Chapter 197: I Thought You Were Playing Me, But You Weren't, So Isn't That Just Playing Me?
"So, the specific situation is that you two heard Luka was coming to participate, and Sampo helped you get another invitation. Then, you used it to contact the Astral Express. Is that right?"
Rekka raised an eyebrow, looking down at the two unexpected passengers.
Truthfully, he hadn't expected it to be these two kids at first. He had only heard Himeko mention that they received a request for a ride from Jarilo-VI. The Astral Express, which happened to be heading toward the Herta Space Station anyway, simply made a stop to bring these two children and their guardian along.
"Sampo is really too..." Rekka sighed. He was spoiling Hook way too much.
"Does Bronya know about this?"
"Bronya only just found out," Natasha replied, shaking her head with a helpless sigh. "Actually, these two took the initiative entirely on their own. I only managed to catch the train at the very last moment. Otherwise, these two kids really would have represented Belobog in the... Martial Arts Ceremony all by themselves."
"This is Uncle Sampo's recognition of Hook's strength!" Hook puffed out her chest proudly, placing her hands on her hips. "He presented that invitation with both hands, and Hook only reluctantly accepted it!"
Clara, standing beside her, looked a little nervous. She fidgeted with her hands. "Um, actually... this invitation is different from the one Big Brother Luka got. It's a separate one."
"Hook, do you know that the participants in this Martial Arts Ceremony are mostly adults, and they're all highly trained experts?" Rekka asked, leaning forward slightly.
"I know!" Hook nodded vigorously. "That's why Hook has to come! To show everyone how amazing Belobog is!"
Rekka took the invitation from Clara and checked it over.
It was indeed real., it was a special guest invitation—meaning all room and board would be completely covered by the Xianzhou.
"Sampo can even get his hands on something like this?" March 7th blinked in surprise, leaning over Rekka's shoulder to look at the golden seal on the parchment.
Natasha rubbed her temples, the exhaustion of a sudden interstellar trip catching up to her. "It's precisely because he gave the two children something like this that I had to come. If something happens on the arena field..."
"Mm-hmm, Clara... uh, Clara might have to be a bad girl for once." Clara looked down at the heavy, mechanical iron gauntlets she was wearing and plucked up her courage. "Thank you, Big Brother! Clara will work hard... to pass the first round."
As for the second round, she figured she should probably just forget about it.
'I'm suddenly regretting upgrading Hook's equipment so quickly,' Rekka thought, stroking his chin.
He hadn't thought much about it earlier and had just casually modified Hook's Diggertron a couple of times. Changing it back to normal now would make him look incredibly stingy.
As for the gauntlets, those were originally prepared for Luka or Gepard. They were a bit large, but after some quick adjustments, they fit Clara quite well.
"If you two go up there and run into Luka or Gepard, you might actually knock them unconscious," Rekka muttered.
He honestly wasn't sure if these two kids, who had absolutely no concept of their own newly enhanced strength, would accidentally punch Luka or Gepard straight through a reinforced arena wall. It would have been much better if Svarog went on stage. Svarog was a machine; he could be repaired. It was no big deal if he got broken, even though Clara would be heartbroken.
"Alright, Pitch-Dark Hook the Great will show mercy when the time comes!" Hook declared magnanimously.
"Is it really showing mercy?" Clara murmured, clearly a bit hesitant about her own capabilities.
"It's fine, at most they'll just be knocked unconscious," Rekka said, patting Clara's shoulder to reassure her. "Clara, just relax your body and let the gauntlets guide you. This is a teaching tool; even someone who doesn't know the first thing about boxing can learn by using this..."
Rekka patiently explained the mechanics to the young girl. "It has a top-priority protection protocol built-in. As long as it detects an external impact kinetic energy exceeding your body's physical limit, it will automatically take over control to parry or tank the hit. You just need to wear them on your hands."
Clara was a genius mechanic in her own right. Her eyes lit up as the technical jargon clicked into place.
"Oh! So that's how it works..." Listening to the explanation, Clara slowly understood the complex principles of the sophisticated mechanical gauntlets resting on her arms.
Meanwhile, on the Xianzhou Luofu.
"General, that is the origin of this sword."
After listening to Yanqing's explanation, Jing Yuan nodded slowly.
Not bad at all.
