The Author's POV

Six days had passed since the meeting with Amanda, and just like she had promised, my new sword manual arrived the next day.

When I first opened the package and saw the manual, I was once again reminded of how much influence Amanda had in the Demon hunter guild.

The manual looked like it had just been freshly copied, with no creases or stains on it.

It had to be noted that it was not that easy to make a copy of a manual.

Because for obvious reasons guilds were trying to minimize the circulation of manuals, a lot of procedures had to be taken before being allowed to make a copy of a manual.

It had to be approved by a vast majority of the board members and the guild master, and this was especially hard since a lot of the members were conservative people that hated sharing things with outsiders.

Simply put, the fact that Amanda was able to give me a copy the next day meant that she had just as much influence as her father. The guild master.

That aside, during these past six days, since I had nothing to do, as soon as the manual arrived I decided to train it.

Surprisingly, because my swordsmanship had improved to level 2, I was able to grasp the contents of my new manual fairly quickly.

Though I was nowhere near reaching the minor realm of mastery, the time it would take me to reach that level would be a lot faster compared to what it took me to reach that level with my main sword art.

Though I said that, it would still take me quite a while before I could reach that level of mastery.

Unlike the [Keiki style] which had five stances, [Ring of vindication] had three levels which were, Ring of Aegis, Gravitational ring, and Elemental alternation.

The first level, Ring of Aegis, created a ring in the air that acted as a shield. How strong its defense was depended on the degree of mastery of the sword art.

The second level was a more advanced version of the first level, Ring of Aegis, and added a gravitational pull on the ring that redirected all the attacks towards the ring. This was extremely useful, as only one ring needed to be created to defend rather than multiple rings to deflect multiple attacks coming from different directions. This way, I didn't have to split my focus on defending different areas.

Lastly, the third level, elemental alternation. This level consisted of manipulating psyons in a way that the ring attained elemental attributes. This was extremely useful in countering elemental attacks, as fire attacks could be countered with a water attributed ring.

However, in order for one to be able to pull this move, they had to have a high degree of mana control. They had to be able to harness the precise psyon they wanted to use and create a ring with it.

That alone was incredibly hard to do, and if someone did not reach a certain level of mastery towards mana control it would impossible.

These were the three levels of [Ring of vindication], and the first time I learned about their effect I couldn't close my jaw for a whole hour.

After the shock died down, what replaced it was pure excitement as I couldn't wait to start practicing it.

...and here I was now, six days later standing in the middle of the training ground practicing the first level, Ring of Aegis.

"Fuuuu..."

Sucking in a deep breath, I closed my eyes and slowly drew a ring in front of me with my sword. In the process of doing so, I focused entirely on channeling my mana to the tip of my sword.

Slowly as I drew the circle in the air, if one looked closely, a dimly lit line followed the tip of my sword. After one full circulation, it formed a yellow ring in the air.

However, exactly two seconds after I drew the circle, it broke down and scattered in the air.

Opening my eyes and looking at the scattering circle, I let out a satisfied smile.

"Two seconds..."

Though it didn't seem like much, in the first three days I could barely even draw a full circle. That's how much I progressed these past few days.

However, I was still far cry from reaching the point where I could actively use this sword art.

Although I could create a ring that lasted for two seconds, it could barely be used to defend. It still had no substance to it, meaning that right now it was nothing but a beautiful decoration.

One thing I noticed these past few days, as I was practicing the sword art, was how flawed the grading system for manuals was.

if one practiced

manual, but it could definitely have been a four-star

the greater the

day I were to reach the perfected realm of mastery, no, even the essence realm of mastery, I would without

myself. I was still very far

Let's not delude ourselves.

-Click!

my sword back into the scabbard, I looked at

was precisely 8:00 p.m., and because tomorrow was the day of the

to progress just like I thought they would, I needed all the rest

at the darkening sky,

going to be one hell of

...

Parker Tower, Ashton city.

-Knock

of the Parker family, heard a knock coming from the other side of the

"Come in"

looked in the direction of

individual with a butler outfit entered the room. He had long white hair accompanied by a finely trimmed mustache that rested below his nose. Despite his age, his face barely had any wrinkles and aside from

"Greetings master"

in front of Micheal Parker, the butler looked at his

"Are the preparations ready?"

before him, Micheal's authoritative voice rang

everything has

for a moment and looking

Trivot squad

mention, the butler's demeanor

as

"Good"

a satisfied smile, Micheal slumped on his chair and lightly

this case, I

a complicated look, the

rude of me, are you sure you want to send the

those words escaped the butler's mouth, the temperature of the

started emanating from Micheal, as he looked at his

having served me for over fifteen years,

pressure, cold sweat dripped from

that after raising them for so long, it would be a waste to let

shook

backing is just as strong as our family

the

planning, the fate of the Parker family would be on the line. A single mistake and we could very well be wiped out from the face of this planet. Only if we utilize the Trivot squad will we be able to complete our plan without worrying about it

his eyes, the pressure around Micheal intensified many

"ukhh"

understand why I

"Understood"

to the

too much for

"Good"

the pressure

massive pressure lift from him, Richard finally

a complicated look

only one reason for his sense

The Trivot squad.