Amos looked Altaïr up and down, scrutinizing him again and again.
When had he last seen this kid? Three months ago? Judging by the two questions Altaïr had just asked, it felt as though at least three years had passed.
A sword technique that followed the Spirit Helm Breaker, and one even more powerful than the Spirit Helm Breaker? Wasn't the whole point of the Spirit Helm Breaker to unleash the Spirit Gauge in a single burst and cause tremendous damage in an instant? Ordinarily, after performing one, simply landing and keeping one's balance was an achievement, never mind chaining it into another technique. Yet Altaïr claimed he had accidentally used an even more powerful technique after it?!
If Amos had not known that Altaïr was not one to brag, he might already have scolded him aloud.
The second question was even more absurd than the first.
This kid had already begun to glimpse the realm of "swordsmanship"?!
Normally, that was something High Rank Long Sword users considered only after honing their bodies and fighting spirit to the limit, when further progress proved impossible and they had to seek a breakthrough in another direction.
"Let's set the first question aside. As for the second, did you work it out on your own?" After a long silence, Amos asked with a conflicted expression.
Altaïr quickly shook his head and pulled from his inner pocket the secret scroll Isis's mother had left for him. "No, no. Isis's mother left this for me.
"To be honest, I've been studying it for almost a month and still don't understand it at all."
Amos took the scroll and skimmed it. The familiar handwriting restored the old Blademaster's usual composure.
The contents nearly upended the worldview he had built over a lifetime of studying swordsmanship.
Even so, the old swordsman's brow furrowed. "Why did she leave this knowledge to you? It is far too advanced for you at this stage."
His tone carried clear dissatisfaction. When it came to teaching sword techniques, his approach was far more conservative than that of Isis's mother.
In his view, letting Altaïr dabble in such matters now would do more harm than good.
He set the secret scroll aside as though he had no intention of returning it to Altaïr. "I can read this, draw on the author's understanding of how to cultivate one's 'swordsmanship,' and learn from it.
"But you? You're still only at the level of 'sword technique.'
"It's fortunate that you haven't grasped any of it. If you understood it completely, the course of your swordsmanship would effectively be set.
"As you delved deeper, her ideas would inevitably shape your understanding of swordsmanship.
"If you couldn't break free of her way of thinking, your swordsmanship would grow more and more like hers."
Amos paused there. "In my view, your eventual promotion to High Rank is almost a certainty.
"If your goal is 6★ or 7★, following the path of Isis's mother wouldn't pose much of a problem. After all, she has already climbed higher and gone farther.
"But I believe your future achievements may rival hers, so it would be best not to let her influence you. You should carve out your own path from the beginning.
"The fact that she left you this sealed scroll may mean she underestimated you a little."
"Not really," Isis suddenly interjected from the side. "Mom didn't underestimate Altaïr. Master Amos, you're wrong about that. Dad said something similar back then, too."
Amos looked at Isis in surprise, and so did Altaïr. Isis had never mentioned this to him before.
"Mom said that Altaïr's ability to develop those strange sword techniques proves he isn't bound by the thinking of those who came before him.
"Her swordsmanship can't bind him. It can only nourish his growth."
Amos stared for a moment, then shook his head with a wry smile. "So I thought he might one day rival her, while she thought he would surpass her sooner or later?
"Your mother truly has remarkably high expectations for this kid."
With that, he picked up the sealed scroll and handed it back to Altaïr. "In that case, grab a wooden sword and come to the Training Area.
"Let me see what surprises this kid, whom the 'Red Blade' regards so highly, has brought me this time."
—--
"Slash!"
Crimson sword-light flashed. Standing before the training dummy, Altaïr followed a mighty overhead blow with a continuous sweep of the wooden sword, turning into the slash and leaving several intersecting marks on the solid wood beneath its thick covering of beast hide.
Unfortunately, they were merely ordinary strikes. They could not compare with the earlier Spirit Helm Breaker, in which the sharpened energy of the Spirit Gauge had allowed a wooden sword to split the dummy's thick beast hide.
He was even further from reproducing the moment when, during the battle to repel Guanzorumu, he had unleashed power far beyond the Spirit Helm Breaker.
Even so, the past week of training had not been entirely fruitless. He could at least reproduce the original form of the slashes, and he had even bestowed the grand name "Unsurpassed Slash" upon the technique.
But without the pressure of a life-or-death struggle, Altaïr could no longer compress his Spirit Gauge to its limit and then force it beyond that limit, unleashing an extraordinarily powerful Spirit Helm Breaker followed by the Unsurpassed Slash.
"The key isn't the sword's path, but how you apply your 'Spirit.'" Amos, who had been watching from the side, walked over.
Unlike the simpler Crimson Blade Slash and Long Sword Charged Slash that Amos had performed in years past, both the Spirit Helm Breaker and the more difficult Unsurpassed Slash were now beyond his body's capabilities.
