After I reached an agreement with Larry, my life gradually returned to its usual trajectory.
I still slept in the same room as Isolde, however, I still lay on the floor, while Larry was hugged to sleep daily by my 'wife'. By morning, I would catch a few winks, and depending on the mood, my temporary pet would come and curl up nearby. Sometimes, my 'cat' is very creepy when hiding somewhere when I'm taking a bath or going to the toilet. Arcantos told me that's something a cat would do for protecting their friends. I'm very moved by that at first but when that very cat somehow kinda smirked at me when he saw my peepee, I really wanted to cut off the contract and let it rot on this continent.
But that's something friends would do to each other huh? They would mock and make fun with each other. Like how I did with Henry years before and even with Rudeus. But I never expected I would become friends with a cat.
It's still kinda fun, not gonna lie. At least we are not enemies anymore.
From then on, whenever I cooked, Larry had no more complaints and ate everything clean. Sometimes, he also asks for more by rubbing his head on my feet. And just like that, my attitude toward that black cat went from bad to maximum affection immediately.
But aside from that, I focused more on what was truly important.
Of course, that was training in swordsmanship and magic, I still have to gain my North Saint title. Occasionally, I would go out hunting for practical combat training. After a total of more than half a year here, I could confidently fight a mature black dragon alone. That was a big step forward. Now my goal is to become strong enough to finish a dragon with only one slash. I can feel my power stronger each day.
Is it because my body is getting matured? My muscles are becoming bigger as well, my height is taller at a very fast pace. Even though I'm still just one meter and a half, which is way shorter than Isolde but maybe two or three years in the future, I would become a tall handsome man. He he he.
Meanwhile, I also started learning my second Secret Art under Isolde's guidance quite a while ago.
"I think it's most logical for both of us to learn Divine Sense together." She said as we stood next to each other in the training hall, "If we can't master it, we will never surpass Master Reida. Not to mention we both have what it takes to learn it."
The thing Isolde just said isn't just something that came out of the whim. It's quite logical.
Divine Sense is one of the most difficult Secret Arts because it requires not only extreme persistence but also natural talent in reflexes and senses. As the content of the Secret Art implies, I need to launch a counterattack right before the enemy can launch their attack. Like solving a problem before the problem even appears. Pretty cool.
As for the reason why, as everyone knows, I already have good reflexes, perception, and judgment, so consider me naturally talented. The rest just requires persistence to perfect this Secret Art.
So, Isolde and I started performing judgment, control, and reflex exercises within our sword practice together. Regarding the specific content, they were all strange exercises completely unrelated to swordsmanship.
Like having to control a pile of leaves to move into a small whirlwind wrapping around the body, for example. It is an exercise for Water God Style swordsmen at Intermediate level and above called Flow of Leaf, with the purpose of enhancing the practitioner's control ability with the sword.
"He he." So I had a chance to show off. "What's the big deal? This is easy. My speed and control ability must be much better than yours, little Isolde. Let me tell you, I mastered this exercise to the point where just three sword strokes can create a whirlwind."
The reason is that Master Reida gave me the homework of dancing with the sword under a pile of leaves a long time ago. And since coming to Roa, I practiced it almost every day; only in the cold snowy winter when there were no leaves did I not practice. Thanks to my dedication, I had mastered Flow. So being asked to practice it now, I was more than just confident.
"Just for you know, I can even do it without opening my eyes. Cool eh?"
"Wow, so talented, so cool. You must be a genius." Isolde smiled sarcastically as she clapped her hands. "Then please demonstrate for me to see Master Atur."
"Geez, piece of cake." I drew my sword and took a stance. Normally I would be annoyed by Isolde's attitude, but I was too overflowing with confidence for this. I definitely had to perform to make her eyes pop out. "Watch and learn!"
I drew my sword; as always, the force of my slash was strong enough to create a small gust of wind. The rustling sound of leaves began to ring out. I performed each footstep and each slash smoothly and perfectly because I had done this hundreds, thousands of times. To me, controlling those leaves was as easy and familiar as breathing.
However, this time something was very different. Although the leaves still moved, gathered, and flew gracefully in the direction of the wind I created, they did not turn into a flow; on the contrary, they shattered, turning into sand, into dust, and in the end, there were no leaves wrapping around me at all.
