Chapter 10_ The 1st Hunt (3)_

As Lexus was about to unleash all of the skills he had that were available, he suddenly heard Madra's amused laugh.

「 Kuahahaha! Lexus! Didn't really expected you're this talented!!! 」

The ego within the sheath was thrilled. The growth of his sword mastery had been accelerated by his unique skills— Great Sage and Plunderer, but he was also quick to adapt to it, which could be considered his own natural talent.

Not everyone could do that; if someone were in his place, they would definitely require more time to adjust to the new profound knowledge and get used to it. Lexus is able to learn and evolve in real-time while fighting his opponents. Learning will be easier for Lexus, who has a unique skill called the Great Sage.

Madra acknowledges that Lexus has high adaptability to quickly adjust to new circumstances—that Lexus has the capability to evolve past any and all obstacles, limitations, restrictions, opponents, and environments, regardless of their current status, enabling him to evolve endlessly and infinitely with no limit or restriction to the quantity or quality of its evolution, leaving Lexus' existence in a constant state of evolution and growth.

Although he was still at the lowest level, he was already showing signs that this would happen. The Undefeated King knew, his successor had absolute potential, capacity for growth and learning, allowing him to learn or master absolutely anything he wanted, regardless of skills, etc.

He has no ceiling to what he can learn and no limitations on what he can develop, allowing him to develop endlessly in any and all areas, and can attain all powers naturally. That's because he has two unique skills that can make that possible.

[The ego of the undefeated king has acknowledged you once again and has presented you a gift.]

[The skill, 'Madra's Mastery' has been obtained.]

[Madra's Mastery - Lv.1]

Rating: Unique (Growth)

[The culmination of experience and mastery in Madra's entire life has been accumulated into this skill. The Undefeated King who had never experienced defeat, has shared his created techniques for you.

* You can become one with the sword at any time. Increases physical attack by 30% and critical hit rate by 20% and critical damage by 10%.

* This effect is only applied when a sword type weapon is equipped.]

With his thought processing being boosted by thousand times, Lexus swiftly read and processed the detailed description of the new passive skill he acquired.

Of course, this didn't mean he had unlimited time with Thought Acceleration, but because of it, Lexus was more efficient than anyone could have imagined. However, as it was so much more efficient, the gap between his mind and the outside world grew wider, and the consequences of that were for Lexus to become disconnected from reality.

Thankfully, Lexus is a legend making his body strong enough to handle it. With the benefits he had just received, his attribute points increased and Lexus' movements became more sophisticated as his attributes increased causing his skill proficiency to also increase alongside.

He swung his sword but naturally, the troll moved to swing his axe in the trajectory to block the sword, and Lexus saw it. Then, along with the sword in his hand, a light flowed and shook. It looked like it would disappear any second, but it maintained its form. Lexus naturally lowered his sword that was wrapped with the most basic form of aura and changed the trajectory of the sword.

An upperward slash that cuts from the lower left to the upper right!

[Super Sensitivity has scanned the subject's body.]

[It's hard to expect a big effect from stabbing attacks. Attack with horizontal slash is recommended.]

[Critical!]

[You have hit a vital spot. Additional damage will be amplified.]

[You have dealt 1,380 damage to the target.]

Without adding the title effects of Sword Expert and Sword Saint Candidate, together with the bonus effect of Madra's Mastery, Lexus should have dealt at least 225 points of damage, which was already very high compared to normal damage that a level 1 could deal, which was only 0.6 or a damage with single-digit numbers if a sword's attack power is added.

However, if the effects are added together, they produce a damage that shouldn't be dealt by a level 1 character.

Previously, Lexus's damage was reduced due to the defense and the level difference between him and the troll. As the troll was a level 20 monster, the damage from a level 1 was greatly reduced; however, with Sword Aura, everything changed.

Apart from increasing the sharpness of the sword and adding 1,000 fixed damage, it also ignores defenses that are proportional to the level of the Sword Mastery. Since his Sword Mastery has reached the advanced level, which 200-300 swordsmen normally have, the defense of the level 20 troll was completely neutralized.

「 Oho, red. It definitely fits the fire property. 」

Though red color means that the aura is at epic rating, but that's the only thing if aura is used by the Aura Master as he uses and controls Aura freely than others.

'Is there a difference in the colors of Aura?'

But as he was not an Aura Master, his aura was similar to what normal swordsmen had. Lexus asked while he looked at the aura blade in his sword.

「 Not much. The color doesn't affect the power but it slightly express the user's subconscious with it. 」

'Like?'

「 Your aura is red. That probably symbolize the fire property you currently have. 」

'Mm.'

「 But looking at it, your aura really looks like a burning fire or probably blood? 」

Lexus observed his aura sword with his keen senses.

「 Congratulations on making your first aura, but this is the only first step. It'll easily break if you lose focus to it so you should be completely used to it. 」

Madra then said with a smug tone as if, wanting to challenge Lexus even more.

「 But you shouldn't be too proud just because you can now use aura. Remember, the resource needed for my swordsmanships is sword energy, not aura. 」

Lexus nodded. He was a Sword Expert now, but he still had a long way to go. Normal people would see that he was skilled, but actually skilled people would see him lacking. The skills he had right now were still not enough to be considered as having mastered sword techniques. He could only improve by working hard.

Analyze!

Then without hesitation, Lexus had his Great Sage to check the stats of the troll.

