Suppressing Yuri’s thoughts in the depth of his Serenity, Alnea let his eyes adjust to the darkness, while taking a measure of his surroundings. The cave that he had walked out from was carved into one of the walls of the canyon, and for some reason, had no other Oren Beasts around it. At least not for around a hundred metres or so. Maybe it was because of terrain where the cave was located. Or maybe, it had something to do with the Wanderer who had created the cave.

In any case, the location of the cave made it easier for them guard it against any intruders, Oren Beasts, or Wanderers alike. He had yet to see Wanderers in the Night Canyons though. Except for the girls, and his master, of course. But his master had warned him that there might be Wanderers around, so he had to keep up his guard. Regardless, whether it was him, or the girls, all they had to do was to stay in front of the cave, and keep a watch for anyone approaching in their direction.

Thankfully, no Oren Beast had dared to venture near the cave in the time they had turned it into their base camp. However, that did not mean that they could stop their watch. Nothing was stopping either Oren Beasts, or some hostile Wanderers to barge into their cave. And if they did not have anyone to keep watch, then let alone defend themselves, they would not even have time to react, before their enemies would be upon them.

And yet, they did not have anything to do on their watch either. Staring into the darkness at all times was boring. And tiring. Both physically, and mentally. And for obvious reasons, they could not even meditate, or train their Spirits. Wandering, of course, was out of limits. They were keeping watch in shifts for a reason. They had to be ready for their enemies at all times. Even when they were tired, or sleepy.

When looked at from a certain perspective though, keeping a watch did not require much effort. All they had to do was make sure that no one approached their cave. And if someone did come, then he just had to alert his other teammates. So long as he remained alert of any possible enemies that might come, there would be no problems. And that he could do even while training. Not his Spirit, of course, but his Marital Styles. He could train in the way of swords.

Besides, it was not just him. Even Cecilia, and Yuri were the same. They already had so little time as it was, how could they waste it staring into the darkness? And so, after walking out of the cave, both Cecilia, and Alnea gave each other a nod, before walking off to either side of the cave to keep their watch, and train at the same time. They had thought about keeping a watch together, but that would not have been too efficient.

“We are a team,” Cecilia had said. “Until we are in the canyons, everything we do must be from the perspective of the team.”

Maybe Yuri should not have been so harsh on her that day, Alnea thought. But such thoughts were a distraction for the moment. So, he suppressed them in his Heart, and got into the position in which he usually swung his sword. Legs spread apart at shoulder’s distance, with his left hand gripping the sheath of his sword, and his right hand gripping its hilt. Next, in a clean, and swift motion, he unsheathed his sword, and swung it forward.

Not in a stab, but just a simple swing. Except, it was not a simple swing. Though his Spirit Power was low at the moment, it was not completely exhausted. And so, as he practised his sword moves, he also practised his Martial Styles. Ones that he had recently learned. Beginning with the ‘Crescent Slash’. And the point where the ‘Crescent Slash’ ended, he followed it up with ‘Crying Wind’, another Martial Style focussed on slashing. Except, instead of gathering his Aspects on the blade of the sword, he had to gather it on its tip.

Of course, as a Martial Styles designed for the Aspects of the element of Wind, ‘Crying Wind’ would have worked better if he had had Wind elemental Aspects. But more than the Martial Styles themselves, Alnea was trying to learn the different ways of manipulating his Aspects, so it worked out in the end. Like the move he had just performed.

Technically, shifting from ‘Crescent Slash’ to ‘Crying Wind’ required him to push all his Aspects from the edge of the blade to its tip, all between the split moment separating the moves. But that was a ridiculously hard manoeuvre. The two were two completely different Martial Styles after all. Even the Aspects that the two Martial Styles were designed for were completely different from each other.

Fortunately, as his master had expected, his affinity for Martial Styles was not limited to just those of the Auxiliary type. So, learning the two different Martial Styles did not prove too difficult for him. Transitioning between the two different Martial Styles though…

And it was not just those two Martial Styles. Transitioning between any kind of Martial Styles was much more difficult than just learning them. Especially when they involved the use of Aspects. Maybe that was why using Martial Styles used to seem so easy at the Seed Rank. All he had back then, were Martial Styles of the Auxiliary type. And even then, he used to employ them without summoning any Aspects. The Martial Styles he was learning at the moment though, all relied heavily on Aspects.

But that was even more of a reason for him to master transitioning between different Martial Styles. After all, only if he could transition between Martial Styles seamlessly would the fluency between his attacks increase drastically, lowering his chances of making mistakes, like the one he had made against the Black Lightning Panther. They were lucky that they had Yuri with them. If not, then things would have become much too troublesome. And dangerous.

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However, they could not keep relying on the blessings of Goddess Ilea. As they grew stronger, a time was bound to come, when they would not be able to afford making mistakes. And if things went according to their plan, then that time would be coming very soon. And if he did not have any special moves to counter the Heterodox Wanderers, who would all be much stronger than him, then he would probably end up holding back the team.

