novelbin Chapter 80 : Comprehension! Mountain-Cleaving Cross Sword!
Chapter 80 : Comprehension! Mountain-Cleaving Cross Sword!
Chapter 80: Comprehension! Mountain-Cleaving Cross Sword!
He looked at the Leo before him, recalling how the other had defeated Eddie, and the scene of Leo single-handedly killing the Thunder Lizard surfaced again in his mind.
Arthur had never expected that this fellow squire who had started at the same time as him would turn out to be such a monstrously talented swordsmanship genius.
Before, he could still regard Leo as a friend or brother.
But now, Leo had become a Quasi-Knight, crossing that threshold into an entirely different class.
Sword training? How could he possibly be Leo’s opponent?
Moreover, ever since partnering with Leo in business, Arthur had spent much of his energy on socializing and securing deals.
As for swordsmanship, there had been little improvement.
‘Did I say something wrong?’ Arthur wondered, replaying their earlier conversation in his mind, trying to recall if he had offended Leo.
At the same time, he rubbed his hands together and gave an awkward smile. “Leo, stop joking. With me now… how would we even spar? You’re a Quasi-Knight in the spotlight, and I’m just a Knight’s Squire…”
Leo smiled, walked over, and patted Arthur on the shoulder, cutting him off.
“Don’t make it sound so distant.” He clearly saw through Arthur’s thoughts. Growing up around nobles, that mindset had long been ingrained in him.
Leo paused, as if recalling something. “Do you remember back then—if it weren’t for that Merfolk Meat meal you treated me to, my progress might not have been this fast.”
“Merfolk Meat?” Arthur had almost forgotten about it, yet Leo still remembered something from so long ago.
His eyes immediately brightened.
Leo continued, “You were the first friend I made after coming to Blackstone City. So no matter what we become in the future, you’ll always be my good brother.”
After hearing this, Arthur froze slightly. “Good brother…”
He hadn’t expected Leo, usually so reserved, to suddenly say something so sentimental.
Though it sounded a bit cheesy, as he listened, something deep within him was stirred.
In the Knight’s Code, one of the most important principles was loyalty—loyalty to the Father of Light, to one’s oath, to companions, to friends, and unwavering faith in ideals and beliefs.
If Leo hadn’t changed his attitude toward him despite his rise in status, then Arthur’s earlier thoughts seemed rather snobbish.
“So, are we brothers or not?” Leo picked up a training iron sword and revealed a warm, bright smile.
“Yes! Of course we’re brothers.” Arthur nodded firmly, gripping the iron sword in his hand.
At that moment, he felt as if something inside him had been ignited.
“If we’re brothers, then come at me.” Leo suddenly changed tone and beckoned at Arthur. “Use your best move.”
“Huh?” Arthur was completely thrown off.
Leo spoke as if coaxing a child, “If we’re brothers, we should learn from each other and improve together. So come on.”
Hearing this, Arthur broke into his usual carefree grin.
Indeed, without his earlier support, perhaps Leo wouldn’t have progressed so quickly.
Between brothers, this was something worth being happy about.
“Come on.” Arthur rolled up his sleeves, ready to fight with everything he had.
He also wanted to see just how big the gap was between himself and this genius Quasi-Knight.
A trace of boldness rose in his heart:
‘I, Arthur, eldest son of the Xilin Family, future heir, bearing responsibility for three cities and dozens of villages.
I began practicing swordsmanship at twelve, undefeated among my peers, hailed as a young genius of the Xilin Family. Even if there’s a gap, how big could it be?’
……
Twenty minutes later.
Clang—
Arthur stood there completely stunned, casually tossing the iron sword aside.
‘To hell with being a genius of the Xilin Family.’
Only now did he realize that the gap between people could sometimes be far greater than imagined.
Just moments ago, he had discovered that Leo had actually learned his Mountain-Cleaving Cross Sword during the fight?!
At the beginning, Leo had only relied on brute force, slashing wildly.
But in just twenty minutes, Leo’s moves had already begun to take shape.
