Ranking up as a professional was similar to ranking up in your body talent level because the closer one gets to their limit, the slower their training becomes. As a result, the higher your potential, the faster you trained, and the same is true for the arts a person practises.
The closer a person gets to the pinnacle of their craft, the slower their training becomes.
Someone like me, who has no limit to his body's talent level, had no concerns about my training speed, but I was comparable to others when it came to ranking up as a professional.
Having a sword art that is unique to you, something that is designed to complement you, was a huge advantage that I only discovered after training in it.
Not only was it an 8 star sword art, but it was so compatible with me that whenever I swung my sword and used my art, the amount of synchronisation I got was surreal.
Although this didn't make my training as fast as my Body talent level, but when combined with the experience I gained from the Regressor, I was training at a much faster pace than even a 9 star art holder.
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I'm leaving today for Delvon, which is 159 miles (256 kilometres) from my house.
Delvon was a peaceful coastal city, and despite its proximity to the sea, there was little threat from the monsters.
Delvon city has not faced or suffered from Monsters attacks from the sea since the attack on the day Apocalypse began.
It was surrounded by cities rather than wilderness, so there was also no threat from monsters on land.
Locals believe it was God's blessing that protected them, and the researchers believed that the area near the city was unsuitable for mosters to live in, making the area uninhabitable for monsters and worthless for them to come closer to the coast.
This was a topic of discussion a while back, but what they didn't realise was that they were both partially correct in their theories.
The underwater ruins sealed by the God that continuously emit magical energy in the surrounding waters, making the monster flee in fear, was the real reason Delvon city was not attacked.
But all of this was about to change because the seal was about to be weakened as its expiration date approached.
The monsters who lived beneath the ruins would gather courage and rush towards the land in order to exact revenge on the ruins for their oppression.
Taking the people of Delvon by surprise.
People in Delvon City lived very comfortably, and because there was no attack on the city, there were no high rank slayers in the area.
The majority of the Slayers living there were only rank G or F; there were some rank E Slayers as well, but their numbers were so small that they could be counted on one hand.
Setting my foot inside of the train station, I felt a nice gentle breeze pass by me.
" haaaaa!! ....how refreshing!"
Stretching my arms, I headed towards the ticket booth.
The Regressor was rich, and I didn't had any shortage of money for now so I booked the super express train which would only take about half an hour to reach Delvon.
The technology has advanced quite a bit during the Apocalypse and the new generation trains are able to work on Monster cores, which in turn allowed them to get a boost in output and reach speeds of up to 500km/h following all the safety guidelines.
"Here's my card"
Passing my ID card to the lady in the ticket office, I checked the map of the station
"Oh? you work as a porter ?"
Glancing at my card in surprise, the ticket lady lifted her head and carefully looked at me, as this was my old ID card that didn't had an image of mine.
"Yes"
"Its tough working there without awakening. Don't loose hope when the time is tough young man and remember that your life comes first before any treasure."
The ticket lady sighed and politely said to me like a good neighborhood aunty, it felt like she was reminiscing about something, but it wasn't my place to ask so i just bowed my head and thanked her for her well wishes.
" Where to?"
"Station 46 near the Eastern side in Delvon city please"
Glancing up and down and typing the information in her computer, the ticket lady handed me my ID card as well as a ticket a few seconds later.
"I see, have a safe trip!"
"Thank you"
Like that, I boarded the Express train to the Delvon city.
As I looked at the interior of the train, I couldn't help but be impressed.
I work as a porter without getting awakened so it was obvious that my financial situation was weak in other peoples' eyes but despite that I choose the Super express train which gave an outlook that ' It was an emergency for me and I have to reach Delvon city quickly.
So maybe it was because of that I got special treatment by the ticket lady.
" Such nice people are rare to see these days "
~sigh!
I sighed like an old man and looked around the area I was designated to which had a private desk and a snack bar for me to freely use.
Lazily stretching my back, I comfortably sat down in my designated seat and looked outside the window.
Perhaps it was because it was starting of the spring season but, even though it was almost 6 p.m the sunlight still brightly lit the surroundings.
Looking outside the windows, the station was moderately packed.
Rows of platforms stood next to each other, and every couple of minutes you could see trains departing, and new ones taking over the empty spaces left by them.
- We will be departing soon, please be seated
~Clank!
A beautiful voice entered my ears, and the doors automatically shut.
A couple of seconds after leaving the station, the train gradually picked up its speed with a sudden burst which made me pushed a little deeper into my seat.
