"Drink. "Huh. "I walked around the garden on the side of the Western-style Pavilion and walked to the courtyard behind the Western-style Pavilion, and as soon as I was halfway there, I heard the continuous shouting from behind the courtyard, and at the same time, the sound of weapons breaking through the air. "Vacuum slash. "Shield Strike. "Leopard protrusion. "The shouting sound of continuous use of skills represents the ongoing actions of the owner of the voice, and as the shouts are made, there are occasional puffs of smoke and dust in the small training ground behind the foreign pavilion.

At the corner of the pavilion, Pannis was hidden in the shadows, his face was so calm that he was expressionless, his hands folded in front of his chest, and he silently watched Catherine swing one sword after another on the training ground.

"Not enough, not enough. Catherine was not wearing the usual scale armor, but a heavier full-body armor, and on this hot summer, the stuffiness in the armor made her sweat for not knowing how much, turning into a white mist that steamed outward from the cracks. She didn't have a helmet on her head, and the sweat condensed from her face and forehead, slid down the supple lines of her face, pooled onto her rounded chin, and finally dripped onto her chest. The black shawl hair was wet and sticking to Catherine's face, and it was so wet that it could drip water, but she didn't have the idea of stopping at all, clenched her teeth tightly, stared firmly at the metal humanoid used for training in front of her, and attacked again and again: "A little faster, a little stronger, I clearly saw it, I can do it, the intensity is not enough, it must be increased, hold on, you must persevere." ”

"Why can't I cut that kind of strength, why can't I find that angle? Catherine slashed one sword after another, slashing more and more fiercely, and sweating more and more: "If you can't find it 10,000 times, you will do it 100,000 times, and if you can't find it 100,000 times, you will do it a million times, hold on, hold on." ”

In the shadows, Pannis's pupils contracted, and his feet moved, but he retreated. A few minutes later, when he walked around the corner with a basin of water and walked into the training ground, Catherine no longer slashed, but moved around several training dummies at high speed, the shield slapping on the dummy's head and face again and again, and the metal hitting each other made a loud and piercing sound. Catherine's expression was so focused that she didn't even notice that Pannis was behind her.

"Take a break. Standing behind Catherine for a few minutes, Pannis whispered, "Wash your face, sit down and rest, and then it's too late to continue." ”

"No, I'm fine. Hearing Pannis's voice, Catherine paused, but quickly continued: "The intensity is not enough now, I can continue to persevere." ”

"Pointless. Pannis's voice sounded calm and emotionless: "Your insistence now is meaningless. Do you know why? Your movements have already begun to deform, the angle, the force, the control have all been distorted, and even if you hold on a thousand or ten thousand times now, it will not do any good in terms of strength. So it's better to take a break for a while and wait for your strength to recover a little before continuing, which is much better than forcing yourself now. ”

"Whew, I see. Catherine paused again, slowly loosened her grip on her sword and shield, put her weapon aside, staggered to the awning next to the training ground, and sat down casually on the ground, leaning her back against a stone table, squinting her eyes and gasping softly. Pannis followed, handing over a warm, wet towel. Catherine took it silently, wiped her face silently, and silently said nothing. Pannis, however, made an astonishing gesture, and as Catherine spread the towel on her face and wiped the sweat and dirt from her face vigorously, she suddenly lifted the basin and splashed a basin of warm water on Catherine's head.

"Bang", the warm water hit directly, Catherine's shoulders shook, but there was no reaction, she wiped her face as if nothing had happened, calmly put the towel on Pannis's hand, looked directly at him and said, "Okay, I've sat down, satisfied, right? ”

"Well, you go ahead. The corners of Pannis's mouth twitched, revealing an expression that looked like a smile, and then added, "If you can still move normally, go ahead." ”

Catherine's eyes shrank, gritted her teeth and tried to stand up, and after a clanging of heavy armor, Catherine fell to her knees on one leg, bowing her head and saying nothing. This action lasted for a while, and Catherine seemed to have accumulated enough strength, staggered up straight, staggered two steps forward, and before she could get to her weapon and bend down to pick it up, she felt a wave of dizziness, and her weak body could no longer support the weight of the armor, so she fell straight backwards, and fell heavily to the ground.

Pannis didn't speak, neither did Catherine, and the awkward silence continued. After a moment of silence, Pannis walked over to Catherine and sat down cross-legged, looked up at the sky, and reached out to gently stroke Catherine's long wet hair. Feeling the clumsy tenderness that Pannis had never felt before, Catherine endured the piercing soreness all over her body, forcibly gagged her fist to her mouth, and large tears welled up from the bottom of her eyes, sliding backwards along her tanned skin, and she began to cry silently.

Pannis sighed softly and patted Catherine on the shoulder through the armor, moving softly like lulling a child to sleep. Catherine barely lay on her side, her head pressed against the ground, her face covered with dust from sweat and tears, and her whole body trembled with suppressed crying.

