Revive Rome: Wait! Why not make the empress fall in love with me first?
Chapter 150 - 54 Siege Training

Chapter 150: Chapter 54 Siege Training

"Why did you know it was me?" Rasul asked with curiosity.

"Mia would never come up with such a prank on her own because she’s afraid I’d beat her up," Aske laughed. "It must have been your idea to teach her those tricks and then suggest ’you could scare your squad leader to impress him’ as a way to encourage Mia to ambush me at the door, right?"

"No, no!" Mia quickly jumped in. "It’s not the mentor’s fault, I just wanted to try out this new move myself!"

"Mentor?" Aske asked.

"This girl has a real talent for understanding Instant Step," Rasul said with a smile. "I have already accepted her as a formal Ilanian Assassin and my direct disciple. Under my meticulous mentorship, she will become the second most formidable White-clothed Assassin in history—of course, only second to me."

"Thank you, Lord Rasul, for your recognition of her," Aske said. "However, she has a labor contract with The Azure Longsword that she signed earlier. The assassin business can be postponed for now."

"Haha, who would choose to be a mere mercenary when the opportunity to become a White-clothed Assassin is right here?" Rasul proudly said. "Besides, according to the Imperial Law of East Solomon, any labor contracts signed with minors are invalid."

"Let’s let the person concerned decide, then," Aske spoke indifferently. "Mia, do you want to stay with The Azure Longsword Mercenary Corps, or follow this guy back to the Ilanian Plateau?"

"Of course I want to stay!" Mia said without hesitation.

"Wait a minute, Mia, that’s not what you just said!" Rasul’s face changed, and he immediately exclaimed.

"You just asked me if I was willing to become an assassin," Mia turned and gave him a helpless look. "You didn’t say anything about taking me away from everyone!"

"But becoming an assassin means you have to go to our assassin headquarters," Rasul still tried to persuade her. "We have superior training conditions, ample accumulation of Magic Potion Materials, and various Extraordinary Items and Extraordinary Equipment. As my direct disciple, you can use these precious resources at will."

"See, you are still using a plain Iron Sword, which can easily break against heavy weapons. How about trying our Assassin Sleeve Sword and Sleeve Crossbow? We also have very stylish assassin uniforms, you know?"

Mia started to hesitate when she heard this, but Aske quickly added:

"He’s a weirdo, he likes brawny grannies. His house is full of big grannies."

Instantly, a nightmarish image appeared in Mia’s mind: a group of brawny grannies hugging her, rubbing her head, and affectionately laughing:

"Come on, little Mia, call me ’Master.’"

Shivering violently, Mia stiffly turned her head and showed an awkward but polite smile:

"Master, I still want to be a mercenary..."

Rasul was speechless, what does this have to do with my preferences! Wait, how does he know about my tastes...

Thus, Rasul fell into profound contemplation, while Aske patted Mia’s head and said:

"There are still many problems with your fighting style, I’ll teach you one by one when we get back."

"Okay," Mia obediently responded.

"Let’s go find Peggy," Aske said.

Leaving Rasul and the training field behind, they arrived at the door of a Meditation Room.

Peggy was sitting on a mat meditating, and when she heard someone pushing the door, she turned her head.

"Aske!" Peggy ran up to him, her face looking as if she were about to cry, "I’ve tried all kinds of methods, but I still can’t multitask!"

"It’s okay, I didn’t expect you to learn it in just a few days," Aske comforted her. "Take it slow."

"Multitasking, huh? I might have an idea," Rasul’s voice came from behind.

This guy followed us here again... Aske was taken aback and said, "Are you talking about that?"

"Exactly," Rasul said. "Siege Training."

Siege Training, the final trial for assassins to advance from the Black Clothes Rank to the White Robe Rank, involves facing attacks from eight enemies simultaneously without getting overwhelmed.

What does facing eight enemies entail? Imagine enemies stationed at your front, front-left, front-right, left, right, back-left, back-right, and directly behind, all swinging swords at you simultaneously.

Of course, actually being surrounded means certain defeat. Even while continuously moving, it’s inevitable to face 2-3 enemies attacking at the same time, hence quickly responding and multitasking skills are crucial.

Considering Peggy could steal thoughts, this Siege Training would undoubtedly help her develop the ability to activate her Stealing Ability while also focusing on other things simultaneously.

Hmm, maybe worth a try? Aske pondered.

——————

Hippoclate University, training field.

"Can this really work?" Peggy said despairingly.

"Don’t worry, we won’t start with the highest difficulty," Aske comforted her. "Let’s start with facing two people simultaneously."

Peggy was speechless. The easy level means facing you and this guy simultaneously? And according to Mia, this guy’s strength is not inferior to yours?

