Chapter 658 Cheat Progression
Northern retreated for the day while he left Lynus, Jeci, and the other two minions to clean the office.
And by retreating for the day, this meant he withdrew to Limitless Void to continue his session with Bairan.
Both of them stood over a hundred meters apart from each other. Bairan's expression was stiff and somewhat strange.
Northern, on the other hand, etched his face with a cold expression.
Today, he was going to be clashing swords with Bairan. It was the section of their training routine that both of them hated.
For Bairan, he despised having to point his sword at Northern and hesitated to.
Northern hated swinging at Bairan because he always missed.
Since they had started the duel, he had never once touched Bairan with his sword.
The duel was not a straightforward one. It had a simple rule: slash and space.
It was how Bairan had managed to teach Northern the importance of a single slash. When the importance of a single slash was drilled into the whole body of a swordsman, he was bound to consecutively be capable of drawing out more strikes.
The probability of smoothly flowing into a link of sword techniques—combo—is cultivated from one's familiarity with a single strike.
Hence the nature of the duel.
Both of them were to stand apart at a hundred-meter distance and cover it as fast as they could, alongside a powerful slash of their sword all the way from their first step to their last.
This meant that from the moment Northern started running, his sword was soaring into the air, and when he reached his last step, it was diving down to sever the ligaments of his opponent.
Only that he only severed the ligaments of air... if they had any.
But they do have ligatures, only that a sword attack was not powerful enough to pierce through that reality.
'...Maybe that will.'
Even though Northern did not want to, he could not help it. The first technique of Moonlit Whisper sword style had left an insatiable hunger in his mind.
It did benefit him that he had something tangible that he was working towards, but it could also be very frustrating at times... a lot of times.
Sharpening his focus, Northern adjusted his grip around Stainless's hilt. All ten fingers clenched tightly again as he positioned the sword before himself, its blade dividing his face in twain.
His eyes narrowed as he registered Bairan's position. The sword king also prepared but without having to position his sword the way he did.
He extended the Dark Mortal downwards to his side, without removing it from the sheath.
Although his action seemed cocky, he had a good reason for it. He just would never bear a blade against his master no matter what, not even with the excuse of training.
Northern's eyes locked in and his form became a blur. He streaked along the distance like a terrifying gale explosion, Stainless slicing through the air, as his legs carried him forward at an almost blinding speed.
As he reached Bairan's front, the odachi sword carved a crude arc downwards, viciously intending to sever the sword king.
Bairan's reaction was fast... no, slow?
He stood there, watching the sword come upon him, and at the last minute, he turned his body to the side, not moving away from his position.
His eyes followed slowly as the odachi blade swung down in front of him and cut the air.
A massive shockwave surged directly forward as the blade's tip hit the ground. The floor of the Limitless Void was impossibly sturdy, causing it to retain no cracks.
However, the wind roared painfully as the shockwave rolled forward like an invisible storm, ripping the very air apart.
Northern frowned at the after-effect of his sword.
'This has never happened before.'
He staggered back, his eyes slightly widened in confusion.
His eyes slowly moved to Bairan.
"What is this? What is going on right now? All I did was strike...?"
His tone sounded unsure if that was all he even did.
'I mean... was it not?'
Such a terrific result of a single strike he had never seen.
Bairan, however, smiled. His eyes were brimming with fulfillment.
"This is something that I very much expected; in fact, it is the reason why we were training all along."
Northern raised a brow, trying to understand.
"Think of a strike that is like compressing a thousand strikes inside one."
Northern's mind envisioned it as Bairan spoke. He admitted,
"I suppose a strike like that will be terrifying..."
Bairan extended his hands, gesturing at the direction that the shockwave of Northern's strike had traveled.
"A thousand strikes resounding in one."
Northern frowned.
"Don't you think it's too early for me to be achieving something like that? I mean, training has barely been three weeks."
"Exactly! I have never had a student like you. This is an essence of swordsmanship that usually took ten years to grasp. Swordmasters spent ages in solitude trying to achieve what you just achieved.
"But I think your stubbornness to reach the realm of transcendence is what helped this time. Usually, one needed to practice with swinging ten thousand strikes every day for a long time for their muscles to regulate with the weight of a strike and be able to replicate it whenever, however they want."
Bairan paused, his eyes admiring Northern.
"But you... Master, have somehow managed to achieve that in a few weeks with a few hundred repeated strikes..."
His eyes glittered with stars.
After Bairan explained, Northern understood that the muscles of one's body needed several hundreds of thousands of repetitions to recognize and regulate itself with what the weight of a sword strike meant.
Since his body, however, was different, it adapted quickly to the pace of something, almost like it was learning. Northern achieved what would have taken between ten years, in a few weeks.
'I feel like I am cheating my way through this.'
It was the same thing with blacksmithing too; he had learned almost everything there was to learn, and there was no weapon he crafted for Eleina that she didn't like, although she wouldn't communicate that to him.
She preferred to berate him instead.
Northern looked at his sword for a while and raised his head to Bairan.
"Will you teach me the rest of your sword style?"
Bairan's eyes turned grave, shadows of worry creeping over his expression.
"Master..."
Northern smiled.
"Don't worry, it will be different this time. I am not looking to jump into the realm of transcendence like that. I know it will take time... I just want to focus on evolving Chaos for now."
A smile crept up Bairan's face, replacing the graveness with his usual lightheartedness. He swirled his sword.
"Alright then, Master, let us ingrain the Moonlit Whisper into your very bones!"