In Yongxing City, the craze caused by the return of the prince has been reduced (or it is just a backlog, waiting for the next outbreak). At least the Mindis Hall, which is closed to all guests, is no longer as crowded as before. Thales rarely enjoys a short period of time.
Some pure time.
But that doesn't mean he's happy now.
Starting from the next day, His Highness Thales had not had time to fully enjoy the power brought by the great status of "Master of Mindis Hall". The royal teaching group headed by Gilbert ("Character of the Royal Family"
"Packaging Company" - the Duke's angry words) drove into the Mindis Hall in an orderly manner.
First of all, the instructor of the grammar class, including the ancient imperial script and the common elven script, was the renowned Bachelor of Arts of Bona from the Wang Li School of Liberal Arts.
Being able to hire him is a must-have at a good price and good quality.
On the one hand, Bachelor Bona's bald head is so smooth that it can reflect light, allowing Mindis Hall to save a lot of lamp oil and save resources.
On the other hand, his soft, deep and intermittent voice ("I'm going to die of illness" - a mean d.d who can't speak loudly from now on) forced the entire Mindis Hall to remain absolutely quiet during class hours, benefiting the environment;
Third, his profound knowledge and wide range of fields almost compressed the prince's five courses (grammar, logic, rhetoric, ancient imperial literature and elven literature) into one, allowing Thales to understand the answers to the following questions:
How much change will these languages bring to their grammar? How will they affect the principles and expressions of logic (such as the troublesome Ancient Empire script and the damned Universal Elven script) whose word order is completely different from that of Common Language?
?What kind of rhetorical challenges did they bring? How did they affect the current language and way of speaking respectively? And then changed people's thinking habits? Finally, how did they ruthlessly eat away at Prince Thales' precious sleep?
time?
("Your Highness, you said you can't finish the recitation? Then, then go to bed later... Anyway, you young people who say you go to bed early are all lies. You lie in bed and do everything but don't sleep...
What, it’s bad for your head and hair? Oh, that’s not important... Your Highness, do you know about wigs? Who in the palace doesn’t wear wigs and fake breasts... What, will you grow taller if you sleep late? Hey, Your Highness, you wear the crown,
Isn't it high enough..." - The trembling Bachelor Bona, who said one sentence that made the prince change his color three times)
The history class was taught by Gilbert himself. Compared to Bachelor Bona's extensive references and far-sightedness, the Foreign Secretary's goal was simple and clear: to turn Prince Thales into a human form in "Ancient Empires to the Stars" in two months.
Kingdom: Encyclopedia of General History for Two Thousand Years.
("'Index'! Your Highness, I must correct your joke. It's just an 'index' of the Encyclopedia. Use it to bluff...ahem, it's enough to show your erudition." - Serious Gilbert
)
As for mathematics courses, this may be one of the few courses that can bring comfort to His Excellency the Duke of Star Lake. Bachelor Julio is quite surprised by Thales's geometry and algebra level, especially the prince's performance in "Exter, the Bird that Cannot Lay Eggs"
Under the premise that six years were wasted in vain.
But what troubles Thales is that as Julio's confidence in him grows higher and higher, he has to teach an unprecedented "mathematician prince" ("After you are crowned, you must remember to allocate funds to us - see
, Hey, hey, these naughty little formulas, how beautiful and cute they are, do they look like they are smiling at you?” - Bachelor Julio, who kept waving his orchid fingers) The excited former is expanding enthusiastically and rapidly.
Their course syllabus.
For example, one day, Bachelor Julio finally combined algebra and geometry, and began to plan to let Thales use algebraic equations to measure the trajectories and changes of celestial bodies.
("These basic equations don't match up, right? The movements of the stars are too weird... And you know, is it possible for us to grasp these immeasurable movements? Several scholars from Dragon Kiss College imagine that as long as
Divide this movement process into different parts, and then you can get the answer by dividing it all the time. Let me show you the calculation formulas they proposed... Hey, Your Highness? What's wrong with you, Your Highness? Wake up, wake up.
Your Highness! You should finish the questions first before you faint!" - Young and promising Bachelor Julio)
The course materials they used have expanded from mathematical problems in ancient books to real-life figures on national conditions and people's livelihood. On several occasions, Julio even suggested that he might try to estimate future income from previous national income, or to estimate future income from the central government's population growth.
