12 Chapter 12 Sword In The Bath

Wiping the black coloured impurities off my skin, I couldn't help but turn and face the crimson coloured screen hovering in front of me.

Obviously, just from this notification, I had learned two things about the System.

One, was that it was possible for it to give me Saint Quartz, once several conditions have been cleared. Even if I couldn't access it right now, there must be some sort of "mission" option or "milestone" option that the System couldn't show me.

Why it was hidden from me, I didn't know, but at the very least, I knew that it was partially related to at least, my Cultivation level.

"And thus my second new piece of knowledge.....".

After reaching the Initial Skin Refinement Stage, I had received 30 Saint Quartz.

From what I knew, there did exist a branch of Cultivation known commonly as "Physique Cultivation", which focused on cultivating the physical attributes of the body over the spirit, which was commonly known as "Qi Cultivation".

..... Additionally, the Formless Cloud Aria should be a Qi Cultivation Method.

I rubbed the bottom of my chin.

"So how does a Cultivation Method that is supposed to be a Qi Cultivation Method, cultivate the body? Maybe there was an grammatical error? Or some sort of mistake when writing it?".

It seemed possible, but definitely unlikely.

If there was an error in the Cultivation Method, I would probably find myself in immense pain rather than getting my skin refined.

So more than likely, it was due to the rhythm that I introduced. It wasn't originally apart of the Cultivation Method, although considering that there was no original rhythm, it was kind of hard to say whether this was a positive thing or a negative thing.

From my understanding of Cultivation, the cultivation of the physique, or the physical form was much faster than normal Qi Cultivation. However, due to its speed the pain felt during the refinement of the body was dozens of more times higher than Qi Cultivation.

Additionally, it needed a vast amount of precious medicines and rare materials in order to cultivate efficiently.

I hummed.

"At the very least, there doesn't seem to be anything wrong with my body. No uncomfortable pains or aches, and I don't think any of my internal organs or bones have been damaged. I'll still get Rin to check me out later, and see if anything has been changed. For better or for worse.....".

Letting out a deep breath I placed the Sky Piercing Puppet Technique and the Formless Cloud Aria in the small drawer that each disciple was given. The smelly clothes that I was currently wearing where thrown in the corner of the room.

Taking a small breath in through my nose, my face crinkled up deeply and I had to cover my mouth, forcing a gag back down my throat.

Considering that there were no showers or anything in the rooms, I would more than likely have to go to the Worker Disciple Baths, which were conveniently split into two areas for each gender.

Despite the fact that it was probably busy around this time, if I didn't want to smell like a sewer to the new disciple gathering, I would have to go and clean myself in order to get rid of the smell on my body.

Throwing the pair of dirty pants back on, I covered my mouth once more before picking up my clean clothes, opting to quickly head to the Bath in order to rid myself of it.

Fortunately, the path towards the Male Baths were relatively empty, and no-one looked at me strangely, or crinkled up their nose in distaste as they tried to sniff the air.

I thanked the Root for the fact that no-one stopped me on my way here.

"At any rate, the Worker Disciple Baths themselves are quite large..... If these are the size of the lowest level disciple, I wonder how big the Outer Disciple or Inner Disciple Baths are.....".

Despite the culture and society mimicking ancient China, the baths were strangely Japanese-styled. It was a strange thing to see, however definitely not an unwelcome one.

A large hot spring, the size of an Olympic swimming pool could be seen in front of me. The steam rising from this bath was actually quite thick, and limited a person's sight to only a few metres in front of them.

If one headed to the very other side of the Bath, they could enjoy quite a bit of privacy, however after heading back it would be very hard to see which direction they were heading in.....

I smiled before doing exactly that.

"Ah~. To think I could enjoy a hot spring in a foreign world. Maybe this entire experience won't be too bad..... Now, let's address the new concern that has arisen.....".

"System".

The crimson red screen appeared in front of me. Only two options could be seen on the front screen, so there wasn't any huge change to the System or its current functions.

Pressing on the "Summon" option, the shield of Galahad appeared before me once more, the word "Humans" had disappeared over the top of the shield, and the word, "Noble Phantasms" appeared in the spot where "Humans" had disappeared.

I raised an eyebrow.

Just from looking at the rate-up word, I was almost tempted to press the button here and there to try and test my luck.

..... I mean it was probably like E Rank, but still.....

