The Master of Uradan

Rohan was sitting in his room. The sun had already set for a while and only a weak candle flame was lighting the room.

Rohan held the Essence Stone in his hand, and looked at his statistics.

Race: human

Age: 13 years old

Constitution: 1.93

Mana: 19.87 / 19.87

Spirit: 11

Every evening since he had started meditating until today, his sessions had lengthened. At first, it did not last more than an hour, then as he got used to it more and more, the time decreased to about forty minutes.

However, there was one fact that he hadn't taken into account: his mana was increasing as he was forming more and more of his meridian.

So his sessions ended up lasting a little longer and now lasted over an hour. In return, the length of his meridian was increasing faster and faster every day, so he didn't have to wait for the 125 days originally planned.

The only problem he had was that his mana regeneration was always the same, only 1 per hour.

And so, these few days, his mana was never filled to the maximum because he always used 10 of it in the morning in the training of his skill Strengthened Blow.

And in the evening, he used all the mana he had left for his meditation, so he had nothing left and only had the time to regenerate what he needed to unleash his skill the next morning.

Because of this, he didn't use his skill against the captain this morning as he had to save his mana to be sure to be at his maximum for his promotion as a rank 2 Beginner Warrior.

Sitting cross-legged with his eyes closed, he focused on his core. The mana cloud was slightly thicker than when it was only 10.

He squeezed it as much as possible and, rather than shaping it into a ball, formed it into an oval. This was a common way described in the texts, otherwise the meridian would widen due to a mana ball twice as large as before.

After he finished gathering his mana, he threw it into his meridians and passed through his whole without difficulty.

It was already a good sign. It happened sometimes, when the meridian was badly consolidated, that it collapsed in some places, injuring the warrior and forcing him to start again at the beginning.

His compressed mana reached where he had stopped the day before, and with the same method as ever, he began to work. It pierced through the body, and at the same time, Rohan was using his mana to build up the meridian.

After a while he came to the spot marked on the drawing of his book. He used the rest of the mana to tie the meridian there, which was at the sole of the foot.

Suddenly, a tingling ran through his entire meridian. A wave of mana rushed through the opening he had just created from the outside, and came to strengthen and stabilize the link, giving it a faint glow of light, like the first meridian.

The bond he had created was now fully open and could attract outside mana. The mana coming from outside then rushed toward the rest of his body, and with a feeling of heat through all of it, Rolan suddenly felt he had begun way stronger. He had formed his second meridian!

Rohan suppressed his glee and hurried to look at his stats.

Race: human

Age: 13 years old

Constitution: 2.56

Mana: 0 / 20

Spirit: 11

He had finally become a rank 2 Beginner Warrior, a smile lit his face. He would now be able to use another capacity. The skill Charge.

It also costs 10 mana and would allow him to gain speed over a short distance. Very useful to surprise an opponent. A normal rank 2 Beginner Warrior usually had a constitution of 3, but considering he was only 13 years old, such a build was already exceptional.

Now that he had fully opened his meridian, his mana regeneration had also doubled, from 1 to 2 mana per hour. He would still need ten hours to regenerate all his mana, but his training would be at least doubled compared to before.

His body being all the more reinforced by the mana, the creation of his third meridian will probably be slowed down. But he still had plenty of time, so he didn't particularly worry about it.

The next morning, Rohan was in the yard for his daily training. The captain of the guard stood in front of him with a sword in his hand, while the other guards who were not on duty were around to watch the show.

They were used to it now, every morning they watched the young master polish his attacks against their captain, and become more and more skilled in his wielding of his skill.

Even the soldier who had fought him before was now unable to last more than a short time. And it was only after a few months.

Rohan weighed the sword in his hand, it seemed so light now. But he will do with it, he will swap his training sword after having defeated the demon in front of him. It had been at least three months since they had duels against each other, and Rohan got trashed every time.

The captain was deliberately restricting himself to train him, it was true, but still, Rohan wanted to wash away the frustration he was feeling.

His opponent, no, his archenemy, didn't know he was a rank 2 Beginner Warrior, he didn't know he had more strength, and he didn't know that he could use the Charge skill.

Today was the only possible day where he could beat him as easily as possible, so he had to put all his energy into it, he had to be a true warrior, he had to put all his being into this fight.

He had to bet everything on the surprise's element.

The duel began.

Rohan took the initiative and struck blows with his sword. His opponent was parrying them easily with a simple movement, Rohan having put in the minimum force possible to hide his true strength.

After parrying the blows, the captain launched a counterattack, his sword slicing through the air as it moved towards Rohan's throat.

Rohan jumped to the left and struck the flat of the sword with his own in an attempt to unbalance his opponent. Without waiting for the result, he stepped forward and threw his sword toward his rival. Unfortunately his thrust encountered nothing but air.

A shiver ran through his spine. He let himself be carried away by his blow and rolled forward without thinking, before getting up to turn around.

The captain stood there, a smirk, pulling his sword back towards him.

"Your instinct is really above the norm."

Rohan concentrated, it was now or never. He was having a hard time restricting his strength to that of a rank 1 Beginner Warrior, this exchange had to be the last if he was to take him by surprise.

He rushed forward and swung his sword on his right, he took advantage of the rebound of the parry to bring his arm back and hit again and again. For a few seconds he smashed in all directions, looking for an opening while the captain was on the defensive.

Suddenly the power of his blows multiplied and Rolan put all his strength in his arm. The captain, who hadn't expected such an increase in strength, was forced to take two steps back.

His expression changed, to give way to an expression of shock.

But it was too late.

Rohan took advantage of this moment. He condensed his mana and sent it to his second meridian, heat radiating down his right leg as a faint glow enveloped him.

He put his foot on the ground, and propelled himself forward, leaving a foot mark on the ground behind him. This was the first time he had used the Charge skill.

The distance between the two shortens in an instant. Before even stopping, Rohan used the rest of his mana to send it into his first meridian and used Strengthened Blow and sent a full powered hit towards the captain.

The captain didn't have time to react properly, he didn't have a good position to use the Charge skill either, so his only possibility was to meet the blow that was coming on him using his own Strengthening Blow, and deflect the force on the side.

That's what he did, or at least it was what he had planned. As the two blades were about to meet, Rohan canceled his move. From the start it was only a feint!

As his foot touched the ground and Rohan resumed his support, he changed the direction of his sword, passed through the opposing guard, and threw a thrust towards the captain's prey. His blow had lost the power of his skill but it was still fully sufficient.

The captain had not seen this situation coming. As the point of the sword landed on him, a joyful smile lit his face. The young master of the family he served was a greater genius than he had hoped, and it filled him with joy.

Even if taken by surprise, the fact that a young rank 2 Beginner Warrior could beat a rank 3 Beginner Warrior who had full experience was still commendable.

As the point of the sword rested on his opponent's chest, Rohan let out a sigh. He had really put it all into this attack, but it was worth it.

He took a step back, and lowering his weapon, tried to catch his breath. He heard a laugh, and looking up at the source of the noise, he saw the captain in front of him.

"Congratulations on your promotion as a rank 2 Beginner Warrior young master, you will definitely be the greatest warrior in the duchy within a few years!

Not to mention the speed at which he rose through the ranks was exceptional, just the way he fought was amazing. He was only 13 years old, and his combat experience was horrifying.

And yet not only was he able to come up with such a strategy, but more importantly, he was able to perform it in the middle of a fight.. And that, according to the captain, was much more frightening than his rank up speed.