"What the hell— Cough... Cough cough..."
Damn it! I accidentally inhaled the leaf dust! Help!
"What a great show." Isolde, seeming to have predicted this would happen, walked over, handing me a face towel and a glass of water. Of course, she's laughing. "You really are good at making girls laugh, Atur. No wonder you captured the heart of that Lady from Roa, huh?"
"Do you really need to pick this time to say these things?" I took the two items and quickly drank the water and washed my face. The feeling of something still stuck in my trachea was truly uncomfortable. After feeling a bit better, I glared at Isolde. "But what was that about earlier? Normally it's not like this… Did you pull some tricks?"
"Let's see, based on your stance and skills, I guess you've practiced this exercise a lot, haven't you?" Isolde put a finger on her chin, the expression on her face clearly showing mockery. "However, you've only practiced the most basic exercise. Now, this is the version of 'Flow of Leaf' for a Water Saint."
So Isolde started explaining to me what she had done. Basically, it was quite lengthy, so I will just summarize that instead of fresh leaves, the training exercise for Water Saint and above uses dry leaves, the type that is both dry and brittle. The kind where just one action using too much force causes a leaf to shatter into a hundred pieces. So the exercise I had mastered suddenly became exponentially harder.
"Although the content is the same, this exercise relies not only on control from your swordsmanship ability but also on your ability to transmit Battle Aura outwards."
Isolde explained that for this, both of us needed not only to control well but also to control the surrounding environment. Meaning we had to use our Battle Aura outside the body to enhance perception to adjust the force and direction of control appropriately. Therefore, I need to train it by using Battle Aura to control the Flow of Leaf so it won't break and stroke myself to death.
Which is fricking insane!
But why does this practice have to do with Divine Sense?
To explain it as I understand it, it seems the way to use Divine Sense relies not only on the experience and reflexes of a swordsman. Rather, the user will continuously spread their Battle Aura to the surroundings. They will sense the intentions of people within range to enhance their own reflexes to counter.
Indeed, any swordsman of Saint rank or higher has this ability. But most of them can only sense the immediate surroundings of their bodies at most; as for Water God Style swordsmen, they take it to a new level by increasing the usage range and having a much more sophisticated sensing ability. For example, not just knowing how, where, and when the opponent prepares to strike, a Divine Sense user can know even the mood and a part of the opponent's thoughts.
That also explains the mind-reading ability Isolde often uses, or even Ken. The reason they haven't reached the level considered as having fully understood the Secret Art is that there are still limitations on the range of influence and accuracy. With experts who have mastered it like Master Reida, their sensing range must include an entire large room, sometimes even sensing the opponent's emotions without looking.
Basically... it surpasses the level of normal perception and somewhat crosses into the form of a superpower. But actually, compared to slashing a strike that collapses the sky of the North God Style or slashing as fast as light of the Sword God Style, the mind-reading ability of the Water God Style isn't that magical. Although truly, as I see it, knowing the opponent's actions and thoughts is indeed a quite overpowered skill.
Sometimes I wonder if the Secret Arts of the Water God Style sound not cool enough, so they are looked down upon. Because despite being called Secret Arts, most are ultimate techniques that can be started quite easily, sometimes even mistaken as easy to learn. However, they are all things easy to start but hard to master, sometimes requiring a lifetime to truly reach the peak.
In general, the information about the Secret Art I need to learn is like that. In short, it is not an easy task, but I will still try my best! Starting with learning how to sweep dry leaves with a sword without coughing violently!
That was the content of the training on Isolde's side; besides that, I also learned North God Style with Calina. To start, we sat and talked in a corner of the training hall and discussed what we were going to do.
"To choose a suitable development direction, you two must grasp the entire foundation of the North God Style of Necross Fortress." Calina told me and Isolde.
Regarding this school of swordsmanship, unlike what I knew, the North God Style at Necross Fortress has a quite methodical skill set. Then, only when grasping the basics can one develop in a specialized direction based on combining or specializing in a certain branch.
