Chapter 122: To Ravens Grave!
"...that they both teach him their ways of fighting. Seeing it as a fair trade, they both came together and taught him Martial Arts and Swordsmanship. He let them take her afterwards."
"But they both wanted her individually, so how did they go about that?" Piers asked, seeming rather intrigued.
"It is unknown how that part happened, but then The Holy Grail War Tournament happened luckily a few years later, and Tae Jin went and won the Holy Grail War Tournament singlehandedly, using the martial arts and swordsmanship he had learned from both gods. He became the first Supreme Asura of Zahka and passed on the very teachings that made him win."
There was silence for a brief second before Katherine spoke further, "So you see Aiden, my people still consider the way of the sword and fist as the best, because in a tournament that involved the world’s best fighters and mages, a Zahkan holding power to both came out on top."
"Interesting," Aiden couldn’t help but smile on hearing this story.
"Well that’s it for today, boys. Piers, you still have a lot of work to do. At this rate it might still take another month before you’re able to start practicing actual sword styles."
Piers looked disheartened by what the captain had just said, and when she noticed, she added, "But in the meantime, come with me, darling."
The Captain licked her lips and grabbed Piers by the wrist as they both left the training room.
Aiden shook his head as he watched them both leave, and then the system sent him new notification screens.
[Basic sword technique copied: Hayate]
[Basic sword technique copied: Maboroshi]
[Special Quest: Acquire the basic mastery of Qi → Complete]
[You have gained +180,000xp]
[Bonus Reward of +75,000 xp has been granted]
[XP Boost Badge: Extra +765,000 xp granted]
"Oh? So I just had to learn the basics of one," Aiden muttered, after seeing that the system gave him rewards for only grabbing the basics of swordsmanship.
[The Host has learned the basic mastery of Qi]
[Shall I remove the techniques from your copied slots?]
"Yes, I already assimilated how it works. No need keeping a copy."
[The Copied Slots for the sword techniques have been removed]
[A new slot for Host’s Sword Skills have been made to accommodate the skills learned]
-----
Later that day, towards sundown, most of the guild members had returned to the guild’s main room.
A good number of them had spent the day at the Academy’s training room, and some went on to complete missions. Everything had all been in preparation for the war to come.
Then Piers stepped in with a tiny scroll in his palm.
He walked to the center of the main room, raised the hand holding the scroll and said, "So everyone, I got a letter from the Grand Magus addressing everyone in the guild."
The Captain was also seated in the midst of the guild members and listened attentively.
Piers proceeded with reading it out.
"To the Members of Ravens Grave,
See that your assigned missions are all cleared within three to four days. After then, no other missions shall be assigned to your guild or any other guild.
I believe you are all aware of the impending situation, and as such no member of the guild is expected to leave the Kingdom’s main city after four days from the day your guild receives this letter.
To the Initiates: Aiden, Laela, Kayden and Arianna, I commend you all on reaching the Initiate Stage 3.
Bright and early tomorrow morning at the Exam Halls, I will be waiting to supervise your tests to the Rank of Magic Apprentice. I believe by now you should be well informed of the criteria to pass into the next mage rank.
You have my Regards,
The Grand Magus"
There was a copy of this letter in a similar format that had been disseminated to the other guilds.
The letter being read out made everyone that heard it nervous. This was because of the reminder that the planned war was approaching.
Oliver, however, had it worse. He felt saddened the most. At least the initiates were going to get into the next rank, but not him. If it wasn’t for the cruelty of his previous guild, he probably may have been part of these select few.
This feeling of being left behind, he hated it. He hated it so much, and you could see him clenching his fists in frustration.
The other initiates sat on the same table around Oliver. They noticed his frustration, and each one drew in closer trying to be consoling.
"I’m sorry, Oliver," Laela said in a kind tone.
Arianna stretched her hand forward and held his, but didn’t say anything. They had grown closer since after the S-Rank Dungeon.
Aiden crossed his hand over Oliver’s shoulders and said in a kind tone as well, "Don’t you worry, mate. It won’t be long now."
The other guild members felt a bit for him as well, and Kayden, who watched from the corner he stayed at, actually felt this tingling feeling of missing his first team. He scoffed and turned his eyes away.
Then Katherine instructed Piers, "Go in and get it."
Understanding what she meant, Piers went into her chambers, and after a moment, he came back carrying a heavy sack bag in hand.
There were all gold coins inside.
Piers dropped the bag on the Captain’s table, prompting the Captain to stand up and walk over to the other side of the table.
She opened the bag, and within it were smaller pouches with named tags. She and Piers had spent some of their time together putting this together.
"So right here with me is the reward I’m personally giving out to everyone. This is to reward you all for doing your best in the just concluded dungeon we did as a team," the captain said, and like that, little smiles appeared on some of their faces.
The tension from earlier started relaxing a bit too. In fact, there had been no better time than now for the Captain to have brought in these rewards.
Then Katherine put her hand into the bag and brought out a smaller pouch holding gold coins.
She looked at the name tag on it and said, "Elena, this is yours." Then the captain tossed it over to her.
Elena caught it. "Thank you, Captain."
"And this is yours, Sorkin," Captain said after looking at the name tag and tossing in his direction.
"Thank you, Captain," Sorkin extended his gratitude while catching his.
One by one they all received their pouch of gold, with happier faces. Some proceeded with counting theirs, some didn’t.
Aiden had made his go into the inventory, and the system sent him a screen almost immediately:
[You have added 1,000 gold coins to the inventory]
That was the only way he had known the count of his.
"Listen to me, everyone," Katherine began. "I know that we get anxious when there’s that talk of war to come. But know this: that time will pass and we will all be back in one guild room again. That much I’m quite certain of!"
"To Ravens Grave!" Piers yelled, raising his hand up. He was raising the guild’s morale.
"To Ravens Grave!" The rest of the guild chanted back in unison.
But one person didn’t chant back. That person was Aiden, and right now, he had so much going on in his mind.