She smiled, "Great. Then, go ahead, grab those curved handles, and pull them apart. You'll see why it's tailored to your strengths."
He knitted his brows, puzzled by her instructions. Nonetheless, he decided to follow her words. Positioning the sword upright with a firm grip, he placed his other hand on the right curved handle and gently pulled in the opposite direction
Tch-Tching
As he pulled, it was as if a whole new world opened in front of him. The right hilt…disconnected from the left, and the blade followed suit. A seam he didn't know existed appeared on the blade, and the sword split cleanly into two separate pieces.
Two swords.
It split apart into two swords!
A surge of excitement flooded Vern's mind. With an enthusiastic flick, he tossed the other half of the sword into the air and caught it by its curved grip. Emulating the swordsmen he had seen countless times before, he instinctively spread his arms wide, a sword in each hand. Then, he launched into a reverse slash, albeit a clumsy one, feeling a rush of adrenaline with the movement.
His heart wanted to dissect the Fundamentals at play here and forget everything else. However, his rational mind steered him back, reminding him of what truly mattered. He needed to concentrate on what the Mistress had emphasized—his unique strength, his Visions.
Without another prompting from her, he opened his perception and first focused on his left blade. Each one was made of a core that covered two-thirds of the blade's surface, and the rest was the edge. Both of them were made of two distinct materials, and he couldn't pinpoint either one.
But Vern almost instinctively realized the purpose of each material. It was as if the idea of stability and instability were baked into the very design itself.
Turning the stability of the core all the way up, he felt the sword become heavier, its sheen was replaced with dullness. However, when he ended his Vision, it slowly turned back to the way it was before, gleaming sharply.
He looked at his hands, his brows knitted tightly. That wasn't supposed to happen. How did the sword 'heal' back to its prior state? Vern didn't see any energy source that would've supported the change.
However, his curiosity didn't let him linger on that for too long. If this is what happened with stability, how would it handle the instability?
Again, it only made sense to use Instability Inducement on the outer edge of the blade, not the core. And like a kid pushing a new crank of his toy, he destabilized it.
.
.
.
ZINGGG
"Woahhh," he couldn't hold in his surprise this time.
His hand trembled, and the edge of the blade began vibrating at an insane frequency. In a few seconds, it even began glowing with a sharp purple gleam, the particles heating up in unexpected ways due to his destabilization.
One part apprehensive and twenty-one parts excited, he walked up to a dummy, a sword in each hand. He gently rested the gleaming edge against the dummy's wooden side. Surprisingly, even this light contact left a noticeable nick in the wood.
Woah woah woah woah.
His heart beating faster than ever, he put some strength on his hand and executed a sloppy slash. So sloppy it chopped the thing neatly in half with minimal effort.
He involuntarily turned towards Mistress Amelia, wondering for a second if these swords were this sharp by default. But she was staring at that edge herself, an intrigued light in her eyes.
She doesn't know either?
He took his other sword, the one that was neither stabilized nor destabilized, and tried running it through what was left of the dummy. It got stuck in the hardwood almost instantly.
That was more like the reality he lived and understood. Stopping his vision, he fixated on the blade, and just like with stability, the edge soon settled back to its base state.
This…this is game-changing! The possibilities excited him to no end. He tried reimagining that fight in the relay station with this weapon in his hand.
He would've been able to cut down those zealots in a mere instant with that edge while using the other blade to defend himself from those ranged attacks—assuming he had the motor skills to back it up, of course.
He brought both swords close to each other, holding them with the outer curve of the grip. Then, when he pressed the hilt of one onto the other, the blades rushed each other at a terrifying speed, merging together with the most satisfying Tang sound ever.
Oh, my Lady!
He felt like an excited kid who found his newest toy. One second, he had a longsword, but in the next, sparks would come out of the seam, and with a crisp Tch-Tching, it would split into two light swords.
The implications excited him to no end. He could use the left to receive attacks while doling out attacks with the right one, or he could combine the whole thing and use it as one great offensive or defensive weapon. The possibilities—
"Alright, Vern, let's pause for a minute," she interjected.
He stopped, a blush creeping up his cheeks. That must have been embarrassing to watch.
But right now, he was willing to listen to anything she said. How the hell did she manage to think of something so…compatible with himself?
Leaning on a wall, she asked, "Tell me, how do you feel about the synergy of Duality with your Observational powers?"
