Chapter 196: Doomfist Clara
This was a genuinely good sword. To Yanqing's perceptive eyes, it seemed as though a true sword spirit resided within its gleaming steel.
After communicating with the blade for a short while, the young lieutenant actually felt a deep sense of respect for the entity dwelling inside. The spirit within this sword possessed a cold, aloof demeanor, yet the guidance hidden within its crisp words was remarkably thoughtful. More, it could actively lead the swordsman's physical movements, making it the absolute perfect training tool for a novice trying to build muscle memory for advanced sword techniques.
"If I may be so bold as to ask," Yanqing began, his eyes shining with admiration. "How exactly was this sword spirit raised?"
"Through vast amounts of data... Ahem, no, I mean it was fed with the accumulated sword intent of countless powerful experts."
Big data essentially counted as the sword intent of powerful experts, right? There really wasn't much of a difference in Rekka's mind. Basically, every single existing school of swordsmanship in the database had been forcibly crammed into its processing core.
"As I thought..." Yanqing murmured, his expression turning solemn.
So the plot of the popular light novel After Reincarnating, My Master Became a Sword Spirit from a while ago wasn't just based on baseless rumors after all!
Rekka casually strolled over to Yanqing's side and gave the boy's shoulder a heavy, encouraging pat. "You must carry her with you every single day. Talk to her often, and let her become intimately familiar with your unique sword qi. When encountering strong enemies, you must absolutely not shrink back, as the pressure of life-and-death combat is the best nourishment for tempering a growing sword spirit. But remember one crucial thing—do not treat it roughly. If the sword body suffers severe vibration damage, the sword spirit will be very uncomfortable."
"Yanqing understands!" The youth solemnly secured the longsword at his waist, his posture ramrod straight. "Thank you for this precious gift!"
Having delivered his earnest thanks, the young lieutenant cupped his fists in a formal, deeply respectful salute to the three of them before turning on his heel and marching away with a renewed sense of purpose.
Yeah, the poor kid had been completely and utterly hoodwinked.
Watching Yanqing's retreating back disappear down the corridor, March 7th finally couldn't hold it in anymore. Her shoulders shook as she turned to Rekka.
"What kind of weird things did you actually set in that voice pack?"
"Nothing much." Rekka spread his hands in a gesture of pure innocence. "Just a standard, run-of-the-mill swordsmanship guidance AI."
"Then what was all that nonsense about 'vibration damage being uncomfortable' just now?"
"Because it's a prototype," Rekka explained smoothly. "If there's a strong physical vibration, the audio output will glitch and make a weird, eerie 'oho, oho, oho' stuttering sound. It's quite embarrassing to listen to."
March 7th stared at him, completely speechless.
This guy was just an endless fountain of terrible ideas.
"Don't worry, it's actually just a bit of a loose connection in the internal wiring."
"And yet you still gave it to him..."
"I couldn't be bothered to take the hilt apart and reassemble the whole thing. At most, the voice function will have some minor audio issues; it won't affect its actual combat use."
It was just a little toy he threw together, after all.
"So you're saying," March 7th crossed her arms, piecing the logic together, "if Yanqing is in the middle of a fierce battle and his sword gets hit hard enough to take damage..."
"The sword spirit will start making glitchy 'oho' sounds."
Hearing Rekka state it so matter-of-factly, March 7th felt a strange, bubbling urge to laugh.
"And then he'll think the sword spirit is severely injured or disappearing."
"Correct."
"Then he'll be absolutely furious."
"Probably."
"Then he'll experience an emotional power-up and completely crush his opponent."
"A highly reasonable deduction."
She looked down at the two custom swords resting in her own hands, then slowly raised her gaze back to Rekka.
"No need to ask," Rekka preempted her, pointing at her weapons. "The two swords in your hands only have Pom-Pom's voice pack installed."
"That's good, that's good."
March 7th breathed a heavy sigh of relief, her tense shoulders dropping. Although, she had to admit, it would still feel incredibly strange to have Pom-Pom's cute voice suddenly pop out of the hilt while she was trying to slash an enemy.
"So, should I use these to participate in the competition?"
"Participate... I guess? I also want to test out their field performance. Incidentally, two contestants from Belobog are coming to join the competition. They should have arrived on the Astral Express by now."
"Oh! You must mean..."
March 7th instantly thought of Gepard. The stalwart captain of the Silvermane Guards was the perfect candidate for a grand martial arts tournament.
But when they finally returned to the main parlor car of the Astral Express, March 7th fell completely silent.
Honestly, Rekka hadn't expected this outcome either.
What did it mean that the people coming to participate were Clara and Hook?
For a serious, high-stakes matter like a galactic martial arts competition, they were actually letting two little girls step into the arena?