What kind of hell-mode easy level is this!

"Come on, let’s first try if you can normally activate thought stealing," Aske said.

Peggy activated her power upon hearing those words, saying, "You’re thinking of using ’Dragon Slash’ as your starting move."

"Not bad, and him?" Aske continued to ask.

"He wants to test my strength," Peggy said.

"Is this the ’Stealing Sequence’ ability?" Rasul showed an interested expression, "Its versatility in the early stages isn’t bad. But I remember that this sequence undergoes a significant qualitative change after it’s formalized."

"Things after Lv.10 are still too early for her now," Aske drew his longsword, "Let’s begin."

Peggy held her breath slightly, taking up two short swords in her hands.

Aske would strike first...

Her left-hand short sword swiftly raised, blocking under Aske’s Lion’s Fang chop.

Then the right side!

Just as Peggy was about to make her next move, Rasul’s sword ridge had already struck her shoulder first, causing her bones to ache faintly.

"Too slow," Rasul said with a smiling face, "Since you have the Flesh Sequence’s healing ability, I won’t hold back anymore."

"Again!" Peggy gritted her teeth.

"Watch our attack intentions!" Aske shouted harshly, his longsword stabbing toward her lower body.

Peggy leaped back, her gaze swiftly shifting to Rasul, whose longsword was about to slash at her head. She quickly ducked in mid-air, dodging his horizontal swing.

"Not bad, learned to find another way?" Rasul said smilingly, "How about we raise the difficulty a bit?"

He flicked his arms, and his longsword suddenly created multiple blades in a flash, making Peggy’s pupils dilate instantly.

An illusion sword? No! It wasn’t an illusion sword, but rather high-speed sword swings that were imperceptible to the naked eye combined with intentional pauses in mid-motion to use human visual persistence and create misleading afterimages!

"Did you realize?" Rasul rapidly swung his longsword, creating several afterimages around him, seemingly having the prowess of three heads and six arms.

"In Ilanian, this is called ’Habahong’, which translates to ’Illusion Sword’ or ’Phantom Sword.’ If you just rely on vision, you can be easily deceived!"

"Don’t be blinded by your eyes! Use your stealing ability! Steal our thoughts!" Aske spoke rapidly, attacking her from behind simultaneously.

"You make it sound so easy!" Peggy yelled as she consecutively leaped back, dodging his slash, "I have to activate powers, think clearly about how to respond, keep up with my thoughts physically! And I have to deal with two people at once! How can a normal person do so many things at the same time!"

"If you can’t do it now, then practice hard!" Aske responded, his longsword quickly executing a triple stab, "You even have time to complain, it seems I haven’t put enough pressure on you!"

"Where we come from, talkative assassins get stabbed!" Rasul also launched a fierce attack.

Peggy managed her swords left and right, quickly becoming overwhelmed, with wounds opened on her left arm and right leg.

"Give her some time to recover," Aske said, signaling Rasul to stop the attack.

"Thinking with every move is definitely too slow," Rasul advised her, "All you need to do is steal thoughts. After perceiving the enemy’s intentions, your body should quickly follow your subconscious to counterattack, while your brain should not be distracted by directing the body but should continue to continuously activate your ability, stealing the enemy’s next intentions, understand?"

Peggy leaned on the ground, slightly panting, while the flesh around her wounds began to wriggle, repairing the damaged areas.

"Using my subconscious to react?" Peggy smiled bitterly, "I’ll try hard, let’s do it again."

So the three of them collided with their weapons once more.

Moments later, Peggy, covered in cuts and bruises and drenched in blood, was staggering.

"Again!" she strived to activate her power to heal her wounds and straighten her chest again.

Such a relentless and unyielding spirit moved even Rasul a bit.

"Can your spirituality still hold?" Aske asked solemnly.

"No problem," Peggy said with difficulty, her face sticky with a mix of blood and sweat.

She wiped her cheek with the back of her hand and forced a smile:

"After all, this isn’t the first time I’ve had such training."

Aske paused, then quickly realized she was referring to the time she had trained herself in the underground training ground of the Constantinople hotel for revenge.

As a gentle girl who had never received military training, she had sparred with herself in the underground training ground for four days straight, forcibly memorizing how to swing a sword, how to evade, and... how to fight, all through countless pains and injuries.

But Peggy, back then, you learned to fight in an almost life-threatening manner to avenge the deep-seated vengeance of your murdered parents.

What are you fighting so hard for now?

Aske pondered for a moment, then nodded solemnly.

"Alright," he decided to respect Peggy’s choice, "I’m coming."

"Watch carefully."