As I made my way back to Rudy's house. I noticed that Eris is out in the front yard, training the children.
"Come on now Ars! You have to put your whole weight into it!"
"Ack! Yes!"
The sounds of wooden swords echoing was growing louder as I approached the gate.
I waved to Eris good morning and the children present. From there I made my way to the back of the house.
Even when I crashed at Rudy's house for those few times ... I would usually make my training grounds in the back. Away from prying eyes.
I did some more light sketches and then I went into the heavy stretches.
I place myself in a full side split and then a front split on both sides. It was important to keep my body nimble so it can be able to respond the way I need it too. Just like Master Lily taught me.
And then it was some strength training. Nothing much. Just some chin ups on a tree branch, some squats with a decent size boulder as a weight, etc.
Something Master Lily drilled into me was to not fully rely on Touki. Yes I had a very strong Touki. But she said that my base strength should be able to lift and carry at least double my weight.
When I asked her about it, she simply said so that I can easily pick up and rescue a damsel in distress. She said I will thank her later.
. . . . .
Again I was wondering if I picked the wrong teacher of the North God Style.
I did some other miscellaneous excerises as well ... Such as walking on my hands for my core and balance.
Another excerise I will do was that I will simply hang from a tree. Of course it will take a while for it to kick in but but eventually I would get tired. The goal in this excerise would be to help control my breathing and help supply my muscles with oxygen to keep them from getting tired.
Master Lily said that my body is just as important of a weapon as my sword. So it was important to keep my body nimble and sharp.
After my workout of the basics. I then picked up my sword as I began to do my practice swings.
1, 2 , 3 .....15, 16 ...
Again at times like these I like to think about how I could self eveulate myself and we're I could improve.
25, 26 ,26, ... 38, 39,40
I would like to go over my own style of swordmanship that I created with blood sweat and tears.
Hehehe ... I called it the Rainbow Sword Technique
Hmmm perhaps I should start from the beginning of my creation of this technique.
I would have to go over my magic training journey as well.
While we were traveling in demon continent as the adventure party 'Dead End'. Rudy began teaching me the fundamentals of chantless magic. Of course first he taught me the chants to the basic spells, fire ball, water ball etc.
Now when it came to chantless magic. Rudy said the basic of it is the understanding of the spell itself and how it worked.
A good example is fire, if you understood how fire is made and how it burns and breathes ... Then casting chantless fire magic will come to you easy.
So of course I took to Fire and Water magic pretty easily. I just asked Rudy to show me the spell and I would walk off on my own until I was able to do it myself.
Sadly I was not that good with Earth or Wind chantless magic but I found the challenge to be inspiring ... I asked Rudy to give me a crash course on how the Elements of Wind and Earth works exactly and why not add any extra knowledge about Fire and Water ... You never know. Rudy seems to be very knowledgeable about this stuff.
Now that I think about it I remember when we fought Orsted he was casting some fireball spell that suddenly turned purple and got pretty dangerous. I wonder how he did that. Maybe I should ask.
Anyhow I'm getting ahead of myself. Another thing he taught me about magic itself that I have to focus on is the 'shape' of the spell and the 'mana output' you put into it.
He told me while people chant it helped give the mental image on how the spell and element worked. So if I had a good mental image and understanding I can use chantless magic.
A great example was when he tried to teach me the interimate fire spell 'Flamethrower'. I went off on my own to practice it ... It wasn't until I got an inspiration from a dragon that I imitated them and I was able to chantlessly cast the spell from my mouth like a dragon.
Rudy was a bit shocked to say the least at how I approached it.
When I was young I always thought dragons were kind of call. Heck I was getting inspired by them such as with the 'Flamethrower' spell.
But then we encountered Orsted for the first time and then it all came rushing towards me. What my family did to me and what I descend from.
What caused me to go back to be inspired by dragons again if I had to say would be when Nyla hatched. But I guess I was still stubborn since I wanted nothing to do with my clan or the Dragon Tribe which they defend from.
After we got back from the Labyrinth City of Rapan. I was in a bit of a rut.
