Soul Art Online

- Arthas -

I woke up between Veena's breasts the next day… currently my favourite way to wake up.

That alone helped me look forward to the new day.

We got dressed up and left the room to find Bina already cooking in the kitchen while Rose was working on the accounts books from yesterday.

These two… when did they get up?

"Good Morning." I greeted the two and decided to do something productive too.

I had gained several skills and each one of them was useful so I decided to take some time to level them up.

Observation, Armament and Soru could be levelled at the same time. I wanted to get to a decent enough level. It would ensure that I could hold my own against the boss monsters.

In doing so I noticed that the speed of the two Haki levelling up was far lower with normal practice than it was with a fight. In fact, the speed of training Observation Haki on my own was just abysmal.

Around an hour later, breakfast was ready and we sat down to eat.

Bina was actually standing on the side, serving us but not eating together.

Was she really going to do this maid stuff the whole time?

"Bina." I called out to her.

"Yes. Do you need something?"

"Join us for breakfast."

"It's fine. I will have my breakfast after I am done serving." She replied.

"We can serve ourselves. Join us. We are all friends here. No need to act as a maid."

She paused for a moment and looked at me quietly.

The silence stretched more than I was comfortable with.

Finally it was Veena who broke the silence. "It's fine, Arthas. Bina… she does this because she likes this, not because someone forces her. Let her do as she wants."

"…oh." At that point I didn't know what I should say. So this woman had a maid fetish?

I mean the Lucifuge were made to serve the Lucifer House. Was it something hardwired in their DNA? I mean I remember Euclid also being a lackey to Rizevim so maybe it could. Who knows?

The silence was a bit awkward so I decided to concentrate on my food. "This is very good. You are a great cook, Bina."

"Thank you, Master Arthas."

…

I really didn't know how to deal with her. It's not like I didn't have maids. In fact I even had a butler assigned to me as my parents were very busy. Still… there was something about her professionalism which made even Albert, my butler seem like a novice… which he would be considering how long she has actually been working as a maid.

Veena sensed my awkwardness and initiated another conversation. "How is your training going? You don't look happy today."

"Ah… yes. My skills are not growing fast enough by training alone. I think I need to fight more to level them."

"Hmm, yes. Fighting is always better to learn. Actually, why don't you try going to the Knight's Academy? We need to get the bounty quest for the bosses too. Maybe you can try sparring with the Knights of Llyne? In fact, you can even try fighting with Damon. A T6 would be good enough to put pressure on you. And since it will be sparring, you won't die either."

"That… yes. Why didn't I think of that? Thank you, Veena. I will talk to Kenneth and train with them." Kenneth would obviously help out.

"Hmm, actually, you can take Rose with you too. She needs to get her skills levelled up as well."

I looked at the girl who looked embarrassed to ask me and nodded. "Sure. I don't see why not. She is a frontline fighter too. Maybe we can get to know each other and learn how to cooperate better."

After breakfast, we left for work.

Veena and Bina went to buy the properties we had seen while Rose and I left for the Knight's Academy.

Kenneth had been very helpful. In fact, the Knights often sparred against each other.

I was however a T5 and there were not many knights of that level. Kenneth himself was one and he himself accompanied me to a spar.

This was the first time I had fought a trained NPC of similar level and Kenneth was a Shield Knight, which meant his defence was rock solid.

I don't want to brag but I was pretty sure my attacks could hurt any Tier 5 but Kenneth, the guy was tanking my attacks as if they were no one's business.

Shield Knight had insane defence increase skills but the most annoying one was definitely the counter skills. They had a skill which could reflect damage from melee attacks and even melee skills. It meant one of my skills could be reflected if I went in carelessly and I could damage myself from a full powered attack of a Man Slayer.

Yeah, I didn't want that.

Although, training with him did increase Armament Haki faster than before. Even the speed of Observation was faster than normal.

The man was T5 Level 36 while I was just T5 Level 13. He had twenty six levels on me but I made up for that with my passive skills and still had more stats than him and he was still keeping up with me with skill and experience alone.

The man showed me that having skills is not important. How to use them was the most important thing. He could make me doubt that he was going to use his counter skills whenever I tried to use my skills, making me stop and change my move, even giving him some chance to counter attack. He was a master of mind games and it was my first time fighting against such a person. I… didn't like these kinds of opponents.

"That was a good spar. I haven't had a chance to move like that in a while. Just how do you train, kid? I am pretty sure you will surpass me in no time. Maybe you should try sparring with the City Lord. He is a Lord Knight with skills far beyond mine. You would learn a lot."

