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Cross Blade
Ding!!!
Two steel swords clashed, emitting a crisp sound.
“Leylin! You are still not my match, give it up!” George used both hands and grabbed the hilt, and laughingly said.
“We aren’t done yet!” Leylin shouted, and his legs moved in a strange footwork, and once again initiated an attack.
“Hah!” George swung the long sword in his hands, which brought a sinister rustling of the wind.
The cross blade in Leylin’s hand swept, and blocked George’s attack.
“Good! Your parry posture is not bad!” George praised loudly. “Careful! My next attack will be to your left leg!”
“Bring it on!” Leylin made his preparations.
“Watch me!”  George swung the two handed sword in his hands, and made a beautiful yet deadly arc towards him, sending it towards Leylin’s right leg.
Leylin retreated a step back, and blocked George’s two handed sword in midair with his cross blade, “You definitely said the left leg, you didn’t keep your word!”
“Haha…..This is called tactics! It is to test your agility. My dad has always taught me, if one doesn’t know how to scheme, then one day he will surely be played to death by others! I only want to scheme, not to be the target of schemes!”
George laughed and said, and then pulled back his huge sword.
“No more! No more! You are getting better each and every time! I wouldn’t be able to beat you after a few more days!”
Scratching his puzzled head: ”Leylin! My sword technique is passed down by a Grand Knight, I put in much effort, training with blood and sweat, so much so that my teacher said that my swordplay is better than the average Knight! Yet, you who can fight me to a standstill, how could you have been beaten by Ourin?”
“These sword techniques were taught to me by my father when I was younger, unfortunately I had forgotten it, and I’m currently trying to practice more in order to recall it!”
Leylin clenched his fists, and his face turned red.
“Once I have strength, I will definitely seek revenge viciously, and break Ourin’s legs!”
He looks like a hot blooded youngster who was filled with determination after a setback.
“My dear Leylin, I believe in you. You will definitely fulfil your wish!” George patted Leylin’s shoulder.
And with another look of pity:” Currently, with your ability, it is already sufficient to seek your revenge!”
After sparring, George had a rough understanding of Leylin’s strength.
“Right now I can deal with one or two of them, but Ourin has five members!” Leylin was fretting over it.
Actually, he was already confident in dealing with Ourin and his gang, but without an excuse, how could he fooled George into continuously practicing with him?
“Oh right, you mentioned Grand Knights earlier, what are they?” Leylin remembered George’s complaint earlier, and casually asked.
“You are talking about the Grand knights? They are one realm higher than knights. No matter where they go, they are considered a great existence! If one is lucky, a king might even be hospitable to them! And if one is willing to pledge loyalty, then they will definitely become a troop commander!”
“Their physical body has been pushed to the extremes, and rumours has it that apart from the long distance crossbow formation, even if a heavy cavalry troop were to charge at them, they won’t be able to stop them from advancing!”
“So powerful!” Leylin muttered.
A commander of a troop has the same status of an Earl, and even Viscount John had to greet them if he saw one.
A heavy cavalry troop, is the peak of a troop’s strength in this era of medieval weapons. Once they charged, even a smaller city’s walls might fall. For a Grand Knight to actually be able to use merely their physical body to fight with them, how strong would they have to be?
Looking at Leylin who had a yearning expression on his face, George laughed out loud and consoled: “You don’t have to envy them, a magus has an even more mysterious and stronger power compared to that of a knight. As long as you become a magus acolyte, your status is the comparable to that of a Grand Knight. And if you become an actual Magus, then congratulations, killing a Grand Knight is easier than stepping on an ant. The various kings from kingdoms will all want to strive to be first and fear to be last in stuffing their beautiful daughters on your bed……”
“A magus is that powerful?” Leylin was skeptical “ Then why are the black robes so cold to us, who have the possibility of turning into a Magus? They are naught but knights!”
“Hmm about this? I am not too sure, but a Magus’s status is definitely very high. This was told to me by my father! I can swear it upon my Borunin Family’s reputation.”
George touched his nose, and replied rather awkwardly.
“Alright! Alright! It’s not like I don’t believe you!” Leylin felt a little exasperated.
Speaking within his heart “A.I Chip! Scan the person in front of me!”
[Beep! Name: George Borunin Strength: 1.9, Agility: 1.8, Vitality: 1.9, Status: Healthy]
George’s stats could not have been achieved just by standard training. According to him, he had trained with the knights technique since he was young, and that was the reason he was able to achieve his current physique.
Warriors who had started cultivating the knight breathing technique and thus improved their physique, but had not been able to ignite their internal life energy yet, were commonly known as Preparatory Knights!
George’s physique could be considered at the peak standard even amongst these Preparatory Knights!
This was also linked to his nobility status and being able to use large amounts of expensive medicine to assist in improving his body’s physique.
“Alright, we have sufficient rest now, let us head back! I do not want to return too late and find those black robes staring coldly at me!”
George looked at his surroundings, and the bright moonlight coated the surrounding with a layer of silver colour light, the tranquility of the night was occasionally interrupted by insect cries.
Leylin did not wish to attract attention during the day as they were travelling, so he sneaked out to practice with George at night.
Naturally, this did not escape the black robes, but after a few encounters, Leylin found their attitude to be extremely cold. As long as one did not wander too far away from the camp and cause trouble, they would not care about them.
