Chapter 5: Strengthened blow

The captain designated a soldier in the group who moved to a rack to retrieve two wooden shields before giving one to Rohan and equipping his own.

The other soldiers had moved to the side to watch the show. It was not the first time that a match against the young master took place, on the contrary. But today, the result might be different.

The captain remained close to the two fighters, he will serve as a judge and stop the fight if he considers that one of the two has lost and will prevent any possible accident.

Rohan fitted his shield, it was nothing more than a heavy wooden plate used for training, definitely not the best defense. But that was enough, he felt ready, he was going to win.

The captain, seeing that the two combatants were ready, did not wait any longer, and launched the fight. Rohan stepped forward with his shield, he circled the guard to judge his movements, and suddenly launched the assault.

He stepped forward quickly and gave a blow with his shield to disturb his opponent's balance. The force of the shock caused the soldiers to take a step back, while Rohan took advantage of this opening to slash his sword diagonally.

The soldier stepped aside to regain his balance and positioned his shield at a specific angle to decrease as much damage as possible. Rohan jumped back to avoid the guard's counterattack.

He knew who the guard in front of him was, he was one of the best of this group of soldiers. He was definitely good, but with this exchange, he realized the differences between a warrior and a normal human, he was going to win.

As his foot touched the ground after his leap, he speeded forward to launch another attack. He struck at the slightest opening, forcing his opponent as much as possible on the defensive, and dodged as soon as a counter attack was launched.

The soldier, receiving the blows, absolutely had to pay attention to his position. His opponent may have been only a 13-year-old, but the blows of a warrior were no joke, his shield-bearing arm was becoming numb from the shocks.

This dance continued for a few moments, until an attack from the guard moved towards Rohan. He didn't dodge this blow, it was that movement he was looking for, and as the blow approached, he didn't back down.

He stepped forward, raising his shield. And just before the impact between these two forces, Rohan pushed his shield towards the blade with superhuman force, deviating it from the initial path. The guard, not expecting it, was swept back by the rebound of his blow.

Rohan, seeing the best possible opening, rushed forward and planted his weapon at the exposed chest. The soldier tried to react and parry with his sword, his shield being too far away, but he only managed to slightly deflect the blow, and the wooden tip stopped at his right shoulder. If it was a real sword, he would have lost his arm, unable to move it.

The spectators screamed and applauded, it was a very good fight. The soldier stepped back and bowed to Rohan.

"Young master, you have definitely become stronger, thank you for this fight."

"Thanks to you, it was a good fight."

As Rohan was about to take off his equipment, the captain stepped forward, a strange glint in his eyes, as if he had found a pearl.

"It was indeed a good fight, do you want to have a sword duel against me after a little break? I think that would benefit you. I'm indeed a rank 3 warrior, but what do you think of judging our sword plays?"

"Oh? Why not? Let me freshen up a bit beforehand and we'll be good."

After a few minutes, Rohan and the Captain were standing face to face, with nothing more than a sword in hand. The soldiers were gathered around, without making the slightest noise. The captain began to speak.

"If you allow me, I will put some pressure on you, after all it is under the pressure that we evolve the most. Are you ready?"

As Rohan nodded, the captain rushed towards him.

Fast ! In a few steps the captain was on him and attacked with his weapon. Rohan could only defend himself in extremis and stepped back. But that was only the beginning, a sudden storm was flying over him. He dodged a few but was forced to parry or deflect most blows.

The force of the blows was incredible. The captain might only have been a rank 3 warrior, but each blow, each movement followed without pause as if he was a battle god.

Rohan concentrated, he couldn't stay on the defensive forever.

Suddenly he dodged a blow and launched his own bottom-up attack. Usually this kind of blow was not effective, it was better to use gravity rather than going against it to launch an attack. But using his strength, Rohan launched this attack to surprise his opponent.

The latter responded by taking a simple side step, and the blow touched nothing but emptiness.

But Rohan did not let himself be destabilized and immediately recovered before starting to hit left and right. Each of his blows was easily parried, as his opponent seemed to see his every move with disconcerting ease.

He couldn't touch it, so he had to go faster, to hit harder. He continued to attack, tried to increase the pace, to put more strength in each of his strokes. An attack to the right, a thrust, to the left, a horizontal slash, then diagonal, and we start again. Faster. Stronger.

He felt a tingling sensation down his arm. Heat radiated from his chest. More precisely, from his core in the middle of his chest.

The captain had a strange expression on his face. He was right, he thought he saw a reaction to the young master's mana when he was fighting against his soldier. It was for this reason that he had called for a duel. But how was this possible? Normally it took months of training to successfully use your mana!

