Chapter 217: Knight of Honor [1]

Chapter 216

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Episode 55 - Knight of Honor [1]

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"How do I look, disciple?"

I blinked silently as her voice echoed faintly through the empty training hall.

I looked at the Ancient Spirit... No, at my master in her new body.

Her body gave off a strange sensation to the touch. A faint, distorted light radiated from her eyes, as white as snow.

Her short hair reached just above her shoulders. She wore a white skirt and a blouse of the same color.

She was only about ten centimeters tall.

My master looked at me with a sharp, prideful expression, as though being less than ten centimeters tall were the greatest thing in the world, waiting for me to say something.

I stared at her expressionlessly, and after a few seconds, I finally said,

"I don’t know..."

I raised my hand and poked her with the tip of my finger as I continued,

"First... Ha, you’re so tiny that I don’t even think you’re ten centimeters tall... Hahaha."

"Second, you look more adorable than I imagined... Hahaha. Besides... besides, you should look at yourself in a mirror..."

"Third..."

"....."

"Third, I think I’d better not say anything else."

The moment I saw the veins bulging across her forehead, I knew she was genuinely furious.

Maybe it was because I had mocked her height, or maybe because I had teased her for looking more adorable than imposing, something that, in my opinion, would have suited my master much better.

Either way, she raised her tiny fist and said,

"Oh, yes. Remember all the times I told you what I’d do to you once I had a body."

I gave a weak nod.

"Good. Then you know what’s about to happen next."

I nodded a second time.

"In that case, just close your eyes for a second."

".....?"

"Come on, just for a second. That’s all."

I narrowed my eyes as I watched her strange smile.

"....."

A few seconds passed, but I finally closed my eyes, and then...

I felt the world around me spin a full three hundred and sixty degrees.

The next instant, it felt as though the floor of the training hall had literally kissed my face.

Boom!

My face sank several centimeters into the ground. The hard black concrete tiles cracked, and the earth beneath them burst upward.

I didn’t feel any pain, naturally...

I got back to my feet and brushed the dirt off my face. Then I noticed that my nose had shifted slightly out of place.

I adjusted it with my hand, and it was as good as new.

Then I looked ahead with a blank expression at the tiny spirit who, for some reason, possessed monstrous strength.

’How can someone so small be so strong?’

Countless question marks floated through my mind as I tried to come up with a logical explanation.

At that moment, my master floated toward me through the air. Instinctively, I took a step back.

"...."

She looked at me for a second before speaking.

"What are you doing? Stay still."

So I stopped and looked at her expressionlessly.

"I’m not going to hit you. I promise."

"...."

"And stop looking at me like that. I’m serious."

I let out a sigh and looked her straight in the eyes.

She returned my gaze before flying over to hug me, if it could even be called a hug.

Her tiny body, measuring less than ten centimeters, and her little outstretched arms were undeniably adorable.

Then I heard her voice.

"Thank you for giving me a new life, disciple."

A smile appeared on her face, a sincere smile filled with gratitude.

Perhaps it was because she had remained inside a sword for more than a thousand years.

Perhaps it was because she had been unable to see the world around her for more than a thousand years.

Or perhaps it was because she had been completely alone, unable to walk beside anyone or even look at them directly.

I was her first and only disciple, the only person who had become close to her after she had spent so long completely alone.

"You look good, master."

I returned the hug, or at least it looked that way. I simply rested the palm of my hand against her back.

***

Sitting on the floor of the training hall, I looked at the little spirit in front of me and asked,

"How are you so strong, master?"

I didn’t remember Spirits having such overwhelming physical strength. If it weren’t for the fact that my endurance and physique had reached the Eight-Star level...

I really would have died from a single punch.

Possessing strength equivalent to Seven or Eight Stars was not only extraordinary, but also extremely rare and difficult to achieve.

Only Dark Knights could attain that level of strength with ease.

Dark Knights were known precisely for possessing absurdly high physical abilities, as though they had been born with that strength.

I only possessed those physical capabilities because of my Divine Body and, above all, because I had consumed many Elixirs.

"Huh, it’s not that big of a deal. It’s not like I’m that strong. I simply used the ambient Mana and combined it with the Mana within my body. Then I refined all that Mana and converted it into destructive force for a single second."

"...."

