“These are the fighting styles used on the two continents for more than 6000 years already. Now, after Lord Shen gave us the new martial skills and magic knowledge, we were able to get rid of some weaknesses from the styles. For example, the Elementalist won’t have any more problems with the mana-consumption and the casting time. A destroyer would be able to show bigger mobility and a Soul Seer would be able of magic and martial combat comparable to the other classes. And so on, more disadvantages from all the styles we’re detected then gotten rid of while the qualities were more accentuated, making the styles rise in power to more than three times from before.” → Gerome
“Uoaah~!”
The children were elated but they weren’t the only ones. The players that listened from the sides were just as excited. They knew the best about their own class’ weakness, wishing to get rid of them as fast as possible.
“Now. We’ll divide into groups. Together with me, there will be 9 teachers who’ll teach you about the respective fighting styles; I’ll teach the Destroyer’s form. Anyone who’s confident in their brute strength or admires brute power, please feel free to come and learn under me.” → Gerome
Gerome explained with a calm face, pretty contradictory for a Destroyer.
“Miss Tama will teach the Elementalist’s Style.” → Gerome
“Hello everyone~. I’m a fairy with the element of earth. Elementals are normally focused on fire and frost but that’s not a rule. If you have a strong affinity with at least one element you can become an Elementalist without a problem.” → Tama
Tama said in a sweet smile, making the smaller ones stare at her with shining eyes.
“Mister Bernard will teach the Martial Master’s form.” → Gerome
“Firm as a mountain. Only with a strong foundation, one can reach far. Together with power, one must get a disciplined heart and a calm mind. I await anyone who wishes to learn from me.“ → Bernard
Bernard said with a neutral voice fur strong aura, making the teenagers look at him with admiration.
“Miss Reva will teach the Magic Swordmen’s Style.” → Gerome
“Hi~. I’m Reva of the bear-man race, a player who came a few days ago together with our leader Shiroko. The Magic Swordsman focuses on magic attacks together with speed and mobility. Now with the new knowledge about magic and martial arts, we might be able to strengthen this style even further together!” → Reva
A beautiful young lady said while making many boys and young men together, blush for a moment.
“The Sword Warrior’s Style will be taught by Mister Jack.” → Gerome
“Greetings. I’m Jack from Andrew’s group. Sword Warrior’s style is mostly focused on the power of the spirit and will. If you think your will and spirit are not strong enough then I don’t recommend learning under me. Only those with a strong conviction can go far on the road of greatness.” → Jack
Jack said with a serious face, igniting a fire in the more mature youngsters.
“By Mister Shishu will be taught the Assassin’s form.” → Gerome
“My name is Shishu from the Spirit-fox race, more exactly the black-fox tribe. If you wish to be an assassin then you need the resolve to kill while the technique comes after. If you don’t have the guts, then the slightest hesitation might bring your own death. We strike to kill and if we fail we retreat and await for the second opportunity. As much as possible, never fight a losing battle.” → Shinshu
Shishu’s eyes shone with a deadly light, scarring the most of them while making the rest curious.
“Miss Lilia will teach the Sword Master’s Style.” → Gerome
“Name is Lilia of the demon race from the Gruenoire clan. I will take Andrew’s place until he comes back from his journey. The sword is the ideal weapon created from times immemorial. Being able to fully control the sword can be viewed as a ridiculous dream for a lot of people, but after studying Lord Shen’s library, I was able to find much easier ways to bring forth the true potential of it. Growing fast, strong and accurate is already a dream that became reality for me. If you wish to take the path of the sword then feel free to come and study under me.” → Lilia
With a calm and composed manner, she welcomed everyone who seemed interested.
“The Spirit Fighter’s style will be taught by Miss Aura.” → Gerome
“Good to know you, everyone. My name is Aura and I’m of the fairy race. The Spirit Fighter can also be named a Jack-of-all-Trades. You can fight from up-close and from afar! You can control the elements around to weaken the enemy and the inner power to strike them from a safe place. You can also go for a fist-to-fist confrontation with your opponents, dealing destructive blows one after the other. I await anyone who’s willing to learn the way of a Spirit Fighter!” → Aura
Aura bowed and greeted with a brilliant smile.
“Lastly. The one who would teach the way of a Soul Seer will be our Queen Bonny!” → Gerome
“!!!”
Everyone was shocked and surprised by the news. They never expected for the queen herself to go out of her way to teach the children martial arts and magic.
“Please don’t be like this, everyone. In such dire moments, we can’t think of things like ranks or status. Everyone must do their best and work together to make the Antara Kingdom a flourishing and warm place for everybody!” → Bonny
“Oaaah!”
The children and the teachers approved together.
