Chapter 44: Swordtesting
Translator: Exodus Tales Editor: Exodus Tales
The Knight of Marshall grunted loudly. He filled his entire body with combat qi. However, since he didn’t want to hurt Abel with the rumble, he didn’t let the combat qi affect the big sword in his hand.
“Again!”
The Knight of Marshall was a bit unsatisfied that he got knocked backward by Abel’s strike last time. He had underestimated the power of Abel’s sword, but the Knight of Marshall didn’t lose any motivation. An intermediate knight had to have faith in his own combat qi.
Abel watched the Knight of Marshall flashing with a body full of combat qi. He wondered if he could produce another rumble with this strike again. Even though Abel’s body was feeling very weak, as he stared into the affirming eyes of the Knight of Marshall, he took a deep breath and lift the sword above his head once again.
This time Abel, felt so weak that he did not apply any force in his strike. He felt a little intimidated by the Knight of Marshall’s combat qi. Abel knew by heart this the fighters of this world were different from the ones on earth. They went all out in move, so getting injured was unavoidable.
Abel’s big sword traveled downward with the force of gravity towards the Knight of Marshall’s sword. By that time even the Knight of Marshall had felt that Abel was getting weaker.
Their swords made contact with each other once again. Since Abel did not apply any force, his sword barely bounced off. It only lightly landed on the Knight of Marshall’s sword. The Knight of Marshall wanted to shout at Abel, asking him what’s the matter, but suddenly that unstoppable force of energy had rushed towards him from Abel’s sword again.
The Knight of Marshall wanted to withstand the force with his combat qi, but no matter how hard he tried, he was still human. No human could withstand the force of a mountain.
1 step, 2 steps, 3 steps… 10 steps
This time, the Knight of Marshall had been knocked back another 10 steps by the rumble. It was like his combat qi had made no difference. How could this be possible, Abel didn’t even apply any force to his strike. It’s like the Knight of Marshall was destined to be knocked back.
“Abel, you know… I am actually very good at using double swords”, said the red-eyed Knight of Marshall in a creepy tone, like he was alluring children.
The Knight of Marshall thought this sword must be very helpful to him in battle. If he knew that the enemy would be knocked backward regardlessly. He could plan in advance to execute his final strike, thus increasing his chance of taking the life of his enemy.
In another scenario, if the Knight of Marshall had encountered a very powerful opponent, if he could just knock them back 10 steps, he would be much more likely to escape.
This magical sword could be the lifesaver of a knight. Even if he didn’t use it normally, he would carry it around just in case if he needed to escape or kill someone. The weight of a big sword was nothing to an intermediate knight anyway.
“Uncle Marshall, you…” before Abel had even finished his sentence, he decided to just throw the sword directly towards the Knight of Marshall. The rune on this sword was provided by the Knight of Marshall anyway. Since the knight has helped Abel so much, a magic sword wasn’t really a big deal.
Abel then proceeded to speak, “The rune on this magic sword was made according to the one on the rune sign you gave me a few days ago. I know how to apply it now. The result wasn’t too bad.”
The Knight of Marshall was filled with confusion, he had kept the rune sign in his secret chamber for over 10 years. He had only given it to Abel a few days ago, and already he had created a magic sword with the same power? Unbelievable.
But was the rune on this sword exactly the same as the one on the rune sign? The rune sign must be smashed in order for its power to be effective, so it could only be used once. However, the power in this magic sword could be affective every time it strikes.
On top of that, this magic sword held immense power. Although the knight of Marshall knew that magic weapons could have all kinds of effects, most of them still revolve around the attributes of ice, fire, electricity, and poison. The Knight of Marshall had never heard of one that could knock people backward with rumble throughout his decades-long journey as a knight.
The Knight of Marshall stared at Abel. He was shocked that this kid could create such powerful weapons by only copying the rune from a rune sign. Calling Abel a genius could no longer justify his abilities. The Knight of Marshall was lost for words, all he could do now was to keep reminding himself, I have to send Abel to the wizards. An out of the world genius like this doesn’t belong in the human world.