"Are you saying you temporarily converted Mana into physical force?"

She nodded as if it were the most natural thing in the world.

"Yes. I mean, it wouldn’t be possible in a human body, but now that I’m an Ancient Spirit, I have some rather strange and interesting abilities."

Curious, I asked,

"Like what?"

She thought for a second before answering.

"For example, I can take on any form, but it will cost me an enormous amount of Mana, regardless of the form I choose. Second, I can see the color of Mana. Third, I can manipulate the ambient mana, something considered impossible."

"Fourth, it’s instinctive, but I think I can freely enter any Plane; that includes the Astral Plane. Fifth... I can hear voices coming from the different colors of mana. My guess is that they’re the voices of the Attributes."

"My eyes... let me see far more than normal, but it’s quite strange. On top of that, I’ve acquired some rather curious Traits; I think they’re Traits that only Spirits can possess."

"Also, I think I can turn my body into Mana and merge with the ambient mana, and there are many other strange things."

I nodded repeatedly as I listened to her explanation of her new abilities.

She mentioned several things I had never even heard of.

It’s not every day that you get the chance to ask a very high-ranking Spirit in detail about all of its abilities and secrets.

After ten minutes, my master finished explaining everything new and every aspect she had found strange or curious.

"Ugh, that’s a lot of things, especially the number of Traits I have. I have around thirty-eight Traits and seven Unique Traits."

"That’s quite a lot."

The average veteran Awakened manages to awaken around fifteen Traits and two or three Unique Traits.

Since my master had been a sword fanatic during her lifetime, she had possessed around twelve Unique Traits and only six regular Traits.

Most of her Unique Traits were related to the Swordsman Specialty, so if I ever entered her Memory Gate,

I might inherit a large portion of her Unique Traits.

’Yeah, I really should focus on awakening Unique Traits.’

There are countless Traits that can be awakened, but very few Unique Traits.

Lumina had realized that during her early regressions.

Having too many Traits that would ultimately be useless in combat would only become a burden.

But having many Unique Traits, since almost none of them were useless, was far more effective.

While I was lost in thought, my master stared at me intently. Then she moved closer to me.

"....."

I looked at her in confusion, wondering what she was doing.

"Is something wrong?"

When I asked, she held my gaze, frowned, and then said,

"Disciple, I think only Spirits and other beings born from Mana itself can sense and notice it, but..."

I tilted my head, both confused and curious.

"But...?"

"I feel an urge to stay close to you, as if I liked you and never wanted to be even a single inch away from you. How should I put it...? Mhm, yes, it’s as if I wanted to keep you all to myself."

"...."

I looked at her expressionlessly and asked,

"Is this a love confession or something?"

But she simply ignored my sarcasm and continued staring at me as she floated around me, circling me from every angle.

From time to time, she frowned.

"Mhm, this is strange... I wonder what would happen if you entered a place filled with Spirits or fairies."

"Why do you ask?"

At last, my master looked at me.

"What I mean is that beings born from Mana itself will be drawn to you as if you were Mana itself. I wonder what exactly it is."

"Do you have a Unique Trait you’ve been hiding from me, or is it because of your Heart’s Strength?"

Well, I was just as confused. As far as I know, I don’t have any special characteristic.

At least not one that would make me so attractive to a Spirit or a Fairy, but now that I thought about it...

I looked at my master and said,

"Could what you’re feeling also be the reason why Liora is always so clingy with me?"

That little Fairy has never left my side. Probably the only times I forced her to keep her distance were when I killed the Apostle or when I entered Black City.

During all those moments, I couldn’t take her with me. After all, she’s a fairy who hasn’t been in this world for very long.

My master, on the other hand, nodded.

"That’s probably it."

Then she added jokingly,

"If you were a Spirit or a Fairy, you’d probably drive them crazy, Disciple."

"...."

I let out a weary sigh. I didn’t know if my master had always been like this. In any case, I got up from the ground.

Then I looked down and asked,

"Well, enough talking. Can we continue with the training? We’ve already wasted a lot of time."

My master nodded and said,

"Of course, but I can’t help you while looking like this, so..."

Before she could finish speaking, a white radiance emerged from her body. Then, in the blink of an eye,

a tall woman appeared before me, and to top it all off, she was even taller than I was.