Sebastian and Oren, the instructor and

  founder of the Violet Dawn Sword School, moved to the sparring ring in

  the corner of the schoolyard.

  It wasn’t a large sparring ring, sized more for children

  than grown adults, but it was still about the size of a boxing ring. In

  this world where fighters wielded swords, spears, and Magical Skills, a

  boxing ring typically wouldn’t be big enough for a proper spar.

  Sebastian wasn’t looking for a big all-out fight, though, just a simple

  technical spar, so it would do nicely.

  “Do we need to set any ground rules?” Sebastian asked.

  Oren shrugged. “Standard technical spar etiquette, I guess. No true Skills, no going for weak points, and respect the calls.”

  They took a corner each and held up their swords to show that they were ready.

  Sebastian drew on his Peak first stage of his

  [Intergalactic Sword Art]. Ever since the first stage had reached Peak,

  the intent he had imbued in the Sword Art naturally flowed when he drew

  upon it. He actively kept his intent in check. Sebastian didn’t have

  enough experience to know where to draw the line with his intent for a

  simple spar, so he started off easy, ready to ramp up if needed.

  Neither of them rushed to make the first move. They stood still in their respective corner and watched their opponent.

  Sebastian noticed Oren’s eyes shift in quick succession

  between his eyes, feet, sword, shoulders, and finally lingered on

  Sebastian’s missing arm before moving back to his eyes.

  Oren wielded a two-handed sword, slightly longer than

  Sebastian’s but not by too wide a margin, and he held a casual stance.

  After observing Sebastian for a moment, he shifted his left foot back

  and lifted his sword above his head into a high stance.

  Sebastian responded by moving his own foot back and

  lifting his elbow, ready to parry an incoming attack and counter with

  his own.

  It made Oren lower his sword to point more directly at

  Sebastian, who in turn moved his own sword down, pointing toward the

  ground rather than his opponent.

  The instructor narrowed his eyes and made the first move.

  He dashed forward and slashed diagonally. He missed.

  Sebastian side-stepped silently, dodging the swing, and counter-attacked with a horizontal swipe toward Oren’s center mass.

  Oren blocked it by raising his blade and followed up by spinning his sword around to bring it down for vertical slash.

  The back and forth continued. Sebastian had to steadily

  increase his intent as Oren pushed him back, but it still wasn’t quite

  enough. Oren was just 2 levels higher, which with Sebastian’s physical

  cultivation was practically a few levels lower, but he was a far greater

  swordsman. Even when Sebastian compared him in his mind with Silas,

  Oren was a step ahead.

  Using his advantage in physical speed and strength, Sebastian held on.

  With each blow, however, his form became sloppier, more

  rushed, as he struggled to keep up with Oren’s onslaught of attacks. In

  comparison, Oren responded to every incoming attack with a practiced

  ease.

  With a final clash, the tip of Oren’s sword came to a halt at Sebastian’s throat.

  “I win,” Oren said with a smile. He lowered his sword and

  sighed. “You’re pretty good, but I can see what you mean. You seem…

  stuck.”

  “That’s one way of putting it.” Sebastian sheathed his sword, same as Oren.

  “It’s hard to tell, and I’m not gonna pry unless you want

  me to, but it feels like you have a Sword Style Skill that isn’t quite

  complete. It’s like you’re using it for some parts but not for other

  parts, and that leaves a gap wide open for me to exploit, most of the

  time.”

  “You’re not far off,” Sebastian said, feeling like Oren

  read him like a book. “I’m trying to figure out the next step, but I

  don’t exactly know what that step might be.”

  The teacher shook his head. “I don’t know what school

  you’re from or if you’ve maybe reached this far on your own but whenever

  I help my students work through something we start from the beginning

  and work our way up. So, let’s do that.”

  They moved over to the porch where

  Sebastian sat down by a small table while Oren ran inside to bring out

  some cookies and some drinks resembling beer, except with a hint of

  fruit.

  As they ate, Oren went into instructor mode.

  “I’m sure you’re already gonna know all this but when I

  said, ‘start from the beginning’, I meant it. Sometimes going over even

  the simplest things might help trigger some small but vital hint. Let’s

  start with the basics—when we start out, the first step is to gain a

  Sword Style Skill. This Base Skill covers the foundation: the simple

  footwork, the stances, some attacks and parries. Once you have that, you

  work on Attached Skills. Specific Movements or Footwork Skills,

  specialized attacks and the like. The alliance standard categorizes

  these Attached Skills into three tiers: Basic, Advanced, and Expert.

  Each style has its own focus and the Attached Skills helps narrow that

  focus even further.”

  It was clearly a topic he was enraptured by as he barely took a break to finish his cookie before continuing on a tangent.

  “This is the topic of a great deal of academy politics.”