Shooting in the dark, I asked Rudy to continue my studies on magic and he accepted. He even even got Roxy to teach me some water spells. Of course when I frist met Roxy, she looked like she was going to cast a spell on me, but Rudy stopped her.
But that was the past and we are good friends .... Right? Right?
She looked dejected when I didn't take to the spells as quickly as Rudy did, especially with how Rudy kept hyping me up, but I got them eventually.
Of course being in a rut isn't a excuse to let up on my sword practice. It's like Master Lily said "Like how a chef must always sharpen his tools, you must keep your skills sharp as well. Don't slack off brat"
At was at those moments of practice I would think about how to accomplish the spells Rudy and Roxy took the time to show me.
It was during this practice that I noticed I had a audience ... It was Norn. It seemed she wanted to learn swordsmanship.
I don't think I would be a good teacher as I was took busy trying to get stronger myself ... Sorry Norn.
It was about that time when Rudy asked Lillia if she can recommend me to her father who practices the Water God Style.
This is where I currently stand in ranking in terms of magic:
Fire Magic: Advanced Rank
Water Magic: Advanced Rank
Wind Magic: Interimate Rank
Earth Magic: Interimate Rank
Hmm I guess you can cut it a little close with my ranking with Wind and Earth ... I don't use those two that much, I am basically a beginner rank but I know a couple of the interimate stuff so I guess that counts.
Healing Magic: No Rank
Summoning Magic: Elementary Rank
I learned a bit about Summoning magic when Rudy looked into it to summon a guardian beast to help protect his family when he started working for Orsted.
I wanted to learn to see if I could be able to summon Nyla when needed. But as of now I can only summon small animals ... So only Sora for messages now.
Sadly I just couldn't understand healing magic for some reason. Dam. Maybe it had to do with my belief that I should just let my body heal itself naturally. Of course I tried to rationalize the healing magic as fast forwarding the bodies natural healing process but that didn't work, I guess it worked a different way.
Actually I wonder if my rank for water magic should count as King now since I figured out how to cast the 'Lightening' spell. I think Rudy's innovation to downgrade it to a 'Electric' spell seemed to help me a lot.
Hehehe ... I was particularly proud of myself when I was able to cast said 'Lightening' on Orsted himself in our rematch fight.
It took a lot of set up but I had him dancing on the palm of my hand. The look on his face ...Heh. I can see why Aisha finds it so much fun.
But still I couldn't do much in the second time around as I fainted half way through. At least I didn't act like a coward like last time. Sigh ... Slowly but surely.
I needed to get stronger.
I needed to look at my swordmanship and magic at a different angle.
Come on think ... Master Lily did say that 'creativity is a swordsman and mage's greatest strength.'
Know I have to think outside the box now. I was decent with swordmanship and with magic. What could I make now with these two tools?
I was at a dead end ... Again
* * * * *
"Sigh"
I was currently sulking about how useless I was with our rematch with Orsted. Yea I was able to cast the King tier spell lightening but it was too no avail and to top of off I fainted afterwards. Dammit.
Rudy was able to push him to a point where he got serious. And Eris was able to cut off his arm.
Grrrrr. This is so frustrating. I am missing something ... But what
I was at my favorite thinking spot when I was complaining about my current dead end.
"Sssiiiggghhh"
I toss and turned on a branch from a tree located in the garden in the Greyrat residence. A chestnut brown girl with the signature Greyrat eyes and a maid uniform on was currently tending to said gardens .... Ignoring me.
Sssiiggghhh ... Depressed"
Her eye twitched as she just continued her gardening.
"Haa .... SSSSIIIIIGGHHHHH!!!"
"What?!?!" Aisha was getting annoyed at how I was obviously trying to get her attention.
"Oh hey Aisha-chan ... I didn't see you there. Well since your asking" I took my chance as I sat up and began to explain the brick wall I hit. By the time I finished explaining my dilemma, I was hanging upside down from the tree branch I was sitting on.
"So what do you think? Any suggestions?"
