Chapter 108: Trial and Error

The morning light shone through the curtains and illuminated Valerian’s bedroom. Slowly, he began to wake up.

He sat up on his bed and stretched his muscles.

Suddenly, a slit in the space in front of him appeared and expanded into a full rift.

While Valerian was surprised by the sudden emergence of the rift, after what had happened yesterday, he had already expected something like this to happen.

From the rift, Ravena stepped out, looking exactly like she did yesterday.

As a demi-god, she rarely needed to sleep, so she had stayed awake through the night to begin training first thing in the morning.

"Put on your training uniform and come with me."

Valerian looked at her with blank eyes. With a sigh, he stood up from the bed and put on his apex training uniform. When he was done, they both left through the rift and appeared back in the white space.

The white space looked exactly like it did yesterday, completely devoid of anything.

"Take this and begin to swing."

She threw her heavy katana at Valerian for the third time, and after barely managing to catch it, Valerian began to swing the sword.

He didn’t count how often he swung the sword, as there was no number Ravena told him to work towards. But he knew that at least three hours must have passed before she spoke again.

"You can stop for now."

Valerian lowered the sword, careful not to let the blade touch the ground, as he had already learned what would happen if he did yesterday.

"Come here."

Valerian listened to her call and stood before her.

"Have you thought about your weapon?"

"I did," Valerian answered with a complicated expression.

"And what conclusion did you come to? What is your weapon?"

"I... don’t know."

Yesterday, as he lay in bed, he had thought about what kind of weapon really suited him, but the conclusion he came to was that he had no idea.

He didn’t have a fighting style; he was never trained. Almost all his fights he won through better mana control and his affinities. Even when he fought unarmed, he didn’t win because he had a signature style, he won because he was stronger and faster.

So he had no idea what his sword should be.

"That’s good. It means you thought about it and didn’t choose a sword you just thought looks good."

"From now on, we will begin to spar. I will give you different types of swords, and I want you to not just use them, but feel them too."

"Your weird weapon makes it so that you aren’t confined by a predetermined sword shape; you can mold your perfect weapon. So take inspiration from other swords instead of copying a design."

"Another thing: no mana. You won’t use mana to enhance your body, or to use your affinities. This will be only about your body, and I will limit myself to roughly your physical level."

Valerian nodded. To be honest, finally stopping the endless sword swings was something that made him incredibly happy, but that simple task was now replaced by sparring with a demi-god who wasn’t afraid to hurt him.

But he was ready. Today, he didn’t need Ravena to sever his laziness; he wanted to become stronger, and this was the fastest way right now.

"Then let’s start."

Ravena took a sword out of her spatial ring. This time, it wasn’t a katana like before, but instead a normal-looking black rapier, and like all the weapons she used, this one was just as heavy.

Valerian took the rapier in his hand and moved back a few steps. Ravena herself took out a long two-handed sword.

Valerian had never used a rapier before, but he knew the theory behind it: it was basically a sword created for thrust attacks. The blade was thin, so it didn’t allow for much blocking, and the heavy, long two-hander that Ravena had was probably the worst matchup for a rapier.

As both were ready, at an unseen signal, they dashed towards each other. Ravena’s sword was longer and had a greater reach, so Valerian had to somehow close the distance to get into range.

Normally he would use his space affinity, but since using mana was prohibited, he had to find another way.

As the distance closed, Ravena swung her sword in a wide arc towards Valerian. Out of instinct, he tried to block the sword, but when the two blades collided, he was thrown dozens of meters backwards by the force of the swing.

After he tumbled on the ground and stood up again, the battle continued.

Valerian tried to get into range to attack her, but every time, he was kept at a distance by the two-hander.

After the first blunder of trying to block her sword, he tried more of a dodge-and-evade approach, but even then, he didn’t manage to get past her defense, as whenever he tried to attack her, she was already there to defend against it.

And it wasn’t a matter of rank or speed; Ravena’s sword affinity made her proficient with every kind of sword, so even when she wasn’t using her preferred type of sword, her skill was infinitely above Valerian’s.

Their spar continued for what felt like hours of being thrown around like a sack of potatoes, and by now, Valerian grew frustrated.

He wasn’t frustrated with Ravena, as she was doing what she was tasked to do, but his frustration stemmed from the rapier itself.

To him, it felt off the entire time. His instinct was to swing at her, but that was not what a rapier was for. The constant thrusting and piercing became more like a chore and a restriction to him.

Slowly, an image of what his ideal sword would be formed in his mind, and it sure as hell wouldn’t be a rapier.

As Valerian was thrown to the ground for who knows how many times, Ravena put her sword away and lit herself a cigarette.

"This will be it for today."

Valerian handed the rapier to Ravena, glad to finally be rid of the sword.

"Tomorrow you will use a different sword, so try and implement your experiences from today."

Valerian nodded at her, and she opened a rift for him to go to his room. As he walked through the rift, he tried to figure out just where the white space was by sensing the space while passing through it.

But he didn’t manage to find anything, leaving him standing in his room.

With a sigh, he walked into the bathroom to shower. After twenty minutes, he was finished. As he walked past the bathroom mirror, he saw his reflection and looked at it for a while with a pondering expression.

Coming to a conclusion, he pulled a perfume from his spatial storage and lightly applied the fragrance.

Finally done with freshening up, he took out a communication crystal that was linked to the one Seraphine had. It had the form of a small, round, clear blue ball that had lines running through it.

Channeling his mana into it, it began to glow for a moment before a voice came out of it.

"Hello?"

Seraphine’s voice left the crystal.

"Hey, Sera. I’m done with my training, so if you have time, we can continue."

"Perfect! I’ll be there in five!"

Her excited voice echoed through his room, causing a soft smile to appear on his face. He teleported to the kitchen and began to brew some tea for them.

Communication crystals were magical tools that could register the mana signature of another crystal to connect to it by channeling mana into it.

When the person being called also channeled their mana, a connection would be created, and through the ingenious use of the sound element, the voice of the other person could be transmitted through the crystal.

After five minutes, he felt the portal that led to his room activate, and Seraphine entered his dorm room.

Not waiting for an invitation or a greeting, she walked straight through the entrance and entered the living room. At the same time, Valerian walked out of the kitchen with a tray of freshly brewed tea that was still steaming.

"Really? Not even waiting for me to welcome you?"

Valerian placed the teacups on the table with a grin, to which she just snorted.

"As if you would care if I just barge in. By the way, I told the others that you are training with some new secret master."

Valerian looked up at her.

"Thank you, I didn’t have the opportunity yet."

Seraphine walked to the sofa, sat down, and took her teacup.

"No problem. Even if he won’t say it, Arthur was worried... I think. I don’t know him too well, but he seemed worried."

Valerian fully believed her, as he knew his friend, and even if he wouldn’t show it, he must have been just as surprised and worried at this sudden disappearance as Seraphine, maybe even more.

Downing her tea in one big gulp, Seraphine put her cup down and took off her jacket.

"Now let’s get to business. Val, strip."

Already expecting her sudden request, Valerian undressed his upper half, and the same thing happened as yesterday.

After an hour where Seraphine went over his body, she left for the day to return to her room, and Valerian went to bed again, already getting accustomed to this new routine.