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“Thunder Shockwave Kick.”

He quickly drew his sword and wielded it at a speed invisible to the naked eye.

-You’ve ;earned Thunder Shockwave Strike.

Thunder Shockwave Kick [S]

“Thunder Frenzy.”

-You’ve learned Thunder Frenzy.

Thunder Frenzy [S]

Up until this point, these were the Lightning Guardian techniques Ethan had learned before. These two skills had tremendous attack power, enough for Ethan to secure sufficient offensive strength with just these alone.

“Now, these are the deadly techniques.”

‘Indeed, techniques I haven’t learned before. And if she calls them deadly techniques, their power must be considerable.’

Even though Ymir had already handed the sword over to Ethan and was now empty-handed, from her stance, Ethan could see an invisible sword in her hands.

Bzzt!

Yellow lightning began to crackle all over her body.

“First, you need to gather the lightning. This is the third technique, Charge Up.”

The yellow lightning eventually enveloped her like a barrier.

“It can be used for defense as well, but also to gather lightning like this. It can deflect or burn most attacks.”

Once enough lightning had gathered, she took a stance.

“Thunder Flash Blade.”

Her words about it being a deadly technique were no exaggeration. It was a strike focused entirely on destructive power.

Speed, destructive force.

A thousand bolts of lightning flashed and sliced through the target like a blade.

-You’ve learned Thunder Flash Blade.

-Thunder Flash Blade [S]

After demonstrating the Thunder Flash Blade, Ymir knelt down on the spot.

“Ymir.”

“Please take care, new Lightning Guardian.”

With that, Ymir slowly closed her eyes.

Soon after, her body hardened and then turned to dust, scattering into the wind.

Anisida watched her until the very end without closing his eyes.

***

“Sir Ethan, I’m really grateful.”

Anisida bowed his head. Then, he gave Yerica a slight nod, bowing his head once more, seemingly apologizing for his earlier suspicion.

“You told me to rebuild Silk Valley, didn’t you? I will definitely do that. I’ll gather the scattered ones and rebuild their homeland. And in this Titi Valley where the curse has been lifted, and in Silk Valley, I’ll build a shrine for the Moon Goddess in each place. I promise! To the Moon Goddess as well.”

Anisida said so and clasped his hands together.

Ding!

-Anisida has become a new believer in the Goddess!

-You have had a great influence on Anisida’s conversion!

-The Moon Goddess Moonforce is amazed by your capabilities.

-The Goddess bestows her blessings upon Silk Valley and Titi Valley.

-If shrines are built, crops will grow quickly for a limited time due to the blessing. Praying at the shrines will grant the Goddess’s blessing of enhanced physical abilities.

“The Goddess says to quickly build the shrines. She welcomes the new believer, Anisida.”

Ethan made a show of extending his hands this way and that, as if a king knighting a knight.

‘I may not fully understand, but…’

The feeling was overwhelming.

“Lastly, thank you for allowing me to bid farewell to Ymir. This is a personal gift from me.”

Anisida handed over a necklace and a ring.

-You’ve received Anisida’s Necklace.

-You’ve received Anisida’s Ring.

“I’m truly grateful. Really.”

***

Ethan now had three swords at his waist.

‘I’ve unintentionally become a triple sword wielder.’

If he put one in his mouth, he could use all three swords, but that might cause him to lose all his teeth.

‘I should put the claw sword in my subspace pocket.’

With the Thunder Sword and Frost Sword at his waist, he felt incredibly secure.

Before leaving Silk Valley, Ethan registered the place where the new city would be built in the Wind Cloud.

-Silk Valley has been registered in the Wind Cloud.

It would be interesting to come back later and witness its development.

‘I should open a Lightweight Workshop branch too.’

“You worked hard, Yerica.”

“Did things turn out as you wanted this time?”

“I didn’t find the shrine, but since I got a promise to build one, it’s a great success. Plus, I obtained many necessary things too.”

Ethan smiled as he spoke, then handed her the necklace and ring.

These two items held little meaning for Ethan currently, but if Yerica used them, they would have quite an effect.

“A reward for this mission.”

Yerica blinked her eyes, as if she hadn’t expected to receive a necklace and ring from him.

“As the future Archmage, you should have some artifacts. Even though Anisida was imprisoned, he was an exceptional spirit mage. You saw it, right? These are items that great spirit mage used. Their effects are guaranteed.”

By now, Yerica could barely hear Ethan’s words. All that mattered to her was that she had directly received the necklace and ring from Ethan.

“…Thank you.”

She smiled faintly and immediately put on the necklace and ring.

“Oh.”

Then she made an expression of surprise at the effects of the two artifacts.

“Are you okay?”

“This was quite difficult, but I feel a sense of accomplishment!”

While she had been quite emotional when receiving the artifacts, she was still a mage by nature. It was only natural for her to be excited by such excellent artifacts.

Ethan could have returned directly to the academy using Wind Cloud, but he wanted to test out the Thunder Sword he had obtained first.

“I have something to test out briefly.”

From this quest, Ethan had gained the Lightning Guardian class.

And he had additionally learned new techniques he hadn’t been taught before.

If he returned to the academy, he wouldn’t be able to properly test them out, so he wanted to give them a try before going back.

‘There are plenty of monsters around here too.’

The Thunder Sword techniques, the main skills of the Thunder God, were based on explosive power.

‘Right now, I’m using the Sword Saint as my benchmark.’