To put it simply, it's like playing a JRPG and choosing a class. Every North God Style swordsman starts the same, but when reaching Saint rank, they will have a distinct transformation to form a fighting style suitable for themselves. They call that thing the 'Path', like the path of a swordsman; everyone is different. Sounds quite poetic; I completely didn't expect a sword style for street urchins could come up with such cool terminology.
To give an example, like the sword-throwing move, I always thought it was just a surprise attack and only used in some special cases. Like when the enemy is running away and almost escaping, then throwing the sword, or needing to launch a surprise attack from afar like I did back in the ant nest labyrinth. Yet it turns out it can develop into a whole specialized combat direction; I heard there is a North Emperor who specializes only in this random stuff throwing fighting style; his nickname is Crescent Moon or something. I don't know why, but when hearing that, I thought of a certain white-clad multi-personality superhero throwing random stuff and shouting 'random bullshit go'.
To give a closer example, someone with terrible strength and recovery ability like Atofe, she will tend to fight in a reckless, more brutal way without fear. As for someone with the ability to summon familiars like Arcantos, he fights in a way of coordination, encirclement, speed and harassment.
Meaning it's not just swinging wildly like Paul once said. Now I need to relearn the most elementary skills from the beginning to find the development direction suitable for me.
"But if so, isn't it enough to just look at my own strengths?" I asked Calina while sitting opposite her. "Like I have fast reflexes."
"Then what do your fast reflexes do?" Calina asked back.
"Well... Dodge attacks and counterattack quickly, perhaps?"
I scratched my head and looked at Isolde sitting next to me; she also shrugged. Seeing that, Calina folded her arms, slowly explaining.
"Then you haven't understood the essence of the North God Style. We don't use our strengths to do something, but use them to win."
"Hmm?" I scratched my head. "Isn't dodging attacks and counterattacking also a way to win?"
"That is a correct but too simple thought." Calina shook her head. "What if you meet an enemy with the ability to not be countered or you can't dodge their slash? Like a Sword God Style swordsman who can slash faster than your reflexes, Sir Hero? In that case, you can only dodge, and if you keep dodging without being able to swing your sword at the opponent, how can you win? Or with Lady Atofe, how can you dodge Skyfall? That's not to mention dozens of other different techniques that you won't be able to dodge. Just within the North God Style alone, there are over hundreds. Out there in the world..."
And so Calina, as always, started talking a lot about things I needed to worry about if I couldn't use my strengths more effectively.
Although she talked a bit (actually very, very, very) long, it made sense.
Just like back when I sparred with Ghislaine. My speed and reflexes were already good then, but just dodging didn't help me defeat her. And if I wanted to deal damage, using Perfect Reverse was something I couldn't just use whenever I wanted. If careless, I could be the one hurt by my own attack.
"So how should I use my strengths?" I asked seriously after listening to the whole super-long lecture.
Hearing that, Calina smirked; she folded her arms across her chest and nodded in agreement.
"That is what we will find out together." Then she looked at Isolde too. "Both Sir Hero and Princess Isolde, as long as you train with me, both of you will definitely be able to find your 'path'."
"Thank you, Master Calina." Both Isolde and I bowed and spoke in unison.
Truly, this Ultimate Four of The Wind looks strangely serious and wise whenever she starts teaching swordsmanship. Unlike when sword fighting...
But everyone might ask themselves, why am I studying North God Style so seriously? Well... Regarding Isolde, she still wants to find ways to improve her own swordsmanship, as said, learning more to know how to counter. As for me, I was lured by the title North Saint.
That's right, I want to reach Saint rank, okay? Even though I think I already have the strength of a King rank (probably), no one has awarded me a title yet! So I have to strive to have something to beat my chest proudly about when I meet Eris later.
Thinking of the scene where Eris rushes at me with sparkling eyes holding my hands, showing admiration because I am already a Saint rank Swordsman, already gives me goosebumps. He he he. Then after that, I will use my North God Style experience to defeat Isolde soundly and take the Water King title! Awesome! Killing two birds with one stone!
Besides, as someone said, North God Style is quite loose. Basically, any swordsman belonging to any other sword school can learn its basics and bring them into their fighting style. If not for having learned North God Style, perhaps I wouldn't have been able to combine all the sword schools I have to create my current fighting style.
