Mural

I could only chuckle at his delusions had I target his throat, then he could only lay there and die with no one capable of saving him. Yet he says I was unfair, I didn't even bother to dignify his claims with a response.

"Are you saying that you see things better than me?" Said Elton in a boisterous voice

Raynard's face paled as he heard Elton's comment.

"Of course not your excellency I take it back. It was just a moment of youthful liveliness." Raynard said with his head bowed.

It was one thing to fight me but to offend Teacher Elton, even his family wouldn't come to save him.

'This has likely created an enmity between Raynard and I. But if things work out the way I think they will, this enmity will be useful.' I thought to myself, just getting triple sword marks was worth the risk. I need to rapidly increase my strength, that means taking some risks.

Raynard knew better than to keep talking instead he just glared at me and went off the arena. I walked off as well withstanding Elton's curious gaze.

I went up to the stands and sat down in a quiet corner. Three aisles down I saw John sitting with some commoners. When I made eye contact he looked away.

'Figures, people are all the same, only useful when the gains outweigh the risks.' I felt in my heart that distrust was the best mode of existence. That way I could never be tricked or hurt, after all, I only have myself to rely on.

I laid back at focused on the ring going up now was Carol and one of the commoners. He was using a weapon from the weapon rack near the stage.

While Carol was gripping a whip from the weapons temple. It was obvious who would trump who.

He used a one hand ax to slash at Carol but Carol used her whip to wrap around the weapon. It wrapped so tightly that it even shattered.

Then she wrapped around his leg and threw him off stage, in 2 moves he was defeated.

Then it was John and a noble, John took out a greatsword. It was imposing and powerful the noble's sword paled in comparison.

They got into a tough fight, John specialized in defense and strong but slow hits. Whereas the noble was good at speed and accurate strikes. John stayed on the defensive as the noble did his footwork.

A few minutes into the fight John slammed his greatsword into the ground near the noble disrupting him.

Then while the noble was disrupted he swung his greatsword at him and stopped just short of hitting him. As the noble got into a defensive stance to handle the pain.

Some other boring fights went after but I didn't bother to pay attention. I just talked to Drrak about Combat Code.

'How do Codes work?'

'They are methods of intent for combat, it's higher level combat. The way weapons work is at first it's about the technical details. As you master the technical details you move onto injecting your intent.'

'The most powerful thing a sentient being has is not magic, a weapon, or their birthrights. Intent has always been the most powerful, there are even beings of pure will.'

'Anyway intents boost a weapon's sharpness and strength. It allows a weapon user to move from using a sword, to being a sword.

'At higher levels intent move from the sword to anything around. The most skilled swordsmen can even shatter a mountain using their sword intent on the air.'

'Codes are ways of using intents to expand your fighting style. When a knight unlocks aura their intent can be even further boosted and complicates fighting even more.'

'But after all the complications it all comes down to willpower.' Drrak lectured to me all of this in an instant.

'Do you have any saber codes?' I asked considering Drrak's origin anything he has must be high quality.

'I don't have any saber codes but I do have a manual on shadow codes. But at your level you wouldn't be able to use it, you need to reach a higher shadow mastery percent.' Drrak said with a sigh

'Also I don't recommend shattering the void in front of a mage. You got away with it because Elton is a knight. He'll probably just chalk it up to the sword's doing. But a mage will know much better.' Drrak said with a cautionary tone

'What are the odds?' I asked with a little apprehension.

'None in your favor.'

I felt a shiver in my spine now I have another thing to be afraid of. Anything related to me is dangerous to reveal.

"Alright well done today you all probably have questions about your status ask away." Teacher Elton said as the last batch of students got off the stage.

"What should our stats be when we are level one?" John said with a raised hand.

"The points you get now tend to show your future except in a few special cases of hidden potential. 6 is our national average, 7 is above average, 8 is excellent, 9 is genius, and 10….well it's unheard of. It would be a perfect foundation and the vitality needed for that would be unimaginable it would take a giant to have a flawless physique." Elton said as he turned towards John, he seemed to have a decent impression of John.

"What about blessings?" A noble asked at the behest of Raynard.

"You should have a blessing from the god you chose," Elton said dismissively

"What if we have question marks on some of our stuff," I asked at first I was scared of revealing anything dangerous like the fact that my name has ???.

But better yet why not ask the question a commoner would want to know. Because almost no commoners would have any combat codes.

"You must mean your Combat COde, you will be able to select 2 manuals from the Code Fane in a moment. That will remove the ??? for your status." Elton said with an appreciation of the question.

"Any other questions?" Elton said one last time, as he scanned the stands for hands.

'No questions about the Magi path, so it is not open for most people on their status.' I thought to myself

'But I am not a Magus yet it says I just a knight apprentice.' as I thought this I pulled up my stats and stared at the occupation

'Of course you only unlocked telekinesis and started using the void meditation technique. You have to train to a certain point before you can become a level 1 mage.' Drrak introjected

'How will that affect my levels?' I asked

'You'll have a second profession your experience will need to be doubled. It won't be noticeable at first but at higher levels, you'll need much more experience to level up.' Drrak said

'You need to become a mage if you want to use void, or shadow magic at all. Do you want to do so even at the risk of corruption and level stasis?' Drrak said to caution me

'I don't really have a choice in this matter, I've already taken this path, no turning back now.' I said with a smirk.

"Follow me to the Code Fane," Elton said

Luckily the Code Fane was just right next to the arena. It was a strange pagoda, that had various symbols flying around on the outside. When we entered the first thing we saw were a bunch of murals it was of people using weapons predominantly swords and sabers. But some used spears, warhammers, axes, maces, all sorts of weapons.

Some were simple stances but they had a powerful intent flowing in them. The ones near the door were fundamental but as we went in deeper they got more complicated. The intents became hard to handle.

One of the final murals was a technique that was incomplete it was just a bare base technique. But it had no properties to its intent. One could even make the argument that there was no intent in the attack.

The white robbed middle-aged man raised his sword in different motions and slashed his opponent down.

"These are the techniques you have access too for 2 hours. I can't stress the importance of these techniques mastering even a bit can grant you incredible power." Elton said as he pointed to some of the techniques.

Then he turned back to us and continued to speak.

"After today you will have to pay if you want to come here and comprehend these techniques."

'Kid you got really lucky this time.' Drrak said barely holding his excitement.

'You see it too right.' I said as I stared at the white robbed middle-aged man at the end of the Hall.

'Yup no intent in that technique.' Drrak said as he chuckled.

'Do you think it's possible to use my saber intent and void energy with the technique?'

'The flow of intent is suitable for you but it will require a lot of testing. But if you succeed you will create your own fighting style early.' Drrak said

"Lucas you did the best on our individual test I thought so you get to pick first." Elton interrupted my thoughts with his speech.

"Alright I want that one," I said without hesitation as I pointed towards the white robbed middle-aged man.

"You specialize in sabers right?" Elton asked

"Yes." I said respectfully

"I would recommend against using techniques that channel intents different."

"I understand teacher but I would like to try it. If I feel uncomfortable I'll just not use it." I said intent on having that mural to myself.

Teacher Elton just shook his head, it wasn't that Lucas couldn't do it. It's that doing so could be a risk worth nothing worthwhile.

But to Raynard, it wasn't an issue at all that Lucas wanted to waste his time. He just sneered and reclaimed his superiority in his heart.

"Alright, you can have that mural," Elton said as he turned to Raynard next.

I bowed to Teacher Elton and went over to the mural as I focused on the first frame.