  Oren scoffed. “Some people focus more on certain Attached Skills and

  create specific combinations of Attached Skills that synergize well

  with each other. This in turn creates factions within schools and

  non-stop arguments over which combination is the best one. It’s part of

  why I left the Crimson Dawn Sword Pavilion, I couldn’t stand the drama

  anymore.” He shook his head and sighed. “But, I digress. I can’t be

  sure, of course—and with the secrecy with the styles of different

  schools, I understand if you can’t go into too much detail—but it felt

  like your Sword Style Skill didn’t have much focus. While we’re on the

  topic, how are your Attached Skills?”

  Sebastian took in everything Oren just revealed. Silas had gone over some of it before but not in so much structured detail.

  He took a moment to consider how to answer, he didn’t

  have a base Sword Style Skill in the same way as most, after all. And he

  didn’t have any Attached Skills at all.

  How do I do this? This is what I was

  worried about, his advice is obviously focused on the Skill System, but

  I need to somehow translate that into my own Techniques.

  Which… now that I think about it.

  I have been working on integrating

  my Techniques with my Sword Art. The [Cloud Shadow Slash] wasn’t even

  recognized as a System Skill because I gained it as a part of my

  swordsmanship. Probably. And I’ve been working on using my [Fleeting

  Cloud Step] as part of the footwork of the Sword Art as well. I guess

  those should could count as Attached Skills, even though they wouldn’t

  really pass an inspection. I doubt that’ll be an issue with Oren though.

  Also, these cookies are amazing, holy crap.

  “I have a couple, but you’re right. The base is pretty

  generic, which I do feel is a good thing. It’ll let me respond to a

  wider range of different styles and opponents.”

  A case of theft: this story is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.

  “True!” Oren nodded before analyzing the matter further.

  “However, it also means that until you can truly make it your own,

  you’re gonna have a hard time against most sword styles. A more generic

  base style can make you a strong all-rounder, a jack of all trades but a

  master of none. It places a far greater emphasis on your own creativity

  and combat sense since you can’t rely as much on the [System]’s

  guidance.”

  “Yeah, I’ve noticed that. I need to constantly stay on my

  toes, react and respond to every action. When I fight or spar with

  others it usually feels like they just… act. Like they know exactly what

  move should go next without having to think things through too much.”

  “That’s exactly right. I use the guidance of the [System]

  through my sword style at every step. I trust that the [System] will

  guide me to the best option. Could this be the source of your issue?

  Either a lack of trust in the [System] preventing you from wielding your

  sword style to its greatest potential or I suppose it could be a sword

  style that doesn’t allow you to make use of the [System] to the same

  degree as others, somehow.”

  Sebastian sighed and struggled with how to reply to that.

  Navigating the differences between System Skills and cultivation

  Techniques was easier said than done in the moment.

  “Hard to say. I’ve definitely benefited from the

  [System]’s guidance before, but I am certainly not relying on it as much

  as most.”

  Sebastian and Oren set up a schedule.

  Oren couldn’t drop valuable time with his proper

  students, but they decided that Sebastian would stop by twice a week for

  spars. It was fairly expensive to hire a private tutor, but Sebastian

  had plenty left, both of his own supply and from what was left to him by

  the hunters. It was worth the price regardless.

  He already had a solid routine but slotting in a few

  hours worth of sparring every few days was easy. Sebastian fell into a

  rhythm—cultivating, training at home, and regularly going to Oren’s

  Violet Dawn Sword School to spar and discuss and learn.

  For the first few weeks, nothing really changed with

  Sebastian’s swordsmanship. Over the course of a few months of continuous

  training and sparring, however, Sebastian noticed something with Oren’s

  swordsmanship; for how well it handled so many different situations, it

  was stiff. Mechanical.

  The feeling intensified as more months passed.

  In the past, when Sebastian fought the gang lieutenant,

  Cadmar, he felt that Cadmar fought without much structure. He realized

  over time that it was because the criminal didn’t have a Sword Style

  Skill. It was probably something he had been working on gaining, but it

  was easier said that done without inheriting a proper method.

  Silas on the other hand did have a Sword Style Skill, he

  called it the [Imperial Sword Style]. He had also mentioned some

  specialized Skills but Sebastian never got any details about them as

  Silas wasn’t allowed to reveal much.

  Sebastian still felt a flexibility in Silas that Oren

  didn’t have, as if he tried to revise the [Imperial Sword Style] into

  something of his own. It likely stemmed from the resentment most of the

  hunters felt for Lumeria, even though Sebastian never learned the

  details of Silas’ story.

  Oren fought like a robot.

  Because he fully embraced the [System]’s guidance, he let

  the [System] essentially puppet him when he fought. It was efficient

  and served him well, but Sebastian felt that it lacked… heart.

  It cemented Sebastian’s thoughts that he needed to pave

  his own path rather than rely on the [System], but he wasn’t sure

  exactly how.

  Their sessions continued for years.

  For the first time since he was summoned to this world,

  Sebastian had nothing but time. He used that time to cultivate, and to

  elevate his swordsmanship. Which was made much easier after he finally

  restored his arm completely, after almost a year of continuous work.

