135 3.47 Reconstruction - Part 2

"Look closely. What I am about to show you is the technique I perfected with my rigorous training."

He pulled out the sword that he was carrying on his waist out of its sheath. He then took his position and closed his eyes. As he did that, the whole crowd became silent.

"Now behold, Wind slash!"

He used a Vertical Wind slash, and the branches on his left along with the bark got chopped off. He then used another wind slash on the right side.

After two vertical slashes, he walked towards his left and stood at around 6 meters distance from the center of the tree.

He then used two horizontal slashes and chopped the trunk into a perfectly rectangular wood. In the end, as a finisher, he fired two vertical wind slashes, one at the top and one at the bottom.

"Did you see that? This is what's it called to have mastery over one's sword."

If we were to ignore all the bluff and weird gestures after the technique, I would have to say it was quite good. However, the bluff and those strange gestures dropped his coolness level to the bottom in my eyes.

"Now then"—He turned towards the crowd—"Is there anyone who can beat this level of art?"

Ronald stepped forward with a smile. He had an excited look on his face, which I hadn't seen in a while.

"I am not sure. I just recovered after an injury, so my skills have probably rusted. But I can give it a try if someone is willing to lend me their sword for a moment."

"Okay, then. I will give you my sword. Show me what you can do."

The knight handed Ronald his sword. It was a sharp katana made up of what appeared to be ordinary steel. Compared to his other equipment, this sword looked far inferior, which pointed towards the fact that he must have an emotional attachment to it.

Ronald walked up to the wood and took his position. He was holding the sword close to his right shoulder.

He closed his eyes for a few seconds, and once he opened it, he fired eight Wind slashes successively. Four of them were horizontal, while the other four were vertical. If one were to look at the timer right now, this all probably happened in less than 15 seconds.

The wood was now cut into 25 long rectangular beams. The sizes looked perfectly equal, and since the tree was straight, the beams had no noticeable flaws. It was as if it could be used for construction right from here.

A few knights looked surprised by his skills, while the rest reacted as if they had seen that several times. That just showed the difference in their experiences.

"That was impressive," he said as he walked towards Ronald.

The knight in the leather armor was one of those who had a shocked reaction on their faces. He brought hand towards Ronald for a handshake, and the two of them shook their hands.

Watching these grown-ups get all excited sparked something within me. I also wanted to try my skills and see how much I had improved.

"I want to give it a try, too," I said as I walked towards them.

As expected, a few gossips about me was heard in the background. But I ignored them since it was impossible for me to care about them all the time.

"Ooh, I want to see how much you have improved too. I remember teaching you how to position yourself. Let's see how far you have come," Ronald said as he handed the sword to me.

Normally, it would have been a good idea to ask permission from the master of the sword before using it, but since it looked like he was minding, I decided to let it slide.

"You will see. I have improved a lot," I replied.

I walked up to another trunk and took a similar position as Ronald. I was sitting at the bottom side of the tree since it would be easier to slice it from there.

I fired twelve Wind slashes, and at the end of the attack, the wood had been cut into 25 rectangular beams like the ones the two of them made before. Unlike Ronald, it took me over twenty seconds to do it. However, I have to say, I was pleased with the results.

The only thing left was to chop off the top and the bottom, so I moved towards the right and chopped them off.

"Ha-ha! And right when I thought things couldn't get more surprising," the knight said as he walked up to me. He then brought his hand forward, and we shook hands.

"You have certainly improved a lot, Nara. A little more, and you will surpass my skills."

"Ha-ha! I still have a long way to go before I reach there."

Even the experienced knights looked somewhat surprised by what I just did, but I guess that was a normal reaction. At this point, I was far better than a regular knight at magic control and could handle a lot more mana than any normal human could.

"Men, what are you doing? Let's use these woods and start the construction. Or else, you will need to sleep under the stars today too," the other knight, who was encouraging the knight dressed in leather armor, said.

Now that I think about it, I still had no idea who the leathered knight was. So, I decided to introduce myself properly.

"I am Nara. I don't think we have met before."

"Yes, I just recently came back from my training trip. I am Jackie."

"A trip? Where did you go to?" I asked since I was curious.

"It was near the mountains in the Eastern part of the country."

"Interesting…"

: The Eastern Province