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He succeeded—fast.
At this moment, Alex could clearly feel his body strengthening several times over.This battle-qi technique was seriously insane.
Busujima Saeko and Kuroki Maiya watched him pick it up in an instant, and both women showed that not-gonna-lose expression as they doubled down on their own training.
Alex smiled, then went to get the Three Great Sword Styles from Roxy and started reading.
After finishing, he understood.
The so-called Three Great Sword Styles were basically philosophies rather than fixed techniques.
Take Sword God Style, for example. Its idea was simple: speed beats everything.
The whole style was about being fast, precise, ruthless, and steady.
Put bluntly, it was similar to the sakura country's iaijutsu—kill in a single stroke before the enemy even realizes what happened.
In other words, ambush first, strike first, never give the opponent a chance.
It wasn't a refined style. It was simple, straightforward, leaning completely on speed and destructive power.
Water God Style, on the other hand, focused on defense. It relied on pure counterattacking—"the enemy moves, I don't; respond to all changes by not changing."
It emphasized attack and defense as one, using blocks and counters to deal with threats. At higher levels, it could even counter magic.
But Water God Style had one flaw: if the enemy didn't make the first move, you couldn't do anything.
Finally, North God Style's focus was survival. In battle, any tactic was fair game, even sacrificing yourself if necessary.
It aimed for vital points, fought dirty, and used every trick imaginable without any concern for honor or morals.
While the three philosophies seemed simple, the diversity and tactical depth behind them were massive.
Each suited different personalities.
For someone like Artoria, learning North God Style was obviously impossible.
Alex, on the other hand, had no such moral restrictions—so he planned to learn all of them.
He found an empty space near the camp, projected a katana, and began practicing.
Thanks to his "Grandmaster Martial Arts," he learned extremely fast.
After only a few repetitions, he completely grasped all three styles and integrated their theories into his own martial arts.
His path toward martial mastery took another step forward.
"Shame I don't have their ultimate arts. That'd make things perfect," he muttered, sheathing the katana before returning to rest.
Before long, Sella and Leysritt finished making dinner.
Everyone gathered around, eating and chatting comfortably.
Afterward, they each returned to their tents.
Alex did the same—needed to sleep early since he had second-half guard duty.
Meanwhile, back at a certain inn on Orario's North Street.
In the same room Alex used to stay in, the Amazon girl knocked right on time.
But this time, it wasn't Alex who opened the door—it was a stranger.
After asking, she learned he'd checked out.
Disappointed, the Amazon girl turned and left.
Alex slept until three in the morning before waking up.
Maybe it was because he didn't get a massage tonight… or because they were camping. Either way, he slept terribly.
He got dressed and stepped out of the tent, finding Roxy on guard duty.
She was holding a book—the one where she recorded all kinds of magecraft from the Type-Moon world.
Seeing him, she lowered the book. "It's not your shift yet."
"I know. I just had to take a leak," Alex waved her off.
Instead of walking away, he stopped right in front of her, unbuckled, and started peeing.
He had his back to her, but the loud sound of running water made Roxy blush furiously.
"Idiot, could you not go a little farther!?" she snapped through clenched teeth.
"This is a dungeon. What if something happens? If you're embarrassed, just turn around," Alex replied in complete steel-straight-man fashion.
"You—!" Roxy was so angry she couldn't speak.
A moment later, she spun around, grabbed her book, and rushed back to her tent. Before ducking inside, she waved at him."Since you're already up, cover an extra hour for me. I'm going back to sleep!"
She shut the tent before he could protest.
Alex shook his head, amused.
With a quick water-ball spell, he washed his hands.
Then he projected various weapons and started martial-arts practice.
One hour passed just like that.
Around four in the morning, he stopped, sat on the ground, took out a pile of magic stones, and began circulating the Northern Dark Divine Art to absorb their magic.
God, it felt amazing.
Like an addiction—getting worse every time.
Since his blessing had just been updated, his magic stat had been reset to zero.
He could absorb freely without worrying about blowing himself up.
By six, after who-knows-how-many stones, he finally felt full.
He stopped, pulled out ingredients, and began making breakfast.
Soon after, the girls woke up one by one.
When they exited their tents, a full spread of breakfast was already waiting.
"Tsk tsk, finally getting to eat the captain's cooking again. Last time was at the Einzbern castle," Merlin said, savoring the smell.
"Strong enough to fight, capable enough to cook… truly a perfect captain," Saeko added.
"I'm not that good. Go wash up and eat. I already finished," Alex said as he stood and walked off.
The girls didn't hesitate—they washed up with water magic (the party had no shortage of mages) and started eating.
After breakfast, everyone packed up to begin another day.
Upon entering the 25th floor, everything changed.
Rivers ran everywhere, and huge caverns with flowing water made the place look like an underground riverbed.
Except even real underground rivers weren't this massive.
"Where does all this water come from?" Roxy asked curiously.
"This place connects to the sea outside. There's no shortage," Alex replied.
"And how do you know that? The Guild's notes never mentioned it," Roxy questioned, visibly puzzled.
Alex didn't answer.
Because this was tied to his biggest secret—bigger than the chat group.
The whole group had hacks, but he alone knew the story of each member's world. It was like having a cheat inside a cheat.
Everyone had selfish thoughts. Alex was no different.
With foreknowledge, he could stay ahead of everyone.
Surpassing Luo Hao and Hestia wouldn't take long.
But if he shared his knowledge, what advantage would he have left?
First to move, first to win.
The group might look friendly, but everyone had a competitive streak.
Alex had no intention of getting dragged into that.
He planned to stay in the lead.
Seeing he didn't want to talk, Roxy dropped the subject.
They followed a riverbank for a while, until countless crab-like monsters burst from the water, surrounding them.
Along with the crabs were several merman-like creatures—more like the fishmen from League of Legends than mermaids.
The moment they appeared, Roxy, Merlin, and Morgan activated their spells.
Merlin tapped her staff lightly, and a defensive barrier enveloped the group.
The water arrows shot by the crabs and fishmen all bounced harmlessly off the barrier.
At the same time, Morgan cast lightning and Roxy cast ice spears, quickly thinning the enemy.
But the crabs and fishmen kept coming, crawling out of the river nonstop.
At that moment, Irisviel used magecraft—Metal Morphing.
She produced silver threads that transformed into metallic bird familiars, diving toward the monsters.
Unfortunately, it barely made a dent.
Morgan clicked her tongue. "This isn't working. I'm using my Noble Phantasm."
"No, let me," Alex interrupted, quickly projecting a bow.
He fired an arrow straight up, and a rain of arrows came pouring down from the sky.
Under the downpour, the monsters' numbers rapidly decreased.
Then he shouted to the mages, "Use lightning magic—hit the water!"
They instantly understood. Impure water conducted electricity.
Next second, Merlin, Morgan, and Roxy unleashed lightning into the river.
A surge of current spread across the water, frying every crab and fishman inside instantly.
Meanwhile, the ones on land were wiped out entirely by Alex's arrow volleys.
"Impressive as always, Captain. Quick thinking," Merlin praised with a grin.
Alex shot her a look but said nothing.
She complimented him so often it was getting tiresome.
"We're rich. Look at all these materials and magic stones!" Roxy exclaimed.
"After this expedition, we can finally get a bigger base," Irisviel said with a bright smile.
Crowding in that old church every day was horrible.
She'd wanted to move out for ages.
"This is motivation," Morgan agreed.
Clearly, she didn't want to live in a church either.
"..."
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