"Why are you asking me? ... Shouldn't you be asking Big Brother or Miss Eris"
"Oh don't be like that" I just gave her a smile.
"Well you're here ... and I'm pretty sure I know what they will say." They will probably say something like just train harder or practice more spells. But ...
"I'm trying to find a new angle to this and it's good to bounce off ideas with another person"
"I don't get people like you . . . You failed ... So why are you still trying?"
Aisha simply asked that question. Her face turned serious for a moment.
Her serious face made me sit up on the branch.
"Umm ... I don't quite understand the question Aisha-chan"
"Hmph ... Well of course you can't match up to my Older brother. No one can compare to him. You should just give up and accept where you are right now"
I blinked at her ... realistic suggestion. Should I just accept where I am at.
. . . . .
"Hmmmmm" I began to kick my hanging feet as I thought about what to say. Aisha just kept on staring at me like she was expecting me to accept that she was right and that I should just give up.
"Well you see ... How to explain it? The more I fail, the more sweeter it will be when I finally succeed don't you think"
"Huh?"
It's like what my Aoi-nee use to say "you learn nothing from success, failure is your greatest teacher"
" . . . . ."
"You just have to dust yourself off and get back up ... If you can't do it this way ... You look for a new angle ... Hehehe"
"Idiot" that was all Aisha said as she got back to her gardening.
"Hehehe" I simply smiled.
I gave a bit of a glum face as I remembered another word Aoi said to me before that day.
"Little one ... Live your life, no matter how hard it gets"
"If your life's not hard ... Then you aren't living it, that's what I think"
Perhaps it was a misconception I used to keep myself for losing my sanity. But I like to cling to that belief.
"Tsk"
Ah ... D-did I make her mad?
Let's get back to the topic at hand.
When I went at it she didn't pay me any mind. She would just listen as she got back to gardening, only giving that causal "Um Hm".
But eventually I got her attention as we began brainstorming.
At one time she just simply suggested to use magic in conjunction with my swordsmanship.
I believe she got that thought from Rudy. Using Magic to up his physical traits. Such as when he uses 'Wind Blast' to help he maneuver around quicker.
But I wasn't sure that was what I was looking for. It seems to be missing something but I wasn't sure what ...
We continued on ...
Maybe it was a off comment that Aisha had said in our discussion.
"It's like subconscious multi tasking."
No maybe it was what she was doing. She was gardening ... And she couldn't reach for something off the edge of the dirt bed so she used her till to reach it.
"Hey your really good at that its almost as if it's ... a ... extension of ....
And then it hit me.
The words Master Lily said "Become one with your sword"
Yes yes it was there ... It was all clicking together. I remembered how Rudy would teach me about 'chantless magic' and I had to visualize not only how the element works but I had to visualize how the mana flows and travels from your body.
Yes yes ... Why didn't I see it before.
Master Lily's teaching ... "View your sword as an extension of yourself"
That right I simply have to add my sword to the visualization process. Where most people it will end with their palm but for me I have the extension of my sword.
The sword is part of my body. My fang ... My claw.
I didn't have to worry about the 'shape' of the spell exactly as I had a shape in mind when ever I casted it. I just had to worry about the 'mana output'.
"That's it ... I'll do that" I stood up as I paced on the branch. Putting two and two together.
"Thanks Aisha-chan, I own you one"
"What are you going on - " Aisha rose to face me when I suddenly disappeared from her sight. "about?
She looked around as she was a bit stunned how I suddenly disappeared.
She finished up her gardening as she prepared to head back inside the house as she had to prepare the food for Sylphie and the other wives.
"You fool" that was all Aisha muttered to herself over my carefree and laid back attitude towards my constant failures.
* * * * *
I was going to cast spells onto my sword for different affects they can give me.
When I thought about it ... I guess you can say it was similar to how Auber, the Peacock Sword, placed magic circles on his sword so he can cast the spells with a sword swing.
When I got a good feel for it I began experimenting.
And after years of trial and error. I have made a technique of my own. I have named it the 'Rainbow Sword' Technique.
Why I named it that you ask. Well let's go over my blades that I have developed over the years.
