The meat in the Starry Sky Continent is quite abundant, and the warriors must eat meat in order to ensure sufficient combat effectiveness, and the Firelight Mercenary Group has a carriage dedicated to holding all kinds of food.

Fresh fruits and vegetables are eaten within a day or two of leaving town, leaving only a limited number of foods such as air-dried pork, beans, potatoes and brown bread that are easy to preserve. Although food such as sausages, dried sausages, and ham can also be kept for many days, the price is much more expensive than air-dried meat, and ordinary mercenary groups are reluctant to eat it, so they can only eat some during holidays.

No matter how abundant the meat is, it is impossible for the civilians of the Starry Sky Continent to eat meat every day, especially those poor farmers, who may not be able to eat meat once a month. Even if they had meat, they would sell it in exchange for more coarse grains.

"I've never eaten anything so bad. Lear replied honestly.

As soon as he said this casually, Catherine was even more convinced that he was not an ordinary nobleman. Lear wasn't lying, even the cockroach fried noodles, potato skin stew, sand porridge or hair leeks from the college cafeteria years ago were tastier than this broth.

It was only when I came to hell that I realized that I had been living in heaven all along.

"This is what the Imperial army and mercenaries eat, and they can buy some fruits and vegetables when they pass through villages or towns, and if they don't have supply points, they can only buy broth, brown bread with beans or potatoes every day. The air-dried meat in the soup has been soaking in the bucket since last night, look at the two makeshift mercenaries......" Catherine pointed ahead.

In the light of the campfire, Lear vaguely saw two young men who looked like handymen walking towards the river with black pieces of meat.

"The first thing they do is to go into the river and brush the meat, and don't doubt it, the surface of the meat is all grease and dust. After brushing and cleaning, it will be put in a bucket to soak so that you can eat it tomorrow morning. Otherwise, put the meat together and it can be used as a shield. These air-dried meats may be older than you, don't believe it, after the Northwest Hundred Years War, someone dug up the air-dried meat that had been made since the war began in the cellar and ate it as such. Do you know what we mercenaries call these meats, mummies!" Catherine spoke with a slight self-deprecation and a deep sense of exhaustion.

"More than a hundred years? how is this possible?" he absolutely did not believe.

Catherine smiled, without explanation, thinking that these noble young masters were indeed all the same.

"Don't you know how to hunt?" he asked.

"Hunting? Only you nobles would think so. Not to mention whether there is so much prey for us to eat, the damn bandit alone can force us to give up hunting. Survival is far more difficult than you think, and now you must have a deeper experience. Catherine looked at him meaningfully.

Lear avoided her gaze, thinking that his origins should not be discovered, and that the most they thought was that they were being hunted down.

At this time, he only cared about his own safety, thinking that Catherine was just chatting, but he did not think carefully about the intention of a mercenary captain to say this.

The firewood in the campfire crackled, and the two men thought about it.

"Lady Catherine, are you a high-ranking warrior?" asked Lear suddenly.

The low-end power of the Homan Empire is composed of warriors, which are divided into three levels: primary, intermediate and advanced, and only those who cross the threshold of high-level warriors can be promoted to powerful swordsmen.

He obtained this knowledge from memory, and originally thought that this kind of grading was too awkward, but he was relieved when he thought of the naming method of school classes on the earth, and Chinese martial arts athletes have technical levels such as first-class samurai and second-class samurai, which shows that human beings are naturally accustomed to grading and even quantifying.

"Yes, I was already a high-ranking fighter at the age of twenty. Catherine said proudly.

"You're a genius, then. Lear said in surprise.

Even those who can become great swordsmen are rarely promoted to high-level warriors before the age of twenty. This is not to say how high the threshold for high-level warriors is, but that human beings have been developing physically until the age of eighteen, and their strength grows very slowly until they are fully developed.

In many countries, the age of eighteen is considered to be an adult, and this standard is not arbitrary.

If a person becomes a high-ranking warrior before the age of eighteen, it will inevitably alarm the empire, because as long as such a person is strong-willed, he is likely to become a high-ranking swordsman in his lifetime, and there are currently less than two hundred living high-ranking swordsmen registered with the Imperial Swordsman Guild.

