Black String of Fate

"1263."

*Slash*

"1264."

*Thrust*

*Swish*

"1265."

*knock* *knock*

"Hm? Come in."

Xavier stopped his continuous training session due to an unexpected guest. When the door opened, he found that it was one of the attendants working here.

"There's a letter for Mr. Xavier here." The attendant came in and handed Xavier the letter. Usually, she just delivered stuff and returned to her station, but she was particularly curious about this little boy here.

"I can't help but notice, you haven't left this room for 2 whole days, not even for meals. In case you're relying on your supplies, I want to inform you that we offer free lunch during your stay here."

Xavier was surprised to find out two whole days had passed. He was so engrossed in swinging his sword that he didn't even notice.

'Heh, I got lost in the joys of swinging my sword and improving with each strike…'

"Haha, don't worry, I ate enough for 3 days, so I won't need food anytime soon. I'll be down for lunch tomorrow, you can leave now."

Saying that, Xavier picked up the letter and opened it. The attendant, baffled, could only leave without saying anything.

'How can a child eat enough for 3 days at once? Is he human?'

Xavier ignored the weird gaze and started reading the letter. He was used to this, as this ability of his Innate Gift was apparently not so common. He shook his head and turned his focus on the letter

'Greetings, Adventurer Xavier.

The master mage who was supposed to come soon has had troubles and will be arriving after a week. We apologize for the delay.

Signed,

Susan, The receptionist'

"Hmm… Oh! I totally forgot about that mage. I guess it's a good thing he'll take a week, I'll have more time to create my Foundational Arts.

Xavier once again started swinging his sword. He did not have the time to be distracted right now. The process of creating these Foundational Arts proved to be harder than he thought.

I have to make my sword both strong and fast, be able to keep a stable defense while still being nimble on my feet, and be able to perform complex maneuvers without compromising my form. I have to be strong, agile, skillful, precise, tireless, stable, and intuitive all at the same time.

When one watched his swordplay, they would see that he was performing something similar to the Foundational Sword Techniques, but with quite a few different variants. For example, each of his strikes was hard, fast, and smooth-flowing. He moved around more than what was required, and his form was never compromised for a single second, as if he was in a stable stance all throughout his sword dance.

His sword arts were performed after closing off all his senses, just moving around only through intuition. In fact, he hadn't heard the knock on the door but rather felt it.

'It's not enough. When I try to make myself fast, my strength weakens a bit. When I try to make myself stable, my flexibility is somewhat lost. Weaving the sword into precise strikes tires me out more than I thought.

…I can't balance them all. But I know, there exists a perfect combination of all these elements. I can feel it. I just have to chip at it and find it. Trial and error, the only way I can improve is this basic formula.'

Xavier once again started his motions through the prototype art, improving himself every cycle. It was all about finding the right balance throughout the 7 stars, and he was getting closer to that perfect ideal every second.

Soon, a week passed.

"Master Zorak, welcome to the Grimswald adventurer's guild."

The guildmaster of the adventurer's guild bowed in respect to a middle-aged cloaked man wearing a badge of the Mage's Association. He was a vice-tower master who had come after hearing the news of the Elemental King's artifacts being discovered.

"Nice to meet you. Although I would love to receive your hospitality, there is some important work to be done back in the tower. Only because we can't delay this any further have I come."

"Of course, I completely understand. We would have plenty of time to talk over some tea someday. Here, meet Susan, she's the receptionist who has interacted with the artifact holder the most."

From behind the representative, a lady wearing the receptionist uniform came forward. She bowed to the master and said politely,

"Xavier, the artifact holder, is in the training arena for our city. He has been there for a week. It is said that he's practicing his foundational sword arts."

Hearing that, Zorak was surprised. Ever since hearing the news, he was sure that this young adventurer was a prospective mage. Never did he expect that the one to solve the Elemental King's puzzles would be a swordsman. In fact, half of his purpose here was to recruit this new talent into the Mage's Association.

"Alright, lead me to the training arena." Zorak said while hiding his disappointment. He could have sent one of his underlings if this was going to be the case, he just wanted to get this over with as soon as possible now.

The pair traveled through the town, attracting eyes from all over. A revered master walking around in their small city was an extremely rare sight. Even their own noble lord was only an Expert.

Soon, they reached the training arena. After informing the attendant stationed there, they moved toward the courtyard assigned to Xavier.

But, in front of the open courtyard entrance, what they saw was an old man who was simply dressed with a greatsword tied on his back. He was huge, about 6'5", and had the frame of a heavyweight warrior, but the sword was even larger. But still, with the ease he carried himself with, it did not seem like the size bothered him at all.

He looked over the two guests, and while the receptionist was intimidated by his fearsome, intense gaze, she did not recognize the man.

However, the Master mage immediately gave a deep bow.

"Greetings, Grandmaster Arkhan."

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