I suddenly remembered something and asked him the question which had been hounding my mind for a long time. "Say Kenneth. Doesn't one have to be a Tier 6 to be made the Lord of the City? Then how is the City Lord one with just a T5 Class?"

"Well, there are more than one reasons for that. First you do realise that there are around eight hundred cities in our Kingdom, right. There are obviously not that many Tier 6 to fill up the spaces. That's why if someone has the strength of a Sixth Tier and has made great contributions to the Kingdom, they can sometimes be granted the position of the City Lord. Our City Lord is one such individual."

"Strength of a Sixth Tier?"

"Hmm. Not all classes are of the same level. The difference between a Lord Knight and Sword and Shield Knights is great. They are the masters of both sword and shield, true experts so a very High Level Lord Knight can sometimes rival even some T6 people with skills alone. There is also the matter of extra skills, equipment and martial arts learned by the person to make up for the gap." He explained and I nodded in understanding.

"I see."

"Well, it's… not exactly a big secret but our lord is planning to sit for the assessment for the Grand Knight, a T6 Class."

"Knights have advancements beyond Lord Knight?" I asked, curious.

"Well obviously. There is the T6 Grand Knight and T7 Imperial Knight, the ones who protect the King and serve as both his sword and shield. There are only about a dozen of them in the entire Kingdom."

"What about the Holy Knights?"

"Oh, that's more of a Church thing. The Church holds a significant amount of power in the Kingdom as well. Holy Knights are those who use Light or Holy Magic with their skills. There are also Magic Knights who use Magic with Swordsmanship. They can be upgraded to Mystic Knight."

So Magic Knights are different. I had thought they were the predecessor class for Holy Knights.

I looked at him, slightly confused. "So aren't these two paths better than just physical knights?"

The man didn't look offended and instead laughed. "That depends on how you look at it. Light and Holy Magic can be used to heal and purify so it's very useful against dark creatures. Holy Knights are the strongest against such foes. Magic on the other hand is extremely versatile making the Magic Knights the most versatile ones. But that doesn't mean they are the strongest. While they have different skills, at the same time, their physical stats are lower than those of Grand Knights. Grand Knights can simply mow down the enemies with their superior strengths and speed so much so that if it's just a fight between the three types of Knights… we almost always win."

"If that's the case then why don't more people try becoming Grand Knights?"

"Who told you they don't? Tell me, can you use a Butcher's Knife for all your knife needs?"

"No."

"Exactly. And just like a chef needs different types of knives, a Kingdom needs different types of knights too. Each has enemies they are very good against and thus have their own advantages and disadvantages."

"Then how do we become a Grand Knight?" I asked.

"Oh, want to aim for that, do you? Well, I am sorry but I can't help you there. We don't know the requirements to become a Grand Knight except that you need to be a Lord Knight to even have the Class available. Also, since you are not a Lord Knight yet, let me tell you something which people don't always tell others. You should never select a Shield or Sword Knight even if you have them available. You cannot level up your skills later and unlock Lord Knight again. Once you select any of these two, your chances of getting a Lord Knight is permanently cut off. I… kinda got stuck on the same thing." He said, wincing slightly.

Damn… there are such things hidden in the game?

I am kinda glad I got Man Slayer when I did.

We talked for a while after which he sent some other Knights to spar against me. Safe to say I wrecked them all one-sidedly.

Rose also sparred with some of them and she was doing relatively well.

We left the Knight's Academy and went back to the guild.

On the way, I started a conversation with Rose.

"That was quite good.You are really talented with the Spear. Have you learned how to use a spear before?" I asked

"Oh yes. It was in the Valkyrie Academy back at home…" She paused, probably by the thoughts of home.

I didn't know her well enough so I didn't know what to say here so I gave her some time before speaking again.

"There is an academy to train Valkyries? That sounds quite fantastical. I… am sorry if I am very curious. It's just that all this is… quite new to me and I can't help but be curious. You can obviously tell me if I ask something I shouldn't. I am not really familiar with what I can and cannot ask." I smiled, embarrassedly.

"N-no. It's fine. It's not a big deal."

"So, what else do they teach in the Valkyrie Academy?" I asked.

Rose started explaining and after a while we were having fun. She was quite enthusiastic when explaining things and by the end of it, I wasn't even trying to make small talk and was actually enjoying learning about the world.

The novels had been so vague, concentrating more on boobs than on the grand world outside to explore.

By the time we reached home, she was in a much better mood than she had been in all the time I had known her.