Henry then swung the sword a few times. Even though he had just gotten Dawnbringer, he felt as if it was the only sword he had ever used.

"Also, kid, about yer equipment maintenance training, there's no need to actually train. Have you heard of Experience Crystals?"

"I haven't."

"They're very rare crystals made by archmages that can store a person's knowledge about a certain thing, and once someone else uses them, the stored experience is transferred into the user's head. Now, this wouldn't work for stuff like Weapon Mastery which needs other stuff like a Will or Mind's Eye to level up, but it can work with blacksmithing experience. The crystal I have is quite low quality, so its storage space is low. Thus, I only put in about 30% of my blacksmithing experience, but that will be enough, and you can always grow on your own as you forge. This way, you can make some basic equipment and stuff for yourself down in Hell as long as you buy a relatively large subspace ring and store your forging equipment there. This way you can use the time for your swordsmanship training."

"That would be great."

"Good. Here ya go." Jun gave Henry a spherical purple crystal. "Just put in some mana and crush it."

Henry put in some Demon Slaying Energy and threw the crystal on the floor, smashing it into pieces. He then felt countless scenes of Jun forging flowing into his head at lightspeed. After a minute or so, the scenes stopped, and he felt as if he knew exactly how to forge or maintain equipment.

You have acquired level 47 Blacksmithing. Your ⬛⬛ has increased slightly.

You have unlocked the "Support Abilities" menu. Your Blacksmithing ability has been added to the menu.

"Alright, that's all. I'll try to get another Experience Crystal and give it to you next time we meet."

"I promise to one day repay your favor, Sir Jun."

"No need. Just kill as many of those fucking demons as you can, that's enough payment for you."

"I promise to do so."

Henry and Eve left the market and went back to the Cathedral.

"Captain, I know you can't help me learn this new sword technique as you don't know it, but can you at least give me some tips?"

"Sure. When learning a new technique, always try to understand the essence of the technique's moves, the common thing between them. This can help in both the comprehension of the current moves, and the creation of new ones in the future."

If you spot this tale on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.

"I see. Thank you."

"Anyways, you'll be training with Joseph today. After all, you won't always be up against fellow swordsmen. In fact, most demons are mages. Thus, you will be fighting Joseph, a ranged weapon user, today, and Hera, our strongest mage, tomorrow."

"Understood."

"Joseph, come here. You are to spar with Hellwalker until you both can't stand."

"Yes, Captain." Joseph held his bow. As an advanced Bow Knight and 10-star aura master, he made his arrows out of solidified aura and didn't need any actual arrows.

"Begin."

Once Eve said this, Joseph shot three blue aura arrows at Henry. As for Henry, he drew his new sword, dodging two of the arrows and cutting the third in half.

'The arrow split with such ease despite the difference in aura level between us. Hehe, I can tell I'm going to enjoy this sword.'

Henry then ran towards Joseph.

"Closing in on the ranged fighter, a classic. However, not all ranged demons are weak in close quarters." Joseph's bow suddenly froze in the air, not moving, as he pulled out two daggers and slashed at Henry with haste.

Henry, who did not expect this, barely managed to dodge one slash, but the other hit his arm. injuring it. However, Henry's pain tolerance was very high, as shown in the battle with demon king Sitri. He used this chance to slash at Joseph from very close range. Joseph tried to block the attack, but his long slashes made it hard to change direction midway. In the end, Henry managed to make a very long, diagonal cut across Joseph's torso.

"Heh, you're much better than you were before." Joseph used his holy energy to create a barrier around himself as rolled backwards towards his bow. He also healed himself with his holy energy.

"Oh no you don't." Henry charged in Joseph's direction and struck with all his might at the barrier. His attack couldn't crack it, but he knew they were depleting Joseph's holy energy rapidly.

While inside his barrier, Joseph grabbed his bow and drew it. This time, he wasn't making three arrows, but he was putting a ton of aura into one arrow. His strategy was that once his holy energy ran out, he'd hit Henry square in the face with a supercharged arrow.

Henry also realized Joseph's plan, so he stopped attacking the barrier. Instead, he got into a strange stance and simply stood there, waiting for Joseph.

Joseph charged his arrow until he knew his bow couldn't handle any more aura, then put down the barrier and shot the arrow.

"Severin Empire Military Swordsmanship, Seventh Form: Reflecting Spin!" Henry used the military's sword technique. It might not have been so good, but it actually specialized in spinning attacks, and had a form that could reflect attacks. Before, Henry couldn't really use this form much, as he couldn't keep up with fast attacks, but now that he had Mind's Eye, he could finally use it efficiently.

Henry spun around rapidly, making a mini tornado that took the arrow and spun it around, increasing its momentum, then redirected it towards Joseph.

'Fuck.' Joseph couldn't even imagine blocking this with his daggers, and his holy energy wasn't enough to even form the barrier, let alone maintain it.

Before the arrow hit Joseph, Captain Eve came in and split it in half, stopping it.

"Hellwalker's win."

Henry walked towards Joseph, extending his hand to help him up.

"Tough luck, Mr. Joseph. I only won because you managed to depend on one strong, easy to reflect attack."

Joseph grabbed Henry's hand and stood up. "Thanks. You really have improved, though. That new sword is crazy."

"Haha, even I couldn't believe it when Sir Jun told me what it can do."

Henry then looked at the system menu. He had been ignoring the Exp pop-ups as he wanted to focus on the battle. He had gained a total of 300 Exp today, and the system gave him 100 Exp for winning, too. He had 560 Sword Mastery Exp from yesterday, so he now had 960/1500 Exp.

'It seems Knight level isn't that far away. I'll do my best to reach it tomorrow.'