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.

the fact that [Ring of vindication] had no offensive properties, if one practiced this art to the fullest, I would doubt anyone could penetrate its

may have not been a five-star manual, but it could definitely

considers the fact that the greater the mastery

reach the perfected realm of mastery, no, even the essence

said, I shouldn't get ahead of myself. I

Let's not delude ourselves.

-Click!

back into the

because tomorrow was the day of the trip I decided to head back and

like I thought they would, I needed all the rest

the darkening

be one hell

...

Parker Tower, Ashton city.

-Knock

Parker, the current head of the Parker family, heard a knock coming from the other

"Come in"

papers down, Micheal looked in

nose. Despite his age, his face barely had any wrinkles and aside from the pigmentation of his mustache and hair, someone could've easily mistaken him for

"Greetings master"

bowing in front of Micheal Parker, the butler looked at his master and waited

"Are the preparations ready?"

him, Micheal's authoritative

everything has been

the butler's response, Micheal nodded slightly. Pausing for a moment and looking at Ashton city from the

the Trivot

word 'Trivot' being mention, the butler's demeanor faltered for a

is as you have

"Good"

smile, Micheal slumped on

the Trivot squad in charge of this case, I don't have to worry about

look, the old butler couldn't

me, are you sure you want to send

soon as those words escaped the butler's mouth, the temperature of the room dropped to freezing

force started emanating from Micheal,

too lenient with you...despite having served me for over fifteen years, you still

such immense pressure, cold sweat dripped from Richard's back as he immediately lowered his

raising them for so long, it would

shook his

the Trivot squad to come into play. This mission requires the assassination of several high-profiled individuals whose backing is just as strong as our family if not even more...a single failure could cause everything that my

at the butler,

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

his eyes, the pressure around

"ukhh"

why I am employing the

"Understood"

the pressure, Richard forced himself

too

"Good"

satisfied smile, the

lift from him,

a complicated look

only one reason for

The Trivot squad.