[Character: Rudeus Greyrat] [Health: 720, mana: 1000000, strength: 220] Emotion Points: 1885682. Status: [God-Rank blessing: god-caressed cheeks] Effect: greatly enhances natural appearance and greatly increases the rate at which affection is gained from the opposite sex. [God-Rank blessing: god-gushing tear glands] Effect: increases mana recovery rate by 10000%
Hmm, still improving steadily.
The early morning air at the training ground carried the faint scent of earth and grass.
Smooth, fine sand covered the spacious grounds, while heavy iron armored figures and sturdy wooden posts stood around the perimeter for testing power.
As soon as Rudeus stepped through the gates, two figures in the distance caught his attention.
They were two women, one tall and one small.
The younger one had a head of fiery red hair that shone brilliantly in the sunlight. With her arms folded, she was stamping one foot impatiently in the sand, her lips pressed into a pronounced pout-it was Eris.
Beside her stood a tall, agile figure like a leopardess: Ghislaine. She rested one hand on the hilt of her sword and closed her eyes, exuding the steady composure of a true powerhouse.
It seemed the two had been waiting for quite some time.
"Rudeus! You're too slow!"
Before Rudeus could get close, Eris's crisp, petulant voice came at him in a rapid barrage.
Her large, lively eyes glared fiercely at Rudeus, and her fair cheeks were slightly flushed from the long wait. She looked like a kitten with its fur on end, radiating a harmless sort of aggression.
Rudeus didn't slow his pace. Instead, his smile grew even gentler as he replied in a lazy, teasing tone:
"Good morning, Eris. If waiting is such an ordeal, then how about next time...you just push open my door and wake me up at my bedside? You're welcome anytime~"
"Wh-who'd want to go to your room?! You big idiot! Hmph!"
The impatient pallor vanished from Eris's cheeks in an instant, replaced by a ripe red flush that spread all the way to her delicate ears.
She turned her head away in a panic, wringing her hands tightly together and giving a haughty snort, but she couldn't hide the heaving of her chest or the panic in her eyes.
[Emotion Points +150, from Eris.]
Ghislaine slowly opened her one eye and looked at the bickering pair of love-hate rivals. Her tail twitched awkwardly behind her.
She raised a large, callused hand that radiated strength and gently placed it on Eris's shoulder, stepping in with her deep, magnetic, smoke-and-liquor voice:
"That's enough, young lady. Rudeus isn't late. You were so excited today that you dragged me here to wait before the sun even came up."
"Ghislaine! Why are you taking his side?!" Eris stamped her feet in embarrassed indignation and turned away, no longer looking at us.
"Ahem-"
Rudeus covered his mouth and cleared his throat, drawing both their attention back to him.
When they saw his expression turn serious, the playful atmosphere was instantly replaced by an invisible pressure.
"That's enough small talk. Now then...let's officially begin practical instruction in the Magic Sword Style!"
At the words "Magic Sword Style," the shyness in Eris's eyes instantly gave way to incomparable excitement.
She stamped her feet repeatedly in excitement, and finally couldn't help bouncing up and down, all trace of a noble's reserve gone. Waving her little fists, she cheered:
"Yay! I've finally been waiting for this!"
Ghislaine's gaze also sharpened abruptly. Her beast ears tilted slightly forward, and she assumed the focused demeanor of someone facing a life-or-death battle.
"As for the core principles of the Magic Sword Style, I'm sure you've both come to understand them thoroughly in our theory lessons over the past few days, so I won't repeat them here."
As Rudeus spoke, he slowly walked to the center of the training ground.
The fine sand rustled softly beneath his boots. He came to a stop, placed his left hand behind his back, and loosely curled his right hand in front of him.
This time, he didn't chant a single spell.
"Hum-"
A low vibration suddenly sounded in the empty air.
Before Eris and Ghislaine's astonished eyes, the space in front of Rudeus rippled like water, sending out layer upon layer of pitch-black waves.
That was Magic Pocket-the manifestation of spatial magic.
A deep, black fissure appeared out of nowhere, violent mana flowing tamely around its edges.
Then the hilt of a sword, gleaming with a cold light, slowly floated out of the fissure.
Rudeus's expression tightened. He took hold of the hilt and drew the sword inch by inch from the void.
The moment the longsword emerged, a clear ring echoed across the entire training ground.
The blade had a perfectly streamlined shape and was forged from an alloy of fine mithril and refined iron. Under the fierce midday sun, silver light flowed over it, its gleaming edge radiating a chilling sharpness.
[Emotion Points +100, from Eris.] [Emotion Points +80, from Ghislaine.]
He glanced sideways and saw Eris clasping her hands to her chest, gazing at him with eyes full of admiration. Her orange-red eyes seemed to hold countless stars, shining with adoration.
Even the worldly Ghislaine drew a sharp breath, staring fixedly at the longsword that had appeared out of nowhere in Rudeus's hand.
Seeing this, the corners of his mouth rose almost imperceptibly, and he reveled inwardly.
"Now then, you two, watch closely!"
Before the words had faded, he snapped his right arm up, holding the sword horizontally before his chest.
Holding two fingers of his left hand together in a sword gesture, he slowly brushed them over the cold blade.
"Fwoosh!"
Without warning, the instant his fingers passed over it, the silver-white blade was engulfed in a layer of blazing flames.
They were no ordinary flames, but "pure fire" compressed from high-density mana. Their scorching heat made the surrounding air twist violently, creating a distortion visible to the naked eye.
He hadn't used even the slightest trace of Touki. Through precise control of mana alone, he had turned the longsword into a stake of judgment wreathed in fire.
Rudeus casually traced an extraordinarily dazzling flourish in the air, leaving a perfect halo of flame in its wake. Then his gaze abruptly locked onto a heavy defensive iron armored figure created with magic more than ten meters ahead.
He twisted his waist, turned his hips, and swung!
The descending strike flowed smoothly, swift as lightning!
"Boom!"
A crescent-shaped wave of flaming sword qi several meters high tore through the air!
Like a roaring fire dragon, it shot forward with the force to tear through anything!
It was so fast that it left a blackened trail in the air that lingered for a long time.
In an instant, the flaming sword qi passed unhindered through the iron armored figure, which even an Intermediate Swordsman would have struggled to mark!
The world seemed to fall silent for a second.
Then came a grating "creak" of metal scraping against metal.
The armored figure's upper half slowly began to topple to one side under its own weight, finally crashing heavily onto the sand with a thud.
The cut was smooth as a mirror. More terrifying still, the steel at the severed surface, once hard, had been heated red-hot. Molten iron dripped down like lava, while wisps of acrid white smoke rose with a hiss.