It took Leon another plateful of pancakes to fully heal his wounds.
The cracked ribs had wound up being the least strenuous of his injuries. Repairing burns meant shedding layers of skin, the scarred flesh sloughing off as Leon forced new cells to replace the injured ones.
He’d suffered bruises as well, though his armour ensured his innards had stayed that way, the dented metal chest plate already restored thanks to the Self-Repair enchantment. He shuddered to think of what would have happened if he had tried to withstand the tail spike explosion with his old leather armour.
Pulling himself back to his feet, sword slung onto his back, he stored the corpse of the Infernal Rex away and made for the river.
The ashes were still now, the remnant heat had dissipated as the day wore on and the fire’s last flames faded. No challengers accosted Leon as he travelled, the fire having driven most from this stretch of the woods.
Only the desperate and the foolish remained.
The river’s waters appeared blackened, tainted with foreign matter, though the body of water maintained enough clarity for Leon to get a good look at himself. Crouching down by the placid stream, the face reflected at Leon was one he had trouble recognising as his own.
His face was now clean-shaven, his unkempt facial hair burned off in the prior battle. Thankfully, the hair on his head remained intact under his helmet.
Pulling the bronze skull protector free, Leon’s frayed hair fell down around him. It hung around his neck and shoulders, the hair tie that had once kept it tightly bound gone.
He hadn’t even noticed its loss.
His blue eyes looked sharper, hardier. Perhaps he was projecting, but he saw more than a sliver of steel in his gaze.
His skin was still coated with gore and ash, a macabre war paint that made him look like a savage caveman.
His increased stats and lean diet had excised any trace of fat from him as he’d levelled, his features now more defined, sculpted with intent rather than formed by happenstance.
He looked pretty damn good- for a man who’d been running from battle to battle constantly for four days.
Removing the hand coverings on his gauntlet, Leon ran his fingers across his face, feeling the freshly healed skin, the smoothness of his bare chin an old sensation, one he’d half forgotten after years of refusing to even trim his beard.
Dunking his head beneath the river’s surface, Leon scrubbed the filth from his eyes, his gauntlets removed to allow him the proper range of motion and flexibility he required for the task.
Once satisfied that his face was relatively clean, he lowered himself into the water, the pull of the current alongside the work of his hands removing the worst of the grime that caked his armour.
It was a moment of serenity, one Leon needed after the pitched battle against the Infernal Rex.
Now that he was clean, Leon pulled himself back onto the bank of the river. While he could head off and seek another fight, one that would bring him closer to capping his class, he felt a need to reflect on the fight he’d just won.
Only through this could he make his fighting style stronger, bringing it closer to perfection.
He’d not been able to work in many of the moves he’d developed for the Giant Slayer Style, but that was okay- the fight had been a tough one and he wasn’t arrogant enough to believe he’d developed a move for every situation yet.
He had a few problems to consider then.
How to deal with an enemy clad in superior armour, how to counter one that relied on keeping him at range and how to place his foes in positions that would grant him the greatest advantages.
Drawing the Sunlight Greatsword, Leon placed it across his lap, his legs crossed as he considered these issues. While doing so, he worked on mastering Ebb and Flow; the circuit growing easier and easier to spin up, his breaths replenishing his mana as he spent it.
The question of armour first.
He’d had success against armoured foes not by trying to pierce their defences, instead his go-to strategy was to either beat their shell in on them or simply rip through the armour with sheer force.
A reliable enough tactic, one he felt worked consistently enough that developing a move solely for stripping armour would dilute the style’s essence.
The world would not be so kind to clothe all giants in armour after all.
Instead, this would be a facet to keep in mind when developing the style’s mana circuit- it would need to boost his Power, to allow him to carve through any opposition.
Fighting an opponent at range was next on his list.
The most obvious solution to the problem was a shield.
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A solid bulwark would give Leon a wall to advance behind, though from experience he knew he would need a tower shield. Anything smaller would be useless against the large attacks greater foes could launch.
Still, this would affect his offensive ability, it would limit him to blades he was able to comfortably use with a single hand. Not ideal for a style meant to be used with swords that were at the limits of usability, ones that tired him to swing.
There was also the compatibility issue- certain moves in the Giant Slayer Style, like Helm Breaker, required the user to use both hands to line up their blow. With a shield in one hand, these became harder to execute, potentially to the point of becoming impractical in a high-stakes battle.
Perhaps there was a magical solution, some kind of barrier spell he could learn to use?
This was a train of thought that Leon discarded.
It was pointless to consider, at least for now.
Leon’s knowledge of magic was too shallow. Aside from mana manipulation and mana circuitry, he had ignored this aspect of his new reality and would continue to do so until it forced him to learn more.
Pushing aside these thoughts, Leon turned to consider other viable options.
Another solution was to boost his Constitution. If he could develop a circuit that was comparable to Ebb and Flow, only focused instead on boosting his Power and Constitution he would have a formidable tool to use in battle.
The creation of his own circuit jumped several ranks forward on Leon’s list of priorities as he considered the last point.
Spacing and control of the battlefield.
