Chương 10: Rank 1 [Swordsman]

"Miss Hearth! A dinner set, please." Kyle said as he sat down at an empty table.

"Coming right up! Please wait, little Kyle!" Marielle waved before walking into the kitchen. While waiting for his food, Kyle looked at the crowd sitting at various tables. Adventurers, travelers, merchants… That was the usual demographic for this middle-class inn, the Hearth & Horn inn. It was a very clean and cozy inn for its price. The food was also good, and the service was excellent. The most attractive point about it was the beautiful proprietress, though.

Marielle Hearth, a beautiful lady, appeared to be in her late twenties. She had exquisite features, red hair and eyes, and an attractive figure. Many people came to this inn just to see her. He heard that she was married, but her husband, Horn, had passed away. Since then, she had been running the inn by herself.

'Generally speaking, a beautiful widow like her shouldn't be able to maintain this inn alone. This world isn't nice enough for people not to take advantage of a powerless, beautiful lady. She either has connections to powerful people or she's powerful enough to protect herself. Maybe both.' Kyle's thoughts wandered as he waited for his meal.

"Here you go, little Kyle. Bon apetit." Marielle placed the food on his table before walking away, tending to other customers.

'Bon apetit? Is this world connected in some way to my past world?' Kyle raised his brow. Every now and then, he heard some familiar phrases or proverbs.

'Maybe it's just a coincidence.' Kyle shook his head. However, he decided to take some time to go to the library and take a proper look at the history of this world sometime. While drinking his soup, Kyle noticed a robed young man with a long wooden staff next to him, sitting in the corner. He watched as he finished his meal and walked upstairs.

'A mage? No, a mage apprentice probably. He's too young, and his robe and staff seem to be just low-quality stuff. Besides, a real mage wouldn't sit and eat in this place.' Even though the Hearth & Horn inn was a good value inn, it was still much worse than the luxury inns in the center of Mirevale town. That was the place for nobles, wealthy merchants, and high-level adventurers and mages.

'Speaking of magic, it's such a shame that I haven't seen it yet. If I had a good magic talent, I would probably be in a magic academy now, living in luxury and worrying about exams and such.' Kyle felt that it was a bit of a pity. His father, Darius, once took him to the city to test his magic talent when he was young. Unfortunately, his talent wasn't outstanding enough to pursue the path of magic. Mages were very different from warrior professionals.

Warriors needed to train their mana control through using combat skills and increase their mana capacity through constant arduous training until they reached the tipping point where their mana control and capacity were enough to condense a mana core in their heart, hence becoming a rank 1 warrior professional. Mages, on the other hand, required a specific level of talent to even start.

They started with meditation, constantly tempering their mental strength and increasing their mana control and capacity until they reached the tipping point, condensing their mana core in their mind and becoming a rank 1 magic professional. The author's tale has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon. The process and result were similar yet different.

At the apprentice level, there wasn't much of a difference between mages and warriors; both required several seconds to use their combat skills/magic. The outcome usually came down to whether a warrior could close the distance before the magic apprentice could use their magic. However, upon reaching the professional rank, a chasm opens between the two. A prepared magician could often crush a warrior of the same level. Only special classes could clash with or even overwhelm a mage on the same level.

However, special classes were only available to the powerful families among the nobles or the churches. Apart from that, they occasionally appear in the depths of great dungeons. Of course, that wasn't to say that common classes would always be weaker than mages and special classes. It always came down to individuals. Equipment, skill/magic mastery, combat experience, environment, etc. There were many factors to take into account in combat.

A mage and a special class holder were usually stronger than common class holders, but that didn't mean that they would win under any circumstances.

'At least, that's what my father told me. It's a shame that I don't have the talent to become a mage or the luck to possess a special class. However, with my talent, I can crush them both, even with the most common class, as long as I'm given enough time.' He didn't feel depressed or angry at the fact that he could only access the most common warrior classes now. Truth be told, even without classes, he only needed a decade or two of physical training to acquire Saitama-level strength.

Classes and even mana were only a platform to make the process more efficient and enrich his arsenal of moves. Kyle absentmindedly finished his meal and walked up the stairs. Today's ordeal was very tiring. He needed to rest for tomorrow's training. Unknown to Kyle, Marielle's gaze closely followed him until he disappeared behind the stairs.

'As he said, his son is much more outstanding than him. I'll observe him for a few more days before contacting him.' Marielle decided with a faint smile on her face. —------------------------------------ Two days later. Kyle was standing in his usual location outside Mirevale town. He constantly swung his sword hundreds, then thousands of times. His mana moved throughout his body with each swing, striving to achieve the most effective strike with each swing.

As he repeated the act of slashing with his sword, his mana reached an unprecedented active state. Suddenly, Kyle felt as if he had pierced a thin barrier. His mana surged throughout his body like a river, finally converging into a single blob in his heart. The mana blob rotated at an unprecedented speed, getting smaller and more compact with each rotation. After a while, only a blue sphere the size of a pea remained in his heart. Mana seeped out of it, spreading throughout his body with each heartbeat.

"Hoo…" Heaving a sigh, Kyle had never felt such control over his body until that moment. He could clearly perceive the mana core inside his heart. He could even see the faint sword pattern on it.

"I've finally reached it, the professional level. I'm a full-fledged [swordsman] now." Kyle muttered, a look of satisfaction on his face. He sheathed his sword and carefully sensed the power coursing through his body.

'Just my physical strength is almost twice as strong as before.' Kyle clenched and unclenched his fist, carefully feeling his power. Previously, when he was at the apprentice class, his physique was within the normal human realm. Although he didn't have the right tools to properly test his physique, he roughly judged that at the apprentice class. He could deadlift 200 to 250 kgs and finish a 100-meter sprint within 10 seconds. With [Mana Enhancement], that figure roughly doubled.

Now, with just his physical strength, he could deadlift more than 500 kgs, roughly comparable to the world's strongest humans from his previous life. His most outstanding points, though, were his speed and explosive strength.

'I feel that I can complete a 100-meter sprint within 8 to 9 seconds. With [Mana enhancement] I can complete it within 5 seconds, and with [Burst Step] I can burst with even faster speed.' Kyle was amazed as he roughly calculated his power. He had just stepped into the professional level, and he was already so powerful. He couldn't even imagine how powerful the rank 2 elites, the rank 3 masters, or the rank 4 legends are. Moreover, the [swordsman] class came with [sword sense].

He felt a closer connection with his sword as he held it. Whether it was fighting or training, it should be more efficient and more comfortable from now on.