Chapter 74. The Sword master Jackson (2)
In a room, an old man was swinging his sword with immense concentration and there was a blue aura around him.
His hair was white but one can easily see the muscles on his body.
Apart from the muscles, scars filled his whole body. Those were the scars he had gained after countless number of fights.
Some he won, some he lost but he came out alive from all of them.
"Ahh…"
After swinging his sword for five hours, the old man finally put down his sword.
He then let out a sigh and thought about the thing he was worrying about for quite a while.
'It's been a long time since I had met a worthy opponent.'
The old man's heart ached when he thought about that problem. He wondered when was the last time he had battled a worthy opponent.
Was it 5 years ago? No, it was 10 years ago.
"Becoming one of the masters of the sword also meant that there are only few people who are equal to me…"
That was the worry of the old man who was also titled as one of the masters of the sword in the whole world.
He was the Sword master Jackson.
Jackson was always fascinated about swords. When he was little, HR had left his village to go on a journey to learn the essence of the sword.
In his journey, he had met countless people who he had fought with. He lost most of the battles in the start but he improved.
He gradually started winning more battles.
Before he knew it, he had become one of the Sword masters.
It was a big deal especially because he had never received any formal training.
His motto was simple.
You can improve by fighting worthy opponents. Each loss will tell you more about your weakness and by working on them, you can improve.
He had improved that way and he had also taught his disciples the same thing.
After getting crowned as one of the Sword masters, he had travelled the world to fight more worthy opponents.
He had participated in the battles that had slashed the whole sky and each of his strikes was enough to cause massive destruction.
But slowly, he had battled with every possible opponent.
There was no one for him to beat and the only thing he could do was to train his disciples.
Many kingdoms and empires called him to live in their royal palace and teach the princes and princess the way of sword but he had refused them.
He was never the type of person to covet riches.
So, he had just opened a Training center in the capital of the Althiem empire, the empire he belonged to.
Like that, 10 years have passed.
Jackson had taught many disciples in these 10 years but he has always felt that something was missing in his life.
That thing has slowly become his worry.
'I'm itching for a good battle.'
Jackson wanted to fight a worthy opponent. He wanted to take part in a battle where there was a chance that he would lose.
"Ahh… What's going on outside?"
As he let out another sigh, Jackson suddenly heard some sounds coming from outside.
His hearing was enhanced despite his old age. He can clearly hear any sound in a certain radius.
And the sound coming from outside was greatly familiar to him.
"Someone is having a battle outside."
The sound was of metal clashing against each other. Jackson stayed seated as he silently heard the voice of metal clashing.
Soon, the sound ceased to exist.
It seemed like the battle had finished but soon, the sound of metal clashing each other was again heard.
Like that, the sounds kept flowing for quite a while.
"I should take a look."
As the sound didn't stop even after a while, Jackson wondered what was going on.
But as he was about to stand up, one of the disciples came running in.
"What's going on?
"M-master, there is someone outside who is defeating all the senior brothers."
"Huh? Tell me about the whole thing."
The panting disciple started to narrate the events.
"So, Number 23 challenged a chosen one for a duel and lost."
For record, Jackson had named all of his disciples by the order he had taken them in.
Number 23 was his 23rd disciple and also the instructor who has challenged Ian.
"Yeah, he lost quickly and then the other senior brothers decided to challenge that chosen one."
'Number 23 had only learned the sword for 3 years. It was understandable that he had lost.'
Jackson thought and continued to ask.
"What happened after that?"
"Yes. After that, Senior brother 19 decided to challenge him."
"Ohh."
Number 19 had learned the sword for over 5 years. There was no way that the chosen won would have won…
"He lost too."
"Huh? He lost. What happened after that?"
"Brother 18, 16 and even Brother 14 fought him but they all lost."
They were learning the sword for 6, 8 and 10 years respectively. It was hard to believe that they lost to a chosen one in skills.
"Isn't the chosen one tired after all those battles? Even one battle is enough to tire him."
The disciple shook his head and answered.
"He is drinking some sort of potion to regenerate his fatigue."
'Ah, can he be the worthy opponent I was looking for?'
Jackson thought but it was too soon to think like that.
From what he knows about the chosen ones, they came from an unknown and weird world and they can revive after dying.
Moreover, they are an incomprehensible bunch of people.
Jackson had never thought much about the chosen ones but it seems like they were more interesting than he had thought.
"Take me there."
He ordered his disciple and both of them quickly reached the background.
