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Chapter 455 - Choosing a Sword Art
🕑 Added 2023-11-01 01:34:54 +0000 UTCRed forged his sword with a few functions in mind.
First, it could fly. Its range would be limited by his Spiritual Energy, but Red guessed that for now, that wouldn’t be more than a hundred meters. It paled compared to most ranged artifacts, but a flying sword also carried far more power behind its attacks than most ranged artifacts. Its range would also increase as Red’s cultivation increased.
Its second function was also related to flight. Red used his expertise with the Gale Drift movement technique and etched similar runes into this sword. This would allow it to travel the wind to gain speed.
Its third function was called Wind Locking. The sword could condense the wind around its immediate vicinity, turning it into a physical barrier that could be used as a shield or as an obstacle to lock enemies in place. These powers made it so the sword was not only a strong offensive instrument but also a reliable defensive weapon, something Red lacked in.
He was eager to test it, but it would be foolish to risk damaging the workshop.
After making sure everything was in order with the weapon, Red attached a plain hilt to the weapon, modeled after the claymore picture in his manual, and sheathed the sword with a scabbard he had prepared earlier. Then he fixed the messy workshop and sat down in exhaustion as the Spiritual Forge powered down.
Red was tired. Unlike arcane scripture, artifact forging took a lot of Spiritual Energy control, an area he didn’t particularly excel at. The results were a dull pain in his Spiritual Sea and Spiritual Veins.
‘If only I had advantages in this area, too.’
His mind was powerful, and he could already expand his awareness with it, and his body was almost inexhaustible thanks to the demonic blood in his veins. His spiritual sensitivity was just average, though, and even with a superior technique, he wasn’t able to make up for that deficiency.
Half an hour after he sat down to rest, the door to the workshop opened.
“I assume you are done?” Lady Ilse asked with a smile.
None of her previous resentment was present in her expression.
Red nodded. “I’m done. You can use the workshop.”
“That’s good. I admit I was somewhat worried when I noticed the Spiritual Forge hadn’t been turned off for a single moment this past week. It seems like you are more resilient than I first thought.”
He didn’t respond to this. “I appreciate that you kept your word. I will rest for a few days, but I will be free to help you then.”
With that, Red got up and headed to the exit.
“Wait!” Lady Ilse stepped in front of him.
“… What is it?”
“Can’t I see it?” She pointed at the large sword strapped to his back.
Red hesitated, but he saw no reason to refuse her. He unsheathed the claymore and held it in his palms.
“This…” Lady Ilse traced her finger along the azure steel. “These swirling patterns - I’ve never seen a weapon like this. And this size! I didn’t imagine you to be the type to fight with a weapon this large. What does it do?”
“It aids my wind Spiritual Arts.”
Red was evasive about the question, but the woman didn’t seem to mind.
“It’s a work of art, but…” she trailed off as her gaze came to rest on the hilt of the sword. “What is that?”
“It’s a hilt.”
“I know what it is! I mean, why is it so ugly?!”
“It’s just a hilt.”
Lady Ilse massaged her temples.
“Listen, Master Viran, I understand you value utility above appearance, but a Spiritual Artifact is something that deserves care and attention. Its appearance should match its power, or else it’s an insult to the art!”
Red frowned. “It’s not a big deal.”
“… Let me put it like this, Master Viran. Do you think your clients will be satisfied if their Spiritual Artifact comes out looking like a block of wood?”
“I’d hope they would care about its power first.”
“They would, but your clients will mostly be nobles or people of high society, and they care a lot about appearances. It is of extreme importance for the business that the quality of your products matches their looks! I assure you this is something Marina will tell you, too.”
Other times, Red would have brushed off her complaint, but since this wasn’t his business alone, he decided to heed her.
“I am not good with these things,” he said.
“I gathered as much,” her gaze lingered on his mask. “In any case, I suppose you don’t have to worry about it. Marina will have her people add finishing touches to your products. As for your sword… When you return, I’ll have a proper scabbard and hilt made for you.”
Red nodded. He unsheathed his sword and left the room, feeling Lady Ilse’s gaze lingering on his back.
…
Less than an hour later, he was back at his manor.
“Master, master!”
Emer came running up to him with an eager look.
“What is it?” Red asked.
“I-I saw someone yesterday!”
Immediately, Red’s entire body tensed.
“What do you mean?”
The imp trembled at the sudden change in the surrounding air.
“I-It’s not what you think, master! It wasn’t an intruder!”
“Oh?” Red somewhat relaxed.
“Someone knocked at the door yesterday. When I looked out of the window, I saw it was a man with the uniform of the Golden Hand!”
“Did you greet him?”
“I-I had the maid do that, as you told me,” the imp pointed to the soulless maid sweeping the floor. “She told him you were out, and the man told her Gustav would like to invite you to visit him at his office. H-He didn’t give me a reason, though.”