He could guide Altaïr only with advice drawn from experience.
"The essence of the Spirit Helm Breaker is to detonate the Spirit Gauge at the very instant the sword descends, inflicting tremendous damage on the target.
"After that slash, the Blademaster's momentum inevitably falls, and the condensed Spirit Gauge begins to dissipate.
"Your Unsurpassed Slash must release that Spirit a second time, detonating the Spirit Gauge again. Nothing else could account for the power you described.
"With your current control over the Spirit Gauge, you can't release your Spirit twice in such rapid succession. A brief period of special training won't change that.
"There's no need to drill this move obsessively. Keep honing your swordsmanship. Once your command and application of the Spirit Gauge reach the next level, you'll naturally be able to execute it."
"Yes, Master Amos." Having caught his breath, Altaïr put away his wooden sword and bowed slightly to Amos.
Amos gestured for him to sit, and the two settled cross-legged on the ground, facing each other.
"How is your training in the 'Valor Style' progressing?" Amos asked as he lightly pressed his knees.
After coming to understand the intentions of Isis's mother, he had made some changes to the way he taught Altaïr.
He no longer insisted that Altaïr begin from nothing and discover the secrets of swordsmanship entirely on his own. Instead, he adopted a more common approach among modern Long Sword users, one that offered something of a shortcut.
He would teach him the "Valor Style."
The so-called "Valor Style" was a Hunting Style that had originated among Wycademy Hunters and emphasized the use of spirit and will.
By attacking prey without pause or using specialized evasive maneuvers to avoid a Monster's attacks, a Hunter used the danger of walking the line between life and death to stimulate the mind, merge spirit and will with fighting spirit, and enter what was known as the "Valor State."
In that state, the Hunter's reaction speed and strength increased, making it a very popular Hunting Style.
Amos wanted Altaïr to learn it because this method of merging spirit and will with fighting spirit happened to align with certain principles at the heart of swordsmanship.
Mastering the Valor Style would naturally deepen Altaïr's understanding of the sealed scroll, at least to some degree, making it a suitable entry point for him at this stage.
Amos had never doubted that Altaïr could master the "Valor Style."
For the style's creators, discovering how to merge will and spirit with fighting spirit, then maintain that state, must have been extraordinarily difficult and required countless hours of experimentation in actual combat.
Now, however, the hard-won experience of those predecessors had greatly lowered the difficulty for later Hunters learning the "Valor Style."
Even among Low Rank Hunters, quite a few had mastered the "Valor Style."
Amos's judgment had been correct. Altaïr learned the "Valor Style" very quickly. After Amos explained the precise method of entering it, Altaïr took less than a day to gain a basic command of the technique.
This was not because he possessed exceptional talent. The Dual Blades' "blue demon mode," which he had already mastered, was essentially a simplified version of the "Valor State."
With that foundation, mastering the "Valor Style" naturally came much more easily to him than it would have to others.
At Amos's question, hesitation crossed Altaïr's face.
"I can enter the Valor State without difficulty, but for some reason, I don't experience that 'extreme calm' you mentioned.
"Instead, I feel quite... agitated? It's somewhat like entering Demon Mode, only stronger."
"Agitated?" Amos frowned.
The human body was not a machine. Differences between individuals were vast, and matters of spirit and will were harder still to put into words.
Even in the red Spirit Gauge state, some people felt no obvious change, while others became bloodthirsty and impulsive.
Amos fell silent for a moment. "Perhaps the 'Valor Style' isn't well suited to you.
"If so, it would be better not to enter the Valor State casually in battle. You already have many other methods: Demon Mode, blue demon mode, building the Spirit Gauge... The Valor State isn't essential.
"Treat it only as a training tool to help you understand the relationship between will, emotion, and the Spirit Gauge."
"I understand, Master Amos." Altaïr nodded solemnly.
Seeing that Altaïr had taken his warning seriously, Amos's stern expression softened a little.
"All right, we'll end today's training here. Rest properly for the next few days; the day of departure isn't far off."
Altaïr nodded, rose, bowed his thanks to Amos, then turned and left the small Training Area in the basement.
The afternoon sunlight was intense. As Altaïr emerged from the basement, he raised a hand to shield his eyes. When he lowered it, his fingers unconsciously brushed the area around his left shoulder and neck.
Pitch-black scars were visible at the edge of his collar.
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P.S.
The Guanzorumu blood and the black scars are not meant to be an external cheat ability either. Think of them as a psychological influence, mainly there to make certain changes in Altaïr's behavior feel more natural.
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tl note: 10 bonus chapters today as promised, and actually we even made it into the top 200. It seems like this story had the potential to be there all along, but you guys were just waiting for me to offer bonus chapters in exchange, you bunch of capitalists.
We can keep going like this for tomorrow at least, so 10 bonus chapters if the story reaches 160 power stones before tomorrow's reset, thanks for the support.