Next day, early morning.
In the courtyard next to the Frenzel mansion's pavilion, Riezel stood with a wooden sword, ready for an attack, his eyes were tightly shut.
Maintaining his posture unchanged, the hand holding the sword showed no sign of trembling. His entire body stood still, resembling a swordsman statue.
"Huu..."
"Haa..."
Despite his stillness, Riezel softly breathed, sometimes inhaling a large amount of air and then exhaling it. His breathing rhythm became peculiar, fluctuating between fast and slow, loud and nearly inaudible. The volume of his inhalations and exhalations varied.
One moment, he took in an abundant amount of air, and after a while, the air he exhaled was meager. In the previous moment, he didn't inhale much, but when he exhaled, a considerable amount of air was expelled.
Riezel continued this unique breathing pattern, creating an odd rhythm.
As time passed, subtle fluctuations of magical energy emanated from his body, like invisible steam rising, swirling around him.
*Swish—!*
The sharp sound of cutting through the air echoed.
Riezel swiftly swung his sword, as if an opponent appeared before him, launching an attack.
His speed was astonishing to the point that the sound of the wooden sword slicing through the air was exceptionally clear. His wrist and arm moved flexibly, carrying an indescribable power, repeatedly striking at an imaginary enemy before him.
Upon closer inspection, his sword movements not only lacked hesitation but were also remarkably fluid, flowing as if he were dancing gracefully and seemed pleasing to the eye.
However, the surrounding atmosphere around Riezel's body was chaotic. Each swing from his wooden sword seemed as if a steel sword was wielded, giving a sense that it could cut through anything. Its power was overwhelming, making his momentum grow stronger.
Simultaneously, the magical energy swirling around his body slowly seeped into his muscles, as if being absorbed by his entire body.
In this way, while practicing his swordsmanship, Riezel accumulated momentum over time. After a while, an astonishing oppressive aura emanated from him, causing passing servants to feel a shiver down their spines and even alarming some guards.
It wasn't until about half an hour later that he finally stopped.
"Huff..."
A breath of stale air escaped his mouth, forming a small vortex that swept all around.
Riezel's entire body became damp, soaked in sweat, though his breathing remained untroubled, his muscles trembled slightly as if reaching a limit or experiencing pleasure.
Feeling the condition of his body, he couldn't help but reveal a satisfied expression.
"Sure enough, my theory was right..." Riezel muttered to himself. "With the abundant magical energy of this body, once I practice swordsmanship, activate the magical energy in my damaged 'Gate', and use it to strengthen my body, progress becomes amazingly fast."
On this day, he officially began practicing this world's swordsmanship.
Just now, his peculiar breath was the breathing style ingrained in his practiced swordsmanship. Coordinating with the swordsmanship recorded in the book, he smoothly activated the magical energy inside him and began absorbing it into his body.
Fortunately, the effect was satisfactory.
Although only half an hour of practice had passed, Riezel could already feel the changes in his body.
'Let's update my status.'
Deep in thought, Riezel couldn't help but retrieve a bottle of Loki's blood from the Dimensional Magic Cube's storage space.
Riezel pulled open the bottle, poured out a drop of Loki's blood, and dabbed it on his forehead.
This was the effect of the 'Self Redemption' skill, a way to autonomously update status.
Since he couldn't touch his own back and modify the status on his back, he could only trigger the effect of 'Self Redemption' in this way, letting the skill handle the updating of his status independently.
In this situation, Loki's blood seeped into Riezel's forehead, disappearing from view.
At this moment, if someone were to remove his clothes and look at his back, they would see a shimmering light curtain.
Sacred text floated out of the light curtain as if assembling something, undergoing changes, interweaving, colliding, and covering each other.
When the sacred text returned to his back and the light curtain disappeared, his mind was suddenly filled with a series of mental images.
Accepting these mental images, he read his new status.
...
Riezel Brynhart
Level 5
STR: I0 → G284
END: I0 → G257
DEX: I0 → F312
AGI: I0 → F331
MAG: I0 → F305
Lightweight: G
Swordsman: G
Mage: H
Battle Adept: I
...
'Is this the status updated by 'Self Redemption'?' Riezel curiously observed the status in his mind and secretly nodded. 'Total basic ability proficiency has increased by over 1400. For my current level, achieving this level of growth speed is quite impressive.'