‘Gustav?’
Red had a faint guess as to what this matter was about. It would be almost impossible to hide his involvement with the Spiritual Forge, and this wasn’t a construction that could be done in secret, either. He would have been surprised if the Golden Hand didn’t catch wind of it.
“Did he give a date?”
“No, master. He just said you can come whenever you’re available. Here, he gave you a communication talisman too.”
The imp handed him a talisman slip. By this wording, it seemed like they were still trying to maintain cordiality. But Red was aware of what they were capable of, so this already put him on guard.
“What about intruders?” He asked.
“Nothing I detected, master!”
Red nodded, though he still went through the same procedures of checking the entire manor. This took an hour, but he found nothing out of place, not even the window latches.
‘They’ve been scared off.’
Since the people spying on him now knew his manor was protected by formations, they definitely would not move in unless they were certain they could not be detected. Or so he hoped, at least.
Red spent the rest of the day resting, and when night arrived, he took out the Storm’s Blessing manual. His artifact was complete, and although he didn’t need a sword art to use it, using a powerful weapon in conjunction with a suitable Spiritual Art would bring its power to another level.
Before he even started leafing through it, though, he spoke to empty air.
“Tell me your recommendations.”
Aurelia’s figure manifested in front of him with a smirk on her face. “Finally got it in your head to ask for help?”
“No. I just know I can’t stop you from giving it anyways.”
If the woman was bothered by his response, she didn’t show it. “You want a sword art recommendation?”
“That’s right.”
The Storm’s Blessing manual was a very comprehensive book. His master made sure to give options for whatever path his disciple could possibly walk on, and as such, the manual contained techniques with weapons and fighting styles Red never even heard about.
For Lesser Ring Realm Sword Arts alone, there were five of them.
“There are a few things to consider here,” Aurelia said. “First, I can somewhat recognize two of these sword styles. They belong to the Hallowed Valley Sect.”
Red recognized this to be the sect that focused mostly on swordsmanship. This, however, made him frown.
“Why would there be sect techniques here?”
His master was vehemently against sects, so it surprised him he would include these arts in there.
Aurelia snorted. “What, do you think he just created all techniques in here from scratch? What cultivator has time for that?”
“That’s not the problem,” Red pointed at the book. “There’s nothing indicating these techniques belong to a sect here.”
What if he unknowingly practiced one of these sect techniques and ended up getting discovered by someone? Sects were very vicious in making sure their techniques didn’t leak to outsiders.
“You’re acting under erroneous assumptions,” Aurelia said. “Think of that friend of yours. She has a sect technique too, and she hasn’t been hunted down for it. This could be the case for these techniques, too.”
“It seems like you aren’t sure of it.”
“Give me a break! Do you know how long this sect has been around? Thousands of years! Who knows how many techniques they have lent out? Not to mention this is the Hallowed Valley Sect we’re talking about. Every other hour, some new sword technique is invented there.”
“So you mean choosing them won’t be a problem?”
“They seem like standard sword techniques, so even if some sect member questioned you about it, you could just come up with some excuse as to how you got it. It shouldn’t be a rare occurrence for them.”
Red nodded and then checked out the remaining three techniques. These were all elemental sword techniques, one for lightning, one of water, and one for wind. As he could only really use one of these energies right now, he only gave heed to the wind technique.
‘Crystal Wind Blade.’
“That should be a technique from the Crystal Sky Sect,” Aurelia said. “They are to elemental magic what the Hallowed Valley Sect is to swords. Whatever technique you can think of, they will probably have a variation of it for every element in existence.”
Red nodded and read the technique. The first thing he noticed was that this wasn’t a sword technique exclusively, and it could be used with any bladed weapons. It consisted in materializing the wind energy from a weapon into hardened crystals that would penetrate the enemy’s defense and stick to them, making it so wounds couldn’t be healed.
It was a vicious technique, and an obvious match for Red because his new sword was wind-aspected and his cultivation was primarily based on wind energy. Yet, he hesitated to choose it.
Red looked up at Aurelia and saw her smiling at him.
“It seems you’ve learned your lesson.”
He immediately knew what she was referring to. He could choose this wind sword technique, and it would likely be more useful for him right now than any other, but his Storm Blessing cultivation art would eventually also included lightning and water. If he kept choosing arts just because they would be more useful for him at the moment, it would complicate his foundation in the future.
“So you recommend against it?” Red asked.
“It’s not a bad technique, but it’s not the best choice right now.”
He nodded. Her thoughts aligned with his own, but this only left him with two choices.
The Wide Arc Sword Style and the Vital Bloom Sword Style.
