Chapter 8: Old Man Swordmad

“Main Chain Quest: Origin Path Rank 1”

That was the header the system showed for Yale’s first Chain Quest, and the main objective of this Main chain Quest was to reach Rank 1 Novice in the Origin Path.

As for the first sub-quest, it was something Yale didn’t expect.

“Sub-quest: Become an apprentice of a Sword’s Master. Reward: Sword Innate Talent (the grade is variable, the more powerful the master, the better the grade).”

Yale didn’t understand the reasons for the first sub-quest as he never showed any interest in the sword. If the requirement for the Origin Path was training with a weapon, he was already training archery.

“The system determined that among all weapons, the sword is the one with more benefits for the user to reach the requirements for the Origin Path. Training with the sword would help to increase Strength, Agility, Vitality, and Dexterity.”

Indeed, those were all stats that Yale needed to improve. But he still didn’t understand why the reward would be of a variable grade. With a great master, Yale would obtain a better grade for the Innate Talent and better advice while training. On the other hand, if the master was ordinary, Yale talent and help while training would also be ordinary.

The system was telling him to obtain a good master.

“Seems that I need to find a good master and begin to train the sword, but those sword instructors are almost at the same level as Nosehawk, there are kids better than them. If this were the Nacesai Academy, I would be able to find better ones. However, I can’t lose these four years until I’m able to enter the academy, to increase my Agility points I need training the sword.”

Yale didn’t know what to do, he thought about asking his sister for advice but explaining why he needed a master better than the clan instructors would be difficult given that he never trained the sword before. Furthermore, he didn’t like to rely on his sister; she already helped him a lot.

“Wait, if I correctly remember there is someone within the clan who was a real Sword’s Master, but he’s eccentric and doesn’t take any disciple unless he had some personal liking to them, he even rejected some extremely talented kids. However, fifty years ago he took a disciple who was without any talent, to that eccentric old man the talent really didn’t seem to matter, then I have a chance.”

That old man was quite famous in the Roanmad clan, he lived for a very long time, and no one knew about his true age nor his true name. With his talent, he could have any position he desired in the clan, but he only liked to train the sword.

A lot of youngsters wanted to become the old man’s apprentices, but since fifty years ago he didn’t accept any other disciple. The last disciple became very powerful after training with the old man, but in the end, he died in battle.

“I’ll try to become an apprentice of that eccentric old man; if I fail, then I would need to rely on big sister’s influence to obtain a good teacher to train the sword. However, I feel that sister wouldn’t be able to get someone as good as that old man to teach me.”

Yale stood up and left his room; there wasn’t any need to wait as he would need to ask that old man personally if he wanted to become his apprentice and Yale needed to improve quickly as the Origin Path had harsh requirements.

Yale walked until he reached that old man’s place and knocked on the door.

“The door is open.”

After hearing that Yale opened the door and saw that famous old man for the first time. He was tall with long white hair and a short white beard; his face looked old but at the same time full of vitality. His clothes hid the frame of his body, but he wasn’t as bulky as most warriors.

However, no one would doubt his power, those who killed his previous disciple got fully eradicate by him the next they.

“Good afternoon.”

Yale said while bowing to the old man politely.

“Good afternoon kid, you should also be here to take me as your master, right?”

That scene happened a lot of times with many members of the younger generation, to the old man this was a normal occurrence.

“Yes, I came here to become your apprentice.”

Yale didn’t try to conceal it as he also knew that lying to someone like that old man wasn’t a good choice.

“You should be that bookworm Yale who recently became mad about physical training; you are quite famous recently, you know?”

Yale was surprised that the gossips about him reached even that old man.

“Yes, I’m honored that you knew about me.”

Yale bowed again; he didn’t want to show any disrespect for that old man, even if he didn’t take Yale as a disciple, it wasn’t good being on bad terms with him.

“You can call me Swordmad, that’s how everyone calls me, you seem vexed about not knowing how to call me.”

Yale felt ashamed because that was true, he didn’t know the old man’s name before.

“If you want to become my disciple you need to give me a sincere answer to a question. If I like it, then I’ll take you as a disciple if not you can go back to your room.”

Before Yale could say something else, Swordmad went straight to the point, and Yale nodded in reply.

“If I ask you to focus only on the sword, abandoning everything else like reading books, training Archery, going to the Nacesai Academy and then training only the Path I told you to practice, would you accept?”

Yale knew that the answer was very important, but instead of thinking, as usual, he replied immediately without thinking of anything beforehand, he spoke his true feelings.

“Never!”

“I want to train with the sword, and I’m serious about that, but I would never abandon anything else for that.”

“The knowledge obtained from reading books is something useful even for battling with the sword.”

“The meaning of archery is to battle in long-range, it won’t overlap with the sword.”

“Going to the Nacesai Academy is my only way to reunite with my sister, she’s the only one who treated me well, I will go to the Nacesai Academy no matter what happens.”

“And what Path to train is only my decision, no matter who becomes my master I will only follow the Path I choose, I would never change it because others told me to do so.”

After he finished speaking Yale became aware of what he said, he was extremely disrespectful to Swordmad, but for some reason, he lost the control of himself.

“So, that’s your answer…”

Yale was dispirited, after what he said he didn’t have any hope to become Swordmad’s apprentice.

“You at least replied me with sincerity; I punished those who lied to me before no matter what they said.”

Yale was now happy about losing his control if he lied there was no way Swordmad wouldn’t notice.

“About your answer, it’s obvious that you didn’t want to focus on being a Warrior focused on the sword nor want to inherit my path; you take the sword as something extra.”

Yale remained silent because that was the truth. He wanted to train the sword seriously because it was important for training the Origin Path.

“You seem to be clear about what you want to do, and you refuse to abandon anything in exchange for becoming my apprentice. You value your ideals more than the fact of becoming my apprentice, do you think I would accept something like you as an apprentice?”

Yale still didn’t dare to say a word, he couldn’t lie, and Swordmad was only speaking the truth. Yale only wanted to go back to his room and forget this conversation.

“The answer is yes; I like stubborn kids like you. To be successful in life, it’s important to follow your own decisions and don’t let others change what you decided. The question before was only a test; I won’t ask you to abandon anything.”

Yale was flabbergasted, he didn’t expect this development.

“From now I accept you as my disciple.”

As Swordmad words resounded in the room, the Last Wish System reacted showing a notification.

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