I began to wonder whether I could connect with Bo without turning into a zombie if I could share only her sight while keeping my own. That would be nice, but I couldn't do it yet.
When I got home, I would try bonding with Erebus too. Since I was here, I should practice my elemental magic as well. Almost all my spells were starting to become lethal. The Elemental Balls I could make were now about twenty centimeters across, but I could only make ice and earth balls fifteen centimeters across.
That was because they were denser materials. Still, the "earth ball," or "earth bullet," as I preferred to call it, was my most powerful spell.
When I fired an earth bullet at a thick tree, it left a large crater in the trunk. If I put a spin on it, it could embed the stone in the trunk. I couldn't shape it into a spike yet, but I could now add a little spin.
Putting a spin on it cost a little more mana. It required six mana points. I now had thirty-one mana points. I could cast five earth bullets or six other spells.
As for my other spells, the wind spell was still the weakest, but it was no longer useless. I couldn't kill anything with it yet, but I could use it to push things away.
One evening, on my way back from the library, a stray dog lunged at me from the bushes beside the road. Startled, I instinctively used a wind ball and pushed the dog away. I thought it must have felt like a kick, because it yelped and ran off.
As for the lightning spell, I decided to use it as a contact spell, because once, when I fired it, it curved downward and would have hit my foot if I had been walking.
So I would only use it in close combat, where it was quite powerful too. I thought it could definitely knock a teenager unconscious, but I didn't know whether it could knock out a large, grown man.
Now that I thought about it, I no longer had to waste time digging up worms and then running back to my room to feed them. I could focus on my physical conditioning and sword training again.
I had reduced those to the bare minimum over the past two months, but now I could concentrate on them again. I had promised Lord Stark that I wouldn't neglect my sword training. Although I had cut back on my training time, I was still practicing, and thanks to the skill that gave me five times the experience, I was still improving.
I wasn't a squire yet, but Rodrik said that if I kept improving like this, he might take me as his squire in a few years.
I was still young, only six years old. But I could beat ten-year-old squires, and if we competed purely in swordsmanship, I could beat twelve-year-old squires too. When it came to physical strength and speed, however, I always lost.
My strength was now 1.5 and my speed was 1.6, but twelve-year-old squires usually had 2.2 strength and 2 speed.
I knew those were their maximum stats, because every time we finished sparring, they panted like horses and looked at me with fear and envy.
You might ask what I was doing. Oh, I was on the ground, because I had been beaten like a dog.
I really didn't understand how a child could beat an adult in those novels I had read on Earth.
If they used magic, I could understand it. If they came at me one at a time, I could kill six adults with the mana I had, too, but I couldn't beat them without magic. It was impossible.
I couldn't even beat twelve-year-olds, let alone adults. I had been here for a year. If I added up all the time I had spent training with a sword and multiplied it by my 5x Skill, it came to roughly 3,500 to 4,500 hours. That was about right-let's call it five years of experience.
Usually, a knight had about ten to fifteen years of swordsmanship experience by the time he was knighted. Most of them were nobles who had started practicing with swords at five or six.
But I had heard that in the south, most of them only trained for self-defense. Only lesser nobles and second sons, or spares, as they called them, practiced swordsmanship for war.
Just as I was about to return to my room, six children around ten years old surrounded me. In the middle was Hallis Mollen, a guard at Winterfell.
They weren't quite of noble birth, but they weren't commoners either. You could call them minor nobility.
They had been granted surnames and banners, but no land to rule. After generations of service, if they showed talent, they might be granted a keep.
"Look what we have here. A freakish monster and a commoner who doesn't know his place."
I sighed and said, "What do you noble squires want from this humble little swordsman?"
"Look how arrogant he is when he says 'noble squires.' I really hate that smug face of yours."
"You can't have it."
Hallis looked confused when I said that and asked, "What do you mean, I can't have it?"
I tried to look hurt and troubled, then said, "You can't have my handsome face. I know you're really jealous, but what can I do? Your mother only looked at pigs' backsides when she was carrying you. You should ask her why she did that. It's not my fault you look like a pig."
At first, he didn't understand what I was saying. It was a little cute when children tried to act like adults, but when you thought about why they were here, it was actually quite sad.
They didn't know what hatred was. Their parents and other adults taught it to them. It hadn't actually been their idea to beat up commoner children who were better than nobles. Those weren't things children should say.
They must have learned those words from the adults around them.
But I was still going to kick their asses. Just because I felt sad about it didn't mean I would let them toss me around like a rag.