Arthur panted heavily. “I’m done, I’m done… Leo, I always thought you just learned Breathing Techniques quickly. Didn’t expect… truly, a genius is a genius at everything.”
Arthur sighed. Throughout the fight, Leo had remained on the defensive, while he used various moves to try to break through Leo’s guard.
Yet Leo had used only the most basic sword techniques to neutralize every one of his attacks.
It made Arthur feel that his twelve variations were overly flashy—impressive in appearance but lacking substance.
Then later, Leo had directly used the moves of the Mountain-Cleaving Cross Sword—and executed all of them smoothly.
It had to be known—Leo had previously been training under Eve Sova and had never learned this sword technique before.
At first, Leo couldn’t even understand Arthur’s variations.
Yet in just over ten minutes, he had mastered it?
It seemed that a true genius would never excel in only one or two areas.
Still, this sparring session had benefited Arthur as well. Without Leo, he would rarely have the chance to fight someone at the Quasi-Knight level.
Leo, too, had gained immensely—he had successfully grasped the Mountain-Cleaving Cross Sword.
With his current Spirit Attribute, learning a Green-tier sword technique like this posed little difficulty.
Combined with his Blue Trait 【Swordsmanship Comprehension】, Leo had taken only ten minutes to get started.
On his panel:
【Mountain-Cleaving Cross Sword (Green) Level 1 5/100】
He had mastered this Green-tier sword technique extremely quickly, gaining 5 experience points in just a few minutes.
Not only had he entered the basics, but he had also fully grasped the overall principles of this sword art.
The so-called Mountain-Cleaving Cross Sword focused on technique—emphasizing structured moves.
For example, the first move, Rock Foundation, consisted of two forms:
The opening form—Earth Anchor.
The variation—Heaven-Shattering Collapse.
The concept was to engage the enemy with the opening form, then strike with the variation.
There were six moves in total. Between opening forms and variations, combinations and transitions could be freely linked.
By repeatedly practicing these twelve sequences, one would achieve mastery, refining them to perfection.
Through variations in technique, each swing could maximize power and speed, targeting the weakest points in an opponent’s defense.
All for one ultimate purpose:
Breaking defenses.
If a knight’s defense were likened to a mountain—
Then this sword technique sought to find the mountain’s weakest point.
And cleave it apart with a single strike.
The principle sounded simple, yet was highly practical.
Every sword technique had its defensive flaws. As long as one identified that weakness, they could break through and defeat the opponent in a single blow.
Leo felt this sword art resembled fencing from his previous life.
He also deduced the effects of continuing to grind this technique.
At Level 2, it would unlock a Defense-Breaking Effect.
Each subsequent level would further enhance this effect.
As a Green-tier technique, Mountain-Cleaving Cross Sword only had one special effect.
Meanwhile, the Tide Cross Sword had four.
But that didn’t mean this Green-tier technique was weak.
If the defense-breaking effect were trained to its peak, Leo felt that in battles between opponents of equal strength, he would be nearly unbeatable.
However, against overwhelming strength, this technique would struggle—this was the principle that sheer power could crush all techniques.
Thus, Arthur, who had not yet mastered a Breathing Technique, appeared flashy but ineffective when facing Leo’s Tide Cross Sword.
Even though Leo had only seen it once, he had already fully grasped its principles, strengths, weaknesses, and ultimate goal.
This was the comprehension ability of a Sword Master.
【Swordsmanship Comprehension】—this Blue Trait was truly… terrifying!
Leo continued reflecting. He realized that this Mountain-Cleaving Cross Sword suited him extremely well.
It perfectly compensated for his lack of variation in techniques.
The defense-breaking effect would synergize excellently with the four effects of his Tide Cross Sword—Dark Tide, Vortex, Stacked Waves, and Tsunami.
On top of his existing advantages in strength and sword momentum, combined with enhanced technique variation—
Leo had a strong intuition that once he fully mastered this sword art, his real combat ability would undergo a massive leap.