“Now, my name is Bonny of a dragoon race, also a player. Wife of King Ryu and disciple of Master Shen. I’ve been taught by Shen a lot of tips and tricks that Soul Seer could use to get stronger. Even though this style is not that common if you’re able to see what the others can’t then don’t shy away and reveal your true talents, using them to grow stronger and wiser is nothing to be afraid of. If you have the qualities of a Soul Seer then please come this way and let me teach you how to control this wonderful power.” → Bonny
Bonny smiled beautifully at the crowd of little children and young men.
“Now. Everyone, feel free to choose the forms you wish to learn. Feel free to ask questions, the teachers will try to answer as many as possible.” → Gerome
Gerome announced then got on the line with the other teachers.
“Yes~!”
The children started to choose a style but only after seeing some examples of abilities from each class. The teachers had to go outside the fortress to present their skills.
“ARGH!” → Gerome
Gerome swung his hammer with full power producing such a ridiculous shock wave, the ground broke and cracked even though he swung parallel to it. The faraway trees were uprooted and smashed by the shockwave, while everything in front of the shockwave was sent flying and turned to pieces.
“Fuu… Reaching Grandmaster at such an old age is not really that favorable.”
It seems Gerome combined [Shattering Swing] with the ‘Feng’ (wind) set of martial arts, strengthening the shock wave.
“Ha!” → Bernard
Bernard then made the [Axe Kick] and the shockwave reached forward and broke a boulder in two while the hard step cracked the ground and created a little earthquake.
“I finally got the hands of the ‘Shan’ (mountain) Set.” → Bernard
Bernard smiled satisfied.
Lilia made a step forward, disappearing then reappearing 5m in front with her sword unsheathed. She used [Forward Sword] together with the ‘Lei’ (thunder) Set, making for two swifts cuts and moving at an even faster speed than before, looking as if she teleported, leaving behind lightning traces and deep cuts on the ground.
“It seems that my speed grew again.” → Lilia
Lilia said with a pleased smile.
“ROAAH!” → Jack
Jack jumped then he swung his sword 3 times in midair, producing 3 fiery sword-waves which exploded after making contact with the ground then at his landing, he swung hard, smashing the ground, making for a crater under him.
“Just by adding the ‘Huo’ (fire) set to my skills, I can show power comparable to a Grandmaster.” → Jack
Every time he did that, Jack was always surprised by the efficiency and usefulness of the ‘Trigram’s Set’. He was confident of being able to fight against a Grandmaster now, even though he was only an Energy Master at the intermediate stage.
“HYA~!” → Aura
Little Aura created above her head a huge energy-ball with the element of frost in it. She launched it with both hands forward. It moved slowly but the huge size compensated for it. After crashing to the ground it exploded, creating a crater and everywhere around it, a layer of frost appeared.
“The Shui (water) Set can be used in combination with my every move. Amazing!” → Aura
“[Sario’s Godly Spear]” → Tama
Tama shouted the name of a spell and from above her head, a huge stone spear materialized, appearing as huge as four middle towers from inside the kingdom, falling down and penetrating the ground, the head of the spear disappearing underground while the earth cracked, looking like a spider web.
“Without a chant and the power is still the same, incredible.” → Tama
Shishu used shadow step and threw a dagger toward a tree. While using shadow step, 2 more shadows appeared which mimicked the same throwing move. On the tree, beside the dagger, there were 2 more holes.
“The ‘Hei’ (Darkness) Set will be really useful in my future missions.” → Shishu
Shishu said, feeling some expectations.
“[Elemental Disintegration Area]” → Aria
Aria activated her spell and 5 swords of different elements of Fire, Frost, Wind, Earth, and Light stabbed the ground forming a pentagon. Inside the Pentagon, a pentagram was formed and a huge pillar of all 5 colors appeared. Everything inside the Pentagon was completely destroyed to a molecular level, making the respective space completely void of air for a short moment
“T-the power output is ridiculously huge! I won’t exaggerate if I say the power is around twenty times stronger! Using the same amount of mana on controlling more mana from around to create this magic can form a rather ridiculous spell.” → Aria
Aria was sweating. She never imagined that by using the same amount of mana like before, only to control the mana around and activate the magic with it, it would create such a difference.
Shen was extremely specific when he wrote inside the book that, the moment you release mana around to take control over the energies around, the amount you’ll have under your control will rise to close to 10 times. Your mana working like glue, any kind of form of energy from around will remain glued to it, falling under your control after entering in contact with it.
I wonder how strong was sir Gabriel before. And how ridiculously strong is Sir Shen right now! → Aria
“Well, if you wish for me to show the true strength of a Soul Seer then I’ll need some opponents.” → Bonny
Bonny said with a smiling face. [Summon the Sun] is an ability copied from the Elementals and Magic Swordsmen. Soul Seers had their worth in their ability to see the weakness of the enemy. Flashy moves are not their characteristic.
