Banes and Boons

Opening his eyes, Paul found himself in a proper bed, his head and neck fixed in place by a rudimentary brace and a thick tube shoved down his throat. Strangely enough, these were far from the oddest things about his present situation. It was the fact two girls were holding up his legs while another appeared to be wiping and cleaning his ass...

Noticing Paul's eyes flicker, one of the girls supporting his legs, a young woman he recognized from his past philandering, exclaimed, "He's awake! Someone go and inform the Master...!"

Recognizing the woman from his philandering, Paul attempted to speak but found himself unable to. His throat was incredibly sore, and, were it not for the brace keeping his head and neck straight, the tube shoved down his throat would be choking him.

Seemingly understanding Paul's thoughts, the same girl before, Becky, advised, "Please wait a moment. We need to make sure the feeding tube is clear before trying to remove it. Don't want you choking to death after all this time..."

Since he couldn't say or do anything, Paul responded with a pained grunt before closing his eyes. He couldn't even begin to describe how much his body ached, but the thing that weighed most heavily on his mind was the fact he had likely shit himself in front of three girls he had previously gone to town on. If he didn't have such a consequential reason to live, he might have contemplated suicide...

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"Well, I'll be damned, kid. You actually managed to pull through. If you ever manage to reach the Rank of Sword King, I think I'll reward you the moniker of Immortal Cockroach."

Arriving around twenty minutes after Paul had awakened, Gal had a rare and guileless smile on his face. By all rights, Paul should be dead at the moment. His heart and breathing had stopped numerous times, yet, just when they thought they might lose him, the bastard's Touki would kick in to bring him back. The brat literally refused to die.

With the feeding tube removed from his throat, Paul sat with the help of two girls as he asked, "How long have I been out? My body..."

Though he had noticed it before, Paul's eyes trembled as he stared at his almost skeletal figure. If not for the appearances of everyone else staying pretty much the same, he would have assumed he had been in a coma for years.

"It's a side-effect of forcibly awakening and exhausting your Touki. Similar to how Mana Exhaustion causes people's hair to turn white and their body to wrinkle, your body rapidly matured in an attempt to endure the strain of your Touki. I'd say you have about thirty years before you kick the bucket, but the important thing is that you managed to beat the odds and survive. Good job, and congratulations on your promotion to Sword Saint. You sure as hell don't look it, but you're the youngest in history."

Suppressing a pained and exasperated groan, Paul held his forehead and asked, "Can someone grab me a mirror...?"

"Sure..."

Anticipating that Paul would want to check himself over, the girl on his left, Samantha, grabbed a mirror that had been waiting nearby. Gal wasn't too happy about Paul ignoring him, but he was willing to give the kid some time to collect himself. He had been through a lot.

Seeing the gaunt face reflected in the mirror, Paul's expression morphed into a deadpan. He didn't appear old, but he had lost a lot of the youthful charm that had allowed him to woo so many women. On the plus side, he now had a few patches of silvery-white hair that gave him a pretty exotic look. Once he regained his muscles, he could have Eula style his hair, and it should look pretty cool...

Setting aside the mirror, Paul asked, "Where's my Vision? The little green gemstone I always carry with me. It's a very important memento from my family."

Fortunately for Paul, one of the girls immediately produced his Vision from a bundle of clothing, asking, "Is this it...?"

Nodding his head, Paul accepted the currently inert Vision, saying, "Thank you..." before holding it close to his chest. The interior immediately began to exude a yellow-green light. It didn't exactly cause his body to pump up with muscles, but Paul could feel his stamina rapidly replenishing as the Dendro Energy surged through him.

Though he squinted his eyes with suspicion, Gal didn't ask Paul about his Vision. Instead, he waited for a few moments before saying, "You have a year to regain your strength and shore up your foundation. After that, I'll be teaching you Swordsmanship personally until you leave the Sanctum. Any complaints...?"