“Just once more round, we’ll head back!” Leylin said. “After this round, I’ll return this Cross Blade to you!”
“En……Eh? George was a little absent minded, and then his eyes lit up. “ Are you finally done using it? Gus had been bothering me for it!”
In order to train in sword techniques, the first requirement would be to have a Cross Blade!
As nobility, there were many youngsters that wore warrior’s robes, with a sword attached to their waist.
However, the previous Leylin did not do so, the reason being that it was too heavy, and it restricted his movements!
Because he found it troublesome, the previous Leylin had travelled without even a dagger on him. This had caused Leylin now to be in the awkward situation where he was totally weaponless, without even a Cross Blade to practice with.
For the sake of practising, Leylin turned his attention to the first friend  he saw when he woke up – George.
Using threats of exposing their friendship, he had made George lend him a weapon and train with him!
Thinking back when George’s eyes had turned white, and had an expression as though he has met with a bad friend, Leylin laughed uncontrollably.
“Your swordplay is improving at an extremely fast pace! But do you really not need the Cross Blade?” George asked.
“I am rather familiar with Gus anyways so even if I were to lend it to you for a little while longer, it’s not a big deal……”
“Thank you for your kind intentions! But I really do not need it!” Leylin smiled as he rejected his offer.
After this period of sparring, he had already seen through the secret technique of the Farlier’s House. Furthermore, due to the the A.I Chip, his swordplay would always remain at its peak state so his skills will not go rusty due to not practicing the Cross Blade for a long time.
“Good, then we will fight one more match with the same rules. I will only use the same amount of strength as you will!”
As George said that, he picked up his big two handed sword and walked towards the centre of the patch of grass, his sword emitting a cold light as it reflected the moonlight.
Leylin had also walked over, “Come on! This time, I won’t hold back!”
He had thought of an experiment, and had sent out the invitation in order to carry it out.
“A.I Chip! Establish Task! Analyse the opponent’s strength and the surroundings to come up with the best plan to defeat him!”
[Task Establishing. Beginning analysis.]
[Simulation results – Host is unwounded, target loses his ability to fight. Please confirm on whether to turn on the vision aid?]
“Turn it on! “ Upon Leylin’s command, countless of blue lines appeared before his eyes that, as if turning the area into some sort of virtual world.
[According to the target’s reactions, there is a 99.98% probability that the  first attack will be the Host’s right arm! Most Effective method of combating this: Sidestep, Jump Slash!]
Following the voice of the A.I Chip, the blue rays of light in his retina had already formed an image of George, raising his sword and slashing towards Leylin’s right arm.
“Heh! Watch the sword!” George shouted, and as expected, he initiated the attack first, waving his two handed sword. He charged over, the motion almost mirroring the projected image.
Leylin’s lips curled, and dodged the attack, and he raised both his hands along with the Cross Blade. Leaping up high, he viciously swung it down.
Jumping Slash!!
“Damn! How did this happen?” George cried strangely, and ducked the Cross Blade with a roll on the floor.
Leylin’s Cross Blade struck onto the floor, which brought up some of the mud and small pieces of stones.
George got up, a serious look on his face. He felt as if Leylin had predicted his attack, almost as if he had read his motions and knew them like the back of his palm.
“If you are not attacking, then I am going to counterattack!” Leylin said smilingly.
“Bring it on!” George stared nervously at Leylin.
Leylin gripped his Cross Blade, took a step forward and pierced forward! Every action and movement had all been accurately performed as seen from a textbook.
George made a blocking motion, but his body moved to the side instead, and as he dodged the pierce, he countered Leylin’s attack with a slash of his own!
[The best way to react: Left turn 50 degrees, Horizontal Slash!]
Following the A.I Chip instructions, Leylin dodged George’s large sword, and sent a Horizontal Slash, almost slicing George as he slashed.
The more they fought, the more perspiration formed on George’s face.
His every move and action had all been parried perfectly by Leylin, and his evading range had gradually decreased.
“I can’t carry on like this any longer! I’ll stake it all on this!” George fiercely swung his large sword, and sent it clashing with Leylin’s.
Bang!!! A piece of silver light flew out and directly pierced into the grass. It was the large sword in George’s hands! The blade had not stopped quivering as it let out a ‘weng weng’ sound.
In the sparring area, Leylin’s Cross Blade sword had touched horizontally at George’s waist. “You’ve lost!”
“Indeed! I lost!”
George muttered, and then immediately stared at Leylin :”How did you do that?”
“It is actually very simple, after training with you for a long time, I have already remembered the sequence of your movements!” Leylin withdrew his sword and bowed smilingly.
“The……sequence of my movements?” George repeated.
“Yes, to put it in a simple way, everyone has a habit when they strike. As long as you can remember them, then it will be easy to arrange a trap according to the enemy’s habits. I have used the same trick on you!”
“Phew!!!” George exhaled out a long breath, “I understand now!”
And then looking at Leylin momentarily, as if he was looking at a monster:” Your gift in sword technique is absolutely the best that I have ever seen!!! If you are not chosen to be a Magus Acolyte, I will definitely recommend you to go to a kingdom’s capital’s Imperial Knight Institute!”