He didn't even have to think twice before speaking, "It's a great match. I can't think of a better way to turn my abstract set of Visions into something so…practically useful." Those words came from his heart, too. It had never even crossed his mind to employ the dichotomy of his Visions onto a physical weapon.
One reason was that Instability Inducement was supposed to…destabilize things. Yet, in this case, it seemed to have an effect that amplified the deadliness of the sword manifold.
Mistress nodded, maybe a little pleased with herself? It was hard to tell exactly with that face cover still in the way. Did she ever take it off?
"Then, let's get the real training going. Your stance is horrible, the swings are pathetic, and your footing is as rough as it gets."
He winced at those remarks but moved to stand opposite her without dragging his feet. He knew where he stood, and the view from down there wasn't pretty.
Mistress unlatched a blunt longsword hanging on the wall and walked towards him, looking equal parts beautiful and terrifying. She extended it towards him while her empty hand reached forward, clearly expecting the Duality back.
He had only used the weapon for a couple minutes, but he already felt like it was wrong to give it away. But he didn't let such stupid notions hamper his training.
After switching weapons, she stood in front of him, her hands atop the hilt of Duality, its tip in the ground. He followed suit, and she started, "I know how you Fundamentalists think. So, let me first lay it out in a way that would make most sense to you."
"Swordplay is made up of multiple fundamentals—there's Posture, Grip, Footwork, Blade work, Attacks, Defense, Breathing, and finally Focus. Today, our goal is to give you a basic understanding of the first few of those. Later, if we have time, we can also practice integrating your Visions in the combat."
Vern became a yes-man and nodded.
She held Duality up to her chest, and her aura changed almost instantly. In a tone that brook no argument, she commanded, "Use your eyes, and Observe me." He cleared his mind, his focus solely on her. Although he couldn't quite identify the reason, he instinctively knew that it was not the time to take her lightly.
However, as Vern locked eyes with her icy gaze, his heart missed a beat, and a wave of intense fear washed over him almost instantly. She repeated firmly, "Observe. Me. I don't know exactly what you can see with those eyes, but if it can help, use it!"
Oh! It dawned on Vern that she was instructing him to use his Viewpoint to Observe her. The thought didn't even cross his mind because Captain Shinsei told him that Kingsmen were elusive to one's perception, just like other Observers.
But he had no plans of making her repeat herself another time. Vern pushed aside his burgeoning anxiety and the flurry of questions in his mind, unveiling his perception.
Instantly, the world shifted into stark shades of gray, and within this monochrome vista, her form stood out with clarity.
Maybe she could control when to allow one to Observe her and when not to? He believed it might be related to the fact that she wasn't using the strength of the Old Blood right now
Still, he wasn't sure how to focus his grays just yet. Stability in itself wasn't really the most practical lens for learning.
She noticed his glowing eyes and began, "Consider the human body as a sophisticated system of levers and fulcrums," her tone flaccid, reflecting a blend of logic and art. "Each joint, from your ankles to your wrists, plays a crucial role in your stance and movement. They work in unison, creating a fluid yet controlled flow of energy."
She was going out of her way to explain the mechanics in a jargon that better suited his field of study, but this gave him an idea.
Vern immediately adjusted his perception to target the fulcrums of the 'structure.' Suddenly, hundreds of bright spots materialized around him—within the Mistress, in Duality, his own sword, his hands, the room, and countless other things. The world transformed into a canvas dotted with these luminous points.
Deciding to concentrate solely on the Mistress and Duality, Vern narrowed his focus. As he did, the surrounding clutter vanished from his perception. What remained were just a dozen or so luminous points, loosely outlining a human shape, resembling a constellation scattered across the night sky.
As she subtly shifted her weight around, the movement resonated through her network of joints, and the dots in Vern's perception adjusted accordingly. "Balance and center of gravity are determined by how these nodes align and interact," she explained. "Your feet, the foundational nodes, establish your stability. The knees, adaptable and responsive, modulate your center of gravity. And the spine, serving as the central axis, upholds the balance within this network."
She transitioned through various poses, elucidating how each affected stability. Vern concentrated on the shifting dots that represented the structure of her body.
However, there was more to it. Surprisingly or unsurprisingly, this observation caused new Insights to blossom in his Thought Space, just like they did whenever he analyzed new structures.
Vern observed, captivated, as she performed more than half a dozen stances, each with its unique advantages and drawbacks. Every stance represented a distinct arrangement of those luminous dots, with the angles and distances between them defining the subtleties of each pose.
But then he suddenly had an even better idea.
