Making Progress
In the end, the Auction ended with surprisingly no incidents.
True to his guess, not many people wanted the Empty Metal, and as a result, Xander was able to secure it for a fairly low price, which was a huge win in his book.
Coupled with everything else he'd managed to buy, he'd say he was quite happy with how everything turned out.
As he stepped out, he glanced at Samuel who walked silently beside him. He didn't buy anything, and yet...
"So, were you satisfied?" He asked, and Samuel just hummed.
"I would say so."
"Hm..." Xander felt the heavy Empty Metal in his hand under his cloak, then he spoke again.
"I'm curious. You seem quite fixated on me. Do really just want to bring me over to your side? Or rather, is there something specific you are anticipating that's making you so proactive in wanting to recruit me?" He finally decided to ask, and at that Samuel slowed down.
Xander didn't know why, but he had a feeling his smile had disappeared behind his mask.
After a few seconds, the shorter boy spoke.
"Things may appear stable on the surface. But the reality is that the world is going to be thrown into turmoil soon. You would be wise to prepare as much as you can." With that, he turned in another direction and walked away.
Xander stared after him, then he let out a breath.
'I see. I suppose I shouldn't have expected anything less.' He stood there for a few seconds, then he sighed.
'Should probably get somethings moving faster, then.'
***
"So, any clue what this might be?" Xander asked Mary as they both stared at the large black egg that sat in a collection of fabrics on the dining table.
Xander had hoped that with Mary's abilities along with her origins, she would be able to identify whatever creature lay within the egg. However...
"... I apologize, milord, but I've never seen anything like this before." Mary said with a slightly tilted of her head, a trace of confusion appearing in her usually expressionless gaze.
'Tch. Even she can't tell, huh?' Xander closed his eyes and scratched his head, feeling a bit annoyed.
'Selling it is going to be extremely difficult. The auction alone proved that. Hm... what to do...' It's as he was considering this.
"Drop your blood on it." Mary froze like a statue, and Xander's hand flew to his waist where his sword was now sheathed, but he quickly caught himself when he realized that, once again, it was Mia.
'I cannot get used to that.' He groaned, then paused and looked back at the short girl who was staring at the egg with big eyes.
"I should drop my blood on it? Why?" He frowned, but she just shook her head.
"You will understand soon. Just do it." Her voice was casual, yet Xander could sense a strange insistence that made him both wary and curious.
'She never makes demands like this outside of things related to her own comfort. Why all of a sudden...?' He hesitated, then he sighed.
'If she wanted to cause me harm, there's not much I'd be able to do to stop it. So, might as well?' He slowly unsheathed his sword.
Well, other than that, he would be lying if he said he wasn't curious.
Carefully, he created a cut on the tip of his finger, and as blood started to well up, he held it over the egg.
A single drop of crimson blood landed on its surface, but to his surprise, instead of sliding down the side, it got sucked into it, almost like a sponge. At that, Mary's eyes narrowed slightly, and Xander waited for something to happen...
But nothing did.
"Uh, Mia?" He looked back, only to see that girl was not there anymore and was instead stuffing her face with the food Mary had cooked.
It seemed she no longer felt inclined to offer her opinion after Xander obeyed her instructions.
"..."
'This girl...' He rubbed his face and sighed.
He glanced at Mary who had once again taken to observing Mia from a distance, and Xander decided to just eat before he went to his training room. However, instead of simply performing sword dances and his techniques intermittently while breaking down his body like before, he did something different tonight.
In the center of the room, a roughly carved stone pillar sat, having been placed there by Mary at his behest.
It was 3 meters tall and half that thick. Xander could easily slice through it with his bare strength alone, but he didn't do that.
Instead, he entered a stance, slowly raised his sword, and slowly, calmly, swung it down. There was no force behind the swing, so unsurprisingly, it simply fell against the stone without causing any damage.
But when it did, Xander closed his eyes.
So far, he had been giving his squadmates ways to improve drastically or circumvent certain key weaknesses they possessed. But as a result, it almost seemed like he was neglecting himself and his own improvement.
However, that simply was not the case.