Shaking his head, Paul answered, "No..." before surprising Gal by staring him directly in the eye and adding, "And thanks. You nearly killed me, but I can feel a presence distinctly different from Mana coursing through my body. Once I regain my strength, I'll work even harder to become strong."

Snorting through his nose, Gal retorted, "Yeah, whatever you say, brat..." before promptly turning around and leaving. He hated sentimental crap, and though there was a grin on his face, he genuinely believed there was something wrong with Paul's head. After all, what kind of fool thanked the person who had literally stabbed them in the back...?

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In the wake of his near-death experience, Paul's height had increased from 155cm to just over 185cm. Unfortunately, his weight had actually decreased, his muscles atrophying to such an extent that he needed an entire six weeks of rehab just to be able to stand and walk.

While the first six weeks were pretty rough, Paul's condition improved rather drastically once he was able to move around. His Dendro Vision was pretty much a cheat with the impact it had on his stamina, so, by engorging himself on food and training hard every day, Paul's physical condition improved rapidly. By the time six months had passed, he had gone from a gaunt, almost skeletal 43kgs to an eye-catching 80kgs of lean, well-defined muscle.

Further benefitting Paul, the Dendro Vision ensured that his body was invariably restored to its physical prime rather than the somewhat aged form he was expecting. When he had first viewed himself in a mirror, he had the impression he would recover and appear to be in his mid to late thirties. Instead, like watching someone age in reverse, the healthier he became, the younger he appeared.

By the time Paul had fully recovered, he had the impression he was at or around 18-20 years old. Even better, though it had been more than a little jarring at the time, everyone within the Intersection of Fate appeared to have benefitted from his little 'mishap.' He had to do a bit of explaining to persuade them he hadn't simply ignored them for a few years. However, once he had, they had a hell of a lot of fun...

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"You weren't lying when you said you were lucky..."

Seeing how quickly Paul had not only recuperated but grown stronger, Gal couldn't help thinking he had awakened a monster. The former was nearly as tall as he was now, and, though there was a massive difference in both the quality and quantity of their Touki, Gal got the distinct impression Paul was closing the gap. If he actually stayed within the Sword Sanctum until he was twenty, Paul could easily become a King, maybe even an Emperor.

Resisting the temptation to challenge and cut Paul down, Gal adopted one of his characteristically vicious smiles as he said, "Ghislaine. You're up." In response, the grey-haired cat girl rose to her feet, a serious expression on her face as she asked, "Are you ready?"

Eyeing the very real sword in Ghislaine's hand, Paul only hesitated for a brief moment before manifesting his Black Sword and answering, "When you are..."

Nodding her head, Ghislaine promptly dropped to a three-point squat before launching herself towards Paul with much greater speed than their first spar. She had been training hard for the last year and a half, so much so that Gal suspected she would reach the Rank of Sword King within the next year or two. If she did, that would make her the youngest in history at 16-17-years-old.

Demonstrating his own progress, Paul charged towards Ghislaine with his left hand extended as if he were about to grab her face. His action briefly caught Ghislaine by surprise, so she instinctually swung towards his wrist with the intent to cut off his hand. Instead, she was forced to change the trajectory of her blade as Paul's came slashing toward her from her blind spot.

Catching the grey-haired cat girl by surprise, Paul manifested his Black Sword in his left hand the moment she attempted to sweep his previous attack aside. After that, he received a rather substantial surprise of his own when the grazing blow he intended to give her emanated a violent shockwave that caused her head to jerk to the side.

"..."

Leaping away from Paul and sliding across the ground on all-fours, a bit of fear appeared in Ghislaine's eyes as she said, "You're cheating..." in an accusatory tone. She had managed to protect herself with Touki, but the sclera of her right eye was completely red due to ruptured blood vessels. There was also a rather vicious cut on her cheek that exposed a faint yet noticeable trace of bone...

Before Paul could think to apologize, Gal interrupted their fight, stating, "There is no such thing as cheating in battle. You either win, lose, live, or die. It's that simple. Now, continue."

