He looked towards the source of the noise and saw a tall blonde woman strike a sturdy wooden dummy that looked very anatomical with a dark wooden sword. Her movements were slow yet extremely precise and controlled. Veric watched her hit the dummy with the same eight strikes repeatedly.
Veric followed her movements with his eyes. ‘Straight down, straight up, diagonally down starting from the left shoulder to the right hip, diagonally down starting from the right shoulder to the left hip, diagonally up from the left hip to the right shoulder, diagonally up from the right hip to the left shoulder, and right and left strikes horizontally. She mixes up the order from time to time but those are the only eight cuts she performs… Those should be the basic eight cuts performed with a sword. Everything else is just a variation of these forms.’
Veric continued watching her stance and movements. Each strike looked like a part of another, her movements looked to be never-ending. Her eyes were serene completely focused yet not looking at anything in particular. Her body moved without the need for thinking. It was almost like she was in a trance. Nothing existed for her but the sword in her hand and the dummy.
Veric felt tired after all day of training yet after watching his sister he felt the itch to try it himself. ’Elora seems to be completely oblivious to my presence. I might as well try it.’ He walked over to a barrel filled with dark wooden swords and reached out for one. They glistened as if they were made out of dark moist walnut.
Unfortunately, he wasn’t able to lift one. ’What the hell? Is it made of lead?’ He looked back at his sister and saw how unencumbered her fluid motions were by the weight of the dark sword.
‘Oh right, she can lift a car.’
He let go of the dark wooden sword and noticed another bucket with light brown wooden swords. He picked one and lifted it with ease. ”I am glad they didn’t forget about weaklings like me.”
He walked over to one of the dummies that looked creepily human and started to imitate his older sister. He followed her movements. His own were nowhere near as elegant or controlled however, he made sure to correct his mistakes with the use of his perfect memory. While striking the dummy he replayed his sister’s movements in his head over and over again and compared them to his own.
‘My precision is really bad and my muscles are already getting tired after swinging the sword only a few dozen times.’ He thought and stopped to catch his breath. He could already feel his muscles become warm.
He looked back at his sister and paid attention to not only her movements but also her breathing. ’In through the nose between swings and out through the mouth during the swing.’
He lifted the sword and continued swinging. Making sure to pace himself and improve his breathing to optimise the amount of oxygen entering his muscles. He instantly felt a difference. Thanks to the improved breathing technique his muscles felt more energised.
With each swing, he improved his techniques slightly engaging the appropriate muscle groups in his core, back and shoulders, arms and forearms. His motions became more fluid and connected.
He stopped swinging once he saw a system notification.
Congratulations! You have learned [Novice Swordsmanship] (Level 1)(Tier 0)(Unclassed)(Passive)
[Novice Swordsmanship]:
- Damage you deal while using a sword is now 0.6% greater.
- Accuracy while using a sword is now 0.7% greater.
- Speed while using a sword is now 0.2% greater.
- Defence while using a sword is now 0.0% greater.
‘Wow, I didn’t think that it would take this long to get this skill, I have been swinging for so long that I have developed calluses’ He dropped his sword and looked at his hand.
“You should have wrapped your hands first, delicate boy.” He heard his sister's voice behind him.
“How long have you been watching me?”
“I was aware of your presence the whole time, but I was quite surprised when you decided to practice yourself. I was about to stop you when I noticed that your form was lacking a proper breathing technique but you have corrected yourself, which is very impressive. Did you manage to gain [Novice Swordsmanship]?”
“Yes, thank you for the compliment. When I saw your movements I couldn’t help but try it myself, but there is something I don’t understand. Accuracy and Damage are now improved the most while defence and speed have the smallest multipliers.”
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“Not all swordsmen are the same. Your progress will depend on the training and actions you take. Each level up in [Novice Swordsmanship] will give you a total 1.5% increase that will be distributed between the four categories.”
“Well, I guess that it does make sense. Not all swordsmen are the same. If I reach level 10 in [Novice Swordsmanship] will father give me access to mother’s notes?”
“No… He wants you to learn the [Silver Flame]. It is the foundation of the swordsmanship he wants you to learn.”
“And how long will that take?” Veric asked worried about the delay.
“It seems that you have some talent for the sword so it shouldn’t take longer than a few months for you to master [Novice Swordsmanship] and then it will take around…a year for you to develop your [Silver Flame]” She said while minimising the time scales to make sure he doesn’t lose the motivation to train.
‘That is way too long. More than a year with no spell formulas and any knowledge about mana or aether? There is no way it can take that long to learn some swordsmanship skill.’ Veric thought while feeling a pit of disappointment in his stomach.
“Don’t look so downcast. It can take years for some to learn it. But it seems that you have some talent so it shouldn’t take so long.”
“Years?! How difficult can that skill even be? There is no way it takes that long.” Veric protested.
