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Chapter 310 – What a Great Match. (1)

Gordon’s novel itself was skimmed through adequately, but some of the content within became a point of contemplation for Ghislaine.

‘Even at the moment of attack, there’s no sign of them, and they can’t be seen at all…’

That might be possible if there’s a significant difference in skill between the opponents. However, according to Gordon’s setting, it was closer to some sort of power unrelated to skill differences. In some ways, it was more dangerous than “a power that can destroy anything.”

Just thinking about it was terrifying, but in reality, such a thing was impossible. It was merely a concept born from imagination.

‘Even the Saint couldn’t use such power.’

Even the Saint, who borrowed the goddess’s power, couldn’t perform such nonsense.

If it were someone else, they might have chuckled and moved on, but Ghislaine felt a small spark of curiosity.

‘If I were to encounter an enemy that really wields such power, what would I do? Or if I met a being with similar abilities?’

In my past life, I would have responded by encompassing the entire surrounding area within my senses. But what if I still couldn’t sense their presence?

Even if such powers didn’t exist in the world, encountering someone stronger than myself could lead to a similar situation.

‘In other words, I need to find a way to evade instant death and counterattack.’

To avoid instant death, it’s necessary to have a body that can withstand any attack.

Those who practice mana generally develop their physical abilities. Through training, their bodies naturally absorb mana, changing their constitution.

As their level increases, their senses sharpen, and their strength and recovery abilities become even greater.

Even so, a human body cannot become as hard as steel. Knights don’t gather mana and encase themselves in it for nothing.

To exert greater power, it’s necessary to artificially extract mana from the core and channel it back into the body. When mana is not properly managed, the defensive capabilities generally drop significantly.

This means that even those who have mastered mana can still be injured by an attack from an ordinary person if they let down their guard.

Given such openings, assassinations occasionally succeed since the opponent is also using mana, which can inflict critical injuries.

‘But what if my body could automatically block attacks and even inflict shock on the opponent?’

At the very least, I wouldn’t be caught off guard by opponents weaker or of equal strength. It would also be quite beneficial in chaotic battles involving multiple fighters.

The weak wouldn’t be able to even scratch me, no matter how much they gathered.

If I could create such a body, I would become much stronger than I am now.

‘Let’s give it a try.’

There are various ways to create a new technique.

The most orthodox method is to build a theory through long research and then safely create it through numerous experiments.

The second method is to just dive in headfirst, risking your life. It’s dangerous, but the pace is much faster.

Ghislaine preferred the latter.

With a swift motion, he took out a dagger and immediately stabbed his own arm.

Thud!

Blood gushed from the spot where the blade penetrated. At the moment of stabbing, mana gathered and produced a weak resistance, but it was not enough.

The attacking force was stronger, and the speed was faster.

‘Too slow, and not enough.’

His body must react automatically before the attack is sensed. As soon as the outer skin is injured, mana must automatically be extracted from the core to protect the body.

That was the first step. Counterattacking could be considered afterward.

Slowly…

Since it was a shallow stab, the wound closed up quickly.

Ghislaine sharpened his senses. From now on, his body needed to remember what he was doing at all times.

In his previous life, he had suffered many injuries, but he had never engaged in such foolish training. He had focused more on evading and blocking.

But now it was different. He needed to evolve his own body.

‘Should I push myself a little harder?’

Swish!

He quickly moved the dagger to create wounds all over his body. Then, he concentrated his senses around each injury.

The amount of mana gathering around each wound differed subtly. The wounds became slightly larger as he moved toward the back.

This was proof that the response speed of his body had not yet caught up with the attack speed.

‘I suppose I’ll need a few more days of this.’

There was no need to go to the training ground. During the day, Ghislaine took care of field work or practiced, and at night, he stabbed himself while dealing with paperwork in the office.

As his clothes became tattered and soaked in blood day after day, Belinda began to grow suspicious.

‘What’s going on? It’s like this even on days without training?’