I let out a shallow breath.

"I could summon an actual "Noble Phantasm". A crystallised mystery. The ultimate illusion, they are powerful weapons which are created from humanities dreams and imagination. The views that humanity has towards a particular Heroic Spirit can shape their Noble Phantasm. Seeing as though Sherlock Holmes and Moriarty can both become Heroic Spirits, how people view the Heroic Spirits is important as well.....".

Weighing up the pros and cons in my mind, I couldn't help but loose track of how many Noble Phantasms there were.

I mean, Alcides possessed over twelve on his own, while someone like Achilles possessed like four or five or something.

Even Siegfried, who was only seen using Balmung has another Noble Phantasm whose name escaped me off the top of my head. I could go and see in the "Mysteries" option what it was, but I would probably just get distracted by some other Noble Phantasm I hadn't heart of before.

I mean like, I didn't even know that Marie Antoinette's Noble Phantasm was "Crystal Palace: The Loving Brilliance, For Eternity". I only found that out when I was scrolling through the "Noble Phantasm" section.

I still didn't really know what it did, but I presumed that it was related to some sort of French Palace, perhaps the Versailles or something.....

"..... I don't really know if any Noble Phantasm can be considered useless though. I mean, Tawara Touta has a Noble Phantasm that allows him to create an endless amount of rice, but still, if I needed to create food using a Noble Phantasm, I suppose the only thing it would cost would be my magical energy.....".

Creating an endless amount of rice may seem completely useless, however other than the fact that I would never go hungry again, I could always overpower my enemies by flooding them with cooked rice.

..... Seems kind of silly, but at the end of the day if I was still alive, I guess it could be construed as a victory.

I rubbed my chin, feeling my cheeks flush slightly with the temperature of the baths.

"I suppose it can't be too bad if I were to summon right now. I mean, unless I summon something like the "Hanging Gardens of Babylon: Aerial Garden of Vanity" or "Golem Keter Malkuth: Royal Crown, the Light Of Wisdom". I mean, that's even if I do manage to summon a Noble Phantasm....".

I let out a sigh before refocusing my gaze on the crimson coloured screen. The number "31" could be seen in the top right hand corner.

Taking a deep breath, I raised my arms above the waters surface and clapped them together loudly. Rubbing my hands together vigorously, my gaze became serious as I reached forward and pressed the "10 Summon" option, showing a hopeful expression as I watched the shield of Galahad appear before me.

I unconsciously started biting my lower lip, and my fists became clenched as I gazed at the shield in front of-.

"What!? Nani! Golden!".

My eyes widened and my mouth dropped slightly, as I moved my face closer and closer towards the screen. For a second there, I literally forgot to breath as the golden coloured light gradually faded and the image of..... nothing appeared in front of me?

I blinked for a second, temporarily forgetting that the summons where still going on.

I turned to my left, noticing that there was nothing there.

I turned towards my right, similarly noticing that there was also nothing there.

Behind me, once more, nothing but steam and stone greeted my gaze.

I blinked.

"What the hell? Where did my golden ring go?".

A pile of uncommon items started pooling around the sides of the hot spring. Other than my "fake" golden summon, it didn't seem as though anything else was particular knew other than-.

In the corner of my eye, I noticed another golden coloured ring appear over the shield over the shield of Galahad. In a moment, I had completely forgotten about the "fake" golden coloured ring and my gaze completely focused on the, hopeful, appearance of this next golden item.

A bright coloured golden light appeared in the Male Disciple Baths, illuminating the surrounding area.

Even despite the extremely thick steam, golden rays of light pierced through them attracting the attention of several other male disciples bathing.

When the rays of golden coloured light faded, the image of an exquisite looking sword appeared directly in front of me.

The sword was thin, appearing as something more decorative rather than practical. The hilt was primarily gold, with blue coloured highlights appearing on the hilt and handle. Unlike the swords from the East, this was a two-sided, one-handed sword which possessed a similarly exquisite sheath leaning beside the sword sticking out of the ground.

Various runes were inscribed on the spine of the blade. Even though I was sure that I had never seen them before, I already knew what the meant.

My eyes widened and my mouth dropped.

"..... "Whoso pulleth out this sword of this stone is rightwise king of all England.....".

I gulped.

..... Perhaps it might've been a better idea to do this in private.