“‘Some opponents’? So is alright if there are even 3 of us?”
3 players volunteered while taking a step forward. They were a Sword Warrior, a Martial Master, and a Sword Master, all volunteering because they wished to see the real potential of a Soul Seer.
“It’s alright. I was made by Shen to learn martial arts and magic even though my class is that of a mage.” → Bonny
Bonny smiled wryly, making the others to feel some pity for her.
“Ahaha~. Must’ve been tough.”
The Martial Master laughed drily then he took a fighting stance with a serious gaze.
Being Master Shen’s disciple, I’ll expect from her Highness to show outstanding performance.
The other’s eyes shone with expectations, they didn’t even think of underestimating her. After preparing, the Martial Master shouted out the order.
“GO!”
“Ha!”
The 3 suddenly appeared beside Bonny and each of them used the fastest skill they had.
“[Demonic Fist]”
The martial artist punched forward, his fist being enveloped in dark flames. The flames looked as if they would burn all and everything, giving a dangerous feeling.
“[Swift Kill]”
The Sword Master prepared to side-step behind Bonny and cut at her throat with a flash.
“[Handle Strike]”
The Sword Warrior wanted to stun Bonny by making a quick strike at her head with his sword’s handle, leaving the others to finish her.
“[Soul Eyes: Weakness Detection] [Movement Prediction]” → Bonny
Bonny’s purple eyes shone and saw everything in slow motion, activating her skill even before they had time to move. She looked at the three and already knew what she had to do. She made a back-step to the left right when the 3 almost landed their respective abilities and she simply slapped the shoulder of the Martial Master, deviating his punch for a few centimeters toward the Sword Master’s strike.
After the two skills entered in contact with each other, the Martial Master’s fiery fist exploded forward and the Sword Master’s Sword cut the explosion in half, making half go toward Bonny’s right, not even touching her, while the other half covering the Sword Warrior, making him retreat.
“Gugh!”
The Sword Warrior felt the burst to the fullest, making him retreat.
“Huh?!”
The Martial Master was dumbfounded, not understanding what happened, seeing how a part of his strike landed on his partner.
“Eh?”
The Sword Master was in the same predicament, seeing a burning mark on his blade.
They wanted to strike from left front, right-front and right-back of Bonny. They knew she’ll try to evade them toward the only opening they intentionally left, which was front-left, but they didn’t expect for the Martial Master’s strike to deviate while she only moved for a few centimeters.
“In a battle, you don’t have the time to be surprised~.” → Bonny
Bonny’s fingertips touched the necks of the Martial Master and the Sword Master, making them freeze.
W-what a fearsome aura.
Both of them were able to feel the threatening aura Bonny emanated, making her fingers feel like daggers.
“I wish everyone was able to see what just happened. Initially, a Soul Seer was able to see only the weakness of the enemy but with some tricks from Master Shen, a Soul Seer now can predict the movements of the opponent with two seconds before they move and strengthen the perception, feeling like the time slowed down. Such an ability can give you the liberty to show incredible abilities in close-combat and a higher concentration power for spells. You could say that together with the new adjustments added to the Soul Seer, this form became a universal class, useful for any type of form of fighting.” → Bonny
“…”
Everyone was dumbfounded.
I should have made a Soul Seer as my main class!
The players were feeling like crying, they never knew about the hidden potential of a Soul Seer. More like, they never even though that they would be transported into another world! Let alone discover this wonderous hidden potential of the Soul Seer.
“Not fair…”
The three fell on their knees, completely depressed knowing that, however good they might be on their own class, there will always be a Soul Seer better than them from now on.
“Ahaha~…”
Bonny laughed drily while feeling some pity for the players.
I can’t tell them about how Shen focused more on researching the Soul Seer mainly because Sylvia was a Soul Seer, wishing to make her even stronger. → Bonny
“Well, these kinds of tricks are useful mostly against inexperienced fighters, especially the players who still can’t control their own powers.” → Bonny
Bonny said calmly, making the players twitch.
At the end of the day, each teacher had almost an even number of students, the total being 623. Bonny had the fewest, making the need for Soul Eyes a rather harsh requirement to learn the Soul Seer style. She had only 4 students, a young fox girl of around 7 years old, a young mouse boy of the age of 10, a young man at the age of 15, he was of the human race and a little girl from the pig-tribe only 8 years old.
“Oh my. There are so few of you. It seems the Soul Eyes are quite the rare gift.” → Bonny
Bonny was surprised by how rare the Soul Seer could be in this world.