'Feel it.' He told himself as he raised his sword and slowly swung it again.
'Clear your senses, focus on only the two.' Slowly, his senses filtered out everything around him.
The room, the air, and all sounds. In his mind's eye, the only things there with him were his sword and the pillar.
Ordinarily, he wouldn't be able to focus his senses so deeply on something. However, not only had his body training also augmented his senses, not just his strength, adding mana also took this enhancement up a notch.
Mana Breathing wasn't restricted to just swordplay. It also applied to other physical activities and, depending on how he did it, could lead to a myriad of different effects.
One of these was Box Breathing, a method typically used by Navy SEALS back on earth, but Xander adopted it in his swordplay as he found that his helped sharpen his senses.
Lastly, he had taken inspiration from Aubrey, specifically, her spell Resonance Mapping that allowed her to detect surrounding vibrations.
Xander had taken the premise behind it and repurposed it to create something a lot more specialized compared to the general usage Aubrey displayed.
He raised his sword and swung it down for the third time, and this time, when the tip touched then rock, he felt it.
TING
His mana moved through the rock in a series of waves. Not causing any harm or damaging it in any way. Rather, it was mapping it.
But it wasn't simply mapping its internal structure. No, it was something far more fundamental than that.
Everything in the universe vibrates.
The only reason no one really detected this was that these vibrations occurred at such a microscopic level that they were almost impossible to detect.
But they did happen.
And everything also had its own unique frequency.
Most wouldn't be able to do much with this information. Even if you knew things vibrated, so what?
And so such a concept would be left at that.
But not Xander.
'There.' He felt it. The faint hum that resulted from a series of vibrations.
'More.' His concentration peaked.
And finally, he 'saw' it.
The frequency.
Almost like he were in a trance, he applied the frequency to his sword.
And he swung.
He didn't add in any more mana besides the amount he used to change the frequency his sword vibrated at. Nor did he pour that much strength into the sword.
And yet, the moment his sword touched the pillar, it simply...
Slipped through.
There was no resistance, no drag. It was as though his sword just continued swinging through the air without being halted, and when it passed through, at first, nothing happened.
Then a small, thin diagonal line appeared across the pillar.
And like ice sliding, the top part simply slid off the bottom and toppled with a loud bang.
It took Xander a few seconds to register what had happened, then he snapped out of it. He stared at the toppled pillar, then at his sword, then he grinned.
'... Finally.' This wasn't the first time he had attempted this. It was something he'd been practicing not long after he solidified his foundation in this world, which was in the Lowell family.
"About damn time. That took ages." He exhaled and rubbed his temples. That had taken more mana than he'd thought.
However, if anyone heard his words and understood just how insane of a feat he had accomplished, they would have lost their minds.
However, as someone who reached the peak of swordsmanship back on earth, it was simply a testament to his absurd talent.
'Alright. Now we chase proficiency.' He told himself as he closed his eyes once more, oblivious to the presence of Mia who had been behind him the whole time, her eyes glittering.
***
The next morning, Xander got up extra early, and almost 2 hours before everyone else was set to arrive, he was already in the training field.
And he wasn't the only one.
"You're early." Xander chuckled when he saw Aubrey already waiting for him.
"... I got too excited, so I woke up earlier than I anticipated." She said while adjusting her glasses.
"Eh, that's fine." He shrugged. Then, from a ring on his finger, a light shone, and two things suddenly appeared on the floor.
One was the bow he'd bought yesterday, and the second was a sheathed dagger.
"... You really weren't joking, huh?" Aubrey said, sounding a bit nervous, and Xander laughed, finding it a bit amusing.
"What, scared?" Aubrey hesitated, looking at her otherwise smooth palms and then glancing at Xander's calloused ones.
"... It's certainly daunting. I've never held a weapon in my life. But... if it means I won't be so defenseless anymore, I'm willing to do it." She took a breath and looked at him with determination.
"That's the spirit." He nodded, then he perked a chin at the weapons on the floor.
"We'll dedicate an hour to each before everyone starts coming. Which do you want to use first?" Staring at the two weapons on the floor, Aubrey lingered for a moment. Then, finally, she picked up the bow.