Catherine shook her head with a wry smile and said, "What's the use of genius, without a swordsman inheritance, I will never be able to become a real swordsman on my own." ”

"Aren't you a swordsman?Doesn't the Empire require at least one swordsman to form a mercenary group?" asked Lear in surprise.

"Yes, only swordsmen are eligible to apply to create a mercenary group. My father was a swordsman, and he founded the Flare Mercenary Regiment. But he died a year ago. If no swordsman joins the Flare Mercenary Group for two years, they will be removed from the Mercenary Guild. Catherine said with a wry smile.

"And your father got the seed lineage?" he asked.

"Yes. My father saved a generous Viscount, and in order to repay him, he gave him an amethyst of inheritance. But now ......," Catherine said gloomily.

The founding emperor of the Homan Empire was a powerful sword master, and the Homan royal family loved swords the most, and issued many sword-related decrees, resulting in almost all people in the Homan Empire practicing swords. The people of the Homan Empire can be illiterate, but they can't be illiterate with a few swordsmanship.

When a high-ranking warrior comprehends the power of Dou Qi, he will be promoted to the rank of swordsman.

The combat effectiveness of the swordsman is amazing, and in order to maintain the rule of the nobility, the empire has extremely strict control over the swordsman inheritance, just like the civilians of a normal country on earth cannot carry heavy weapons casually.

Unless it is a genius who is one in a million, ordinary high-level warriors do not have a swordsman inheritance, and it is impossible to be promoted to a swordsman.

A high-level swordsman, a great swordsman or a high-ranking swordsman can seal the origin fighting qi in the amethyst, and make the nature of the amethyst change, as long as the high-level warrior swallows such an amethyst, there is a high chance of being promoted to a swordsman, this inheritance is called seed inheritance. The difficulty of the seed inheritance is the lowest, but the consequence is that you stay at the junior swordsman stage for the rest of your life, and there is never any possibility of promotion.

In addition to seed inheritance, it is the most formal document inheritance. The document inheritance is recorded in words and pictures, allowing high-level warriors to break through through the three complex combinations of breathing, meditation and movement, and become swordsmen.

Charlie was born into a noble family, and was forced by his father to memorize the clerical inheritance belonging to the Lear family since he was a child, and he had to be rigorously tested every year, so Lear also remembered this inheritance clearly.

In order to grasp the privileges, the aristocratic class imposed various restrictions on the inheritance of documents, which could not be passed on to others at will and could not be sold. If anyone dares to teach or sell documents at will, those with titles will be stripped of their titles on charges of treason, and those without titles will be executed on charges of treason.

The nobility itself has a document inheritance, and even if the inheritance document is lost, the heir can regain it from the empire. And there are only two ways for ordinary people to obtain the inheritance of documents from the right path, one is to join a noble family and become a family knight, and the other is to obtain military merits.

If the swordsman does not have a legal source of inheritance, the crime is the same as selling the document inheritance.

It is not for nothing that there are geniuses who can naturally be promoted from high-level warriors to swordsmen, because the swordsman inheritance is studied by those geniuses who independently comprehended the fighting spirit in ancient times, but this kind of genius may not appear in a hundred years.

The empire strictly controls the inheritance of documents, but allows the seed inheritance to circulate legally, because a great swordsman can only make five seed inheritances in his lifetime, and after making them, he will fall to the level of an intermediate swordsman, and it is almost impossible to recover his strength.

Lear didn't expect Catherine's situation to be so difficult, and comforted her, saying, "You still have two years, and you will definitely succeed." ”

Catherine forced a smile: "Thank you." ”

After a while, seeing that her mood was improving, he said: "Sister Catherine, after going through some things, I am ashamed to find out that swordsmanship is very important, I was playful and ignorant when I was young, and neglected to cultivate, can you teach me to practice swords from the most basic part." He knew that it was impossible to learn the cultivation of immortals, so he had to retreat to the second best thing and learn the swordsmanship of the heterogeneous plane to save his life.

