A horn-ant cleaved into two. The blade that split it continued its momentum, killing another horn-ant in succession. Zach dodged another ant that barely grazed against his skin. Yet the pain was left ignored. He had grown accustomed to all the pouncing ants and the grazes against him felt more like a pinch on the skin. He even fell deaf against the constant buzzing that kept assaulting his ears. But paid no mind to it as he continued giving wrath to the swarm of giant horn-ant. One by one fell against his blade, and with the protection of healing right behind him, the nervousness he felt at the beginning of going against the swarm had vanished.

Zach was at ease. He returned back to the safety of the turtle-shell formation, meeting again with the daughter of the Shieldford house. This was the third time he returned, and despite the wariness from Orland at least the light in his gaze somewhat changed a bit towards Zach.

“I have to say, you had proven me wrong,” Orland said. “You’re a man of your word, and for what you’re doing out there, I’m truly grateful.”

Jeyne nodded slightly to Zach. The awkwardness she felt at this savage-looking man had lessened considerably. “Pardon me, Sir Reacher,” she said. Her hands hovered over Zach’s wounds as her light healed his health points to full.

“Again, I’m not a knight, Lady Shieldford. There’s no need to call me sir. Zach is enough,” Zach said.

“Let her be, Reacher. The Unseen had already given you the knight status, you might as well accept how a knight should be treated,” Orland said. He dubbed the system as the Unseen and assumed like the rest that Zach also possessed the knight class.

“Then should all of those who had chosen the knight class be treated as a knight then? If I recall, a knight status is only given by the lord he is serving, and from what I know, becoming one is not an easy task,” Zach said.

Orland smirked, amused by Zach’s words. “True. A knight’s title is not something easily given like trading something from a market,” Orland said. “And are you sure, you’re not a noble? From the way you present yourself, minus the bloody appearance of course. Your bearing is like a noble.”

“As I said, I’m just a well-educated peasant,” Zach said.

“That in itself is a strange thing to hear,” Orland replied.

“Well strangeness doesn’t mean it doesn’t exist,” Zach said. “Might I add the majority of the Highbrow Union consists of peasant-born?”

“Fine. You win this little debate,” Orland said. “Then how about this. Swear an oath under my house, and my daughter can rightfully call you Sir.” Orland smiled.

“Pardon me for asking, Lord Shieldford, is rejecting consider rude?” Zach asked.

“For a well-educated peasant, I thought you knew?” Orland shot back.

“Then please give me time to think about it,” Zach said.

Orland frowned. “Are you rejecting?” Orland asked. His tone was different.

“Of course not, my lord,” Zach said. “Bearing the knight’s title is not for anyone, and I need an ample amount of time to figure out whether I can carry the responsibility of upholding the Shieldford’s name.”

“Humph, you educated peasant is quite eloquent with your tongue,” Orland said. “Have it your way.”

Zach prepared to enter combat.

“Sir Reacher, please fight well, and take care not to hurt yourself too much,” Jeyne said.

Zach nodded and off he went. A flying horn-ant came to greet him and Zach replied with a swing of his sword. Another fell to his blade, and he resumed battle against the swarm. This time he added another goal besides bringing this group of people to the fort. He recalled the teaching of the one who taught him his sword. Replicating the movement, and the stance he learned and applied them in the fight against the swarm. He was no longer swinging his sword through instinct and force. Accustoming himself to this new set of movements as he felt less pressure against these pouncing ants.

Bit by bit, he adapted his discipline and yet, fluid movement into his battle. Soon, a pattern was formed. He was like a boulder in the middle of a rapid river, unperturbed by the constant heavy waves that slammed against him. Zach parried. He swung, and he slashed. Killing more horn-ants in a more efficient manner. Zach didn’t keep his kill count, but by the time he hit his hundredth after utilizing this new stance, something emerged.

[You have taken your first step in the Path of the Sword.]

This content has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

[Warning! Due to being a Classless, a penalty will incur.]

[Penalty: -50% skill growth.]

[Will you accept this new skill?]

The thing he had yearned for finally came. He did not bat an eye at the penalty as he more or less expected it. Despite the reduced growth rate, Zach was not going to reject his first skill as a classless.

“I accept,” Zach declared, grinning.

There were no visible changes after accepting, but Zach could subtly feel a difference in his movement. His slash was sharper, and his steps were lighter. The rate of his killing was up a notch as the exhilaration coursing in his veins pumped his desire to kill. The hack and slash continued.

While prying eyes behind the shields were shocked by what they saw.

“This is preposterous,” Orland whispered. He witnessed for himself the combat prowess of Zach against the swarm. It was like seeing a war demon on the battlefield, slaughtering at every second like it was just a flick of a finger.

“Milord, is he even human?” one of the shield-bearer asked.