Even in-game, it was rare to meet a Soul Seer but mostly because nobody really wanted to play it, it was the hardest class to grow and it was pretty boring to play solo, especially for a support class. → Bonny
After everyone finished choosing their teacher and future fighting style, they were sent back home and told to meet up in the same place the next day in the morning. After they left, the adults came to start training. They too had to be taught the different styles but because they already knew the basics, all they needed to do was train in the skills of the respective classes and combine them together with the knowledge from Shen, attaining even more power.
[[[POV CHANGES TO RYU]]]
“I’m really thankful, Sir Bernard.” → Ryu
Ryu said to Bernard with an apologetic smile. Bernard rushed inside Ryu’s office after he finished with the children, having a very important-but-not-that-urgent piece of news.
“I’ll ask next time to cast a silencing spell from the very beginning, my king. What if children happened to be nearby at that time?” → Bernard
Bernard massaged his forehead, not knowing what to say if a child would suddenly ask him what happened inside the main tower for moans and shouts to be heard in the morning.
“I-I’ll be sure to do that.” → Ryu
Ryu was extremely embarrassed at the moment, trying to change the subject as quick as possible.
“Cough Anyway, why did you come here today, Bernard? Anything to report?” → Ryu
“Yes.” → Bernard
Bernard became serious and started talking.
“The mouse beast-men we’ve sent as spies inside the neighboring kingdoms reported about scouting parties being sent this way. The Urius Kingdom sent an army of 2000 warriors; 500 mages, 500 fighters, 500 heavy armored warriors and 500 assassins to scout the surroundings while the Victoria Kingdom sent a little party of 20 people made from various classes, the scouts suspect some of them to be players.” → Bernard
“A party of 2000 and a party of 20? Isn’t the difference a little bit too big?” → Ryu
Ryu asked with a frown, he couldn’t tell why the difference in number was so ridiculous.
“The King of Urius, Geffrey Arius, is known to be a forceful man. He would attack anything that isn’t an ally. He might be thinking the reason for no waves appearing from this region to be a newly-made nest, a high ranked beast or some other reason that might endanger his kingdom. Bringing an army this way might be so he could get rid of the threat.” → Bernard
“Damn. A troublesome person… No surprise why the church can take so easily advantage of him, we might have to prepare our troops by now.” → Ryu
Ryu said with disdain, he already hated that king.
“And about the Victoria kingdom? Do you have any information that might reason with the little numbers in their scouting party?” → Ryu
“The ruler of Victoria Kingdom is the newly appointed Queen, Lorana Victoria. The scouts were able to find some rumors about her. It seems she’s only 17 years old, she’s the oldest daughter of the last Queen, Daria Victoria. She has another brother of 14 years old and a little sister that was born a month ago, being also the reason of Queen Daria’s death. There are a lot of nasty rumors about her, saying that she’s going to destroy the kingdom from inside because of her immaturity and naivety, but there are also some good ones about how she’s trying to keep the peace with the Urius Kingdom and do what her mother did before she died, which was something about keeping the economic balance stable inside the kingdom.” → Bernard
“Hmmm. If she can be an ally or an enemy, this we will see in the future. I pity her misfortune of being a ruler at such a young age but if she seems to be threatening then we’ll have to destroy her as quick as possible before she grows any more problematic.” → Ryu
Ryu said unwaveringly. If it were for his kingdom, he was able to kill anyone and anything, be them children, women, elderly. If it threatened his kingdom then he would eliminate them.
We’ll never start conquering but if someone else does so, then don’t blame me for being ruthless. → Ryu
“Yes, my King.” → Bernard
Bernard admired the firmness Ryu had in his voice and nodded lightly.
It seems the Antara Kingdom is in stable hands. → Ryu
“How much till the two groups arrive?” → Ryu
“The Victoria Kingdom is the closest and they have a smaller group. They should take around 14 days, adding the fact that they already left the city from the borders 2 days ago. The Urius army should take around 20 Days. The mobility of an army is low, so they will take more time to travel through the forests and they also need to carry the necessary provisions, making them even slower.” → Bernard
“…How come you know so much about this?” → Ryu
Ryu was surprised by Bernard’s knowledge.
“I’m from a militaristic family. I must know at least this much.” → Bernard
Bernard said with modesty while bowing his head.
“Hoh~. Think you can control a 1000 men army?” → Ryu
Ryu asked probingly.
“It shouldn’t be a problem.” → Bernard
“Perfect. If bad comes to worse, I’ll have to waste more energy stones on Ken and Isa but if that fails and an all-out war begins, I’ll be in yours and Gregor’s care.” → Ryu
“It’s an honor, your majesty.” → Bernard
“And please stop calling me that.” → Ryu
“…Yes, sir.” → Bernard
While Ryu expanded and fortified the walls, Shen was on his way to the Pirate’s Peninsula or how Bururiba liked to call it: “The World of Pleasure.”