‘I don’t think that I am that talented either. I think that I have managed to learn the first level of the [Novice Swordsmanship] due to my perfect memory and the ability to process information a lot faster than normal but my body is inadequate.’
“Could you show me this [Silver Flame]? I want to know what I will be working towards.” Veric asked not too sure that it will be worth all the trouble.
“Of course I can I wouldn’t be your teacher if I wasn’t able to do that much.” She said and grasped the hilt of the dark wooden sword with both hands and walked over to the wooden target.
She faced the target and took a deep breath, the air around the sword became violent like the air above a roaring flame. She lifted the sword slowly and it became ignited with a roaring silver metallic flame that released no heat yet sounded like steel scraping against steel.
Elora performed a quick, powerful diagonal slash from the right shoulder to the left hip. Veric could barely follow her quick movements with his eyes. The sword penetrated the wood without resistance and cut through it like a hot knife through butter.
While watching the movements of the silver flames Veric felt something in his chest at first he believed that it was a similar feeling to when he used the scroll. But unlike before the strong resonance didn’t come from his soul but his heart. The faint feeling of the sharpness came and went in an instant however, it made a great impression on him.
The upper part of the humanoid stump fell on the ground with a dull thud. The cut wasn’t smooth, it was jagged and serrated as if performed with multiple blades instead of one. The silver flames disappeared and Elora released the air she was holding in her lungs.
“This was incredible! Was that magic? Was the flame an illusion?” Veric asked excitedly after seeing the strange technique.
“No. It was something that people call aura or sword intent or soul of the blade. Learning this technique takes this long because you have to develop it first. [Silver Flame] is capable of dealing really serious damage but it has a great cost too. Just that one slash consumed around one-third of my stamina. Which as you know is more than 1000 units. Additionally, look at the state of my sword.” Elora lifted her dark practice sword which was covered in numerous cuts and slashes as if she just fought someone that used a sharp metal blade.
“As you can see this skill can’t be used many times in a row and especially not while fighting many opponents as it will leave you stranded with a damaged weapon. It should be a trump card you use when fighting a single powerful opponent.” Elora continued to explain and Veric agreed with her assessment of the skill.
“As your proficiency with the [Silver Flame] increases the flames will be less scattered and more controlled. When I first developed my sword intent it was very weak almost none of the [Silver flame] was pointing outwards and most of it was pointing inwards at the sword I was holding, but with time and effort I managed to tame the flames.” Elora said with a proud smile.
“Are there different types of Sword Intent other than this silver flame and do other weapons also have it? Is there axe intent or spear intent?” Veric asked wondering about the origin of the phenomenon.
“Yes there are different types of sword intent or weapon intent, however, [Swordsmanship of the Silver Flame] is considered the noblest of all in our country and learning it is the privilege that only the nobles can receive.” Elora said with smugness in her voice. Veric didn’t know whether she felt patriotic at that moment or just proud of her family but he couldn’t share her enthusiasm.
“What stat does sword intent scale with?” Veric asked while trying to optimise the route to achieving the [Silver flame] and gaining access to his mother’s notes.
“Well using it consumes huge amounts of stamina so if any stat would be responsible for its creation then it would be the constitution, however, in reality, this skill is based on comprehension and understanding of the sword, while other stats are auxiliary in achieving aura. Your stats can influence your aura thus not all expressions of the [Silver Flame] look in the same way.
Some say that the higher level your swordsmanship reaches the higher your chances to produce the [Silver Flame]. However, your brother Oswyn is the prime example of why that is not necessarily true either.”
“Why?”
“Because he was able to recreate it at age of ten after seeing it only once. At the time he has never held a sword before, not even a practice one. So maybe the [Silver Flame] comes in part from innate talent or luck. Unfortunately, neither of those things can be improved by spending your attribute points.” Elora said while reminiscing.
“So why does father want me to learn something that could be impossible to achieve? When my talent for magic is huge compared to my talent for the sword. Even though this skill is powerful I think that it is nothing more than a waste of time for me. If I had access to my mother’s notes then I would be able to create and learn a multitude of powerful spells?”
“Learning this will not only be a powerful trump card, but it also might open a few doors for you in the future. This skill is very highly valued and is directly connected to the early history of our country. It could be considered a part of the cultural foundation of the aristocracy. He probably wants you and our family to be viewed more favourably by the other nobles in our kingdom. Having three people in a single generation capable of using the [Silver Flame] is almost unheard of.”
“Three? So Rigon can’t use it?” Veric asked surprised and happy to hear that the skill is so difficult to achieve that his older brother failed in achieving it.
“That’s right. He abandoned swords and moved onto axes... But enough talk. It is getting late because you have meditated for so long today. From now on you will attend swordsmanship lessons with me every night after dinner, I will give you one night a week off so you can practice magic, I know how much it means to you.” Elora finished and ruffled Veric’s hair.