A bald-headed Ambrose sat in the middle of the raised platform. It was situated behind the golden temple, and surrounding the temple, there were racks with weapons and armor neatly displayed.
The Wisdom King walked up the flight of stairs and stopped in front of Ambrose before sitting down.
They both wore beige-colored robes that fluttered against the morning wind.
Ambrose bowed respectfully before straightening his back and looking straight into the aged eyes of the Wisdom King.
“State your name, style, and skill level.” The Wisdom King spoke with a voice of authority.
“Ambrose, two-sword style, and novice skill level!”
“Two-sword style…” The Wisdom King looked at the two sheathed swords on Ambrose’s waist. “Which dominant hand?”
“Right.”
“How is your left?” The Wisdom King asked.
“Weak.” Ambrose replied with his honest thoughts.
“While you aren’t training your swordsmanship, do everything with your left, and I mean everything.” The Wisdom King said powerfully. “However, while you are training your swordsmanship, you will be using only your right.”
Ambrose looked surprised before nodding and asking. “What about training my two-sword style?”
“If your swordsmanship is terrible with one sword, do you think I will let you train two swords?” The Wisdom King chuckled. “Only when you are decent at using one sword can we start training the other one!”
“Yes, grandmaster.” Ambrose nodded and didn’t object.
“After your swordsmanship training is over for the day, you will train meditation alone. We will give you a scroll that has instructions to close the gate to your world of souls. After you manage to do that, we will teach you to track other people’s soul scents and project them.
“We then teach you to master the First Gate. And, when you have mastered it, then we will show you the way to open the Second Gate. However, if you don’t master the First Gate, we won’t teach you the second one!”
“I understand.” Ambrose nodded, determined to put effort and master the First Gate.
“Here, we won’t teach you any sword style.” The Wisdom King said shockingly. “Because we aren’t a dojo. We don’t teach any styles nor prefer one weapon over others.
“We will simply help you to improve your own swordsmanship.”
“That’s what I prefer.” Ambrose said. “I want to develop my own unique style that suits me.”
“What kind of style is that?” The Wisdom King asked with the corner of his lips curving up.
“A dominant style.” Ambrose said with a serious look. “I want everything in the path of my sword to perish.”
“There are millions trying to do that; do you think you can?” The Wisdom King raised a question and stood up. “Only determination and will don’t guarantee that. You need talent; lots of it.”
“I know that.” Ambrose stood up from the ground. “However, I am willing to try harder than anyone else and see where that gets me.”
“Heh.” The Wisdom King grinned and nodded. “Very well. Draw your weapon!”
With his hand on the handle, Ambrose drew his Black Sword, which glinted majestically under the sunlight.
“You call that a draw?” The Wisdom King crossed his arms and shouted loudly. “Do it again!”
Ambrose tightened his grip and slid the sword back to the scabbard before drawing it out again with even greater speed.
“Again!”
Swoosh—the sword returned to the scabbard once more, and then it was unsheathed again, slicing through the air with a resounding whoosh.
“Again!”
The rest of the day, the young man did nothing but sheathe and draw his sword. He did that thousands of times while the Wisdom King’s hoarse voice traversed the air. Even with his old age, he didn’t show any signs of fatigue while shouting “again.”
…
“I received a message today.” Arsenal, the weapon master of Zahhak, said while seated around a comforting campfire.
While other available members of Zahhak turned to Arsenal, Cerberus used a stick to poke the embers, causing them to crackle and spark.
“Apparently, Ambrose was sighted in Yatagarasu.” Arsenal said with his usual stoic voice. “I can’t guarantee if it’s legit because it came from a source I am not too familiar with.”
“Why would he go to Yatagarasu out of all places? He knows it’s our base.” SweetieHell asked and shook her head, thinking it was false information.
“Because he knows we are chasing him hundreds of kilometers away.” AnarchyCat said with his rather childish voice. “If I were him, going to Yatagarasu wouldn’t be the worst idea.”
“Voices…” Rainman bit his nails while looking around the dark forest. “The voices are getting closer!”
“What do you think, boss?” Arsenal looked at the handsome, green-eyed man. His long black hair fluttered gently against the chilly night wind.
“If we follow any blind leads, we will never find him.” Cerberus said and threw the stick into the campfire. “We can’t continue like this. We need something that helps us find Ambrose, wherever he is.
“Relying on information we receive from some unknown players won’t cut it.”
“Then what can we do?” Arsenal asked. “There are no shortcuts. We just have to be patient and wait for any trustworthy source to message us.”
“Hmm…” Cerberus lifted his chin with his palm. “Alice knows him in real life. She must also know where he lives.”
“You want us to go find him in real life?” Arsenal scoffed. “Isn’t that too much?”
“Not really.” Cerberus shook his head. “Not yet at least…”
The last part he whispered was so inaudible that no one else heard him over the crackling of the fire.
“Ambrose has a little crush on our Alice. I doubt those feelings will disappear like they never existed.” Cerberus rubbed his chin. “Alice could try to fish out some information for us.”
“Will she agree to do that?” SweetieHell asked.
“She will,” Cerberus said with certainty. “I promise her that Zahhak will leave her alone as long as she gives his location.”
“Will you do that? Leave her alone, I mean.” Andromeda suddenly asked from the side while looking at her brother.
“Yes.” Cerberus replied simply. “However, I have a feeling that she will crawl back to us once her path with Silver Heart reaches its end. She cannot hide her true personality forever.”
…
“Argh.” Jesse removed his headset with his left hand and laid down on the bed with a numb expression. He finished the swordsmanship training for today, and it was definitely the most tiresome thing he had ever done. 𝒩𝚘𝓋𝗅𝒩xt.𝐂𝑂
When he was walking back to Honorable Zhen’s house, where he was still living temporarily, he couldn’t raise any of his arms.
Luckily, that feeling didn’t transfer to his real-life body.
‘I wonder if entering the world of souls works here.’ Jesse sat up right as he wanted to try that.
If it didn’t work, he had no choice but to return to the game to practice closing the gate. He promised the Wisdom King to do that, and he didn’t plan on breaking his promise.
He sat cross-legged, closed his eyes, and began breathing rhythmically.
“Iiiinnnn… Ouuuut!”
As the clock ticked down on the wall, slowly nearing ten in the night, the black clockhand suddenly stopped.
The world had gone silent, as if frozen in time!