Chapter 23: The Test & The Journey (Part 2)

Today was the day where Rei's going to take the test that was given by his father. That is, to defeat the old man who was standing in front of him.

The former knight who was also the current guard of the Blumund Village's gate, Nel Shubert.

The blue haired man was physically large and tall while his eyes were red and there's thin goatee on his chin. Other than that, Nel's currently wearing an armor that didn't gleam under the sunlight but was clearly still in good condition and maintained regularly.

Rei stood right in the middle of the village as people crowded the area, coming to watch the spectacle fight.

Rei was wearing an iron-plate chest and some hand guards while holding a sword for training. He's currently observing his opponent closely.

'I guess ever since I learned how to use aura I can tell that...this is not gonna be easy.' Rei thought as he could see a dim bluish aura around Nel's body.

'Indeed, but just be careful and remember your training...don't underestimate your opponent and keep your eyes on your surrounding.' Ray adviced.

'I know...' Ray replied as Nel walked towards him and as usual, he was very big, like a mountain...no rather than that, the man is the mountain itself.

Rei gulped as he thought that he had grown taller, yet he's still pretty short compared to him.

"So is it true that you planned to go out, adventuring?" Nel asked him and have this bitter look on his face.

Rei tried to keep his composure in front of the man.

"Yes...Uncle, I decided to go out and helped the village, since they have done so much to me."

Rei spoke calmly as he stood there staring at the man with such a brave look, as if he already resolved his feelings.

Nel was a bit surprised after hearing his answer but then he smiled at him, "I see...you sure grew up to be just like your father."

Rei blinked a few times. "Eh?"

Nel turned around and went back to his position as he stood across him then stabbed his sword to the ground.

"As your father's request, I shall fight you by only using this sword and make you give me all you got...Ray!" Nel shouted.

'Only using this sword? what does he mean...no, focus.' Rei shook his head and lifted his sword then pointed it at Nel.

"Don't worry..." When Rei spoke, Nel suddenly widened his eyes a bit then smirked, that's when he pulled his sword from the ground.

"...I don't plan on losing...Uncle Nel, I shall give you my all."

As Rei continued with his words, his atmosphere changed. Everyone who were watching couldn't tell it apart, but only certain people who were familiar with this kind of feelings.

The two of them went into their stance as they stared against each other. The crowd went silent, watching them with bated breath.

.

.

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.

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The one who made the first move...was Rei.

*WOOSH*

Rei dashed forward with such a high speed as he was already right before him. Rei continued by swinging his sword from his left side.

'[Horizontal Slash].'

Nel was taken off guard when Rei suddenly dashed with that speed but only for a moment as he regained his composure before moving his sword to block it.

*TING*

Their sword clashed but Nel didn't flinch nor move from his position. He just stood there and blocked the strike with his sword.

Rei calmly pulled his sword back and jumped backwards.

The crowd gasped upon seeing how fast Rei moved, especially his parents who just knew that Rei have this kind of talent in him.

Meanwhile, his sister–Emily looked somewhat excited and worried of her older brother, along with the others like John, Bob, and Hans. They couldn't take off their eyes on them.

Rei didn't give up and went forward again but he took a step on his right side before striking the old man again with his sword.

*TING*

Their swords clashed again and Rei moved his sword to another direction.

*TANG*

As he goes on, Rei relentlessly released all of his strikes in all directions with high speed.

'[Horizontal Slash].'

*TING*

'[Vertical Slash].'

*TANG*

'[Horizontal Slash].'

*TING* *TANG* *TING*

As he continued to strike again and again, Nel only blocked and dodged almost all of them with his sword using minimum movement but...somehow it felt odd for Rei.

'Why can I feel like something is weird...this sensation... every time our sword clashed...he looked as if having a bit of a hard time blocking me.'

'You can tell, Kiritsuka.'

'Houston?'

'You're right, I can feel it too and somehow he can only block and dodged our attacks, instead of attacking you. As for his movement...it looks sloppy yet refined.'

'Then what should we do?'

'Hmmm...change of plans, I want to know what is he hiding.'

'Understood.'

*TING*

Rei quickly jumped back to his position where he stood after their swords clashed for one last time. He sighed in frustration as he kept his eyes on Nel.

"Uncle Nel! Are you mocking me!" Rei shouted and pointed th blade of his sword towards him.

Nel who was taken by surprise with his words responded, "What do you mean by that?"

