Zayn knew that the three gashes he had inflicted rapidly were not serious injuries. They could be considered light injuries that restricted Merlin's movement a little, but that was already it.
The bigger problem for Merlin was the freezing effect that was passed alongside the three gashes. The Dragontale Twin Sabers were especially powerful in creating a freezing effect around the area they cut. Triggering this effect required a considerable amount of soul particles but Zayn knew that it was worth the high consumption.
The freezing effect caused a numbing sensation around the area of the cuts, further restricting Merlin's movement and the loss of feeling around the leg.
If they would have continued fighting, Zayn was the most likely to have emerged victorious.
Of course, Merlin never fought with the intention to kill Zayn. Nonetheless, Merlin gave his best while restricting his usage of soul particles to a certain degree. The restriction of soul particles was not to be underestimated but it did not actually matter too much.
I was a fact that Zayn had been able to use his means and armaments to his advantage.
Merlin was satisfied with Zayn's fighting style and the way he combined his instincts with the things he learned over the past four months. That was very important and certainly something he should make use of more often.
"It would be best if you can hide the freezing effect of the Dragontale Twin Sabers until you encounter the Chimera. That way, you will have it much easier to trick the Colosseum's Managers into believing that the Chimera has actually a chance against you," Merlin pointed out while tearing apart the fabric of his pants to carefully inspect the three gashes Zayn had inflicted, "The freezing effect is not too strong but it's enough to slowly wear me down. It doesn't freeze the wound and allows the blood to gush out of the gashes, but makes sure that my leg feels a little numb. As long as you make use of that effect and don't make a mistake while fighting the Chimera, you can defeat it easily in its current state!"
Merlin was more than a little satisfied with Zayn's progress over the last four months. Zayn had been determined and he had stopped complaining about the amount of effort he had to put in when he saw and felt the first changes in his body and fighting style after a few days into the hellish training.
"It took you a while but you are pretty good. I have to give you that!" Merlin praised Zayn for the first time. He smiled at the young Normie who smiled back at him.
"If not for your bad talent, you might have actually had the chance to become a Soul Lord in the future. That's a little sad," He added, which caused Zayn to look at Merlin feeling a little confused.
"'Soul Lord'? What is that?" Zayn asked when Merlin mentioned 'Soul Lord', a term he was unfamiliar with. What Zayn didn't expect was to see his teacher stare at him with a raised eyebrow.
"You…" Merlin was baffled and he kept staring at Zayn, who looked innocently at Merlin. Zayn was not sure why his teacher was suddenly so baffled and staring at him as if he was questioning his intelligence.
"...didn't you regularly visit the library and the Archives of the Adventurer Hall in the past few months?"
Zayn nodded, "I did go there, why?"
Merlin stared more intently at Zayn while trying to assess if his disciple was making fun of him. However, Zayn was serious as he had no idea what a Soul Lord was supposed to be.
"You don't even know the official ranking system of Soulring, even though you visited the Archives of the Adventurer Hall and the City's Library almost every day for almost four months straight? Are you serious right now?" Merlin asked, his voice filled with disbelief and doubt.
Even though he could tell that Zayn was serious, it didn't make sense that the young Normie whom he had been proud of just a moment ago was actually dumb.
Zayn stared at Merlin with slightly widened eyes, unable to formulate a response. He had never heard about the Soulring ranking before and was intrigued. However, that was not something he could tell Merlin, otherwise, he might actually get beaten into a pulp for being ignorant to common knowledge of this world.
He merely continued to stare at Merlin, who sighed deeply.
"I never expected you to be like this…but I guess you always learn something new about the people around you," Merlin mumbled, clearing his throat before he launched into an explanation of the Soulring ranking.
"I hope you know that any being can have Nine Soulrings at most. If you didn't know about that until now, you just figured it out, congratulations. While there are Nine Soulrings, there are a total of 10 ranks. For every Soulring you create, you will be considered to have advanced to a higher rank.
As you may, hopefully, know, everyone starts without a Soulring. You have to collect soul particles and slowly form your first Soulring. The process of being Soulringless and slowly working toward the creation of your first Soulring means that you are at the first rank of the Soulring Ranking. Some also label the first rank of the Soulring ranking, the 0th Rank because you don't have a Soulring.
You will be considered a Soul Novice at this stage. And when you have already finished creating your first Soulring, you are a Soul Squire, which is the name of the rank you've advanced to by creating your first Soulring.
Meanwhile, I am currently a Soul Knight with my two Soulrings, and I will advance to become a Soul Lord in the near future with the creation of my third Soulring.
As long as I regain my full potential with the completion of my System mission, I should be able to become a Soul Overlord with four Soulrings, or possibly a Soul Adel with five Soulrings."
Merlin stopped his explanation for a moment to catch his breath while taking a glance at Zayn, who stared at him with interest gleaming in his eyes.
'Adel? I know that word…' Zayn thought, his ears perking up in interest.
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