Frinton's Training Hall, Room 41…
Bam!
Chrysos punched a wooden dummy with the rock fist spell and it broke into tiny pieces just from one punch. It couldn't really be called a 'fist' though, since it looked like an elongated earthen arm that can punch really, really hard.
Chrysos canceled the spell and the earthen material from his extended fist fell off as dust. He dusted off his coat and his arms and thought of how powerful the spell was.
"I'm not sure if the spell increases my strength or it's just that I'm even stronger than before." Chrysos played around with the rock fist and tested its limits like how fast it can form and how fast it faded away.
During his tests, he saw that he could extend the rock fist's length and it could work like an arm that he could control. He stood at one corner of the room and used the rock fist to grab a piece of broken wood using the rock fist spell.
He poured Divinious into the magic circle which made the rock fist extend even more like a very long arm made of rocks. He grabbed a piece of wood which was the dummy's head and brought it back by shrinking the length of the rock arm until his hand grabbed it.
"So this could work like a grappling hook." Chrysos thought of multiple applications of the spell and what situations it would become useful.
Chrysos knew that this would be helpful if he ever gets into a tight situation that he couldn't handle by normal means.
He moved on to Caziwair's series of sword techniques.
The rare tiered scrolls were Blade Storm, Sword of the Worthy, Swordsman's Willpower, Caziwair Serpent Sword and finally, The Blade of Calm Meadows are all sword based Divinious abilities that work amazingly.
The strange tier sword arts are called Caziwair's Sword Of Fortune Form I and Form II. Aside from those two, there is no other strange tier sword arts from Alsan Caziwair.
Chrysos studied Blade Storm first and it was more focused on a spinning attack to chip away and continuously attack the opponent. Its main purpose is to overwhelm the opponent to prevent them from counterattacking.
The sword technique is very straightforward to learn and the scroll even has the portrait of Alsan Caziwair. He has a short beard and his disposition clearly tells anyone that he's an expert. From the black ink, Chrysos couldn't tell any other notable features except Alsan's wrinkly forehead.
Chrysos studied the principles behind Blade Storm and saw that there were a lot of symbols included in the magic circle in order to achieve the desired effect of overwhelming the enemy.
He studied it for forty five minutes and then he started constructing the magic circle.
He saw many speed symbols and many symbols that contributed to force. So from what he could surmise, if the Blade Storm spell was displayed at full strength, the enemy will be bombarded with powerful and quick strikes.
After Chrysos finished making the magic circle, he unsheathed his sword and tried it out. He summoned a threefold magic circle.
Normally, a magic circle only has one layer that has all of the symbols and markings to make the spell usable with a large marking in the center to serve as the main structure of the spell. But, one can also make a magic circle with layers.
If a magic circle is being supported by the center symbol, the second layer is supported by the first layer of symbols and markings. And to make the second layer activate without crumbling, one has to put another center symbol to prevent the second layer from collapsing. Albeit a smaller one, when made them being called Supporting Layer Symbols.
The threefold magic circle in Chrysos' hands had a silver main magic circle, a shiny bronze secondary layer magic circle, and a hazy green third layer.
According to the instructions from the scroll, the magic circle must be put into the hand holding the sword to activate it.
Chrysos did as told, and he suddenly felt as if his hand was covered with a strange energy that made it easier for his arms to move and attack.
Swoosh!
Chrysos sliced the air with a horizontal swing of his arm.
"Hm, not bad... I like this." Chrysos smiled and decided to slash the air a few more times.
... Swoosh! swoosh! swoosh! swoosh! swoosh! ...
It was as if a storm occurred inside the training room. The broken pieces of the wooden dummy were flying around the room because of the sheer speed that Chrysos' sword was going.
"Haha, I may have gotten a bit carried away." Chrysos looked around and saw that the training room was littered with broken wood and dust.
Putting his sword back in its sheath, he took out another scroll from the pile and began reading once again.
Sword Of The Worthy.
The first quote on top of the scroll says, "To be worthy of holding a sword, one must learn how to protect with it and stand one's ground. Swordsmanship isn't all attacks, defense is also a must."
