Chapter 426: Swordsmanship
As Charles went to the first floor, he saw Irzoch doing some paperwork in the living room.
She hurriedly put the notebook on the coffee table as she saw his appearance and stood up from her seat.
She then checked if the housekeeper was around and bowed her head.
"Good Morning, My Lord." She paused for a moment and then asked.
"Is there anything you need?"
Charles nodded his head and asked.
"Did you arrange the things I asked for?"
"Yes, My Lord." Saying so, Irzoch moved towards the nearby cupboard and took out a bunch of scrolls.
Then, she moved towards Charles and passed them to him.
In the meantime, Charles took those scrolls, picked up a single one, and opened it using his wisdom power.
A clear map of a castle appeared in front of his eyes.
"It's the Dinton Castle's interior blueprint, My Lord. I also placed the map of the Dukedom."
"Good." Charles nodded with a smile and then looked at the next scroll.
It had information about Duke Michael's physical description, his strength, weaknesses, important artifacts, and so on.
As Charles read the information, he couldn't help but take a deep look.
"He is a Darkness elemental Saint Knight?"
"Yes, My Lord. Moreover, he is also well experienced in swordsmanship. Although he hadn't shown his true sword skills in any battle, many believe that he is actually a Grandmaster-level swordsman." Irzoch responded calmly.
"Grandmaster level swordsman? There is another separate level system for the swordsmanship? I thought every knight could use the aura and coat it to their weapons. Did Daniel know nothing about it?" Charles asked in surprise. In truth, he still hadn't learned much about this world's level system. He only paid attention to the Saints Knights, the Awakens, Sorcerers, and the Druids.
Upon hearing his question, Irzoch showed a dumbfounded look and soon answered with a wry smile on her face.
"There are 6 levels of swordsmanship out there, My Lord. As for Daniel's lack of knowledge, he didn't even have enough time to learn the full extent of the Knight techniques. First level is just basic swordsmanship. We call this as fusing one mind with the sword and form a basic whitish aura. It's not a hard for an experienced being like you." She paused for a moment and then continued with a solemn look on her face.
"The next level is called intermediate swordsmanship. To achieve this level, one must master the basis sword arts and achieve a sword enlightenment to create a new type of aura. We call this one as sunshine aura, My Lord. The third level is called Advanced level swordsmanship. In this level, one had to focus on sharpening their sunshine aura. As long as one's sword aura is sharp enough to cut an iron rod, it will turn red color. It's the advanced sword aura. The further you improve; you will reach master level swordsmanship and create a greenish sword aura. It's what we call it as 'Master Aura.' The Radiant Knight whom you killed before belongs to this category."
On the other hand, Charles moved towards the nearby wall, leaned his back against it, and asked.
"What about the grandmaster level aura?"
"I don't know much about this level, My Lord. I only knew that the Grandmasters could even cut a diamond like paper. I also heard that the grandmaster level sword aura would glow like a pure gold. As for the sixth level, we call this as Legendary Swordsmanship. Other than the name, I knew nothing about it."
'Oh?' Charles nodded his head, took the next scroll, and opened it.
The scroll was filled with information about Duke Michael's army strength.
'He have 10,000 True Knights, 4,000 Expert Knights, more than 600 crystal Knights, 45 Radiant Knights, and three Saint Knights, including himself.' But what made him pause in surprise was the Sorcerers who were working under him.
'There are 19 Elemental Sorcerers, 4 Demon Sorcerers and even one Druid is working under him… This guy's army strength is terrifying indeed.' Currently, Charles wasn't even powerful enough to destroy one-tenth of his army power.
Shaking his head, he shifted his gaze towards the next scroll and then opened it.
It contained information about most army commanders' information and their abilities. Then, the next one contained some information about the second prince of Aetas Kingdom.
