Overpowered Sword Chapter 5

Level up with swords (5)

[10 seconds are over. Now, what color was the headdress of the helmet hanging third from the left?]

‘… blue.’

[Wrong. That was the second pitch.]

The training that began under El Cid’s guidance, the training of ‘how to see’, was more difficult and difficult than imagined. Not even a day had passed, and Leon’s eyes felt like they were falling out.

In some ways, it was a natural thing.

If the eye function he had used so far was around 3, what El Cid requested was 10 or higher. It was natural that my eyes and head, which had been overworked three times more than usual, were throbbing.

A headache I’ve never felt even when I stayed up all night studying!

The fatigue in my eyes got better when I closed my eyes, but the headache continued to squirm with no sign of relief.

But El Cid was happy when he saw that.

[Okay, things are going well!]

When Leon heard that, he wondered for a moment whether El Cid was a holy sword or a demonic sword, but his explanation made quite a bit of sense.

[Eye fatigue is simply due to dry eyes or excessive tension. But headaches are different. This is the pain that occurs when something that has become stiff is released because it has awakened a function that you have not been using. It’s no different from muscles.]

‘Is it some kind of muscle pain?’

[Well, metaphorically. In reality, the brain doesn’t have pain sensation, so it might be a little different… , just understand it that way.]

El Cid was about to explain something more but was interrupted.

Perhaps they decided that the knowledge was too difficult for Leon to understand, or that it was not something worth teaching him now.

So he didn’t ask any more questions and just rubbed his temples.

I didn’t have time to learn anything else already.

Sure enough, El Cid continued training without worrying about his groaning.

Regardless of time and place, the examination of the Holy Sword was rigorous.

[What is the shape of the only broken tile in the hallway, three spaces to the left of that tile?]

‘Square?’

[It’s a pentagon, you idiot!]

As soon as class was over, looking at the floor tiles in the hallway,

[Did the male student next to the female student who passed in front of you in about 3 seconds wear a belt or not?]

‘I was doing it.’

[What about a tie?]

‘uh… .’

While eating in the cafeteria, I looked at the students passing by,

[In the 3rd floor of the dormitory, was the light on or off in the twelfth room from the left?]

‘It was on.’

[What about the room above?]

‘It’s on, ah! No, it was off.’

[What is the fourth room on the right on the first floor?]

‘… … .’

Looking at the dormitory on the way back after evening training,

“Kwaaah.”

Leon, who managed to return to his room, ended up struggling.

My eyes are tingling and my head is throbbing.

It is different from muscle pain. If you look at the amount of training alone, it was less than half of the usual amount, but unlike my body, my mind was thoroughly exhausted. Although he was confident in his mental strength, El Cid’s ‘seeing skills’ training was enough for Leon to fail in just one day.

At that time, a pattern flashed on the back of his hand as he fell on the bed.

[Well, for a first day, I did pretty well. It deserves extra points for not asking to take a short break or quit along the way.]

Leon flinched at those words and then asked, wondering if it was possible.

“If I had told you to take a short break, would you have taken a break?”

[no?]

“I knew so… .”

Leon, exhausted, looked at the ceiling while smiling empty-handed.

How long has it been since you were pushed to your limit like this?

I ran around the training ground until I started vomiting, and held the wooden sword even though my palms were torn. At some point, I got used to the pain and was overworking my body without any emotion.

It’s been a long time since I felt as lethargic as I did today.

El Cid waited for him to recover before speaking.

[‘Getting used to it’ also means becoming stagnant. There is a limit to the level you can reach with the same type of training. Repetitive training has its own advantages, but the biggest problem is that the body cannot learn how to do it.]

“Your body is doing tricks?”

[It means you get used to the training method itself. If you only run on the training ground, it becomes difficult to run on places other than flat ground, and if you only do push-ups repeatedly, it becomes difficult to push off at different angles. Therefore, it is necessary to train in various ways alternately.]

Only then did Leon understand the training he had done in the morning.

“Is this the same reason why you were told to run on one foot or walk around the gym while standing on your head?”

[okay. Because I needed to know the ‘unfamiliar’ parts.]

The human body was much more delicate and complex than we thought.

Depending on how you train and how you live, the shapes of your bones, muscles, and nervous system develop in various ways.

Just as seafarers who live on the waves have a unique sense of balance, so does the sense of direction of hunters who roam the forest as if it were their own home, and the excellent eyesight of nomads, who naturally look into the distance.

The basis of training is to utilize your strengths and complement your weaknesses.

El Cid figured that out first and foremost.

[Your strengths are physical strength built up through an outrageous amount of training, mental strength, and dexterity that comes from basic skills. Weaknesses are hardened through repetition of basic skills. In a word, lack of physical and mental flexibility.]

“flexibility? “Aurora or swordsmanship?”

Leon asked back as if he was puzzled by El Cid’s analysis.

Other students as well as teachers gave the same advice. As long as you swear allegiance to the right family and learn proper swordsmanship and training, you can become even stronger than you are now.

But El Cid snorted and answered those words.

[Swordsmanship is ultimately about how to use a sword. If you can freely apply the basics according to the situation, that is swordsmanship. Of course, the swordsmanship itself is incredibly powerful, but what family would teach such a vision with just an oath of loyalty?]

“… “That’s right.”

[There is nothing more to say when it comes to Aurors. Did that guy named Rian use Aurors to defeat you?]

“Ah,” Leon realized, and shook his head.

I don’t know where it was, but there was no way Lian, the son of a high-ranking noble, couldn’t use Aurors. Since Leon couldn’t use it, he didn’t use it either, and he probably had a more powerful auror than anyone else in the academy.

So even if I learned Auror now, it would be close to impossible to defeat Lian with what I learned in a short period of time.