Everyone knew that Ghislaine was a training fanatic. Because of that, no one found it strange that his clothes often got ruined, but recently it was getting weird.

As Belinda grew suspicious, Ghislaine’s training became more intense.

‘Could I be hesitating unconsciously?’

With daily self-harm, his senses had developed to an incredible degree compared to before. Even deep stabbings only became shallow wounds in an instant, as mana gathered.

But his response speed had been steadily increasing without improvement for some time.

It seemed to be a problem arising from Ghislaine’s attacks being stuck at a certain level.

He was still attacking at a level comparable to a low-rank knight due to his body not keeping up. The body instinctively recognized this and couldn’t break through its own limits.

Ghislaine knew very well how to solve this problem.

‘To surpass my limits, I need to risk my life for real.’

He narrowed his eyes and momentarily glared at the dagger before pouring mana into it.

He shouldn’t genuinely die, but he had to embed a sense of tension in his body and mind that he could die at any moment.

‘This should be…’

Cold sweat began to flow down Ghislaine’s back. One misstep or a delayed reaction could mean death.

He didn’t intend to artificially raise mana to defend himself. At the moment of piercing, his body had to instinctively move to survive.

Taking a deep breath, he slowly lifted the dagger.

And just then, Belinda, who had been casting suspicious glances for days, burst into Ghislaine’s office.

Bang!

“Younger Master! What on earth have you been doing at night to make your clothes look like this… Ahhh!”

What she saw was Ghislaine inserting a dagger into his own heart.

*

‘Half successful.’

Ghislaine lay on the bed, deep in thought.

At the moment of piercing his heart, the dagger had embedded itself about halfway. If it had gone in just a bit more, it would have completely destroyed his heart, killing him.

But the rapidly gathered mana had blocked the dagger. His excellent regenerative ability began to help the wounded heart recover immediately.

No matter how strong the recovery was, a wound on the outer skin is different from one on the organs. Taking a sudden large wound and losing a significant amount of blood would naturally slow the recovery process.

If Piote had been even a moment later, he might not have died, but he could have been left with significant aftereffects.

“Younger Master! Why are you doing this again all of a sudden? Is it because you met Lady Amelia again? Are you missing her again? You’ve become a great lord now, why are you still clinging to a woman you broke up with? If you’re going to act like this, find a partner quickly and settle down!”

“…It’s not that.”

“Then what is it? Is it because of that bet again? Are you scared of actually losing this time? I can’t stand that Chief Officer and that Alfoy brat anymore!”

“…That’s not it either.”

Ghislaine looked around. All the retainers from the territory were gathered here. He had expected this.

Claude stumbled out from among the crowd with an irritated expression.

“Are you trying to get me cursed again? If you really think you can’t win, just surrender. What’s the big deal about that pride?”

“…No.”

Despite Ghislaine’s apathetic reply, Claude shouted in frustration.

“Everyone’s saying it’s just me! I made the bet, and now the lord is causing all this trouble! Do you really want to see me go crazy over this? Do you want to see me suffer on purpose?”

Alfoy chimed in next to him with exasperation.

“I’ll just call it a draw; how about we cut it ten years short? Stop being stubborn like this. Don’t you know it’s a hassle for me every single time? I’m supposed to be the ‘man who defeated the gods’—it’s embarrassing!”

Claude and Alfoy were once again pressured by the retainers. They were being reprimanded for messing around and causing trouble for the lord.

It had been shocking when Claude got poisoned, but eventually, it turned out to be part of his training. However, stabbing oneself in the heart could be seen by anyone as not training.

What kind of foolish training is there in this world?

Everyone believed that this time, the proud lord couldn’t handle his temper and had resorted to self-harm.

Ghislaine, who was contemplating whether to just chase them away as he did before, sighed and decided to explain a little. After all, even he thought it was only natural to stop this behavior.

“It’s a new form of training. It’s risky, but I’m managing it, so you don’t have to worry.”

Belinda, still casting a dubious look, asked, “What kind of training could it possibly be? Who in the world practices such training? What’s the point of it?”

