System vs Rebirth

The next morning.

Noel was standing in front of the kids. He had agreed to the duel Eric wanted. But Noel had made a condition.

They had to attack him at the same time.

All eleven kids were standing side by side while holding a wooden sword.

"I think you have learned about this from the Demon Banner Army, but I'm going to repeat it. There are three things you need if you want to become stronger and fight bandits and demons. They are Swordsmanship, connections, and resources.

"Connection can be made in the future when you eventually venture out of the city. Resources are the same. You have to make your own money and buy your own things, especially the Demon Crystals. You need them to get stronger.

"I won't be explaining a lot of things about Spiritual Energy and Spirits right now. Instead, I will be leaving you with books so that you can learn together. Erica is the only one who has made a clear effort to learn how to read and write, so ask her to teach you or you can learn how to read and write from her.

"There are a lot of resources from humans to items. I have a principle that I will settle everything fair and square unless the other party is not… But I'm not going to impose this ideal on you.

"Just keep asking the question of what, when, where, who, why, and how every time you do something and decide whether that's the right thing to do or not.

"Last but not least, the Swordsmanship. You have your own path to pursue, which is the Sword Dance. But in essence, they are similar to normal Swordsmanship.

"You need technique, abilities, and footwork if you want to polish your strength.

together. From the very start, you

your biggest advantage and the reason why

own build, elasticity, and rhythm.

his speech since he had talked too much. The rest could be explained after they

a deep breath. After that, he

fight you with my swordsmanship this time to show you the gap between us. I won't use my Spirit, Spiritual Energy, or any

they saw Noel this serious in a

Noel had yet to release his killing intent to avoid harming the kids. He simply focused his attention on the

could feel it meant they had considered Noel as an enemy to beat. In other words, they were

those thugs in the slum… This

everyone and dissipated

right. They would be disrespecting Noel if they didn't do this

the first to rush forth. His footwork consisted of small steps, allowing

right time so that his

easily and took a step forward to disrupt

his position. The fact that Noel

*Clack!*

of Eric, stopping his wooden sword completely. With this, his dance stopped.

Eric gritted his teeth and leaped back while thinking, 'That slash was supposed to hit his sword, making him use a bit of his strength

you an advantage once the attack connects, but what will you do when your rhythm gets interrupted? Don't forget that the terrain might not be a

answered out loud, understanding Noel's advice. It was