Whoosh!
Whoosh!
Whoosh!
Each second passed, each hiss of the sword cut through the air. Sweat dripped steadily to the ground as Alaric swung his longsword.
He had adjusted the weight of the sword to 50 kg to suit his thin body—and to use it as a tool to tear his muscles apart. Yeah, he could basically feel them breaking. A sharp, pricking pain wrapped tight around his arm as if telling him to stop this self-inflicted torment, but he wouldn't stop until he hit the goal he'd set from the start.
1000 vertical slashes!
"210!"
…
"220!"
Alaric gasped while trying to steady his breathing. Meanwhile, Khaled stood beside him, carefully guiding his master to swing the sword correctly to maximize muscle training and basic forms.
From the stance he had to take, to the way he held the sword… all of that had been adjusted.
Thanks to the Blessing of the Supreme Sword Demon, his job was pretty easy. He was definitely a friend of the sword. Not only that—his ability to adapt to sword styles was crazy fast.
Before long, he had already done 700 vertical slashes. It would've been impossible without forming a mana core. But now… he was basically superhuman.
"Damn!"
"1000!"
[You have completed the Normal Mission]
[Reward: 5 Chaos Points]
—
[Personal] [Summon] [Gacha] [Mission]
Chaos Points: 110
—
Alaric was breathless as he plunged the longsword into the ground to use it as support. His whole body trembled nonstop. He had reached his limit.
"Prepare a meal for me."
Then he collapsed to rest while Khaled brought out the meals he had prepared in advance.
Alaric would need a lot of food to recover his torn muscles.
After around 20 minutes of resting, he slowly stood up and looked around for the meals like a starving beast. The moment he saw them in front of him, he just lunged in and devoured everything without holding back.
With mana circulating through his veins, all the food was quickly consumed and turned into energy to regenerate each muscle and rebuild every layer.
He chugged a whole pack of water without stopping, then tossed it aside, slowly stood up, and checked his body.
Confused, he scratched the side of his head.
"Why don't I see any change?"
Obviously, even after reaching the green mana core, changing his thin body wasn't something he could do in such a short time.
"At least I feel healthier."
Alaric tilted his head and asked:
"Khaled, what's the next step I have to learn? Or do I still need to keep swinging the sword? I feel like it's pointless at this point."
Normally, if a non-summoner said something like that, people would just think they were lying. But in Alaric's case, it was different. He had a blessing that helped him adapt to anyone's sword style. Of course he could learn that fast—nobody could really argue with that.
He didn't want to brag like he was some genius, but honestly, he didn't feel anything left to gain from repeating that practice anymore.
Khaled nodded lightly, agreeing with his master's words. He felt the same.
If the first step was done, then the second step would begin.
He walked toward the center of the training room. Lifting his longsword and holding it with both hands, he glanced at his master to call him over.
Even though he didn't understand anything, he still walked to the center of the room and stood opposite the one who summoned him.
The demon said three words coldly:
"Balance."
"Strength."
"Speed."
Alaric repeated the demon's words, frowning hard in his mind. He tried to understand what they meant.
"Balance, Strength, Speed?"
"What do you mean? Can you explain it clearly?"
Ignoring him completely, the demon just looked up with cold eyes and then suddenly brought his longsword down, intending to slice his master in half.
Bewildered, Alaric barely lifted his longsword in time to deflect the blow following his instinct—yet a kick slammed into his right hip right after, sending him skidding across the ground. Even if he already controlled his balance off by his longsword stabbing to the ground to decrease his momentum, but, he could not avoid fate as his body himself crashing into the training room's wall after that.
Luckily for the wall, it was made of reinforced bricks strong enough to withstand superhuman force.
Alaric slowly stood up, with the painful body, while said with a cold voice.
"Are you trying to kill me?!"
The demon stayed silent for a moment before answering in a flat, emotionless tone.
"Fight to death. Stronger that way."
Alaric's face twitched as he heard that. He couldn't refuse, because he understood clearly…The proof for his previous actions after the demon's assault. He hadn't ever imagined that he could perform that movement. Only by pushing himself through harsh training could he get stronger. Still, it wasn't pleasant at all.
"So, at least… can't you lower the intensity and change your longsword into something like a wooden sword?"
The demon simply nodded and swapped his sharp longsword for wooden ones, waiting for the next command from his master.
Alaric just held his hip in pain. Very bad—his hip was already starting to bruise after the demon's blow. He could even feel the wound wasn't going to heal that easily.
At this point, he finally understood what the nameless god had said.
He shouldn't trust his summon blindly. Next time, he would give his summon a full, clear order so the demon couldn't exploit any loophole to kill him.
That damn demon was not easy to control. He wasn't some loyal dog of faith.
"Our training is done here, you can return to my spiritual sea."
With a light nod, the demon began to fade away. Meanwhile, Alaric limped back to the main room to find bandages to wrap his wound and maybe some potion to help with the bruising.
Alaric lunged onto his bed to rest, but right then, the doorbell rang outside.
"Huh? What the hell? It's 10 PM. Which lunatic still wants to meet me at this hour?"
Alaric clicked his tongue, ignoring the ringing—until a gentle voice called his name.
"Student Alaric . We're investigators of the legendary clans. With the principal's permission, we needs to speak with you. Please open your door."
Alaric frowned and immediately jumped up, throwing on his clothes as fast as he could. Then he rushed to the door and opened it.
Revealing a familiar face he had seen before. Ah, that damn man—Clayton, the professor who questioned him first when he returned to the real world. And the man beside him wore a leather outfit with the badge of a legendary clan.
Although he didn't want to meet them, he still stayed polite and led them inside his room, pouring tea for them.
"Sir, what brings you to my humble room?" Alaric asked politely as usual.