"You...aren't you taking easy on me, because I'm still a child?" Rei spoke seriously.

Nel didn't responded.

"Tsk...I take that silent as yes then...but this time it will be different...it's best you shouldn't take easy on me because..."

Rei went back to his stance but this time...the atmosphere around him once again changed.

"...it will end badly."

As soon as he said that, Rei disappeared from Nel's sight all of sudden.

*WOOSH*

Nel who stood still was once again taken off guard since, unlike the last time, he couldn't see where he went to.

'Where did—'

Without warning, he sensed something coming from behind him.

'—From behind?!'

It was Rei and he's swinging his sword horizontally in perfect line using [Horizontal Slash] towards his right side.

Nel reacted as soon he sensed him, he turned around and tried to block the sword but...

*TING*

The sword was deflected away from that strike. Nel widened his eyes, he didn't expect that.

'What...just...happened?'

Nep thought he could block it just like before since almost all of his attacks was pretty much the same, but now...

'It's completely different!'

"Huft!"

Rei didn't stop, he spun himself in the air then swung his sword from above, performing a straight line [Vertical Slash].

*TANG*

Their sword clashed again. This time, Nel could barely block the strike as it forced him to take a step backwards.

'How...his strength completely changed over a second.'

*TING*

'And each strikes had become...faster.'

*TANG*

'...stronger.'

*TING*

'And fierce...!!'

As their swords clashed again, a small sweat formed on his forehead as Nel curved his lips to form a smirk.

'I could see his dedication through those powerful strikes from how he trained...and I did hear of what the other children said about it...how he defeated the monsters in the forest alone then fought against a [Boss Monster] together with those people from that Duke.'

*TANG*

'It's sound unbelievable...but I can't help to accept it.'

*TING*

'Heh, such amazing feat and...'

When Rei swung his sword again, Nel noticed a glimpse of a slight reddish aura came out from his sword when he's about to strike him.

'...such a terrifying talent.'

*TANG*

After they clashed again, he jumped backwards to keep his distance away from Rei.

'An aura at this age...not only that he controlled it perfectly by using only minimum of aura in short moment...since I'm not using one, it's still hard to block them...'

'I guess I am underestimating him too much...and I don't think that I could win with only a sword.'

Nel remembered the words that Rei spoke to him before.

'Heh...I guess he was right...maybe I did go easy on him because of his father request.'

'But not anymore...sorry Adam.'

When Rei went back to his stance, Nel threw his sword away to the ground.

"Let's stop this..."

*TRANG*

Rei looked at the thrown sword in bewilderment then looked back up towards him, with slightly dumbfounded look

"Huh?"

'He...'

'...throw his weapon away?' Rei and Ray thought at the same time.

"Really, I don't know how you could do that...but I guess I don't have much a choice huh...you forced me to do this." Nel spoke with smile.

"Hey you!" Nel shouted and turned his head around to look at one of the guards who were watching them in the crowd.

"Y-yes sir?!" The guard responded.

"Give me your spear." Nel ordered.

"Understood sir!" The guard walked into the arena and gave Nel the spear that he was holding.

'A spear?' Rei blinked, a bit confused yet intrigued at the same time

When Nel took a hold of that spear, the atmosphere around him changed. The dim bluish aura around his body slowly shined a bit as if it responded to something.

'What?'

"Nel!" A voice came out between the crowd. They looked over at the source, it was Adam's.

"We both agree that you wouldn't use it!" He shouted angrily.

Rei narrowed his brows, 'What does he mean...'

Nel simply chuckled and responded, "Sorry for breaking our deal Adam, but it seems your son won't be satisfied with me holding back and I cannot refuse such request from this youngster."

Nel turned around as his attention went back to Rei as he quickly assumed his battle stance again.

"I'm sorry for that Ray and thank you, I never thought there would be a day where I have to fight seriously, even if this is just a test." Nel spoke while smiling at him.

"Y-yes? your welcome??" Rei replied as he was still dumbfounded.

"But this time...you should focus your eyes on me, or else..."

Ray noticed something as he shouted 'Kiritsuka! becareful he's–' inside his mind.

Nel continued with his words, and then...

"It will be disastrous..."

...disappeared.

*WOOSH*

This time Rei was the one who couldn't see his movement and from that it reminded him of that hellish training when Ray disappeared from his sight from the first time.

As his eyes turned around to his back...he was greeted by the tip of a spear that was already right in front of his face.