“Whatever he is, be glad he’s on our side,” Orland said.

“But is that even humanly possible?”

“Normally it’s not. But I assume his insane strength comes from the numbers from those attributes,” Orland said.

“Is it the one where I utter ‘unveil’, milord?”

“There’s nothing else besides that,” Orland said. He had many questions inside his head, and all of them revolved around his status and what it all meant. Orland believed that he too was capable of doing what Zach could do, and realizing what it took to survive in this new world, he had no other choice but to dive again into the fight on the battlefield.

“Narrow the gap, Harlim,” Orland said. “Keep an eye on him, and report when should we move.”

The inner space of the turtle formation fell silent once more as the battle outside was livelier than ever.

Zach racked his count to two hundred and yet their numbers seemed to not dwindle. He grasped that perhaps the night was the biggest hurdle for anyone in this world right now as fighting against a swarm like this was practically impossible. Unless people bunkered down in a fort, covering all openings that could leak enemies. He doubted anyone could survive through the night outside a Safe Zone. Unless they were as crazy as him.

Despite the penalty on his skill growth rate, Zach managed to level it to level two. Increasing his overall prowess when using the blade.

[Swordsmanship(Lv.2)(Tier: Normal): Increase ATK with a sword by 2. Increase movement speed with a sword by 2%. Increase fluidity of sword motion by 20%. Increase the potential of learning subsidiary sword skills by 2%.]

Indeed, he did feel his feet a bit lighter than usual. Further proving that this skill affected his physical body. But the new stat that wasn’t shown under his status proved there were more than meet the eyes. It seemed there were more mechanics in this system that he needed to discover to further exploit them for his own use.

Then the idea he had on top of the battlement came to knock. While he killed his foes, he tried to recall the cantrip he memorized before embarking on his failed rescue mission.

‘Fiat ati meum, et fluant per mea urat, et transversa per piranti, quod hearten weteng meus,’ he remembered it perfectly. A remarkable feat for someone who didn’t know the language and did it in just under an hour. It was a pity though that he couldn’t do this with the eager Tobias. Nonetheless, he began his experiment of breaking down the cantrip to its bare bone. Hoping to somewhat illicit any sign of using mana besides for cooking.

He started off by using the full sentence while wielding his sword. Imagining the mana flowing from his heart right to the tip of his fingers, reaching the hilt and then to the edge of his sword. But alas, the result came out as nothing.

Again, he tried. Removing another word from the back of the sentence while heavily visualizing the process of mana flowing. He did so as it was noted by the book that visualizing was an important process in completing the overall technique, and yet, he failed at it again.

But giving up was not in the pages of his book. Zach continued trying. This time removing the word ‘meus’ from the cantrip. Whispering them as his sword killed another batch of mad pouncing ants. It was a simple process of elimination, and for someone who did not know the language, it was the best method he could use at the moment.

Zach removed the words from the end one by one. Testing the broken cantrip as he paved a path from the group at the back. Failing one after another, but by the fifth time, something happened.

He whispered the broken cantrip audible only to his ears, and then he felt it. A strong burn right at the depth of his heart, flowing into the imaginary vessel he had created in his mind. There was a slight pain in his chest as he uttered them, and he was quick to end it, fearing what might entail with that pain. Yet despite the pain, the discovery that it was possible, carved a smile on his face. The testing time was short, and his effort was not betrayed.

Zach dodged an incoming ant as his focus started to waver a bit. The pouncing ant grazed him by the cheek, and a bit of blood trickled down the skin of his face.

Zach went for slaughter for a while, clearing up a considerable amount of enemies around him. Making a momentary space enough for him to further experiment with this new discovery of his.

He uttered those words again, and the burn reemerged. Zach fought while he endured the burning pain that was growing stronger as the mana flowed further from his heart. It was a slow process. Comparing it with the time he used it while cooking, it was like day and night. It was as if heavy traffic during the morning weekdays to the holidays when the roads were lax. Enough said, the difference was staggering.

Unknowingly, he even earned his eight stacks of pain over the growing pain as it reached the imaginary vein at his wrist. Clenching his jaw, Zach pushed himself to the limit as the pain went up a notch after reaching the entrance of his fingers. Now came the hardest part, Zach visualized the mana vessels broken down into five separated paths. By then, the mana diverged into their separate paths, and then it went wrong.

A sudden excruciating pain shot up out of nowhere, making his cry of pain rattle through the night. He even coughed a mouthful of blood as his flesh turned pale and his mind felt disoriented. Zach staggered on his feet as the hand holding his sword didn’t even have the strength to hold it up. Then as his awareness momentarily dulled, it came.

A strong smack at the back of his head, and Zach fell flat on his face. His consciousness faded, and he blacked out.