All sword styles started with the manifestation of sword energy, and the most fundamental manifestation of said energy was the sword arc. It was a blade of energy that shot out towards its target, cutting everything in its path - similar to the wind blade spell. The first step of every sword art was this, and each technique had its own distinctive sword arc.
It might sound counterintuitive for a ranged attack to be so fundamental for a melee weapon, but there was a solid reason for it. Since sword arts were about using the sword as a catalyst for powerful Spiritual Arts, one needed to have familiarity with this dynamic before using more advanced techniques. It just so happened there was no more fundamental move of a sword than an arcing motion, and the energy arc that could spawn from it came almost instinctually for a swordsman.
From this simple sword arc, countless other sword techniques could appear, and it served as the foundation for almost every bladed art.
The Wide Arc Sword Style took this concept to another level. Instead of branching out into more complex techniques, it leaned into the concept of sword arcs, and it specialized in how to make these arcs larger and stronger. It was a simple technique in nature, but it was straightforward to practice and could scale in power indefinitely since it mainly relied on Spiritual Energy to grow stronger. It was also an art that could be used with any element.
The Vital Bloom Sword Style, though, was more complex. It consisted of the condensation of sword energy into a dense sword arc which, once it hit the enemy, would bloom into countless smaller sword arcs that would completely envelop its target. The energy of this technique was contained, and although it sounded like one, it was by no means an explosive attack. It was discreet, orderly, and the opponent might not even noticed the true nature of this move until after the sword beam had bloomed.
The issue with this technique, however, was that it spent a lot of energy, both physical and spiritual. The condensed sword arcs needed to be formed one by one inside the Spiritual Veins, so one needed both enough Spiritual Energy and a very tough body so as not be cut from the inside by the sword energy.
Red wasn’t certain which technique to choose. The Wide Arc Sword Style fit his wind mastery more, since he was already so familiar with the wind blade spell, so he assumed he could advance fairly quickly in this sword art, which would remain useful in the future. The Vital Bloom Sword Style, however, had far more offensive potential and it also fit his fighting style more. Red tougher body might be able to resist the damage of the smaller sword arcs in his veins, though the amount of Spiritual Energy would remain a problem for now.
This time, he was truly stumped and couldn’t help but look at Aurelia.
“Which one should I choose?”
The woman had a pondering expression.
“Why not both of them?”
Red frowned. “That shouldn’t be possible?”
She snorted. “Shouldn’t it? Then ask yourself this: why did your master put these two specific techniques in the manual?”
He looked back at the manual and reread the introductions of both techniques.
“They complement each other?”
The Vital Bloom Sword Style was classified in power by layers. The first layer was ten smaller sword arcs condensed into one, the second layer was ten of said first layer arcs condensed into one, and the third layer was ten of second layer arcs condensed into one. This would result in three blooms for a thousand sword arcs enveloping the enemy, and this was the theoretical limit of the technique. Each layer was far harder to form than the next, and energy instability was a major issue, as the structure of the sword arc became unstable and harder to maintain.
The Wide Arc Sword Style, though, specialized in exactly that, stability and scaling. Its sword arcs were harder to dissipate, and this stability was maintained even as they got stronger and bigger. It completely made up for the weakness of the Vital Blood Sword Style, and he might be able to condense more sword arcs into a single layer, or perhaps even create a fourth layer.
Yet, there was a big issue with this idea.
“Fusing these two techniques seems very hard,” he shook his head.
It wasn’t just a matter of using them both together. Each technique’s energy had its own path to circulate in his veins, paths that clashed with each other or simply didn’t cross. To fuse both techniques, Red would need to figure out an entire new circulation for these energies, and that was far more easily said than done.
“I do not have the sword skill to figure this out right now.”
“You don’t need to,” Aurelia said. “You can just practice both of them at the same time until you feel familiar enough to attempt a fusion.”
“That’s a lot of work. I would likely fall behind on both of them if I try to split my attention.”
She shrugged. “It’s up to you to decide if it’s worth it. The intention of your master in putting both these techniques here is very clear, so I can only imagine the end result will be incredible. Hells, maybe your master purposefully split a stronger technique into these two to make it easier to learn? I’m not a swordsman, though, so you will need to figure it out yourself.”
Red spent the rest of the night pondering on this decision. His cultivation was always a matter of weighing current versus future benefits, and this theoretical fusion of techniques was definitely something for the future. Was he pressed for power right now, though? Technically not, but he was also standing in the middle of a brewing conflict and there was no telling when that might change. What if there was another assassination attempt or a demon attack? Would he regret not having focused on a single technique then? Would it even make a difference?
When morning arrived, Red wasn’t any closer to a definite answer. Yet, the day had already begun, and he had other pressing matters to attend to.
He activated Gustav’s talisman and spoke.
“I am available for that meeting.”
