Drake was not very elegant. He always wore a heavy-armour set, even within the castle. It was the most efficient way to train his body to handle a heavy armour on his shoulders. He also kept weapons on his waist, since he spent most of his time training.However, his green eyes flickered with a wisdom and matureness that didn"t match his age. He had an average face, yet his silvery hair definitely stood out as a trait unique to the lunar elves.
His father was in a similar attire, wearing a heavy armour and training with a long, heavy Great Sword, which measured over a meter and weighed over thirty kilograms. Whenever Drake looked at his father"s training, he would feel the cold-bloodedness of a battlefield veteran, the simplicity of his moves proved their efficiency.
Lying on the ground, over a dozen Dark-legion soldiers were gasping, trying to catch their breath.
"Son, do you know why I was never given the t.i.tle of Count despite the military achievements and merits I have acc.u.mulated over the past decade? Our economy is flourishing after we introduced the Moonlight Market in Blackwater City, the capital of our territory. My army possesses more than a hundred elite soldiers in my Dark Legion, and there are also over a thousand soldiers and mercenaries ready to fight on a moment"s notice in the caserns. Politically, my subjects fear me and respect me like a proper lord. Overall, our household is several times more powerful than some declining Count Household."
"Obviously, it is because of the Child King of Porfield, Reynold. He is surrounded by ministers and advisors who are corrupted, while the truly competent men can only do so much as reduce the impact on the Porfield citizens. As for rewarding the worthy ones, unless it is a very eye-catching achievement, the Royal Court will not even bat an eye. After all, once you earn a n.o.ble t.i.tle, it is very rare to be degraded. It is something that goes on for generations."
"Child King, huh? You could be executed for your words, Drake. Never speak to anyone about the king in such a manner in the future…But you are right. Everyone knows it; the Child King is not suit to be a king. I heard he engaged an army of mercenaries and made them slaughter women and babies in broad daylight. These babies were compet.i.tors for the throne."
"…"
"Well, my ambitions are certainly very high, but I have never heard of yours. Tell me, Drake. What do you really want? You are good in every aspect. Your tutors have nothing more to teach you and all praised your intelligence. You are hard-working, and you always protect the family"s honour. More importantly, you have huge potential as a knight. But…you lack ambition."
Drake could only fall silent upon hearing this question. He had been brainwashed into killing mercilessly. In his past life, Drake was a p.a.w.n, a killing machine that only followed orders. He was now free, and just being able to choose his own path in his life was a blessing in his eyes. As for ambition…Drake didn"t have such a thing. If anything, he wanted to be strong enough to protect what was precious to him, he wanted to make his parents proud, he wanted to reach the legendary immortality that people talked about in tales.
After pondering for a moment, Drake made a wish.
"I want to become strong, Father. I want to become so strong that no one would be able to tell me what I have to do."
"You…Haha! I guess that works for ambition. Don"t think I have not noticed your desperate hard work. Everyone praises your talent. They think that you managed to beat one of my Dark Legion subordinates in a duel because you are gifted. But that is bulls.h.i.t. My men aren"t so easy to bully. You work twice as hard as others."
"You praise me too much."
"Your mother has returned to her sanctuary with her kind. Her family didn"t take a liking to me a decade ago, and I don"t think they will ever give me a chance to prove that I love your mother as much as her elven family. Today, I want to impart you with one of our family���s secret", Viscount Allan continued.
"Everyone, get out of here! I wish to talk to my son alone!"
The Moonlight Family"s founder was a Grand Knight who rose from the dirt. Born in a farmer"s family, he proved his talent for killing in a battlefield, after being enlisted in the royal army. Acc.u.mulating military merits, he fought alongside the King Joffrey IV in the War against the Phuinem Kingdom, even saving the life of a Duke"s son.
As a reward, he was given a n.o.ble t.i.tle. Near the end of his life, he broke through and became a Grand Knight. He fought many wars, conquering the Moonlight Region, which name came from his grandeur. Ultimately, he died of old age.
Grand Knights aren"t common. Only one out of ten n.o.ble families would have an ancestor who reached the Grand Knight Realm.
Preparatory knights can sense internal energy. Drake was a particularly talented preparatory knight. However, even Drake couldn"t compare to knights, who could use internal energy to enhance their strength for a short moment. As for Grand Knights, they were even stronger: they could manifest their internal energy to sharpen their swords or solidify parts of their bodies to block incoming attacks.
Grand Knights were powerhouses capable of charging into a city, ma.s.sacre the soldiers and plunder the wealth of merchants, and come out of this ordeal alive, without sustaining any big injury.
In the whole Porfield Kingdom, there weren"t more than a dozen Grand Knight. Hence, having a Grand-knight level breathing technique was the Moonlight Household"s greatest secret, as well as its biggest trump card.
The Viscount paused, then continued: "Breathing techniques are invaluable. As human beings, we reach our body limits very quickly after a few years of training. Breathing techniques enable us to get past these limits and continue to progress. If it weren"t for our family"s Grand Knight Technique, I would have not reached the peak of the Knight realm in my lifetime, much less have any thoughts about breaking through. But I can. Because our ancestor left us this technique as his legacy. However, I also managed to find a scroll depicting a knight killing technique a few years after my father"s death."
The Viscount then dropped his great sword, and picked up a training cross sword.
"In a fight, your body strength is a huge factor on whether you will win the fight or not. But technique also plays a role. Take a look at this."
The cross sword was finely crafted. However, in the hand of the Viscount, it became a threatening weapon that could bring death at any moments. Drake felt like the atmosphere changed the moment his father took the sword.
Suddenly, the sword began to glow in a pure, blue light. It was a faint glow, yet it seemed to bring destructive properties to the sword. The Viscount cut a 1-meter-tall rock in two halves without showing any exhaustion.
Drake was utterly shocked.
[Beep! Estimated amount damage dealt by the Viscount: 18 degrees of damage!]
Degree of damage was a unit that the biochip simulated after years of data collection. Drake had made many experiments, and the strongest power he could unleash was a charge that only amounted to 5 degrees of damage. To be able to deal 18 degrees of damage…the Viscount truly was a superhuman being.
"The essence of this killing technique is…sheer power. It doesn"t matter whether the enemy wears a heavy armour or a possess a shield. If you manage to land this. .h.i.t, you can kill your enemy in one shot. Of course…you have to master the skill before using it, or else you might injure your meridians!"
Drake was excited. He was someone who worked hard on a daily basis to become stronger, after all.
"Can I learn it?"
The Viscount paused for a few moments, then began to laugh: "Haha! You really think you can use such a skill without even being a knight! Look, it is a technique that average knights would find hard to learn, not to mention you, a puny preparatory knight!"
Drake seemed disappointed, but the Viscount cheered him up.
��Watch, and learn. I am going to war, soon. A barbarian King was born in the mountains. I have to renew our truce, and make sure I show them strength, or else they will grow full of themselves and become aggressive. Oh, don"t make such eyes, I won"t die, but if the unthinkable should happen, I want someone to remember this killing technique."
And so, the Viscount began to demonstrate the skill over and over again, giving pointers and advices that came from experience, hard work, and life and death battles. Although Drake could not practice this technique without knight cultivation, he still absorbed the knowledge like a sponge. One of the biochip"s benefits was photographic memory. Although it could only make basic a.n.a.lysis and store data, photographic memory was still a huge boost for his progress in swordsmanship.
Four hours. The Viscount taught Drake for four entire hours. Everything that could be said about the technique, the Viscount said it thrice.
Within Drake, something had changed. It was a minute, unnoticed change that took place in his core. It was as if something awakened in his body…part of his bloodline remembering this killing technique.