Crack!!

That was the sound of the image of a powerful expert being shattered. All of the disciples were speechless.

Someone who had such bearing when his mouth was shut, someone that possessed power that few could contend with, when he opened his mouth… he wasn't some floating cloud like Richard instead he was comparable to common bandits in his way of talking. It was shocking beyond belief..

“Listen up you foolish disciple, the twin swords are the hardest weapon to master. Not just anyone can wield two weapons simultaneously, however those who do have a big advantage against anyone using only one weapon within the same skill level.” The middle-aged man once again gave a heroic feeling as he talked about this matter, that left people helpless at his capability for enhancing and destroying his image in a short span of three seconds.

The speech left people really interested in the twin swords. If someone could have an edge against someone at the same level then it would undoubtedly be something that would set them apart from the crowd. No one was even thinking about the “hardest to train” part because as youngsters they all thought themselves to be extremely capable.

Mentor 1 that was just watching from the side sighed and spoke in an unwilling voice as if saying what he was about to say would lead to a calamity. “It's not just hard to train in the art of the twin swords, it's extremely hard and the difference is nowhere near as big as this fool is saying, someone with just one weapon can still contend with a twin swords user. Also most of the time because of its difficulty people fall behind in their martial prowess and cultivation which means that instead of having an advantage they end up being easily defeated.”

With that said he looked around hoping that his warning had been enough to prevent the new disciples from falling into the trap that was learning the twin swords. However, it seemed his efforts were for naught because every disciple still had stars in their eyes and were looking at the twin swords that were laid on various shelfs.

He was about to give a few more discouraging words when the middle-aged man gave a cold snort and viciously looked in Richard's direction “ Hmph, what fool?”

“ I am the First Elder of our Sacred Bond Martial House.”

“You are bad mouthing the practice of the twin swords because you know you are inferior to me!” That so-called First Elder laughed heartily as if that was his proudest achievement.

Mentor 1 totally ignored him, he worried that a lot of good disciples would be wasted because of what the fool said.

[ We have such talented disciplines this time around, I need to make sure he doesn't ruin them like he did in the past. ]

Suddenly, like a switch, his face beamed. “It’s true that experts in the twin swords tend to win against other experts of the same level, however, if you look at the top 100 experts in the Grandfort city zone you will see that only two use the twin swords.”

Brows were immediately raised, if it was better than just one weapon why were there so little experts on the top 100 ranking?!

Watching those reactions the smile in Richard's face gradually got bigger just as the frown in the First Elder’s face gradually became more pronounced . “I believe you are wondering why that is, right?”

“That's because time is a limited resource. The cultivation path already requires a lot of focus, if you have to spend most of it on learning a much harder weapon you will undoubtedly be left behind.”

This new development caused the previous excitement over the twin swords to die down. Only one person seemed to remain resolute…

Aegon had been watching this whole ordeal from the sidelines, he wasn't really sure what the First Elder was talking about in the beginning, but he then moved his eyes in the direction of the poor youth who had been caught in a fight of the older generation.

He was fascinated by that sword, it looked… badass.

He completely ignored the warnings Mentor 1 had given and looked around until he found a similar set of swords. This one seemed to have been made for ceremonial usage. Both swords had coiling dragon patterns on their black hilts that could only be seen when the weapon was resting on one's hand.

“These swords are super cool, whoever designed them has very good taste.” In his excitement he forgot where he was and started posing, strapping the swords to his back and standing ramrod straight as if he was some lonely hero.

“Pfff, what the hell is that Aegon guy doing? What a kid.”

Hearing the nearby laughter he got embarrassed and silently went to register his choice with Richard.

Mentor 1 was all smiles right now, 45 of the 52 disciples had already registered their weapons and no one had chosen the twin swords.

[ Hahahaha this year not a single disciple chose a set of swords! Finally, I was getting tired of seeing good seedlings waste their time on something so hard only for a small, almost negligible advantage…]

His thoughts were cut short when Aegon walked in front of him with twin swords in hand, ready to register his choice.

[ I guess there’s always one idiot...]

Sighing, he registered Aegon's choice and shot a glance to that middle-aged man who was already smiling broadly.