“Warrior… Let me begin by taking about my Aspects first,” Alnea said, manipulating the Aspects floating in front of him to dance in the air, and change their colours, bringing life to the light in the cave. “As you both already know, I have a special relationship with my Aspects… No, not just my Aspects, but Aspects in general. Maybe it is because of the Oath I made with them, or because of something else.
“In any case, I am able to tame an Aspect once a week on average. And that too, only because my current strength does not allow me dig Aspect Wells more than once a week. If it were just up to the Aspects of the Origin Sea, then I would probably be gaining new Aspects every time I Wander the Origin Sea. Still, over the past few months, I have been successful in gaining thirteen Aspects in total. And I will be able to gain my fourteenth Aspect in a couple of days.”
And for that, Alnea felt a little pride, and satisfaction within himself. After all, Initial Stage False Wanderers, on average, were able to tame around ten Aspects. And that too, only near the latter half of their lives. Most of the Wanderers who were able to break through to the Intermediate Stage in a couple of decades could tame only about seven or eight Aspects before their advancement, like Cecilia.
That did not mean that Cecilia was an average Wanderer. While she did only have around seven Aspects before advancing to the Intermediate Stage, she had tamed them in only under four months of becoming a Wanderer. Other Wanderers, the truly average ones, who made it to the Intermediate Stage with seven or eight Aspects, had to decades before they could get to that number.
No matter how good of a Warrior she was though, he was still better than her. At least in terms of the number of Aspects they had tamed. He would probably still lose in terms of proficiency in their Martial Styles, but not for long. Sooner, or later, he was bound to catch up to her, and then Yuri. After that, he would—
“What is so good about taming Aspects every week?” Cecilia said, breaking him away from his thoughts, and bringing his attention to herself. To her pouting face, showing clear dissatisfaction with what he had said. “Are you trying to show off?”
“I am just stating the truth.”
“…It is not as if you can gain Aspect infinitely. There is a limit to the number of Aspect Wells you can dig in your Spirit World.”
“There is indeed a limit to the number of Aspect Wells that I can dig in my Spirit World… But that number depends on my Spirit, and the state of my Heart. And though my Spirit Power is stuck at the Initial Stage for the moment, the State of my Heart is comparable to Wanderers at the peak of the Intermediate Stage. Let’s see…
“I guess I should have no problems in accommodating around twenty, twenty five Aspects? And by the time I get to that number, both my Spirit Power, and my Heart would have advanced, increasing the limit of the number of Aspects I can tame once again. So, in a way, if I keep increasing my Spirit Power, and tempering my Heart at a rapid enough pace, would that not mean that I would have no limits taming Aspects?”
“…Show off,” Cecilia said with a snort, turning her face away from him, just as he burst out in a laugh. Even Yuri joined him with soft giggles. The ease with which he tamed his Aspects had always been one of the sore spots for Cecilia. Despite being from the illustrious Serpia clan known for their Warriors, she was being surpassed by a someone who, until a little over a year ago, did not even have any foundations.
She was, of course, not jealous about his achievements. She was, in fact, as happy for him as Yuri was. Or maybe a little less. No one could be as happy for him as Yuri. Each step that he took as a Wanderer meant that they were one step closer to changing the fate that she wished to deny. Probably, even his master was not as happy with his progress as Yuri was.
In any case, Cecilia was not mad at him. She was just frustrated with herself, and her ‘relatively’ slow progress. Her earlier outburst was just a way for to deal with that frustration. It was also one of the reasons why Alnea often provoked her, or teased her, getting her to release her frustrations in small intervals, rather than letting them accumulate, and burst all at once.
Of course, there was also the added benefit of being able to tease her… Seeing the rather cute appearance of his green robed friend, as she puffed up her cheeks in annoyance, Alnea was starting to see why big sis Serena teased her so much. Her reactions aside, just being able to see this cute side of his boisterous friend was worth bearing through her little tantrums.
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“As I was saying, I have tamed a total of thirteen Aspects till now,” Alnea said, trying not to grin too much. “Of those thirteen Aspects, three can take the shape of a sword, one can take the shape of shield, one can take the shape of an armour, while one can take the shape of both, a sword, and a shield. And though I have yet to learn Martial Styles which can help me make good use of the shield, and armour forms of my Aspects, I have learned quite a few Martial Styles focussing on swords, and have gained a fair amount of proficiency in the way of swords.”