Squinting her eyes, Ghislaine adopted a stance that caused chills to spread through Paul's body. Any guilt he had about inadvertently injuring her was momentarily suppressed as he instantly shifted to a cross-body guard known as the Refraction Stance.

Accompanied by a brief burst of light, Ghislaine's body appeared to flicker out of existence, her blade 'instantaneously' impacting the flat of Paul's as an expression of abject shock marred her beautiful face.

As the name implied, the Refraction Stance was a technique developed to counter the Longsword of Light. It wasn't very reliable, but so long as you could assume the trajectory of your opponent's blade, you could deflect it away from you. Since the Longsword of Light transcended even the user's ability to perceive, having their attack deflected when they expected it to hit created a pretty big window of opportunity.

Stepping forward, Paul attempted to stomp Ghislaine's right foot, but her speed and reactions were still leagues ahead of his own. The moment he moved, she stepped backward, retracting her sword with the intent to try and stab him. Fortunately for Paul, she was still a little stupefied at having her Longsword of Light blocked, so he was able to press forward, batting aside her attacks aside and forcing her to retreat continuously.

"That's enough. This victory goes to Paul."

Hearing Gal's words, Ghislaine immediately came to her senses, insisting, "I can still fight!" in a firm tone.

Snorting through his nose, Gal crossed his arms and said, "I don't give a damn. You lost the momentum the moment your Longsword of Light was blocked. If this had been a real battle, you would have lost your life then and there."

Instead of refuting Gal's words, Ghislaine adopted a pout as she growled, "You said the only counter to the Longsword of Light was an even faster Longsword of Light...you lied to me..."

Furrowing his brows, Gal placed his left hand on the pommel of his sword, fully intent on teaching Ghislaine a lesson until Paul said, "The Refraction Stance isn't a proper counter. It's more of a gamble than anything. I knew you wouldn't aim to kill me, so I predicted the trajectory of your attack. If you were serious from the start and didn't receive a surprise attack to the face, you could have easily overwhelmed me..."

Nodding his head, Gal removed his hand from the pommel of his sword and said, "The boy's right. You dropped your guard because this was only a spar. In a real battle, you should always expect the unexpected. If you face a member of the North God School with that kind of mentality, you're going to get yourself killed. That being said..."

Shifting his attention to Paul, Gal added, "You shouldn't be using a Cursed Blade if you can't control it. This wasn't planned to be a fight to the death, yet you nearly blew your opponent's head off. I'll let it slide on account of the fact Ghislaine nearly killed you during your first spar, but it better not happen again. Understood?"

Since he really hadn't expected his sword to crit, Paul lowered his head and said, "I understand..."

Nodding his head in approval, Gal got up from his position and said, "We'll end things here and meet tomorrow morning at the Hall of Broken Blades. Don't be late."

Finished with what he had to say, Gal made his way to leave the Exhibition Hall but stopped short of the entrance. He knew there was a lot of sexual tension between Paul and Ghislaine, so before leaving, he looked over his shoulder and growled, "If you're going to do it, go somewhere outside the Sanctum. I'm tired of hearing people complain about you keeping them up all night..."

With Gal glaring directly at him, it wasn't difficult for Paul to understand what the man was alluding to. A wry smile developed across his face, but before he could respond, Ghislaine beat him to the punch, saying, "Beast Race females don't have sex outside of Mating Season...it is unpleasant..."

Shifting his attention to Ghislaine, Gal left Paul at an even greater loss for words as he said, "There's a lot more to sex than simple intercourse. As a woman, you need to learn how to please a man. I was going to teach you when you were a bit older, but I'll let the lad do it in my place. I was never into bestiality..."

Truly finished with what he had to say, Gal left the Exhibition Hall with an ostensibly disgusted look on his face. This left Paul and Ghislaine as the only two people left in the room, an uncomfortable silence descending upon them as they stared blankly at where Gal had been moments prior...

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