"Cry, cry, cry out all the anxiety in your heart. Pannis said softly: "There will always be many, many obstacles on the road to the strong, and these obstacles cannot be overcome by impatience. How many days did they stop in front of the last wall of the Golden Rank, and they couldn't take a single step forward, because they couldn't see a way out at all. You are lucky, not long after you touched the wall at the end of the road, you saw the road through drugs and high-risk battles, although you couldn't walk up, at least you have found your way, with a little more time, you will definitely be able to climb over the obstacles and continue to move forward. ”

"But it's too slow. Catherine's voice was hoarse and frightening, and she lay on the ground and said blankly: "On the way back, Vivien broke through, and twenty days ago, Lina also broke through successfully, and I was the only one who was stuck here. I'm an older sister, how can I be left behind them. ”

"Are you jealous of them?" said Pannis's softest voice, "That's why you're so impatient?"

"Of course not. Catherine wiped the tears on her face with her hand with the hand armor, but was frowning at the temperature on the hand armor: "I am a sister, I am a guardian knight, I need to stand at the forefront of the team in every battle, bear all the damage for everyone, my strength directly determines the strength of the team's tasks." Now that they are all advancing, only I am still in place, and in order to accommodate me, they can only reduce the intensity of the battle, which will not do them any good for the future development of their strength. ”

"That's why you're training so crazy? It's really a standard Catherine idea. Pannis smiled, pulled Catherine's hand that was rubbing her face aside, and gently wiped the dirt and tears on her face: "Since Vivien's promotion, I have felt that you have become more and more impatient, and you are in a state of distraction like Vivien every day, and after you come back, you have lived in the training ground every day, and you have exhausted yourself to the point of collapse every day. Everyone is looking at it, Lina and Vivian are worried about you, watching your performance, they are heartache every day, but they are both promoted, and they have no position to persuade you, so they want me to comfort you, I think today is the time, so I came. ”

"It seems to be very reluctant. After resting for a while, Catherine felt a little more comfortable, and rolled her eyes as if she was pretending to be angry: "Do you make it so difficult to comfort me?"

"No, it's not embarrassing, it's just that I'm afraid I can't help but laugh out loud in the face of a stupid person. Pannis saw Catherine's eyebrows raised, and her eyes became more and more dissatisfied, so she shook her head and smiled: "Think about it yourself, have you heard of a few people who broke through the boundaries of legends in the training ground?"

Catherine was stunned for a moment, her lips squirmed for a while, and then she said with a wry smile: "It seems that there is no one." ”

"No, it's like, it's not one. "When you touch that wall, it means that your accumulation has reached the limit, and all that's left is to rush through, and even if you exhaust yourself on the training ground, it's useless." ”

"But I was scared. Catherine sighed bitterly: "Both of them have broken through, and the breakthrough is so easy, but what about me? Twenty days have passed, and there is no sign of a breakthrough, and I am afraid that this opportunity that many people will never meet in their lifetime will be wasted by me like this." Seeing that time is passing day by day, I feel that the possibility of a breakthrough is getting farther and farther away from me, how can you let me not be in a hurry?"

"You're not like the two of them. Pannis said, "Are you a genius?"

"No, I'm not a genius at all. Catherine shook her head well and said, "That's why I'm working hard every day, just for fear of being pulled away." ”

"But the two of them don't work any less than you, right? Panis tidied up the messy wet hair on Catherine's face: "And the most important point is that Vivien used the furious energy in the hedron to strengthen her magic channel, and cleared a large part of the obstacles on the way to the legend, so she broke through first." And Lina, who had the presence of a demigod priest in her body, could easily step over that obstacle because she had already seen it through the eyes of a demigod priest. And you, you don't have anything, so it's normal to be later than them. However, you don't need to be so scared and impatient, dozens of days late does not mean that you have lost this opportunity, as long as you see the way, let alone twenty days, it is normal to be twenty months. ”

"Didn't lie to me?" Catherine herself didn't know, and now she behaved like a spoiled child: "Really normal?"

"Of course, I promise. Pannis wiped Catherine's face and let her lie half-reclined in her arms, her head resting on her arm.

"Then what can I do to break through?" Catherine asked softly, letting Pannis fiddle with it.

"No one can tell, you should have asked them, but they can't give you an answer, because words can't explain it. Pannis smiled and shook his head: "However, although I can't tell you how to break through, I can tell you what you should do now." ”

"Huh?" Catherine blinked, looking at Pannis's face, "What should I do?"

"Sleep. "You haven't had a night's sleep in more than a month, and you haven't had a good rest in more than a month, so what you have to do now is sleep, forget about the breakthrough, and get a good night's sleep." ”

"Okay, sleep. Catherine slowly closed her eyes, feeling fatigue swallow herself instantly, pillowed Pannis's arm, and fell into a deep sleep in a matter of seconds, and a slight snoring sounded on the training ground. (To be continued.) )