a passionate, hot-blooded combat rogue!
"Ivan, just let it go. You really aren't his match." Roand finally arrived. Looking at the young genius before him, he felt a bit of a headache and a little sympathy.
Dueling someone who defeated an entry-level subtlety rogue just yesterday? Ivan, are you sure there's nothing wrong with your head?
Although he didn't know how the kid Nicholas had done it, he had taken down an entry-level subtlety rogue-and one who had received professional instruction and training from the assassin corps, at that!
Even Lord Miles found it unbelievable, but facts were facts!
All he could say was that Nicholas truly lived up to his reputation as the greatest rogue genius in Lordaeron's history-among humans!
Of course, at present, only he, Lord Miles, and those two guards knew about this. The two guards had also been ordered to keep their mouths shut. No fourth person would find out!
"Nicholas, are you all right? Why don't you go back and rest, then come again this afternoon?" Roand's face was full of concern, all on account of the Blade of Cunning.
After obtaining the Blade of Cunning, he had spent a full hour and a half admiring and handling it, as though he were caressing his beloved's soft, fair, tender little hand. The person who haunted his dreams kept appearing in his mind. Only when he saw Lord Miles arrive at the compound with a dark expression had he reluctantly put it away in a precious wooden box worth fifty gold coins. Otherwise, why would he have been late?
Seeing the world of difference between how Roand treated him and Jiang Jie, young Ivan practically burst a lung with anger!
Did you have to be so blatant?
Didn't we agree on equal treatment?
Could you spare a thought for my tender young heart?
I'm your student too, okay?
You're going to leave me with childhood trauma!
Also, when am I getting my reward for being the second-greatest genius? Didn't we agree on that back then?
"I'm fine, Instructor Roand. Just teach. I can manage. We can't delay Ivan's progress just because of me. But I can only listen, not train. I really can't muster the energy." Jiang Jie yawned again, groggy and dazed.
"Good. Nicholas's concern and consideration for his fellow student are worth learning from. Then let's begin our first training session. Now, I'll explain the characteristics and abilities of rogues. Rogues are dancers on the blade's edge, walkers in the shadows, kings in the darkness..." Roand spoke at length with ease.
The first lesson was a theory lesson.
Roand demonstrated as he explained. Young Ivan listened very attentively, while Jiang Jie listened in a daze. He simply had the AI Xiao Feng activate the gaming pod's recording function to record the lesson, then began snoring away.
He slept straight through until noon.
When Jiang Jie woke up, he saw Ivan's contemptuous gaze and the displeasure Roand couldn't hide.
"All right, that's it for today's training. Practice on your own now. I have other matters to attend to over the next few days and won't be able to teach you. I'll check your progress in three days." Roand tossed out those words, then turned and left.
"Heh, the number one genius? Genius is one percent talent and ninety-nine percent perspiration! Nicholas, you're far too lazy, and you show far too little respect for your trainer! In three days, I'll show you who the real genius is!"
Young Ivan raised his head arrogantly, then added, "Let me tell you! I already studied under an entry-level rogue for a while. Of the skills Lord Roand taught today, I've already mastered Sinister Strike, Parry, and Mutilate! In three days, I'll definitely show you who the real genius is!"
Young Ivan turned around, leaving Jiang Jie with a lovely view of the back of his head.
"So, you haven't heard the second half? That one percent of talent is more important than the ninety-nine percent of perspiration!" Jiang Jie had woken up refreshed, the effects of the potent numbing poison finally gone completely. But then he heard Ivan's words, so he tossed back a casual reply.
Young Ivan's face turned livid with anger, and he nearly tripped over his own shoelaces in a moment of distraction!
"Ah, why am I competing with a child?" Jiang Jie sighed, feeling that he was growing more immature with every year. He had been twenty-three in his previous life and was fifteen in this one. Added together, that was almost forty. Was this really necessary? Even taking the higher number, he was still twenty-three, okay?
Could having a child's body affect my mental age too?
Young Ivan nearly lost control and lashed out!
A child? Aren't you a child too? You're not even necessarily older than me, okay? Why are you pretending to be an adult?
Completely ignoring young Ivan's increasingly ugly expression, Jiang Jie silently called the AI Xiao Feng's name as he walked back.
"Are you going to let me sleep or not? Host, now that you've had your nice, comfortable sleep, you don't care whether I live or die, is that it? Believe me, I'll go on strike!" Xiao Feng's voice was utterly languid. Her alluring body appeared in Jiang Jie's mind, the thin white gauze completely unable to conceal her full twin peaks, almost provoking a physical reaction from him.
"Xiao Feng, could you watch your image a little? You're not allowed to dress so revealingly next time. At least add another layer of sheer gauze... Let me ask you something: is there any way to make money quickly? I'm seriously short on money right now." Jiang Jie looked helpless.
The money he had received in exchange for the Blade of Cunning, along with the money borrowed from the little maid, had all gone toward mana potions. He now had only twelve gold coins on hand. It wasn't a small sum; if he lived frugally, it would last a year without any problem. But if he used it for cultivation, it was far too little, nowhere near enough!
A lesser mana potion costing one gold coin a bottle was only enough to run the gaming pod for an hour. Truly, scholarship was for the poor and martial arts for the rich. Wealth, companions, methods, and land-wealth came first!
Money couldn't do everything, but without money, you couldn't do anything!
"Make money? Of course women's and children's money is the easiest to earn! Women's money is especially easy! Perfume, cosmetics, designer clothes, designer bags-they're outrageously expensive! A whole year's salary won't even cover one bag!" Perhaps because of her feminine nature, Xiao Feng went wild the moment women came up and couldn't stop talking.
They said three women were the equivalent of five hundred ducks, but Xiao Feng alone was a thousand!