Catherine smiled and said, "When you were young? Aren't you young now?" I advise you to dispel this idea, eight to twelve years old is the best period for sword training, and if you miss this period, no matter how serious you are in the future, you will not achieve much. You can't stand the pain of sword practice, not to mention that we have to hurry, you don't have much time to practice sword. ”

"Believe me, I'm not that useless nobleman anymore!" Lear said firmly. In order to ensure that he is not erased by the power of the plane, he must master the power.

Because I died once, I cherish life even more.

"Then I have to declare in advance, you can't endure hardship, you can give up sword practice, but don't want me to teach you in the future. Catherine laughed and said she thought the child would give up in three days at most.

"Good. ”

"Follow me. Catherine led him out of the camp and into the river.

Catherine looked around at him and said with a smile: "Don't be afraid, there is a secret sentry outside the camp, even if we encounter a bandit group, we can know in advance." ”

"I'm just looking around. Lear said awkwardly. This world is full of ferocious monsters and even more ferocious bandits, and he has no power to restrain the chicken, so he can only be careful everywhere.

The title of Count's heir is a strength in front of law-abiding creatures, but it is less than an iron sword in the face of monsters and bandits.

Catherine hung the oil lamp on the branch next to her, there was moonlight and the faint light of the river, it was not dark here, at least it was enough to practice the sword.

"To what extent do you start teaching?" she knew that the children of normal nobles had family swordsmanship teachers.

"From the very basics, I heard that there are four starting moves?" let the other nobles know, and the Lear family will be notorious.

Catherine shook her head helplessly: "I thought you would survive three days, but now it seems that I was wrong. If you can make it to this time tomorrow, I will consider you a real man and take you as a disciple. ”

"Say it. Lear didn't feel ashamed at all.

Catherine reluctantly said, "I'll teach you from the real basics." As she spoke, she drew her saber, the tip of which was held upwards in front of her.

"In my hand is the most popular and most prolific standard sword in the Empire. The longsword is divided into two parts, the hilt and the body. The hilt of the sword can be subdivided into three parts, the lowest end is the handle, and the handle of the standard longsword is generally spherical, which can not only prevent the hand from falling off, but also attack the enemy"

"You don't need to kill every sword, and sometimes stunning an enemy with a handle is the only way to win. ”

"On the top of the handle is the handle, which is the part you hold, and when choosing a long sword, the most important thing is not how sharp the blade is, but the handle. A good sword handle has various advantages such as sweat absorption, drainage, and hand resistance, because you can't decide the environment of the battle. ”

"Remember, a horse nail can ruin a country, and a slipper's hilt can kill you. ”

"Above the handle of the sword are the gauntlets, which can block enemy weapons and protect their hands, and the skilled swordsman can even use the gauntlet to assist in attacks. ”

"Trust in the gauntlet more than in your blade. ”

"The sword body is divided into two parts, from the gauntlet to the midpoint of the sword body, which is the strong sword body, and from the middle point to the tip of the sword, it is the weak sword body. Anyone with a little experience knows that when blocking, the closer the sword body is to the hilt, the greater the power provided, otherwise on the contrary, this is the reason why the sword body is divided into strength and weakness. And when swinging the sword, the speed of the weak sword body is much faster than the strong sword body. ”

"So, always keep using your strong sword body to block the enemy's weapons and attack the enemy with your weak sword body. ”

When Lear heard this, he realized that an ordinary sword could have so many words. He originally thought that Western swordsmanship was nothing more than stabbing around, but when he heard Catherine's lesson, he realized that he had always despised foreign civilizations - his understanding of Western swordsmanship was completely limited to the sport of fencing.

A long sword has been studied so carefully, it seems that the swordsmanship of the Starry Sky Continent is definitely not a showmanship, and he has become serious.

"You hold this sword and hold it in both hands. Catherine handed him the sword.

He took the long sword and naturally held the handle of the sword as if he were holding a stick. The hilt of this standard Western longsword is very long, large enough to be held with both hands. And the sword body with an inch long at the top of the gauntlet is unbladed, which is different from the long sword he imagined.

