Lord of the Myriad Worlds

Chapter 189: Recovery Training

For the next half-month, George truly took things easy.

Mornings were spent sitting on the garden bench in the sun, or walking slow circuits around the residential quarter — gentle movement, nothing strenuous, listening to his body work its way from damage through healing and back toward its natural functioning.

He didn't complain about meals. One serving of free white bread per day was more than adequate. Supplementing his own table was not on the agenda.

Xiao Ning would give him professional therapeutic massage after dinner — entirely above board, the legitimate kind. She left at eight in the evening. A Weir Academy-trained maid was a proper profession, not something to be treated cheaply.

The days passed pleasantly, a gentle rhythm of recovery and rest. Something like the proverbial beauty of a sunset viewed in peace, life at ease and unhurried.

The townhouse itself, it turned out, was a One-Star Building — providing a daily recovery rate of 1% Life, 1% Spiritual Power, and 5% Stamina. George felt the difference. His recovery was noticeably faster than it would have been in a standard dormitory.

"My lord, your recovery has been progressing well. Would you like to begin some rehabilitative exercises? Gradual progression, of course — you still need to avoid any sudden bursts of exertion."

"Sure, sounds good."

George felt he could already operate at about eighty percent capacity, possibly ninety without re-aggravating the wound — but gradual progression was exactly the right advice, and he knew it.

The pedestrian path in front of the house made for an acceptable training space. Aside from a few maids hurrying past with children in tow at meal times, the neighbors were rarely visible. Everyone, it seemed, was occupied.One morning, the sun was bright but the temperature had dropped — around ten degrees above zero. George retrieved the heavy training wooden sword from the supplies he'd brought back.

Worth noting: although it was a training weapon, it was One-Star quality, which was why it had come through intact.

Xiao Ning produced a one-handed sword and shield from her One-Star Resource Card.

"Xiao Ning, what do your parents do?"

"My father is a Three-Star Mercenary, currently deployed on a mission. My mother is a Three-Star Tavern Attendant. Neither she nor I are required to go to the front lines. I also have a younger brother — he's in his first year at Weir Academy in the Lord-track program. He says he wants to be a Lord someday."

Xiao Ning answered promptly, her voice bright, as if she wore a happiness aura as a permanent accessory.

George found himself wondering: second-generation players who came through proper institutions — they probably got matched into a different kind of Rookie storyline than he had. He'd heard the native Tuck mention that the barbarian tribes in northern Weir Province had been causing problems. Maybe there was another family's rise-from-nothing story playing out up there.

While he was thinking, he raised the heavy wooden sword with both hands and swung slowly through a few arcs. His right arm felt fine. No discomfort at all.

"My lord — are you skilled with two-handed swords?"

Xiao Ning had already settled into a ready stance across from him.

"Skilled is generous. I picked up some basics from a couple of mercenaries, mostly improvised."

He spoke, stepped forward, and delivered one clean diagonal strike against Xiao Ning's raised shield. Light force — forty percent, maybe. He didn't want to risk damaging his own recovery, and he didn't want to knock her flat either.

The result was unexpected. The instant his blow landed, Xiao Ning launched into a flowing sequence: shield counter, shield bash, and while the rebound sent his wooden sword wide, she pivoted smoothly at the waist, leapt, and drove her own blade at his throat with textbook-perfect form.

It was excellent technique.

It simply didn't work. In the same instant, George had already stepped back and to the side — without any visible effort — letting the thrust pass harmlessly. His wooden sword completed a half-spin in the air, redirected her blade away, and then extended forward noiselessly until the tip rested against Xiao Ning's throat.

All of that in under a second. No deliberate artistry. No Tracker title equipped, no active Perception attribute — but his senses were still terrifyingly sharp.

He'd kept the black-robed Witch's furious swordsmanship locked in his mind's eye during their battle, had pressed her step by relentless step with no thought for himself. Xiao Ning was a more manageable proposition.

Xiao Ning, for her part, was genuinely baffled. She was fairly certain she had just executed a perfectly clean combo: shield parry, jump-forward thrust. That was academy-standard. It would have drawn applause from instructors and classmates alike.

So why had her sword ended up knocked aside? Why was she already dead?

