47 Yale's Mental State
Sainac overlooked a lot of things Heruk did in the past, but that wasn't because he had feared his ancestor. He merely wanted to avoid internal strife inside the city that outsiders could use to attack. After all, the academy would still suffer some loses, and losing the strongest clan while also weakening the academy would create a great chance for the outsiders to attack.
However, Sainac was asked by the Mysterious Expert to take care of Ange. If she were turned into a slave of that arrogant kid, Sainac didn't doubt about the future of the whole city. If the Mysterious Expert was angry, Nacesai City might disappear from the world. Heruk was courting death with his words.
Heruk was shocked when he heard the chairman defending Ange and threatening him. He wasn't used to hearing that type of words.
However, he didn't dare to say anymore because Sainac could kill him before his ancestor managed to notice something was wrong. Although he believed that his ancestor would avenge him, he didn't want to be avenged, he wanted to be alive.
Although he liked to abuse the ones who were weaker than him, Heruk was a coward when the opponent was someone that didn't care about his ancestor. He feared death.
Swordmad didn't react at Heruk's words, he was like Yale and was only angered inside.
He thought of killing that brat due to his threats to Yale's sister.
However, when he saw Yale's expression, Swordmad understood that Yale wanted to be the one dealing with Heruk.
Both master and disciple had a tacit understanding that didn't need any words. Both knew very well the other's personality.
Furthermore, killing Heruk in the academy would be a problem with his clan, but if he died after going to the Imperial City, everything would be different, and Swordmad knew it.
Swordmad would let Yale deal with Heruk, but he swore that Heruk wouldn't come back alive to the academy.
If Yale weren't able to kill him in the Special Realm, Swordmad would ensure that some accident happened to Heruk.
Yale didn't know anything about what would happen after the tournament, but at least he wanted to beat Heruk in the tournament's match.
Although Yale desired to kill him, he didn't plan to break the academy's rules.
Yale's desire wasn't anything strange, Heruk hadn't only crippled Zack, but he also wanted to enslave Ange after she had healed Zack.
He hadn't been angered that much in his whole life; in the previous one, he didn't remember, so it was unknown for if he was that angered or not in that life. He didn't care about the tournament or the Dynamic Quest anymore, he wanted to reach the final to beat Heruk, everything else didn't matter to him.
Yale's personality had a huge change after his anger reached the limit.
Instead of losing control as should had been normal is most kids, his personality turned into a cold one.
He had very little influence from his past life memory fragments, but they still influenced him when his anger was high enough to make him lose his senses.
That cold personality after being enraged was a trait inherited from his past life.
That was the second time Yale entered in that state; the first one was when he was dealing with Wyba's father.
However, at that time, his anger was lower than the anger triggered by Heruk's acts.
He would only go back to his usual personality when he had been able to vent the anger inside him.
The next round started, and Yale went to the stage again.
The opponent was the sword user who Yale wanted to battle before when seeing his battle in the previous round.
However, at that moment, Yale only wanted to finish the battle quickly without wasting energy. He wanted to be in his best state to beat Heruk.
In the eyes of the spectators and his opponent, Yale seemed devoid of intention to battle.
Everyone thought that he was too shocked by what had happened to his classmate and lost the will to fight. After all, most of the people seeing the tournament had been unable to calm down after the previous scene of violence.
However, Swordmad smiled because he understood very well Yale's state of mind.
That wasn't because Yale's personality turned cold after he got angered, but because of how he was facing the battle.
"If you don't want to battle, just give up the match. I don't enjoy beating weaklings."
Yale's opponent seemed concerned about Yale's state; he didn't want to battle against an opponent who lost the will to fight because he wasn't a bully. He only liked battle against strong opponents.
Since Yale had battled very well before, the sword user had high expectations of him, but after seeing Yale's current state, he thought that he overestimated him.
Yale didn't give up and also didn't reply to his opponent.
He merely stood in the stage with a sword in his hand, but without any battle stance.
Even the referee didn't know if he should start the battle after seeing Yale, but as Yale himself didn't give up, the fight should start.
"The match starts!"
Yale stood in the same position while his opponent charged towards him.