I had known this day would come, ever since the day I started beating noble squires, so I carried a wooden sword whenever I left my room.
So I tightened my grip on the hilt and waited for them to make the first move. I thought Hallis finally understood what I had called him, because he shouted, "Get him! Break at least one of his arms!"
I had Bo fly onto a branch, then immediately drew my wooden sword. Four of the six children didn't know me, so they would probably underestimate a six-year-old commoner, but I had watched them fight in the training yard.
The real problems were Hallis and another squire whose name I couldn't remember, so I called him Hulu A.
I had fought them before, so they wouldn't underestimate me. Hallis and the other boy stayed back. They didn't rush me immediately. The two of them would most likely wait until I was busy with the other four, then attack from my blind spot or surround me. I couldn't let them surround me, or I would lose.
I charged the one on the far left, pretending I would attack from the right. At the last second, I sidestepped left, making him miss his swing, then struck his neck with my pommel and knocked him down. One down, five to go.
Just as he fell, the one beside him swung at my right side, but I had anticipated him, so I stepped back and thrust at his stomach.
The hit knocked the wind out of him, but my thrust left me a little exposed. That hadn't been the right move. This was my first time fighting multiple opponents.
That mistake left me unable to dodge or parry. I could only block, and I didn't like blocking. Blocking relied on strength. I might have had the strength of a nine-year-old, but these weren't ordinary children either. They were stronger than me.
Their strength was around 1.7 to 1.9, but they were slow. Their speed was around 1.3 to 1.5. Only two were faster than me, but I had already knocked them down. That was why I had attacked them first.
I couldn't dodge the next attack and could only block it. It was difficult, and I was pushed back, losing my balance.
Another boy prepared to strike my upper body, but I decided to roll backward. He hadn't expected that move, and his swing hit empty air. He lost his balance, tripped over one of his fallen friends, and fell to the ground. As I rolled backward, I grabbed a handful of sand without letting them see, then started running away.
They shouted, "Coward, come back!"
"Coward? There are six of you against one. Who's the coward here, you hypocrites?" I looked back and saw that they hadn't followed me into the alley. They weren't completely brainless. So I needed to taunt them.
"Everyone knows House Stark's words are 'Winter Is Coming,' but for your families, it's 'Honor means nothing without numbers,' or 'You can't fight alone.' Oh, oh, oh, I've found a better one. 'You're just an ugly little pig.' That one's perfect, isn't it, Hallis the little pig?"
His face looked like a pig's the next second, but he must have forgotten who his opponent was, because he charged at me without any caution. So, thank you for your contribution, Hallis.
He tried to use his strength. I wasn't surprised that he had the most lopsided stats: 1.9 strength and 1.3 speed.
He was slow as hell, so his strength meant little to me. He brought his stick down in a vertical chop, and I simply parried his attack to one side. Then I stepped in, holding my wooden sword in one hand, and drove the pommel into the middle of his face, right on his nose.
He cried out in pain, but I wasn't finished, because he hadn't gone down yet. I struck the backs of his knees.
He screamed again and dropped to his knees. Then I drove my knee into his face, right on his nose again. This time, he finally went down.
That was when I failed to see Hulu A circle around to my left while I was busy dealing with Hallis. I had no time to dodge and could only block again. He was too strong, with the same 1.9 strength as Hallis.
That block tore the skin on my hand, and it began to bleed.
Thank the Old Gods I had changed my grip before the attack, so it was my off hand that was injured, not my main hand. I wasn't ambidextrous yet. I still favored my left hand. But the attack was powerful. It shoved me into the alley wall.
Crash! (Impact)
That hurt like hell and would definitely leave a bruise. He charged at me again. The moment I realized I wasn't going to fall but would hit the wall instead, I reached into my pocket, took out the sand, and threw it in his face. The sand made the wound on my hand start tearing.
But he was blinded by the sand, and I struck him in the balls. His eyes rolled white, and his mouth formed an "o." It was a little funny. When he passed out, the last three looked at one another and ran. My heart was about to leap out of my chest.
I was exhausted and hurt all over. I might have had a sturdy body, but I was still a six-year-old child. I bruised and got hurt easily.
Even though I worked like a dog, I still didn't have decent stamina. I was so tired, so I went to a water source, washed my injured hand, then returned to my room. I started boiling some water in an iron bucket.
Once the water had cooled, I carefully washed the wound for several minutes. Because I had known I would get hurt someday, I had collected some garlic and honey from the kitchen to use on wounds, then bandaged it with a clean cloth.