When Lance returned to his room, he was surprised to find a large amount of hot water already prepared in the private washroom.
Six white candles had been lit around the room as well, an extravagance by the standards of the castle.
Aunt Xili waited respectfully nearby.
"Young Master Lance, if you need anything during the night, just call for me. I sleep rather deeply, so you may need to shout more than once before I hear you."
She paused, then added, "Tomorrow I'll find you a new personal maid."
Lance did not know whether to laugh or sigh.
All he had done was draw one proper spell rune in front of everyone, yet the way the household treated him had changed completely.
This world really is painfully realistic.
He shook his head inwardly.
"I understand, Aunt Xili. As for the maid, I don't think that's necessary."
To his surprise, Xili shook her head firmly.
"The First Madam personally gave the order. She insisted that we find you a well-behaved and obedient maid."
'The First Madam?'
Lance gave a cold laugh inside.
He said nothing more.
After Xili left, he closed the door and took a long hot bath.
Warm steam filled the washroom, and exhaustion gradually washed over him.
Forcing Fox to copy a spell rune directly into his brain had indeed caused damage.
His mind still felt weak and drained.
He needed rest.
Lance understood perfectly well that he could not accomplish everything at once. Rest was part of training too.
So as soon as he finished bathing, he went to bed and fell into a deep sleep.
...
At five thirty the next morning, Fox woke him at the appointed time.
Lance dressed quickly and washed his face with cold water to clear his head.
The castle was almost silent at this hour.
Apart from the night guards, the kitchen staff, and a few servants already beginning their work, nearly everyone else was still asleep.
Lance walked through the quiet corridors while faint morning light spilled in from beyond the sea, lending the relatively young castle a trace of vitality.
"Good weather."
He headed straight to the kitchen.
Under the surprised gazes of several cooks, Lance grabbed a few pieces of dry bread, washed them down with a cup of steaming milk, and continued outside.
"Was that really Young Master Lance just now?"
A thin cook stared after him uncertainly.
Another cook, somewhat heavier around the waist, looked equally bewildered.
"I've worked in this castle for eight years and I've never once seen that young master get up this early."
He lowered his voice.
"It looks like what happened last night was probably true. Young Master Lance may really become one of those legendary, powerful wizards."
The moment the word wizard was spoken, awe appeared on every face.
Thanks to Amman's presence, the servants of Lane's castle saw wizards more often than most ordinary people in other territories ever would.
That familiarity did nothing to lessen their fear and admiration.
Even a Level 2 Wizard was exceedingly rare throughout the Piaoqi Kingdom.
Apart from Amman, the only other one they knew of was an elderly wizard serving the royal family.
Several servants had once witnessed Amman cast a spell.
The terrifying scene had left a permanent impression on them.
"If Young Master Lance becomes a wizard too," the thin cook said hesitantly, "wouldn't that mean our territory has two wizards?"
The others exchanged looks.
No one knew how to answer.
Two wizards...
Perhaps only the royal family of the Piaoqi Kingdom possessed that kind of power.
...
After leaving the kitchen, Lance did not head directly to Moonlight Tower.
It was still early.
He knew Amman preferred to perform experiments in the morning, and wizards hated being disturbed while working.
He might as well go later.
As Lance wandered through the castle grounds, he eventually reached the training yard.
Several diligent soldiers had risen early and were already practicing with wooden swords, exchanging basic moves back and forth.
The sight gave Lance an idea.
'Fox, have you finished analyzing the three sword styles I had you record?'
[The analyses were completed some time ago. Would you like to view the results?]
'Display them immediately.'
[Understood.]
Three sets of information appeared before Lance.
[Piaoqi Kingdom Basic Military Swordsmanship]
Ordinary-grade swordsmanship.
Long-term practice can produce a small improvement in physical attributes.
Estimated result after 400 complete practice cycles:
Constitution +0.1
Strength +0.1
Agility +0.1
[Spirit Fox Swordsmanship]
Elite-grade swordsmanship.
Long-term practice can improve physical attributes.
Estimated result after 300 complete practice cycles:
Constitution +0.3
Strength +0.2
Agility +0.3
Prerequisite: mastery of basic swordsmanship.
[White Fang Swordsmanship]
Incomplete elite-grade swordsmanship.
Long-term practice can improve physical attributes.
Estimated result after 500 complete practice cycles:
Constitution +0.2
Strength +0.3
Agility +0.3
Prerequisite: mastery of basic swordsmanship.