Freezing Sword - Blue:
By casting 'Icicle Field' onto my sword. It causes it to give off a blueish hue along with it emitting a freezing chill. Anything it touches or cuts will begin to freeze.
This was my first successful infusment of magic and swords. Mostly because it was the safest to practice with. What that one successful trail and error test ... The rest came one after another. Each use for a specific scenario.
Flaming Sword - Red:
By casting 'Burning Place' onto my sword. It causes it to give off a reddish hue along with it emitting a radiating heat. Anything it touches or cuts will begin to burn and be set on fire. I can lit this sword on fire when I cast 'Flame Slice' on it for greater damage.
Tornado Sword - Green:
By casting 'Sonic Boom' onto my sword. It causes it to give off a greenish hue along with it emitting a gust of wind around the blade. This greatly raises the range of my sword strikes and slashes. If I cast 'Wind Slice' I can slice my opponents from a distance ... Nice.
Earth Sword - Orange:
By casting 'Shatter' onto my sword. It causes it to give off a orangish hue along with it emitting a odd vibrating feeling to my blade. Anything it touches will shatter a moment later. Perfect for breaking down armor or shields.
Though it is a bit tricky since I don't want to break down my own sword. To be honest, I don't really use this sword much since I can get the same results with my cutting skills. But it does come in handy with people with tricky gear or when I am in a tight space. Maybe I should impellent a different spell for this sword ... but what could be the most desired result ... hmmm
Lighting Sword - Purple:
By casting 'Lightening' or Rudy's easier and less mana consuming 'Electric' onto my sword. It causes it to give off a purplish hue along with it emitting electrical currents and ion density to my blade. It's not a stretched to say this is my favorite and my go to blade.
Originally it gave off a bluish hue, but with practice and training, I can up the juice of my 'Lightening' where it gave off a purple color. I found it similar when I was practicing with my Flaming Sword and how the fire would change color from white and then later blue when I turned up the heat, it must have been similar to that occurrence. I should probably ask Rudy about it eventually.
Heh ... I could never be able to replicate how Rudy got that Fire Ball so purple and dangerous that one time but I at least got this purple 'Lightening'. I also became so accustomed to it that instead of causing my sword to have a purplish hue it changes to a bright and radiating purple instead, and it cuts everything like butter. Well unless someone has a strong enough Touki that is. It's my favorite since it looks the coolest .... Hehehe
Angel Sword - Yellow:
By Casting any tiers of the healing spells onto my sword. Well I'm not exactly casting it. I have different ornaments that contain magic circles for the different tiers of healing spells, sadly they are one time use so I have a guy in Millis I pay to supply or recharge the magic circles. But when I equip the ornament and the spell is activated my sword takes a yellowish hue as what looks like feathery wings from a bird appear from the ornament. I simply point my sword and the spell heals the target. Or, with a 'Shine Healing' circle, I use the longsword of Light and I quickly attack with fatal blows to vital areas where they instantly heal. Giving the victim a near death experience. But I hardly ever use this do to how expensive healing spells are for a recharge so I usually just use this sword for emergency healing with the point option.
Exorcist Sword - White
By casting 'Exorcist Light' onto my sword. It causes it to give off a bright whitish hue along with it emitting a bright aura. It allows me to cut through ghosts, spirits, or anything intangible. After much begging, I was able to get Cliff to teach me the beginner spell. If I play my cards right and ask nicely maybe he can make me some magic circles with the higher tier spells.
To be honest, I think I was able to get him to teach me since we both have something in common ... Ghost are scary. What a unfair advantage that ghost have where they can touch and hurt you but you can attack them ... so unfair. Luckily with this sword now I have a way to fight back if the need arises.
Man Ra ... no Disturb ... hmmm Man Ra ... no definitely Disturb ....tsk
Man Ra Sword - Black:
By casting 'Disturb' magic onto my sword. It used to cause it to turn black but now that my sword is permanently black, probably from all the colors my sword took on over the years, it just emits a disturbing aura to it. It allows me to 'cut' through magic, disforming it's shape. I can also cut through the mana in a person body without damaging it physically.
