Chapter 698: Dream
On the other hand, Charles stood in the same spot and continued his practice. While practicing, Charles noticed no fatigue, hunger, or sleepiness.
'Does that mean I can use all the time to practice?' A firm look appeared in his mind.
Hours passed, and soon it became day.
After releasing the cows and the horse into the field, the young man returned to the training ground and continued his practice.
Charles also mimicked his action and continued to practice madly.
Days passed slowly, and soon; it became a week since he came to this unique nightmare place.
All this time, he practiced similar swordsmanship every moment and improved his posture to a perfect state. Alas, his sword improvement was barely shown as his wooden sword broke continuously, causing a strange anger to swell up within his heart.
'This is making me frustrated.' He grumbled angrily and made another swing.
At that moment, a sudden breakthrough appeared in his training.
Unlike last time, his weapon didn't break at all!
Although he couldn't see anything around the sword, Charles felt a powerful force in that attack.
'Anger is the key?' But it wasn't easier to get angry.
And Charles was always a cautious and cool-headed person.
'Well, it's not like I won't get angry at all.' As he muttered inwardly, he suddenly thought of his best friend in the past life and felt a surge of blood entering his head.
An uncontrollable anger appeared in his eyes, causing him to cloud his judgment.
At the same time, he raised his sword and swung it at the iron dummy.
A strange invisible power covered the sword's edges and radiated a pure-blood aura-like energy.
The next second, Charles's swing cut the iron dummy into two and left a large crack on the ground, releasing an energy-like sword shockwave.
At the same time, Charles felt a sense of fatigueness and dizziness and almost stumbled.
Only then did he realize how he acted strangely and that something was manipulating his thoughts.
'Is this Grace's doing?' A grim look appeared on his face.
'Damn it, I didn't expect that even thinking about the past hatred could induce such a mysterious power.' But thanks to this incident, Charles understood that relying only on anger wouldn't work at all.
'I need to control the power of anger and fuse it with the sword technique.' An understanding expression appeared on his face.
After that, he continued to practice with the young man for the next three weeks and even made a 'scratch' on the Iron dummy.
But even after achieving the same feat as the young man, Charles couldn't leave that place.
'Is this some nightmare? But what is the requirement to leave this place?' Charles pondered deeply and decided to push further.
Weeks passed quietly as both practiced the same technique over and over again.
But unlike the other young man, Charles didn't even relax a moment and focused on his training day and night.
Two years passed in a blink.
In those two years in the nightmare dream, Charles improved his sword technique and cut the iron dummy to the deepest part!
On the other hand, the muscular man standing beside him only managed to cut around 2 inches deep.
But Charles discovered during this time that the man standing beside him had no affinity to the sword at all.
Due to that, his progress had been slowed down a lot.
Days continued to pass, and another two years went by.
Finally, Charles managed to control the invisible power caused by his anger entirely and cut the iron dummy into two!
The next instant, he noticed that the whole surroundings started to break like a broken mirror and crumbling everywhere.
Charles took one last look at the man and saw a strange aura appear around his wooden sword.
'Oh? He finally managed to create his 'Basic Aura." Even though Charles didn't even know his name, he strangely felt a bond with him.
A second later, he opened his eyes in the Mermaid Inn's booked room and sighed in relief.
Then, he looked in the direction where 'Grace' was lying and felt annoyed.
"You should warn me before doing something like that, Grace," Charles said coldly and stood up.
On the other hand, Grace slowly rose in the air, suddenly flew towards his neck, and stopped as the sharp edge was about to touch his skin.
At the same time, a strange blood thirst came from the sword, causing Charles's lips to twitch.
"What a bad temper you have." He quietly moved past her, grabbed the sword hilt, and gripped it.
Then, he calmly raised the sword, enveloped the sword with 'Intermediate' Sunshine Aura, and made a similar movement.
Simultaneously, Charles felt a strange sense of power entering his soul from Grace and caused a strange closeness with the sword.
At the same time, he felt that the sunshine aura became more refined, turned into a shade of orange, and soon became a deep reddish color.
A second later, a bunch of notifications appeared before his eyes.
[Host's understanding of 'Sword' has unlocked the 'Sword' affinity!]
[Host's sword affinity has been increased from 'Nil' to 'Intermediate' Rank.]
[Host has unlocked 'Advanced Sword Aura.']
[Host's Shadowstep Dance swordsmanship has been improved from 'Intermediate to 'Advanced']
[Host's Shadostep Dance has been fused with the 'Swordsmanship of Abyssal Insanity Slash' and formed into a unique one.]
[Please name this new swordsmanship!]
...
'Naming the swordsmanship?' Charles furrowed his brows and nodded.
'Swordsmanship of Madness.' A cold smile appeared on his face as he looked at Grace.
