As soon as William returned, he thought he should celebrate happy events even though he wasn't very hungry, so he ordered himself three soul stones worth of food.

Luckily, Merlon sat alone, depressed, across from him.

“William, what makes you so happy?” William's mouth was almost to his ears, so he was depressed that he was so happy.

"Why? Do you need a reason to be happy?” William asked, raising an eyebrow.

“No, though you have good reasons to be happy.”

“What are those reasons that even I don't know about? Take the beans out of your mouth, Merlon.” William became even more suspicious. He thought from Merlon's depressed state that perhaps he might know about the war outside.

“William, don't play the fool. How you could not know?" Merlon leaned forward and asked in surprise.

William put the fork and knife on the table and spoke again. This time it was more dominant.

“If I said I don't know, I don't know. Why are you intrigued? Just tell me." He said, raising both hands.

“Well okay. Leslie and Dullan haven't spoken to me in three days anyway. We've come apart because of you."

“What does it have to do with me? I am strong at my job. I am on my own.” He said shrugging his shoulders.

“You are also responsible for what your father did!”

"It's none of my business!" said William, indifferently.

“It does! Anyway, long story short, yours have hoisted the flag of rebellion and hung the head of the second prince in the southeast on the gate of the Golden Silk City.”

"Ah? My father is very fast.” He said, looking slightly surprised.

Merlon rolled his eyes. “It's really fast. But how did you gather enough strength to persuade even my father to stand by your side? I don't mind!”

William made a helpless expression. “Believe me, I don't know either. You should ask my father that. Besides, your father was a smart man.” He said and chuckled.

“Heh! How clever! He is a coward. Whoever has the big fist, it goes around his ass.” He folded his arms across his chest and leaned back. He began to watch the scenery outside.

“Hehe! What if it's not smart? We have the biggest punch after the academy. By the way, why are Leslie and Dullan offended?"

“Are you playing the fool with me?” He turned his head from the view and asked, frowning. “Leslie is a prince! Dullan, son of a loyal duke! Of course, they will be offended at you and me. They might even try to kill us the next time we meet! Be careful!" said.

William chuckled shrewdly. Pointing to himself, “Me? Kill? heh! I do not think so!"

“Don't be so sure!” said Merlon, a little angry. “But it doesn't matter, it's easy to complete a few simple tasks without anyone seeing them. Moreover, there are three more weeks of the ban. So there is no need to worry about our lives.” Said.

Then he leaned forward again and whispered. “What will you do after the competition? I've heard that other great princes will be back for battle."

William took a sip of the cold beer on the table. “Hehe! After the competition, I will personally take you home. Do not worry! No one can touch your hair while I'm with you!” said.

Merlon couldn't understand where his confidence came from. Since his level was lower, William wouldn't know his strength unless he showed it, but since he joined the academy with them, it must have been somewhere close to him. He was, of course, afraid of the princes who had joined in previous years. Since they had money, they also had armor and swords. Also, assuming they're bigger than they are and have been students here for a long time, they'd make a strong team . Moreover, one of the princes was at the peak of the Bronze rank and was preparing to run for the Crown Prince.

Still, he had to trust William no matter what. He did not think that his father would leave his heir unprotected. Maybe that's why he was so confident.

William was swallowing his last bite when he awoke from his thoughts. Then he left a word that made him think even more deeply and left.

“By the way, Leslie better not go with her brothers. His life already belongs to me.” Said.

Merlon just stared blankly at his broad back. His mind fell into complete nothingness.

…

William came to the exchange booth after he left. Here you could exchange soul stone or vice versa for contribution points.

The contribution points conversion rate was ten to one. He gave one hundred and fifty soul stones and one thousand five hundred contribution points were added to his seal.

He felt that his wealth was dwindling, but he didn't care as it would be well spent.

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He visited the buildings where the technique and meditation techniques are located separately. Its main purpose was not to replace old techniques with new ones but to strengthen existing ones.

He took meditation techniques to aid his meditation pace, sword techniques that could improve his execution sword, and defensive techniques and movement techniques that could improve his metal skin. He was especially hopeful about the meditation technique because if he went at this speed, it would take a long time to reach the bronze level.

The teacher who gave him the copy of the techniques always looked at him as if he were an idiot, but William didn't care. He had to copy several hours for meditation techniques as well.

This time, he had also taken from technically different elements. He also picked up the wind techniques specializing in movement, which he especially had in mind last time.

The wind element was a different element. Some called different elements like him a 'derived' element or a 'combined' element. William felt that 'combined' was more appropriate when he thought about it on his own terms. That's why he preferred to say 'air' rather than wind. But when it comes to usage, it was really like the wind. He had the green halo of the plant element and the sharpness of metal.