He observed his opponent's movements and saw all the flaws in them. He felt as if the time slowed down, but that was only his perception.
That was a mental state that every person who reached the expert stage in the sword was able to enter. Moreover, entering in that state one time was the final key to advance into the expert stage.
Entering that state was extremely difficult, but as long as one's sword techniques became better, the possibilities of entering the special mind state would grow.
That was the main reason Swordmad told Yale that he should teach about the sword and expand his vision.
Yale was already feeling that his swordsmanship was near entering the expert stage, but he lacked something.
However, the rage he felt summed with the effects of the cold personality caused a change in Yale's mindset when he was going to fight.
That change of mindset made him enter into that particular mental state.
When the opponent was almost hitting him, Yale did a single slash with his sword, that was a simple attack, without any Origin Qi on it.
That attack hit in the weak point of the opponent's stance and sent him out of the stage.
Everyone was left speechless by the outcome of the battle.
Yale, who seemed without any intention to battle, finished his opponent, who was a level higher than him, with only one hit, which was also a simple one without anything special into it.
Swordmad had a broad smile on his face, that strike might seem simple to others, but to him, it was the proof of Yale stepping in the expert stage.
Swordmad didn't say to Yale anything about the last requirement to enter the expert stage, because entering that mental state for the first time was like the enlightenment, it couldn't be sought.
Knowing it beforehand would make it more difficult to enter in that mind state.
After one reached the expert stage, one's sword would be infused with Sword Aura, which was only detectable by others who were at least at the expert stage.
Any normal hit with Sword Aura was far more powerful than any Battle Skill Yale had used before.
Furthermore, while using Battle and Combined Skills with the sword, the Sword Aura would also appear, so Yale's battle prowess obtained a huge boost.
[The user upgraded the Passive Skill "Sword Mastery" to Expert Level 1.]
Even without the system's notification, Yale had sensed that he entered the expert stage in swordsmanship.
Yale didn't move after sending his opponent out of the stage.
[Sword Mastery: Expert Level 1. While wielding a sword, all stats increase by 1% ignoring all the restrictions. All sword attacks will be infused with Sword Aura. This Passive Skill can be leveled up practicing swordsmanship.]
The Passive Skill was almost the same as before, only that the Sword Aura effect had been added.
[The user completed a hidden requirement by reaching the expert stage with a weapon. All the stats of the user have been boosted.]
[Reward: Vitality points increased from 14 to 17.]
[Reward: Strength points increased from 16 to 19.]
[Reward: Agility points increased from 16 to 19.]
[Reward: Intelligence points increased from 17 to 20.]
[Reward: Wisdom points increased from 17 to 20.]
[Reward: Dexterity points increased from 15 to 18.]
Yale didn't mind about his huge increase of stats nor how they had neared him to 3-star mortal because his mind was still focusing only on beating Heruk.
Yale's opponent stood up outside the arena and looked at Yale with a shocked expression as he felt that he didn't have any injury, but at the same time, he didn't doubt about how profound Yale's attack was.
He concluded that Yale avoided harming him on purpose, merely sending him out the platform to win the battle.
After realizing that, he bowed to Yale and went to the spectator zone. Yale was younger than him but had earned his respect as someone who had surpassed him on pure swordsmanship.
After how Heruk had won before, Yale's method to win had obtained the favor of the spectators.
They preferred someone like Yale, who showed his prowess without harming his opponent than a bully who was happy as he ripped off the opponent's limbs.
As the spectators started to applaud Yale, the referee finally recovered from his shock and announced the result.
"The winner is Yale, congratulations!"
As the referee announced the result, more notifications appeared in Yale's mind.
[Dynamic Quest reward for the third win: Strength increased to 20 points.]
[Dynamic Quest reward for the third win: Agility increased to 20 points.]
[Dynamic Quest reward for the third win: Origin Points increased to 16/16 points and restored.]
However, Yale didn't react to those either. He merely went back to where Zack was lying unconscious.
Ange was also sat exhausted near Zack after healing him. She had needed to use all her magic to recover such severe injuries.
George and Aizu had also moved to stay beside them, although they were rivals in the tournament, they felt more like a team after Heruk had beaten Zack.
