His progress with his Precognition was staggeringly fast—at least compared to learning a Cultivation Method or Cultivation Technique—it was far faster, which he supposed was because it wasn't a 'Cultivation Art' in the true sense of the word.
'Precognition,' as he called it, was just the name he gave to using his Mind in a way that analyzed every part of his environment on a microscopic scale to read and predict his opponent's movements and actions, achieving a kind of 'Precognition,' hence the name.
But it was never anything 'mystical' or anything of the sort—it was always his brain creating possible scenarios based on cold, hard data, and his growth in 'Proficiency Realm' was simply him learning to use this part of his mind better.
Which was why it was far faster than learning a difficult Cultivation Art, as his comprehension wasn't 'impaired' by the strange 'anti-comprehension' property of such arts—and it showed in his speed of progress!
After only 2 little days of training, his Precognition achieved a breakthrough, reaching Small Success from the Previous Entry 5%.
But that wasn't all as contrary to what could have been expected things didn't slow down, in truth they even accelerated!
It only took a short week after that to go from Small Success to Great Success, and after that… things sped up even further.
It only took another three short weeks before he finally reached the pinnacle, going from his Great Success to reach the pinnacle that was Mastery!
At that moment he was able to perfectly control his Precognition and use it to the maximum of its abilities and the least that could be said was that the difference it made was… staggering.
Mikael did some calculations with his rather monstrous mind and arrived at the conclusion that if the him having his Precognition at Mastery fought against the him with a Precognition at Entry, he would be able to easily kill him.
Even against two he would win; it wouldn't be as effortless, but he would still rather easily claim victory. Against three the fight would be hard, but he should still emerge victorious; against four the outcome would be uncertain, and this time he would probably lose; and if it was against five or more he would definitely lose—and even die—if he didn't escape!
At the same time, his battle experience as a cultivator also increased, but that wasn't all, and all these changes were reflected by the numerous notifications he received in this little more than a month:
[Your Cultivator Battle Experience increased.]
[Your Global Combat Experience increased.]
[Your Efficiency in using Cultivation Techniques and Cultivation Power in combat increased and became more refined.]
[Your....]
[Yo…..]
[...]
[Your Cultivator Battle Experience passed a threshold, Initiate → Competent.]
[Your Cultivator Battle Experience passed a threshold, Competent → Adept.]
[Your Cultivator Battle Experience passed a threshold, Adept → Veteran.]
[Your Global Combat Experience surpassed a threshold, Competent → Adept.]
[Your Efficiency in using Cultivation Techniques and Cultivation Power in combat was refined enough to reach the next level, Efficient → Refined.]
These gains, coupled with his Mastery-level Precognition, obviously satisfied him.
Satisfied with the gains of this month of training but wanting to grow further, he didn't waste a moment before heading to the Alchemy Hall, doing the usual, and then returning to Swordheart Peak where the girls were.
He was ready to begin training in the fifth thing on his list, which was: 5. Achieve Sword Intent!
***
Howl.
Rustle.
Mikael heard the howling of the wind in his ears while feeling his taoist robes shift slightly under its touch, but he ignored it—his entire focus was on Sangrelia, which rested in his hands.
"Ahhhh…"
A soft exhale escaped his lips as his grip tightened on Sangrelia's pristine ivory-white handle; he was about to raise her, but then—
Crunch.
Throwing a glance toward the source of the sound, he saw Yulan happily munching on spirit melon seeds as she watched him, her big, innocent black eyes wide as she eyed him curiously.
Beside her, sitting in the grass like Yulan, was Lian'er, who was also occasionally eating some of the spirit melon seeds that Yulan extended toward her, but the brown-haired beauty's attention was primarily on Mikael, whom she watched with an intense glint in her beautiful hazel eyes.
Finally, standing some meters away from the two beauties, under the canopy of a thick tree that shadowed her form, was Kiara.
The blue-haired beauty's head was slightly inclined, resting on her two hands as she gazed at Mikael with a lost, dazed, and passionate look; the fact that her form was partially obscured by the tree seemed to make her eyes shine ominously.
After a casual glance, Mikael's attention shifted back to himself. He ignored the three beauties currently present and watching him—Lifen and Lyra not being there, and Amelia still outside of the Sect.
Hhhhooommm…
He took a deep, long inhale before closing his eyes, his senses scanning his entire body as he stood upright with a firm grip on Sangrelia before him.
He remained immobile for a moment, eyes closed, as he relaxed and brought his mind state to its peak and then—
He opened his eyes!
This seemingly simple action made his aura shift entirely, from the previous calm and peaceful one to an aura of extreme sharpness; he was like a sword drawn, ready to cut down everything in his path.
At that moment, his hold on Sangrelia tightened before he slowly raised her higher and higher until his arms were extended upward, Sangrelia's form poised above his head—he seemed about to execute a devastating slash.
This was only further confirmed as, in the next moment, his aura began to rise higher and higher, veins bulging across his body as his muscles swelled, and Mikael concentrated his everything—will, emotions, soul, energy, body—on this single slash and then… he swung!
Which did… nothing?
Contrary to the scene of devastation that could have been expected, Mikael didn't unleash a heaven-shaking slash; instead, he brought Sangrelia down in an extremely slow motion, a strike that seemed to hold no power at all.
His movements were so slow that it took a full six seconds before Sangrelia was horizontal to him, and then he lifted her once more above his head. His aura peaked again and he swung, but this strike too was slow and weak.
And then?