“Uncle Marshall, have fun with the sword. I’ll get going now”, as Abel saw that the Knight of Marshall was deep in thoughts. He didn’t want to bother him, so he turned and left.
“Abel, make sure you rest well. No matter what, don’t use your combat qi for the next few days. Ok?”, the Knight of Marshall warned Abel as he slowly came back into reality.
When a novice knight used his combat qi for the first time, they would expel all the qi from their meridian. Afterward, only the empty shell would be left. Therefore they need to rest for a few days in order for the meridian to recover. However, if they decided to use their combat qi during these days of recovery, they would be drawing energy directly from the meridian. Then, even that empty shell would be used up. If the empty shell was gone, recovery would no longer be an option, the Knight had to train from beginning all over again.
Of course, Abel knew about this. He was not even planning to leave his room for the next few days. He just wanted to make good use of this time, quietly practice writing runes by himself to increase his power of the will.
After Abel had left, the Knight of Marshall continued to stare at the attribute-less magic sword in his hand. He felt overwhelmingly powerful, as though he could battle an entire army. This gave him an urge to rush to Harvest City and have a sword flighting competition with Viscount Dickens.
But of course, this could only be a fantasy of the Knight of Marshall. The rank of Viscount Dickens was still miles above him. As a commander, Viscount Dickens could also easily best the Knight of Marshall’s to death. Therefore, no matter how powerful was your weapon, it still won’t make much difference if you were fighting against someone who was much more powerful than you.
As a commander, one could use combat qi to form armor around your body. Therefore, it could weaken the power of every powerful attack. Normal attacks would not even budge this combat qi armor in the slightest bit. For example, Harry’s bow might be a nightmare for lesser ranking soldiers. But to higher-ranking ones, it might not even pose a threat.
The Knight of Marshall started to wave around the attribute-less magic sword in his training room again. He began to gain a grasp of the ability of this sword. The rumble would only come out when striking an enemy. The Knight of Marshall really liked this mysterious ability about his new sword. He then placed both of the magic swords he had on to his back, one on each side, forming a cross. The Knight of Marshall couldn’t wait until the orc attack was over. He was desperate to go to the Knight of Bennett and have a sword fighting competition with him.
Meanwhile, Abel had returned to his room. As he sat on his chair, he wondered if he should forge a super magic weapon. Since he had now been able to increase the ranking of his rune ink to the greatest rank, he should be able to forge a super ice magic sword with that last perfect perfect blue gem he had.
After Abel had this idea, he had an urge to go back to the blacksmith guild immediately. However, he knew his body was still too weak. He needed a good rest before experimenting again.
Abel took out his rune brush, dipped it into some rune ink, and proceeded to draw runes on to a long block of wood. This was the only way he could think of to increase his power of the will, and only real rune ink could perfectly provoke his power of the will. Normal ink could not achieve this effect at all. It’s a waste, but whatever. Steward Lindsey had already gotten some new ingredients from the Mercenary Union, and he had 5 figures worth of gold coins in his Horadric cube. Abel couldn’t help but curl his lips, I’m too rich anyway.
Abel’s brush strokes were sometimes vicious like a snake, yet sometimes smooth like a river. He drew his familiar fire rune on to the wood. The rune ink continued to drain his power of the will. When Abel felt like he had completed the rune, suddenly the rune on the wood began to turn black. It was like the rune was attracting some unknown substances from the atmosphere. Soon the wood began to burn and turned in to charcoal.
Runes could absorb energy from the atmosphere. It was the first time Abel had drawn a rune on something nonmetal, he did not expect things like this would occur.
Runes were actually very unbalanced magic symbols. If a sense of balance wasn’t achieved by applying the suitable rune ink on to a corresponding surface. The energy it attracted from the atmosphere would continue to build up until it damaged the surface of whatever material it was on. Sometimes it would even end in an explosion.
All the rune inks Abel had were only suitable for metal surface, he didn’t even know rune ink for other types of surface existed. But at the same time, he couldn’t care less. He was only using it to increase his power of the will anyway. He was not expecting to create anything.
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