Chapter 700 Enthralled
"Hm?"
Ryu noticed their weird reactions but simply shook his head. He wasn't the type of person that liked to explain himself to begin with. However they took it was however they took it. It had nothing to do with him.
"… Then you can enter my city. The resources there are much better than what you'll find in the lower level cities."
The sudden voice came from Sabelle. Hearing her words, Godefride and Eustis both almost passed out from shock. Had they heard correctly? Was this the same Sabelle they knew? What was going on here?
The two suddenly had flashbacks to what Ryu's face looked like and his valiant display at the Martial God's gathering. A moment later, their expressions both turned bitter. Was even this little devilish doll not immune to a handsome face? Where was the justice?
Ryu smiled lightly in Sabelle's direction.
"I'll accept your offer, then."
**
"What do you think? Is he really trying to learn a new weapon?"
"Don't you have eyes, that's clearly what he's doing."
"I don't get it, though. Who learns a new weapon this deep into cultivation? It doesn't even make sense."
"Didn't you hear him before? It looks like he's trying to gain insights into them all. Did you see how he used the spear before? Clearly he's already on his way."
Godefride's brow wrinkled. "There was something weird about his spear usage, though… It felt like it was refined and perfect, but it also felt empty at the same time. It's almost like he's a spear wielder without being a spear master. I don't really understand the point of learning so many weapons if the end result is going to be that."
Eustis chuckled. "If you're insecure about him being better at the spear than you are, just say so."
"Bullshit. There's no one at or beneath my cultivation level better at wielding the spear than I am."
"Well, look at you. Who knew Godefride the drunkard actually had a bit of backbone hidden in there somewhere."
Godefride snorted. There was no weapon's master who didn't have pride in their crafts. Forming a Birthed Phenomena and improving it to their level required having an ego. By definition, the creation of a Birth Phenomena was an attempt by humans to carve out a place for themselves in the martial world. Without the foundation of ego, they might as well not practice at all.
"That trash Ramir never stood a chance against me and he knew it. It isn't a surprise to me that he lost to Ryu. They had probably been planning to just send challenger after challenger against us until we were worn down and too tired to win. They probably bribed our dojo masters into conceding defeat or else there would be no way for them to do things so easily."
"I doubt that things are that simple." Sabelle suddenly interjected.
"Oh? You're back with us now, Sabelle? What happened to your quality time with—!"
Godefride received a solid blade hilt to his gut, causing all the air to rush out of his lungs. He coughed violently, his eyes once again almost popping out for the third time that day.
"Are you done speaking nonsense?" Sabelle looked to Godefride coldly.
Godefride was really too much. Ryu quite literally had his 'girlfriend' by his side, how could she be thinking such thoughts? Did she look like such a loose woman?
The more she thought about it, the angrier Sabelle seemed to become and she attacked Godefride again. Luckily for the latter, he managed to rush away in time.
Sabelle snorted. "You're always spewing nonsense. Did you forget that he had a Cultus Faerie by his side? The Cultus Clan Princess, at that. Are you claiming that you know how to nurture a talent better than she would?"
Godefride coughed, trying to regain his bearings.
Wait, that was right. Ryu had a Cultus Faerie Princess as a Life Partner. So, where had that Quibus Faerie come from? Did he have two Life Partners?
Their expressions became a bit weird before Sabelle's suddenly change violently.
"Sabelle?"
"Shut up for a second!"
…
Ryu wasn't paying much attention to the commotion around him.
The current location was indeed far better for practice than the lower level staff city had been. Sabelle had brought them all into her private residence, and considering her status, it wasn't much of a surprise that it was a place of grand stature.
Sabelle's estate alone covered about 10% of the city. Considering that the radius of the city alone was tens of thousands of kilometers, one could imagine just how enormous it all was.
Many of the games Ryu had come across in the lower staff city could be found here as well. There was even a saber version of the steady hand game he had used to hone his understanding of the staff. However, Ryu didn't choose to use it this time again.
Like Ailsa had told him before, he should simply move around until he found a practice station that called out to him.
There was a reason that Ailsa had been so vague with her descriptions. After entering the Cosmic Realms of his Heavenly Pupils, Ryu's sensitivity to matters of Fate and other abstruse and hard to grasp topics had reached a level most couldn't imagine. In many ways, his instincts on how to improve were even sharper than what Ailsa could produce through her deductions.
When Ryu walked about a large selection like this, small strings of Fate were tugging at him until he eventually could settle on something that tugged so hard he could no longer ignore it.
This time, the game was quite the odd one.
Ryu stood before astage with a heavy grey saber in his hand. Before him, several bubbles bobbed in the air, reflecting delicate rainbow lights.
The goal of this station was to use the sharp blade in his hand to manipulate the fragile bubbles before him. Depending on the prompts, he would either move them to designated areas, help them to combine, or even divide them.
And yet… They weren't allowed to pop.
Ryu was immediately intrigued by this game because it was completely antithetical to everything that was the saber. It was meant to be a weapon of warlords and strength. This game seemed to be more appropriate for a swordsman who were more known for their nimbleness and skill. Yet, even then, this wouldn't be a simple task for a normal swordsman. It would definitely take a special character to pull it off.
Ryu remembered reading that a skilled swordsman was one who could decide what his blade did or didn't cut with a single thought. No matter how sharp their blade or how hard they swung, so long as they willed it, even the most fragile of constructs would leave unharmed. This was considered to be the true depths of a master swordsman.
He had never heard such a concept being applied to a saber which was always known for the violence it could wrought…
But that was exactly why Ryu was pulled here. It seemed that he had become enthralled with following the opposite path laid out by all his predecessors.