Estimated data from all the stars. Thales had reason to suspect that if he didn't act stupid and slow down the course, it would be really close to the appearance of a terrible bell curve and a series of concepts in the book.
It's just a matter of time.
As for the science class, thank God, the well-informed Lord Monton is often humorous and fascinating when he talks about astronomy, geography, humanities and customs - if the prince does not interrupt him from time to time and embarrass him.
("Why is the Supreme Star in the East? What is the composition of Li Jingite? If all the whales are killed one day, will we have no eternal oil to use? Are werewolves and vampires really cursed monsters, and
Are wolves and bats related? Dragon Kiss is a basin, so isn’t its climate a little strange? Are the fog and whirlpools on the Misty Sea really formed naturally? There are so many witnesses to the legend of the sea monster in the Devil Sea.
No one has ever doubted it? Why can Sunset Haoyue’s faith and their Temple Church coexist? Piranha plants are like giant dragons, how can they cope with their energy consumption? Under the eyes of the Ending Sea is really the capital of triumph and the homeland of the empire.
?How do the Vampires of the Feast Territory rule? There must be different topography and climate inside the great desert, right? Is the desert city Caligre real? Why did the great force that created the Great Rift not form a vortex and suck in the two continents?
?Where did the plague in the Three Kingdoms of the Lost Sea begin to erupt? Why is the interval between the two eruptions of the Sangla volcano so short? The speeds from different ports to the Eastern Continent are different. Is it because of the direction of the ocean current?" - His Highness the Prince's
"One Hundred Thousand Whys".)
As for the art class, after seeing and listening to the paintings and lute performances carefully prepared by the Duke of Star Lake, the prestigious Master Uhlan gently told Thales: To study art, you don’t necessarily need to be an art creator.
, you can also be an art appreciator. I think, Duke, you are very suitable to be an appreciator who will go down in history, especially...
In short, this week of unrespiteful prince training courses made Thales miss his former life in the Palace of the Spirits even more - except for the dead face.
Why, why didn't we bring the little slicker to class together in the first place?
Thales, who felt like his body was being hollowed out every day, thought with tears silently.
It would be better to let him go back to the desert.
At least the orcs won't force him to memorize the seven word patterns, three parts of speech, four tenses, three modes of voice, four persons, five word orders, and eighteen interchangeable cases according to the situation in the ancient imperial script.
Different sentence patterns, including complex pronunciation rules - in comparison, the modern imperial language of General Lao Shizi in the Black Path is really simple.
Or the twenty-two inflections of Common Elvish - my God, that's a vocal lesson.
In the Mindis Hall, Thales felt so much pressure that he even forgot about the debut banquet two months later, let alone the whirlpool of power in the Fuxing Palace.
Even some "special" courses that are supposed to be a little more relaxed are the same.
Such as now.
"Do you feel it, Your Highness Thales?"
"As your weapon, it is so strong, straight, hard, yet still tough and elastic..."
A gentle and easy-going voice sounded from his left ear, and then slowly circled to his right ear, causing itchiness.
"But it is also so impulsive. The wild desire is endless and cannot be restrained. It is eager to release itself, go wild, and conquer... But you cannot obey easily. You must control it and don't let this wild horse get out of the gate easily...
…”
Thales's cheeks were red, his breathing was rapid, and he had no time to pay attention to the voice in his ears.
"Strong your waist, hold your hands steady, yes, that's it, keep this posture and direction, try to be as straight as possible, don't tremble..."
Sweat flowed down Thales's cheeks, and he suddenly trembled.
Oops!
The voice became stern:
"I know it's hard, but you have to persist! Tighten! Straighten! Raise! Don't let it fall..."
But Thales could feel that he had...
No.
An uncontrollable numbness spread throughout the body.
Too bad, too bad.
He, he can't hold on anymore...
Thales felt dizzy.
He is almost...
Almost...
ah!
Finally, with a dull sound, the practice sword in Thales's hand fell to the sand along with the road wheel hanging on the sword.
Duke Xinghu breathed rapidly, his arms were numb and his gloves were full of sweat.
Footsteps sounded, and Marius came from behind him, staring thoughtfully at the sword on the ground.
"The time...is a little short?"