Knowing that he understood, El Cid added.

[Besides, if you suddenly learn Auror skills without any background, there will be many people who will find it suspicious. So, Aurors will be taught after they leave the academy.]

“Ah, I see!”

Leon was deeply impressed and immediately agreed. Unlike him, who was only thinking about becoming stronger, El Cid taught him while taking into account the circumstances around him.

It was indeed a holy sword with the soul of a great hero.

[So for now, focus on learning ‘how to see.’ I have to knock him out as quickly as possible and leave the academy.]

“good! “I’m just starting to feel motivated!”

Leon, who had been wrinkled like a dry rag, had regained his motivation and jumped out of bed.

However, it seems that even that appearance was not enough for El Cid.

[…] No, that is not enough.]

“what?”

[I told you, right? If you train repeatedly, you will get the hang of it. Today, you have focused on ‘how to see’ with all your might, but you will quickly get tired of the same type of training.]

Leon, feeling an unknown sense of foreboding, asked carefully.

“Well, then what are you going to do?”

[It’s no big deal. So that you don’t dare to use tricks, from tomorrow onwards, I’ll just give you a ‘punishment’ every time you answer wrong.]

“punishment?”

[How about giving it a try?]

Leon thought about just refusing, but then nodded.

It was impossible to not make a single mistake starting tomorrow, and if you were going to get hit anyway, it was better to experience it in advance and be prepared.

It would also be possible to raise corresponding awareness.

However, Leon soon came to understand that even that determination had been lost. The moment the pattern engraved on the back of his hand flashed, Leon immediately convulsed as if he had been struck by lightning.

“Okay, that’s it! Oh my! gig!”

It was a pain I couldn’t even imagine.

The pain felt as if the cramped muscle was being pinched and twisted, or the ligament was grabbed with iron tongs and spun around. Leon couldn’t even scream and was shaking his body on the bed.

In terms of time, it’s only about 5 seconds.

Leon, who broke out in a cold sweat in 5 seconds, fell limp.

I’ve had a broken bone from being hit with a wooden sword, and I’ve also had a leg break from falling off a horse, but this can’t compare.

[Oops, was that a bit harsh? I need to lower the intensity a little… .]

El Cid mumbled when he saw that and then explained the reason.

[I don’t mean to bother you for no reason. It’s surprisingly true that a hawk is medicine. Your mental power is quite useful, but in addition to voluntary will, you need the strength to push your back.]

“… Well, that’s right… So… ”

[Ah, because it was my first time just now, I couldn’t control it. Next time, I’ll go a little weaker. If you get it wrong in a row, we’ll increase the intensity, but that’s something you can do if you do well.]

El Cid, the holy sword that casually caused Leon’s despair, encouraged him in his usual refreshing voice.

[Okay then, let’s do better together starting tomorrow!]

“hey… this… Demon sword, you bastard… !”

It was a moment when about 70% of Leon’s respect for Saint King Roderick was lost in his heart.

* * *

A month has passed since then.

30 days from the day the holy sword El Cid was pulled out.

If it was long, it was long; if it was short, it was a short time, but for Leon, every day was hell. El Cid’s training literally pushed him to his breaking point.

So that I vomit out every penny of my energy left, so that I lose consciousness as soon as I lie down on the bed in my room after the training.

Not even one minute, one second is wasted.

All my waking hours were like training.

Even Leon, who is famous for being a training fanatic, could barely hold on, and it was surprising that he didn’t give up.

However, perhaps thanks to the hard work, there were some results.

[How many pigeons were on the roof of the dormitory building?]

“Eleven.”

Leon, who finished his lunch briefly as always, stood in the training room and answered with his eyes closed.

The answer comes out almost simultaneously with the question. Even after thinking about it for a few seconds, it was completely different from the first time I got it wrong.

But there was no way El Cid would go that far.

[What is the color of the third, fifth, sixth, and tenth pigeon from the right relative to you?]

“Grey, grey, white, grey.”

[Who among them flew first?]

“sixth.”

[How many pigeons were sitting on the open window?]

“hmm… .”

Leon was silent for a moment in response to the constant barrage of questions, but soon returned the answer with a grin.

“There was only one crow, not a pigeon.”

[answer.]

It was an answer that avoided El Cid’s trap well.

I finished simply asking and answering questions around the second week. Since then, El Cid mixed his questions with tricks to shake his judgment, and Leon had to struggle again with the ‘hawk of love’, which had become a bit weaker.

For another two weeks, Leon continued to train, suffering from pain he could not get used to no matter how many times he experienced it, even with bloodshot eyes.

And today, I narrowly achieved a passing grade.

[You can barely see it if you concentrate… , it’s good for what was accomplished in just one month.]

“then?”

[This is all for today. Take a good rest.]

good! Leon raised his arms and sat down.

It was the first break I got in a month.

El Cid immediately noticed if his concentration was even slightly off, and ‘punished’ him with a question aimed at that moment.

At first, I was grinding my teeth because of the terrible pain, but as time passed, even Leon was able to understand. It is not wrong to say that a falcon is medicine.

‘It is said that a lazy person may not move even if he is hungry, but if he is beaten, he will immediately get up and run.’

El Cid’s ‘Bee’ was exactly that role.

Even Leon, who had extraordinary tenacity, was completely exhausted after concentrating for half a day, but after feeling that pain once, his dazed mind became clear as if he had been doused with cold water.

As the old saying goes in the East, there was no such thing as a poisonous admiral. How many times did he go beyond what he felt was his limit?

“Brother Leon?”

It was then.

A familiar yet unpleasant voice, one he hadn’t heard in a while longer than expected, tickled Leon’s ears.

Leon reflexively stiffened his face and turned in that direction.

It was as expected.

Lian was looking at him with a slightly different expression than usual.