Upon hearing Amy's praise, Mai Ge's expression immediately turned serious. He calmly sheathed his sword and nodded indifferently, saying, "Just a small test."
"But Daddy, is this a sword?" Amy asked, somewhat puzzled.
"Yes, it's just a metaphor." Mai Ge coughed twice and stopped posing. He was somewhat surprised by the speed and power of the sword. Mai Ge • Alex had practiced swordsmanship millions of times back then, so that his body had memorized the angle, force, and speed from which the sword should be struck.
Mai Ge had originally planned to secretly practice his swordsmanship on the balcony every night in order to learn the sword techniques in his mind as soon as possible, but now it seems that he doesn't need to work that hard.
All he needs to do is adapt to the speed of this sword technique as quickly as possible, and let his mind keep up with the sword, so that he can bring this sword technique to its fullest potential given his current physical condition.
At this level, he should be invincible among his peers, and with good luck, he might even be able to defeat someone of a higher level.
In summary: No need to practice.
"It seems that cooking well, making money, and getting physical fitness points from the system and buy new ones is the right way to level up." Mai Ge thought to himself. This is good too. If he had to open the restaurant during the day and practice swordsmanship at night, life would be too tiring, and he would have no time to spend with Amy.
"Daddy, where did you put this sword just now?" Amy asked curiously, looking at the gleaming silver sword in Mai Ge's hand.
"Up in the sky." Mai Ge pointed upwards, it really had fallen from there.
"Wow, really? Daddy's sword strike was amazing! Amy wants to learn it!" Amy's eyes lit up as she looked at Mai Ge with anticipation.
"Amy wants to learn swordsmanship?" Mai Ge stopped abruptly, looking at Amy with some hesitation.
Mai Ge • Alex was the number one knight on the continent back then, and his swordsmanship was naturally the best as well. However, Amy is now learning magic, and she is proficient in both ranged and melee combat. If she was to follow him to practice swordsmanship, it would seem like she would be learning too much. At such a young age, she needs to have some time to play.
"Yes, yes!" Amy nodded seriously, her eyes shining as she looked at the long sword in Mai Ge's hand. "I also want to be like Daddy, able to cut down a sapling in one go, so that if anyone dares to bully Daddy in the future, I can beat them up."
Seeing Amy's expectant expression, Mai Ge smiled and nodded, saying, "Okay, I'll teach you when we get back, but you can only practice for a little while each day, and you can't tell anyone after you've practiced."
"Not even Master Half Beard or Master Yulian?" Amy asked.
"Yes, you can't tell Sister Mia either. This is our little secret. When Amy is really good at it, you can suddenly tell them. They'll be so surprised." Mai Ge nodded seriously. Giving his daughter more self-defense skills is probably something every father wants to do. Only when she's strong enough can he not worry about his daughter being bullied outside.
As for bullying others? Amy isn't that kind of child.
He'd deal with her if she bullied others, it was better than her being bullied anyway. This was a selfish thought of Mai Ge as a father.
"Okay, I got it." Amy nodded seriously.
"Good girl." Mai Ge smiled and patted Amy's hair. He looked at the Ugly Duckling, who was resting with its chin on Amy's feet after running around. He opened the bag, took out a water bottle, and gave the two little ones a drink. Then he hung the water bottle on his waist and put the Ugly Duckling directly into the small bag, with only its little head sticking out.
"Meow meow~" The Ugly Duckling looked around curiously, then found a comfortable position to curl up in.
"Little Amy is tired too, I want a carry." Amy said, stretching out her arms and looking at Mai Ge.
"Okay, come on up." Mai Ge smiled and squatted down. The two little ones were out of city for the first time, and they had gotten tired chasing a butterfly.
Amy jumped onto Mai Ge's back, wrapped her arms around Mai Ge's neck, and shouted happily, "Let's go!"
