CHAPTER 241: STAGES OF WEAPON MASTERY

The hall was littered with broken pieces of training dummies, some with their hands flung to the far corners, while others had their necks sliced clean off.

The atmosphere felt unusually heavy, not just from the destruction, but because the gravity here was far greater than outside. Every breath felt slightly harder to take, every step weighed more than it should.

Standing in the middle of the special training ground, Elysia was breathing heavily, her shoulders rising and falling with each ragged breath. Sweat rolled down her temples, tracing the curve of her jaw before dripping onto the worn floor beneath her feet.

Its not enough.....

Her power was still lacking. It was nowhere near the level where she could at least stand with Ash. And to be honest, the goal she was chasing was almost impossible to reach.

Ash, with the Rune of Balance, would always be ahead of her in terms of raw stats, and the main reason for this was that she lacked a perfect foundation.

When she was in the orphanage, with little knowledge and no proper guidance, she had crossed the next threshold too early. Because of that, her growth had been flawed from the start. Reaching the point where she could truly stand toe to toe with Ash was simply not possible..... not yet.

Thus, her goal had shifted. She now needed to train her body and mind with complete focus, and above all, perfect her Blade Art.

That was why Elysia was here in the gravity training room, forcing her muscles and lungs to endure this constant strain while honing every movement of her blade.

Of course, perfecting the blade was no easy task. It could take years, if not decades, of relentless training to achieve true perfection. And that was only for the talented. Those without talent would require even longer, perhaps a lifetime, and even then might never reach it.

To reach true perfection in any weapon, one had to cross five stages of weapon mastery.

The first stage was to forge a powerful and balanced body through conditioning, mastering posture, grip, and basic attacks until they became pure instinct.

The second stage focused on technique. After mastering the basics of the basics, one had to step forward and devote themselves to a weapon art, whether sword, blade, spear, or anything else.

The depth of this stage depended entirely on the chosen art. If the art was intricate and powerful, it demanded far more time to master. For example, if a sword art contained seven distinct stances or forms, then each of them had to be mastered one after another, with patience and precision.

This was considered the most difficult stage, and it was also closely connected to the fifth stage. After all, when a person had mastered every stance of a weapon art, they technically reach the pinnacle of that weapon’s path.

Naturally, one also needed access to a battle art of such quality, which was why Starlight Academy was so sought after. Its resources ranged from powerful weapon arts to even hidden forbidden spells, though the latter were far from easy to obtain.

The third stage could only be reached if one had mastered the first stage and at least the second form of their battle art. At this stage, the aura finally awakened, and the process of converting mana into aura began.

Aura could be shaped for augmentation, unleashed for offense, or bent into techniques limited only by the wielder’s elemental affinity. If someone possessed more than one element, the difficulty multiplied, as they had to train each element’s control separately while also learning to combine them.

The fourth stage was all about perfecting control over aura, refining it to the point where it could be projected outward from the blade while deepening mastery over the weapon art.

This was the stage Ray Dawson had reached. Yet for him, advancing to the final stage would be the most difficult part, as his sword art was incomplete.

Despite possessing the talent of a Sword God, he had forged a style that incorporated techniques from countless sword arts. This made his approach unique, but it also meant that the path to perfection was far more tangled and difficult.

The fifth and final stage was the unity of aura, body, and weapon. It was also known as becoming one with the weapon, or Sword Body Unity.

Even so, that was not truly the end. Beyond it lay the formation of the Weapon Domain..... and the paths beyond that were far more mysterious.

Thus, the goal of Elysia reaching perfection was still very, very far away. But right now, what she was trying to achieve was not perfection itself—it was mastering the first ability of the Blessing of the Moon, a soul-based attack.

Her focus was on learning to control its output, which was far more difficult than she had expected. This was the task given to her by Saint Alice: to master her own power and reach the third stage.

I can increase the power to full intensity, but it consumes too much mana... and when I try to decrease the intensity of my soul attack, it still ends up consuming too much mana...

Although she did not have a perfect foundation, she had already mastered the first stage of the five stages of weapon mastery. What she was currently working on was the Blade Art taught to her by Saint Alice, while also trying to gain complete control over her Moon abilities.

Letting out a deep sigh, she slumped to the ground and lay on her back, staring up at the ceiling. The gravity here was still triple the normal, yet her body had grown accustomed to it over time. Still, she knew she would need to increase it further if she wanted to push her limits.

But today, her mind was not as focused as it should have been. Thoughts kept drifting away from her training.

Ash is behaving strangely.....

She already knew there would be differences between the Ash she remembered from the previous world and the one standing in this one. The greatest difference was in mentality. A person’s mind never remains unchanged; it shifts as they grow and live through different experiences.

She understood this deeply, because she herself was facing something similar. The clash of personalities within her often made her feel conflicted, at times even a little twisted.

But... isn’t there a saying...

"When God blocks one path, another path opens," Elysia murmured softly, almost as if speaking to herself.

The same was true in her case. After she awakened her abilities, the potency of her moon mana had increased several fold. That surge of power had also helped to calm the turbulence in her mind, lessening the intensity of her inner conflict.

It didn’t mean it had vanished. The clash was still there—half good, half evil—a perfectly neutral tendency. But at least now, the aggressive edge no longer pushed at her thoughts so violently.

As long as she did not lose control over her emotions, she could manage it.

Sigh... let’s give him some time..... he deserves it..... he will tell me, but...

"I can’t just stay still and do nothing. I know he’s feeling down. I need to do something." A small smile tugged at her lips as she thought of a way to lift his mood.

While one side of Elysia’s mind was busy planning a surprise for Ash, his days were becoming nothing but a relentless cycle of training.

From morning until night, he began with physical exercises, followed by sword practice. His foundation—the first stage—was flawed, so he had to rebuild it from the ground up. Fortunately, he had done all of this before, which meant the process would be faster this time.

After working with his sword, he would circulate mana through his body, controlling its flow and refining his manipulation with patient precision.

Then came hours of sparring with Leonard, each clash honing his instincts further. Once that was done, he would retreat into his soul space and read as many books as he could find in the vast libraries of different continents.

At the very end of the day, he devoted himself to experimenting with his mana breathing technique and testing different spells.

Keeping himself busy was the only way to stop certain unnecessary thoughts from creeping into his mind.

Anyways.....

The breathing technique was almost complete... but something was missing, the final piece of the puzzle that he needed to find to perfect them.

.. What could it be..?

He thought about it for a long time, yet no answer came to him. His mind remained blank, and with no progress in sight, he decided to shift his focus elsewhere.

Reaching for another book, his gaze fell on one with an unusual titleDeath. Its cover felt oddly heavy in his hands, as if the word itself carried weight.

It was one of the books he had found in the dragons’ grand library. In fact, he had discovered many others on similar topicsTypes of Death, What is Death?, and countless more.

Why the dragons kept such knowledge was a mystery even to him.

Ash knew the future had already strayed far from the path he once remembered. Whatever came next would depend entirely on his own choices and his own wits.

So, without hesitation, he opened the book on death and began to read. But just as his eyes touched the first page, a faint thought surfaced.

Why do I feel like I’m forgetting something...?

Nah... nothing...

And with that, he immersed himself in the words before him.

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