It's like water; it can be mixed with most things to make them more neutral. And like water, it can be ever-changing, more versatile.
So now I understand the advice of a great martial artist about 'be water, my friend'.
It's kinda ironic that the North God Style is more 'water' than the Water God Style huh?
Also, when speaking of my main swordsmanship being Water God Style, Divine Sense is a supporting Secret Art and requires a long, long, long, long time of practice to hope to master. Isolde has practiced it since she was ten and hasn't yet reached a range of influence exceeding five meters. As for me, I can only have an effective range even worse than that. So becoming strong quickly through that Secret Art is impossible. Even Master Reida took nearly twenty years to succeed.
So someone with mediocre talent like me might take forty years to hope to learn it. But no matter how long, I won't give up. Because I am a genius of hard work, ha ha ha!
"Hmph." Suddenly Isolde glared at me.
"What?" I frowned back.
"Just that I have a feeling you are belittling yourself again." Isolde sighed. "Every time you do that, I find you annoying for some reason. But since I am a polite person who doesn't want you to fall for me, I can't hit you."
"What the heck are you talking about?"
"Never mind." Isolde shrugged and turned away. "Maybe I should look away whenever you do that then."
I swear I can't understand girls. Especially those hard to understand like Isolde.
But let's just ignore her and go back to the current situation. According to Calina (who has been talking this whole time), to find the 'path', each swordsman must train insanely in the harshest environments not only to enhance strengths but also to compensate for weaknesses.
As for myself, my mana amount is low and muscle strength is still limited due to age. So Calina set up an insane strength training regimen for me. Basically, every day I have to run fifty kilometers, do three thousand push-ups, use a sword to cut mountains... In short, the type of training that exhausts you to death. Since Battle Aura is (probably) a combination of mana and the limit of a body, since my mana is fixed, the only way is to increase the body's limit.
According to Calina, I need to learn how to control Battle Aura not just outwardly like I am practicing with Isolde; I also need to learn how to use it more effectively. Like how to breathe to recover muscles fastest through running or the ability to enhance slashing power through mountain cutting practice.
And that is just the way for me to compensate for weaknesses. As for strengths, I started a series of days training my reflexes.
And that was when I was taken to a shooting range. Ah, it seems this place even has a training area for archers. It's not large and cool-looking like the sword training hall with dozens of monster skulls hanging everywhere. But this place is quite clean and tidy even though it is outdoors. Equipment like bows and arrows all look quite new; the target circles also seem brand new.
Seeing that, I wondered if anyone actually practiced archery, but immediately saw three unexpectedly tall figures.
They weren't big, just tall, strangely tall. All three must be three meters tall or even more, looking like Slenderman. But they had normal faces, their limbs weren't long; they were quite normal, only the torso was ridiculously long. And um... it seems they have up to eight arms. And with each pair of hands is a different bow and arrow. Meaning with the three of them, there are twelve bows.
"Isn't that..."
"Oh man! It's the man..."
"The myth..."
"THE LEGEND! Aaaaaaaa!!! Hero Atur is visiting us!" All three cheered and hugged each other, jumping up and down like crazy fans meeting an idol.
Honestly, their appearance was like a nightmare in real life, but seeing all three immediately look at each other and switch to fanboy mode, I could sigh in relief.
"This is the Rapid-Fire Trio." Calina introduced. "The three stupidest members of the Necross Fortress archer squad."
By the standards of this fortress, stupid means strong. So they are the strongest archer trio, got it.
"Hello Great Sir Hero." One of them spoke up.
"We are the Rapid-Fire Trio." The second one continued.
"The three smartest archers of Necross Fortress." The third one said.
"Pleased to meet you! Sir Hero Atur!" And all three spoke in unison.
The three Rapid-Fire archers also bowed politely; it seems the bowing culture has been propagated quite successfully by me. However, due to their stature being too tall, I almost got head-butted by one of them. Luckily I dodged in time.
After that, I also introduced myself, and they were happy and proud to finally be able to talk to me. It seems these three, besides practicing archery, have the duty of guarding the city walls, so I rarely meet them.
That was also when Calina told me the purpose of this meeting.
