"Don't look so impressed, it was just a small demonstration of my first disciple's skill, nothing out of the ordinary."
In the midst of the impressive meeting hall, Sigrún's voice, brimming with self-assurance, rang out. She was trying to make it seem as if what everyone had just witnessed through the holographic screens—where a young Ascended-level had completely dominated a Revealed-level beast and killed it within a matter of seconds—was nothing special. A typical case of "humble bragging."
Everyone present, including Eleonora, rolled their eyes upon hearing the boastful blonde woman. Sigrún wore an enormous grin that nearly stretched from ear to ear and gazed at her disciple's gallant figure with shining eyes. He, in turn, appeared to be saying something to the spirit still around his neck, his hand on his chin as he thought deeply.
"Those movements look slightly familiar..." Adrian remarked, his hand on his chin as he tried to recall where he had seen similar techniques before. However, his thoughts were cut short when Sigrún's voice once again sounded, brimming with conceit.
"Those moves aren't much, just something my disciple stumbled upon by chance at a university auction some time ago. He played around with them a bit, and this is the result. It still needs a bit of refinement, but it's good for young people to experiment on their own."
"You're not serious, are you? Did Erik really manage to modify Zhang Tao's sword technique?" A shocked Adrian asked with his eyes wide open as he looked at a Sigrún, who had a not-so-well-concealed smug expression on her face, as her words reminded him where he knew the technique from.
"Yes, it's not much, and it still needs some polishing, since my Erik didn't have much time to play with it." Sigrún commented as if it were a trivial matter that a mere thirty-year-old Ascended had managed to modify a complex Arcane-level sword technique to fit his dual-machete style—something that would take even a Master-level practitioner some time.
Not wanting to inflate Sigrún's vanity any further, those present avoided responding. Still, the look in their eyes changed when they regarded the star-haired young man on the screen, who seemed tireless in displaying increasingly impressive and valuable abilities.
This stirred a slight sense of envy in their hearts for Sigrún's luck in finding such an outstanding disciple—a fact that Eleonora, Sigrún, and Seraphina noticed with ease. Proud smiles graced their delicate faces as they began considering what rewards they might grant their beloved Erik.
Seated in his place, Ryoma observed Erik with a deep, idea-filled gaze but decided to watch the monstrously talented boy a bit longer before taking any action. Thus, he remained silent, splitting his personal holographic display to show a divided screen: his beloved granddaughter occupying almost the entire central section, and the boy displayed in a smaller pane on the left.
As for the Director, he watched Erik on the holographic screen with a calm smile. Though it was truly astonishing for someone so young to accomplish such a feat, if Erik really was a child of the Myst, something like this wasn't entirely beyond the realm of possibility. It would, however, make him a rather talented and capable individual among them, from what he knew.
…
…
…
After being scolded by Ebonique for a while, Erik sheathed his machetes once the wolves emerged from them. This time, they didn't climb onto his shoulders; instead, they began to play around him in their one-meter form, sniffing out threats and wagging their tails proudly.
"The damage wasn't severe, but it certainly hurt. I need to work on that spell more before using it in a serious battle." Erik commented with a sigh as several runes formed in the air around him, casting a spell to heal the small wound his experiment had caused.
"I've told you many times to stop trying to make things 'perfect'. That happened because you altered the mana movement pattern in your body."
Still wrapped around Erik's neck, Ebonique spoke, a bit annoyed by his stubbornness. She sent her mana through his body to ensure everything was fine and that her adorable yet obstinate contractor wouldn't suffer any lasting effects from his recklessness. The star-haired youth nodded and commented with a thoughtful expression.
"Yes, it seems those ugly and strange mana routes were there for a good reason. I need to study the technique more carefully..."
From Erik's perspective, the sword techniques of the Zazen Discipline were curious. Apart from having strange, extravagant names, like the technique he had bought, called [Heavenly Storm that Rips Through the Nine Horizons], they were complete sword-based martial arts styles complemented by spells. Moreover, it seemed each one had a different number of what they called [Movements].
Each of these 'movements' was a specific way of attacking complemented by a spell, which in a certain way could even be interpreted as a 'finishing moves'. For example, the technique he had purchased had five such movements, each with its own unique and equally odd name.
The first movement of the technique was [Flutter of the Faded Hawk], a frontal slash starting from a neutral position, combined with a spell that compressed and expanded the wind into a single focused burst, like a flap of wings. This was supposed to disorient the opponent and send them flying several meters, or at least throw them off balance.
But what was truly interesting about the sword technique were actually the spells themselves. They were full Zazen Discipline spells, allowing Erik to gain a much clearer understanding of this curious magical system—beyond what his masters had explained and what he had read—and to arrive at his own conclusions.
