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"This is a training method I used when I taught the rank and file. But only one out of a hundred could do it, so I eventually discarded it. Drawing the sword path."
"Drawing the sword path? Anyway, there were people who could do it."
"That's right. Elton Academy would never teach this way. There would be too many dropouts."
Mons took a light stance.
"Watch the tip of my sword. Don't pay attention to anything else, just focus on the tip."
Mons' sword began to move slowly, but gracefully. Diagonal downward slash.
Davian followed Mons' instructions and focused only on the movement of the sword tip.
"When you start the motion, focus on the soles of your feet. And once the sword starts moving, erase all the sensations you feel between the soles of your feet and the tip of the sword."
"Erase? All the sensations?"
"Yes. How to bend your knees. How to turn your waist. How to fix your shoulders. What angle your wrists should be. Erase all of that completely from your mind."
Mons closed his eyes and repeated the motion again.
"Start from the soles of your feet. After that, erase all sensations in your body. Focus all your attention on the movement of the sword tip. As if only your soles and the sword tip exist in this world."
Davian, carefully considering Mons' explanation, said.
"Is it like feeling the final stage gained after repeated training first?"
Mons' eyes widened.
A smile filled his face.
"Exactly! Young master! That's right. All other swordsmanship theories and training exist to reach this stage."
"But to practice from that stage right away..."
"Swordsmanship is ultimately about how well you can move the tip of your sword as you please. Young master will complete this stage first, and then build up various sword movements step by step. You could say it's a reversed training method."
"Completing swordsmanship first and then learning various movements."
"It could be an adventure. People train their whole lives to erase the unnecessary, but this training method erases the unnecessary first. If young master can't succeed in this, it will just be a waste of time."
In order to maintain a double major, he had to be the top of the swordsmanship department within the first semester.
Learning the basics one by one would be close to impossible.
"...Let's do it."
"The moment you erase all sensations and perfectly draw the sword path you're thinking of with the tip of your sword, it's complete."
"Okay."
After that, Mons demonstrated the diagonal downward slash hundreds of times in front of Davian.
Each demonstration drew exactly the same sword path.
Davian completely engraved Mons' sword path in his mind.
Before he knew it, the sun was high in the sky.
"That's enough, Mons. Thank you."
"Is it completely ingrained in your mind? The sword path of the diagonal downward slash."
"Yeah."
"I only did this because it's the first time. Once you complete this training, and if you have the talent to see and read sword paths, you'll be able to perform various swordsmanship techniques just by seeing them a few times after that. Perfectly, too."
Mons put his sword back into its scabbard.
"Focus only on the movement of the sword tip."
"I'll try."
It had been 5 days since Davian devoted all his time outside of class to wielding his sword.
The only stance he had practiced for 5 days was a simple diagonal slash.
It was Mons' sword path drawing training method.
Whoosh.
"Damn it."
It wasn't easy.
How was he supposed to erase his senses?
In order to move the tip of the sword as he wanted, he had to pay attention to the joints and muscles all over his body.
Unless the sword moved on its own, he had no idea what to do, no matter how much he did it.
'Should I give up before wasting more time?'
Just then, he heard someone approaching.
"What are you doing here all alone?"
It was Bonita Fortis.
"Oh. Swordsmanship practice."
"I've been watching you for a while, how long are you going to practice that one stance?"
"Until I complete it."
"Complete... Nice stance. But do you know your stance is really messed up right now? The sword path is also erratic."
She wasn't trying to tease him.
Just Bonita's honest impression after seeing Davian's stance.
"I know."
"You know?"
"Yeah."
"But you keep doing it? You seem to be working hard, should I fix your stance?"
"No. I'm doing this on purpose."
"On purpose?"
"Never mind. It's my own training method. You've already completed this simple slash, right Bonita?"
"Completed? I still have a long way to go."
"You, Bonita? This simple slashing motion?"
"Yeah. I only ever think I'm lacking."
To her classmates, Bonita's swordsmanship was flawless, but she herself was not satisfied.
"But Davian, are you perhaps erasing your senses right now? Your stance was messed up to begin with, but it wasn't this bad, was it?"
Davian was startled and looked at Bonita.
"Do you know this training method?"
"Training method? I don't know if there's such a thing. I tried to erase my senses around last year too. But I failed."
To have realized that and tried to do it on her own at such a young age.
He thought she was just a relentlessly hard worker, but she seemed to have a natural sense for swordsmanship as well.
"Looking at you now, you might be able to succeed. Your stance is so messed up, after all. But are you erasing your senses right now?"
"Yeah, I am."
"I received the best elixir, so I have to repay you."
Bonita strode towards Davian.
Standing right next to Davian, Bonita wrapped her hand around Davian's hand holding the sword.
"Do it again. I'll hold you, so take out a lot more strength than before."
"Swing the sword like this?"
"Yeah. I'll guide you along the sword path of the diagonal slash, so try to take more strength out of your body. As much as possible. Just enough not to collapse."
Davian maintained just enough strength to keep his knees from buckling and tried the diagonal slash again.
Whoosh.
"I don't think this is it, Bonita. I'm more conscious of the movement you're leading."
"Try it a few more times. Focus all your senses on the tip of your sword, not on my hand."
Whoosh.
After swinging the sword more than twenty times, he felt a different sensation than before.
Feeling the changed sensation, Davian turned his head and looked at Bonita, who was standing right next to him.
