The battle was a massacre. The first knight to meet Lucien wasn't even ready for him. He had heard that Lucien wasn't even an apprentice, just perhaps a bit stronger than a normal human. So when Lucien leapt up at him, his body first and agile, he wasn't ready.
Lucien's sword swung powerfully, catching the knight with a full blow to the chest. The sword carved through his blade and armor, digging into his chest and causing massive damage. There was no surviving that.
Selene stopped and closed her eyes. The other two knights stopped too, more in shock this time. Wasn't it said that this guy had no power at all, that he was a cripple and a shame to the Aureville bloodline?
What a joke. If this was a cripple what were they? Bedridden?
Lucien didn't pay any mind to their thoughts. He hacked over unrelentingly. The second knight was more cautious, He covered his sword in aura and defended with a cross guard. Lucien's sword hit his with force, cleaving the aura apart and almost cutting the sword into two. The force of the blow launched the guard back, giving Lucien the chance to block the other knight's strike.
He riposted and pushed the guard's sword back, overpowering him and leaving him open to attack. Lucien's sword caught him in the chest, cleaving the armor open and digging into flesh. The knight collapsed in agony.
Lucien turned to the final foe, the knight's eyes were turning side to side, looking for a chance to escape; there was none. Lucien chased over, and with a single slash, it was over. All the foes were down.
Lucien noticed that ever since his swordsmanship had reached level four, something seemed to have changed. He perceived a special feeling in his strikes, it was like his strikes were assisted by a certain force. A force that he could only call sharpness, it was like he could perceive the sharpness and momentum in his and his enemy's strikes. He could imbue this momentum into his strikes and almost increase the force of his strikes by half.
Or if the enemy didn't understand the momentum he could lower the sharpness and momentum of their strikes by half. No wonder he had been abused by that champion ranked knight so badly. A difference of one in skill level required at least two times stronger attributes to overcome. One had to train their skill levels, or level them up in his case.
Lucien moved on and raised his sword above the downed foe, poised to finish him. He looked at the knight's fearful eyes, begging for his life and his resolve faltered. The memory of his torture wared with his values from earth, which alienated killing.
Suddenly, the sounds of boots and hounds sounded again, taking the decision away from him. He grabbed Selene and turned to run.
Lucien and Selene dodged trees and shrubs as they sped past the forest. Behind them the sound of chasing fell back. Lucien could feel that he was actually holding back Selene since she was much much faster than he was.
He willed his system to spend 500 gold coins and increase his speed to 700. He immediately felt his body changing inexplicably and his speed shot up linearly. He stumbled and nearly crushed into a tree, but instantly, his awareness sharpened. His senses expanded dramatically, and reaction time snapped into a new realm.
Every leaf in the forest shimmered with definition. He could track a falling acorn mid-air and hear the heartbeat of a predator lurking two trees away.
It wasn't just mental sharpness—it was as though a veil had been lifted from the world.
His vision sharpened until every leaf, crack in the bark, and ripple in the air around him became visible in crystalline detail. The forest no longer looked like a blur of green and brown—it was a layered tapestry of motion, color gradients, and subtle energies. He could see the flick of a bird's wing a hundred feet above, the trembling whiskers of a rabbit hidden under a bush, and the faint shimmer of dust their feet raised.
Then came the sound.
Lucien clutched his head at first, overwhelmed by the sheer volume of stimuli. But it settled—like a choir suddenly falling into harmony. He could hear the rhythmic thump of Selene's heartbeat, the crunch of approaching boots from far behind, and even the faint beating of the bird's wings.
His sense of smell intensified too. The earthy scent of damp moss and the metallic tang of blood all drifted in distinct, layered notes..
Touch became something entirely new. Wind currents brushed against his skin with variable pressure, telling him when something was about to move behind him. He could feel the tension in the ground before a footstep landed nearby. Even his grip on the sword changed—he could feel the imperfections in the leather-wrapped hilt, the heat of friction where his fingers met steel, and the tiny vibrations when his blade hummed from recent combat.
And then came intuition—the sixth sense sharpened into something almost supernatural. He could read intentions in the flick of an eye, predict trajectory before an arrow left the bowstring, and anticipate changes in terrain by the smell of distant soil. It was surreal.
Lucien blinked once, exhaled—and for the first time, felt like he truly belonged in this world of power.
"This is what power feels like," he murmured. "No... this is more. This is control."
His body shot up with unnatural agility, running up and around the tree. He hopped down and landed on his feet like a cat, without any stumbling. His feet were like springs, every muscle working together to place his feet perfectly.
"Young Duke. Your speed, it …it…" Selene was so surprised she didn't even know what to say.
Lucien moved to answer but a sound to his right made him turn in alarm. He fluidly used that turn to draw his sword and place it protectively in front of himself.
That saved him from a fate of being bisected in half. A formidable enemy had arrived.