“Straighten up. Your slash is not perfect.”
Julian was simply slashing downward, a straight vertical chop.
Almond was right beside him, doing the same motion with his sword.
“Your sword is not united with your body.”
Every time Almond chopped his sword, a faint vertical slit would form on the ground despite a meter of distance between the sword and the ground.
Julian’s sword was simply pushing away air.
“Hmmm, you’re not doing it properly. Alright, close your eyes. Take a deep breath. Forget about your body and perceive your sword with your other senses. While perceiving your sword, feel the air and world around you as you slash it.”
Julian nodded and did as told.
After he slashed twice, Almond asked, “What did you feel?”
“Pain in my inverse side of the elbow and…feeling how easy it is to slash the air.”
“Chopping in the air will make your body unstable at the micro-level. You have to feel that closely. Feel your body and get in tune with your sword. You have to understand your sword to use it properly. Its weight, its blade, and how it cuts the air.”
“When I swing my sword, I do not cut the air. I use it. I can’t explain properly, but it has something to do with your body and the sword’s unity. For now, you’ll just have to continue chopping until you feel something and get the hang of what I am trying to say.”
“No worries, I won’t stop until I succeed,” Julian firmly said as he continued chopping. “Even if I have to chop a thousand times or a hundred thousand times.”
“Good, continue. When you feel sluggish, meditate to recover and then continue.”
“My lord, I also want to join,” Infernal Knight walked towards Almond and knelt on one knee with his sword stabbed on the ground. “Please allow me.”
Almond was surprised but pleasantly. He chuckled and replied, “Of course, go ahead. You both can practice together.”
‘If Ashkar learns swordplay, he’ll become even stronger.’
Ashkar had a sword, but he wasn’t as proficient in a sword as Alfred or him or even Julian.
He used his sword as a catalyst to attack and unleash his skills. It was a part of his body.
Almond had inspected it, and it was synched with Ashkar’s stats since it was made with his own essence.
Ashkar also started chopping downward, practicing alongside Julian.
Sylvia was tending the garden as usual while Chimera Frank and Chimera Viperfiend were having a starring contest at the beach. The moment Viperfiend blinked, Frank beat the shit out of Viperfiend until its vitality dropped to 1%.
Starlight Beast and Chimera Crystalist were also at the beach and fighting each other.
The three Chimeras and Starlight Beast weren’t intelligent enough, so what they were doing was following Almond’s commands. He had basically told them to fight each other with some extra details, like making a starring contest and no-skill fighting.
They were allowed to use Mana but not use their skills. He wanted them to develop Mana transmutation properly since they were attuned to attributes and could improve further.
Lastly, Alfred and Benedict sat at a table in the open ground near the pile of spirit items.
A silverbird would arrive every several minutes to take items and fly away for delivery.
Almond then went around the courtyard and arrived at the backyard where Roken was slamming his hammer on a magical anvil conjured by his sub-classes skill—Runic Blacksmith.
“Let’s go, Roken. Show me a professional blacksmith who can use Super-rank materials and make a badass sword for me.”
…
Almond and Roken went to a private forge run by a 48-year-old platinum-rank Adventurer.
With gaps of roughly a year between each floor of the Labyrinth opening, people had a lot more time on their hands. Some people focused on side classes, while some focused on honing their combat further.
Artoren Baskil was someone who focused on his side of the class like many others. He would simply reach a maximum level when a new floor opened and then focus back on his smithing and improving his side class.
He was one of the few who had made his side-class reach S-rank from A-rank and could handle Epic-rank materials, which were very rare to come by.
Epic-rank materials only became slightly more accessible in various reward drops from the 10th floor of the Labyrinth as the Labyrinth above the 5th floor was very vast, with triggerable challenges and quest generations.
As such, not many blacksmiths could handle Epic-rank materials yet.
The fee to forge his Super-rank sword turned around to be 7 million gold coins. Fortunately, he had just enough with the additional sales of his spirit items this morning.
It was quite clear that his items were getting famous. Silverbird Services was also marketing its channel to its customers because this service earned both ways. It charged delivery from the seller and also from the buyers.