"Now, please go to the target area over there, Sir Hero." Calina pointed to the target area and looked at the Rapid-Fire Trio. "These three idiots will shoot arrows at the Hero. And you are only allowed to catch them by hand. Is that okay?"
What the hell?
"Do you people really train this way?" I looked at Calina. "Isn't that too lethal."
"Only those capable of immortality practice it." Calina admitted. "Like Lady Atofe's grandson. He also practiced like this and became more agile than anyone in this fortress. Oh, by the way, you should wear this."
Calina handed me a ring.
"What is this for?" I took it, but before I could do anything, it flew straight onto my middle finger by itself. "What the—"
"It is a 'Defense Breaker' ring; the wearer will not be able to use Battle Aura to coat themselves for defense." Calina explained further. "It only works if the wearer has less mana than the amount of mana infused into it. And it will only—"
"Okay, I get it." Knowing that Calina would start babbling super long anyway, I immediately stopped her. "Basically, I will only be allowed to use my hands to catch arrows and not allowed to use Battle Aura to coat myself, right?"
"Very smart. Indeed, say one and understand ten, you are truly a smart Hero. I always have to explain thoroughly, otherwise those idiots won't understand. Even Lady Atofe's grandson had to be guided carefully to understand. You are truly the smartest student I have ever had."
Actually, I think my intelligence is only at a normal level. After many days and nights lying with my hand on my forehead rethinking, I see my achievements in the previous life were mostly due to hard work. If I'm that smart then surely I wouldn't have lived like a walking failure. But people seem starting to feel tired with my humble shits so I won't say anything and accept it then. Beside… I was praised as smarter than the grandson of the North God, everyone; cool, right?
But let's temporarily put that aside; so I started my arrow-catching exercise. Which sounds kind of absurd but somehow kinda fun at the same time. I mean… just imagine I can catch like ten arrows at the same time when my eyes are closed, it would be badass as hell.
So I stood at the designated position with a lot of confidence. Honestly, I didn't even know what stance to take to catch arrows well, so I just stood randomly. Well, let's use experience to— Thwack!*
"Ah! Is Sir Hero okay!?"
Before I could even finish the thought, a whole arrow had pierced through my throat. What kind of terrible speed is this? So this is the strength of archers at the level of Atofe's guards. Not good, I have to call for a time off.
"Gurgle... gurgle..."
Motherf***er, my vocal cords are severed, aaaaaaaaa!!!
"Ur... Ur!!!" I waved my hand to signal stop.
"What does Sir Hero mean by that?"
"Maybe signaling to shoot more." How did you interpret it that way, Calina!?
"Shoot with full force!"
"Full-scale fire!"
No!!! Are you guys stupid?!
So that day I was shot like a porcupine. Luckily I seem to be immortal, otherwise, I must have died a few hundred times or something.
Each time like that, I silently thanked fate for helping me meet Lord Lan Xin. But every time I died and came back to life like that, my instinct to preserve the lineage rose up more strongly than necessary. So that night I had a left arm muscle training session.
And yeah, being hit by arrows still hurts like hell so even if you are immortal, I advise you not to take this kind of training. Except if you like pain like a fricking masochist.
So combining everything I just mentioned, as you all can see, I am training even more frantically than back at Lord Lan Xin's castle. But for the goal of being able to beat my chest proudly that I am a North Saint, I cannot stop!
I must achieve that title before Isolde!
With that thought, I focused on cutting rocks all night long, training how to control the leaf, run two full marathons in a single day and practicing catching arrows from day to day.
At first, everything started off slow. But with days going on, I can finally feel something is starting to change. The run now only takes half the time it used to, I can swing my swords stronger and faster and the arrows don't concern me much anymore.
It was a painful process. But in the end, the beauty of hard work is making things easier, isn't it?
...
Then time just passed by. And today, like any other day, when the sun started to peek out in the East, I finally lowered my sword.
"Phew... Finally done."
But unlike every other day, today I completed a momentous task, something I never thought I would be able to do in this life.
Wiping away my sweat, I looked towards my achievement. The mountain that Calina required me to cut daily has now become an empty plot of land.
At that moment, I knew that I had officially found my 'path'.