[Your arm can already withstand the intensity of using Battle Techniques seven or eight times a day. Apart from lacking real combat, you feel terrifyingly strong.]
[Under Ailin’s guidance, you learned many Battle Techniques, and your foundation in swordsmanship is very solid.]
[You had already inherited Mo En’s style. At this point, Ailin’s teaching was like a full review before an exam.]
[Mo En and Ailin are both seasoned and cunning swordsmen. Their swordsmanship has been tempered a thousand times, and now it has all gathered in you alone.]
[“Starting swordsmanship practice from scratch a second time has yielded enormous gains.”]
[Your sigh comes from your own feelings. You already had your own understanding of swordsmanship, but that understanding came from Mo En.]
[Most swordsmen in the world follow only one swordsmanship to the end of their lives. Mo En and Ailin are both like this.]
[Yet you have undergone both of their swordsmanship trainings at the same time. In the differences, you can keenly feel the distinctions between their swordsmanship and their ways of thinking.]
[It is this wondrous feeling that has raised your understanding of the word swordsmanship by more than one level.]
[Mo En’s understanding sometimes has gaps, and Ailin can fill them. The reverse is also true.]
[Through accumulated practice and experience, you awakened a powerful Talent.]
[Sword Master (Gold): When using a longsword, Battle Technique effects increase by 60%, and it becomes easier to defend and counter enemy attacks.]
[Description: You learned from two sword masters. Their teachings benefited you greatly. Without realizing it, you have walked to their side and stand shoulder to shoulder with them.]
[“This really lives up to all my long training.”]
[“I have even become familiar with the feeling of broken bones, but even so, it still hurts a lot…”]
[“Defense, offense, evasion. I lack nothing now.”]
[You stand in the training ground beside Ailin’s tent, drenched in sweat.]
[“I have learned quite a few Battle Techniques recently.”]
[“But I need real combat to raise their proficiency.”]
[You open your status panel. The Battle Technique column is much richer than before. These are all the results of your practice.]
[Blade Edge (Blue): Catch the opponent’s attack with the blade. There is a medium chance to disarm them in the process.]
[Misstep (Blue): Dodge attacks through footwork and body movement, causing the opponent’s attack to miss.]
[Turning Point (Purple): Ailin’s signature skill. Relying on her understanding of swordsmanship, as soon as the opponent reveals a flaw, she immediately launches a fierce pursuit at the weak point, giving them no chance to breathe.]
[“These Battle Techniques are good, but I need to raise them to Red, or even…”]
[Mo En still remembers what the System said. Above Red, there is an even higher rank.]
[“Battle Techniques can continuously evolve through proficiency. There should be a chance to break through the upper limit.”]
[“It is just… the required proficiency might be terrifyingly high.”]
[Just as you sit at the edge of the training ground to rest, a familiar figure appears behind you.]
[“What proficiency?”]
[It is Ailin.]
[“Is today’s exploration over?”]
[“Mm.”]
[Ailin sits down beside you, relaxed.]
[“We were originally going to begin exploring the 33rd floor today, but we found a lot of Flame Crystal Ore near the entrance. So we thought we might as well report the news of this Flame Crystal Ore to the higher-ups first.”]
[“Flame Crystal Ore? That is very valuable.”]
[“Yes. You know, if we sell this ore vein to some merchant caravan to mine, we could earn quite a bit of money.”]
[“What a hassle. An Adventurer Group even has to consider business matters.”]
[“What else? Humans are different from you Halflings. We survive by relying on relationships between people and money.”]
[Speaking such cruel words, Ailin hands you a cup of iced fruit tea.]
[“This is produced in a nearby Halfling village. I thought I would bring you a cup to try.”]
[You have just finished practicing swordsmanship and feel parched, so you immediately drain the cup of iced tea.]
[“Am I one of those relationships you mentioned?”]
[“Mm…”]
[Ailin did not expect you to say that. After a moment, she smiles.]
[“You do not count. You are a Halfling.”]
[You understand the meaning in her words. With you, she does not need to scheme and intrigue.]
[“By the way, Bell, I plan to let you train with the lowest-ranked group first.”]
[Ailin takes a letter of introduction from her pocket.]
[You take the letter of introduction and find that the signature is not Ailin’s name. Instead, it is “Swordsman, Grey”.]
[“The lowest group…”]
[“I would actually like you to become my capable assistant right away. With your current strength, traveling with our group is already barely acceptable.”]
[Ailin stares at you with a serious look in her eyes.]
[“But the Adventurer profession is not something just anyone can handle.”]
[“Your swordsmanship is certainly good, but right now you are only a fighter, a swordsman.”]
[“What Dawn Cross truly needs is a reliable companion. You have not experienced real combat yet. Like all Adventurers, you need to go through the path of promotion starting from bronze rank.”]
[You know that Ailin is not wrong at all.]
[Although Ailin’s Adventurer Group has been advancing through the Dungeon at a pace that is not slow, even those widespread rumors say Dawn Cross is strong enough to ignore the Dungeon’s difficulty.]
[But even just staying by Ailin’s side, you know that things are not actually easy for them.]
[Ailin is exhausted every day. Even during rest time, she keeps studying the various notes they have found and formulating strategies for clearing the Dungeon.]
[What is even crueler is… every few months, she attends a companion’s funeral.]
[The true progress of the Dungeon is built on piles of Human lives.]
[Ailin is one of the most outstanding Adventurers. That is the only reason she has been able to keep walking out of the battlefield alive.]
[Thinking of this, a question suddenly appears in your mind.]
[“Ailin, I accept your proposal, but I have a question. Why do you want to be an Adventurer?”]
[Hearing your sudden question, Ailin clearly freezes for a moment.]
[“This question… few people ask me that.”]
[She rests her chin on her hand and thinks for a while.]
[“Actually, at first I simply yearned for a life of Freedom, and the scenery the bards spoke of.”]
[“A very cliche reason, right…”]
[Ailin seems to think of something and lowers her pretty face.]
[A shadow covers her face like a veil.]
[“Not long after I became an Adventurer, I met some people, and later we formed a group and adventured together.”]
[“I experienced quite a lot with them. Later I realized that the time spent with them was the most interesting part of adventuring.”]
[Ailin stands up.]
[“Hm?”]
[“Bell, are you rested?”]
[“Before your first adventure, have a real battle with me.”]
[In the moment you are stunned, Ailin steps back two paces and draws the divine sword from her waist.]
[Brunhilde’s Blade]