"Wow."
Luan simply couldn't describe what he felt in words.
It was as if he had been reborn entirely anew.
He clenched and unclenched his fists, feeling power unlike any he had ever had course through his body.
His head felt clearer than ever before and he felt aware of everything going on in his immediate surroundings.
His mana pathways had also undergone a noticeable change.
They were bluish silver and almost transparent before, but now, the mana had gained a dark red hue.
Seeing this, Luan's mind spun as he tried to find the reason for the change, but apart from the mana being more potent, there wasn't really any noticeable change.
Luan exhaled as he felt the energy in his body pushing him to do something, anything, to get rid of the excitement his cells were feeling.
He looked around, trying to find something he could do, but couldn't find anything.
This made him somewhat helpless.
At least, he felt helpless until he laid his eyes on his blade.
Luan removed his torn tunic and tossed it into the pool, leaving only his undergarments on.
Then, he picked up the wooden cane and unsheathed the austere blade within it.
The moment he picked up the blade, the sound of glass shattering resounded in Luan's consciousness and scenes flowed into his mind, making his face go blank.
There were over thousands of scenes, but each one depicted the image of one person.
It was a middle aged man with black hair that whipped about like tentacles. He had delicate features that made him seem harmless, but such a thought was immediately dispelled when the man's chiseled torso that looked like the work of a century old sculptor was revealed through the partings of his robe.
The man's white, almost transparent robes flowed about, giving him an air of elegance and tranquil.
These scenes caused waves in Luan's hearts, but not as much as the next thing he saw.
In the delicate hands of the middle-aged man, was an austere blade that closely resembled dull metal, but what made the waves in Luan's hearts turn into a raging storm was the appearance of the handle.
It was brown and looked like the top of a cane formed from the bark of an ancient tree.
It was the exact same one as Moonlight!
As soon as the image appeared, it disappeared, shattering into fragments.
Luan's eyes regained their clarity, and what was left of what he saw was the numerous sword moves that remained in his mind.
It was the same image of the middle-aged man, but he was executing different sword moves, from the simplest slash to the most complex for of sword moves.
There were sixteen moves, but he could only try to recall two without a headache the likes of which he had never faced before.
It was as if there were a million battle-axes slamming his head at the same time.
He felt something warm drip down his nostrils and grimaced.
'Just when I was feeling on top of the world...'
He shook his head, getting rid of the residual effects of his actions before getting into a stance.
He placed his right foot in front of his left foot and held the sword with his two hands, his right hand behind the position of the hand guard and his left hand near the end of the handle.
He raised his hands above his head, taking the blade along, and then he slashed down.
There were no flashy effects or sharp auras like when he had slashed earlier.
It was just a simple slash.
In order to produce any sword form, he had to know how to wield one.
One could say he was pretty decent witht he blade, but Luan knew that in the fight with the five hunters, something weird had happened to him, making him able to move the way he did.
In the fight with the boar monster, the fact that he was an amateur with the blade was so glaring.
With a languid expression and steady hands, Luan repeated the same movement.
Swish!
"Two."
Swish!
"Three."
***
Swish!
'Five hundred and nine.'
Beads of sweat trickled down Luan's forehead as he made his five hundredth and second slash.
Every slash he made had was backed by the full strength of his two hearts and the mana pathways that pumped mana like blood into his body.
Luan decided to simply call them mana veins.
He swung the blade with absolute focus and concentration, not wavering.in the slightest.
His skin, which was now a beautiful shade of brown, having being modified when the moonlight expunged the dark substances from his skin, oozed sweat that smelt surprisingly refreshing.
Healthy and firm muscles rolled under his skin, making him look like a short youth instead of a maturing boy.
Swish!
'Five hundred eighty-two.'
As he continued swinging without stop, the moon faded, the dark sky brightened, and dawn broke.
The clanging of metal and the rumbling of the floor shook Luan awake.
He knew what was happening.
The giant was back.
Luan didn't know what he was expecting, but what he definitely wasn't expecting was for the giant to ignore him and go back to its position before turning to stone.
Luan tilted his head, but he didn't make any remark.
'Things are quite good this way. I stay on my own, and he does the same.'
With that, Luan got back to swinging his blade, Moonlight.
Swish!
'Seven hundred and twenty-five.'
Swish!
'Eight hundred and eighty-eight.'
Gradually, the slashes increased until Luan's hands were trembling, but he didn't stop.
Swish!
'Nine hundred and one.'
Luan felt his legs tremble as sweat trickled down his thighs onto the floor.
'Nine hundred and thirty-two.'
Luan's vision swam and he stumbled forward but promptly regained his footing.
'Nine hundred and sixty.'
He performed a last slash, and he collapsed on the floor, panting hard as he tried to catch his breath.
'One... thousand...'
He felt extremely tired and fatigued, but he didn't want to rest just yet.
He just couldn't afford to.
Therefore, he dragged his tired self to the pool and entered without any rhythm to his movements.
An hour later, Luan walked out of the rainbow pool, dressed in a black tunic and a pair of free trousers.
He held Moonlight in one hand and had a wooden bow that looked to be of impeccable quality on his back.
To his right side was a quiver that hung over his shoulder, containing twenty arrows.
To his left side, a basket containing fresh meat hung from his waist.
Luan, who looked both ridiculous and heroic at the same time, took a deep breath.
Then, he stepped out of the temple.