Deep purple energy flickered and danced around Baines's shoulders as he exhaled and opened his eyes.
For a moment, his eyes shone a deep purple light that added a soft glow to the ever-dark atmosphere.
He briefly swept his senses to his heart core. Inside the artificial core were three five-pointed stars of concentrated ashenfall energy.
In a single year, he had already formed three stars of ashenfall energy in his artificial heart core.
He made slight gestures of clenching and unclenching his fist.
The moment he began cultivating Ashen-Origin, he realized just how far behind the usual cultivation system was.
For the ashen gathering method Martos taught him, it was similar to the edge it would give when using origin arts. That meant a person practicing the ashen family cultivation method and a person practicing the origin arts was a step above the usual practitioner of aura.
However, for his ashen-origin arts, two stars of concentrated ashenfall energy contained slightly more energy than a four-star without the origin arts method, meaning it was two steps above that of a regular practitioner, and a step above those of the ashen family and those practicing origin arts.
Then, compared to his current three stars, the comparison became meaningless.
Now at 15 years old, Baines had grown taller, outgrowing the softness of childhood. His features sharpened, his hair grew longer, and his body looked more refined.
But he cared little for that.
'It's time.' He stood up and returned to the open throne where a familiar hologram appeared before his eyes.
A deep silver aura engulfed his sword as he charged.
The past year, his main focus had been to gather ashenfall, and now that he had achieved three stars, he decided to change his focus to becoming a master.
One of Eye's most prominent features was copying anything directly, ingraining it in his brain.
What it did was basically master it for him. Aside from ingraining it in his body, it adjusted his body according to fit and enabled him to perform the said technique. It was several times more efficient than the conventional way of learning a technique.
The only setback was that he couldn't be awake for the transfer process. The process of directly ingraining information and adjusting his body was painful and dangerous. So during the process, Baines was put on forced sleep.
When he woke up, all he had to do was move his body according to what was inside his head.
Though it wasn't limited to just the techniques from his collections.
In the future, where Eye originated from, there were also several fighting styles and techniques used. He spared nothing and learned everything, even as far as ballet styles of fighting.
Amidst all that, his entire focus was on a singular entity. It was Martos, or rather his hologram.
Under various and several simulations, including assassination attempts, ambushes, army battles, and single combat, he faced Martos in every single one, yet he couldn't defeat him.
That was even after adjusting his power and aura output, but he didn't give up.
Whether it was spring, autumn, summer, or winter, Baines didn't stop. Not that such was ever displayed in the first place. There was only ever darkness, and Baines remained, swinging for hours that turned to days, which turned to months, and years.
Two years had passed since he had accumulated three stars of Ashenfall energy. In those two years, he had changed a lot. For one, he could now easily defeat his self, two years ago in a single strike.
At this point, he had learned about all the techniques contained in the collections and mastered those he could. He had also perfectly formed four stars of aura in his core.
Then came his physical appearance.
At 17, he had grown another few inches. Any signs of childhood had faded, and a manlier version of himself was out. However, once again, he cared for none of it.
That was because, in the two years of non-stop training, he hadn't achieved what he had aimed to. He still wasn't a master.
Nothing came. No breakthrough. No sign of some sort. And because of that, he didn't stop swinging his sword.
Even when Eye was no longer displayed his sparring partner, he swung with all his might and all his rage. There was no time to despair. Anytime he thought of despair, a part of him just thought to keep swinging, fighting.
The words of Martos also rang deep in his mind, which helped him focus.
-If you fail, you die.
He didn't want to stop. If he did, he would fail. He couldn't bear such a thing. How would he face his family afterwards? No, if he failed, he wouldn't even get the chance to meet them.
And for that, he pushed his body beyond his limit; whether he bled or tore a muscle, he pushed himself.
Eventually, he ran out of energy and collapsed.
He screamed at himself to get up; however, his body said the opposite and remained in place, with his consciousness slowly slipping.
Eventually, he couldn't resist and collapsed.
However, the process didn't stop for a bit. Eye resumed the process of adjusting his body to match his current progress. It healed his torn muscles, closed up his open injuries, and placed his body in a relaxed state.
A few days later, when Baines woke up in the same spot he had collapsed in, he felt better than ever.
He didn't feel any soreness in his body or any lingering injuries. That was why he chose this route.
With Eye, he could push his body more than required, and any negative effects were handled by the advanced technology.
With a light mind and refreshed state, he went into the open throne room, took a shower in a pond attached to the mountain's peak, ate from a large storage of grain Martos left for him while reminiscing in silence.
At least, he wanted to.
Ever since he woke up from this long rest, a certain word kept echoing in his mind.
From all the techniques he had just learnt in the last few years, only one word came to his mind at this moment.
Cut.
But he wasn't sure. Was it an echo in his mind, or was it what he was thinking of?
After thinking for a short while, he decided not to linger and, without hesitation, he picked up his sword and continued to spar with Martos' hologram.
Yet, the voice in his head persisted. And, it grew louder.
Cut. Cut. Cut.
For months, he had ignored it, thinking it was his own thought, until recently, when he was certain that it wasn't his. Despite his several attempts, he just couldn't get the voice out of his head. He had even told eye to dull his sense of hearing, but he still heard it.
After that, he had tried to endure it. Now, however, at last, it interfered with his training.
That day, during another near-death battle against Martos, he finally snapped.
"FUCK IT! I'll CUT YOU. I'LL FUCKING CUT YOU!" He screamed with maddening rage.
With his aching and bleeding body, he envisioned the source of the voice. Whatever it was, he just wanted to get the voice off his head.
He gritted his teeth hard, all his entire focus fueled by sheer will to cut.
Pure silver aura gathered around his blade in a wild blaze.
He lunged with his whole being and swung downward with everything he had.
"CUT, YOU BASTARD!"
Whoom!
At that moment, something inside him seemed to open, and with it, a wellspring of energy unlike anything before gushed into him.
Halfway through the cut, just when the hologram was perfectly going to block his attack, his blade exploded with an intense silver aura that was at least twice as intense as his former aura.
Sword Intent.
The mark of a Sword Master.
He didn't think. He didn't freeze. He just swung his blazing with all his might.
The hologram he had never once defeated was finally cleaved apart.
He helplessly collapsed. And the only difference from the previous time was that he was more accepting of it.