"One Principle is enough."
His teacher, Sword God Maki said.
Three years prior to the rise of Caelestia, Zaon, no, Zypher Miracle, was training in the game.
He was called Sword God because even Constantine can not defeat him in pure swordsmanship. He just lost once when the Magic Nights bombarded him to make them retreat.
His swordsmanship that time is of the Sword God level too, same with Constantine, and despite him telling Zypher that one principle is enough, he is a genius who can mix all seven principles.
He is like a musician that can jump from minor scale to major scale, then to phrygian, dorian, and mixolydian.
His Arts is mostly sword techniques he created when he was still playing another game called "Knights of Isle".
This was a game where swordsmanship matters, and all the players are all swordsman.
This is where he got his skills, and passed it into Zerø.
"You punk! You are making your master dumb!"
Laura shouted as she faced Maki.
"Then leave the classroom!"
"Damn, just teach us the ways we can fight!"
"And I am doing just that!"
Zypher just looked out the building they were training from.
This is one of the noble houses of Acias, and they were it's vassals.
Not that they were underlings, but their ranks were low that time, and a noble house decided to pick them up.
Outside the window were the vast fields of the said dukedom, and they were busy teaching the two, Laura and Zypher, about the way they can fight.
Defending, Support and Attacking.
But, their lines were more than able to cross and cover all types of things they can meet.
Yet they all fall down the might of one Constantine.
Maki, the Sword God, is the last one to fall when they rescued Laurie from the grasp of the four guilds.
He is also a Hell Mode player, that when he died in game, he cannot go back to it.
The six heads were still standing, but the ones below were basically wiped out.
Even if they start again, their fame precedes them, so they can't gather any force at all.
And in the last moments, they scattered, never to be known.
Maki is just one of them.
One of the pillars who supported their rule. One pillar that held on, and never doubted him, but he failed.
As he slashed the sword of the Burnt Knight, he finally did get one of the skills he needed.
[Congratulations, you have unlocked a Skill: Deflect.]
[Congratulations, you have unlocked a Skill: Counter.]
Deflect, in its name, deflects the incoming attack.
So, if Block stops the momentum, Deflect uses the momentum to redirect the path of the attack using a stronger attack.
And counter, is using an attack after being attacked, and a successful counter is only counted when the attacked one hits the attacker without suffering any damage.
This only shows how large the potential of Zypher is.
He knows his theories, and his body acts as it is. The coordination in his body and mind is good.
"Phew, that was not hard."
It has been an hour since Missile went in the mountains, and Zypher has been training until then.
In a short span of an hour, he did 1,000 Deflects and Counters.
And he got the Skill for it.
As for how, there is a short explanation for that.
When you start learning how to write, you can already do it, but without form, without the mind into it, or sometimes, it was written without anyone having the ability to read it.
That's why it looks like a doodle.
The same can be said for Skills in the game.
Everyone can do a cutting motion, but not everyone can do it right. And doing it right is the way one can learn the skill.
Not just doing it once, it has to be done 1,000 times, which unlocks the Skill.
And fighting a thousand enemies, and getting the same number of counts is what makes a player a genius, and that is what Zypher did.
"Oh my, I still needed 1,000. Maybe, I will control my strength next time."
Then, a small blob appeared on his shoulder.
"Miiiiii!"
Is what it said, but he knew what this means: they found the entrance.
Using the water in his inventory, he took a quick bath, and changed his clothes.
This is one of the best points of the game.
Other games only changes their armor or clothing, but there are no frames for when they are doing their bodily functions.
However, in Project:Zerø, they can take a bath because of the "Living" System.
In short, clothes deteriorate the more the player uses them. There are also laundry stations in the game, where used garments and clothes can be cleansed.
The plates, the forks, spoons and other things that are necessary for everyday are also included in the system.
Next is the "Sense" System.
The icky feel, the odor, the loud sound and the pollution are there.
So, people can take a bath, make themselves clean and all things.
That's why it is so popular to players, for the realism it offers goes beyond the norm.
As he put on his clothes, he took summoned three mini-Missiles.
In truth, there are three things he always feed.
One, is Saxon, the King. He is already a king, so he is picky, and he always gets the good parts: cores, hearts, brains and sometimes, items that he felt like eating.
Next, is Briar, the Queen. She always fights Saxon for the foods, and always manages to win, which makes Saxon always frustrated, and sometimes going against him. Though he hits him hard so he won't do it again, but Briar taking Saxon's nutrients will make him grow slower.
And the last, Missile, the Jack. Just jack. He eats all the things Briar and Saxon failed to eat. A food junkie that is not picky.
What a good boy.