Not long ago, when he had met the Sword Saint in the Principal’s office, he had used the Eye of Horus to analyze the Sword Saint’s movements and simulate a fight against him.

And he had realized that with his current Whiskers sword techniques, he could never defeat the Sword Saint.

Of course, that was only natural.

The Sword Saint was one of the strongest fighters on the continent. To be able to fight him, Ethan would need to be at least in the late game stages, even in perfect health.

‘And Moonforce and Frost Slash are one-hit kill techniques.’

Two or three attacks might momentarily overwhelm the Sword Saint, but that’s it. The Sword Saint would block his attacks and wield his sword, and Ethan would eventually be defeated while enduring it.

Of course, he had no intention of blaming Extinction for this.

If Extinction was a weakness, he would simply cover it with strengths.

‘This Thunder Sword technique, in that regard, is more akin to relentless waves crashing down rather than one-hit kills. But that was before learning the Thunder Flash Blade. Now, I can also use one-hit kill power.’

It was faster in terms of speed and better in terms of destructive power compared to the Whiskers sword techniques Ethan had learned.

‘I’ll mix it with the Whiskers sword techniques.’

Ethan planned to combine these Thunder Sword techniques, which could be considered a higher-level sword art, with the Whiskers sword techniques that formed his base.

In other words, he would merge the Whiskers Swordsmanship with the Thunder Sword techniques.

‘When combining sword techniques from different swordsmanship, the system usually compensates for it.’

Ethan first demonstrated the Whiskers sword techniques.

Currently, his proficiency in the Whiskers sword techniques was at 100%, allowing him to perform them perfectly. In contrast, his proficiency in the Thunder Sword techniques was extremely low since he had just learned them.

‘If I mix the Whiskers Swordsmanship with the Thunder Sword techniques, the proficiency of the Whiskers sword techniques will carry over to the Thunder Sword techniques. The 100% proficiency won’t be fully inherited, but a certain level of proficiency will transfer over.’

Ethan, who had been demonstrating the Whiskers sword techniques, proceeded to unleash the Thunder Sword techniques.

The first skill, the Thunder Shockwave Strike.

Bzzt!

Lightning crackled around Ethan’s sword.

While a straight line of yellow lightning extended out, this time the lightning also spread out in a radial pattern like spider webs.

Watching this, Yerica sat down on the spot to observe.

At first, Ethan seemed to be using his signature Whiskers sword techniques, but suddenly he started demonstrating the Thunder Sword techniques he had just learned.

“Huh?”

Yerica, who had been watching Ethan mix his newly acquired skills with the Whiskers sword techniques, involuntarily opened her mouth in surprise.

“Snow.”

Snow and frost began spreading around the area.

Lightning, snow, and frost simultaneously gathered on Ethan’s sword, scattering in all directions.

“Is he… combining two sword techniques? No, if it’s like this, is he merging three techniques?”

As the lightning and frost combined, yellow lightning and pale blue frost swirled around Ethan’s sword.

Ethan spun around once, then thrust forward, unleashing the force of his sword.

Crackle!

Shaaaa!

This was not Ethan’s intention. As he integrated and mentally combined the sword techniques, he had inadvertently started demonstrating the Frost Slash as well.

Going beyond simply mixing sword techniques, Ethan was fusing three sword techniques together.

“Ethan, you’re amazing!”

There was no response. Ethan had already entered a state of complete focus, unable to hear any sounds.

He simply continued to demonstrate the sword techniques.

-The sword techniques are being fused.

-The Whiskers sword techniques, Frost Slash, and Thunder Sword techniques are being fused.

-A new sword technique is born!

-Frost Thunder Sword Technique [S]

-Proficiency is carried over.

-The proficiency of the Whiskers sword techniques has been carried over.

-You have achieved an achievement!

-You have gained likes for achieving the [Sword Technique Fusion] achievement.

-You have gained ‘5’ likes!

Suddenly, Ethan came to a stop. He took a deep breath, then in an instant drew both swords simultaneously, swung them, and sheathed them again.

“Frost Thunder Flash Blade.”

It was an attack combining frost with the Thunder Flash Blade, the deadly technique of the Thunder Sword techniques.

After completing the attack, Ethan exhaled the breath he had taken in.

“This… is something.”

Through this outing, Ethan had obtained the strength he desired.

‘Around 20 percent of the proficiency has been carried over too.’

As Ethan made a satisfied expression, Yerica applauded.

“Congratulations. Seems like you had an epiphany of sorts.”

“I did realize something. Thank you, Yerica.”

Rumble!

No sooner had Ethan fused the sword techniques than the surrounding ground began to shake, and a massive lizard burst through the ground.

[LV 70]

It was a monster with a level of 70.

“Ethan! Fall back!”

Yerica immediately stepped in front of Ethan, but he gently pushed her aside.

“Perfect for testing.”

“Kek, kyarrr, kek!”

The lizard spewed fire from its mouth. With a level of 70 and this size, it could be considered a named monster.

Not an easy target to hunt.

‘Normally, I would have to use Monsters’ Calamity to definitely subdue a monster like this.’

But Ethan was currently brimming with confidence.

“Counter-Radiance.”

Channeling Counter-Radiance into the hand holding his sword, he proceeded to use the most powerful technique of the fused sword art.

“Frost Thunder Flash Blade.”

Lightning struck down.

A chill spread out.

“Wow…”

Yerica, watching from behind, was amazed.

She hadn’t expected this massive monster to be subdued in an instant.

“Ohh…”

And this was something even Ethan hadn’t anticipated.

Author's Thoughts

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