CHAPTER 535: CHAPTER 45 DON’T UNDERESTIMATE ME!

Mia broke out in a cold sweat.

This...how could this...

I can’t find any direction for learning at all!

This dagger, rumored to be Lancelot’s personal Dagger, is indeed fun to play with, like a magical artifact that seems divine, and one of those magical artifacts whose principles can’t be researched, but...

How do I learn it? Does it truly hide the mysteries of the Ripple Sword? There’s not a single image or text!

Ah?

Am I supposed to find the lake fairy who taught Lancelot swordsmanship? Is this dagger just an introductory token?

But that lake is in Brittania Island! That’s way too far!

Mmmmm...

Mmmmmmm!!!

"What are you doing?" Aske came over and saw Mia staring intently at the dagger, as if she was having a silent contest with it.

"I’m researching the ’Ripple Sword,’" Mia replied.

"I thought you were trying to bend the dagger with telekinesis," Aske said.

"Eh!" Mia had a sudden idea, "Aske, do you think the mysteries of the Ripple Sword could be hidden inside this dagger? Could it be hollow, and I just need to break it open to get the secrets inside?"

"How could that be possible? You think this is ’The Heaven Sword and the Dragon Saber’ or what?" Aske said.

"The Heaven Sword and the Dragon Saber?" Mia learned a new term from Dragon Country.

"Let’s not talk about that. You should know that Extraordinary Swordsmanship cannot be recorded or described with words," Aske answered, "Even ’Song of Roland’, the vessel for the Unyielding Holy Sword, does not rely on text to preserve the Holy Sword, as it is the corresponding will that’s infused into the text, so it’s very unlikely that there’s any hidden content carrier."

"Haven’t you already discovered the peculiar nature of this dagger? Personally, I think it’s highly probable that it requires you to sense its strange spatial qualities and from there, comprehend the Ripple Sword."

"Whoo." Mia whimpered. She felt like a complete fool, totally unable to figure out how to "comprehend" the dagger.

"Speaking of which, you already possess a Bloodline. Have you considered which Law you’d like to condense?" Aske steered the conversation back to the main topic, "The Main Sequence of the Shadow Dancer Bloodline is ’Shadow’ and ’Weakness’, the former being able to condense rare ’Black Hole’ and ’Twist’, while the latter can produce ’Assassinate’ and ’Analysis’."

"The Black Hole Law can create an alternate space to transfer any object in and out intact; the Twist Law can tear open space, like ripping open a rift to slice through an enemy. Of course, it can also open up an alternate space like the Black Hole, but objects that go in there are instantly shattered. Overall the Black Hole is more of a Supportive ability, while Twist leans more towards offense."

"The Assassinate Law allows you to lock onto an enemy, adding many negative effects to them, such as making it easier to overlook your presence, difficulty in seeing your attack movements, and so on, depending on the Law Skills, making it a powerful Law suitable for one-on-one offense."

"The Analysis Law also locks onto the enemy, allowing you to gradually read relevant information about them, such as body characteristics, behavioral habits, Level Attributes, Bloodline Laws, etc., and naturally deduce a battle strategy based on the enemy’s Weaknesses. However, this leans more towards Tactics and strategy; I think it’s not really suited for you..."

"What do you mean?" Mia flared up in anger, "How come something tactical isn’t suited for me? I am very smart, okay? Back in the Thief Guild, everyone called me ’wise Mia,’ alright? I’ve decided! I’m going to condense the Analysis Law!"

Aske: .......

"Wait, don’t just choose a Law unsuited for you to argue with me..." Aske hadn’t finished speaking when Mia already began to throw a tantrum, hissing and clawing as she shouted:

"I don’t care, I’m going to condense the Analysis Law!"

"Alright," Aske said, "then you give it your all."

Mia: ???

Hey, Squad Leader, aren’t you going to stop me any further?

"To condense Analysis Law, you first need to be able to sense the Ritual Task, which depends on the depth of your understanding of the Law," Aske said with a smile. "Of course, as the wise Mia, you must have already gained some understanding of this Law, right? Maybe you’ll sense the ritual as soon as tomorrow."

Mia: ..........

This... those big words I threw out during the earlier discussion about the Ripple Sword (claiming to get it done within a few weeks), they’re still silently slapping me in the face (actually, I have no clue). To make a bold claim now that I could easily sense the ritual, I really don’t have the guts or the thick skin for that.

"By the way," she started somewhat hesitantly, changing the subject, "if it were up to you, Aske, which Law would you choose for me?"

"Assassinate or Twist," Aske replied. "Your strengths lie in your agile moves and dexterity, so a Law requiring high operation skills like Assassinate would suit you. However, if you can learn the Ripple Sword, then the ’space-tearing’ property of Twist would significantly enhance the Ripple Sword."

"Actually, the Laws I’m suggesting for you are all quite powerful and rare. Whichever one you learn, you can’t go wrong. Of course, the Sensing Ritual step may not go very smoothly, so you might want to start learning both and see how it goes."

Mia: ?

Although Aske’s actual thought was that both Laws are very powerful and extremely difficult to learn, so it depends on which one Mia can sense first.

However, to Mia’s ears, it sounded like "You can’t even sense the ritual, and here you are being picky?" This interpretation only made her more annoyed, tears even beginning to fill her eyes.

"Oh, by the way, Nora’s parents have returned. As guests, we should go see them," Aske said as he reached out to pat her head. The burglar girl’s light brown hair was fluffy and soft to the touch, feeling so nice that he couldn’t help but stroke it a few times.

"Hmph, they’re your parents-in-law, you go see them yourself!" Mia said irritably, shrugging off his hand. "Why drag me into it?"

Aske almost choked. What did she mean, ’my parents-in-law’? If a child doesn’t know how to speak, should they not speak less?

Wait a minute... He suddenly remembered something. Didn’t Kapaxilin use my name and fingerprints last time to sign that agreement?

If Nora’s parents already knew about this, and they returned this time specifically to meet their son-in-law... At this thought, Aske felt sweat pour down like rain.

He knew the agreement was illegal, and so did Kapaxilin, but did Nora’s parents know?

Suppose they didn’t, and once they met and started talking, wouldn’t this matter be exposed to everyone?

Could this really be Kapaxilin’s true calculation? Damn! What an evil woman!

It seemed there was no choice but to play it by ear; he had to communicate with Nora about this, and fast.

After all, she was both directly involved and a victim, surely she would stand with him. They needed to find a way to quickly deal with this crisis.

With that in mind, Aske gave Mia a few perfunctory words and hurriedly left to find Nora.

"Damn it, even you, Aske, look down on me!" Mia trembled with anger at the dismissiveness in the Squad Leader’s words, almost wishing she could rush over and bite Aske to death right there.

But she quickly realized, what good would it do to bite the Squad Leader to death? Could it possibly change his condescending view of her?

As Rasul had said, because of their age, she and Miel were at an obvious disadvantage compared to the other members in terms of thought, experience, and personal strength. And for a Squad Leader who always talks about "needing to become stronger," wasn’t it normal to look down on the weaker members in the team?

Damn, it was infuriating! Truly infuriating! Little Mia gritted her teeth and resolved that she must quickly master the Ripple Sword to completely change Aske’s opinion of her.

That’s it! Why not ask Eleanor? After all, she was the one who self-taught the Unyielding Holy Sword, so she might have some insights into learning Extraordinary Swordsmanship, right?