When I cut through a person arm, depending on how much magic I put into it, it will either not allow them to channel mana through that arm or makes them lose function of that arm for a period of time or forever if necessary.
But for the permanent effect it takes up a lot of mana so its usually better to just cut off the arm itself or just use it to disrupt the arm for a certain period of time.
I learned 'Disturb' magic as I got the basic from it when Rudy was practicing it after our match with Orsted the first time around.
Actually under my training with Master Lily. I was able to implement it into a form of martial arts with her help.
It wasn't until I learned the turn origin of 'Disturb' magic. Apparently it is originally called Man Ra ... that sounds so cool, but then I learned it was a skill from the Dragon Tribe Race ... tsk. But the sword is so useful, especially with the teachings Master Augusta taught me. Tsk ... why did it have to be the Dragon Tribe ... Tsk.
I guess I'll suck it up and just call it 'Disturb' Sword since Rudy taught me it. Yea its not like Man Ra sounds cooler ... yea my Man Ra sword is very useful ... dam.
* * * * *
Arthur
450, 451, 452, 453 ... 475, 476,477 ...
Heh ... Maybe I show show Aisha the fruits of my efforts.
It would be the perfect opportunity since we will be traveling together.
Hmmm perhaps not. For some reason, she seems to not like me right now. Did something happen with her?
. . . . .
Has she figured it out? I know from experience that she is extremely smart and preceptive.
600, 601, 602, 603, ... 616, 617, 618
Maybe I should ask Rudy for advice on how to bridge the gap between us.
I wonder what goes through her mind. For some reason ... I feel like I can relate to her.
Enough about that. Thinking negative forever will never get me nowhere.
800, 801, 802, 803, 804 ... 840, 841, 842 ...
Hmmmm maybe if I mix the 'Longsword of Light' with the 'Ice Lance' spell. I might get a good combo with that.
While I do my swings, I like to brainstorm some new combos with my Rainbow Sword Technique. It basically me seeing which sword techniques mixes well with a spell.
Mixing my sword techniques with my 'chantless' magic. I created a variety of magical swordplay
After all the years ... These are just a few of the successful techniques that I have down pack.
My ace in the hole. My go too.
Longsword of 'Light-ening'
Using the Longsword of Light with the magic spell 'Lightening'. I can channel the excess Mana throughout my body as I move cut like a bolt of lightening.
Crescent Moon Palace
A large horizontal slash with multiple casting of 'Icicle Edge'. Creates a illusion of multiple crescent moons slicing through multiple opponents.
Flowing Wind Sword
Using the Longsword of Silence with both the magic spell 'Wind Bind' and 'Wind Slice'. Once I release a slash, it will remain for a few moments. Which allows the sword to become somewhat of a extensible whip that cuts anything in its path. With the use of the footwork and 'Flow' from the Water God Style ... I was be able to control the whip at will. Almost like a serpent-like style of swordsmanship.
Freezing Flash
Using the Longsword of Light while using 'Freezing Sword - Blue'. I can strike and slash at opponents vitals where their wounds instantly freezes. Or if I input more Mana it freezes them entirely.
Quagmire Slash
I stab my blade into the ground and I cast Quagmire turning the area around it to mud and from then slice towards my opponent. In which when they are enevlop in the mud it dries off and captures them.
Shadow Mist Blade
Casting 'Deep Mist' on my blade. It makes my blade emit thick mist. With assistance in my Shadow Step technique. My opponents are enevlop in the mist as I strike them down one by one.
Master Lily really likes this technique as she said it is perfect for the Shinobu Style of the North God Style. She asked me to teach it to her
Blue Fire Blade
This is just my 'Flaming Sword - Red'. But I turn up the heat to the max as I turn my flames to the hottest settings, blue flames.
When I cut down opponents. The strike immediately cauterize the wound. Taking them out without any blood spilling. Very clean.
With the Longsword of Light and Shadow step, I give it the illusion of my opponents suddenly dropping from the attacker without them realizing.