Suddenly the heat rose, Rohan felt like an explosion coming from his core. Like a volcano erupting as all the lava entered its arm.

His mana exploded towards the meridian, filling it completely before merging with his right arm, giving it phenomenal power. He gave a blow from above. This blow was much faster than the others, a faint glow coming from his arm.

The captain had no choice but to use his own skill, strengthened blow, to meet his young master's sword with his own.

The two wooden swords met. A thud, followed by a cracking sound, was heard throughout the courtyard. Two pieces of swords flew through the areas before falling to the ground. The shock was far too violent for training swords of this quality.

Rohan looked back at the broken sword still in his hand and the shards on the ground with a blank expression. The captain threw the pommel to the ground, and with excitement all over his face, bowed deeply to Rohan.

"Congratulations young master for having managed to use your mana. It had personally taken me four months before I managed to use it in combat."

Rohan turned his face to him, and tilted his head to the side as if he didn't understand what he was talking about.

Suddenly his eyes widened. It took him a few seconds to figure out what had happened. He had succeeded in using strengthened blow, the capacity of the warriors given by the meridians. He returned his gaze to his hand, his mana had already dissipated.

It would take another ten hours or so before his 10 mana points were recovered again.

After all, it wasn't the skills of the Beginner Warrior that made them so fearful, but their sheer power. Of course, it was only for the beginner ranks, as for an Intermediate Warrior and above, they were beings far more powerful with much more mana.

As the captain had said, normally it would have taken him several months before he could use his mana. Several months of meditating and learning how to guide his mana in the meridian to then diffuse it in all the arm.

It was supposed to be long and laborious. And yet he had done it in a day, just because he was frustrated that he couldn't hit his opponent.

The training came to an end, the guards returned to their activities while Rohan was going to wash to remove the accumulated sweat, it was still necessary to be presentable in front of a general. On entering the building, his butler, Jonas, warned him that his brother had already left for the estate, he had his own duty.

Rohan entered the bathroom where a bath had already been prepared for him. He stripped off his leather armor and clothes and laid them casually on the floor, before stepping into the tub naked.

Sitting cross-legged inside, he closed his eyes and focused on his body. He had already examined himself yesterday to know when would be the best time to start opening the second meridian. Like most warriors, he had decided he was going to open a meridian towards one of his legs so he would be able to use the skill charge, allowing him to speed up for a short time.

Due to his promotion from the previous day, the inside of his body was still weakened, and forcing an opening with mana will have to wait until he is back in good shape.

He deduced that he would have to wait at least a month for his body to be fully recovered, and apart from the physical training, he would not do anything else this month. He nodded with a smile and lay down in the tub to relax quietly.

At the beginning of the afternoon, five horse riders presented themselves in the residence of the count. One of them was of course the general Edwin Chrisfold while the other four were his personal guards. They dismounted and, guided by a servant, came to a room where Rohan and his father were seated.

They got up when the five men appeared, and the count invited them to sit down. Only the general sat on the sofa while his 4 guards remained standing behind him. Before starting the discussion, three cups of tea were brought in by a butler.

After dipping his lips in the drink, the count spoke.

"So general Chrisfold, tell me, why did you want to see us today? Does this have anything to do with the promotion of Rohan?"

Edwin put the mug on the table and glanced at Rohan before looking back on Roland. He was a commander, so in theory he could give him orders, but what he was going to talk about had little to do with the military. So he treated him with his title of nobility.

"It does indeed have something to do with his promotion, Count Roland. In fact, I wanted to come and take him on as an official disciple, that's what I decided yesterday when he became a rank 1 Beginner Warrior. That said, that won't be possible within these days.

We're all way too busy, and I imagine you will too, I will not be able to guide him. Plus, he already has the method to rank up. So I am going back on my decision, I will wait until the war is over. Rohan, after this war, I would like to take you as a disciple, and lead you on the path of an advanced warrior."

Roland and Rohan's eyes lit up at the same time. Rohan's family only possessed the method to become an Intermediate Warrior, he did not know how to ascend beyond. This offer was masterful.

Rohan stood up before his father had time to say anything, and bowed to his future master.

"It will be my honor to be your disciple, General Edwin."

A big smile appeared on Edwin's face and he laughed before adding.

"Hahaha, great, great. It's decided then!"

He turned to one of his guards behind him.

"Give me the gift"

The soldier then gave a leather bag to the general, who put it on the table. He looked at Rohan who had sat down and was patting the bag.

"I can't take you as a disciple right now, but I can help you anyway. The content of this bag is for you, it will help you for your future promotions. It is not given to everyone to be able to own this kind of product hahaha! "