Thales shook his sore arm in annoyance and stamped his feet in the temporary training ground in the courtyard to relieve his numbness.
"It's okay," the prince said bitterly:
"I'm just not used to it."
"Northlanders don't teach that way. They tend to...confrontation training."
Mallos snorted:
"Then maybe...you should go back to the Northland?"
Taylor suddenly choked.
The setting sun shone on the courtyard of Mindis Hall, elongating the figures of Marius and Thales on the ground.
Behind them, Doyle stood under the pillars, talking to Glover beside him.
"Obviously, our Prince has not experienced systematic training."
Doyle shook his head:
"It seems that the Northlanders who are good at fighting have limited abilities."
Glover pursed his lips.
That's right.
At this moment, Thales was listlessly taking the "martial arts class" taught by Lord Mallos himself. Obviously, after a whole day of brain torture, the Duke was not very interested in the standing-style teaching of the guard captain.
.
But Marius seemed content with it.
"Sword posture and sword stand are an important part of ancient knight training," the watchman still had that polite smile on his face, not at all bothered by the prince's failure and attitude:
"Especially the 'Seventeen Swords of Knights', which is a classical and orthodox knightly skill that has been passed down to the court since the empire."
"After the founding of the Xingchen Kingdom, it was carefully studied by countless masters and became what it is today."
Under the watchful eyes of several members of the royal guard who were sparring, Mallos walked into the arena and elegantly picked up the prince's metal practice sword. He hesitated and did not pick up the road wheel as well.
"Every action and posture has been carefully considered and verified countless times," Mallos turned the sword upside down and handed it out, gentle and graceful, without any trace of impatience:
"And you need to concentrate on it, follow it through to the end, and do it to the extreme, so that it can be deeply ingrained into your body and become instinctive."
Thales, whose mind was still filled with word order changes and arithmetic expressions, sighed and took the sword handed over by Mariotti.
But when Thales twitched, the sword didn't move at all!
Thales was taken aback and came back to his senses from his listless state.
He raised his head and found that the sword was firmly held in the palm of Mallos's hand, and he did not let go.
"So that at any moment in the battle, you can return to the most familiar and safest posture."
Marius looked at him deeply and became serious:
"For example, every time you attack with a sword, no matter what the result is, you must instinctively quickly return to defense and stay alert."
The next second, Mallos suddenly let go, and Thales swayed with the inertia before he stood firm.
Faced with this unfriendly "reminder", Thales forced a smile and waved his sword skillfully:
"Even when the enemy is dead?"
Mallos, however, had a cold look in his eyes:
"Even when the enemy is dead."
Thales was stunned.
Mallos continued:
"I guess the Northlanders haven't taught you about 'shooting back'?"
"Even if you cut off your opponent's head, his torso still retains inertia, and he can continue to complete the moves he did before death - such as cutting off your head in the second after death."
Thales paused for a moment.
"In fact, the Northlanders taught it."
The young Duke rolled his eyes and found that D.D and Glover were both watching from a distance, and the former yawned unceremoniously.
"It's just that, you know, what they have to face is the near-death counterattack of the orcs," Thales shrugged, decided to gamble on this topic, and quickly completed today's share:
"If a counterattack of that magnitude is allowed to happen, regardless of whether it is blocked or not, and whether the person blocking is a strong sword or a weak sword, it will basically be a matter of one moment, and there is little point in returning to defense."
"So they emphasize offense as defense, advocating suppressing the situation and pursuing victory..."
"I believe that the most perfect battle is one in which the opponent has no power to fight back from beginning to end."
Thales shook his head: Nikolai the Fallen Star, Tuleha the Burning Knight, Monty the Death Crow…
Well, it seems that among the Northland masters he has encountered, not many are particularly good at defense.
On the contrary, here in the Kingdom of Stars, from the Flower of the Fortress to the Wings of Legend, and even the Punishment Knight in the Prison of Bones...
As for Wrath of the Kingdom…
Well, that is a different kind of existence that even the people in the North are afraid of.
But Mallos looked at him deeply, then took two steps forward, held Thales' shoulders and leaned close to his ear.
"Then you'd better remember that your life is worth much more than most people's."
"What you need is to survive, Your Highness, not just die a moment later than your opponent."
"Survive."
Mallos' tone was alert and mysterious, somewhat like a ghost story, which made Thales tremble subconsciously.
