Chapter 89: Sword Techniques and Bad News.
It was an incomplete manual with only three basic sword moves recorded in it, without its specific Aura-manipulating technique.
That was why the manual was only graded at the peak-uncommon grade.
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Opening the book, Felix saw the first technique, Singular Slash that he had already mastered and went on to read about the next two techniques written on it.
"Next are...Striking Blades and Assault Impact."
Laying on the bed, Felix started learning about the ways of performing the two techniques.
He wasn\'t aware but his passive skill Unanimity was helping him keep a stable mind and improving the efficiency of his understanding and learning.
\'Hmm, both of these techniques are amazing.\'
A few minutes later, he had finished reading the whole book.
\'Now I\'ll have to practice these techniques.\'
Even though he had read and understood how to perform those techniques, he wouldn\'t be able to start using them in battles until he practiced and made his body remember those techniques.
Changing his clothes into a black tight training outfit, he picked up his short sword and walked out of his room towards the stairs.
Going to the third floor, he entered the training room and turned the door board around showing it was occupied.
A few hours later, he walked out of the training room with an exciting smile on his face.
"Damn! They were much better than I expected!"
He hadn\'t thought much of the two techniques, but only after practicing them did he find how useful and powerful they were.
Unlike the first technique Singular Slash which was a direct attack technique that dealt damage in only one move, the other two were different.
The second technique, Striking Blades was a set of many moves with seamless transitions from one strike to another, creating a continuous and fluid onslaught giving no chance of retaliation for the opponent.
As for the third technique, which was called Assault Impact, it was a bit similar to the first technique as it was performed in only one move but there was a huge difference between them.
Assault Impact uses a lot of force in its attack which pushes back the opponent and makes them go numb for a few seconds.
And that was speaking without using aura in those techniques.
When Felix could finally use aura, then the power of those techniques would rise by a large scale.
Both of these sword techniques would be a lot useful to Felix during tomorrow\'s arena fights and the upcoming guild wars, that was why he was happy about learning them and also a bit regretful that it was an incomplete manual.
\'I wonder what more techniques are there in the completed manual of the Black Horizon Sword Arts....\'
Felix pondered as he walked back to his room and started his regular routine of meditating.
A few hours later, he stopped meditating and took a shower before going to the dining hall to have dinner.
This time, he didn\'t steal other\'s food, or more like he couldn\'t as everyone had already realized someone had robbed them and were now guarding their plates with an alarming look in their eyes.
After having a full plate meal, he walked back to his room and jumped onto the bed, slowly drifting into slumber.
\'There\'s a lot of battles tomorrow, I hope my opponents are stronger than the previous ones....\'
These were his last thoughts before he fell asleep.
*****
The next day, 6 am.
Felix sneaked out of the guild building wearing a black robe and moved from there to the secret tavern, while covertly equipping his mask on the way.
Then he went inside the hidden room by himself, walked down the stairs, and entered the underworld where he tipped the guard who was sitting at the end of the path.
He made his way through the black market and moved toward the deserted region to Mr.Dealer\'s base and entered the building.
"Hmm? Nobody\'s here yet?"
The hall was empty with no one present.
"I guess I should wait for them....."
Felix sat down on a chair and waited for the others.
His thoughts drifted to what kind of opponents he could get to fight today, especially after Sir Estrada had said that they were going to face stronger enemies this time.
It didn\'t take the others long, as all of them came one by one within ten minutes and gathered together.
"Phantom, you\'re early. It seems you\'re really eager to battle again."
Falcon voiced out as he could see that the guy was acting impatient.
Felix nodded while pumping his fists.
"Yeah, I can feel that I\'ve grown stronger than before, so I can\'t wait to test myself out."
The other three nodded listening to him as they had also grown stronger than before, after they had gotten their veins cleansed out yesterday.
"Haha, you\'re right. Even I want to see how strong I\'ve become. Yesterday\'s guys were weak, so I hope atleast today\'s opponents give us a hard time."
The four of them could be seen as the strongest of the many fighters in the zero rank in the underworld, so of course there wouldn\'t be many people who could face them.
But today, they were going to fight against the real subordinates of the members of the dark guilds, and although they would be of the same zero rank, they would atleast have some dirty tricks up their sleeves.
As the four of them continued chatting, the door of the building opened and Mr.Dealer along with his gray robed assiatant walked inside.
Removing the hat from the top of his head, Mr Dealer adressed them with a serious look in his eyes.
"Everyone, there is bad news."
As his words entered their ears, they all stood up puzzled and asked back.
"What happened, Mr.Dealer?"
The man let out a sigh and replied with a regretful face.
"The dark guilds have found out about our plans of defeating their members and tarnishing their reputation, and now they\'ve already informed their fighters of our presence. That means you guys won\'t be able to surprise them with your strength, and they would be ready for you, fighting with their full power from the start of the battle."
The news made the four of them frown but that didn\'t made them fear as they had confidence in themselves.
"That\'s alright, Mr.Dealer. Infact, we want them to give their all as the last battles weren\'t much to our levels."
Falcon replied with a grin on his face, not much affected by the news.
Bellard and Crystal nodded as they weren\'t much concerned about whether their opponents were going to be ready for them.
As for Felix, he was the happiest as now his opponents won\'t be going out with a single strike, and he could also test his new techniques.
Mr.Dealer smiled seeing that they weren\'t the least bit bothered with fighting against the members of the dark guilds.
Nonetheless, he still warned them for their safety.
"Alright, it\'s great that every one of you have confidence in yourself, but I\'ll still warn you all to always be alert when fighting against them and never to let down your guard."
The four of them nodded seriously, and remembered his warning.
Mr.Dealer then turned around with his robe fluttering in the wind, and started walking out of the building while gesturing to them.
"Come on let\'s go, there\'s no point in hiding ourselves now that they already know about us."
Glancing at each other, the four of them shrugged with a small smile on their faces as Mr.Dealer himself was going to be present there today to witness their battle, and followed behind the man to show the underworld and the dark guilds their true abilities.