“You have indeed progressed well with your sword,” Yuri said with a nod. “Much faster than I had anticipated. Probably even big sis Nyssa had not anticipated you to improve so quickly. Just to be sure, can you tell us how many Martial Styles you have learned?”
“…If you are talking about the Martial Styles that focus on just swords, then I have mastered all the Lowest, and Low Grade Martial Styles that master gave me, and have started learning Intermediate Grade ones. I am still lacking in terms of control over my Aspects though, which restricts my proficiency of the Martial Styles. It is fine when I am using only the Lowest Grade Martial Styles, but when I try to use the Low, or Intermediate Grade Martial Styles, I often fail in switching between them.”
“It is alright, Alnea,” Yuri said, looking at him with a comforting smile, one that sent waves of warmth, and comfort in his Heart. And though they were sitting around a hand’s distance from each other, he felt as if she was right by his side, gently comforting him with her hands… The Ring of Fate was truly a Divine Treasure. To be able to make him feel so giddy with just a few words… It looked like the bond between them was getting stronger.
“Switching between different usage of Aspects, or in your case, between different Martial Styles, is a relatively higher level concept, one that Warriors use to develop their Martial Styles beyond the Intermediate Grade. The fact that you have begun practising switching between different Martial Styles is enough to put you ahead of most of the Wanderers of our age. Even I have only recently started focussing on switching between different Martial Styles.”
“Is switching between Martial Styles really that difficult?” Cecilia asked, looking at Yuri with confusion. “I do not find it that hard to accomplish.”
“That is because the Martial Styles that you are using are all from your clan, and are based on relatively similar concepts. Furthermore, those Martial Styles have been developed by your clan over countless years, and have been designed in way that it is easier for the younger members of your clan to get started with Martial Styles. For Martial Styles that are not from the same vein, even if they are based on similar concepts, switching between them can be extremely difficult, and require very fine control of Aspects.”
“…Then should I try to master some other Martial Styles in order increase my control over my Aspects?”
“You do not have to go that far,” Yuri said, shaking her head. “Switching between the Martial Styles you know would be enough. Even if they are based on the same concept, if you switch between them for enough number of times, you will start to feel resistance from your Aspects. That is the point that you will have to overcome next.”
“…I will try.”
“Alright, that should be enough about the Martial Styles. Continue with your Aspects, Alnea.”
“…I have already told you about six of my thirteen Aspects. Of the remaining seven, two of them can help me augment my attacks, be it from my sword, or from just my bare hands. Two more, can help me augment my physique, and body as a whole, while another one just simply augments my speed, and agility. These five are the only augmenting Aspects that I have, and I can use these five Aspects with all the Martial Styles that I had learned last year.
“That leaves me with the final two Aspects, one of which can just give off a bright light, while the other one can help me disguise myself. Both these Aspects are not very useful in direct combat, but they can come in handy in certain situations. Not situations which we are going to encounter in the canyons though. At least not for the Aspect which lets me disguise myself. But yes, they should prove very useful when we will have to deal with the Heterodox Wanderers.”
“You should never underestimate the Heterodox Wanderers, Alnea.”
“I am not underestimating them… Master gave me a few Martial Styles other than those focussing on swords… Special Arcanas, which when coupled with my last two Aspects, should be able to help us in dealing with the Heterodox Wanderers… Forget it. It will be better when you see it with your own eyes.”
“…I trust you. There is no need for you to show off Martial Styles needlessly. We do not want to draw the unwanted attention of the Oren Beasts.”
“That’s why I said that those Aspects are not going to be very useful.”
“Alright, we understand the extent of your abilities. Seven Arcanas, and thirteen Aspects… Even if some of them are not suited to be used in the canyon, if used properly, most of the intermediate phase Oren Beasts will not be your match. Coupled with Cecilia’s strength… You two are qualified to challenge advanced phase Oren Beasts. And so, as I had promised, it is time for me to tell you about my abilities… It is time for us to begin acting like a true team.”