  It took far longer than he expected to figure out the next step for his Sword Art, but gradually, it came to him.

  The more he thought about it, the more he felt that there

  was something about Silas’ ambition, his goal, that resonated with him.

  The very first thing that Silas had taught him about the sword was that

  there was more to wielding a sword than to swing it around. At first,

  you’re guided by technique. Sebastian had done that, he had learned the

  foundations of swordsmanship, and after a few years of training with a

  professional, he had practically mastered it. Next, Silas had said that

  your sword would be guided by instinct, and lastly by intent alone.

  As the Sole Cultivator, Sebastian had to pave his own

  path forward, but he decided to follow in Silas’ footsteps for now, to take

  inspiration from his first teacher, to honor his memory. It meshed well

  with what Oren had taught him as well.

  What worked for the swordsmen of this world, however, wouldn’t work for Sebastian, not as is.

  He didn’t have a Sword Style Skill, or Attached Skills to

  tie it all together into a cohesive whole. He had a Sword Art and a

  collection of Techniques that he had to integrate and develop himself.

  His current Sword Art stage, [Foundation], didn’t allow him to

  respond too well to connected attacks. There was a lack of fluidity in

  his moves.

  By following Silas’ idea, his second stage would be,

  [Instinct]. Rather than let himself be guided by the [System], he would

  use his instincts to guide the [System].

  Reaching that conclusion took time, and actually developing and gaining the second stage took even longer.

  It took him two years of sparring with Oren, several times a week, to realize what the next step would be.

  That epiphany helped Sebastian’s combat sense improve

  over time, so much so that he could actually keep up with Oren, even

  though the instructor had moved on to weave in his Advanced Attached

  Skills.

  Still, Sebastian was only using his improved senses and

  experience to manually compensate for the shortcomings of his first

  stage.

  His experience in integrating his Techniques with his

  swordsmanship improved by leaps and bounds as well.

  That would prove to be the key.

  In mastering how to imbue his intent in the subtle

  movements of his Sword Art, he also worked on shaping his intent to

  match his instincts.

  To wield one’s intent was to manifest one’s willpower and

  imagination to influence the world around you. When Sebastian first

  began his cultivation journey, he mostly used it within the Spirit Realm

  to influence his own cultivation. Then he learned how to imbue a strong

  and simple intent into an attack. Now he discreetly used his intent to

  enhance his instincts.

  The effect was small at first. It became easier to react

  to different situations and to forcefully shift from one movement to

  another. Over time, it was a paradigm shift in his swordsmanship.

  Another three years later, and Sebastian finally succeeded.

  It was something of an eye-opener. Sebastian had managed

  most other breakthroughs in both cultivation and Techniques in weeks or months, this was the first time it

  took years.

  ***

  On a bright afternoon, after the students had left for

  the day, Sebastian and Oren went back and forth on the open field beyond

  the school’s backyard, as they did almost every day at this point.

  The small sparring platform was no longer enough to

  contain them. Oren’s Advanced Skills used essence to extend his attacks far beyond

  his physical blade.

  Sebastian observed every movement with his spiritual

  sense and evaded or parried attack after attack. He moved like a

  specter. The blades of grass beneath Sebastian’s feet didn’t even

  register his presence.

  Although he could defend himself against Oren’s onslaught, Sebastian couldn’t land a hit either.

  With Oren using Skills, the length of his blade extended

  to almost double, the top half being a translucent blue. The

  instructor’s two-handed sword already had a greater range than

  Sebastian’s, his was one-handed, after all, and as a result, he

  struggled to reach his opponent.

  He could see it, though. The gaps between Oren’s Skills.

  Although slight, there was a transition period, a window, between each

  move.

  Sebastian tried to push through but failed, same as he

  had for months ever since he had fully grasped Oren’s weakness. He had

  known of the mechanical nature of System Skills for years but had

  struggled to see through the gaps, until recently.

  Then it happened.

  As Oren launched another series of attacks, Sebastian

  felt his swordsmanship shift. Before he even had a chance to think about

  how to move in order to parry the incoming low horizontal slash, his

  sword already responded.

  He felt the [System] yield.

  Rather than his own hand being guided by the [System],

  his instincts guided his sword, and the [System] answered. It accepted

  his intent and instead of guiding his movement, empowered it.

  The moment Sebastian penetrated Oren’s defenses and reached him, an alert rang out in his mind.

  New Sword Art stage gained

  Intergalactic Sword Art

  Stage: Instinct

  The difference was like day and night. He easily blocked

  Oren’s attempt to strike him down for coming too close. And then

  another, and another. Every time it barely took any effort.

  That mechanical aspect of Oren’s swordsmanship that

  Sebastian had noticed all this time suddenly felt like a true weakness

  he could exploit, much like Oren had exploited his own weakness when

  they first began sparring years ago.

  Sebastian parried a desperate thrust and whipped his

  sword from an awkward backward angle and halted the the tip of this sword

  directly at Oren’s throat.

  “I win, finally,” he said with a sparkle in his eyes.

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