Bonita said without turning her eyes.
"Concentrate more. Close your eyes too."
Whoosh.
How long had it been?
He could definitely swing the sword with much less strength than when he was doing it alone.
With the strength out of his body, he was able to concentrate more on the movement of the sword tip.
Whoosh.
The sword path Davian drew in his head and the actual path of the sword tip also became somewhat aligned.
Before he knew it, the senses other than the tip of the sword had become faint.
"I think I know what it feels like. Thank you for holding me..."
Davian, who had been concentrating for a long time, opened his eyes and looked at Bonita, who would have been right next to him.
But there was no one there.
Bonita, standing a few steps away, was looking at Davian with her arms crossed.
"Not bad. Good concentration too. You have talent."
"Since when have you not been holding me?"
"From the moment you started drawing the sword on your own without strength in my hand."
"Ah..."
Davian had been concentrating on the tip of the sword, forgetting even Bonita's presence right next to him and the feeling of her hand wrapped around the back of his hand.
"Thank you. I think I'm a little better."
"Then have a good one. I'm leaving. I think I've repaid you for the elixir."
"Hey, that's a drug that will increase your stamina more than 100 times! You've repaid me with this? No way."
"Is that so? Well, anyway, I've settled some of it. I'm leaving then."
Even after Bonita left, Davian swung his sword all night long to not forget this feeling.
That night.
Bonita Fortis' room.
For some reason, Bonita, who had finished her internal energy cultivation early, opened her eyes.
"Hoo..."
Bonita closed her eyes again.
The events with Davian in the evening came to mind.
She had spent an hour just blankly watching him struggle on his own.
It was the longest time she had spent meaninglessly without training or cultivation since entering the academy.
Davian swinging his sword non-stop in a strange stance.
She wondered if he was trying to do the sense-erasing that Bonita had tried and failed at before, so she thought about giving him a little help.
The biggest reason she had failed to erase her senses at the time was that formalized swordsmanship was already too deeply ingrained in her body.
'It seemed like it would work, but I eventually failed.'
On the other hand, Davian, swinging his sword in a completely messed up stance, might be able to succeed in erasing his senses, she thought.
It would be easier to erase because there was nothing ingrained in his body.
So she started helping Davian draw the sword path by holding his sword together.
It wasn't something that would happen in a short period of time, but if he remembered the feeling of today well, he could shorten the period of drawing the sword path.
She thought that this was a repayment for sharing an effective elixir.
Of course, she was also curious about whether Davian could succeed in erasing his senses.
So she started helping him draw the sword path by holding his hand.
At first, she thought she would hold it about a dozen times.
After all, what happened after that was up to Davian.
After about ten times, the feeling that came from his hand was clearly different.
'What is this guy, really?'
She had no choice but to help him draw the sword path more than she had planned.
She could feel the changing movements of Davian every time he swung the sword.
Then at some point.
Whoosh.
Davian's sword drew a perfect sword path.
Bonita was already just resting her hand on his hand.
'Davian drew this sword path himself.'
Bonita slowly moved away from Davian.
Davian, unaware of anything, continued to swing his sword.
He was truly in a state of ecstasy.
Bonita, who had been admiring Davian's sword path with her mouth open, quickly threw out any words.
"Not bad. Good concentration too. You have talent."
'...That's a crazy guy. A crazy swordsmanship genius.'
Before he knew it, the weekend had come again.
Davian visited Mons' residence as soon as it dawned.
"Mons!"
"Young master. Please send a message. I will come to pick you up."
"I don't need that, come out."
Davian and Mons headed to the hill they had visited last weekend.
Swish.
Davian drew his sword.
Slowly closing his eyes, Davian took a deep breath.
Swoosh.
His left foot stepped forward half a step.
And the sword was swung smoothly.
Davian slowly opened his eyes.
"How is it?"
"......"
"Why don't you answer? Do you know how much I practiced?"
He just wanted to get a final confirmation from Mons.
Davian already knew that he had completed this movement.
"It's done, right?"
"I haven't seen such a clean diagonal downward slash in a long time. Not only the tip of the sword, but also the stance was perfect. Well... if you can draw such a sword path, the stance doesn't matter, but the perfect sword path naturally led to the perfect stance. In a way, it's obvious."
Mons strode forward.
Then he grabbed Davian's waist and lifted him up.
"Aren't you putting me down? What are you doing, I'm not a kid."
Mons didn't care about Davian's words and spun him around.
"Hahaha! The training method I mentioned is exactly to make this! Hahaha! You're a genius, young master!"
"I told you to put me down."
"Ah... yes. Young master."
Only then did Mons put Davian back down.
"What should I do next?"
"Don't forget that you erased your senses like this, and then practice the next swordsmanship. One by one. If you completely master the sword path, you can immediately use the swordsmanship that you would normally have to train for several years. Perfectly, too."
"Then show me the next one."
"Okay. This time, it's a horizontal slash!"
Whoosh.
Mons, stepping back, demonstrated a horizontal slash.
Mons' sword cleanly cut through the wind.
"I'll show it to you as many times as you need until you completely master it, so tell me. And then go back to the academy and practice again."
It was then.
Whoosh.
Davian's sword tip drew a perfect sword path of a horizontal slash.
The sword path was exactly the same as Mons' from just now.
Mons' mouth dropped open.
"......Huh?"
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