But that makes his evolution lines change from time to time.
So, he decided to take matters into his own hands.
The things they kill are for them to eat, but when Zypher kills it, he has to distribute it to them.
So far, Briar grew to Level 15, while Missile is at 10. Saxon, who was the youngest, was summoned a few times by Zypher so he can grind the EXP points, and he did, so he is already at the ninth level.
For the food problem, he solved it through Missile, as he is the only one who can store such things in his body.
And so, he climbed up the mountain, and halfway through, he saw a line of mini-missiles that led him through a hole.
The hole, was so hidden, that it is unseen by the naked eye.
Missile had to check before finding it.
Amongst the stones in the vicinity, there was a stone that looked large, but that stone is the entrance, for it has a small hole under it, and it is only the size for a child.
And, the funny things is, it had already cracked, so Zypher just took some time to make the hole larger.
Why not just take the stone away by force, you ask?
Say for example, someone was trapped, is it because they wanted to? And if someone tried to force themselves to that person's hiding place, will they be friendly towards the intruder?
As he crawled down to the space, he found an ok-sized place that he can stand and breathe and stretch.
He then walked towards the line of Missiles and arrived at a high vantage point, where the slimes stopped.
It was like a hole, and in the end was a light, but it was dim.
He then proceeded to walk there, and saw a small encampment below.
But what made him more surprised is the circumstances inside the said hole.
The room, is a luxury style one, from medieval times.
The hole he is standing on is one of the designs of the room: a window shaped like an inverted shield, and there are almost a hundred of it as he saw on the other sides of the room.
The room is octagonal in shape, and there are seven thrones in each side.
The entrance has a carpet that aged through time, and there are still torches alighted that speaks of the sophistication of the place.
Each throne has a flight of stairs going towards the middle, where an octagonal stage is.
Above the thrones are seats that happened to be theatre-like, which is a second floor, and the thrones, have different sizes to them and the biggest is in front of him.
And in that octagonal platform is a spectacle he did not expect.
"Appraisal."
His eyes glowed white as he focused on the people below.
As he saw, there are two sides fighting.
There is a man, who has golden armor, and blue pauldrons on the front of one team.
Behind him are three people with silver armors with black pauldrons.
And in those three people, is Anjelo, Issa's fiancé.
Behind him are other people.
And in the opposition is one person.
His skin is pale gray, red irises, and dark cornea with yellow pupils, his hair is long and white, while his body is filled with white tattoos. His head has two deer-like horns, and teeth like shark.
"A Deviant."
He heard a voice in his head.
"Old Dev."
He said as he took out the orb in his pocket.
In truth, this is the Orb of Wishes, the orb he took on the dungeon of the Wraith Queen, and his quest from it is to take more Deviants to make his wish come true.
Also, he named him Old Dev, as he is an old deviant.
"What is a deviant doing in here?"
"You don't know?"
"If I know, I wouldn't have asked."
"Smart ass."
"Deviant ass."
"Hey, that's a wrong way to treat an old man like me."
"Still a deviant ass."
"You son of a.."
"HEY! I CAN SMELL A FAINT SMELL OF A COMRADE!"
A sudden shout woke the two up from their banter.
Below, the people are still steadily defending against the Deviant, but they already are exhausted.
SHLACK!
A sharp stab sounded as the blade of the Gold Armored person pierced the body of the deviant in it's chest.
But all it did was smile.
"Did you think I was naive?" He said as he took the hand of the Golden Armored person.
"Cirei!" Anjelo shouted as he ran forward, but a sudden force field made him drop down to his knees.
"No, no, this is the life I will be taking today." The Deviant smiled, pulling Cirei up, as he opened his mouth.
"NOOOOO! STOP! I'M SORRY!"
The Deviant stopped, but there was a clear mockery on his face.
"What do we have here! A woman, trapped in a man's body!"
He laughed, but then, a dagger flew up to him.
TING!
It bounced off, but that was not the plan.
A figure suddenly pulled Cirei out of his hand, and suddenly, a chakram hit him square in the stomach, sending him a few steps back.
Blood trickled down his face, as Cirei was then received by Anjelo.
"T-Thank.."
BANG!
A sabre then arrived, but was blocked by a small dagger.
"Parry."
He said as the Deviant's sabre flew, and then he spun around, as he flipped the dagger in his hand, and proceeded to use a skill.
"Stab!"
The dagger flew in an astonishing speed, and his body went with it.
The Deviant, although surprised, managed to dodge in time, and with the momentum he has, he flipped three times before stabilizing.
Gnashing his teeth, he shouted.
"Who the f**k are you?!"
To which the man with the dagger replied:
"I am your father."