Staring at the constantly changing scenery before me, I sank into deep thought.
The attack on Delvon city should be starting tomorrow or day After tomorrow, so I have to find any means possible to get closer to Sylvia before that and find the approximate location of the underwater ruins.
Right now, my first priority was getting [ Dáinsleif ]. By obtaining the sword not only will I be able to reach greater heights, but I'll also be able to use my sword arts to its fullest potential.
A Sword art is a waste without a good weapon to compliment it and vice-versa.
In order for me to find the [Dáinsleif], I must head towards the Eastern side and look for a big inverted U shaped arch, also knows as the arch of Delvon, where the entrance to those ruins was hidden.
When the cosmic wave descended Many continents got destroyed, many got split up into pieces and many shifted from one end of the world to another.
The world map of the current time period looks like the number 5 ( the five dots ) on a rolling dice connected to each other making it look like a X with the 5 dots containing the largest portion of lands and the lines were only there to connect the 5 dots.
The Five dots were the five new continents of the world and I lived on the middle one, called Crostia.
The land connecting the 5 continents was ruled by the mosters making it unhabitable for Human beings.
Despite the continuous wars and attempts to take back the land or secure a safe route to travel between continents, the humans were unable to get any successful progress.
Finding themselves in a tight situation where the air travel was also shot down by monsters majority of the time, the humans came up with the method of teleportation between continents.
At first, the huge amount of energy consumption made it super expensive even for rich people.
But something was better than nothing and it was important to connect the five lands first.
The humans were ever since trying to make the scale of teleportation bigger and the consumption of energy much less.
In present time the teleportation was available for common public too, and if someone wants to travel to another continent they have to pay a huge sum of money in advance and wait for the minimum numbers of people who're traveling to the same continent to gather.
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- Next stop, Station 46 near the Eastern side in Delvon city please
Waking me up from my deep thoughts, was a beautiful voice coming from the train speaker.
Taking a glimpse outside the window, I couldn't help but be mesmerized by the beauty of the place.
The sea that seems to have no end expanding towards the endless horizon. The water slowly running low on the shore, small waves crashing on the shoreline and the deep waters of the sea producing a marvelous view at anyone who gazes towards it.
Checking out of the train station, the breeze that emanates from the seawaters brushed past my face, making my mind refreshed.
Looking around the road I found a taxi which was ready to go and entered in it.
" where to " The taxi driver who was a tanned skin man with black hairs and a long beard asked.
" 26th Street, Food Market, Sunshine Apartments "
" It will be 750 primo coins "
" No problem "
Getting the confirmation, driver started the taxi and took off.
Sunshine Apartments was the place where Sylvia lived and I have already booked a room there online before coming.
Everything was set and ready
So, Let the event began.
I walked out of the taxi after paying the 750 primo coins, and after getting out the first thing I saw was the board above the main gate of the building.|| Sunshine Apartments ||Looking down and picking up my luggage, I moved inside and got a better look at everything. It was a run-down apartment building on the outskirts of town, with damaged walls and peeling paint. The moisture that seeped in from the humid environment gave the building a dull appearance.In my taxi when i was about to reach this appartment, i already gave a call to the manager here, and i didn't had to wait long as i saw a short fat man was running towards me." hufff! Huff! ... Welcome! Welcome! Mr.Noah, Come with me, let me show you your appartment. "He was breathing hard and trying to intake as much air as he can like a drowned man who just got saved.In a cheap place like this appartment, it was almost close to impossible finding an empty room, but 'where there's money involved there's always a way.'By p
" HAHAHAHAHA " I laughed out loud looking at her speechless face, Making her blush a little.Controlling my laugh, i asked her with a genuine look on my face." Why are you making that face ? " " That's because I don't understand. Why would someone give their life for you, when they didn't even know you, for no reason ? Its somewhat understandable why you would fulfill his last wishes though."" Hmmm... " Looking up directly in her eyes I made a serious, deep thinking face. " Do you have some free time "." Why ? "" Lets talk about this over a cup of coffee and some pastries in a cafe. I know you haven't eaten breakfast, I can easily see through when people lie to me "." I am sorry but you don't have to, why would you care so much ? "" I like your eyes, I want you to become my friend, is that reason enough ? " I said Shaking my head." Wait what, why ? " She became flustered hearing me compliment her and ask her to be my friend." I just felt like it, can't I be friends with so
