Alnea’s tacky answer was met with another flick on his forehead, and his master’s chuckles. “Become stronger than me first, before daring to say such words,” she said. After a brief pause, in which her chuckles turned into a smile, she added, “Are you sure that you want to choose a sword?”
“Yes, master,” Alnea said. “I want to choose a sword.”
“Hmmm,” his master pondered. “You have chosen the most difficult one of the three types to start with. But that is fine. You had to learn swords at some point anyways, so why not now?”
“Master?”
Ignoring his confused reply, his master stretched her right hand towards the air beside her. In the next moment, the air, or rather the space itself began to ripple, and shimmer, before her hand sunk into that rippling layer of space, vanishing from sight for a few moments. It was only when she took her hands back out of that shimmering layer of space, that her hand came back in view, along with the wooden sword that she had retrieved from her ’Dimensional Pocket’.
“Take this,” his master said, handing him the wooden sword, before plunging her hand into her ‘Dimensional Pocket’ once again to retrieve a scroll. Only after she had kept the scroll beside her, did she close her ‘Dimensional Pocket’, returning the space, and the air, back to normal. “Do you know why I gave you a wooden sword?”
“…To practice Martial Styles?”
“You do not need to have a wooden sword to practice your Martial Styles. Just your Aspects would have been enough. Especially since wielding your Aspect would come much more naturally to you than wielding a wooden sword. Yet I still gave you a wooden sword. Why do you think I did that?”
“…To get me accustomed to handling swords?”
“You could have also used metal swords for that, one with sharp edges. Why exactly the wooden sword?”
“…So that I don’t hurt myself?”
“That is right,” his master said, nodding in satisfaction. “Before wielding a sword, you must learn how to handle it with care. A sword… it is a double edged weapon. And I am not talking just about its physical edge. If you are not careful, you might end up hurting yourself, and those around you. So, before you have learned how to properly handle swords, and all its basic moves, you are to train with just this wooden sword. Only after I am satisfied with your performance, will I allow you to learn the Martial Styles of the weapon type, and use your Aspects in real life battles.”
“But that is going to take a long time…”
“It does not matter how long it takes. I cannot allow you to wield a sharp sword unless you show to me that you are capable of handling it, without hurting yourself in the process. Besides, did you forget the Aspect that you have just tamed?”
“…What does my Aspect have to do anything with learning the basic moves of sword?”
“Everything,” his master said. “Although you will not be learning Martial Styles, do not forget that your affinity with the Aspects is even greater than your affinity with Martial Styles. And the Aspect that you have tamed can take the form of a sword. When the time comes, all you have to do is control your Aspect to cover your sword, and you will naturally know what to do, and how to move your sword.
“Besides, with the number, and quality of Auxiliary type of Martial Styles that you have mastered, your control over your body has reached an exquisite level. Just in terms of how well you can control your body, even Yuri would not be your match. With so many advantages, you should not have any problems learning the basic moves of swords in a short period of time.”
Basic moves… Alnea shifted his gaze down towards the sword in his hands. Carved from a red wood, the sword was not too long. Not counting the hilt, the blade of the sword was a little larger than half his height. Including the hilt, that would probably come around a metre or so. It did not feel too heavy either. Probably around ten kilograms or so. With his strength, which could rival, and probably surpass that of normal adult humans—those who had failed to become Wanderers— it would not be too hard to swing the sword.
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“Are you thinking that the sword is too light?”
“Not too light,” Alnea said. “But it should not be a problem for me to swing it around, right?”
“We will see how you feel about that after you have spent a few days training with the sword,” his master said, looking at his gesture of swinging the sword around with amusement. Picking up the scroll by her side, she handed it to him, and added, “Within this scroll are the basic movements of swords, recorded in as much detail as possible. From the force, and angle with which to swing a sword, to the starting, and ending point of the swings.
“Furthermore, while swinging a sword, you do not only have to mind your hands, and the sword, but you also have to mind the state of your body, and how it moves along with your sword. These subtle movements will change from sword to sword, depending on the shape of their blades, to their size, their curvature, their sharpness, things like that. What I have given you is just the most basic, and standard form of swords. After you have mastered all the basic moves with this sword, we will move on to selecting the type of sword that suits you best.”
“But I already have an Aspect that can take the form of a sword, master,” Alnea said. “If we are to find the type of sword that suits me best, then wouldn’t the sword that my Aspect transform into be the best fit for me?”
“That is not how Aspects work,” his master said, shaking her head. “Aspects, especially those with the concept of weapons, inherently tend to take on a form, as only in such a way would Wanderers be able to make the best use of them. Of course, the form that they can take will be limited to their concepts. For example, the Aspect you tamed. If you so wish it, it can long, short, broad, narrow, heavy, light, soft, stiff, curved, straight…
“As long as you wish it, your Aspect can take the form of any sword in existence. But remember to not change it too frequently, as it would create a discordance between you, and your Aspect. Rather than repeatedly changing one Aspect into all sorts of forms, it would be better if you gather a large number of sword oriented Aspects, and give each of them a different form. I would not really recommend it though. Making all the Aspects take the same form, and then making them supplement each other would be much more efficient, and effective. Still, the choice would be up to you.”
“…I understand, master.”
“Now, coming back to your training itself, since you are going to start training with a sword, and subsequently, Martial Styles, we will have to cut back on your meditations, and make some changes in your training schedule. In the morning, you will start with a round of Forging your Spirit until your Spirit is exhausted. After that, you will follow the instructions in the scroll, and learn the sword, until your Spirit is completely restored, which will then be followed by a short meditation to calm your Heart, before you go to the Origin Sea for your Wanderings.
“After you come back from the Origin Sea, you will have to practise your sword once again, until your Spirit is completely restored, after which, you will have to go through another round of Forging your Spirit. We will follow that up with brief review of Glyphs, and Arcanas, getting you ready for your choices, before you go through your final round of Forging your Spirit. At this point, your daily training would be basically over. You will then be required to come, and meditate on this bed of Blood Sucking Grasses, while waiting for the next day to resume your training.”
“…That is to say, except for meditating at the end of the day, and once, before Wandering the Origin Sea, I would not be meditating at all?”
“Why? Are you happy about finally not needing to meditate so much?”
“What? No. How could that be? I like meditating so much, I could practically keep on doing it all day long.”
“…We will see about that when you meditate at night,” his master said, pinching his cheeks, while laughing at his antics. “Do you have any questions about the new training schedule?”
“No, master.”
“Good. Then go through the scroll, and start practising your sword.”
“…What about the Spirit Forging Art, master?”
“The Spirit Forging Art… We will start with it tomorrow.”
“Why?”
“Why? Did you forget that you have to dig your Aspect Well? Look at the time… Well, forget it. You cannot look at the time. In any case, night would be approaching us in a few hours. After you dig your Aspect Well, there would barely be any time left in the day. And until you can replace your sleep with your meditations, it is best if you follow natural biological time of your body.”
“It does not matter if it is night, master,” Alnea said. “I can continue training even at night.”
“…You, who cannot even replace sleep with mediation, want to keep training at night?”
“I am serious, master,” Alnea said. “I will fall asleep if I try to meditate anyways. It would be better if I just kept training.”
“Replacing sleep with meditation is not the same as completely abandoning sleep, or rest. You have yet to reach a level where you can disregard rest.”
“Practise makes a man perfect, master!”
“…Stop making trouble. Just go, and train with the sword.”
“…Yes, master.”