Judging from how the cries of the humans had stopped, it meant the disks were finished with their job.

Evident to that was their return to Kahn, all of them, still spinning—like saws that could rend anything.

“I won’t kill you… hmmn…” Kahn mumbled, making his decision after considering some things.

The Lord’s face nearly broke into gratitude, but was suddenly stopped once it noticed the demented and malevolent smile Kahn gave.

“You seem important. I’ll torture you for information… I may be able to achieve my goal faster if I use you…”

Lord Karl Edward Zerund gasped, realizing the fate that awaited him. It was no pleasant one.

“… Plus, it’ll be a good way to while away time. We shall get started shortly.”

And so, with the final shriek of a condemned noble, the bloodshed and carnage caused by Kahn faded from sight.

Tragedy was wrought that very evening. However, unknown to those in the Kingdom, the true dance of despondency was just getting started!

**************************

The weekend went exactly as I expected. Fortunately, no disturbance whatsoever visited me.

I stayed in my room all day, except for when I would go to buy food.

Oh yes, there was also the laundry. All the students had to do was leave their laundry in front of their doors and the staff responsible for picking them up would do so. I followed the rules and did the same on Saturday morning.

The laundry arrived the next day, in the evening, all tidied up.

It was a relief that I didn’t have to resort to cleaning them myself. At least, Ainzlark hadn’t lost all sense of prestige.

“Well, I could have done a good job if I cleaned it on my own…” I smiled to myself.

The clothes that arrived were sparkling clean, though—more than what I could currently handle. Not a minuscule amount of dirt was on them, plus, I sensed preservation magic on the pile of clothes.

The cleaners were really thorough.

After placing my clothes neatly in the wardrobe and preparing for classes happening the next day, I resumed my experiments and brought them to a close.

On Friday, after my chat with Anabelle, I went to the library to borrow some books on Martial Arts and also some on herbs and spices. I was seeing far more similarities than I had thought in the plants, so I needed to compare and contrast them with more commonplace goods.

The results I obtained from studying the Martial Arts materials tallied with what I learned from observing the students studying the craft.

Martial Arts and the techniques encompassing it were phenomenally weaker than at the time of my first life.

The texts I took each addressed the five fundamental schools the Martial Arts Department would be learning in the first year. I was able to easily get access to them since most Martial Artists would rather prefer tempering their bodies rather than exercising their brains.

Not many who practiced martial arts had an interest in books. They only read them to get a grasp on the forms and descriptions written within—nothing more.

Plus, since Neron Kaelid would be teaching them the arts and forms, there was really no need to search for it in a book. It was their mistake, though. Self Study was extremely important, even for a Martial Artist to grow!

The first text I studied was about ‘The Martial School of Fundamental Sword Arts’. It was the one I was most interested in since Edward showed it to me in our clash.

I read and understood the forms that existed in this school; Footwork, Mental Resilience, Muscle Alignment, Motion Control, Sensory Perception, and Sword Techniques. It was not a big problem since I was used to more advanced techniques, and upon seeing the inferior one I read, I was easily able to understand the concept.

“Hmmn… I see, it’s definitely easier for Martial Artists to practice this as fundamentals rather than the ones I know of… but they’re just too weak by my standards.”

I understood what had happened the moment I was done reading on the first of the five fundamental schools.

The new Martial techniques were made for ease of learning. They allowed practitioners to easily grasp the concept and movements, giving them faster growth, compared to more difficult ones.

However, the backlash was the erosion of power in the techniques themselves. Not just power, but style and variations. These new moves had an air of predictability to them. Still, I wasn’t so certain all were like that, so I decided to read on the rest. I spent a whole day grasping the techniques embedded in the books and even moving my body to mimic the illustrations and descriptions.

They were all basically the same!

In fact, the most difficult to learn was actually the first one I picked up to read—The Martial School Of Fundamental Sword Arts.

How messed up was that?

“Huu, in any case… I now know what to do.”

With Martial Arts out of the way, I focused on my potion-making. The combination of certain chemicals gave a brand new one, so the variations were nearly endless.

I was working with only about 20 vials initially, but the end result led me to over a hundred more!

And I wasn’t even done yet!

“This should be enough for now… I should soon start the next phase, but I better focus on other things…”

Alchemy was good and all, but there were more pressing concerns. So far, I had neglected my Magic Training. It couldn’t be helped.

“The Familiar Selection is in merely three more weeks. I need to be at a particular level for me to get what I want!”

Obtaining a fourth core… was it possible in my current condition? There was only one way to find out!

**********************

Everyone moved excitedly to class, and I was no exception.

Despite popular belief about school, it was actually fun. Well, maybe Neron Kaelid made it fun with his teaching methods.

I was a little later than usual since I sort of overslept and woke up ten minutes later than usual. By the time I got to the hall, it was nearly time for Homeroom and everyone was in class already.

‘Here goes!’