System vs Rebirth

Noel struck the demon with his blade covered in Sword Aura once again. This time, he had enough preparation to make a full swing to destroy this demon.

*Clink!*

The clicking sound echoed inside the tunnel as Noel knocked the demon to the ground.

However, his sharp blade only left a small dent on the monster. Even the Mid Level Demon like the beavers would have their bodies cut, so he was quite surprised that a Low Level Demon could withstand his attack.

Although he understood that the demon was a mineral, but it was still too much.

“Huh?” Noel narrowed his eyes and kicked the demon back to its original position while looking at it with a dumbfounded expression. “Huh?”

The demon didn’t stop as it immediately jumped to Noel’s stomach after landing on the ground.

Noel took a deep breath and used his Mega Slash, the strongest attack he had.

*Clink!*

Noel ignored the clicking sound and focused on the demon itself. Even then, the demon was still intact. The dent was deeper but it was nowhere enough to crush or cut the demon.

“It’s not enough?” Noel frowned as his sword was soon enveloped by fire.

“Hoh?” Roel raised his eyebrows, impressed by what Noel showed. The Spiritual Energy couldn’t release any flame unless the Spirit in one’s body had awakened. That was why he knew that Noel was pretty impressive to be able to awaken his spirit when he was only an Apprentice Knight. He thought, ‘Now that I think about it, when did this year’s admission start again?’

He soon realized that Noel seemed to have awakened his Spirit not long after the admission started, meaning that he had this kind of ability just by training a month or two. That was why he was sure that Noel managed to kill the Ancient Demon Tree by himself.

Ignition Sword.

A huge blast occurred from the sword, causing the wall to shake a bit. Even Roel was startled as he looked around, making sure that nothing fall on top of them.

The explosion crushed the demon, but the first thing Roel did when the dust had settled down was shouted in anger. “You brat! Why did you use an explosion inside a tunnel?”

“Sorry.” Noel immediately apologized, knowing his mistake. He just never thought that the Low Level Demon would give him this much trouble. He forgot that he was inside the cave.

“The dust will be kicked up and enter your lungs, causing you to die. Or the rocks can crumble and fall on top of you. In the worst case, you’re stuck in this place because the exit is blocked. Either way, don’t use a freaking explosion inside a cave!” Roel berated Noel with cold hard fact.

Noel couldn’t say anything as he agreed with Roel’s opinion. There was no excuse.

“Are you seriously having a trouble against a mere Low Level Demon?” Roel shook his head helplessly, not telling Noel that the demon’s defense was equal to Mid Level Demon.

“I apologize. It seems that I have troubled you.” Noel apologized again.

Seeing Noel this obedience made Roel feel awkward and lose the will to lecture him. Instead of giving him a long lecture, Roel put down his pickaxe as if he wanted to give up.

“That… I apologize. I’ll make sure that I don’t use any more explosions and defend you from the demons.” Noel thought Roel dropping his pickaxe meant he had given up because of disappointment, so he tried to convince him.

However, what Roel truly wanted to do was to defeat the demon.

“You seriously have a hard time in defeating this Low Level Demon? You can’t control your Spiritual Energy that much?” Roel asked.

Noel looked down, embarrassed. “Yes. I can use some Spirit Abilities and Techniques, but…” 𝐞𝗼𝐯𝐞𝗹.𝗰𝗼𝗺

“Instead of learning more and more Spirit Abilities and Techniques, what do you need right now is the control over Spiritual Energy!” Roel stated with a serious expression. “What Spirit Technique can you use?”

“Muscle Strengthening and two Ancient Spirit Techniques.” Noel explained.

“Ancient Spirit Techniques?” Roel narrowed his eyes. Although he never learned any Ancient Spirit Techniques, he knew they were good stuff. But their potential was wasted on Noel right now.

“I’ll teach you the reason why Control is one of the most important things to learn.” Roel picked up a small hammer on his waist and saw another demon in the middle of the tunnel. He released his own killing intent as if picking a fight with the demon.

Without hesitation, the demon charged at him. Noel obviously couldn’t allow the blacksmith to fight, so he hurriedly stepped forward, only to be stopped by Roel.

“Just watch this!” Roel raised his hammer. “First. Muscle Strengthening Technique, it’s a perfect basic Spirit Technique that you have to learn. By channeling the Spiritual Energy in all direction, you can surpass the limit of normal people. But what if all that Spiritual Energy goes to one spot?”

Roel gathered all the Spiritual Energy into his arms as he swung that hammer downwards, knocking the demon to the ground. This time, the demon was half-crushed.

Noel widened his eyes in shock. The hammer was ordinary and the blacksmith wasn’t someone who was able to fight, so it was clear that gathering enough Spiritual Energy in one arm could allow him to harness even more power.

“This is just a Muscle Strengthening Technique. In that case, how about releasing that energy out like enveloping your sword with the Spiritual Energy? Instead of the whole sword, what if you gather that Spiritual Energy into one place?”

Roel asked while doing the exact same thing as he was talking about. The Spiritual Energy was concentrated in the tip of his hammer as he crushed the demon into pieces and created a small crater on the ground.

“This is the result. Can you see the advantage of controlling your Spiritual Energy? There is a few more steps beyond that, but this should be perfect for you right now. I’ll give you some tips on how to control your Spiritual Energy. I think this is a perfect reward for saving my children as well as making me realize something important earlier.” Roel smirked.