Chapter 573: Snow

Dazzling blade rays flashed.

Speckles of stars fluttered in the pitch-black room and the wall and ground before him were scarred by ferocious blade airstreams. Rhode nodded in satisfaction and flipped his wrists around. The weapons in his hands reverted into two daggers and slid back into their sheaths.

The effects were great, but not to perfection yet. There were still areas that needed to improve. However, Rhode had taken a liking to this new swordsmanship which confirmed his guesses and thoughts. He didn't need to consider how to create a swordsmanship. As long as the suitable stats were superimposed, the system would naturally create a swordsmanship that was suitable for him.

The corner of Rhode's mouth twitched and he couldn't wait to head back into the Fortress and practice with Canary and Bubble. Currently, they were the only ones qualified in strength to go through training with Rhode. And now, Rhode was imagining how they would react when they witnessed his newly created swordsmanship.

After the [Moon Shadow] and [Disillusionment] had fused, the values of the swordsmanship attribute in the Initial Stage were as follows—[Agility] had 7 points, [Flexibility] had 6 points, and [Explosiveness] had reached 8 points. This signified that as long as Rhode struck first, it would be extremely difficult for his opponent to counterattack unless the opponent was in the Legendary Stage. [Adaptability] had 5 points and although it wasn't too significant, it was more than enough for the four Holy Swords in Rhode's possession and there wouldn't be any problems for him to switch between weapons.

Clap clap clap. Soft claps sounded behind Rhode. He turned around and nodded slightly. At this moment, someone knocked on his door and Lize's voice sounded. "Mr. Rhode, are you asleep? Anne and I have brought you some food..."

Food?

Rhode was shocked to realize that his stomach had been empty for a long time. Although it didn't take long for him to annihilate the Ice Devil, he had immediately jumped into retrieving the system rewards and mission remunerations and didn't join in the celebration feast organized by the Greenery Town residents. Moreover, he focused all his attention on creating the swordsmanship and now that he had finally completed it, it was already night time. He had missed two meals in a row and spent a lot of energy racking his brains over modifying the swordsmanship. Although he wouldn't starve to death in a day without food with his physique, he wasn't a masochist, after all.

"Come in," said Rhode.

The door opened gradually and the two young ladies entered with a tray of food and wine. Their expressions changed instantly.

"Mr. Rhode, what happened?"

"Leader, did someone find trouble with you?"

No wonder Lize and Anne had such a misconception. After all, the room was filled with marks of blade strikes under the flame. Rhode gestured to the both of them. "I merely practiced my sword skill. It's nothing much."

"Sword skill?" Lize said with an odd look.

She scrutinized the no-longer usable room and let out a subtle sigh. Although they definitely needed to compensate for the damages to the room, it was still fine since nothing concerning had happened. Lize placed the tray of food on the table hurriedly and dragged a chair for a seat. At this moment, Anne's frantic voice filled the room. "Hey hey! Leader, what's this? What's this?!"

"Anne?" Lize glared at Anne with puckered brows and turned her gaze to where Anne was looking at. Then, even Lize was surprised when she saw that thing. "Mr. Rhode, what's that?"

Rhode wasn't the only one in the room when the two young ladies had entered. An azure, round water ball was suspended in the corner of the room. It was about the height of an adult and it was formed entirely out of clear water. A pure, adorable young girl of about 13 to 14 years old floated within the water ball. She had a naked human upper body and a lower body of a fish. Her azure long hair drifted in the water and strands of them draped over her shoulders and covered her precious feminine chest. Her large, quick-witted eyes looked on in fear after hearing Anne's scream and she swam forward within the water. Along with her movements, the water ball swiftly circled half the room before hiding behind Rhode. Then, the young girl peeped out at the two unfamiliar guests in uncertainty.

"This is my summoned spirit, Snow," Rhode introduced casually as he picked up a plate of food.

"Summoned spirit?" Anne and Lize exchanged looks with each other. However, they weren't that astonished because, after all, it wasn't anything new for Rhode to randomly summon some spirits before them. Furthermore, this young girl named Snow was much more normal than the uniquely peculiar Agatha.

However, after taking a closer look, apart from her lower body that resembled exactly like a fish, her fingers were webbed and her ears were similar to a pair of flipped pennant flags, drifting in the water. Besides, the area where her neck and face linked up was covered in scales. However, this appearance gave a sense of freshness. Moreover, when she hid behind Rhode, her startled expression was like that of a kitten and was truly adorable.

"Aiya, so cute... Anne wants to hug her," Anne rushed over instantly and sized her up from top to bottom with round, passionate eyes.

At the same time, her itchy hands touched all over the water ball surface and she turned to Rhode in some dissatisfaction. "Why didn't Leader summon such an adorable spirit earlier?"

"I only got my hands on her today."

Of course, Rhode wouldn't remain silent to Anne's 'false accusation'. The reason why he summoned Snow wasn't that he wanted to show her off to them. Creating spirits and summoning spirits were different. The former required a massive amount of 'usage' before accumulating enough EXP for growth. If he used her like the Holy Sword Card Deck or the Hell Hound when necessary, perhaps the time would never come for her to grow completely. Moreover, the amount of spiritual energy that such created cards consumed was limited. It would only require 5 points of spiritual energy every hour and it was less than the amount of spiritual energy that Rhode could automatically recover in one hour. Therefore, there wouldn't be any harm for Rhode to summon her by his side.

Of course, this young girl must also avoid certain situations. No matter what, she was no different from a child who had just been born. Her brain didn't have any memories or knowledge, and Rhode had to teach her everything. If Rhode didn't lead by example, she would become the model result of an incompetent Master.

"Today?" Lize looked at the panicky little spirit in astonishment. "Could she be the Ice Devil's..."

"Somewhat related... Yes, actually you can say it that way," said Rhode.

Of course, Rhode wouldn't explain the system mission reward so frankly to them. Moreover, Snow was the mission reward for annihilating the Ice Devil so it wasn't wrong for Lize to relate her to it. Lize finally understood why Rhode avoided the celebration feast after gaining victory over the Ice Devil. On the other hand, Anne continued to make a big fuss as she stuck her face to the water ball and stared at Snow. "Eh eh eh? Leader said that this adorable little fella is related to the Ice Devil? Will she also turn into a big monster like it?"

"Of course she won't. She and the Ice Devil merely live in the Water Plane of Existence. Hmm..." Rhode paused for a moment. "You can treat it as she has been sealed up before the Ice Devil was defeated. Now that the Ice Devil is gone, she has awakened from the seal and become my spirit."

"Ah. I see," said Anne.

Although Anne seemed to have been enlightened, Rhode was sure that she didn't understand it at all. But Rhode left it as it was because he knew that no matter how hard he explained, she still wouldn't get it. As Anne wormed her way into knowing Snow, Rhode turned to Lize.

"Lize, surely you didn't look for me at this hour just for this, right?"

"Eh?" Lize let out an awkward cough and nodded slightly. "Yes, Mr. Rhode. I've heard from Mr. Walker... A large-scale of the Southern Legion has assembled up north."