"Okay, don't move. A longsword has two blades, the downward side is called the 'true blade' when you hold the sword naturally, and the upward blade is a false blade. Generally speaking, warrior-level swordsmen will only attack with real blades, and using false blades is an advanced skill that only a few high-level warriors and swordsmen will use. ”

"One thing you have to keep in mind is to pay attention to the direction of the blade at all times. Especially beginners like you, it's easy to forget this when you're fighting, resulting in the sword slapping sideways on the enemy when attacking the target, making a joke. ”

Catherine glanced at his hands again.

"It seems that you are right-handed, and you know how to hold it in front of you. Catherine nodded. A sharp hand is a more commonly used hand, and a left-handed hand is a left-handed person as the saying goes.

"Let's start with the left hand. There are two ways to hold the left hand, but both are after the right hand, one is to hold the sword handle under the right hand, and the other is to simply hold the handle of the rear end, which of the two grips is better has been debated, but it doesn't matter, it still depends on habits. You will make sure that your left hand is on the handle of the sword, which is the most natural way for you to hold it. When you become a swordsman, you will adjust the position of your left hand according to different sword skills. ”

Seeing Lear's slight expression, she said coldly, "Your right hand is very wrong! You must hold the gauntlet between your thumb and index finger tightly, and your thumb should be stretched out and pressed tightly against the sword. Don't doubt it, it's the sword. It's uncomfortable for a beginner, but you'll get used to it, so you can get the most control over your sword. Of course, not all swordsmanship and sword skills require the thumb to be pressed the blade of the sword, and once you are familiar with this grip, you will naturally understand when you don't need to use it this way. ”

Lear immediately changed the way he held the sword, so that the tiger's mouth tightened the gauntlet, and his thumb reached out and pressed against the blade.

"If you have the money, you can order a longsword that suits your habits, but for a beginner, mastering the standard longsword is a must-go. Because on the battlefield, your sword is likely to be lost, damaged, or even knocked off, and the best way to deal with this situation is to find the nearest standard longsword to you, rather than running to a blacksmith to forge a new one. ”

"Understood?" At this time, Catherine was like a real regimental leader, with no smile on her face, no warmth in her eyes, and her gaze was colder than the sword light.

"Understood. Lear humbly replied that he had taken Catherine as his teacher and instructor.

Catherine nodded with satisfaction and said, "There are hundreds of schools of swordsmanship, large and small, and my father and I are the most deeply influenced by the Turnar school, so before practicing swordsmanship, the most important thing is to practice footwork. For the next three days, instead of practicing the sword, you will practice the nine most basic footwork with a long sword, such as alternating steps, strides, sliding steps, broken steps, regressions, flash steps, stabbing steps, skipping steps, and single steps. ”

Lear nodded, he was not resistant to this kind of training, he knew that both Chinese martial arts and foreign boxing attach great importance to footwork, and boxers also rely on skipping rope to train their dexterity and limb coordination. In this high-force world, footwork will only be more and more refined.

So Catherine carefully taught him the nine basic footwork.

After all, Lear is just an ordinary student, who can only play basketball and football, and he is purely a fool, and he has no special skills in combat.

In the end, it took Catherine three hours for Lear to master the basic essentials of the nine types of footwork, which was far from proficiency and actual combat.

Lear practiced his footwork on his own, while Catherine practiced his swordsmanship on the side.

The oil lamp burned out, Catherine took out a towel to wipe the sweat from her forehead, watched Lear practice her steps awkwardly, and said, "You have to rush tomorrow, you can practice on the road, if you are too tired tonight, what will you do tomorrow? In the mercenary group, no one is carrying you on your back!"

After Catherine left, Lear continued to practice footwork. He has never been a hard-working person, but in order to save his life, he can only grit his teeth and persevere, and practice hard.

By midnight, he finally couldn't hold it anymore, gasping for breath and soaking wet. He rested for a while, went to the river to take a bath, and finally went back to his tent to sleep.