He simply repeated this slow slashing movement again and again and again, seemingly without any intention of stopping or accelerating.
Yulan, who was watching this while eating her spirit melon seeds, tilted her head curiously before poking the slim waist of Lian'er beside her. "Psst, what is he doing?"
Lian'er didn't immediately respond, her hazel eyes fixed on Mikael's form as he continued to repeat his slashing motion, an intense glint in them as though she were searching for something.
After a while of Yulan curiously observing her friend's strange silence, she finally found it.
"Hiss!" A sharp hiss escaped Lian'er's pink lips.
"What, what?" Yulan asked curiously.
Hua Lianyu positioned her head on one of her hands as she continued to watch Mikael, but then—just as Yulan had the impression her friend wanted to kill her with curiosity—the brown-haired beauty finally spoke.
"I-I aren't sure, but I think he's trying to attain Sword Intent…"
"Whooooaaaah, sooo impressive!" declared Yulan with an extremely 'impressed' tone and expression that sounded so fake to the ear.
When Lian'er threw a glance at her friend, she sighed. 'She doesn't have a clue what Sword Intent is, right?' she thought, watching her friend's 'awed' expression.
"Yulan."
"Hum?" Yulan tilted her head.
"You don't have a clue what Sword Intent is, am I right?"
"W-what?" she vigorously waved her hands before her, "Of course I know! It's when one is in tune with the Intent of the Sword…" her voice dropping lower and lower until nothing more could be heard, but then it rose again, being once again hearable, "…but just to be sure, can you refresh my mind?"
Lian'er gave her a glance, 'Yeah that's what I thought,' she thought to herself while giving her airhead friend a smile that was half wry and half amused, she then turned her head toward Mikael once again as she began to explain.
"Sword Intent isn't really describable per words and what I will tell you is only my understanding of it and it's entirely possible that Mikael would have a totally different understanding of it."
She took a small pause before continuing, "Essentially, Sword Intent can be described as the crystallization of one's understanding of the sword's essence and of the Sword Dao."
Hua Lianyu took a short breath before continuing, "Once somebody's understanding of the Sword Dao is high enough to touch its absolute most basic concept, it will allow one to comprehend Sword Intent."
Lian'er continued, her voice empty of its usual mischievousness and carrying with it a faint reverence, "If successful, it can allow one to cross realms to kill an enemy with a far higher cultivation— even crossing a major realm isn't impossible!"
"Really impressive!" complimented Yulan, this time with a far more sincere tone that showed she understood.
Lian'er slightly shook her head with a slightly melancholic expression, "But even if Sword Intent is 'only' the most 'basic concept' on the road of the Sword Dao it is still excessively hard to reach!
"The only one I know having reached it is Senior Brother Renjiro and maybe now Junior Brother will follow, but I know of nobody else who has reached Sword Intent!"
Her expression slightly soured, "Even I haven't been able to, I am still stuck at the Threshold of Sword Intent…"
Suddenly, just as her mood soured, Lian'er felt a warm body wrap itself around her. Surprised, she looked downward and saw Yulan giving her a hug, a wide smile on her lips as she looked upward at her friend.
"A comforting hug, this way you will feel better, I guarantee it!" she declared while tightening her hold and wearing a confident expression on her innocent visage.
Despite herself, a smile couldn't help but appear on Lian'er's visage, "Thanks Yulan."
It was on that note that, after a quick hug, both beauties retook their initial position and began once again to watch Mikael's actions, who hadn't stopped for a single moment.
Swish.
Sangrelia continued to slice through the air at an extremely slow speed as Mikael executed these seemingly normal vertical slashes, but each one was actually him giving his all for every swing.
This was the most efficient strategy he had found to rapidly comprehend Sword Intent.
Actually… that wasn't exactly the truth, as in reality there existed a 'better and faster' alternative, which consisted of him placing himself in controlled life-and-death situations—the same approach he had used to reach the threshold of Sword Intent…
But the thing with this strategy was that doing it outside of the Sect would be too risky, and at least for now it wasn't viable, and doing the alternative…
…was for him to engage in controlled life-and-death situations by 'desperately' fighting against the girls until he was an inch from death, but he just couldn't bring himself to inflict that on them.
Consequently, he contented himself with the second-best option he had found, which consisted of him giving his 100% in each of his slashes while trying to perceive Sword Intent from them.
Swish.
He continued to slash time and time again, even though it was extremely tiring, which was logical; after all, these seemingly simple sword swings were actually him giving his '100%' each time, and consequently fatigue and tiredness rapidly accumulated, but he pushed through both and simply kept slashing.
He slashed as the hours passed, as the day gave way to the night, as the night yielded once more to the day; he did not move an iota, he simply continued to slash.
No matter the weather—whether it was a beautiful sunny day, a heavy downpour, a thunderstorm, or even snowfall—he didn't care, he simply slashed.
He slashed.
Slashed.
And again slashed.
Author Note:
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Fortunately we have Lian'er and Yulan to give us an 'hidden' info dump of what is Sword Intent beyond it's sharp and it cut…
Which is usually as far as it goes in a Cultivation Novel, I tried to kept it somewhat mystical while beginning to give some explanation for what it is, don't know if I did a good job?
At the same time I hope that the explanation I gave for Precognition is clearer it isn't some kind of magical or mystical power in any ways, it's simply analysing the data present in one environment to calculate the most probable probabilities and act while taking that in count.
Which means his Precognition isn't that overpowered…at least not now.
———
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— End of Chapter —