After learning the ins and outs of the matter, Jing Yuan felt a deep sense of relief wash over him. That chaotic guy Rekka had finally done something decent for once. Now, Jing Yuan felt he could temporarily forgive Rekka for covertly placing a teleportation anchor point directly on his office chair for five minutes.
"I have a moment to rest now. Why don't I test the strength of your new teacher?" Jing Yuan offered, stepping out from behind his desk. Since the sword was a gift from Rekka, it absolutely had to have something special about it.
"Really? General, you... should probably rest first, right?" Yanqing asked, eyes wide with a mix of excitement and concern.
"It doesn't matter." Jing Yuan smiled warmly.
Sparring with Yanqing—isn't that just pure relaxation?
However, soon enough, the relaxed smile on Jing Yuan's face turned into utter confusion.
No matter how Jing Yuan attacked, striking from tricky angles with precise control, that floating sword parried his strikes with absolute ease. Yanqing's movements didn't waste a single bit of extra stamina. Even stranger, there was no sign of the boy feeling the heavy counter-force of the General's blows.
"General, why did you stop?" Yanqing asked, lowering his stance slightly.
Normally at this point, Jing Yuan would simply put away his weapon, smile his usual gentle smile, and point out the minor flaws in Yanqing's footwork or posture.
But Jing Yuan was actually breaking a bit of a sweat now. All the force he struck with was being flawlessly bounced back with double the power. The defense was airtight, without a single discernible flaw.
Was this flying sword Rekka gave Yanqing really that powerful?
"Just now, the Sword Spirit teacher was demonstrating, which is why..." Yanqing started to explain.
'No, I know it's that Sword Spirit thing,' Jing Yuan thought, his brow furrowing.
What kind of thing was this 'Sword Spirit' anyway? A Heliobus? It wasn't as if the Zhuming hadn't had major historical incidents with Heliobus-possessed demon swords before. Recalling that Rekka did seem to enjoy catching Heliobi just for fun in the past, Jing Yuan suddenly felt troubled again.
"Yanqing, let me investigate your teacher for a moment," Jing Yuan said, stepping forward.
"General, what are you going to do?" Yanqing blinked, holding the hilt protectively.
"No, I'm just checking if there's anything wrong with the internal structure of this flying sword."
After a thorough, careful inspection of the blade, Jing Yuan found the truth.
This thing had absolutely nothing to do with a Heliobus. It was a pure, unadulterated technological creation. Built-in micro-components, advanced sensory arrays...
'This... you... I... sigh.'
Jing Yuan's expression became incredibly complicated.
He had actually misunderstood Rekka. He thought Rekka was using a dangerous Heliobus to play a prank on him. But Rekka wasn't playing him. Yet, the sheer absurdity of Rekka giving a child a highly advanced AI combat sword for no reason... wasn't that just playing him in a different way?
"General?" Yanqing tilted his head, looking at Jing Yuan's complicated, hesitant expression, feeling somewhat confused by his mentor's silence.
"It's nothing. This sword is indeed very good," Jing Yuan finally managed to say, clearing his throat.
A Sword Spirit...
"Yanqing, why don't you call your Sword Spirit teacher out to try chatting with me?" Jing Yuan asked, curious to see the interface.
Yanqing held the sword up and pressed a specific sequence on the hilt, directly activating the projection mode.
Light fractured and coalesced. A woman appeared in the air... with a slender figure and a clear, beautiful face. Her temperament seemed aloof, yet dignified. In short, she possessed the stunning, ethereal physique of a celestial maiden.
It was a complete holographic projection, likely just carrying a complex interactive program to simulate a personality.
Yanqing, however, thought entirely differently. 'The Sword Spirit teacher can even take physical form! That's just too amazing!'
Jing Yuan: "..."
After finishing a brief messaging session with Rekka on his jade abacus, Jing Yuan finally understood exactly what this thing was.
It was an intelligent flying sword, its core logic written entirely with Fourteen-Line Algebraic Expressions.
Fine then. As long as Yanqing was happy.
This thing wouldn't drain the user's lifespan like a demonic weapon, and it was undeniably a good teacher, so he would let Yanqing keep it.
But one question still bothered the General: Why did Rekka use Fourteen-Line Algebraic Expressions to write the code? Lierta's Nine-Word Algorithm had long since replaced Fourteen-Line Algebraic Expressions in modern computing.
So why did Rekka still use such an outdated method to write a highly advanced intelligent program?
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