“I-Is that it? This is it, isn’t it? The Sword isn’t melting, it isn’t breaking, neither is it flickering, or vibrating. A perfectly stable Sword Aura!
This is it, right!?”
Kael questioned, his voice was filled with a strange kind of desperation. He was holding a sword in his hand, a sword that was shining brightly and was ready to cut anything in its way.
Unlike the sword, however, Kael’s body was the opposite. His eyes were bloodshot, he didn’t even blink as he stared at Veylara, waiting for her approval. He looked like a man who desperately needed a woman’s validation, or else he might even kill himself.
And he couldn’t be blamed either.
Ever since he came to this world, every time he trained, he grew. Even in the Crucible, while the system stats didn’t show anything, he still felt his body change.
This made him addicted.
Addicted to the feeling of improvement, it gave him an adrenaline rush every time he got stronger, it allowed him to push his body beyond limits he didn’t even know existed. Even when the pain that came with it was nothing short of agonizing, he still went on with it.
But tonight…
Tonight was different.
He had been training for 4 hours now but… in all these 4 hours, he hadn’t gained even a single stat, nor had he gained any CE. In these 4 hours, he hadn’t made even a single bit of improvement. All he had done was inject his Mana into a sword and break it.
There was no pain, no exhaustion, nothing that made him feel like this might be his last day, yet…
Kael felt like this was the worst training of all.
Training with no improvement, a training that didn’t give him the sensation that he was addicted to.
“Why are you asking me? Swing the Sword.”
Veylara shrugged.
“I can swing the sword.”
Kael spoke as he swung the sword in the air repeatedly, feeling somewhat relieved when he realized that the shine was still stable.
It meant that the Sword Aura was stable.
Veylara nodded as well, satisfied.
“Congratulations, the easy part is done.”
“Huh…?”
Kael paused.
“What? You thought you would learn Sword Aura in a day, didn’t you?”
Kael looked away at those words, feigning ignorance.
“You did…”
Veylara realized as she blinked without stopping.
Then suddenly, she pointed her wooden sword at Kael.
“Break this sword into four equal pieces within 2 seconds.”
She ordered.
Kael nodded.
This shouldn’t be difficult, considering the Sword Aura made it possible for his sword to slice through anything like it was cutting butter.
He got into position and swung his sword.
Slice
The first cut was smooth, Kael didn’t even feel like he was cutting something.
The Sword Aura worked.
With raised confidence, Kael swung his sword a second time.
Slice
Again, the second cut was made, as smooth as the first. One last cut and he would be done. Kael swung his sword again, but this time…
Crack
It was his sword that cracked and shattered into pieces, and Veylara simply placed the wooden sword right in front of Kael’s neck.
“And the battle’s over.”
The woman smiled lightly.
“…what happened now?”
Kael questioned. He tried to hide it, but Veylara was able to sense his frustration. The woman, however, just smiled and continued her explanation.
“Mastering Weapon Aura requires three steps. The first, Blade Infusion, is the easiest. It is what you have somewhat learned.
Through trial and error, you learned your Sword’s Limit and can now use the correct amount of Mana to activate the Sword Aura, at least in this type of sword.”
Kael nodded at those words, understanding what the woman said.
“The next step is Flow Control.
Once you form the perfect Sword Aura, you need to maintain it, you need to continuously pour Mana into the Sword, or else the Aura will fade away.”
“But I was already doing that when I swung my sword.”
Kael muttered with a light frown on his face.
“Yes, you were.”
“Does this mean I have completed the second step as well?”
Veylara just laughed at those words.
“Maintaining Sword Aura for a few seconds was never difficult. It is the battle conditions that make it harder. Pain, fatigue, and countless other factors make it difficult to keep the Flow stable.
You are facing one opponent and suddenly, another appears behind you. Even when your focus needs a sudden shift, you still need to make sure you continue to keep the Flow stable, or else your Sword Aura will fade away.
Of course, as you continue to practice, this will come to you naturally.
I’ll force it into your body, don’t worry.”
Veylara assured confidently, and Kael felt a strange chill on his back when he heard those words.
“After Flow Control comes the last step, Impact Resonance.
This was also the reason why your Sword broke when you swung at me.”
Kael prepared himself when he heard those words. He wanted to know what went wrong.
“When you attack, your Mana must move to the point of impact to reinforce the weapon, or else it will break.”
“Huh?”
Kael frowned.
“When you attack, the Mana in your Sword is used up to cut the target. You need to control your Flow and direct more Mana towards the point of impact, or else the Mana there will be weakened, destabilizing your Sword Aura and breaking your Sword.
It is what happened when you attacked me. Since the Mana needed to cut the wooden sword was less, you were able to make the first two cuts. However, by then, since you didn’t direct Mana towards the point of contact, your Sword Aura was destabilized, weakening your Sword.
And in the next swing, your sword broke.”
“This sounds… complicated.”
Kael muttered.
“This is only the beginning.”
Veylara muttered.
“The real problem comes when you realize that you do not just have to direct Mana towards the point of contact, you also need to understand how much Mana will be used during this impact and reinforce your sword with the same amount of Mana.
It takes… practice.”
Veylara smiled.
Then, she glanced at Kael and…
“This is also the reason only one out of a hundred Seventh Stage Warriors actually knows how to use Sword Aura. The rest just quit.”
“Huh…?”