It's particularly because I realized her plan that I kept the engagement. Since she would call off the engagement after graduation anyway, it wouldn't do me any harm. Rather, by keeping a friendly relationship with one of the Main Heroines, I could secure many benefits in the coming years.
It was a win-win situation, more for me than her.
Oh, and unfortunately for her, she will have to see me more than she hoped she would. Because of that stupid Quest, I had to enroll in the Academy.
"Ninety… ninety one…"
I pushed my body up and down, surpassing my previous limits and hoping to set a new score.
[Details: The Weak Bone Syndrome is a chronic illness. Your bones are weak, your skeleton isn't suitable for any heavy work, and your lifespan is cut down to a portion of what it really should be.
[Effect: Weakens you by 15%.]
From 70%, now it only weakened me by 15%. It's been a week since I appeared in this world, and the progress I made was great. I didn't feel like falling face-first while walking anymore. My entire body felt quite firm and sturdy.
Where the bone had yet to fully recover, my muscles had exploded phenomenally. I was no strongman yet, but from my earlier skeleton build, I was quite healthy. Such fast growth was beyond science in my old world, but now, with the help of Qi and magical beast food, it was possible.
"One hundred and forty-nine… One hundred and fifty." I rolled to the side, allowing the weight on my back to fall and thud against the concrete, and took a breather.
[Ding! You've made progress. The Weak Bone Syndrome's effect has lessened from 15% to 10%.]
[Your body is stronger now.]
[You've leveled up once.]
[You've reached Level 6.]
[The Heavenly Demon Skill Tree's proficiency has risen to 3.33%. You've been enlightened about one technique.]
Then, my head stung as information flooded in. They flooded and merged with the existing memories of the Heavenly Demon's idea of general martial arts; these special techniques stood out from all of that. They were, after all, the True Demon Arts.
[...You've processed and learned the first move of the True Demon Sword Art.]
[Additional knowledge about 'swordsmanship' in general comes with the technique to help you properly perform it. The knowledge is intricate enough to solidify into a skill.]
[Basic Skill: Swordsmanship has been unlocked.]
When the flood of information stopped, I heaved out a breath. Putting aside the Basic Skill, I blinked when I realized how powerful this technique was. It's incredible.
The knight trainees of the Romani House were watching me through this all, although I was used to their gaze by now. They couldn't see the screen in front of me, naturally, so they must have been curious about what I was blinking at. Besides, what I did just now wasn't some feat they couldn't do. It was just some push-ups with weight. But they were still surprised to see me do it. I was infamous as the useless youngest son of Romani, after all.
"Well, it's just some push-ups," I heard one of the trainees whisper. "Why're you all so surprised by it? Weird."
I jumped into a standing position. There you go, my first sparring partner has been found. I was waiting exactly for this opportunity, for one of them to open their mouth. Good grief. It was exciting to be back to form. Being in this place reminded me of the kickboxing gym. I couldn't keep the excitement to myself, so I had to test out my skills.
"Who said that just now?!" I shouted, and the trainees gasped.
The sun shone above us, it was almost noon, and all the trainees were hungry after a long morning of training. And now, I was causing trouble. "Don't act like I didn't hear you. Who said pushups mean nothing?"
Chivalry was a part of knighthood. The knight couldn't keep quiet for too long, in fear that his silence would cause trouble for the others. He stepped forward, hand raised, "It was me…"
"You?"
[Level 18]
He didn't look much older than 20, and yet he was a Level 18 knight. Impressive.
"Grab your sword, you punk," I ordered him while walking over to the wooden swords and grabbing one for myself. I returned to the center of the training ground and looked at him. "What? You are making me wait."
"Young master, uh, you can punish me if you want, but…" Of course, the knight trainee was confused. He must be thinking, 'What's the young master doing when he has never touched a sword before?'
"You're scared I'll embarrass you in a spar?"
"...."
Ah, taunts always worked towards fighters. It was kind of embarrassing to admit how many times I'd used this both from behind the monitor and also in the fighting ring.
"Damn, what's the young master doing? Tyrone is one of the strongest among us trainees."
"Yeah, wouldn't he get hurt?"
The others quipped in the background while I kept staring at this 'Tyrone'.
A moment later, he grabbed his wooden sword and stepped forward. His friends quickly stopped him and whispered to take it easy, but his expression said that he did not care.
He looked like he was ready to break a few of my bones. He stepped forward, "My name is Tyrone, young master."
"Thirty seconds," I raised the sword towards him. "If you can hold on for thirty seconds it's your win Tyrone. If not then-"
"Forgive me young master, but I think you need to be taught a lesson!" The trainee let the rage get to his head and leaped at me.
I stepped to the side, barely avoiding the sword that grazed my side. No, it was my body that stepped to the side on its own, as if I'd trained in the way of the sword for years. His sword rushed toward my shoulder, aiming at my neck. I stepped away just an inch beyond its reach once again.
He growled and swiftly swung the wooden sword right towards my head. My eyes saw which way his sword would move, and my sword parried it with a loud thud. He jumped back.
"Damn."
"How did he do that?"
"Looks like a lucky shot to me…"
"Nah, no way. That was too fast, he did it right before it could touch his head."
The spectators gossiped, which made Tyrone clench his jaw tighter. His friends were talking about his enemy's skills rather than his own. He probably felt like shit. Tyrone kicked the ground again and rushed at me.
My eyes felt clearer, better. With a sword in hand, I felt like a whole other person. This new experience slowly submerged into me, and I learned to make it my own.
This time, I stopped defending and rushed toward him too. I held the sword above my head while Tyrone held it in the practiced way to perform the Romani House's [Triple Slash] technique.
I let my sword do the work and swung powerfully downwards in a straight line. Tyrone on the other hand swung his sword three times in quick succession. It was actually fast enough that I missed it all. The illusion of three swords emerged, two of them fake and one real. I couldn't see which one was the real one.
But that didn't matter. Our swords met in a thundering clash. I raised my sword again for another slash, but this one wasn't exactly straight. I twisted my body to catch him by surprise, but he didn't seem surprised. Tyrone was faster than me and could see through me. He swung his sword at my face.
Even with my new swordsmanship skill, Tyrone was stronger by a long shot.
Thankfully, I was not a swordsman. To begin with, my strength was in my body.
I ducked my head under his sword, and my feet moved in a familiar manner. Images of the past overlapped with the present, I felt a grin spread across my lips as I struck with my feet diagonally just above Tyrone's knees, performing an oblique kick. Tyrone's knees buckled and hyper-extended as expected.
An oblique kick could cause permanent damage to a person, especially if they put their whole weight on their legs like Tyrone has been doing this whole fight. Hopefully, the Aura in his body would stop him from becoming a cripple.
Tyrone fell on his knees, his face echoing the pain he felt. Immediately I smashed my sword in his face, his forehead. I braced myself as my sword broke against his head. At the same time, Tyrone fell backward, slumping on the ground, unconscious.
"O-oh…" the spectators were stunned.
"Tyrone… Tyrone lost? How?!"
"That's insane! What happened?!"
I let out a breath, looking at my trembling hand with a frown. Someone announced my victory while others ran to check up on Tyrone. He might limp for a few days, but with the Aura in his body, there would be no lasting damage. I made sure of that before walking out of the training grounds.
I felt slightly sad that I didn't get to perform the True Demon Sword Art, First Form.
Then again, that'd have been too harsh for a trainee who did nothing wrong, and I wasn't sure what would happen to my body. Plus… it would let out Demonic Energy. I wasn't sure how to take care of that. There were too many eyes.
Lastly, this weak body might have collapsed.
I was panting hard.
****