The title of this mysterious book sent shivers of excitements down the boy's spine, the technique of a god? The Sword God at that.
'Is this really His technique?...'
he wondered and not being able to contain his curiosity he flipped the page, the second page had the same texture, it contained an abundance of words, each exhuding a deep sense of unfathomable power that the boy could not comprehend.
The second page made him widen his eyes in shock, everything about the content of the page made him become speechless, and for a good reason.
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'Arian Lark, bearer of my divine mark, the last vestige of my fading essence, heed these words. In eons past, I stood among the pantheon, wielding the mightiest of powers.
Yet times have changed and so did I, an era ended, and with it, a god fell down.
You, my sole remaining devotee, stand as my last hope for redemption. Within these ancient pages lies the legacy of my greatest technique.
You wished for power, and here it is... I only wish for you to keep your side of the promise.
As the only apostle of the Sword God, may your blade sing the requiem that heralds the resurgence of my name.'
Arian did not know how to feel after processing the contents of the message, Sword God... was no more, he was the last remaining believer, for this he was bestowed with such a grand technique, to shake the world and bring back the lost honour of his god.
'I see how it is... You were once the strongest, but now... no one believes in you?'
He clenched his teeth in frustration, how could he accept such a fact?
In the end it seems like this was truly a chance given to him by the Sword God, looking back at the murals on the walls, Arian's eyes shined with a glint of understanding.
Especially the caricature of the young boy under the figure of the Sword God, it seems like that was supposed to be him. The left wall should have depicted the future, alas it was entirely disfigured now, broken by an unknown force as if in rebelion to such knowledge.
Arian looked down at the book once more, this was the ultimate peak of swordmanship, he struggled to even turn to the next page, he did not realize it at first but he was holding what every warrior strived for.
Steeling his will, Arian turned to the third page, the writing was as flawless and sharp as before, truly depicting the essence of a god's knowledge.
'Autumn Leaves'
The name of the technique was strangely common, or at least used common words to describe it, the concept behind the style was totally different though, deadly, Arian kept reading and couldn't stop, only when he reached the end of the first form did he understand the meaning of it.
Just like autumn leaves fall down to the ground and create an unexpected dance of red and yellow, this sword style taught one how to be unpredictable and become an avalanche of attacks.
It included a lot of twists and disturbing turns, at first Arian could not peer into the very essence of this style but after a few hours of studying it and imagining what it would be like to fight someone that weilded such a style did he understand the potential it held.
"Insane..."
If one mastered the technique correctly their attack pattern would become so chaotic that their lack of defence would be covered by the mad offence displayed, just like a tornado, a normal human had no way to disturb its course.
In theory it seemed pretty easy, in practice however... it proved to be much more difficult. Arian did not have a sword at hand so he tried to practice by imagining he has one, obviously it was not that easy and he could not pull off the exact movements he would with a sword, the weight, the force pushing against the sword, there were a lot more concepts to be taken into account when wielding a real weapon. Either way, he was sure he wouldn't have been able to pull it off even with a real one.
Nonetheless, he felt satisfied, it was somewhat similar to the style he's mastered in his previous life but of a much higher ranking, it was faster and also got rid of a lot of unnecessary moves, the sole point of it was to overwhelm the enemy with attacks and deliver a deadly slash when they least expect it.
After one more hour of trial and error he started to feel hungry, his stomach rumbled and demanded nutrients in a rowdy manner.
"Right... Is there anything to even eat in here? I haven't seen any sign of life since i woke up."
He said to himself, wondering how was this body even existing when he hasn't found any sign of activity for almost 4 hours.
He ventured the whole temple but there was no use, everything was only dust and broken marble walls. For a moment he thought that he would starve to death but quickly discarded that thought, there was no need to be pessimistic now, plus, he did not see where he was located.
Exiting the temple with a defeated expression adorning his face, Arian looked forward, his eyes were met by the vast expanse of the clear blue sky. The temple seemed to be atop a mountain, just like the picture he saw in the room he woke up into and the statue room, just that from up there everything seemed much more majestic, he felt free, his messy black hair was dancing in the wind as he was pondering about his choices.
'I could go down, there seems to be a forest so there must also be some animals or fruits, but... it's also dangerous, am I strong enough at the moment?'
He did not want to progress in a dangerous environment right after his reincarnation, but there seemed to be only one choice. He slowly began descending the mountain, leaving behind a lonely temple of a forgotten god.
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Once he reached the forest, Arian made himself a weapon by breaking a sturdy looking stick with his leg, making a sharp tip with which he could protect himself to some degree.
The forest he ventured into did not seem too deep, it was clear and the sun rays contured golden spots of light on the hardened ground. It seemed like a good day to relax but Arian was not into it at all, he was hungry, deperately so.
He did not find any plant that he could eat but did not give up, he also did not want to go too far away from the temple, intending to make it his home for a while.
Finally, after 10 more minutes of searching he found a bush full of round berries, they looked almost untouched and very appetizing, he could not endure any longer and grabbed one, giving it a taste.
A pleased expression decorated the boy's face as the sweet taste of the berry filled his mouth, he grabbed some more and filled his mouth with them, enjoying the taste of them with great joy.
As far as he knew, those berries shouldn't be poisonous, he did not know how much time it has been since the time he died and now but it was not very likely that new species of poisonous plants appeared just to kill him right?
For this reason he did not hesitate to fill himself up, he would have liked to grab some more with him but did not have any pockets, he wondered if there was anything he could use to bring them back up tot he temple, he was about to turn around have a run till the temple when he got interupted by a menacing looking beast.
A wolf appeared out of nowhere and was now baring its teeth at the boy, ready to attack him at any given time.