Almond also put up a request to let Roken watch him forge his item so he could learn more about blacksmithing, but the old man straight-up advertised his basic blacksmithing class costing 5 million gold coins.
The new generations could already decide what they wanted for their side-class in a way. By practicing blacksmithing, alchemy, dancing, cooking, or anything else, they would get the option of choosing a side class related to what they practiced.
Leaving the forge, Almond looked at the sky and cracked his fingers on his neck, “Well, time to earn some more money. I need to buy trash-tier Super-rank items, and that’s going to cost a lot.”
“Are we going to dungeons?” Roken’s eyes shone.
“Yeah, and you can keep rare-rank or lower-rank the materials we get from them to practice your smithing,” Almond got into his aircraft and contacted Marshal Lopol.
[Marshal Lopol: Let me speak first. I was about to contact you because I just got a notice from Earth Union. You have to be present for a trial tomorrow morning at 10 p.m. Admiral Rudra will be there, so get here tonight at midnight sharp to depart.]
[Almond: is this about me beating Zoren?]
[Marshal Lopol: Who else? Zoren’s father sent a video here and also sent the same video in the Earth Union. It starts with you slapping Zoren down and beating him brutally while deflecting the other two Adventurers. It ends with your threat that paints a bad picture for you. Zoren’s psychological condition is bad, so Earth Union won’t use skills or items that force out truths on him. He’ll be present there, and I also saw his condition…things will look bad for you. You’ll have to fight the trial with proof and justification on your end. But Admiral Rudra will be present, so I’m sure he’ll do something since GAA is in charge of punishing Adventurers.]
[Almond: It seems that you are angry. But relax. You said he’ll be present there, right? Perfect. I’ll nail both father and son with solid evidence regarding their heinous acts. You relax and give me a list of…ten B-grade dungeons for now. I would prefer them to be golden-bordered, but I’ll take red-bordered ones as well.]
‘Tomorrow, I’ll get a human spirit for my next creation. There’s no way I wouldn’t add a human spirit along with the Floor Boss’s spirit,’ Almond’s eyes glinted. ‘And a veteran like Zoren’s father will be perfect.’
The Earth Union was responsible for overseeing trials, courts, and other legal matters for all citizens, not just Adventurers. However, the GAA operated exclusively for Adventurers, and only its enforcer department had the authority to administer punishment.
He had an idea that could prove Zoren and his father guilty because he knew for a fact that both of them were pieces of trash when he peeked into Zoren’s mind and saw his attributes in detail. Almond knew what Zoren got was from his father.
[Marshal Lopol: Ten dungeons? Fine. I am sending you a list after an hour.]
After he finished talking with Marshal Lopol, Roken immediately asked him, “What happened, bro?”
“Nothing much. Just some conflict that I’ll resolve tomorrow,” Almond chuckled. “Anyway, it’s time to return and continue training.”
But just as Almond flew up, another call came in.
‘Natalia?’ Almond blinked and received it.
[Natalia: I miss you sooooo much…said Lily yesterday.]
[Almond: Hahaha. Nice one. So, why didn’t she call?]
[Natalia: She can’t call, which is why I am calling you to tell you about her condition. Lady Aria was doing some hardcore training with Lily for the Darkness element, and then they entered a dungeon on the island. But when they came out, Lily was shut down. Lady Aria said it’s similar to when we used skill insight and were gone for 24 hours.]
Almond was surprised.
[Almond: So she entered an enlightenment state?! That’s wonderful.]
[Natalia: Yeah, enlightenment state. Anyway, it seems that we won’t be returning until Lily wakes up.]
[Almond: Got it. Take your time. We gotta get strong, after all. How is your training?]
[Natalia: Very good….not! I also want to get an elemental affinity, but Lady Aria said we’ll have to go to another place for mine. Hehe, Lily got the Darkness element, but I am going for the Light element. My primary class is Light element-ish in a way. Of course, I have one more surprise, but that’s a secret for now.]
[Almond: Nice. Well, all the best and train hard. Good luck.]
[Natalia: You aren’t hanging out with other girls behind Lily’s back, right?]
[Almond:…I am hanging up.]
Almond cut off the call with a wry smile as he heard Natalia’s snicker from the other side and began driving.