“Well, you see…”

Ghislaine vaguely explained his hypothesis. It wasn’t a detailed theory but rather close to conjecture and imagination, but at least the intent was conveyed.

After he finished explaining, people blinked in confusion for a while. After a while, Belinda, looking incredulous, spoke up.

“So… you’re saying you’ve been practicing so you wouldn’t die if you got hit by a transparent being without any presence?”

“Well, not exactly like that… I guess I was inspired by it?”

“……Younger Master, sensing presence is just a matter of skill difference. There’s no being like that with no presence or visibility in this world.”

Vanessa added from the side.

“That doesn’t make sense in terms of physical laws. Even with magic, there’s the amount of energy required to accelerate an object from rest to a specific speed. For any object with mass, that phenomenon would apply…”

As Vanessa prepared to launch into a lecture, Ghislaine hurriedly interrupted.

“It’s not like that! I’m just raising my defense in case I get ambushed at any time, so just focus on your work. Isn’t everyone busy?”

Though people told him not to engage in that kind of training since they were already strong enough, Ghislaine stood firm.

In the end, Claude shrugged.

“See? I clearly persuaded him! The lord rejected it.”

Alfoy nodded beside him.

“I also clearly offered to give way! I have nothing wrong with it!”

Once again, the two were pressured by several people while putting on triumphant expressions as they backed away.

The incident spread rapidly among the territory residents.

The residents were shocked and quickly retrieved portraits of Claude and Alfoy to stab.

“Why is the Chief Officer so desperate to not harass our lord! He’s bound to win anyway!”

“We should tell the Saint to send down divine punishment!”

“Alfoy is just the same! He was rude to the Saint too!”

Claude and Alfoy’s reputation plummeted. In fact, it was more accurate to say it fell below ground level since it had already been at the bottom.

The loyalty of the territory residents towards Ghislaine was extremely high. Naturally, they believed Ghislaine would win and mocked Claude and Alfoy.

However, the two had grown stronger than before. No matter how much they faced curses and ridicule from the residents, they didn’t flinch.

“I’ve heard there are quite a few people cursing at us.”

“That’s just the limits of ignorant fools.”

Claude and Alfoy stood on the castle balcony, each holding a glass of wine.

Claude, elegantly sipping his wine, spoke up.

“What will you do once you’re free, Alfoy?”

“Probably finish my succession classes at the Mage Tower and eventually inherit the tower. By my time, the Mage Tower will reclaim its status as the best in the North.”

“You’re quite an ambitious man. Just like the ‘man who defeated the gods.'”

“What about you?”

“Maybe I’ll consider becoming the lord of a small territory.”

“That’s a noble choice for someone as upright as you. There’s nothing wrong with a leisurely lifestyle.”

“Yeah, I’ve worked hard for long enough.”

The two faced each other, sharing relaxed smiles. They understood each other’s hearts without needing words.

Claude raised his glass.

“You’ll make a great tower master.”

Alfoy also raised his glass.

“And you will be a good lord.”

The two clinked their glasses, smiling.

Wendy, watching from behind, wore a sour expression and scoffed at them.

*

Aside from Ghislaine’s self-harm incident, there were no major changes in people’s daily lives. Despite the warnings from those around him, Ghislaine continued his strange training.

And just like that, a month flew by.

Whoosh…

Two days before the promised date, it started to rain. Claude looked out the window and smiled.

“The weather is nice.”

Since it rained a lot, the ground would become soggy. Moving on such ground would surely consume more stamina. The experimental participants would likely struggle to move during the mock battle.

It was a situation that would naturally elicit a smile.

“In two days…”

Claude closed his eyes and steadied his mind.

Today, two days before the real showdown.

The sound of wind and the chilly raindrops pelted the windows of the office.

The calm before the storm.

He had not retorted to those who laughed at him in the territory, nor to those who continued to do so.

Whether the lord was lacking or he was lacking would be revealed through the results.

That was… the way of life for ‘Gambler’ Claude.

 

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