"Wah…"
When Jackson reached there, he noticed his disciples forming a group to stare at a man who was panting on the ground.
His chest was heaving up and down and sweat was all over his body.
Besides him, there was a practice spear. Jackson's eyes shined when he saw that scene.
* * *
Pant! Pant! Pant!
Ian's chest heaved up and down as he felt immense fatigue in his body. It was like someone was pressing him down.
He even has difficulty standing up.
It was because of one reason.
'I should not have agreed to those duels.'
Ian thought as he thought about the five duels he had. The only reason he has even accepted them was because of the rewards the instructors were willing to give him.
He had also won the duels but his satiety level had quickly decreased.
The only reason he was even able to go through five duels was because of his new recipe.
* * *
The tea is made up of medicinal herbs that can be found anywhere. This tea was made after several failed attempts.
Drinking this would increase your satiety by 50% and decrease the fatigue in your body. It would also increase your health by 10%.
* * *
Ian has made this after several failed attempts and he was drinking this to recover his satiety.
But even the Regenerating tea has finished before his fifth duel. Now, his satiety level was below 10% and he can even die now.
'What's with this commotion?'
Suddenly, Ian heard the instructors talking to someone.
He was vaguely able to understand their conversations.
"Master, I'm sorry but we lost to this chosen one and he even uses a spear."
"You don't have to worry about that. Losing to someone isn't a bad thing. Just reflect on why you lost."
"M-master…"
"Anyway, Is he the chosen one you lost to?"
"Yeah."
"He doesn't look special."
'Master? Chosen one? Ain't that me?'
Feeling that they were talking about him, Ian curled up his body.
He focused on his vision that was getting blurry and saw that the instructors were rounding up an old man.
The old man was looking towards him with some sort of interest in his eyes.
"What is your name?"
"Ah, it's I-ian."
"Ian? That's a good name."
"Umm."
Ian replied sheepishly and the old man started looking at his body. Ian quivered when he felt his gaze but he didn't shy away.
"Haha, you look tired."
"Yeah���"
Tired? Of course, he would be tired after fighting with five burly looking instructors.
He was so tired that he wanted to log off and go to sleep. His fatigue was not only physical but also mental.
"Let me do something about your fatigue."
"Ah, what are you…?"
Before Ian could say more, the old man crouched down and put his hand on Ian's chest.
A blue aura formed around the old man's hand and it slowly flowed into Ian's body.
"Ahh!!"
Ian felt like his body was filled with immense energy and at the same time, he felt pain but the pain was quickly suppressed.
Only the feeling of vitality remained in his body.
Ian's eyes shook when he looked at his satiety. His satiety was filled instantly and he could still feel that blue aura in his body.
At that moment, another message appeared in front of him.
At that moment, the blue aura in his body suddenly dissipated and got mixed in his body, increasing his strength permanently.
"What the…?!"
Ian was shell shocked this time. His eyes moved between the system messages and the old man who was smiling like he was amused.
'I should calm down first.'
Ian thought and looked at the old man in front of him.
"Who are you?"
He can naturally tell that the old man was not a normal person and even the instructors were calling him 'Master'.
"My name is Jackson but people refer to me as the Sword master Jackson. The people you beat just now were my disciples."
Sword master!!
Masters were the people who had attained the highest proficiency in a skill.
Most of them were hidden experts and no one knows where they are.
The old man in front of him was one such master. A person who had reached the pinnacle of the sword.
Now, the question in Ian's mind was…
'Why is such a person here?'
It doesn't make sense for someone like a Sword master to be here, but Ian also knows that Ark was full of unpredictable things.
A normal restaurant owner can be a poison expert and a school teacher can be a retired assassin.
It made for sense to Ian when he thought about that.
'Will he take revenge for me beating up his disciples?'
That was the second question in his mind.
"Don't worry, I don't mind you beating up my disciples."
Like he had already noticed what Ian was thinking, Jackson asked.
"Ah, then?"
Ian asked while standing up.
Now that his satiety was full now, his body was at least full of vitality. There was no reason to just lay on the ground.
"I just wanted to know how you were able to defeat my disciples."
"What do you mean?"
"I can't believe that my disciples lost just because they were weak. That answer is too vague and something only immatures would give. I wanted to know the 'real' reason."
Ian began to think about the duels he had with the instructors.
It was not like they were blood battles. They were simple duels and Ian had won in all of them.
He had defeated the disciples of the Sword master. They were all strong opponents but Ian had still won.
Why was that?
Thinking about that, Ian opened his mouth.