'Julius Matthias Claymoore… He is the second prince of Aetas Kingdom and also an army commander of Aetas Kingdom. He has the support of 60% of the whole army and one-third of the Kingdom's nobles! If not of third prince Leonel, he would've gotten full support of the nobles and might've succeeded the throne singlehandedly. He is a Radiant Knight and has two powerful Rank-4 Demon Sorcerers working under him.' As he read that information, he couldn't help but take a deep look at this person's information.
'He is also loved by the people. This guy… If I could control Duke Michael and this prince, I'll get a full control over this Kingdom in just two to three months. Once I achieve that, I'll have an easy time invading the neighboring countries and strengthening my grip over this plane.' He was also well aware of an Awaken's presence in the Royal Capital of Aetas Kingdom and turned solemn.
'First, I want to know if I'm strong enough to face the Awakens of this plane. Only then I can make my move and dominate this whole world.' Yes, Charles actually wanted to dominate the whole world and gain complete control over it.
'Unlike the Fire-Elemental Plane, this plane is easy to control.' A smile appeared on his face.
He then continued to study the remaining scrolls and learned more information about Michael's Dukedom.
Then, he stayed in the living room for the next few minutes and memorized all the information.
Once he was done, he returned all the scrolls to Irzoch and spoke.
"I'll be going out for a while then. Until I return, change yourself into Daniel from time to time and fool those foreign knights. I want to keep my journey secret." Charles didn't even mention his real plan and even hid it from Irzoch. Although she was more like a slave to him, he still didn't dare to risk exposing his real plan to anyone.
On the other hand, Irzoch suddenly recalled something and spoke with a hesitant look on her face.
"Although I don't know if it is just my assumption, but I vaguely feel that the knights of Dukedom are closely watching our Mansion during the past few days, My Lord. No, it's not watching, but they seems to be probing whether you are in the Mansion or not."
Charles widened his eyes in surprise as he heard her words and soon frowned.
'They are monitoring me closely? Why?' Charles knew that they were keeping an eye on him from the beginning, but not to this extend.
'Something is not right.' Although he didn't understand the reason, he knew something was amiss.
'Well, there is no use in thinking at this point anyway.' He shook his head and shifted his attention towards Irzoch.
"Don't worry about them. You should continue your work and keep fooling them." Saying so, he walked towards the center of the living room and cast [Flame Teleportation] spell on himself.
A second later, his whole body was enveloped in a crimson flame and soon disappeared from there!
On the other hand, Irzoch's eyes widened in disbelief.
"He can even use the mysterious teleportation spell?" She couldn't help but mutter in a shocked tone. Then, she shook her head, moved towards the Lawson Sofa, and sat on it.
…
In the meantime, Charles reappeared in the middle of dense woods and looked around.
Tall trees with more than 1-meter radius-sized stems, slithering green vines tangled everywhere like snakes, and thorn plants appeared all over the woods. As he looked up at the sky, squirrels jumped down from the trees to trees while letting out squeaking noises and continued to disrupt the peacefulness of the woods.
Due to the constant rainfall during the past few months, the whole forest was brimming with full of greenery.
Just as Charles was admiring the beauty of nature, he suddenly felt an uneasy feeling in his heart.
The next instant, his vision suddenly turned blurry and was soon replaced with a different scene.
At this moment, he saw Daniel's illusionary image before his eyes.
He was heavily injured, and a golden spear pierced his chest from the backside. He also saw a shadow of a humanoid figure hold the spear's grip on the other side and became stunned.
Sword cuts appeared all over his body!
What's more surprising was that he knelt on the grassy ground and looked at the surrounding with a calm look on his face.
Alas, not a single hint of fear appeared in his eyes.
Charles looked at his self in the vision and shifted his attention towards the surrounding areas. He noticed that he was actually standing in some mansion garden.
But unlike any other mansion, this building was surrounded by more than 5 to 6-meter tall walls and looked well guarded. Thousands of armed soldiers stood on the tall walls and were constantly raining down the aura-infused metallic arrows.
Not only that, but Charles also saw thousands of armed knights encircling him from all directions and were ready to rush towards him at any moment!
