Three Months Later.
Whoosh—!
Whoosh—!
Minor shockwaves spread throughout a certain part of a forest. And at the base location of these sounds was a man who was no older than 19 or 20 years old, swinging around a dark red broadsword with great force.
However, his medium-length hair was dishevelled to the point where one could mistake him for some native of these forests; furthermore, his thin beard and mustache did nothing to flatter his looks.
The man—Orion—let out a huge sigh as he planted his broadsword into the ground and sat on a nearby rock, which he now used as a resting bench.
"This is insane... I barely started training, and I already feel like it's second nature. Bloodline abilities: The Blade; Hierarchy."
Orion spoke the words that entered his mind when he first entered his sea of consciousness and awakened his affinities. Over the last few months, Orion had completely neglected his physical training because, firstly, he was slowly getting in shape from the physical demands of moving around wood and other materials. Furthermore, he had taken a liking to hunting and had managed to ambush and kill deer as well as a few Rogue-horns. Rogue-horns were mutated stags who could run at incredible speeds, which made even Orion—a peak stage novice—struggle to hunt them. Furthermore, they were not mere herbivores but omnivores with razor-sharp fangs and claws. If not for their glowing antlers, Orion could have easily lowered his guard while thinking it was a stag and been devoured.
And secondly, the reason he ignored his sword training was because of his 'fight' against Natalie Cormac. The moment he awoke and sensed immediate danger, his instincts had screamed at him, and the counter he had given to Natalie's attack was efficient... too efficient. He also realized that, when hunting, his attacks were flowing too fluidly. It was almost as if it was ingrained in him, in his blood. That's when Orion realized, it was his bloodline ability, The Blade.
Though he understood the way The Blade worked, he still decided to keep weapon training for later, as he believed that his magic training was more important. As Graves had said, foundation is essential, so he could not neglect magic just yet, especially after skipping through stages to attain peak stage novice rank.
However, now that he felt he could switch to weapon training, he felt... overwhelmed in a way. Two days ago, he had learned how to shapeshift his Tachi into any weapon he desired. He was also surprised to see that he could turn his Tachi into duel-wielded weapons, such as short swords or a pair of Sais. And for the last two days, he realized that he could wield any weapon... yes... any weapon. No matter the shape, size, or weight.
This was unbelievable for Orion. His father had told him long ago that the level of connection to one's bloodline was different for every person. He had expected his connection to be on the strong side ever since the fight with Natalie and his Uncle's insinuation that he was extremely talented. However, for him to wield any weapon, without prior training with extreme proficiency... sometimes, a possessor of the Blade bloodline could wield multiple weapons with decent proficiency without prior training, and this person would often opt to dedicate their life to training and mastering one or sometimes opt to be a jack of all trades as these were the ones best and compatible for them—Chosen by their bloodline.
Right now, as Orion contemplated, he did not know what to do. He did not know which weapon to choose and which to spend less time training and getting used to, especially since his Tachi... no, his Artefact could shape-shift.
With a sigh, Orion shook his head and muttered in a resigned tone, "Never mind, I'll just try things out and try to find my own thing to work with."
What Orion also doubted was that he didn't know if he truly could wield all weapons with the same proficiency. Sure, he felt like he could, but in practice and against more experienced individuals, things could be different.
"Sigh—"
Orion stood up from the rock and walked to the middle of the small clearing. After storing his weapon inside his ring, he brought both his arms forward towards a random tree and chanted softly.
"Burst"
After Orion said the incantation, dozens of lightning strikes erupted from his palms and struck the tree. However, it seemed as though the attack was too weak to do any damage. Orion then opened his mouth once more and spoke in a deep voice.
"Con— Argh!"
Orion felt a searing pain in his palms as he fell to his knees.
"Damn it!"
He had failed once more.
'Why doesn't it work?'
Orion asked himself while staring at his burnt palms. From what he had theorized, the act of chanting a spell was to bring forward something. And it was this thing that helped mages perform complex spells with mere simple mana manipulation and words. However, he simply couldn't understand what he lacked.
Orion slowly stood up and glanced towards the tree. 'No damage. Not even a single burn.' He could only sigh as he knew progress took time. A lot of time...
'It's already been three months and I received no messages... nothing.' Orion pulled out his phone again and checked for new messages and saw none. 'I should try to find a new communicator to contact her.'
Communication between the layers of Earth as well as inside them, was hard for radio waves, as they had a hard time penetrating through the layers. Furthermore, due to the presence of mana in the Inner World, humanity ditched radio waves altogether and chose to use special communicators which depended on mana to send data. It was thanks to the indigenous races of the Inner World that Humans could reverse engineer this technology and manufacture it for themselves.
An hour later.
Orion zoomed through the forest, maneuvering between trees skillfully and trying his best not to attract the attention of any beast which could be lurking in the shadows. After a good 20 minutes of travel, he finally arrived at his destination, the waterfall. On the first day, he saw that the creek where he set up his hut had expanded to a river, then to a waterfall.
However, what made him want to go there was not the landscape and scenery, but his instincts. It all started a few days ago when he heard munching noises in the direction of the waterfall. He assumed it was a Rogue-horn, but deep inside, he knew he was wrong. So after failing to advance in his training, he decided to check what it was. And if it were a beast... well... let's say he needed a good stress ball at the moment.
Orion walked by the edge of the river and stood at the edge of a cliff. A few meters to his left was the waterfall, which made a soothing yet thunderous sound.
Suddenly, a deafening roar enveloped the entire valley. Orion quickly tapped on his dark red ring and activated his Exo-suit. Soon after, Orion saw a big shadow emerge from behind the waterfall and land in the plunge pool. Orion took a deep breath before taking a step into the void below and leapt.
During his descent, Orion's thoughts ran wild, 'Rogue Beast. I should be able to kill it. It looked ugly. Similar to a bear but weird. I need to try imbuing my sword attacks with Mana.'
As soon as Orion crashed into the pool, the beast turned its big head and glared as Orion made his way to the surface of the water.
'I need land, fighting in water is tough. Gosh, why did I jump so hastily'
The beast roared and pulled its right paw, charging a powerful swipe, enhanced by its razor-sharp claws.
Orion wasted no time and imbued his legs with mana and jumped up with all his strength, Starlight Blade in hand. 'My sword is overpowered, I just need good technique and I win!'
Orion used up all the mana from his body and covered his entire body. Just then, he didn't notice it, but his Exo-suit glowed brighter and brighter until he finally noticed. His sword felt as light as a feather, and he felt as though he was flying. Eventually, his sword crashed against the beast's paw, and what happened next was beyond expectation. He felt weird. Almost like he was on drugs, even though he didn't know what being on drugs felt like. But what he knew was that he felt good. So good that he felt as though he was born for this. Born to kill. Born to hunt. Born to cut this beast, not just its head-sized paw but also its head in one swift motion.
SPLASH—!
After landing perfectly in the water, Orion turned back to look at the beast and what he saw nearly frightened him. 'I did that?'
Floating in the pool was the beast's big head, hand, and forearm.
Orion lifted his right arm and stared at the hilt of the sword in his hand.
"Why am I so strong?"