Chapter 122
“Haa, it’s really different,” Raul admitted defeat.
Despite facing Dylan and Raul at the same time, Count Melvin effortlessly defended against their attacks and eventually forced them to surrender.
Expert-level swordsmanship.
Level 8 Intermediate Psychokinesis.
Various buff skills and abilities like Flicker.
Even though Raul had employed most of the techniques he could currently use, it was all in vain against Count Melvin.
“I thought there was only a slight gap between us…”
It seemed he had underestimated the situation too easily.
The levels of a Sword Expert are divided based on proficiency in manipulating Mana Blades.
Basic level – creating Mana Blades.
Intermediate level – transforming forms.
Advanced level – projecting outward.
And the highest level – temporarily creating an Aura Blade.
However, this classification system was just a rough guideline and fell short in evaluating true abilities.
In reality, Raul had sometimes won against Intermediate and Advanced knights in bouts despite being at the Basic level.
Even knights of the same level varied greatly in skill.
Yet, even taking that into account, Count Melvin’s skill was overwhelming.
‘Comparable to the Sword Master I fought in my past life… No, in some aspects, he could be considered superior.’
In his past life, Bae Dohyun had multiple battles against a Sword Master as an Advanced Psychokinesis user.
He easily defeated player Sword Masters, but facing NPC Sword Masters was a different story.
Partly due to the Power Armor that chewed up players, NPC Masters’ sword skills were simply unmatched.
Now, with his somewhat regained past skills, Raul judged that Count Melvin’s actual skill level was worthy of comparison to those NPC Masters. It was almost strange that he had not yet reached the rank of a Sword Master.
“What on earth is the problem?”
Just looking at the analysis, it was difficult to guess the Count’s status.
[Level 99. 99.99999…%]
The level and experience bar of the Count remained unchanged from the first time Raul saw him until now.
Even though a year had passed, the stats in the status window seemed fixed without any change.
Philip, who reached the highest rank as an expert six months ago, was also at Level 99, just like before.
However, there was a slight increase in experience points, and it had crossed the 10% mark before anyone noticed.
“In truth, there are some guesses I can make…”
If that was indeed the case, it was an incredibly cruel truth for Count Melvin, who had dedicated decades to swordsmanship training.
As Raul, pondering how to turn his father into a Sword Master, felt the Count’s large hand patting his shoulder.
“Why the long face? Are you so indignant towards this father of yours for being broken like that?”
“Oh, no. It’s not that, fathrer.”
The Count chuckled while ruffling Raul’s hair.
“You’ve really grown a lot. I knew your skills had improved through reports, but I didn’t expect this much. If I had noticed your potential a little sooner, I wouldn’t have made you suffer so much…”
The Count still seemed to see Raul as the struggling figure he was before becoming an adult.
“No, father. Because of the process, I am who I am today.”
Then, Dylan, who was doing push-ups next to them, turned his head slightly to Raul and spoke.
“I’m sorry I didn’t pay much attention. Even if you were struggling, I should have passed down the perfect physical training your brothers had since childhood.”
‘Ha…! If that had really happened, Raul would probably have gone to the heavenly realm early.’
Raul lowered his head in a chill that he couldn’t quite understand.
“But brother, isn’t rolling your body like that right after sparring a form of torture, not training?”
It was just after a sparring session that lasted for almost 30 minutes. Honestly, Raul was so exhausted that he could barely lift a finger.
“Tsk. That’s something you say because you don’t know what you’re talking about, Raul. The more you roll your body, the more it develops. By struggling like this, your muscles grow more. And the reason you were able to win against Raul and still lose to me is that my muscles are still immature. Where’s the time to rest, huh?”
Raul glanced at Dylan’s uneven muscles with a disgusted look in his eyes. How in the world could he further develop muscles beyond this point?
“All right, Dylan. It’s really good that you’re realizing your shortcomings and striving to improve. But as I’ve mentioned before, focus only half of your attention on physical conditioning and invest more in swordsmanship. Who knows, you might be able to catch up to my toe’s level then, haha.”
“Just laughing like that won’t last long. I’ll show you the full power of a perfected physique soon. Then, maybe even you will think about toughening up those ‘weak muscles’ a bit more.”
“What! Weak? Did you even think about saying that after seeing this perfectly balanced physique? It seems like you’re so obsessed with muscles that even your brain has turned into muscle. Come on, let’s fight. I’ll break you barehanded!”
“Oh, brother, are you trying to boost your pride just because it’s in front of Raul? Fine. Let’s have a hearty physical conversation after a long time!”
Bang! Thud thud thud.
The two of them started to wrestle with their foreheads locked and fingers interlocked, straining against each other.
The floor of the training ground couldn’t withstand the force of the two and creaked and cracked. Watching the two, Raul let out a deep sigh.
To Raul, who had already completed his perfect physique, hearing them boast about muscles and physique made him feel alienated.
‘I guess it was a good decision to learn swordsmanship from Lord Caldenas again.’
He was once again certain of how foolish it was to try to learn the family’s swordsmanship with a human body.
And the showdown between the two ended in a draw. As the magically reinforced training ground was half destroyed, the steward Ivan arrived.
The moment the word ‘budget’ came out of Ivan’s mouth, the two turned mild and had to clean up the training ground themselves.
* * *
Late at night after the duel. Raul and his older brother Dylan were having a separate conversation.