She smiled, "Great. Then, go ahead, grab those curved handles, and pull them apart. You'll see why it's tailored to your strengths."
He knitted his brows, puzzled by her instructions. Nonetheless, he decided to follow her words. Positioning the sword upright with a firm grip, he placed his other hand on the right curved handle and gently pulled in the opposite direction
Tch-Tching
As he pulled, it was as if a whole new world opened in front of him. The right hilt…disconnected from the left, and the blade followed suit. A seam he didn't know existed appeared on the blade, and the sword split cleanly into two separate pieces.
Two swords.
It split apart into two swords!
A surge of excitement flooded Vern's mind. With an enthusiastic flick, he tossed the other half of the sword into the air and caught it by its curved grip. Emulating the swordsmen he had seen countless times before, he instinctively spread his arms wide, a sword in each hand. Then, he launched into a reverse slash, albeit a clumsy one, feeling a rush of adrenaline with the movement.
His heart wanted to dissect the Fundamentals at play here and forget everything else. However, his rational mind steered him back, reminding him of what truly mattered. He needed to concentrate on what the Mistress had emphasized—his unique strength, his Visions.
Without another prompting from her, he opened his perception and first focused on his left blade. Each one was made of a core that covered two-thirds of the blade's surface, and the rest was the edge. Both of them were made of two distinct materials, and he couldn't pinpoint either one.
But Vern almost instinctively realized the purpose of each material. It was as if the idea of stability and instability were baked into the very design itself.
Turning the stability of the core all the way up, he felt the sword become heavier, its sheen was replaced with dullness. However, when he ended his Vision, it slowly turned back to the way it was before, gleaming sharply.
He looked at his hands, his brows knitted tightly. That wasn't supposed to happen. How did the sword 'heal' back to its prior state? Vern didn't see any energy source that would've supported the change.
However, his curiosity didn't let him linger on that for too long. If this is what happened with stability, how would it handle the instability?
Again, it only made sense to use Instability Inducement on the outer edge of the blade, not the core. And like a kid pushing a new crank of his toy, he destabilized it.
.
.
.
ZINGGG
"Woahhh," he couldn't hold in his surprise this time.
His hand trembled, and the edge of the blade began vibrating at an insane frequency. In a few seconds, it even began glowing with a sharp purple gleam, the particles heating up in unexpected ways due to his destabilization.
One part apprehensive and twenty-one parts excited, he walked up to a dummy, a sword in each hand. He gently rested the gleaming edge against the dummy's wooden side. Surprisingly, even this light contact left a noticeable nick in the wood.
Woah woah woah woah.
His heart beating faster than ever, he put some strength on his hand and executed a sloppy slash. So sloppy it chopped the thing neatly in half with minimal effort.
He involuntarily turned towards Mistress Amelia, wondering for a second if these swords were this sharp by default. But she was staring at that edge herself, an intrigued light in her eyes.
She doesn't know either?
He took his other sword, the one that was neither stabilized nor destabilized, and tried running it through what was left of the dummy. It got stuck in the hardwood almost instantly.
That was more like the reality he lived and understood. Stopping his vision, he fixated on the blade, and just like with stability, the edge soon settled back to its base state.
This…this is game-changing! The possibilities excited him to no end. He tried reimagining that fight in the relay station with this weapon in his hand.
He would've been able to cut down those zealots in a mere instant with that edge while using the other blade to defend himself from those ranged attacks—assuming he had the motor skills to back it up, of course.
He brought both swords close to each other, holding them with the outer curve of the grip. Then, when he pressed the hilt of one onto the other, the blades rushed each other at a terrifying speed, merging together with the most satisfying Tang sound ever.
Oh, my Lady!
He felt like an excited kid who found his newest toy. One second, he had a longsword, but in the next, sparks would come out of the seam, and with a crisp Tch-Tching, it would split into two light swords.
The implications excited him to no end. He could use the left to receive attacks while doling out attacks with the right one, or he could combine the whole thing and use it as one great offensive or defensive weapon. The possibilities—
"Alright, Vern, let's pause for a minute," she interjected.
He stopped, a blush creeping up his cheeks. That must have been embarrassing to watch.
But right now, he was willing to listen to anything she said. How the hell did she manage to think of something so…compatible with himself?
Leaning on a wall, she asked, "Tell me, how do you feel about the synergy of Duality with your Observational powers?"
