[N-POV]

Armored Dragon Calendar, K418.

Claude is quite delusional.

It is true that he doesn’t understand the rules on mastery classification that differentiate between classes above the Saint Grade.

For each style, they had a different type of mastery name for their title.

For example, a sword god needs to be strong enough to defeat the current sword god to have the title.

But, for the water god style, one needed to master all the techniques in order to be called a water god.

Then there's the North God.

Leaving aside the technique god that we haven’t heard of all this time, and the living Dragon god,

There aren't any clear rules for becoming a North God because only immortal swordsmen from the Kalman lineage have held the North God ranks in the history of the game. However, anyone can be referred to as a North God if the majority of people believe they are.

Funny, right?

Every god's title had a different point for one to reach the title standard.

Which means the fact that Claude classified his other styles by himself is quite delusional.

He can only rank it based on the way Garus, the North Sword Saint, and Paul classified themselves.

Why am I suddenly explaining this? It’s because of Claude’s 4th memory.

In this memory, he learnt more about the fighting styles of all the people this 4th version interacted with.

Unlike the other 3 versions, this fourth one actually had more "experience" in regards to these kinds of things.

Did it mean that the 4th version is another prodigy in the other style version?

No, he’s the most normal Claude of all the versions we've met until now.

It can be said that he’s one of the closest main timelines to where Claude died in Metastasis.

Then again, how would we know?

Claude’s Miko ability is a big mystery by itself. It’s still unknown what this ability can do and what it can’t do.

For now, Claude has summarized that he can receive the other Claude’s memories, but all of them came from a dream.

They are like pieces of puzzles that Claude needed to gather and solve piece by piece, making it hard for him to retrieve the needed memories.

Not all of the memories can be recovered as they don’t have eidetic memory. All he can recover is the memory where the sender deeply wishes to share it with Claude.

Right now, Claude is still in the City of Crime.

Filling in for the missing Somar, who took his leave to visit his parents' graves.

Somar headed to the great forest and was given the task of creating a hub with Claude’s disciples in the Dedoldia tribe while also training them in espionage.

Although Somar can’t be said to be the best in this line of work, he’s a great leader who can command the group.

As Claude cleans up the operation and organizes the group more, he and C implement one reform after another, snuffing out any spy sent by another group while keeping potential double agents at bay.

"This place became better after 2 weeks, huh, right C?"

"Yes sir, I never thought there’d be this many things that needed to be fixed in this group. It’s fortunate that we can tie up some loose ends.

The fact that Somar can do it this well is already great. It’s not like he’s someone that's being taught like you guys, although he’s better in his command and decision-making. Somar is still 14, not at an age where he can be perfect...

C simply stares at the boy in front of him, who can almost do everything perfectly.

Even if he wanted to deny his statement, he knew well that Somar, Mike, and Claude were different entities and couldn’t be called normal.

They are the best in their area of expertise.

As Claude stood behind them like a behemoth, Mike and Somar moved steadily under his tutelage.

Though, Mike is actually quite a prodigy himself. C and the others can’t really see this now since Mike actually used Claude as an umbrella to make him look more normal and gauge those from Arbalest.

Mike is more of a schemer than a merchant.

No, a merchant is a schemer too...

These 2 weeks are enough for the Underground A to fortify their standing in the city of crime.

This allows their surveillance to improve.

The Millis Continent is important to Arbalest because Underground A is their "eyes and ears" on the area around it.

This is the Arbalest information network from the darkness.

With this, as long as they can grow, with more time, Arbalest can create a better foothold in both the Central Continent and the Millis Continent.

It enabled them to fortify their foundation in this world.

"We just don't have a world power to help us develop further."

Claude said, while C nodded at the remark.

With a world-ranked person under their banner, they can move safely as the name of world power was something a person was afraid of.

Although even without one, they can still be a humongous entity by themselves. They still require a deterrent to make others afraid of offending them.

"Anyway, has there been any report on the target?"

"Yes, the target has been sighted moving in the city..." But, she seems to be younger than the drawings suggest...

"Oh? That should be normal. The drawings are the target 3 years from now, after all. Well, let’s have a meeting with the target for now. "

"That would be a problem, sir."

"Why?"

The target is being accompanied by a strong person. We can’t actually get close to them. "

"Eh, it should be alright..."

As he said that, C accompanied Claude and moved to the target’s location.

....

..

"Why did you bring me here, grandma?"

You need to know the world. This place is the best place for you to understand that not everything in this world is just black and white. Isolte, my dear granddaughter,...

Reida Reia, the current water god, is currently walking around with her granddaughter, Isolte Cruel.

The Water God is one of the sword styles known in this world, as the current water god, Reida Reia, sees Isolte as her successor and teaches Isolte with care. She didn’t wish her successor to be blinded by justice and painted with crime.

The city of crime might be filled with something the water god didn’t wish for her granddaughter to see, but for her to realize what the world is. It’s something Isolte needed to grow up the right way.

She had the same experience when her teacher brought her here along with her fellow disciples.

What makes the Water God Sword style special is the fact that she didn’t need to be the strongest. Out of all her fellow disciples of the same master, she’s not the strongest. There’s more that’s stronger than her, but the fact that she can learn the last techniques her master taught them was the turning point, allowing her to be the inheritor of the Water God title.

I won’t ask you about your progress in flow, but what about the five secret arts? Is there any progress? "

I’m sorry master, I’ve yet to progress them well. "

Until now, there were 2 techniques of the Water God Sword Style that were known by sword masters.

Flow: The basic counter-attack technique that can be applied to all the techniques of the Water God Style. This technique, once mastered, is said to be able to return any attack that comes in the user's way. Though it is a basic technique and not one of the Five Secret Arts, the school considers it the backbone of the style and the most important technique.

The Five Secret Arts: The collective name of the five undisclosed ultimate techniques of the Water God Style. Even just one of the arts is extremely hard to master, and when at least three of them have been perfected, the individual is qualified to be a water god.

"I see. polish your flow more. Then you will, sooner or later, understand the intricacies of the five secret arts.

"I understand, Master."

While the pair of master and disciple continued with their walk, Claude suddenly appeared before them with a smile, while C followed behind him.

She already knows, based on her previous experience, that the boy in front of her is a force to be reckoned with.

She has more clout than her disciple.

"Water God, Reida Reia... I’ve taken an interest in your granddaughter and wish to court her. Can I have the opportunity to do so? "

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