"150% extra damage? For real? Then, with my current stats, isn’t my damage going to be something like 92 or 93? That’s on par with a B-Class knight." Leon licked the corner of his lips without even knowing.

"Hahahahaha! This is awesome. This is just fucking aweeeesome."

Leon gave the sword a swing. The white blade whistled through the water. He looked ecstatic. He gave it a few more swings.

Sharp whistling sounds echoed again.

"Its size, the weight and the shape.... It all just fits me perfectly as if it were handmade for me entirely. Let’s try this against some high-class monsters. With this, I should be able to take down a C-Class monster, or even a B-Class. And the Qi their monster cores will provide....." He didn’t finish, but the greedy grin at the corner of his lips exposed everything.

Thinking that he was prepared to swim upward, but right then, a few notifications popped up in the panel.

[Warning: The sword may provide+150% damage, but without proper technique, Host will fail to land a hit properly and might end up dead.]

"What? Are you telling me I shouldn’t go against stronger beasts before I become equally strong?"

[Negative, Host. The host can learn sword techniques to be efficient with the sword. That will increase the possibility of landing an effective hit even against stronger opponents.]

"Technique again? Don’t tell me I have to buy a technique again and comprehend it before I can even use it."

[Affirmative, Host.]

Veins bulged in Leon’s forehead as he stared at the panel with bloodshot eyes.

He gritted his teeth and said each word with force in frustration. "How many spirit coins do I have, and what is the most powerful technique I can buy now with that?"

[Host hasn’t sold the recent monster corpses. Previous spirit coin balance: 980,000]

"Sell all the corpses I have left."

[Transaction confirmed, host.

Present spirit coin balance: 2,860,000]

"Only this much? Whatever. Tell me how much the sword technique costs."

[Checking techniques that are affordable with the current balance.]

[Checking complete.]

[Strongest sword technique within current balance: Nine fold progression technique — 2.33 M]

"Okay. I will go with it."

[Are you sure host? Learning a sword technique will affect Host’s comprehension of learning another powerful technique in the future. Sword techniques are complicated and can either take you to greater heights or destroy whatever you have.]

"I can’t learn a different technique in the future?"

[You can. But that will greatly diminish your comprehension level. Also, both techniques’ effectiveness will reduce drastically.]

"Damn it! Why is choosing just a sword technique so painful? Then what is the strongest technique you have? And how much does it cost?"

[Strongest sword technique within system: Sword art breathing — 11.2 B.]

Leon froze. "Wait, how much? A B popped out mistakenly instead of an M in there. Check."

[Negative Host. This is one of the three strongest sword techniques that ever existed in the entire universe. This technique can help you greatly.]

"It might be strong. But it will take me months to accumulate that many spirit coins. Or maybe even a year. If I can leave this hidden realm alive, that is." Leon said in frustration.

[Host can take a loan. But until the loan is paid in full, host’s resources will be sold at half the original price.]

"What!!! I can take even a loan from the system? But what the hell is with this insane cost degradation? You are scarier than a loan shark." Leon said with wide eyes.

[Do you want to take a loan and buy the technique host?]

"Like I have a choice. If I want to get stronger fast, I need to kill stronger opponents. But to rush the process, I don’t want to damage my future growth either. In that case, loan it is."

[Excellent choice, host.]

Leon’s eyes twitched at that. ’Why does it sound like it just won a lottery?’

[Loan confirmed.]

[Purchase Confirmed.]

Another booklet’s tip emerged from the panel. This one was thicker. Leon pulled it out and checked the cover. Then he opened it slowly.

It had total 10 pages. He opened the first page.

’Sword art breathing — 1st form: Sword dance.’

Leon continued to read the first page. There were diagrams, focusing on leg position, body gesture and breathing control. This time, the sentences didn’t feel foreign.

He could clearly understand what he had to do to hone this first form. He read it for a few more minutes and memorized it properly. He closed the booklet.

He stood up with the sword. His left toe shifted slightly to the left. Right shoulder arced back. And then.... An upward slash.

He closed the right leg, raised his sword to chest level and slashed to the right, followed by a left slash. The next moment, he spun on his heel and swung the sword with power.

He practiced one move after another. Without him even noticing, his moves were getting sharper and fiercer. His slash grew more effective with each practice. Leon totally forgot about the time and continued to practice the moves shown in the booklet.

And finally, after two hours, a notification popped up in the panel.

[Congratulations, host. You have comprehended the first form of Sword Art Breathing.]

"Phew! That was tiresome. But these moves feel powerful. It’s as if I can slice a stone boulder in half with no problem at all.’

"Now I should be able to fight stronger opponents, right?"

[Affirmative, host.]

Leon’s lips curved up into a smile.

"Then let’s hunt some monsters." Water bubbled up from his mouth and went up.

Leon looked up and bent on his knees. Next moment, he jumped, soaring higher in the water. 𝕗𝕣𝐞𝐞𝘄𝐞𝚋𝚗𝗼𝘃𝗲𝗹.𝚌𝕠𝚖

The river wasn’t that deep, but the distance from the river bed to the surface was nothing to scoff at. It took him almost three minutes to finally emerge from the water.

The cold had drastically reduced. But even if it hadn’t, it wouldn’t have affected him a bit.

Leon reached the bank, swimming and got out of the water.

"Here I come." He said enthusiastically and strode forward.

But just then a voice came.

"Master. Is it you?"