Longsword of the Rising Sun
Using the Longsword of Light, I cast 'Exodus Flame' and condense the flames along the tip of my blade. Which causes anything it touches or slices to not burn or erupt, but simply get eradicated to nothingness
This attack is very powerful as well but it takes a lot of Mana, so I use it as one of my finishers.
Longsword of the Illusionary Moon
A more passive attack. Using the Longsword of Light and Shadow step. I cast illusion magic which allows me to strike a critical hit on my target as they believe they won when what they strike down was a illusion. It works much better when I use the Water God Style with this technique.
* * * * *
995, 996, 997, 998, 999, 1000
Phew.
I wiped my sweat from my brow.
Hmmm ... I did have some duds in my experience.
I looked over my hand revealing a scar on the palm of it.
I was trying to think up with some kind of a finishing move, but I failed horribly.
I looked over the back of the Greyrat house as I can see the portion of the wall that was slightly discolored revealing that part of the wall was new compared to the rest.
I remembered it like it was yesterday.
I tried to use all 6 colors at once. It was somewhat working as my sword glowed a rainbow hue as the light got brighter and brighter until ....
Bang!!!
I flew into Rudy House making a decent hole in his house. Luckily for me he was very experience in Earth Magic as he remade the wall easily.
Hmph ... I guess my 'Dragon Lightening Strike' will be my ultimate finisher. But it takes a lot of setup and I need to work on some of the kinks in it.
I was begin a Shadow Match. I was pretending I was fighting a strong opponent as I go through maneuvers and attacks, defense, and counter attacks.
When I went over this training, expecting Rudy to be impressed he simply said "oh you mean Shadow Boxing"
Grrr
In fact whenever I thought of something unique and went to show Rudy it. He would always go like "oh you mean this..."
It got a little frustrating after a while.
But anyway ... My Shadow Match.
My opponent was always the same. He was the strongest person I knew ... The Dragon God Orsted, tsk ... I didn't like the guy but I have to admit he is the strongest man in the world.
I would go each scenario I could think of. But of course after each match I would admit I lost each one.
Cut, slash, kick, dodge, slash - ... Dead
Roll, spin, grab, pierce - ... Dead
Cast, hide, maneuver, sneak attack - ... Dead
Haa haa haa ...
Each result ended the same way.
To be honest, its not always Orsted I would have a shadow match with.
I remember I used to do this with Master Augusta when I was training in his dojo.
I would also Shadow Match with Water God ...trying to understand her new 6th Secret Art.
I would practice on difficult opponents.
Heck I would even sometimes imagine Rudy with his MK 1 firing off his 'Garling Cannon'
'Preparness is always the key'. That was what Master Lily always said to me.
Adaptability is the corner stone to the North God Style after all.
Heck if I didn't constantly fail ... I wouldn't have been prepared when it really counted when I fought off ....
As I was in my thoughts and in a 'Shadow Match' with multiple opponents. In the corner of my eyes, I saw a lone figure.
It was a elf girl of 14 years of age. Lucy Greyrat.
"Ah!" I immediately rolled off to the distance until I reached a tree as I landed in a pose like I was relaxing instead of training
"L-L-Lucy ... What brings you to me ... Hehehehe"
She didn't see me in a 'Shadow Match' ... Did she? Ahhh how embarrassing
Lucy just stared at me like she wanted to say something. But something else came out from her mouth.
"Papa told me to come and get you for Breakfast"
"Ah ... Breakfast ... That's it yes yes ... Thank you Lucy-chan"
I got up as I made my way towards her and then into the house.
"U-uncle Arthur ... Do you -"
Ahhh please don't ask what I was doing stop stop stop
"Man I'm starving ... Let go, we can't keep Rudy and the others waiting can we ... bbbyyeee"
I zoomed out to inside the house to clean myself up.
Lucy stayed where she was as she noticed that once again ... I left without my sword.
"Hmmm ... Uncle Arthur seems to be very forgetful"
She picks up my sword for me and heads to the house as well.
And so my usual morning routine came to an abrupt end as I continued my day in the Greyrat household.