Chapter 29: First Lesson

[ Name: Ren Arken

Age: 14

Race: Human

Strength: 500

Agility: 10, 000

Vitality: 2, 000

Mana: ~~~

Spiritual: ~~~

Intellect: 1, 000

Unique Skills:

-magic cards -appraisal -evil gaze -strengthen -leap -basic magics -fire magic -Fire Archmagic -illusion magic -water magic -light magic -nature magic -Grimoire of death -Real Clone [Heavenly Slime] -Eye of Wisdom -Sword god]

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Oz decided to use the body of the goblin duke clone since he had already used to using the goblin duke form.

(I’m in!)

Oz succeeded in transferring his consciousness to the goblin duke clone, he could move his arms and legs as if it was his own body. Everything is normal, except for one thing, he can’t feel any pain.

(Great! It means I could be reckless thousand times more than before!)

Feeling that he could only see, hear, and move using the clone’s body, but not feel any pain made Oz thrilled. It means that he could take any risk without fearing anything!

Seeing the goblin duke clone that had been standing still until now, suddenly moves naturally as if it had its own soul makes Gareth knew that Oz had controlled the clone directly.

“Is it you, master?” Asked Gareth.

“Hm? yes, I’ll be using this body for now,” Said Oz, he’s too focused on checking up his body making him surprised when Gareth called him.

“Where is the place that you wish to explore?” Asked Gareth respectfully.

“Since I’ve promised you that I’ll help you make an undead kingdom, we’re going south, I intended to make the undead kingdom there when I succeed in building the empire. The undead kingdom will be in the southern part of the empire.” Oz said with his eyes seem to be imagining the scene on his mind.

“We’ll also hunt every magic beasts we encounter too to increase our levels, I want to see whether I could make the duke card ranked up…” Said Oz.

“As your command, master…”

The distance from the city Oz’s real body is sleeping at, to the Tarot kingdom is about 200 Kilometers. And they’ve only got to travel for about 80 kilometers in 7 hours, the sun had risen, and it’s time for Oz to be back at his real body.

Oz decided to release the control of his goblin duke clone and just command it to go with Gareth and the other clones to their destination. Gareth is undead so he won’t be exhausted, and Oz’s clones couldn’t feel any pain, so they could continue the journey smoothly.

Oz opens his eyes in his real body.

“Uaaargh” Oz groans as he stretched his body.

Oz’s morning went like the usual, the only difference is, today is his first day of teaching the orphans as the sword instructor. Oz washes his face and went to the dining room to have breakfast.

The kids had already left the dining room since it’s pretty late already. There’s only Elena left, cleaning up the mess made by the kids.

“You woke up pretty late, Ren, did you caught a cold?” Asked Elena with an indifferent tone as she gives Oz his breakfast.

“What a huge difference between your question and your tone… I’m fine, maybe its because I slept too late last night,” replied Oz.

“Oh, is that so?” Said Elena and continued to clean the dining hall.

Oz just smiles seeing Elena’s attitude to him.

(Is it her wariness to me that hadn’t gone down yet, or does she just shy to show her real self?)

The breakfast is quite simple. A piece of bread, a jam, and a glass of milk. Oz finishes his food quickly and drank the milk. He seems to be very hungry that makes him ate his food so quickly.

As he already finished his breakfast, he helps Elena to clean the dining room. Seeing that Oz’s helping her makes Elena felt pleasant.

“Rather than helping me, don’t you better prepare yourself as today will be the first day of your sword class?” Asked Elena.

“Then we should finish cleaning quickly,” Said Oz as he fastens his cleaning pace.

Looking at Oz helping her makes Elena got a smile imprinted at her face, Oz didn’t miss the spectacle and felt satisfied being able to make her smile. The cleaning got finished quickly because of Oz’s and Elena’s teamwork.

“Thanks for the help, Ren,” Said Elena with a pleasant smile.

Seeing Elena smiling sincerely in front of him makes Oz wavered for a moment.

“I-it’s fine, I only helped a little,” Said Oz.

“Ah! It’s time for your sword lesson already, I’ll go get the kids so you could just wait at the yard.” Said Elena kindly.

“Okay then,”

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“W-why are you holding a sword, too?” Asked Oz, confused.

Elena that had just called over the kids didn’t leave after gathering them, but only stayed together with them, she also held a wooden stick just like the other kids.

