In the days following the day that his mother had forced an Oath upon him, Alnea had learned how to fake a smile from her. As such, it did not take much effort on his part to turn from sobbing to smiling with pride. And it was not like everything about his smile, or pride, was fake. He did have reasons to be proud about himself.
“I have completely mastered the Thousand Arms Style in one day, master,” Alnea said. “Now you don’t have to brag about some other kid. Instead, you can tell everyone that your disciple is the most talented Seed you have ever seen.”
“Is that so,” his master said with a stiff smile. “So, you mastered its third level? Good. At this rate you will be able to Master the other Martial Styles in time as well. You must have worked hard.”
“No master,” Alnea said, shaking his head. “Not the third level. But the sixth level. I have gained a basic mastery of the Thousand Arms Style like you asked me to. Now, I can perfectly control all the muscles, and in turn, all the strength in my arms.” Saying so, he took out the scroll of the Thousand Arms Style, and put it on the table, before adding, “I don’t need this anymore.”
In a matter of just moments, the stiffness spread from his master’s smile to her entire face, making it obvious that she was finding it hard to believe his words. That made Alnea feel a little happy about himself, giving a little more substance to his half fake smile. Still, the way his master kept staring at him made him a little nervous, making him shift uncomfortably in his seat.
He wondered if she would be able to figure out his secrets from just the way he mastered the Martial Style so abruptly. Maybe he should have held himself back a little, and taken another day before telling his master about suddenly gaining mastery over the Martial Style, he thought. But then, would that not mean that his master would have still kept on bragging about the other kid?
No, Alnea declared to himself. He could not let that happen. Besides, he had already lied to his master once, unless absolutely necessary, he did not wish to lie to her again. And hiding his ‘talent’ with Martial Style, at least with Auxiliary type of Martial Styles that focussed on his body, was not necessary. Especially so if it meant that his master would stop bragging about the other kid. And it would be even better if she would brag about him instead. Just thinking about that made all his hesitations disappear, as he waited for his master to react.
“Show me,” his master said after a while.
Alnea did as his master asked, going directly into the postures of the sixth level of the Thousand Arms Style, showing a perfect control of his arm’s strength. Seeing his performance, his master had no choice but to believe his words. Yet that also prompted her to call him over to herself, and touch the different parts of his arms, while asking him to continue displaying the sixth level postures of the Thousand Arms Style.
“You really gave me a big surprise, Alnea,” his master said after a while, with a solemn look on her face, motioning for Alnea to stop displaying the Thousand Arms Style.
“Did you not like the surprise, master?”
“Why would I not like the fact that my disciple is a genius?” his master said, with her solemn look turning into a wry smile. “If my reactions are a little stiff, then it is only because I am still processing what I just saw. Last evening, before going back home, you were struggling with the second level of the Thousand Arms Style, and just a night later, you have mastered up to the sixth level of the Martial Style. This is really too big of a surprise to me.”
“...I don’t know how it happened either, master,” Alnea said, being forced to lie once again. “Somehow, after I mastered the second level of the Thousand Arms Style last night, its later levels did not feel as complicated to me. So, trusting my instincts, I tried doing them one after another, and learned that they were even easier than I had thought. I just had to do them once, and I was able to master all of them. It was as if the Martial Style had opened up all its secrets to me. I thought that it was because I was a genius, but now that you are saying it, I too think that this came about too abruptly. Is everything alright with me, master?”
“Don’t worry,” his master said. “I can think of a few reasons why such a thing happened to you. Maybe your compatibility with the Thousand Arms Style is higher than I thought. Or it might be because of a few other reasons. In any case, there is nothing wrong with you. You did a good job. But you must not get overconfident. Just because you mastered one Martial Style so easily, does not mean that you will be able to master all of them with just as much ease. There are still seven more Martial Styles you have to master, and only thirteen days left, so you have to give it your best.”
“I understand, master,” Alnea said. “Don’t worry, I will not let you down.” And to himself, he added, ‘I will not break your trust’.
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“I am not worried about you letting me down… Forget it. Let us move on to the next Martial Style.”
“Yes, master,” Alnea said, and handed over the scroll of the Thousand Arms Style back to his master, who then put it back into her ‘Dimensional Pocket’, before taking out another scroll from it, and giving it to Alnea.
“Three Leg Burst Style?” Alnea said, looking at the title of the scroll. “Another Strength specialisation Martial Style, master?”