He didn't even have to think twice before speaking, "It's a great match. I can't think of a better way to turn my abstract set of Visions into something so…practically useful." Those words came from his heart, too. It had never even crossed his mind to employ the dichotomy of his Visions onto a physical weapon.
One reason was that Instability Inducement was supposed to…destabilize things. Yet, in this case, it seemed to have an effect that amplified the deadliness of the sword manifold.
Mistress nodded, maybe a little pleased with herself? It was hard to tell exactly with that face cover still in the way. Did she ever take it off?
"Then, let's get the real training going. Your stance is horrible, the swings are pathetic, and your footing is as rough as it gets."
He winced at those remarks but moved to stand opposite her without dragging his feet. He knew where he stood, and the view from down there wasn't pretty.
Mistress unlatched a blunt longsword hanging on the wall and walked towards him, looking equal parts beautiful and terrifying. She extended it towards him while her empty hand reached forward, clearly expecting the Duality back.
He had only used the weapon for a couple minutes, but he already felt like it was wrong to give it away. But he didn't let such stupid notions hamper his training.
After switching weapons, she stood in front of him, her hands atop the hilt of Duality, its tip in the ground. He followed suit, and she started, "I know how you Fundamentalists think. So, let me first lay it out in a way that would make most sense to you."
"Swordplay is made up of multiple fundamentals—there's Posture, Grip, Footwork, Blade work, Attacks, Defense, Breathing, and finally Focus. Today, our goal is to give you a basic understanding of the first few of those. Later, if we have time, we can also practice integrating your Visions in the combat."
Vern became a yes-man and nodded.
She held Duality up to her chest, and her aura changed almost instantly. In a tone that brook no argument, she commanded, "Use your eyes, and Observe me." He cleared his mind, his focus solely on her. Although he couldn't quite identify the reason, he instinctively knew that it was not the time to take her lightly.
However, as Vern locked eyes with her icy gaze, his heart missed a beat, and a wave of intense fear washed over him almost instantly. She repeated firmly, "Observe. Me. I don't know exactly what you can see with those eyes, but if it can help, use it!"
Oh! It dawned on Vern that she was instructing him to use his Viewpoint to Observe her. The thought didn't even cross his mind because Captain Shinsei told him that Kingsmen were elusive to one's perception, just like other Observers.
But he had no plans of making her repeat herself another time. Vern pushed aside his burgeoning anxiety and the flurry of questions in his mind, unveiling his perception.
Instantly, the world shifted into stark shades of gray, and within this monochrome vista, her form stood out with clarity.
Maybe she could control when to allow one to Observe her and when not to? He believed it might be related to the fact that she wasn't using the strength of the Old Blood right now
Still, he wasn't sure how to focus his grays just yet. Stability in itself wasn't really the most practical lens for learning.
She noticed his glowing eyes and began, "Consider the human body as a sophisticated system of levers and fulcrums," her tone flaccid, reflecting a blend of logic and art. "Each joint, from your ankles to your wrists, plays a crucial role in your stance and movement. They work in unison, creating a fluid yet controlled flow of energy."
She was going out of her way to explain the mechanics in a jargon that better suited his field of study, but this gave him an idea.
Vern immediately adjusted his perception to target the fulcrums of the 'structure.' Suddenly, hundreds of bright spots materialized around him—within the Mistress, in Duality, his own sword, his hands, the room, and countless other things. The world transformed into a canvas dotted with these luminous points.
Deciding to concentrate solely on the Mistress and Duality, Vern narrowed his focus. As he did, the surrounding clutter vanished from his perception. What remained were just a dozen or so luminous points, loosely outlining a human shape, resembling a constellation scattered across the night sky.
As she subtly shifted her weight around, the movement resonated through her network of joints, and the dots in Vern's perception adjusted accordingly. "Balance and center of gravity are determined by how these nodes align and interact," she explained. "Your feet, the foundational nodes, establish your stability. The knees, adaptable and responsive, modulate your center of gravity. And the spine, serving as the central axis, upholds the balance within this network."
She transitioned through various poses, elucidating how each affected stability. Vern concentrated on the shifting dots that represented the structure of her body.
However, there was more to it. Surprisingly or unsurprisingly, this observation caused new Insights to blossom in his Thought Space, just like they did whenever he analyzed new structures.
Vern observed, captivated, as she performed more than half a dozen stances, each with its unique advantages and drawbacks. Every stance represented a distinct arrangement of those luminous dots, with the angles and distances between them defining the subtleties of each pose.
But then he suddenly had an even better idea.