"Oh, I agree with you." Chrysos said before reading the contents of the scroll.
Sword Of The Worthy is a sword technique that leaned more on the defensive side rather than the aggressive. The magic circle's symbols are especially focused on defense and firmness.
To absorb the impact and remain still even though there's a barrage of attacks, that's the main purpose of this sword technique.
Chrysos studied this sword technique as well...
Chrysos' house…
Meiros was feeding Vaf and Ralfor.
"C'mon eat up." Meiros patted Vaf's head.
"Oink!" The mushrooms on Vaf's back shook happily to show his mood.
Ralfor was calmly eating the meat of a deer. The bones of the deer made cracking and snapping sounds as Ralfor ate with his powerful jaw.
Meiros couldn't help but reveal a faint smile while watching them eat peacefully like this.
Suddenly, he heard knocking from the front door.
"I'll be back, don't do anything while I'm gone alright?" Meiros went to the front door.
He arrived at the door but he didn't reveal his presence just yet. His master told him to be careful every time he's not in the house.
After all, he's a corrupted one.
If anyone finds out that he was corrupted, he'll be killed on the spot regardless of what he says. And worse, his master might get implicated because Chrysos helped him hide from Ironmountain's guards for months.
He didn't use Divinious or else, anyone nearby who are awakened ones would be able to sense the negative energy.
He waited patiently but the man kept knocking on the door.
"Mister Aurum Laniar, you have a letter from the Arlangier." The man knocked again.
Meiros was surprised. "The Arlangier wants to see the master? But why?"
The man knocked on the door once again.
Meiros didn't make the slightest bit of noise. He narrowed his eyes as he stood by the door.
The man on the door waited for a minute just in case Chrysos, or 'Aurum Laniar' was on his way home.
The man soon became impatient and decided to slip an invitation under the door for Chrysos. After that, Meiros heard footsteps going away from the door.
"Phew..." Meiros sighed in relief. When his eyes landed on the letter, he picked it up and saw that the letter was an exclusive invite for Chrysos only.
The letter was unique as it was decorated with golden prints in the corners, black lines that went across the letter to give it more detail, and finally, a golden crest of the Arlangier embedded with a beautiful green gemstone in the middle that caught Meiros' eye.
"What does the Arlangier want with master?" Meiros grabbed the letter and stood up. Unknowingly bumping a glass of water in the process.
It fell and broke on the floor, which alerted the man that was about to go away. The man walked back to the house and peeked from the keyhole.
The man leaned forward the door and knocked. "Hello? Is somebody there?" He stopped peeking and began knocking once more.
"Ah crap! What should I do??" Meiros thought extensively in milliseconds. "If he finds out that I'm here, he'll know that the master is hiding a corrupted one with him! He'll be heavily punished no matter how much he explains it! Wait.... calm down, what can I do to make him go away?" Meiros thought silently in 0.23 seconds.
He looked around for anything that he could use until Meiros thought of an idea. He silently walked towards the stables and grabbed Vaf.
Vaf looked around without any idea why the human that feeds him was suddenly carrying him. Vaf didn't resist and allowed itself to be carried.
Meiros placed Vaf in the front door and rubbed his back.
"Oink." Vaf enjoyed the back rubs, so he immediately made very normal pig noises.
The man obviously heard a pig inside the house.
"Oh, nevermind I thought there was a person inside." The man coughed to hide his embarrassment and walked away.
This time, Meiros waited for the person to leave completely before he moved from his spot.
"That was so close." Meiros wiped the sweat from his forehead. When he looked down, he saw Vaf looking at him with his head tilted. Very confused why the human who takes care of him took him from the stables.
"Aww, don't worry you'll get a treat for saving me this time." Meiros rubbed his back and Vaf closed his eyes in satisfaction as he enjoyed the relaxing back rubs.
Back to Chrysos…
Chrysos learned the defensive "Sword of the Worthy" and he began learning the Swordsman's Willpower.
Swordsman's Willpower is very useful for breaking through defenses. The sword strikes would be trouble against anyone who would try to parry the strikes from Swordsman's Willpower.
Chrysos began reading the entire thing and it took him fifty minutes to fully understand.