“This is why I said you should not always focus on the name of the Martial Style,” his master said, shaking her head. “The Three Leg Burst Style specialises not in Strength, but in Speed. Of course, even within that specialisation, it has a specialisation of its own, instantaneous movements. In short, it focuses on enhancing the instantaneous speed that a Warrior can burst forth with their legs in a moment. It is quite a nifty Martial Style, that was once again, limited by its creator’s talent, and comprehension.
“Still, it is something that you can learn a few things from. According to the Martial Style, when completely mastered, it allows its user to burst with three times their speed for a short distance, and either get close to their opponents, or away from them. Of course, that upper limit is only for its creator. For you, you just need to be able to make full use of your legs to burst with all your speed, while controlling the direction, and distance you move.”
“So, it is like the Thousand Arms Style?” Alnea asked, looking at the scroll with weird eyes. Hearing the description of the Martial Style, he was having a premonition that he was going to give another ‘surprise’ to his master. Yet his master took his internal struggle, and his question, as a sign of overconfidence. Though if he thought about it, she was right in a way. And so, he listened to his master, without refuting her words.
“Just because the effects of the Three Legs Burst Style sound similar to the effects of the Thousand Arms Style, it does not mean that they are similar as well. One of them focuses on our legs, while the other focuses on our arms. Controlling our arms comes more intuitively to us, than controlling our legs does. That may also be one of the factors contributing to the reason why you were able to master the Three Thousand Arm Style so easily.
“Besides, you have already gotten used to using your legs in a certain way. Making changes in that habit is going to be tough. Especially when the structure of our arms, and legs are completely different, as are their muscles. Furthermore, the essence of the two Martial Styles is completely different. One specialises in Speed, while the other one specialises in Strength. Except for the fact that both of them are of the Auxiliary type of Martial Style, there is nothing in common between them.
“Even the Aspects that the two Martial Styles were created for are completely different from each other, so the chances of you being compatible with the Three Legs Burst Style, just as you were compatible with the Thousand Arms Style, are quite low. You should treat this Martial Style as a completely new one, and begin practising from the basics.”
Listening to his master’s words, Alnea hesitated a little, thinking whether he should refrain from using his experience of mastering the Thousand Arms Style with the help of the Oathkeeper Style to master the Three Legs Burst Style as well. But when he thought about how that would be akin to deceiving his master, he gave up that thought. He was already lying to her in regard to his dreams, and memories, he did not wish to increase his sins, and burdens anymore. He did not wish to break her trust anymore.
Furthermore, he did not have time to waste. He was already lagging behind others, and needed to catch up as fast as he could. Thus, he could not afford to lie, and hold himself back. It would surely increase his master’s suspicion, but she had already given him a perfect way to explain his sudden mastery of the Martial Style. Besides, it would make him even more of a prodigy in her eyes, making her forget all about that kid that she was talking about. That thought decided it all.
Nodding to his master, Alnea opened the scroll, and started going through its contents. As his master had said, the Three Burst Leg was completely different from the Thousand Arms Style, focussing on utilising his muscles for the best instantaneous burst speed, and not on strength, but the way that the Martial Style was divided into different levels, each with increasing difficulty, aimed at ultimately making him get better control of the bursting prowess of his legs, was quite similar to the latter.
Of course, Alnea did not need to go through all those tedious levels. After glancing through the contents of the scroll, he found that there was another thing common between the Martial Styles. Just like he had guessed, the Martial Style was focussed on controlling the muscles, and ligaments of his legs. As such, he was quite confident of skipping all the way to the last level of the Martial Style that he could master, which was what he exactly did, as he got up from his seat, and started displaying the highest level of the Three Legs Burst Style he could master as a Seed.
“It looks like I am compatible with this Martial Style as well, master,” Alnea said, looking at his master with an awkward smile.
“Are you trying to be cheeky with me?” his master said with a smile, turning his own awkward smile into an awkward laugh.
“Guess that was a surprise as well.”
His master did not say much to that, as it was indeed a surprise. She just took the scroll from the table, and put it back in her ‘Pocket Dimension’, replacing it with another one of the eight scrolls that she had taken out yesterday.
“This is Five River Flow Style, a Martial Style specialising in Defence. And though it is just a Lowest Grade Martial Style, it is one of the better ones in its Grade, much better than the other two that you mastered before. Those two were based on action oriented Aspects, while this one is based on an element oriented Aspect. There is even a certain hint of a concept of flowing water in its movements. Consequently, it is a little more difficult to master than the other two. Still, considering your performance, I guess you should be able to master it in fo–two days.”