However, if one stopped to think about it carefully, there didn't seem to be anything fundamentally wrong with the logic.
Yunli was a little girl, and Clara was also a little girl.
Yunli followed the Path of Physical Destruction, and Clara also followed the Path of Physical Destruction.
Yunli didn't wear shoes, and Clara also didn't wear shoes.
Since that was the established case, if Yunli was perfectly qualified to fight, why wouldn't Clara be?
And Lord Hook was even more of a heavyweight contender.
Fun fact: although Hook looked very young and acted like a menace, she was also a genuine Pathstrider. Normal children didn't run around the streets carrying a miniaturized tunnel boring machine. That massive, mechanical contraption in Hook's hands was not much different from heavy industrial equipment.
"Big Brother Dan Heng, good morning!"
Hook enthusiastically waved her little hand at Rekka.
Once again, Hook was identifying people purely by their hair color and had gotten it completely wrong.
Dan Heng's reputation back in the Aetherium Wars tournament had already become entirely synonymous with evil, underhanded tactics and ruthless sweeping.
But putting that dark history aside, the real Dan Heng, who was standing a few paces away, looked deeply confused.
"I'm over here."
"Eh? Two Big Brother Dan Hengs?"
Hook blinked, her eyes darting back and forth between the two tall men. She looked thoroughly dazed.
"Huh, but... they clearly look exactly the same?"
"How are they the same?" Dan Heng sighed.
"The hair color is the same! The eye color is also similar!" Hook began counting on her tiny fingers, her little brain working in overdrive to find the right descriptive words. "And they both look very 'adult'."
"Just how many Big Brother Dan Hengs are there in this place?"
March 7th really couldn't stop herself from laughing out loud at the girl's utter bewilderment.
"Sorry for the trouble. I was really a bit worried about Hook and Clara traveling alone, so I came along to keep an eye on them."
Natasha—the gentle, reliable doctor from Belobog's Underworld clinic—stepped forward with a warm smile. Although the Underworld had already been successfully integrated with the surface by now, she still maintained her protective nature over the children.
"No trouble at all."
After handling the initial greetings and settling the guests in, Rekka immediately headed to the synthesizer to forge the necessary equipment for the two little girls to participate in the upcoming competition.
Although Clara had come all this way, Svarog hadn't followed right beside her.
"Whoa! Awesome! It feels like Diggertron has become even more powerful!" Hook cheered, swinging her weapon around.
"Don't play with that on the Astral Express, Hook."
Natasha smiled gently, reaching out to firmly turn off the power switch on Hook's Diggertron before it could tear up the parlor car's carpet.
Clara's newly forged equipment was a pair of massive, imposing iron fists.
Doomfist Clara.
The heavy armored coverage included the entire forearms and palms, and its internal function was no different from the dual swords currently in March 7th's possession.
This grand Martial Arts Ceremony appeared to the outside world to be a fair, honorable competition of skill, but in reality, it was rapidly turning into an arena where Rekka's little mechanical toys elbowed each other, simply comparing whose hardware performance was stronger.
Clara raised her small arms, struggling slightly as she tried to clench the massive metal fists.
"Mm... It's not too heavy, and it's quite nice, it's just... can Clara really do this..."
"Don't worry at all, Clara. This weapon has an automatic defense protocol built right in. Even if it undergoes a full round of concentrated laser bombardment, absolutely nothing will happen to you."
"Mm, thank you, Big Brother! Actually, it was originally just Hook who was going to participate, but... on the way to the spaceport, she kept begging me to come with her." Clara said bashfully, her cheeks tinting pink.
"So later, Mr. Svarog also set off to follow us, but Mr. Svarog's transport might be a bit slower."
Rekka nodded thoughtfully.
"Then why was Hook chosen to participate in the first place?"
This detail was a bit off.
Originally, the representative should have been Luka, given his fighting ring experience. Or at the very least, the most suitable candidates would have been Gepard or Svarog.
Hearing the question, Hook's confident expression suddenly became slightly unnatural. Her eyes darted toward the floor.
"Ah... Huh?"
"Hook, let me ask you directly," Rekka leaned down slightly. "Did Bronya actually choose you to participate in this martial arts competition?"
"Yes, that's right! Pitch-Dark Hook the Great is the undisputed boss of Belobog's Moles! Of course she's perfectly qualified to participate!" Hook clamored loudly, puffing out her chest.
"Is that so?"
Rekka narrowed his eyes, studying the nervous twitch in the little girl's posture.
Oh, he finally found the source of that nagging sense of incongruity.
Although Hook was indeed a Pathstrider and her raw destructive strength in Belobog was undeniably significant, there was one glaring, unavoidable problem with her story.
She was a child.
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