It had always been easy enough against the weaker varieties of tyrannosaurus and spinosaurus. Their animal instincts compelled them to charge Leon down, giving him ample opportunity to bait them into exploitable positions.
Now he was fighting beasts that were a step beyond. They knew their own strengths well and were not as easily led by the nose.
Circle Swing remained an important tool in his arsenal for redirecting blows in duels and beating back any encroaching enemies in group fights. Other techniques like Double Fang were of use in halting momentum but lacked the utility of Circle Swing.
For this question, Leon had less of an idea of where to direct his attention. Experience would be the difference, he supposed. With enough fights under his belt, he’d be able to more accurately read the flow of battle and become able to pick up on opportunities his current self couldn’t spot.
His pride smarted at the thought.
That he, a Swordfiend, was anything less than a master swordsman set his bloodline off, the primal part of his brain demanding he bloody his blade.
The more fights he got into, the quicker he’d improve, right?
Leon collapsed the latest iteration of Ebb and Flow in on itself and noted the practice session had shaved another few seconds off the time to construct a complete Ebb and Flow circuit.
Scanning his surroundings from his seated position, Leon felt surprised to see that the sun had dipped towards the horizon and that clouds had gathered overhead, dark and tumultuous, covering the sky entirely.
While he’d absorbed himself in meditation, a storm had been brewing.
As though they had been waiting for the gaze of Leon, the heavens split open; the clouds disgorging their mighty flood of water, sheets of rain blanketing the island.
Man and monster alike felt the embrace of the rainfall, the water lacking any bite. A warm and soothing rain, unlike anything Leon would have expected from such a furious sky.
A flash of light emanated from within the clouds. Mere moments later, a bolt of lightning descended on a tree on the opposite bank.
The mighty electrical discharge spared little. The tree’s bark peeled off as the energy rampaged towards the ground, cracking the wood into splinters.
The lightning had cut the tree twain, one half fell into the increasingly rapid river flow, the other slamming into the earthen ground of the woods.
Leon became transfixed, his burning eyes watching the furious web of bolts snaking through the clouds, his mind sinking into a state of comprehension as his ears rang, the smell of ozone so strong he could practically taste it.
Lightning.
Power.
Supremacy.
Divine judgement.
A power mortal men could only cower before, begging their gods for deliverance from danger.
He saw himself, the path he would walk in those lightning bolts.
He, like lightning, would become supreme.
An existence to be feared
An existence to be revered.
A judge of other swordsmen.
A second bolt tore through the air, splitting another tree, and Leon returned to a lucid state.
“Insight Gained- Lightning’s Supremacy- Early Shallow Level.”
Wasting no time, Leon pulled up the description.
“Lightning’s Supremacy- Early Shallow- Increased lightning affinity. The user takes reduced damage from lightning attribute spells. When hit by a lightning attribute spell user regenerates mana. Amount regenerated is dependant upon the strength of the spell.”
His two prior insights were incredible boons, ones that had helped him achieve success in situations he should have failed.
This insight?
It blew them out of the water.
The increase in affinity was great, but that wasn’t what excited Leon.
The damage reduction and regeneration from all lighting spells seemed great at first glance.
Except there was no guarantee Leon would face many foes that could wield lightning.
Until you then realised that Leon could just learn a lightning spell of his own.
The only hard part was finding one that recharged more mana than it cost.
Laughing as he rose to his feet, Leon let loose a roar of satisfaction as the storm pelted the island with more lightning bolts.
With this insight, Leon felt his potential was now truly boundless.
Perhaps this insight would open even greater Class options for him?
There was only one way to find out.
The swordsman was ready to cross the river in a single bound, his armour and sword in peak condition, his mind whirring with excitement, anticipating the next fight.
Would it be another tyrannosaurus?
Would a spinosaurus show itself?
Maybe both?
Leon threw himself across the river, his perception notifying him of a sudden movement beneath him.
A set of jaws rose from the rapids, dripping with venom, long and pointed, designed for puncturing flesh.
His eyes saw nothing as he flicked them down, his sword already in his hands, legs that he’d tucked up to his chest kicking outwards, holding the beast’s mouth open.
It suspended Leon in the air, an invisible monster aiming to snap him in half, his strength and Insight the only things that had kept him from becoming a dinosaur’s snack.
A hiss of displeasure came from the beast and a huff of hot air blasted from the creature’s nose, its baleful gaze possessing the same intelligence Leon had seen the Infernal Rex display.
His [Swordsman’s Eye] flashed the creature’s information up in front of him.
“Level Twenty-Five Creeping Death Spinosaurus- A sub-species of the Venomback Spinosaurus. Physically weaker, it relies on its active camouflage alongside an increased intellect to hunt. An ambush predator that strikes only to open a wound, allowing the potent hemotoxic venom it introduces to the victim’s bloodstream to kill. A novice swordsman would stand a chance only with antidotes and meticulous preparation.”
As they rose into the air, Leon plunged his blade into the spinosaurus’ eye, the shift in momentum enough for the beast to take advantage, its jaws snapping shut, leaving Leon’s blade embedded in its eye socket as the swordsman began another desperate struggle.