“So, is Lawrence keeping in touch?”
“Yeah. Even though he’s the one who left home, I can’t help but worry. Occasionally, the knights by Lawrence’s side send updates.”
“That’s a relief. But where is he now that he didn’t even return home on a day like today?”
“He’s been staying at the ‘Wall’ ever since the Gate incident broke out.”
“Could it be that ‘Wall’?”
“Wall.”
Barrier. It was said to be the most enormous fortress ever constructed by mankind. Decades ago, during the war with the Empire, the Kingdom Alliance managed to push the Empire to the northwest of the continent before being able to end the war.
The point that served as the border was a vast geographical feature known as the ‘Canyon of Despair’.
The steep mountain ranges that seemed to pierce the sky and the immense canyon of unknown depth formed an insurmountable natural barrier for humans to cross.
However, there was a passage that could penetrate through the Canyon of Despair, known as the ‘Corpse Road’, where many lost their lives during the war, earning its grim nickname.
This passage, with a width of 1 km and a length of hundreds of kilometers, apart from the Empire, was the only path connecting various kingdoms.
Feeling intimidated by the Empire’s might, the Kingdom Alliance decided to completely block off the Corpse Road by constructing a massive fortress after overthrowing the Empire, giving rise to the structure known as the ‘Wall’.
They erected a long wall spanning over a thousand kilometers along the Canyon of Despair.
Initially, if they had only blocked the entrance to the Corpse Road, it would not have exceeded 5 km, but out of fear that people from the Empire might cross the canyon, they ended up building the wall even within the canyon.
If not for the efforts of Gray and other great sages to curb this madness, the kingdoms might have ended up building walls all along the canyon, extending for thousands of kilometers.
However, what is currently referred to as the ‘Wall’ and managed is precisely the 5 km section blocking the entrance to the Corpse Road.
The wall, averaging a height of 100 meters, housed the united forces dispatched from each kingdom, along with numerous mercenaries and knights facing monsters beyond the wall on the Corpse Road.
“Surely we’re not staying here because of the quota assigned to our family?”
To dispatch the united forces to the wall, the Ruben Kingdom had set the quota of troops allocated to noble families of viscount rank or higher.
The Count Ashton household had been sending knights and troops to the wall annually, and Raul was curious whether his second brother was staying at the wall for that reason.
“No. He’s not the type to follow orders blindly. He’s probably just unnecessarily wielding his sword against monsters over there. Since the incident with the gates, reports have come in stating an alarming increase in monsters beyond the wall.”
“Hmm. Is the situation really that serious?”
“Well, the knights say the situation is peculiar.”
“Peculiar?”
Even Raul, who had experienced past lives, had little information about the wall during this period since players couldn’t leave the free city in the first place.
“As you know, that area is infested with ‘Undead’ due to the antics of the Empire’s lunatics, so the story goes that they’re fighting among themselves now that normal monsters are pouring out of the gates. Thus, the situation in how to handle it has become a dilemma for the united forces headquarters.”
“Hmm. It sounds like quite a vague situation.”
“If only that Lawrence lad would stop doing pointless things and return to his home… If only he had honed his swordsmanship skills a bit more through physical training, he might have been able to compete on equal terms with Father by now. Tsk tsk.”
“That seems a bit off…”
Within Raul’s memory, Lawrence, to the count’s standards, fell slightly short but was in a perfectly developed physical state.
While the count and Dylan had thick bones and muscular bodies, Lawrence had a sprinter-like physique with long limbs and compressed muscles.
“The issue lies elsewhere.”
According to the scenario from his past life, a significant event was about to occur at the ‘Wall’ in the near future.
Due to this event, which was nothing short of the empire’s invasion frontline battle, the allied forces would suffer near-total annihilation, and if the second brother got involved, it would be a huge problem. Raul harbored a rational suspicion that Lawrence’s disappearance in his past life might have been related to that event.
“I should visit the Wall not too late.”
When he visited in his past life, only traces remained, but this time, he might actually see that famous Wall with his own eyes.
Additionally, he had high expectations for the real genius of the Ashton household, the second brother.
“By the way, how should I turn the tide in my favor?”
In reality, the reason why Raul had made a separate arrangement with Dylan at a late hour was due to a special matter at hand. The story about the second brother Lawrence was just going through the motions; the real deal was about to start.
“Brother, do you remember the proposal I made before?”
“Huh? What proposal?”
“Um, the guild I created. First Knight Order.”
“Ah, that. I clearly remember rejecting it back then.”
When Dylan spoke with a satisfied expression, Raul straightened himself up and cautiously continued, “I would like to propose again, no, I am earnestly asking. Brother, would you be willing to take on the role of the chief of First Knight Order?”
“Hmm.”
Six months ago, Raul had also asked the count, Melvin, and his elder brother Dylan to join the First Knight Order. He thoroughly explained that the First Knight Order was not just a simple guild but a means to share the ‘blessing of the gods,’ among other advantages. However, despite this, both his father and elder brother adamantly refused.
“Raul, in any organization, orders and command structure must be clear. No matter how well you’ve created the organization and call yourself a master, the moment I join, the hierarchy could be destabilized. That is particularly fatal for a nascent organization.”
Upon hearing those words, Raul realized that indeed, the position of the head of the Ashton household was not something that anyone could take lightly.
(To be continued…)