At the same time, he opened the game interface and looked at his status.
...
[Name: Charles Nightwind
Health Status: Normal
Race: Cloner
Main Class: Rank-6 Fire Mage [Legend Rank]
Sub-class: Rank-5 Cloner [Pseudo-Legend Rank]
Physical Body Rank: Saint Knight Level
Soul: Demi-God (Mutated+1)
Title: Chaos Maker, Savior, Flame Demon, Fire Angel.
Health Points: 1130/1130
Wisdom Points: 0
Attributes:
Strength- 32.0
Dexterity- 32.0
Constitution- 32.0
Wisdom-954
Charisma- 14
Class spells:
Curse of the Overlord (Peak Rank-5 spell, Completed)
Chaos Eye (Peak Rank-6 spell, Incomplete) [650 Chaos Fire Essence]
Rebirth Domain (Rank-6 spell, Completed.) [15 Fire Laws]
Ignis Sanctuary (Rank-6 spell, Incomplete) [700 Lawful Fire Essences]
Purple Word (Peak Rank-5 spell, Completed)
Soul Shock (Peak Rank-5 spell, Completed)
False Field (Peak Rank-5 spell, Completed)
Sub-class skills:
Hand of Wonders- 730 (Rank-5)
Cloning- 626 (Rank-5)
Eye of the Faceless - 1201 (Rank-6)
Unique skills:
Sage's Eye-Casualty Manipulation (Rank 6)
Shadow Stealth- Advanced (Rank-3)
Dark Vision- 50 (Rank-1)
Swordsmanship of Madness- Advanced (Rank-3)
Sharpshooting- 50 (Rank-1)
Accelerate Thoughts- 700 (Rank-5)
Elemental Affinity Level:
Sword- Intermediate
Fire: Divine
Darkness: Genius.
Time: Low.]
...
'Wow, I have improved a lot. But it's still not near enough to reach the Peak Legend Level. And I also need to practice more of my subclass skill and rank up to Legend Rank.' Charles nodded inwardly and checked the time.
'From the looks of it, it seems only a few minutes have passed since I entered that strange nightmare dream.' After some thought, he lay on the bed and started napping.
For the next two days, Charles spent all day either sleeping or practicing his swordsmanship.
After two days, Charles returned to 42D El Road and met with Hunt and Charlotte around 9. A.M.
"This is the blood of the Fourth Prince named 'Ricardo Ver Lockwood,' Charles," Hunt said as he passed him a blood-filled vial. Then, he also took out another vial from his pocket and gave it to him.
"This one is Cyrus's blood. He is staying in the Royal Palace and will come out in the afternoon to deliver the Crown Prince's letter to Duke Eldrakar's Granddaughter Hallie. That might be the right chance for you to take his position. Once you enter the Palace, please meet up with the Crown Prince to deliver the letter and then return to his chamber. After that, you can disguise yourself as the Fourth Prince and start your plan." Hunt's words made Charles furrow his brows.
"It seems you aren't clueless as it seems, Mr. Hunt," Charles said as he understood that Hunt must have already thought of the shapeshifting ability and nodded in understanding.
"But won't they find it suspicious if I directly go to the Royal Treasury without informing them beforehand?"
"Don't worry about it. Our other spies in the Palace will take care of this matter. In truth, we have already used the Fourth Prince's name, got a Royal Seal from the Patriarch of Lockwood, and replaced it with a fake one." Hunt said reassuringly and took out a golden-colored badge with a bow and arrow symbol inscribed.
Charles nodded in understanding as he caught the badge and said.
"It will be easier for me then. Anyway, you guys and other spies should get moving."
"Umm, most of the spies are already leaving the city, Charles. But the spies in the Royal Palace will remain in the Palace and become sacrifices. I know you want to save everyone, but the mission will become impossible for you if they suddenly leave the Palace. And once you steal the artifact, don't try to play hero and leave immediately." Charlotte said solemnly.
'Oh? She thought I would end up sacrificing myself for the spies?' The corner of his lips twitched. In truth, he didn't even care much about the other spies' lives.
'Well, seeing them looking at me in good light is nice.' Hiding his inner thoughts, he nodded solemnly and spoke.
"I'll not do anything reckless, Lady Charlotte."
Charles carefully examined the vials of blood in his hands.
"Alright, I'll move in the afternoon after Cyrus delivers the letter. On the other hand, you guys should leave this city immediately," Charles said, addressing Hunt and Charlotte.
Hunt nodded. "Don't worry, we'll be leaving through the Southern Gate stealthily in an hour. Just focus on getting the artifact and getting out safely."
"Then, let's meet at the Riverdale City later." Charles bid his farewell to the couple and quietly left El Road.