Thus, it did not matter if transitioning between different Martial Styles was hard. He had to do it even if it was impossible. No, not had to. He was going to do it. There were no doubts about that. Because he was Alnea Oathkeeper, the greatest Wanderer that there ever would be. The man who would create the path to the Rank of Origin Wanderer. And an Origin Wanderer would surely be able to do to something as simple as transitioning between Martial Styles, right?

And so, shifting from ‘Crying Wind’, Alnea went to ‘Meteor Descent’, turning his blade mid way of the descent to shift to the ‘Raging Waves of the West’, only to twist his wrist, along with his waist, to reverse the blade and create the ‘Red Floods of the East’. But the Floods were not the end. They were just the beginning. For every flood must be followed with the ‘Rise of the Earth’, reaching towards the sky to ‘Pierce the Stars’. And beyond the ‘Stars’, there—

Alnea almost screamed in pain as he felt his muscles twitch, and nerves sting, while his body turned completely stiff. The Aspects… Constantly urging them to explode with all of their prowess, only to force them into a lull in the next moment, before urging them to explode once again, multiple times in a row, was too much for his Spirit to handle. As for his body… He may have gotten stronger over the months, but he was not strong enough to do what even some True Wanderers found difficult to achieve.

However, the only reason that his body had to bear pressure was because his technique was not good enough yet. He did not have enough experience of handling Aspects, nor did he have enough experience of using the Martial Styles. Both of which were growing with every passing day. A few days ago, he would not have even made it to the ‘Red Flood of the East’. Yet, at the moment, he was even able to ‘Pierce the Stars’. And a few days later, even the ‘Stars’ would not be able to stop him. After all, he was Alnea Oathkeeper. The greatest Wanderer that there ever would be.

For the moment though, he still had his sword to practise. So, after he felt his muscles relax, Alnea began swinging his sword once again, going from one swing to the next, from one Martial Style to the next. Sometimes, he went from the ‘Crescent Slash’ all the way to the ‘Stars’. At other times, he started from the ‘Stars’ themselves, and went towards the ‘Depths of the Abyss’.

Sword moves themselves had endless variations. And the Martial Styles were even more varied. Relying on just a chain of attack was not ideal. In fact, relying on any number of chains of attack was not ideal. To become a strong Warrior, and a great Wanderer, he had to learn how to judge the situation, and create the perfect chain of attack to counter his enemies. Relying on one set pattern was stupid. No, relying on even a set attack was stupid. Martial Styles… That was right. They were called Martial Styles.

Martial Styles should be based on concepts themselves. Like the Oathkeeper Style. His Oathkeeper Style. Though he must admit. He had never thought that the Oathkeeper Style would have so many flaws. Maybe, at higher layers, with the aid of corresponding Aspects, those flaws would not have mattered much. But at the lower layers, those flaws were much too glaring for his comfort. Maybe that was why…

In any case, since he already knew about the flaws of the Oathkeeper Style, he would have to fix them. But before then, he had to fix his habits of wielding his sword. No, even before that, he had to learn how to grip his sword in the correct manner. A sword must not be gripped by his hands. It must be gripped by his Heart. At all times. Even when it is in its sheath, his Heart must always be wielding a sword. Because only when his Heart had its sword, could his hands swing the sword.

That would take some time though. So, for the moment, he had to make do by letting his body learn how to wield a sword. Wielding a sword… it was like singing a song. It had an end, and a beginning. A purpose. A meaning. His every swing, every shift in the edge of his sword must have its own rhythm. And all those rhythms must mix together to create a perfect song. His song. The song of Alnea Oathkeeper, the man—

“You have made quite some improvement in your sword.”

Alnea stopped his in mid song, as he came back to his senses, and turned towards Yuri.

“When did you come out? Don’t you have to go Wandering?”

“…I know that you love training, but you should not let yourself get so immersed into it that you stop caring about the world around you.”

“What do you mean?” Alnea said, putting his sword back into its sheath. “I have been paying attention at all times. I did not see anyone coming towards our camp.”

“Yet you still failed to notice my arrival,” Yuri said, looking at him amusement. “Were you really paying attention?”

“I…”

Alnea frowned to himself. As Yuri had said, he had indeed missed her arrival. But how? He was sure…

“Not only did you fail to notice me, but you also failed to notice time. It has been hours since you came out. Time enough for me to return from the Origin Sea, and recover my Spirit Power.”

“…But how? I don’t understand… I was just swinging my sword…”

Looking at his confused, and baffled face, Yuri let out a chuckle, and said, “Look at you, so tensed, and flabbergasted. Forget it. You must have reached a special state when training with your sword, and forgotten everything else. It can happen at times. I have also been in that special state a few times. But we are in the Night Canyons right now. Even training here is not safe… Just make sure to pay attention to your surrounding next time, alright?”

“…I still don’t know what happened, but don’t worry. I will make sure to pay attention next time.”

“Good, then let’s go get Cecilia, and leave.”

“…Leave where?”

“Where? To explore the depths of the canyon, of course.”