"Let's go!" Mai Ge stood up, carrying his long sword, and strode quickly toward Stranglethorn Vale. The little one only weighed about 20 jin (about 10 kg), so it wasn't heavy at all on his back. Listening to her chattering in his ear, he felt more and more energetic.
About 5 km from the city gate, Stranglethorn Vale has a road about two meters wide worn into it by passing mercenaries. The road surface has been eroded by rainwater, creating gullies and many large footprints of varying depths, larger than elephant footprints, which should have been left by trolls.
Occasionally, mercenaries on horseback would pass by and couldn't help but turn around to take a few glances. It was quite rare to see someone carrying a little girl on a mission like this. However, this time, Mai Ge was carrying a long sword, so he received far fewer disapproving looks.
More than half an hour later, a large valley came into Mai Ge's view. Two majestic mountains stood side by side, forming a valley. The closer to the valley entrance, the steeper the cliffs became. The valley entrance has formed a spectacular narrow passage, with only one narrow passage about three meters wide through that can pass.
Moreover, the stone wall was covered with black thorns, as thick as an arm, covered with black barbs, stretching all over the mountainside, draping the two mountains in a black coat.
The valley entrance resembled the gaping maw of a ferocious beast, and the mercenaries continuously flowing into the valley were like lambs thrown into the tiger's mouth, trying to snatch a blade of grass from its jaws.
Mai Ge identified the western slope and carried Amy toward it. Most mercenaries went directly into the valley or climbed the eastern slope, where there were more opportunities. The western slope had been almost completely cleared a few years ago, and a fire had burned half of it a few years ago, destroying most of the thorn bushes. Even magical beasts no longer liked to go there, so no one went there anymore.
Mai Ge chose this location because of its safety. As for whether he would encounter a Flaming Chicken, he was quite laid-back. If things went wrong, he could always find another place, there was still plenty of time.
"Daddy, let me get down and walk by myself. It's too tiring for you to carry me. We still have to catch fighting chickens later." Amy said, leaning on Mai Ge's shoulder with some concern.
"It's no trouble to carry you. Amy is so light, it won't be tiring to carry you all the time." Mai Ge said with a smile. Although the large thorn bush had been burned, but new thorn bushes were growing back on the fertile black soil. The thorns, about the thickness of a thumb, still had sharp barbs. Mai Ge was not comfortable letting Amy walk on her own.
With his longsword clearing the way, all the thorns blocking his path were cut down one by one. The advantage of a sharp weapon was very obvious at this moment. Mai Ge easily carried Amy up the mountain.
Despite being extremely cautious the whole way, but they climbed all the way to the hot spring halfway up the mountain without seeing a single wild animal, let alone a level one magical beast, the Flaming Chicken.
There was a small flat area halfway up the mountain where the hot spring was located. It was a small hot spring pool about two meters in diameter and about half a meter deep. The pool was surrounded by a ring of stones, which he didn't know if they were natural or man-made, making it look like a bath.
Behind the spring pool is a large rock, almost as tall as a person and three meters long, with a blackened surface, which serves as a testament to the great fire that year.
The temperature here is indeed more than ten degrees higher than the surrounding area. The ground feels hot underfoot, as if there is a volcano underground.
Steam rose from the spring, and the warm, moist air refreshed Mai Ge, who had been climbing the mountain, making him want to take a bath.
"Wow, a bubbling spring! Daddy, I want to play in the water!" Amy's eyes lit up as she exclaimed happily from Mai Ge's back.
"Okay, but be careful. Let me test the temperature first." Mai Ge nodded with a smile and put Amy down. They hadn't seen a single bird along the way, let alone a Flaming Chicken. Now that they had finally made it up, they should at least soak their feet before going down the mountain.
Mai Ge reached into the hot spring to test the temperature to see if it was suitable for them to soak their feet. Although the hot spring was nice,but they couldn't just soak in it randomly.
"Cock a doodle doo!" Just then, a loud crowing suddenly rang out, followed by a flapping sound, and a big rooster flew up onto a large rock!