“What do you mean? I’m the one who taught them sword lessons before you became the sword instructor, so basically, I’m the sword instructor before you,” Elena said, Braggingly.

Watching how she held her sword, it does seem that she had some experience with swords. Since Elena insisted to join the lesson too, Oz helplessly accepted her.

“As today is the first lesson of our sword lesson, I want to see your level in the sword first,”

Elena has a decent skill in swordsmanship, but it seems that she’s not that talented in teaching, judging from the kids that don’t even have a proper sword stance yet.

“Okay, enough,” Just by watching a few kids using the wooden sticks, Oz decided to stop and showed them the real basics of swordsmanship.

“I’ve seen quite enough, I’ll show you the basics that will be the foundation of your expertise in swordsmanship. The first thing is your stance, you should stand with a shoulder-width apart, leading foot slightly forward. With a firm stance, you could preserve yourself from exhaustion caused by swinging the sword, and it will help you to remain your balance. “

“The second is holding the sword, holding the sword is not like holding a practice stick, the aim is not to keep a vice-like grip on the sword hilt. This leads to messy movements and will tire you out. The grip is principal with the thumb and first two fingers. Your remaining fingers should be curled loosely around the hilt.”

“Second is cut down/forward with the sword. Do not wave your arm and move the entire blade. Use a small movement from the elbow or shoulder to move the center of gravity of the sword just before the blade meets the hilt. The sword will move in a nice, straight line.”

“To stop the sword, snap your third and fourth fingers onto the grip. You will notice that your elbow will reflexively lock as you do this, making a very effective brake. In real fighting, the swordsman would from this position use the full strength of his arm to drive the blade into his target, but we stop here! Stopping the sword moving as it hits your opponent is called ‘pulling’ the blow and prevents them from getting hurt.”

“Pulling a blow is an important element of re-enactment combat. It should be possible to swing in fast and pull the blow sufficiently that it will not hurt an unarmoured target. The pulling process can be assisted by good footwork. The leading foot should hit the ground just before or as the blow is landed. This ensures the weight of your body is not behind the blow. Pulling blows is also a safety device for when things go wrong, for example, the target moving.”

“Also remember that a single-handed sword is just that. It is not designed to be used with two hands. This will only cut down your reach without giving you the advantage of a secure two-handed grip”

Oz explains and shows the thing he said step by step, he only continues to the next step after he confirms all of the kids had understood what he said.

The kids enjoyed and understood quickly what Oz explained. Oz quite surprised seeing the pace of these kids studying, he also saw some kids with talent in swordsmanship.

As he gives the sword lesson, Oz keeps on monitoring Gareth and his clones that had almost reached the Tarot kingdom. They’ve met a lot of monsters, but they manage to slain all of them without suffering any casualties. Oz felt happy as he could level up his cards at the same time.

The class went for about 3 hours, the kids enjoyed Oz’s explanation, Nash watched Oz’s lesson with a sparkling eye since the beginning, and he seems to have a talent in swordsmanship.

“You’re actually a great teacher! It gave me some enlightenment on my swordsmanship too! I felt that I could get through the bottleneck of the novice swordsman rank to the advance swordsman rank because of you!” Thanked Elena enthusiastically.

“Maybe I just had a talent in teaching,” Said Oz braggingly.

“Hmph, since you gave me some enlightenment too, I could only unwillingly accept your statement,” Said Elena, trying to hide her smirk under her cold face mask.

As the class finished, Oz decided to go back to his room wanting to take control of his goblin duke clone again. He enjoyed the feeling of the long-distance controlling system of the clone, he felt like he’s playing a game on a VR.

“Let’s continue where we left out,”

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Today’s loot:

Gnoll [Baron] Card

Lizardman [Count] Card

Kenku [Baron] Card

Greensleeve Great Sword

Gnollian Mace

Wooden bow

Kenku knife

<Goblin duke card has leveled up!>

<299 —> 300>

<Your card had reached the required level for [Rank up]>

<Upgrading the card…

.

.

.

.

Success!>

<The Goblin [Duke] card had ranked up to the Goblin [King] card!>

<Your Demon [Duke] card had leveled up!>

<254 —> 272>

<Your Orc [Baron] card had leveled up!>

<82 —> 100>

<Your card had reached the required level for [Rank up]>

<Upgrading the card…

.

.

.

.

Success!>

<The Orc [Baron] card had ranked up to the Orc [Viscount] card!>

<Your python [Viscount] card had leveled up!]

<131 —> 142>