She had clearly parried his two-handed sword out of the way. So how was it suddenly here? This simply wasn't logical.

She blinked. Stepped back. Tried to reorganize. George stepped back equally. And no matter which direction she came from — counterattack, defensive counter, straight defense — within two or three seconds, the heavy wooden sword found her throat. In the exact same spot, every time.

After several rounds of this, Xiao Ning was in something approaching a small existential crisis.

"My lord — how is a two-handed sword faster than my one-handed sword? How are you doing this?"

"Is there a difference?"

George shifted the heavy wooden sword to his left hand and, without thinking, spun it through two casual circles. Perfect. Not a wobble.

Xiao Ning stared. So her lord was left-handed.

Even that aside — she had picked up that training sword while tidying the house. It was at least five kilograms.

"My lord, you must be very powerful." She conceded without reservation.

"Not particularly — somewhere above average."

George said it plainly. This wasn't false modesty. It was him remembering the black-robed Witch Mixi, the Grand Witch Luna, and Hathaway — who had gone stroke for stroke with Luna. In their company, he was genuinely outclassed.

"Shall I find you a proper sparring partner, my lord? I'm concerned I can't provide you with enough of a challenge."

"No need. This is fine. You said gradual progression yourself — what we just did is exactly that. Come on, again."

George waved her back with encouragement. There was a lot to learn from watching Xiao Ning's shield-and-sword approach — both the attacking sequences and the defensive patterns. He was picking up things. That mattered.

Recovery training didn't call for a hired sparring specialist. Every gold coin counted.

Xiao Ning was frustrated, but she was also trying hard. George wasn't torturing her on purpose — he was only at forty percent — but suffice to say she walked home with a noticeable limp that evening. Though she had also clearly benefited. George could feel it — her early attacks had been almost theatrical, technically polished but somehow hollow. As the session got serious, there was an edge to them that hadn't been there before.

George's own gains were more substantial, though not in the way of swordsmanship mastery.

What did he actually know about sword technique? Nothing systematic.

What he had was sharper-than-normal perception. He could read micro-tension in an opponent's muscles — a tiny shift, and he already knew what was coming. Paired with his high environmental awareness and his body's flexibility, balance, and coordination — not world-class, but solidly above the serviceable line — the result against someone like Xiao Ning was complete domination.

In the mission world, his regular sparring partner had been Li Zhengxing, also a two-hander. A sword-and-shield opponent was a first.

So even within this rehabilitation context, he was already beginning to work through the specific problem: if he faced a sword-and-shield fighter more capable than Xiao Ning — someone like Clyde — what would he need to do differently? The questions touched on coordination, refined movement sequences, and the practical limitations of his current weapon configuration.

For instance, the heavy training sword was, in reality, not an ideal weapon.

After Xiao Ning had gone home, George stood outside the door in the cooling air, still thinking. He was almost tempted to carve a new training sword himself on the spot — or rather, to commission a proper one.

His hand went habitually to his side, and he almost laughed at himself. He needed to go retrieve his equipment from the Arbitrary Door. Now, actually.

About an hour later, a carriage stopped at Wind Residence No. 53. George returned quietly, carrying a large storage box.

He swiped his Residence Card at the door. The magical lamp inside came on automatically, casting a warm amber glow.

George settled himself and focused on the card reader on the box for one second. Three Profession Cards flickered briefly from his brow — and with a satisfying click, the lid opened.

Inside: his six chosen rewards.

The Bronze-Quality Clearance Token, the Two-Star Pet Card, and the Five-Star Retention Card dissolved the moment they contacted his palm — absorbed into himself invisibly, like a serial key or passcode encoding itself into his Profession Cards.

【You have received a Two-Star Pet Card. Activate now? Note: once activated, this card will automatically bind to your Hunter Card. As this is your second bound Pet Card, there will be some additional strain on the Hunter Card during binding. In general, more Pet Cards means greater strain. Current cost: 5 points of Hunter Destiny Grid to complete binding.】

【Note: a Two-Star Pet Card can accommodate pets or mounts of larger body type. Summoning such a pet or mount is subject to a time limit — typically 3x your current Stamina value. At your current Stamina of 250, summoning duration would be 750 seconds. Cooldown: 24 hours.】

【Note: unless the pet is something like a magical construct, a living creature requires daily provision of food, water, fodder, and so on. Failure to provide sustenance will result in the pet's death.】

【Note: if a One-Star Cavalry Card is later bound, this Pet Card can be transferred to the Cavalry Card at no additional cost — assuming the stored creature is a mount.】

—

A lot of conditions attached.