After about six days back in the main world, he had already raised his three favored basic abilities, 'DEX', 'AGI', and 'MAG' to F-rank, and also raised 'STR' and 'END' to G-rank. This growth rate was considered cheating compared to adventurers who struggled for years at Level 5 to see significant improvements.
Of course, his current growth speed was mediocre compared to his past self, but he was no longer a rookie; he was a genuine first-class adventurer now.
With higher levels, the growth of status slowed down, which was to be expected. Additionally, he could no longer enter the dungeon and hunt monsters daily in this world.
However, the fact that he managed to raise the total basic ability proficiency by over 1400 in just six days through self-practice was something that would envy any adventurer.
'If there were a special swordsmanship to practice, my growth speed should increase further...' Riezel thought inwardly with a hint of regret. 'Unfortunately, for now, I can only choose a superior advanced swordsmanship to practice.'
His chosen swordsmanship that came from Yuri's library had a simple name—Breaking Steel Sword Style.
Practicing this swordsmanship not only had a more efficient growth rate than ordinary advanced swordsmanship but, in the later stages, it would allow magical energy to cover the weapon, significantly enhancing its performance.
Breaking Steel Sword Style's effects, such as cutting through steel, breaking enemy weapons, and even destroying enemy body armor, could be considered a kind of magic attribute or magic effect.
For that reason, it was quite close to the domain of special swordsmanship.
While Breaking Steel Sword Style was an advanced swordsmanship, it was the most powerful in its class, closely approaching special swordsmanship. If its effects on body refining, magical energy absorption, and growth promotion were not slightly weaker than special swordsmanship, it could easily have entered the domain of special swordsmanship.
Nevertheless, this was the best and strongest swordsmanship that Riezel could find in Yuri's library. So, when he saw it, he chose it without hesitation.
Though he regretted being unable to practice genuine special swordsmanship, Breaking Steel Sword Style was an advanced swordsmanship closely resembling special swordsmanship, which satisfied him just as well.
'I'll practice this swordsmanship in my free time and try to develop the 'Break Steel' technique soon.'
While making that decision, Riezel picked up his wooden sword and resumed practicing. But this time, he was not practicing Breaking Steel Sword Style; he was practicing Holy Dragon Sword Style.
'This swordsmanship may not bring effective growth to my status, but it innately possesses powerful sword techniques. Studying and honing it can still improve my combat skills.'
Riezel found it challenging to let go of Holy Dragon Sword Style. After all, it was the first swordsmanship he encountered, and it held a unique place in his heart. He was reluctant to completely abandon it.
'After this, let's spend an hour each day practicing Holy Dragon Sword Style.' Riezel decided.
And so, he alternated between practicing two swordsmanship while improving his own status and combat skills, spending a considerable amount of time near the pavilion in the courtyard.
It wasn't until around noon that his routine was unexpectedly interrupted by a carriage entering the Frenzel residence.
Glancing at the carriage, Riezel noticed Yuri and Marilyn stepping out of it.
"Oh, did they go out?" Riezel paused, slightly taken aback. He had been practicing swordsmanship here since early morning and hadn't seen Yuri and Marilyn leave.
Yuri noticed his figure and waved at him. Returning the gesture with a wave, Riezel put down his wooden sword and walked over to her.
"Good morning." Yuri greeted. "Are you practicing swordsmanship?"
"Yeah..." Riezel nodded. "Where did you go?"
"The royal palace... I had some matters to take care of." Yuri replied casually.
As for the specifics of the matters, she didn't elaborate, and he didn't press further either.
"You didn't happen to go out last night, stayed up all night, and just came back now, did you?" Riezel remarked in astonishment as he observed the faint signs of weariness on her face.
"...Did you notice?" Yuri chuckled before shaking her head. "Don't worry about it. If solving things only requires a bit of fatigue, then it's definitely a win for me."
Her words carried a sense of mysteriousness.
Riezel silently watched her face, refraining from further conversation. No wonder he didn't notice her departure at all; she had already departed since last night, after all.
"By the way..." Yuri lifted her gaze to his eyes. "Prepare yourself. We're probably leaving the royal capital tomorrow and returning to my territory."
"Tomorrow? Got it." Riezel nodded.
Yuri smiled at him and, accompanied by the silent Marilyn, immediately headed back inside the mansion.
After watching the two enter the mansion, Riezel turned back and resumed his swordsmanship practice near the pavilion.
However, this time, he practiced with even more determination and effort.