Chapter 262: Morwenna’s Lesson [II]
Morwenna paused, looking away with a nonchalant shrug as she casually scratched her ear.
"Your explanation was too long," Morwenna admitted with shameless honesty. "So I stopped listening after the word ’kinetic’."
"..."
Silas almost spat out his own saliva.
A massive sweatdrop formed on the back of his head as he pinched the bridge of his nose, groaning in silent defeat.
’I’m running an army of lunatics,’ Silas thought to himself with a wave of familiar exhaustion washing over his mind. ’She literally asked me a question, ignored my answer because it had too many syllables, and then repeated the exact same conclusion...’
Morwenna cleared her throat, unsheathing the wooden sword she was carrying at her hip.
"In the war we’re about to face in six days," Morwenna continued, her tone regaining its sharp serious edge, "you will be fighting against heavily armored vanguard troops, reinforced iron shields, and high-tier defensive barriers. You will need raw overwhelming cutting power in your sword... far more than standard physical steel or raw mana reinforcement can provide. And fortunately... water can be used to achieve that exact effect."
Morwenna fluidly dropped her center of gravity, sinking into a low balanced dueling stance.
She looked up at Silas, gesturing toward his Lord Inventory.
"Pull out a real steel sword, Captain," Morwenna instructed. "I want you to attack me with everything you’ve got."
Silas raised an eyebrow. "A real steel blade? Against your wooden practice sword?"
"Don’t worry about my sword," Morwenna smirked arrogantly. "Just draw your steel."
Silas reached into his spatial storage, channeling a quick wave of inventory mana.
FLASH!
In a flash of light, a sleek, double-edged steel longsword materialized in his right hand.
It was a standard high-grade military steel blade... one of the weapons Silas had originally purchased from the commercial market back in the city for Martha, his household guardian back on Earth.
Unfortunately, Martha knew absolutely nothing about swordsmanship and had ended up using the expensive steel blade as an overpriced prop to keep her cellar doors propped open.
Silas discarded the leather scabbard to the side, gripping the steel hilt firmly with his right hand.
Across the training floor, Morwenna took a deep steady breath.
FWOOSH!
A subtle hypnotic transformation occurred around her wooden practice cutlass.
A paper-thin completely transparent film of clear water materialized over the wooden surface.
The layer of water was so microscopic it was almost invisible to the naked eye... but as Silas focused his Gold Core perception, his jaw tightened.
That thin film of water wasn’t stationary.
It was spinning around the wooden blade at an astronomical high-frequency rotational speed... vibrating so rapidly that it generated a microscopic high-pitched hum that buzzed through the air like a saw.
"Come at me, Captain," Morwenna commanded, her stormy gray eyes locking onto his. "Don’t hold back."
Silas didn’t hesitate. He knew better than to underestimate the Dread Queen, even when she was wielding a piece of carved timber.
STOMP!
Silas drove his right boot into the granite floor, exploding forward with high-speed physical momentum.
He closed the five-pace distance in a fraction of a second, raising his steel longsword high above his right shoulder.
To ensure his strike possessed absolute destructive force, Silas didn’t just swing blindly... he ignited his Gold Core!
BOOM!
A surge of blinding liquid gold mana erupted from his arm, aggressively coating the entire length of the steel longsword in a dense radiant aura of sovereign power.
’Ironwood is remarkably tough,’ Silas calculated in his mind mid-charge, ’and her water control is divine... but once I pour my unsuppressed Gold Core mana directly into a solid steel blade, there is zero chance a wooden blade can block a full-power downward strike without getting splintered!’
"Alright, now!" Silas roared, bringing the golden-coated steel blade crashing down in a brutal, vertical execution arc.
SWISH!
Morwenna didn’t dodge and she didn’t retreat. Hell, she didn’t even shift her boots on the stone floor.
With a single and terrifyingly casual flick of her wrist, Morwenna whipped her wooden blade upward in a sharp diagonal parry, meeting his falling steel blade mid-air.
SHING!
There was no deafening explosion of metal...
There was only a sound so impossibly crisp, so sharp, and so frictionless that it sounded like a hot needle gliding through soft silk.
Silas’s momentum carried him forward with his boots skidding across the stone floor as he passed right by Morwenna’s flank, coming to a halt behind her.
Silas blinked, looking down at his right hand.
The hilt of the steel longsword was still firmly in his grip... but the top half of the blade was completely gone.
CLINK... THUD.
Two feet behind him, the top half of his gold-reinforced steel sword hit the stone floor, cleanly severed in twain.
The cut across the solid steel was so smooth and so perfectly polished that it reflected the torchlight like a pristine mirror.
Silas slowly turned his head, staring at Morwenna’s wooden blade in mind-shattering shock.
The wooden practice sword was completely untouched.
There was not a single dent, a single splinter, or a single microscopic scratch on its polished surface.
The paper-thin high-frequency film of water was still spinning smoothly around the wood, humming quietly in the air.
Silas stood there with his mouth slightly open as he looked from his severed steel blade back to her untouched wooden sword.
"The Tidal-Blade Sub-Style," Morwenna explained casually, lowering her wooden sword to her side, "is a fluid manipulation technique designed strictly for increasing the raw cutting power of your edge. By compressing water into a high-frequency microscopic spinning sheath around your weapon, you eliminate physical friction entirely. The water blade slices through matter at a molecular level before the physical edge of your sword even touches the target."
Morwenna turned around, offering him a sharp proud smile.
"And the best part? Because it is a foundational Sub-Style, you can stack it seamlessly on top of the First Style, the Second Style, or any physical sword technique in your arsenal."
Silas looked at the severed piece of steel resting on the floor, then threw the ruined hilt to the side.
CLANG!