When used, it could cut through the air like metal, and even cause devastating destruction like shock waves and hurricanes. He felt that he was very different. When he used his bloodline power, he could feel a wind pushing behind him and the air that lightened his stride.

William didn't want to think too deeply. It was fine as long as he could use it. In addition, he received several useful techniques that do not require any elements.

This time, he made a change and asked the female teacher in the cultivation building for a room filled with the wind element. He paid the same amount again and went inside after getting his key.

Inside, he encountered more wind elements than he had anticipated. He could 'feel' them.

As a first test, he wanted to simply try the wind element technique he had taken. Because he didn't know of a place where he could do a proximity test. He could only learn by trying. It was wiser to try now, as he would merge it later.

The technique worked for several hours. He then stood up and channeled the qi to activate the technique.

When he did everything right, he felt his feet being carried an inch or two by the wind. It was a few pounds lighter!

He could use it! This should have been good news, but it brought disappointment. Wind proximity was there now, yes, but very, very little. If someone with normal wind affinity used this technique, their agility would increase by at least ten percent. For him, it was at the level of one or two percent.

Still, he didn't get discouraged. This meant that he could now also add the wind element to his techniques. Moreover, according to the information he gained from the books he read, fire attacks supported by the wind would have been more burning and destructive! That was enough for him.

After confirming his affinity with the wind element, his second-most curious ability was next.

When he activated his bloodline power, he wanted to test the extension of his sword's range. He pulled out his sword and approached the wall to make some cutting moves. He was one meter from the wall when he swung his sword. With the length of his arm plus the length of his sword and the distance between the wall, he was trying to test the distance his sword gained when he used his bloodline power.

Lowering his sword, he approached and stared at the wall. He felt an invisible stream of air at the edge of the sword. It was just like the abilities of the wind element users.

He couldn't see any cuts in the wall. Then he thought of the books he had read again. In the story in the creature encyclopedia book, he was talking about the moon-swallowing wolf's ability called the wind blade. He even killed his father with this ability and then swallowed it. In the story, it was told that the blade of wind he created with his claws stretched for tens of kilometers with one cutting action and divided his father into four parts.

William was excited. If so, he could have this ability!

He took another step closer to the wall. Now there was a distance of seventy centimeters between the tip of his sword and the wall.

He cut it again while bloodline power was active. He looked again and came across a clean wall. He then continued testing, constantly shortening the distance by ten inches.

He saw that he could now leave a nice cut at a distance of 40 cm.

This was an incredible skill! Warriors could not remove anything from their bodies up to the silver level. Their Qi could only be used to support their bodies! It was like a miracle that he could do such a thing. It should not be forgotten that it was still at the iron level. Also, the qi pool was twice as large and had more qi than those at the same level as him. By the time he reached the top of the iron level, he would have at least three times as much qi.

William thought to himself again. "You're always ahead, my friend." Said. There was no shortage of smiles on his face today.

After confirming the bloodline power, it was time for the techniques. That would give him some headaches. It wouldn't take much mental effort for the foot technique. He had chosen only three techniques. Two belonged to the wind element and one to the fire element. One of those with the wind element would increase his mobility at short range. For this, he chose a technique called "Inverted Leaf", which is especially effective in sudden turns. Although the name was somewhat similar to the technique used by those with a plant affinity, it was one hundred percent wind element technique.

The other wind technique reduced his qi power expenditure. This technique seemed very special. It was very strange. It constricted the meridians with qi, allowing it to perform the same with less qi.

The last technique belonged to the fire element. This is what he wanted to combine the most. The 'Like a volcano' technique, which was normally strong enough now, was making a lot of noise. When he uses this technique, 'I am here!' he felt himself shouting. After that, he would encounter more powerful creatures. So he had to be as quiet as he could—or as quiet as his feet. The technique was called "Silent Flames".

The only useful part of this technique was that when he used 'Like a volcano', the explosion of a flame element that accumulated at his feet made the sound of the explosion, transforming the destructive power of the flames into incendiary power while the same explosion was taking place. So you could think of it like a house fire, not a bomb. Both could have destroyed the house equally, but one was quieter.

With a little headache, William successfully combined these three techniques with 'Like a Volcano'. He was glad he didn't faint though. When you put it together, something strange happened again. The system had shown him a different notification.

[Combined New Technique. Please Give a Name. ( …)]

A keyboard appeared in front of him. William was of course surprised by this. He was wondering why. The first thing that came to mind was that this was because it had evolved into a very different technique that could no longer be called 'Like a volcano'.

As a result, he had also lost the explosiveness that was the signature move of 'Like a Volkan' and the loud voice that was its signature side effect.

William wasn't very good with names. That's why he put the first name that came to mind. The technique is called 'William's footprint.' said. Then William's name appeared in the blank name of the assembled scroll.

Sometimes he even thought that the System was the work of a wizard because the words were formed as if by magic.

…