Alone in the castle hall after my mother had left with Ariel to change her clothes, and my father had gone off to sort out some things in the kingdom, I heard footsteps approaching.
The door creaked, and I raised my head.
Then Torren entered with his armor clinking lightly and a leather satchel slung over his shoulder.
He stopped in the doorway, pounding his fist on his chest. "Prince Eric." he said in a firm voice, but with an excited gleam in his eyes. "I've brought the manuals you asked for. I spent the night looking for the best ones."
I stood up, pointing to the table. "Great work, Torren. Put it all there and show me what you found."
He came over to me, opened his backpack and took out some relatively new books, and three worn books with cracked leather covers. These even smelled of dust, as if no one had touched them in years. "What are these books?" I asked, picking up the largest of the old ones.
"It's the most useful thing we have," he replied, scratching his short beard. 'The newer books are the basic manuals we use for normal training, as you ask, while these old ones...' he pointed to a thin book '...are about ancient knightly techniques, with blows that claim to use 'internal force'. And the last one is about tactics against beasts, for fighting in groups. I thought they might help with your... magic, they're the closest to what you do."
I opened the sword manual, leafing through pages full of drawings of stances and attacks. It was well-made, but dry, like a bread recipe.
Although it used a very different teaching language from the others, more complex and confusing, perhaps it could be useful as a basis for understanding Chi better.
"Very good, Torren." I said as I closed the book. "This will give me a very good basis, although it has different concepts than I imagined it would have, I believe it could be more useful than I imagined."
Torren was thrilled that his research had paid off, even more so when he saw how interested I was in the old books. "Do you really think we could make water dance too, Prince? I saw it yesterday, but... it seems impossible for normal people."
I laughed softly, remembering how I also thought it was something impossible, exclusive to fiction when I first saw it in my other world, and replied. "It's not impossible, but it's difficult. The trick is flow. I'm going to use these manuals to create something simple, like a step-by-step. No crazy magic, just movements and breathing. If you get the hang of it, you might be able to get stronger cuts, even without water flying."
And looking at the old books, I commented, "And maybe those old books you brought might have an answer to how you can make water dance, like I do."
Torren nodded, but looked a little suspicious. "And do you think we can do it? I mean, without... I don't know, what you've got." He pointed at me, as if I were a category apart.
I tapped him on the shoulder with a confident smile. "Torren, I wasn't born doing this, I just learned a knowledge that helped me master it with training, just as I'm going to try to pass on that knowledge to you. You're elite soldiers, you'll manage, but first, I'm going to write a new manual."
He smiled, the excitement returning. "If you say so, Prince, I believe you. Is there anything else you want me to do?"
"Not yet," I replied, picking up a blank roll of parchment from the table. "Get some rest, tonight you don't have to take part in the battle against the monsters. And, Torren, that's between us. I don't want the whole castle expecting miracles before I know if it will work."
He slammed his fist into his chest again. "Yes, sir. Secret kept." He turned to leave, but stopped at the door. "Prince... if this works, it will save a lot of people. Thank you for trying."
I nodded, feeling the weight of it. "No thanks yet, Torren. Let's see if I'm as good a teacher as I am a fighter."
He laughed and left, leaving me with the books and an idea that could be genius or a total disaster.
I pulled out the sword manual and started to write it down.
The First Form was the easiest to teach: a straight cut, with synchronized breathing, as if you were pulling water with your body.
Without Percy's Chi or power, it was just technique, but still strong enough to impress.
I wrote down the steps: "Take a deep breath, hold the sword steady, feel the weight of the air. Cut as if you were opening the sea." It was simple, but if the soldiers followed it, they could learn to hit harder, even without magic.
I looked at the parchment, imagining Torren and the others trying. If it worked, every village in Miralune would have stronger soldiers, just like the larger kingdoms that are fighting more powerful monsters.
It's not as if our men are weak, they train almost to the point of collapse, with sharp swords and armor that can take a beating.
But there's something about the monsters that makes everything more difficult, and I started to put the pieces together after observing the battles for a few days.
Firstly, the skin on these monsters isn't normal... it's not like cutting cowhide or even a wild boar.
Goblins and kobolds have a strange resistance, as if their flesh were harder than stone in some places.
I've noticed this while fighting, my sword, even with Water Breath, sometimes slips instead of cutting deep unless I use Chi to concentrate even harder for a more efficient execution of Water Breath.
An ordinary soldier, without magic, needs several attacks to take down a goblin, and while he's trying, the monster would have already torn through his armor with claws that cut like knives.
It's as if an energy, like Mana, circulates in these monsters, making their skin thicker against normal weapons.
Apparently our blacksmiths have already tested arrows reinforced with iron tips, but even so, hitting a kobold is like shooting at a tree, the arrow pierces but doesn't kill.
Now, why do larger kingdoms deal better with stronger beasts? I think it's technique.
In Miralune, our combat manuals are good for wars against other humans, formations, precise blows, that sort of thing. But against monsters, it's not so useful.
Kingdoms like Althar have a reputation for knights who used their swords to leave marks on large stones.
It's not just because their swords are better, and from what I've seen in those manuals Torren brought, maybe it's because they use more advanced techniques, like Water Breathing, and some control of internal energy, be it Mana or Chi, which I still don't know enough about.
Except that, unlike me, who learned this from the Meta Essence Gacha, they probably have masters who teach these skills to soldiers, but only to the best.
This is obviously a state secret, kept under lock and key, because no one wants a rival kingdom learning techniques to make soldiers as powerful as theirs, it's like offering nuclear weapons to your potential enemies in a war, it just doesn't make sense.
In Miralune we've never had anything like this. Our elite soldiers are brutal and loyal, but no one has ever taught them to "feel" energy or reinforce an attack beyond muscle, and theoretically we never need that.
The kingdom has a small and not very fertile territory, the royal family has never been greedy enough to want to invade other smaller kingdoms around, let alone crazy enough to invade kingdoms with really powerful knights.
And there's another problem: experience.
In Miralune, the monsters only appeared a month ago, and most of our men have never faced anything other than bandits or normal animals.
In Cresthaven, on the other hand, they've been dealing with beasts for years, so the soldiers already know where to look for the monsters' weaknesses.
Our guys are still learning the ropes, and every mistake is costly. A goblin may be small, but if you hesitate, it will tear you apart before you can try the second blow.
I saw it yesterday: a soldier tried to slash a kobold in the chest, the sword got stuck in the skin, and the goblin fought back, ripping off half his shield.
To make matters worse, our resources are stretched to the limit.
As my father said, we're running out of arrows, and each goblin takes a dozen to fall without the use of special energy.
Normal swords dent quickly against the tough skin of these beasts, and repairing armor is becoming a blacksmith's nightmare.
Larger kingdoms have more gold, more blacksmiths, and probably enchanted weapons or techniques like the one I want to teach.
So I have to find a way to adapt Water Breathing for the soldiers... Although I now also have material to teach them how to use Chi or Mana, I think learning that kind of thing will take too long to be useful in the short term, so the focus will be on Water Breathing and testing whether it will be enough to supply the kingdom until the soldiers can learn how to use energy.
Even if these manuals aren't very useful, maybe I can even get some technique for them to use this internal energy more easily, like Water Breathing uses Chi to summon water in attacks!
Thinking about the various worlds with magical techniques like Harry Potter, Fairy Tail, Naruto, Hunter Hunter... they all have a lot of potential to give me powerful techniques that I can teach the soldiers once they've learned to control their internal energy.
'And with powerful soldiers, the kingdom will become safer and safer, safe to the point where it can protect itself when I start my travels.' I thought excitedly.
--- Cat Notes ---
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