16 Preparing to head out!

After some deliberation, Raymond made up his mind. Although he was still unsure of whether it was a good idea, he was going to do it anyway. He had already lived one life where he was resigned to live in mediocrity, he had actually gotten another chance at life. Something would have to be wrong with him if he didn't even try to live a little differently this time around. The worst thing that could happen was that he died, and since he had already experienced it once, he wasn't too scared of it.

Having made up his mind, Raymond decided to buy a few necessities before he set off. When he looked at his status to make sure how much money he needed for his next talent upgrade, he noticed something peculiar.

[Host]: [Raymond Dawson]

[Race]: [Human?]

[Age]: [16]

[Cultivation]: [Body-Refining: 4th Revolution] (11th energy channel)

[Skills]: [Basic Fist Art, Basic Footwork Technique, Blue Wind True Art, Azure Wind Sword Art]

[Talents]: [Moderate Wealth Mortal Body] [Sword Force: Beginner]

[Wealth]: [73 g]

In his talent column, he noticed something unfamiliar. [Sword Force: Beginner], this was something that Raymond had never seen before, but he already had an inkling about what it could be. After practising with his sword, Ramond had noticed that his sword seemed to be sharper and faster than it should be. This feeling had been with him ever since he had his little epiphany two weeks ago, but he never expected that he had unlocked a new talent.

[Sword Force: Beginner]

[A swordsman's most feared weapon is his comprehension of the sword. Sword force augments the user's attacks to various degrees depending on which type of sword force he has comprehended.]

[Comprehension: Blue Wind Sword Force]

Looking at the description provided by the system, Raymond felt his mind clear up a little. It wasn't like he had unlocked another talent unique to the system like he had originally thought. Instead, this talent was something that any swordsman could comprehend if he was talented enough. After seeing the type of sword force he had comprehended, Raymond also felt like it was natural. He was practising a sword art related to wind, and his cultivation art was the Blue Wind True Art.

He could also infer that the augmentation to his attacks brought by the sword force was the increased sharpness as well as the increased swiftness. The only thing Raymond wanted to know now was how to train this sword force. Since the talent seemed to be something passive, Raymond wasn't sure how he was supposed to train it. Using it was something he did all the time subconsciously, so that was probably not it.

Since just sitting around pondering about it wouldn't really help anyone, Raymond decided to think about it later. It was probably wiser to inquire about this sort of information instead of trying to figure it out by himself. To do this, Raymond started by going to a place he had recently found, the information guild. After reading in the library for more than 2 weeks in a row, Raymond had noticed that a lot of things that he was curious about didn't exist, and in that case, the only thing he could do was to go to the information guild.

The information guild was a place that sold information, quite simple really. This information could be practically anything, even if they didn't have it, they could get it pretty quickly as long as you paid them enough money. Although the place was convenient, Raymond didn't really need to go there often, since he could find most information that interested him in the library. Although he was just about to go and get himself some supplies, Raymond decided to satisfy his own curiosity first. Who knows, maybe the information on sword force would be more useful than he thought?

The information guild's building was actually one of the few important buildings that weren't located right next to the city lord's manor. Maybe it was because of its rather remote location, but the building itself was a rather dilapidated wooden building. The building only had one story, but what baffled Raymond was the fact that it was way too small. Considering how many records and stuff they needed to have stored, there was no way for it all to fit inside such a small house, especially when you consider that the lobby took up about half the floor.

Raymond guessed that they probably had a basement of some sort, but that was merely speculation. The service wasn't the best, but at least it was adequate, after waiting in one of the smaller rooms at the back for a while, a man wearing a white mask walked in. After sitting down opposite him, their small exchange started.

"What kind of information are you looking for?"

"Sword force"

"Oh, and what kind of information regarding sword force?"

Raymond was pleasantly surprised since it seemed like this man knew what sword force was. This meant that the talent might not be that obscure after all. This in turn meant that they definitely had this information at hand.

"How to use and train it."

"Beginner, Intermediate or Advanced?"

The information was always divided into different tiers. Depending on which one you got, you might not get what you are looking for, but this way, it was a bit easier to be frugal if you only wanted basic information.

"What are their prices?"

"10 silver, 1 gold or 10 gold respectively."

"I'll go with the intermediate one then"

"Wait here for a sec."

The man quickly left the small room, and Raymond was left on his own. He was already used to this, but the first time he was here, he was a bit confused. He didn't even understand what the point of the small rooms was before he thought about it for a bit. Obviously, information could be sensitive, and if a customer wanted to inquire about someone else's private information, for example, things could quickly get out of hand. What if someone who knew that person was also in the lobby when you inquired for their information? Needless to say, things would get messy.

After sitting on his own for about two minutes, the man returned with a wooden tube in his hands. After Raymond gave him a gold coin, he received the tube and quietly left.

"Pleasure doing business with you!"

"Likewise."

After getting what he came for, Raymond decided to buy what he needed for his trip, before he returned to the inn once more. Although he was eager to try his strength and earn some money, he would rather research his own power a bit first. There was no point in knowing his enemy if he didn't even know himself. From what he had gathered, sword force was a mysterious power, but Raymond felt like there was more to it.

There was no way it was just a passive power, there had to be a way to stimulate it somehow. How else was it supposed to be trained? With plenty of thoughts on his mind, Raymond sat down on his bed, popped open the wooden tube, and retrieved the parchment inside.