In truth, the Zazen Discipline wasn't so different from the Aegis System or Sacred Geometry as he had initially imagined. In some ways, what the Zazen Discipline did was use the body's mana circulatory system, or what they called meridians, similarly to how magical circles worked. But because mana naturally flowed through these pathways, it was quite complicated and required great control.
Another major difference he found was that the Zazen Discipline spells depended more heavily on the user consciously providing many of the "orders" that made up the spell, probably due to the limitations of using the body as a magical circle. This was quite complicated, so they had something extra that other systems didn't use: hand signs.
Hand signs were strange hand positions very similar to yoga mudras and the like, which, along with the movement of mana in the body, were able to give the "orders" necessary to cast the spell. This, with time and a superior mastery of the spell, could be put aside and only mentally given the orders. According to what he had read, that was used as a way to determine mastery over a spell, the fewer hand signs, the greater mastery.
But even with the hand signs, mastering a Zazen discipline spell was extremely complicated, or well, it was supposed to be because the reality was that he didn't have to use any hand position or anything like that. The mental orders were easy to give, and his mana always did what he wanted, so by just reading the spells a couple of times, he was able to cast the simplest ones without many problems. Although the more complex ones were slightly bothersome since he had to get used to circulating his mana in a highly unnatural manner, which he suspected, was the real limitation.
But back to the point, after studying the technique and understanding how the spells worked, Erik set out to master it and adapt it to his dual-wielding style. This really wasn't too complicated, he just spent some time in the library and some money to get a good amount of dual-wielding martial techniques, then modified the spells to fit them. While he was at it, he also thought it would be a good idea to simplify them, since it was really annoying to make his mana flow in such an unnatural way.
The result of that work was what he had used to kill the ugly monster, which was actually his modified version of the third 'movement' of the technique, which was originally called [Path of the Incessant Hummingbird]. It consisted of a series of rapid stabs around the target, combined with a rather complex spell that not only increased the speed to the point where one disappeared from sight. Also, along with each stab, a small shockwave of compressed air would impact the opponent, not only dealing damage but also confusing them.
For his modified version, he got rid of those shock waves, which were the most complex part, and focused solely on speed and movement. He modified the spell, the footwork technique, and other details so that it would combine with a high-speed dual-wielding martial art known as [Storm blades]. Although in the end, simplifying the movement spell so much hadn't been the greatest idea.
…
After examining the monstrous creature a bit, Erik took several of its scales and some of its skin for research and stored them in one of his storage rings. He didn't take much, since they didn't look promising and didn't seem very useful. He then walked for a while along the lake's shore, studying his surroundings as he finished healing.
A few hours later, lying on the branch of a rather tall tree, Erik, with Ebonique's help, carefully reviewed the map generated by the scouting spheres. They had already managed to map the gigantic forest he was in, but he didn't see anything even remotely resembling a palace, causing him to sigh lightly.
"It really wasn't going to be that easy. Let's set up camp; this is going to take a while."
"How can I help?" Ebonique asked from Erik's head, which now seemed like her favorite bed, while the wolves, for their part, now rested on Erik's shoulders again.
"Not with much. I've had tons of things prepared for a long time, in case I ended up stranded on a deserted island again, so I pretty much have everything ready."
After saying that, Erik enlarged the map of the surrounding area on the hologram projected by the crystal tablet, searching for a suitable spot to set up camp. After a while, he found one that seemed promising, so he zoomed in further and asked casually.
"What do you think of this one, Ebonique?"
"It looks good. It's peaceful, and there's water nearby. I like it." Ebonique answered, quite pleased with the place shown on the hologram. Erik nodded and stood up.
"The scouting spheres didn't find any creatures nearby either, so that's the place."
Quickly, Erik jumped off the branch and landed softly on the ground. After marking the route on the hologram, he glanced back and forth between the pair of wolves on his shoulders and asked.
"Well, the area doesn't seem very suitable for Ebonique to move, so which one of you two is going to carry us?"
Hearing the question, both wolves barked at the same time, but Tiberius was faster. He leaped from Erik's shoulder and grew until he was just under two meters tall, about the size of a regular horse. Then he stood in front of his master, happily wagging his tail.
"Then this time it'll be Tiberius." Erik commented cheerfully, causing Kaiser to "cry" in lament. After jumping onto the impressive black wolf's back, the star-haired boy spoke, looking at the sad silver wolf on his shoulder.
"Don't be so dramatic, Kaiser. Next time it'll be your turn."
Hearing his master's words, the silver puppy wolf barked happily and started wagging his tail rapidly, making both Ebonique and Erik laugh. At that moment, the star-haired boy showed the black wolf the route he should take, then casually ordered.
"Alright, let's go."