Another month passes as I struggle to completely master the slash form. I often find myself talking to Bones even knowing he can't reply, but better talking to a skeleton than to myself. I am at the point I need a break and am thinking about opening the soulscape to speak with the goddesses.

At this point I only fail to get a perfect slash one in four times, I am getting really close to mastering it. In fact I feel like I should have mastered it already but I am missing a component. I have re-read the instructions for slash form a hundred times, but it doesn't say anything about what I might be missing.

So all I can do is perform slash over and over again. Another thousand slashes with seven hundred and fifty being perfect. No sign of improvement at all, I have to be missing something!

*DING**DING*

Congratulations! Skill Sword Basics has progressed to level 9!

Sword Basics

Level 9

Str +9

You do 45% extra damage with swords.

Congratulations! Skill Void has progressed to level 3!

Void

Level: 3

Wis +6 Willpower +3 Weapon Speed +3

The mentality of a great swordsman.

'Ah! That was it!'

As I go to perform slash I can feel it even before I swing, that was what was missing. I enter void without trying and perform slash one last time. Finally, I don't even feel the second slash, it feels like just one fast slash to me.

*DING*

Congratulations! Skill Supreme Swordsmanship has progressed to level 3!

Supreme Swordsmanship

Level: 3

Pierce: A blinding fast thrust with maximum power.

Slash: The power to cut through almost anything.

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Chop: Maximum damage possible.

More attacks will unlock as level increases.

'I finally did it! After months and months, slash is finally mastered!'

Tears start trickling into the fur on my face because I am so happy. All the effort and mental stress is finally worth it! To celebrate I cook myself a big meal of drake meat and after eating I climb into my hammock for some real sleep.

After I wake up and eat breakfast I decide to learn the new chop form. The attack itself is fairly simple but the muscle control for it is insane, even after reading it a few times it is hard to grasp everything at once. This is going to be even harder to learn that the slash form was.

'Let's see, position the sword above my head using both hands. Then bend my body in an arc until the blade almost touches the ground. Then snap my upper body forward using every muscle in my back and legs while swinging the sword down with my arms.'

Unfortunately the stance is made for humans and my legs don't work the same way. My first attempt slams Blitz into the floor shortly followed by my face.

'Ow! Damn that hurt!'

I pick myself up off the floor and rub my face until it stops hurting. Then I read the chop form again and try to figure out how to avoid repeating that experience. The chop itself was plenty powerful, where Blitz hit the floor is a three foot crack.

I made sure to check Blitz for damage but there wasn't even a mark on the blade. Too bad I can't say the same for my face! Several more attempts end with similar results before I manage to find a stance that prevents me from smashing my face into the floor.

Unfortunately, the stance I find reduces the power of the chop by quite a bit. Looks like I am going to have to spend quite a bit of time working on the form before I can even start practicing it. So I continue practicing to toughen up my face by repeatedly smashing it into the floor.

I was hoping to trigger some kind of footwork skill but no such luck. Maybe it is because footwork is a part of swordsmanship already so it doesn't have a seperate skill. Eventually, I figure out that since my knees are reversed, the reverse of the footing for chop is close to what I need.

Of course I still do a lot of falling down as I try different variations until I find one that works properly. It has been several days since I first started trying before I finally perform chop without falling over. I still need to practice the footwork for a while before I can start trying to learn chop form properly.

The description was right, it is an amazingly powerful attack. I think this might have actually split the drake's skull if I had known it during our fight. And this is just at the failure stage, just how powerful will this be if I master it?

During all this I have found out one thing, Bones can laugh. It is silent, but he opens his mouth and shakes his head around. I know this is his laughter because he does it every time I fall down. And I get plenty of chances to see it.

Come to think of it, I am glad Bones can't talk, otherwise I'm sure he would tell this story to everyone else when we get back. The others knowing about this is the last thing I need, they tease me plenty without giving them more ammo. Then again if they were here they'd probably be offering to kiss all the bruises better.

As I am thinking about that I notice a red light in the tunnel on the other side of the barrier. Seconds later a red wisp of light flies out of the tunnel and hits the barrier. It bounces off and hits the barrier again, like a bug trying to get to a light.

The strange thing is the wisp feels familiar, so I get up and walk closer to the barrier for a better look. It reminds me of the light spirits I freed back in the pit when I was exploring. I decide to see what it is and use slash form on the barrier opening a small hole for a second.

The light darts through the hole and instantly flies to Blitz. Instead of circling around like I expect it sinks right into Blitz and disappears. Suddenly I can feel a familiar presence inside Blitz.

'Drog? Is that you? What are you doing here?'