Ainz looked at the sheet and how excited he was and couldn't help but shake his head ruefully for someone who once used to be called the strongest monarch of the underworld, his situation was really pitiful, however while his situation was pitiful he wouldn't let it bring him down, if he could become the strongest monarch back then he could also become the strongest in this world, especially now when he had a system that gave him advantages that others couldn't lay their hands on.
After inhaling and exhaling to calm himself, Ainz decided to sort the pile of sheets Bruce gave him, he separated them in an order, putting some on his left, right, and his front, before he began to examine the martial art sheets.
'Each center of power has five sheets.'
In front of him was the Kalamas sword art, it was a two-handed sword art that was created by the kalamas family, looking at the martial art made Ainz realized while the current patriarch was a wizard, the previous ones might have been cultivators themselves, as he went through the description he noticed the sword art was trying to balance offense and defense, perfect for someone who was just walking on the path of a sword cultivator.
With 'mana' the martial art could become powerful enough to shatter even steel and rocks, suitable for rank 1.
The second sheet was called phantom trident art, a one-handed trident art, that's able to quickly switch between offense and defense, compared to the offensive power, its defensive power was rather weak, with 'Mana' can easily penetrate opponent's defense, catching the opponent unprepared, suitable for rank 2.
Yin and yang sword art, a great sword when combined together, but becomes a two-handed sword art when separated, just like yin and yang, able to deflect at the same time counter-attack one's opponent, has excellent defense. With 'mana' can create a shield as strong as steel, suitable for rank 2.
The fourth was a spear art, a one-handed spear art, focused on speed, that can do both offensive and defense at the same time. With 'mana' you can easily cut through your opponent's defense, without the need to make direct contact, suitable for rank 2.
Fortress fingers art, the fortress finger art is a weaponless art that uses fingers as a weapon, excellent offense, and maneuverability to strike one's opponent. With 'mana' able to harden the hands of the user, able to make them stop blades or release strikes from long distance that can cause damage to opponents, suitable for rank 2, hardening effects is permanent after training.
After going through them, Ainz began to arrange which weapon art he wanted to use. While he was in deep thought, Bruce suddenly opened his eyes and stared at him for a moment, before saying.
"Just in case you are wondering what the rank represents, they are not only used to differentiate how powerful a cultivator is, but it also represent the potential of the technique from the user to mana. It is basically another way to define how effective and destructive these techniques can be at their peak. This also applies to wizards as well, but like I said that will be put aside for now, let's focus."
Although Ainz already knew them, but he just let Bruce explain anyway, it would be bad if he appeared to know too much about cultivation, so he kept quiet.
After Bruce was done, he closed his eyes once more, letting Ainz do whatever he was doing before, looking at the sheets again, the first thing Ainz decided to take out was the fortress fingers, they were as good as useless to him, the first reason was, he already had a strong body than a rank 1 cultivator, and with the wyvern king technique, his body will continue to grow stronger and mutate.
Secondly, he had always used a weapon, after that, he also decided to take out the sword art of the Kalamas family, besides the fact it was ranked 1 at best, he was more used to long-handed weapons, which now left him with the phantom trident art and spear art.
'Both arts could be said to be very suitable for me, including the trident art but with my knowledge of weapons, its maneuverability is very lacking compared to a spear, besides the obvious downside of it being much heavier, and difficult to control during fight, it's nothing more than a petty trick when in front of a fast or large opponents.'
With the trident art out, the only sheet remaining was the one spear art in Ainz's hands, looking at the sheets he couldn't help but smile, "I choose the spear art as my martial art."
One of the reasons he chose the spear art over the others was mostly because back when he was a monarch he had always used a spear, and he wanted to continue doing so in this life as well, there was literally no one more knowledgeable with the spear than he was.
Hearing what he said, Bruce looked at him with a raised brow, as if he was trying to confirm if that was his final choice, and when he saw Ainz didn't react, he nodded before adding.
"Good choice kid, since you need to be free on the front lines, this is the perfect choice for you, although it will be a bit hard at the beginning since it is longer than you at the moment, but with time I am sure you will understand how good of a choice you made."