Chapter 11: Magic Runes

The basic magic rune of 【Sword Strike Slash】 is not much different from that of 【Sword Strike】; it is formed by adding an outward-projecting magic rune combination to the basic magic rune of 【Sword Strike】.

David demonstrated the magic rune of 【Sword Strike Slash】 in front of William once; the magic light twined around the blade of the iron sword in his hand, exactly the same as William remembered when performing 【Sword Strike】.

Magic runes, or magic arrays, are specific magic patterns obtained by running mana along a specific trajectory and manner; each magic array or rune has its unique effect.

The difference lies in that the former generates mana by the caster circulating it internally or externally during casting, whereas the latter pre-etches the mana's trajectory onto a weapon or tool, and simply infusing mana internally activates it.

Immediately, David swung his sword at a large tree about ten meters away that two people could barely encircle; the Magic Light twining around the blade transformed into a crescent-shaped sword qi that instantly shot out from the blade and pierced the tree's trunk.

A few seconds later, the tree's trunk, like melted ice cream in children's hands, slowly fell from where the roots met the trunk.

Huh—crack—crack!

After a loud roar, the tree's trunk slumped sideways onto the ground, breaking about half of the branches of the small tree next to it.

"Mmm, so cool!" William exclaimed involuntarily.

In his previous life, William had always wanted to learn 【Sword Strike Slash】, but limited by his very small amount of mana, being able to cast 【Sword Strike】 a few times was already his limit, let alone learning such a mana-consuming technique.

Although David's 【Sword Strike Slash】 is a skill that even black-iron-rank adventurers can master, hearing his son's sincere praise, he couldn't help feeling proud, scratched his head and said happily: "Alright, this time it's your turn to give it a try."

William drew the iron sword from his leather sword sheath, gripped the hilt with both hands and raised the sword, imitating David's earlier steps to begin casting; he remembered his father's first step was directly performing the skill 【Sword Strike】, so relying on his past-life memory he also directly performed 【Sword Strike】; mana surged from within him, gradually solidifying into sword qi that began to condense on the blade.

At the instant William finished running the magic rune within his body, a complete light-blue sword qi wrapped around the blade of the long sword he held; although the mana of the sword qi on the blade was not as strong as David's, its sharpness and inward concentration were not inferior to David's sword qi.

The few onlookers felt the refinement of the sword qi mana on William's blade, and couldn't help marveling at his talent; even David, a senior swordsman, felt somewhat ashamed.

Xierna exclaimed in surprise: "Oh my, little William's talent is not bad! David, you'd better watch out lest your son surpass you."

"William won't surpass me; I'm the one who needs to worry?" David said with a laugh.

As adventurers with nearly twenty years of experience, they naturally understood how impressive the level of mana refinement William was displaying was.

Such a high level of mana refinement can only be obtained in two ways: one is through years of arduous, day‑after‑day training; the other is being called a genius or talented by the world.

David and the others were unaware of how much effort William had expended in his previous life to master the 【Sword Strike】 technique, so they naturally believed he possessed a talent for mana control that made them quite envious.

Of course, William was unaware of these thoughts in David's mind; although he also showed a surprised expression, his surprise lay in how easily he could execute the 【Sword Strike】 skill.

To put it bluntly, in his previous life William's magical aptitude was stellar, yet without focusing one hundred percent of his mental power, it was impossible for him to successfully execute the 【Sword Strike】 skill,

He therefore felt, for the first time after his Rebirth, how advantageous it was to possess magical aptitude a notch above others.

Of course, this is merely his own feeling that his magical talent is one level higher.

Afterwards, William, following his father David's recent demonstration, continued attempting to fuse the outward‑projecting magic rune onto the 【Sword Strike】 magic rune; relying on the super‑strong mana control honed in his previous life, the two magic runes merged smoothly.

Feeling the change in the sword‑qi mana fluctuation on William's blade, David advised from the side: "Good, well done; next you just need to release the sword qi."

William swung his sword hard at the trunk of the large tree that David had felled on the ground, but the sword‑qi filaments wrapped around the blade remained still and did not shoot out as he had imagined.

He tried slashing a few more times, but the sword qi still failed to shoot out; finally, the sword qi on the blade dissipated as William's technique was interrupted.

"Where did I go wrong?" William asked, puzzled.

David was also a bit doubtful, saying: "Your steps are fine; this way, project the magic rune outward outside your body and let me see if your magic rune has a problem."

William complied with his father's request, circulating mana to trace the magic rune in the air before him.

The first step, tracing the magic rune of 【Sword Strike】, was completed; to David it seemed flawless, and one could say William had drawn it perfectly.

Then the second step, tracing the outward‑projecting magic rune, was also completed smoothly, with no issues.

David felt a doubt arise: "Could it be that the problem lies in their fusion?"

When William reached the third step and began fusing the two magic runes into one, David finally understood the problem and said:

"Your two magic runes are fine on their own, but the amount of mana you used to inscribe them was somewhat restrained, which also caused them to be out of sync when fused, so the fused rune produces no effect."

"Just managing to fuse them together is already a miracle; I must say, little William, your control over mana is astonishing— for anyone else, not only would it fail to work, but fusion itself would be impossible."

Xierna beside them added her comment, and Geilan and the others nodded in agreement.

William asked doubtfully: "What's wrong with using little mana to inscribe the magic rune?"

David said: "If you're performing a single‑magic‑rune skill or spell, using little mana is not a problem; in fact it helps avoid wasting mana. But when you cast a combined‑type magic rune, you also need to pay attention to how each individual rune influences the other."

For example, 【Sword Strike Slash】 consists of an outward‑projecting magic rune acting upon the 【Sword Strike】 magic rune; therefore the mana strengths of the two runes must be in a certain ratio, otherwise they will fall out of sync, causing the combined rune to dissipate and fail to take effect.

"In other words, I need to inscribe these two runes with two different amounts of mana to make them work, right?" William asked.

David nodded and said: "Exactly, that's how it is."