He walked over to the weapon rack, picking up his original wooden training longsword.
Holding the polished timber in his hand, Silas looked up at the Pirate Queen, his golden-ringed eyes burning with intense determination.
"Teach me, Master," Silas said earnestly. "I want to get stronger."
The second the word "Master" left Silas’s lips—
Morwenna’s entire posture instantly stiffened.
Her stormy gray eyes widened slightly with her jaw tightening as if she had just swallowed something unexpectedly sour.
To an ordinary martial artist or Swordsman, hearing an elite pupil call them "Master" would be an intoxicating fulfilling moment of authority.
But to Morwenna... hearing her Captain... the man who commanded her loyalty, the man whose bed she shared, and the man whose touch made her heart race address her with the formal distant title of "Master" felt completely wrong.
That was not the kind of relationship she wanted to have with Silas.
Morwenna let out a quiet breath, stepping out of her low combat stance.
She stood up tall, placing her left hand firmly on her hip with her gray eyes locking onto his face with an unusually intense confrontational glare.
"Before I teach you another single thing, Captain..." Morwenna spoke up. "I wanted to ask you something."
Silas blinked his golden eyes, slightly confused by her sudden shift in demeanor. "Ask me what?"
Morwenna looked him dead in the eyes, her lips pressing into a tight line as she blurted out her complaint without a single shred of hesitation:
"Why don’t you kiss me, Captain?"
"..."
Silas went completely speechless.
He stood there holding his wooden longsword with his brain momentarily short-circuiting as he stared at the formidable fierce Dread Queen standing five feet away from him.
"You..." Silas stammered out, thoroughly caught off guard, "you’re asking about... kisses?"
Morwenna’s hand fell from her hip to her side, her fingers scratching her thigh awkwardly as a dark flush began creeping up her neck, dusting her high cheekbones with a rare flustered red.
Yet, despite her obvious shyness, her pirate pride refused to let her back down.
"Yes! Kisses!" Morwenna demanded loudly, venting her bottled-up frustration. "You kiss Eluned for every single little thing! You kissed her at the gates, you kissed her after she cast that barrier, and you kissed her in your room! I can’t stop hearing about it because she won’t stop talking! She won’t stop coming into the main hall and bragging about it to me, Captain!"
Morwenna crossed her arms over her chest, looking away toward the stone wall with an annoyed defensive pout with her raspy voice dropping into a vulnerable tone.
"She uses it to brag..." Morwenna admitted softly, her toes curling slightly inside her leather boots. "And honestly... it’s starting to make me feel less of myself. Am I not entitled to kisses as well? Are you... are you not attracted to my body the same way you are with Elune—"
Before Morwenna could finish her insecure rambling sentence...
STEP.
Silas didn’t let her say another word.
He had closed the five-pace distance on silent feet.
Before the Dread Queen even realized he was standing directly in front of her, Silas reached out his broad, muscular right hand, cupping the back of her neck firmly, and leaned down, taking her full, soft lips in a deep captivating kiss.
MMMPH!
Morwenna went completely rigid.
Her stormy gray eyes widened to the size of saucers with her breath catching in her throat as the warm intoxicating scent of her Lord flooded her sentences.
Inside Silas’s mind, a subtle wave of apprehension had lingered right up until the moment their lips touched.
Truth be told, Silas had half-expected the fierce woman to react on instinct and drive a sharp elbow straight into his ribs or punch his face!
Instead... contrary to all his fears... Morwenna didn’t punch him at all.
The moment she felt the warm strength of his hand at the back of her neck and the firm pressure of his lips against hers, the fierce intimidating pirate captain completely melted away.
Her stiff shoulders softened, her long eyelashes fluttered shut, and she eased into the kiss with a shy breathless hesitation that was adorable.
Her lips were soft and tasted like sweet ocean air if it had a taste.
Silas felt her gentle hesitant yield with a slow smirk forming against her lips.
He tightened his grip on her neck, leaning in deeper and using a gentle pressure to pry her soft lips open.
SLIDE...
Silas slid his tongue past her teeth, tangling it directly with hers.
"Mmm~"
Morwenna let out a soft shuddering gasp against his mouth, her mind spinning in a dizzying haze of pure pleasure.
For three seconds, she stood there passively, allowing him to dominate her senses.
Then... her innate, fiercely competitive pirate spirit kicked in.
The moment her dazed brain realized that this physical exchange was a battle of dominance... a mutual high-stakes competition of passion, Morwenna’s eyes snapped open mid-kiss.
Her gray eyes burned with a fierce battle-hungry light.
’I’m a Dread Queen of the high seas!’ Morwenna swore stubbornly in her mind. ’I refuse to get completely overwhelmed by my Captain!’
SWISH!
Morwenna threw her arms around Silas’s broad neck, pulling his head down aggressively as she fought back.
She wrapped her tongue around his with a wild and fierce intensity, wrestling for control of the kiss with pure passion.
Silas’s golden eyes sparkled with amusement.
’This is why Morwenna is really cute...’
Silas didn’t try to out-wrestle her tongue with pure speed.
Instead, he smoothly slid his free left hand down her lower back, wrapping his calloused fingers firmly around the plump soft curve of her right buttock and gave her rear a heavy squeeze.
"AHNNN~!"
Morwenna let out a loud and deeply melodious moan right into his mouth.
The sudden intense physical sensation sent an electric shockwave straight up her spine as her knees went completely weak, her competitive defenses were instantly pulverized, and she lost the tongue-wrestling battle, slumping helplessly against his broad chest as Silas claimed complete victory over her lips.
After a long breathless moment that left the vault echoing with their soft gasps, Silas slowly pulled his face back.
A single glistening delicate strand of saliva connected their parted lips for a second before breaking softly in the air.