"I regressed? But is that possible? Possible or not, I regressed, and that's the truth," I said to myself.
After the events that had exactly happened in the first cycle, Vale approached and told me the exact things that had happened in the first cycle, and we reached the practical training area. Aaron and Micajah had stared and badmouthed me, just like in the first cycle, and I still couldn't believe that I had regressed and was seeing the exact scenes for the second time.
I took the sword and practiced my Broken Blade Perseverance, swinging using the first form and shattering the ground beneath me because of the brute force of the first technique. Even after regression, I was still in Level 14 echelon, but I knew that if I cultivated enough mana, I could recover my past power, and I continued to swing using my swordsmanship.
***
"What type of swordsmanship is he using?" Aaron asked Micajah.
"I don't know, and I didn't see any swordsmanship like that anywhere," Micajah said in a confused tone.
Aaron studied Jangre and dismissed his thoughts about the swordsmanship, picked up his sword, and swung it, and Micajah also swung his sword and simultaneously practiced his spells.
***
I saw Micajah practicing his swordsmanship while also practicing his spells, and I knew that in this world, a mage can practice swordsmanship and a swordsman can practice magic, and there is no restriction, but it depends on talent in a certain area. I saw Vale practicing swordsmanship and felt like he had been using swords for a long time, and it was almost perfect swordsmanship. After a while, I continued practicing my swordsmanship and swung for a long time, even after every student had left the training area. On the first day, after the practical session, there was no theory lecture, so every student left the academy and went to the dorm, while I swung my sword till midnight and went to my dorm.
In the morning, I cultivated my mana and compressed it throughout my body, recovered the power I had lost, and reached the early stage of Level 13 echelon. I showered after that and went to the lecture hall for the swordsmanship theory class.
The lecture was held by Professor Ebony Halls, and he is a Level 8 echelon swordsman who teaches swordsmanship to first years. He taught us how we can cultivate and spread mana throughout the body, like using our legs to increase the speed of footwork, and taught us about the Primordium Swordsmanship, which is used by most humans in this world, and I listened carefully, even though I use a different swordsmanship.
After today's lectures were over, I went to the training hall, which was empty, and practiced my swordsmanship for several hours, trying to compress my mana to regulate it throughout my body and purify my body to ejaculate waste components. After cultivating my mana, I practiced my swordsmanship till midnight and went to my dorm room, where Vale was waiting at my doorstep for me.
"Coming from the training hall?" he asked, and I nodded.
"Why train until your body can't handle it?"
"A dullard can't reach the position a genius holds, so there is only the way of hard training until your body breaks," I responded.
"You? A dullard? The mana emitting from your body is of a range above most of the first years, and even the first rank. You are in Level 13 echelon, and you are saying you are a dullard?" he asked.
I responded with a nod and walked into my room, and Vale also entered because he is my roommate. I slept immediately, and he looked at me with concern and whispered, "Take it easy, friend," and I smiled after I heard it.
5 years later.
After going through all those hardships and training, I still remain in the realm of Level 13 echelon, but I joined Vale and his teammates, hunters who hunt Nimrods and roaming monsters, and I'm the only one in the realm of Level 13 echelon, while Vale is in Level 7, and his teammates, John and Ran, are in Level 8 and 9. We are in the mountain range outside the Hera kingdom, and this mountain range is called the Chaos area, where most monsters reside, and we are on a hunt for these monsters.
While we were walking, I heard a noise from the top of the nearby tree and saw a goblin with a club looking at me before lunging towards me. I dodged the goblin and sliced its head cleanly, but unfortunately, it didn't have any mana core.
I and my companions walked through the forest, led by Vale, while remaining cautious of my surroundings.
After a while, Vale called me and asked, "Any chance of advancing to the next level?" and in response, I shook my head, and he sighed while looking concerned about me and said in a calm tone, "Don't worry, I know you'll reach it," and I smiled in response.
I can see a colorless line from Vale to me, and I still don't understand the meaning of this intent. Sometimes I can see the red intent, which indicates anger or hatred, but I still don't know about this one.
We continued to walk through the forest, killing goblins or kobolds, which are lizard-type monsters, and I didn't go through any difficulties while fighting them. After a while, we reached a cave and rested there for 30 minutes, then continued the hunt.
After Vale told us to stop the hunt for today and return to the empire, we walked through the area we had once walked and saw large footprints, which could be very massive.
"How can a being this massive go unnoticed by us, and there are no monsters near this area now?" Ran asked Vale.
While Vale examined the footprint and told us a shocking truth, "It's a dragon," and when Vale said that, I saw panic in everyone's eyes, because a dragon can only be subdued by a team of 4 consisting of Level 7 echelon hunters.
When we were discussing how to escape this forest without alerting the dragon, suddenly a massive flame hurled towards us, and we dodged it in the last second, while some got some minute burns throughout their bodies. When we were shocked about the sudden flame, a massive dragon formed from thin air, like it was coming out of an invisibility cloak.
"Camouflage," Vale said without much expression, and we took our stance and unsheathed our swords, while Vale and Ran took their stance, preparing their spells.
"Death had come for me," I whispered.