The effects of all three techniques were displayed clearly before him.
Poirot had learned White Fang Swordsmanship from someone during his years as a mercenary, so it made sense that the style was incomplete.
The other two were complete systems.
Both could improve Lance's body.
Spirit Fox Swordsmanship requires a foundation in basic swordsmanship.
'Looks like I have to start from the beginning.'
Without hesitation, Lance selected the kingdom's basic military swordsmanship.
A translucent figure immediately appeared in his vision, demonstrating the sword movements one by one.
With Fox's assistance, Lance could break each technique down into its smallest components and learn every motion separately.
That would allow him to master the correct form far more quickly than an ordinary student.
He tightened his belt and entered the training yard.
Several soldiers looked at him curiously.
Lance ignored them.
He took a wooden sword from the weapon rack, moved to an open corner, and began practicing.
The Piaoqi Kingdom's Basic Military Swordsmanship was extremely common.
It was taught mainly to new soldiers and militia recruits as an introductory exercise.
Its combat value was minimal.
Its true purpose was physical conditioning.
The style contained six movements.
Calling them "techniques" was almost generous. They were simply six basic actions:
horizontal cut,
vertical cut,
diagonal cut,
straight thrust,
rising cut,
and guard.
None of the movements was inherently difficult.
The challenge was performing them with exact form.
Only correct posture produced the intended training effect.
Practicing with poor form could easily do the opposite, causing muscle strains or injuries to the joints and bones.
Whoosh!
Lance used roughly sixty percent of his strength and performed a horizontal cut.
Fox immediately responded.
[Warning. Horizontal-cut form is incorrect.]
[Raise the elbow by half an inch.]
[Reduce the blade angle by three degrees.]
Because Fox had faithfully recorded Poirot's standard movements, it could compare Lance's execution against the reference and correct him in real time.
Many soldiers spent a long time learning even simple swordsmanship.
That was not necessarily because they were slow.
Watching an instructor perform a movement and then reproducing every detail accurately from memory was simply difficult.
Lance did not have that problem.
Fox evaluated every attack.
Every mistake received immediate correction.
It would not take long before Lance's body learned the correct form and converted it into muscle memory.
The chip's assistance made sword practice unexpectedly engaging.
Lance knew his physical attributes were poor.
He needed to improve them as quickly as possible.
And studying magic did not require neglecting the body.
Many outstanding wizards were said to possess terrifying physical strength as well.
According to old accounts, there had even once been a school known as the [Sword-Wielding Wizards].
Every wizard belonging to that school was supposedly a Gold-rank swordsman.
Clearly, physical strength mattered to wizards too.
...
[Warning. Horizontal-cut form is incorrect.]
[Increase the blade angle by one and a half degrees.]
Sweat ran down Lance's forehead, but he ignored it and immediately corrected his motion.
He swung again.
[Horizontal-cut form meets the standard.]
Again.
[Horizontal-cut form meets the standard.]
A third time.
[Horizontal-cut form meets the standard.]
Three consecutive repetitions.
All correct.
A smile appeared on Lance's face.
The strength of the master chip was becoming increasingly obvious.
In less than an hour, he had already learned the proper form of the movement.
Now he only needed to repeat it until the motion became instinctive.
The soldiers who had initially been curious watched for a while longer.
When they realized Lance was practicing nothing more than the most elementary movements, they lost interest and drifted away.
No one disturbed him.
...
Four hours later, it was nearly noon.
Lance left the training yard drenched in sweat.
Every muscle in his body ached.
When he returned to the castle, he noticed Lane and Griffin discussing something together.
Lance did not interrupt them.
Instead, he slipped around to the back of the kitchen and found something to eat.
The head chef was apparently already familiar with Lance's habit of raiding the kitchen between meals. To Lance's amusement, Hogg had prepared an elegant plate of food in advance and left it waiting for him.
After lunch, Lance returned to his room, bathed, changed into clean clothes, and left Windwatch Castle accompanied by a soldier.
While walking along the beach, he saw two groups of riders thunder out from the castle.
One force headed north.
The other rode south.
Their horses moved quickly, and before long both groups had disappeared from sight.
May everything go smoothly for them.
Lance silently wished them luck.
These were clearly the deployments decided upon during the previous night's meeting.
Poirot led the southern group toward the Conifer Forest Farm to eliminate the Frost Earth Demons.
The northern force was much stronger.
Viscount Lane and Griffin led it personally.
Their target was the Savage Orcs roaming the mountains beyond the Red River.