'What?–'

Rei used all his nerves to react to that one, dodging the spear that was about to strike his head by moving his body aside as he found out Nel was standing behind him at that moment, holding the bottom of the pole as he thrusted the spear with so much force yet poised mind.

*SWOOOSH*

"U-ughh...!"

The tip barely grazed his cheeks when Rei was about to counter him...

'What the heck with that spee–!'

*BUGH*

"G-gahhaa!–"

Right before he finished his words and countering him, Nel kicked him with enough force to blow him away. Rei coughed and crashed on the ground but he quickly got back up in that momentum.

Luckily, he didn't get serious damage because in the short moment that he saw his foot coming towards him, Rei used his sword to block it, and yet, he's still got blown away from it.

Rei could feel his hands trembling from the shockwave and the pain throughout his body that came from his kick. But instead o getting discouraged, he laughed at it for a bit.

'Hahaha...I guess...I just woke up the lion in the cage.'

'Kiritsuka, becareful he's–...'

'I know...and now I get it...from the beginning, those sloppy movements and all of the blocking isn't because he was bad at using a sword...but it's because he never used a sword before.' Rei explained, remembering their fight earlier.

'Yes, he's not a sword user...but...'

'A spear user...not only that, he is a high levelled one I think.'

'They called them the [Spear Master], I heard about them before... instead of using a sword they use spear to reach enlightenment... indestructible force that can destroy and penetrate almost any kind of defense.'

'So, rather than cutting things like [Sword Master] do...they're using a spear to thrust and penetrate their enemies huh...' Rei replied.

'Exactly...but now we are facing one of them...' Ray spoke.

'A [Spear Master] and also a former knight...I can see why the rumor was exaggerated for him going to be the captain of the knights there.' Rei retorted.

'Did that scare you?' Ray asked with a smile.

Nel was observing Rei who was being silent for some reason then became somewhat intrigued after he saw his face.

'Scared? Nope, not at all...because...'

Instead of being scared, Rei was smiling which made Nel wondered what is so amusing to him. Since he himself was a knight before and based by his experience the only answer to that is...

'Things has become more interesting.'

The two of them thought about the same thing as they smiled.

'I finally can test how much I've improved...maybe I won't get this chance ever again to fight a former knight like himself...that's why Houston, I shall be serious now.' Rei said as he couldn't help to smile.

Ray laughed loudly, 'Hahaha!! You're a crazy kid! Not that i hate it though'

Rei smirked 'Well? Shall we?~"

"Yeah."

The two of them agreed as Rei transitioned back to reality to face Nel again.

"I guess I didn't take you really seriously Uncle Nel—no...The former knight, Nel Shubert!" Rei shouted with a confident smile "I shall prove it to you that I can defeat you!"

Nel who heard it, start to laugh, "Pfft– hahaha!! Then don't disappoint me kid! I shall let you have a taste just why those people want me to be the captain of the knights." He said as he held the pole with his two hands and lowered his body as he smirked.

Rei went into his stance as well, steeling his gaze as he slowly letting out a bit of his aura.

"Don't cry if you lose kid!" Nel provoked good-naturedly.

"I should be the one who saying that!" Rei yelled back, slightly heated.

As the two of them dashed towards to each other with high speed...

*TING*

The second round of their fight had begun...

To be continue...

*Rei's current status*

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[STATUS]

NAME: Kiritsuka Rei / Ray Houston

JOB : Blacksmith

TITLE : [The Reincarnator], [Time Traveler], [Quick Learner], [Beast Slayer], [Die Hard], [Jack of All Trade]

Level: 30

[HP: 3500/4000]

[MP: 475/475]

[FATIGUE: 600]*orange*

EXP: 500/36500

STATUS POINT : 2

__________________

STRENGTH : 100

AGILITY : 70(+5)

VITALITY : 75

INTELLIGENCE : 60(+5)

SENSE : 65(+5)

[SKILL]

Blacksmith Mastery Lv6; Sword Mastery Lv6; Battle Instinct Lv6; Super Growth LvMax; Fire Magic Lv4; Aura Lv5; Cooking Mastery Lv3; Knitting Mastery Lv3; Alchemy Mastery Lv2

Fire LvMax

Blacksmith Flame Lv1

Horizontal Slash LvMax

Vertical Slash LvMax

Omni Slash Lv3

Persona LvMax [Locked]

Imitation Fire Sword Lv3

Shukuchi Lv5

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