"Oh boy, how much longer do I have to study this?" Chrysos groaned as he thought of how many sword arts he had to learn. Even though it will take a long time to study all of this, he still went ahead and formed the appropriate magic circle.
After the magic lines and symbols formed in his hand, he unsheathed his sword and swung it several times.
He slashed horizontally, aiming for the neck. He slashed downwards from left to right, aiming for the torso. And then he spun it and stabbed his sword for dramatic flair.
A bit of dust was kicked up from Chrysos' movements.
From what he could see, it was the repulsion attribute that makes the technique push things away with powerful force. It was an amazing technique.
Next, Chrysos took the scroll for the Caziwair Serpent Sword.
It was a quick stabbing technique incorporated with Divinious. So, when battling someone, a sudden stab that is too fast to detect until the attack landed will be fatal.
When Chrysos was reading the scroll, he was surprised that this stabbing technique has a lot of stealth Divinious charges in its symbols. This was really interesting coming from a mage. Is Alsan a swordsman in disguise? Chrysos couldn't help but think.
He laughed the idea off and focused on the sword technique.
"Yeah, from his age in the portrait, there's no way he can still wield a sword properly…" Chrysos was about to leave it at that until he realized something that was a very common trope back on earth. "Hold on, aren't old swordsmen always the ones who can beat up most people despite their age? Nevermind, I can't underestimate this man.." Chrysos began to subconsciously accept that even old men and women down the street could easily beat him up if he blindly provoked them.
But since he wasn't a troublemaker, he didn't worry too much, he just engrossed himself in the scroll.
This time, it took him ten minutes only since it's only one move that could be activated quickly during battle.
Summoning the magic circle from his Divinious Heart, the turquoise magic circle in his hands began trembling as he poured Divinious into it. He released the built up pressure from the spell and used the stabbing attack that the scroll described.
Fwoom!
Chrysos saw that the stab has a lot of piercing power put into it even if it was just a casual stab from his sword. If Chrysos put more strength into it, he was certain that he could stab the rhino if he fought it again. He just needed to get rid of the habit of charging the magic circle since it doesn't matter anyway. It only depends on the direction of the stab and how much power you're putting on your arms.
He then took the last scroll that he's planning to learn for today. The last two forms of the Sword of Fortune will have to wait since he also needs to brew potions to sell and use during his quests.
The Blade Of Calm Meadows.
Chrysos held the scroll gently. "What a nice name." It reminded him of the song called "The Calm Meadows" that his mother used to sing to him as a child.
Sighing in his heart, Chrysos began reading the contents of the scroll.
The sword technique was very balanced. The magic circle helped the speed of the sword to increase over time and it also helped the precision of the strike to increase.
"Only someone with a calm heart can express everything they wish without hindrance." Chrysos saw one peculiar line from the scroll. He didn't get the meaning of this at first and began to read the scroll.
He continued reading the contents and he was done in an hour. He formed the necessary magic circles and executed the sword technique.
Shwing!
Chrysos found out that his sword strike wasn't as powerful as he expected.
"What?" Chrysos swung his sword again.
The sword was even more unstable and it lost even more power than the previous slash.
Chrysos felt frustrated. He slashed again and again but the results became worse and worse.
He checked the scroll and re-read all of the contents. "Only someone with a calm heart can express everything they wish without hindrance." When Chrysos saw the first line of the scroll, he understood.
"So it's because I'm not calm? How can I be calm in the middle of a battle?" Chrysos sighed. He knew that he didn't have much time for the training room left, so he sheathed his sword, took the scrolls and left the training hall.
As he left, he couldn't help but remember the first sentence of the scroll.
Chrysos shook his head. "Forget it, such a spell will take me lots of time and experience to master. I'm still a novice when it comes to matters like this.. especially fighting…"
He then began to regret not taking his self defense classes seriously back when he was still on earth.
"Gah! Seriously Gerald, what the hell were you thinking??" If he wasn't on the busy streets, he would've already slapped himself for being so unmotivated during training. How nice could it have been if he was at least good at them. Maybe he would've had an easier time during this second life.