His first thought was of Little John — white horse, silver lance, firing from both sides at a full gallop outside Kakh City. Sharp, glorious, genuinely impressive.

But a horse was expensive. Worth thinking through first.

George exercised deliberate restraint. Hunter Destiny Grid points didn't come cheap. Spending five points now — without a matching increase in combat capability — was a net loss. And once the Pet Card was bound, he'd need to buy a horse, prepare fodder and water, find a saddle and stirrups, possibly archery equipment for mounted use. His Three-Star War Bow would require him to stand in the stirrups to fire from horseback. All of that together was a significant outlay of gold.

And a mediocre pack animal would be pointless — surely he'd want a quality warhorse for this to matter.

For now, that was just a money pit with no floor. He set it aside.

Next, the Noble Crest Armor. The moment he picked it up, he felt the added weight — roughly five kilograms more than before. The leather torso had been reinforced with strips and plates of refined steel at critical zones and over previous damage sites. Not a huge quantity — around two hundred inlaid pieces.

That explained the encumbrance jump from +2 to +6. Three points of Agility simply negated.

But the defensive performance was genuinely impressive.

Three-Star quality: Torso Defense +18, vital-area Defense +30. Combined with his existing 14 Defense, standard bodkin arrows would most likely struggle to penetrate. Even a crossbow bolt would have a significant portion of its impact absorbed.

The armor's traits had also been restructured and refined:

【Trait 1: Moving through forest and shadow, you gain effective concealment.】

【Trait 2: Trade +8. No unscrupulous merchant dares overcharge a noble — not to a lord's face. (Ineffective against players. Effective against second-generation or later descendants of players who have never served on the battlefield.)】

【Trait 3: Absolute Defense. The Reputation you accumulated in Kakh City and Victor Town — which could not be carried out of the mission world — was channeled into reforging this Noble Crest. The armor has been imbued with magical properties, and that Reputation now rests within it as three magical charges. When a high-lethality attack or weapon strikes the region of your heart, one charge of Absolute Defense will trigger automatically.】

【Trait Description: The Noble Crest is not only a symbol of status — it is a protector. After Absolute Defense triggers three times, the Crest temporarily deactivates. To recharge it by one use, you must channel at least 500 Reputation of any type, or commission a mage at significant expense — 100 gold per charge.】

【Current Charges: 3 / 3】

—

That was remarkable.

Felt powerful. The cost to recharge was also genuinely severe.

George was deeply satisfied. He made a silent note of gratitude to the farmers of Kakh City and Victor Town — and, with equal sincerity, to Hathaway and the unknown Armorsmith who had done this work. He doubted Hathaway had anticipated this outcome either.

'I'll have to thank her properly, next time we meet.'

He set the armor down and picked up the cowhide boots. Less dramatic, but still worthwhile.

Leg Defense +6. Agility +2.

【Trait: These boots have been touched by a master craftsman. Their quality ensures genuine comfort. During sustained travel and long-distance charge, Stamina consumption -1%.】

Finally, the dagger.

Three-Star quality. Base Damage +60.

【Trait 1: Armor-Piercing. When the wielder's Strength exceeds 20 points, all Three-Star standard chain armor, chainmail, or leather armor defense is bypassed entirely. Alternatively, any combined Defense value of 30 or below is ignored. Note: successful Armor-Piercing may inflict some wear on the weapon itself.】

【Trait 2: Bleeding. When the target lacks effective means to stop the bleeding, a passive bleed of 15–30 HP per second is applied, continuing until death.】

【Trait 3: Disabling. When a vital area or joint is struck, the target is disabled — movement reduced by 90% for ten seconds.】

【Trait 4: Critical Strike. Landing three consecutive effective hits on the same target causes the fourth hit to trigger 300% critical damage. Note: if this still isn't enough to kill them, might I suggest you die first?】