Tired, in body, mind, Spirit, and Heart, Alnea opened his eyes to find his master looking back at him, nodding in satisfaction, with pride flashing in her eyes.

“How was it?”

“Painful…”

“…As long as you can bear the pain, your gains will be immense.”

“…I know.”

“Do you blame me for making you go through this?”

“No,” Alnea said, hurriedly shaking his head. “It is my fault that I have to train with Arts, master. Rather, I am grateful that you went out of your way to create the Art for me.”

“Silly disciple,” his master said, gently ruffling through his hair. “You think too much. The Art… It is not as difficult to create as you think it is. At least for someone of my level.”

“But you are still the first person to create it, master. You are omniscient! You—

Alnea’s words were interrupted by the hands condensed from his master’s Spirit Power, flicking his forehead.

“Even when you are so tired, you still cannot stop being cheeky…”

“What does telling truth have to do with me being tired, master?” Alnea said, looking at his master with innocent eyes.

“…Forget it. I will not argue with a silly child like you.”

“…I am not a child anymore. I am a full fledged Wanderer, and would soon turn fourteen years old in a few months.”

“Alright, my little Wanderer,” his master said, chuckling at his words. “Do you now understand what the Art of Spirit Rebirth means?”

“Art of Spirit Rebirth… It is about giving a complete Rebirth to our Spirit?”

“Why are you hesitating.”

“Because I am not sure.”

“Or because you are just rephrasing the name of the Art?”

“…It is not my fault that you chose such a perfect name for the Art, master,” Alnea said, laughing awkwardly. “It is much better than the name that I came up with… Three Turns Spirit Forging Art… Is that why you did not ask for me to name the Art, master?”

“…Do not think about useless things.”

“Speaking of the Three Turns Spirit Forging Art, I thought that this time I would be able to create another version of the Spirit Piercing Needles—

“Do not even think about doing such things,” his master said, looking at him with a solemn gaze. “It was alright at the Seed Rank, but False Ranked Mysteries are not what you can control without comprehending them. You have already experienced their horror, so I should not need to remind you about what could happen if you lost control, now do I?”

“No…”

“Just wait patiently until you have comprehended your own Mysteries. After that, you can play around with them however much you want. But till then, no fooling around with the Mysteries of the Origin Sea. Do you understand?”

“…Yes, master,” Alnea grumbled. “I was just joking around anyways.”

“With how crazy you act at times, do you think I would believe it?”

This content has been misappropriated from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

“…How did you create the Art of Spirit Rebirth, master?” Alnea said, trying to change the topic to something that would not embarrass him. “It is completely different from the Three Turns Spirit Forging Art.”

“Did you think that I was going to give you just an upgraded version of the Three Turns Spirit Forging Art?” his master said, shaking her head with a smile. “That was just a prototype that I was using to check the feasibility of the training Spirit by letting two Mysteries clash with each other. Although its effects were as good as a Transcendent Grade Arcana of the same Rank, there were too many loopholes in the Art, making it unsuitable to train with for long period of time. After the last few months of research, if I were to grade the Art once again, I would probably give it a grading of a Top, or even a High Grade Art.

“The Art of Spirit Rebirth though, is a genuine Divine Grade Art that can be comparable to Divine Grade Arcanas not just in terms of its effects, but also in other areas. Of course, it still has the demerit of having to experience pain, and the clash of the Mysteries, but that is an inherent feature of the Arts, so it cannot be helped much. Still, what it lacks in terms of usability, and friendliness, it makes up in other areas.

“Like its name suggests, the Art of Spirit Rebirth will truly make your Spirit go through a process of Rebirth. It will be painful, but in return, your Spirit will much more resilient to attacks, both from other Wanderers, and the Origin Sea, than the other Wanderers of your Stage. Even amongst Divine Grade Arcanas, few of them can compare with how the Art can make your Spirit develop in an all round manner.”

“…It is not that painful,” Alnea said. “As soon as I imagine your face, all the pain goes away.”

“Silly disciple,” his master said, chuckling at his response, ruffling his hair once again, before she slowly withdrew her hand, and her smile from her face. “Are you alright?”

“I am fine, master.”

“…Did you experience anything strange when practising the Art?”

“Speaking of something strange… I did encounter something, master.”

“What was it?”

“When I first experienced the clash of the Mysteries, the pain had come too abruptly. It was the first time I was experiencing something so painful. For a few moments, I even lost my consciousness… I think… And I saw a dream…”

“…What kind of dream?”

“It is not the kind of dream that you are thinking, master,” Alnea said, shaking his head. “And that is why this is so strange. For the first time in more than seven years, I saw a proper dream, master. I did not see the memories of the other Alnea, nor did I see any of my own memories. It was a proper dream… As dreams should be.”

For some reasons, Alnea thought that he saw relief flash past his master’s eyes. It lasted for too short of a moment though, so he was not able to confirm it. And before he could think any further on it, his master spoke once again.

“What did you see?”

“…That we were in the garden in front of big sis Serena’s mansion. You, me, Cecilia, Yuri, big sis Serena, mother… All of us were enjoying the night sky from there. But then, you started speaking to me, asking me to wake up, and… in any case, after I talked with you a little, I realised that it was all just a dream. Soon after, the dream shattered, and I was able to feel my Spirit once again. Or at least, the pain, and all the different kinds of sensations. Then I proceeded to complete the last steps of the Art of Spirit Rebirth.”

“And did you experience something like that again?”

“No,” Alnea said, shaking his head. “It was only in the first round. In the subsequent rounds, I was already prepared for the pain, so I did not lose my consciousness. Naturally, I did not dream, or experienced anything strange.”

“Is that so,” his master said, and after some thought, added, “It is like you said, you lost consciousness because the pain came too abruptly. And the dream was probably your subconsciousness warning you to wake up, and regain control. As for why the dream was not a memory of… your namesake, it is probably because your Spirit was being engulfed by the clash of Mysteries. And we have already established that those memories had something to do with your Spirit. They were probably suppressed because of the pain. You do not have to worry about them. Just keep following your training schedule. And if something untoward happens, then I will handle it.”

As he heard her words, and compared it with the light in her eyes, Alnea thought that there might be something else that she was not telling him. But if it was something that he needed to know, she would have told him already. So, he did not point it out to her, and just nodded along with her words, saying, “Yes, master.”

“Do you have anything else to add?”

“No…”

“Then what are you sitting there for? Time is passing. You have to make use of every moment.”

“…I will get going,” Alnea said, pouting at his master, but still followed her words. Taking out the scroll about the basic sword movements from his bag, he picked up the wooden sword kept by the side of his bag, and walked into the darkness, stopping at the bank of the stream. A ten metres wide stream…

The naming sense of Wanderers were so distorted. In contrast, his sense of naming was not that bad. Three Turns Spirit Forging Art was such a perfect name. It described everything about the Art. What would he have named the Art of Spirit Rebirth if his master had asked him to name it though? Clash of Mysteries? Seed of Life? Rhythm of Forging Spirits? Or just the Exploding Mysteries Spirit Forging Art?