The sunlight poured through the window. Another day dawned, bringing with it new hopes and aspirations.Sadly, this day wasn't going to be filled with hopes and aspirations, but with hopelessness and despair.Watching from the windows of my room, I saw people scurried here and there, some going to their work, some basking in the sunlight, children playing in the garden and cleaners cleaning the area.Many people were going to die today, many families were going to get destroyed, children will lose their parents, mothers will lose their children, but I felt nothing, I couldn't stop this calamity myself, not that I would even if I could, Unless of course saving these people would be beneficial to me.All that mattered to me were my goals and the well-being of the people I care about.I was just thinking about this when suddenly!, a wave of mana came from the sea and spread throughout the city. The wave was a very small one and Slayers below rank E wouldn't have been able to detect it,
The greed and irony of human nature is ridiculous.Greed blinds people, while irony makes them ignorant.And no matter how hard you try to stop a blind ignorant person, they will continue to run stupidly, seeking their own death.People preach what they don't believe in or practice themselves, and fight profusely, destroying the peace they aim at by preaching.Often, you will find the tyrants speaking against other tyrants, than confronting core evil arising from obsolete traditions or rituals.Kings wage wars against other Kings for protecting the poor, while the poor suffer more because of the war.Religion spreads messages of peace, Yet, people wage war using religion.The same thing was going on here.Looking out the windows of our taxi, we couldn't see anyone heading towards the border.The highways were even more deserted than usual.People in Delvon City became so accustomed to not being attacked by monsters that they became ingnorant.They were willing to stay in their homes a
Loran city,Hotel Chrome, Room no.392After the little confrontation with the monsters, the rest of our journey went without a hitch, and we safely reached the borders, where the Slayers inspected us properly with our identification cards and asked a few questions about the situation in Delvon, before they allowed us to enter the city.Usually this much checking wasn't necessary, but due to the monsters attack, the security had to be tight around the corner and no unidentified person was allowed to cross the borders.Arriving at the Loran City safely, we first booked a hotel suite and rested for a bit. The Hotel suite had two separate bedrooms, divided by a bathroom and living room in the middle. But just as we all relaxed and thought that everything was finally over, the thing that I was most anticipating about, finally happened." NOAH! quickly come here, something's happening to mother " Sylvia suddenly came running towards my bedroom while shouting out in a worried voice." Cal
Showing my expertise and using my talent to its maximum potential, I spout as much bullshit as I could and expressed fake emotions. I was trying to covey the message that ' i was extremely hurt because of her ' and I conveyed it beautifully.Continuing with my act, taking out all of my storage rings, putting them in her small hands, I gently closed her palm into a fist , and spoke with a calm emotionless voice, that even made Sylvia to flinch and come back to her senses." Take these and keep it with you. This is almost all my wealth and everything I own, even the ownership papers of my properties are here in these rings. "My emotionless voice changed a little and now it contains that tint of sadness, which although small, but was extremely sharp like a needle, continuously piercing through Sylvia's heart with my each word." Give me one day! I will bring you the Elixr, and in case if I do not return after one day, then light up some candles in front of my photo, because that would
I soon came around the stone gates.These structures that were supposed to serve as the city gates, turned out to be large structures made of giant stones stacked together.Standing below the structures of stones gave me the feeling, that it would collapse even with a slight touch, and the giant stones would fall above my head.A single stone weighed in tonnes and was more than enough to crush a D- ranked Slayer like me.Although I knew that these stones would not fall even if I punch them hard, but it was still not a good feeling when something that could crush you to a pulp, hangs above your head.Shifting my sight around the pyramid, I could see that there were no entry points or instructions to enter the main building.However, according to the story told by the group of Slayers, that came here in the Regressors' memory. The mechanism to enter is located in these giant stone gates.The slayers came to know about it in a lucky encounter. They searched around for hours around this a
Following the command of the System, I could see the blue rays of light in my retina had already formed an image of arrow coming straight towards my right arm.Dodging the attack by side-stepping a bit, and jumping to the left, my lips curled upwards subconsciously as I saw the arrow flew past me and struck on the floor, bringing up some stones.[ The best way to react: Left turn 50 degrees, Horizontal Slash! ]The system instructed again.Following the System's instructions, I dodged another arrow, and sent a horizontal slash, deflecting the arrow that was about to pierce my abdomen.....A few minutes later." It can't go on like this "I was resting in another safe zone. Applying healing potion on my injuries.At first, the co-ordination between me and the system was going smoothly, and I was dodging arrows one by one, but as the number and speed of arrows increased, my reaction time after listening to the command of the system wasn't sufficient enough and some arrows were able