"Moreover, most of the opponents you will encounter in the future - if there are any - will be humans," Mallos let go of Thales' shoulder expressionlessly, "Facing their 'back attack', fight back in time.
Smart defensive stance is extremely important."
Mallos’ smile has long since disappeared:
"After all, you are learning swordsmanship, not suicide."
Thales frowned, feeling the other person's displeasure: It seemed that his carelessness just now offended him?
Mallos walked out of the field and spoke coldly:
"Return to the sword-teaching position just now and hang up the weight."
"Try to hold on for another half hour to let your body get used to it."
half an hour?
Thales instantly turned into a bitter face.
From six o'clock in the morning to now, he has just experienced a full twelve hours...
Does he still want to have dinner?
Mallos did not look back:
"I know that this process is boring, empty, and hard. There are no opponents and no goals."
"Only you."
The watchman's words contained a chill:
"There is only loneliness, loneliness, forbearance, persistence, and no other helpers or enemies."
Thales breathed out.
"In fact, your biggest enemy is living in your own will."
Mallos turned around suddenly, his tone extremely determined:
"Kill it."
"Take back your will."
Thales couldn't help but raised his eyebrows again.
real?
In a training class, why do the lines look so like an inspirational story...
But the internal criticism was the internal criticism, and Thales could only do as he was told, assuming the standard knight's sword-teaching posture and trying his best to make his body meet the requirements.
It's just that I'm a little bit mentally distracted.
Thales thought helplessly.
Soon, after only ten minutes ("It should be almost time, right?" - Thales was sweating profusely and looking forward to it), the tip of his sword began to tremble, his movements gradually deformed, and he was a little unbearable -
Muscle strength has never been Taylor's strong point.
But this time, Thales secretly called his most familiar comrades.
Soon, the wave of habit followed the order covertly and obediently, spreading to his right arm, relieving the soreness and load of the muscles, and continuously injecting new energy.
Thales gritted his teeth and exhaled: Yes, he feels much better.
The trembling of the sword tip slowly subsided.
He tried to stretch his body and return to the most standard knight's sword-giving posture.
Outside the court, Mallos, who was observing carefully, his eyes lit up and he began to nod.
Even Glover and Doyle had their attention.
"Wow, I underestimated him earlier."
Doyle scratched his head:
"The people from the North are quite capable."
Although he did not enter the senses of hell, his hearing was more or less enhanced, and he faithfully conveyed these words to Thales's ears.
The prince curled his lips.
"good……"
Mallos walked into the venue with interest.
"Very good, Your Highness."
"In fact, it far exceeded my expectations."
Thales couldn't help but straighten the line from his arm to the tip of the sword.
Until Mallos nodded in understanding, smiled mysteriously, and said:
"It's really good..."
The watchman's eyes swept across Thales's steady arms and standard posture, and he praised in his most gentle and elegant tone:
"...Where is the power of ending."
At that moment, Thales, who was focusing all his attention on maintaining his sword posture, was horrified!
what did he say?
The tip of his sword trembled slightly.
On the other side, Glover and Doyle both looked at each other, showing confusion.
Mallos smiled softly.
But suddenly he reached out and grabbed Thales' sword hilt!
Suddenly, the sin of the Hell River, which was already active, surged up, causing Thales to subconsciously pull back his wrist!
With the huge force coming, Mallos's face changed at first, then he raised the corners of his mouth and let go of the hilt of the sword.
It seemed like I had discovered something.
Thales took advantage of the inertia and took two steps back, looking at Mallos in surprise.
Boom!
There was another muffled sound, and the road wheel slipped from the sword body again, rolling hopelessly on the sand for the last time.
The guard captain moved his hands calmly and nodded slowly, as if he was still recalling the wrestling match with the prince just now.
But his expression calmed down, as if he realized the truth.
Thales understood something and became more and more unbelievable.
Since six years ago...
Ever since the strange power called the Sin of Hell River first awakened from his body...
Except for the Black Sword, who has the same power, no one has ever taken the initiative to discover his secret in the past six years.
Whether it's enemies in the North and the desert, or old friends in the old land of stars.
And Thales is also willing to hide himself and save his trump card - whether he is facing the Fallen Star, the Death Crow, or the Shadow Shield, his last trump card has played a good role.