“Idiot!” Ethan Brooks smacked Amy on the head hard. “The six key words for the two-handed sword are: fierce, powerful, precise, agile, fast, and skillful. That’s why a swordsman’s movements must be extremely nimble. But all the known spirit beasts can only provide momentum—they absolutely cannot match the speed required for the two-handed sword. If you want to learn swordsmanship, you’ll never become a knight in your life.”

A sly grin suddenly appeared on Ethan Brooks’s face. “My plan is for you to learn the spear with me. In another five years, you’ll be fifteen, and that’s exactly when the Black Sun and White Sun will coincide. According to tradition, the Amy Empire will send an envoy to the North Hami Empire to request five snow wolf spirit beasts born from the Snow Wolf King. I want to borrow one, then I’ll take you to the foot of the Sacred Beast Garden Mountain and teach you how to transform a spirit beast into a phantom beast. That way, you can become a phantom beast knight.”

“There are only five in total—no way they’ll lend us one. We’ll probably have to steal or rob it, right?” Already familiar with the adorable Uncle Brooks’s ways, Amy hit the nail on the head.

“Heh heh, so what? As a dignified imperial noble, it’s only right that my own son becomes a phantom beast knight.” The old man shamelessly patted his chest. “If it weren’t for wanting you to become a noble knight, I wouldn’t care whether you used a spear or a sword.”

“Han Feng, do you know there’s a kind of eagle called the Wild Vulture along the Hami Empire’s coastline?” an aged voice asked.

“Hey, Uncle Harper, when did you get back?” Both Ethan Brooks and Amy noticed Grandpa Harper in the courtyard.

“I’ve been back for a while. You two seemed to be having a good conversation, so I didn’t want to interrupt.” Old Harper said in a deep voice, “This Wild Vulture is famous for its speed and agility, flying extremely fast. One of our Haber ancestors once tamed a large Wild Vulture and found that it could fully match the speed required by a greatsword master. And this Wild Vulture itself is also a kind of spirit beast—supposedly, it can also enter the Phantom Beast Paradise for refinement.”

“Hm? Uncle Harper, how do you know so much about this?” Ethan Brooks was very surprised that someone in such a remote mountain village knew about phantom beast cultivation.

19

“Heh, the Chi family isn’t the only imperial noble family—our ancestors were, too. But for various reasons, we left the empire.” Old Harper clearly didn’t want to discuss the topic further.

In a 2:1 vote, the two-handed sword became Amy’s major course of study, and thanks to Ethan Brooks’s strong advocacy, the spear and shield combination became Amy’s minor.

Countless greatsword masters of later generations must have breathed a long sigh of relief—if not for Old Harper’s intervention, Amy really might have been forced astray by Ethan Brooks. That would have meant countless mercenaries and warriors who made a living as greatsword masters would have lost their profession.

Practicing two-handed swordsmanship is said to be a very tough and dangerous thing—at least, according to Ethan Brooks. According to the Chi family theory, except for the grip at the end, every other part of the two-handed greatsword is dangerous; when swinging it, you could easily injure small animals, like Little White or even Ethan Brooks himself. So, at Ethan Brooks’s insistence, Amy always practiced with a blunt sword made by the village blacksmith—20 kilograms, almost as heavy as a large axe. Of course, except for the two-handed sword used in the afternoons for chopping firewood—that one was the real deal.

Red Moon Calendar, Year 196.

At only eleven years old, Amy had already achieved astonishing results with the two-handed sword, especially making rapid progress in the areas of fierceness, power, and precision. According to Ethan Brooks’s assessment, Amy had already reached the level of Lake Harper in his prime. Without Little White’s help, Ethan Brooks’s spear couldn’t even get within range of Amy’s two-handed sword. If it was just a single-handed sword against Amy, Ethan Brooks could only rely on quick footwork to skirmish around Amy. Otherwise, his weapon would be knocked flying.

Faced with this situation, Ethan Brooks would always laugh wryly: a greatsword master, who should be known for agility and speed, ends up in a complete mess fighting a knight, who should be known for momentum and bravery, by relying on brute strength.

Of course, this was a situation Ethan Brooks absolutely didn’t want to see. While mocking, the mind of Ethan Brooks, worthy of being the neighbor of a demon, devised a new training plan for Amy.

Red Moon Calendar, Year 196, summer.

The four-year-long running training finally came to an end, and what followed was what the adult Amy would later call: three years of devilish hardship.

Every morning, Amy still had to get up very early, first diving headlong east into the dense snowy forest. Under the demon’s watchful eye, he had to take off all his clothes—except for a pair of shorts—and walk or run barefoot through the forest.

All the trees in the snowy forest, in order to withstand ten months of snow and ice, had needle-like leaves. To prevent water loss, the needles were coated with a thick layer of wax.

When these long needles pricked the skin, combined with the knife-like, bone-chilling wind, the pain, itchiness, and numbness… If you haven’t experienced it yourself, you simply can’t imagine what it feels like.

If you wanted to dodge all the crisscrossing branches and leaves, you had to move slowly, but then you couldn’t withstand the polar cold;

20

If you wanted to run fast to keep warm, you had to endure the pain of thousands of needle pricks. In the beginning, Amy fainted from the cold on the ground countless times. If not for the healing effects of Snow Moon Lake, Amy probably wouldn’t have survived.