Chapter 298 Departure (1/2)

Arran's mind was filled orry as he drew his sword and prepared to practice While the portal was fore his concerns, it was far from the only one

Whether or not the portal closed, he would soon leave the caverns And when he did, he would finally set off to accoinal tasks — to retrieve the Forms and to infiltrate the Hunters

The first of these things would rely h Arran knehere to find the battlefield that had clais would be no sis in the first place, decades had passed since the battle — plenty of time for the battlefield to be looted

But that was just the beginning

After he searched the battlefield, he would travel to the Hunters' lands and try to join their ranks, to find infor war

The plan bordered onhis life That Brightblade believed he could succeed was only a small comfort — it meant he could survive the task, but not that he would

And if he soed to not only infiltrate the Hunters but also escape with his life, he would find no safety back in the Ninth Valley Instead, he would return just in tiainst the Hunters

Arran kneould see little peace in the years that lay ahead, and the burden of his responsibilities felt like a heavy weight on his shoulders

Yet when he began to practice with his sword, all those worries faded away almost instantly

There had been no chance to test his weapon properly in the Shadow Realh the journey had taken le hour to spare for training

But now that Arran finally wielded the weapon in earnest, he found that it surpassed his expectations

Although the sas still subdued after witnessing Arran's Destruction Realm, the bond they shared h the air — almost as if it was part of his own body

Moreover, as he used the weapon, it subtly adjusted itself to his needs It grew slightly longer and much heavier, and its balance — already better than that of any nor a level of perfection Arran had not thought possible

And that ith only a few hours of free practice

Excited at the results, Arran moved on to the styles he had learned in the House of Swords — the Stalwart Blade, the Floating Leaf, and the Thousand Cuts Each of these focused on a different aspect of swordsmanshi+p — defense, avoidance, and offense — and he was curious to see how his weapon would adjust to the, it beca Leaf suited the weapon's nature especially well

Although it performed with all the effectiveness of a perfect blade — further encouraged by Arran constantly feeding it Essence — it was clear that defense and avoidance weren't its natural strengths

Yet the Thousand Cuts style was a differentseries of attacks contained within the style — well over a thousand, despite the na of familiarity came from his sword And not just familiarity There was enthusiasm, too, as if the weapon was keen to learn the style

Perhaps the sword had little affinity for defense and avoidance, but attacks were evidently so through the Thousand Cuts many times, and he was pleased to discover that both he and his weapon seemed to benefit from his practice Not only did the sword become more effective as it learned Arran's h their bond also became more familiar to Arran

But there was another step to take Although the styles froht, none of thereatest achievement — his oord style

And when he set to work on introducing his sword to his style, it only took him moments to discover that the tere perfectly matched

This was no surprise — his style was built around his true insight into severing, and its viciousness rivaled that of his sword The weapon appeared to realize this as well, and it welco-lost brother