[Detected target is of an Enemy affiliation. Displaying details accordingly.]

[Name: None

Level: 20

Race: Troll

Health: 2,520 / 5,000

Mana: 500 / 500

Abilities: None (Recently stolen).]

Lexus suddenly realized something. He was level 1, yet maybe his stats were just as good as, or even better in many aspects, better than this monster that was 19 levels above him.

Was it a benefit of the being an NPC with legendary classes? Or was it due to his relatively high growth of his stats. He came to the conclusion that it most likely was a combination of those two factors.

Lexus now found himself more assured about this battle. His confidence came not from his magic, not even wholly from his stats, but the skill and expertise from knowledge of swordsmanships that had bestowed him.

•~~~•

Aura?

An energy that can only be used by Sword Experts or those who have achieved advanced mastery of the sword. The knights, especially Darius, were shocked. They knew that Lexus had begun training diligently, but that was only a month ago.

Definitely a prodigy!

He is incredibly talented, having accomplished his Sword Expert status after a mere month of training, something that Sword Experts can only achieve after years of not just training but also experiencing battles with their lives on the line.

Also, some of the knights here hadn't yet reached the level of Sword Expert, even though they were almost at level 200, which was why they were so shocked when they saw how quickly Lexus had learned to use Auras. The knights woke up from their daze as the sword of Lexus began to emit heat and an Aura.

Lexus quickly charged into the troll's chest and stabbed it three times. He then adjusted his grip and, while still holding onto the sword, simultaneously slashed at the troll's abdomen as hard as he could.

*Kwang*

The troll, which had been decapitated in the last blow, seemed to have almost reached the bottom of its vitality, and exploded into dozens of fragments and splattered in all directions like a firework and disappeared as it turned to gray.

Then a pleasant system message came to his vision which made Lexus smirk.

[You have defeated a troll warrior.]

[2 gold has been acquired.]

[Troll's blood droplet has been acquired.]

[Crude Hand Axe has been acquired.]

[Experience has been acquired.]

[Your level has risen.]

[....]

•~×~•

"Wh~what?! He awakened Aura Sword!!!?"

In the throne room, the shocked voice of King Wiesbaden echoes throughout the entire room. If the people of the kingdom would see his reaction, many words of rumors about this would scatter around.

A king must always be composed and calm at all the time. It was to make a rational decision every time but, now the king was shocked and his demeanor faltered when hearing that Lexus, his son had already awakened aura.

He knew how lazy he was. Never taking any training of swordsmanship seriously so when he heard that Lexus had just awakened aura in just a month of seriously training, it was as if the efforts of all Sword Experts to reach their stage that they spent with many years was a joke.

No, the training of Lexus was hard to believe in the first place knowing how bad the attitude of his third son when taking things seriously. However, to all people inside the throne room along with King Wiesbaden was also shocked to their core so none of them reacted to the king's reaction.

The people here were all confidants of the king that helped him manage and rule the kingdom so they all had their own high statuses in the kingdom. As the 5 people here were trusted by King Wiesbaden, they naturally knew about the matters of Lexus. Darius, who was kneeling in front of King Wiesbaden didn't made a single noise after finishing his report and doing his duties as the captain of the knight that escorted Lexus.

It had been a day since they had arrived in the capital of the Eternal Kingdom. To be exact, they had arrived the previous night, allowing them to take their rest and relieve their exhaustion before Darius, the captain and the one who led the knights, reported everything he had witnessed during their journey.

The report started from when they were on the way to Lubana Kingdom and everything that took place from that point. Including Lexus' change of attitude to seriously train, and what they had witnessed in the forbidden zone of the Northern End Cave.

If Lexus would know that the Northern End Cave would be revealed by Darius to all the people here, he would initially try to stop that but then would no longer care, consider that another month had would pass before they could act about it, the protagonist of the novel might have already obtained Pagma's Rare Book in that time.

Facing the king whom he had served loyally for years, Darius did not attempt to conceal anything and revealed everything he knew, fulfilling his duties as a loyal royal knight. Upon hearing Darius' report, King Wiesbaden turned his attention towards Chucksley, who was also taken aback despite being a skilled swordsman.

"Chucksley, may I hear what you had in mind?"

"Yes, your majesty!"

His expression immediately turned serious upon hearing that Wiesbaden wanted to hear his opinion on the matter.

"His potential surpassed what I initially expected but...this only certified that the third prince is definitely someone who will become a legend and not just a heroic warrior. I am certain that his potential surpassed that."

Heroic warrior meant they were someone who was talented and brave, and who alone could exert the value of hundreds of thousands of troops. A person of this era who deserved to be admired.

'What is he saying now…?'

The four people who had the same authority as Chucksley thought that he was probably bluffing. It was natural. There were only nine legendary warriors in history. After Pagma and Sword Saint Muller then almost no one had followed after them.

But...

To become a Sword Expert in just a month of training, even without any real-life experiences, what Chucksley said was not impossible. Hearing the Great Swordsman who faithfully served him, Wiesbaden decided to continue on with their original plan.

"Call Lexus for me."

Ordered by the King which a butler fluently followed. After a while, the butler returned with a report.

"I apologize your majesty. His highness, Lexus is currently not available."

All the people raised their eyebrows when they heard that. Feeling a bit tensed, the butler continued nervously.

"It has been reported to me that he had left the palace this morning and was roaming around Reinhardt."