Chapter 67: Worldview

Adam could feel the disbelief ripple out of his master. He could only suck in a cold breath.

"M-Master?"

Asher was still taken aback, unable to connect his student’s statement with reality. His precious student wanted mastery over all weapon arts? That was ridiculous!

Taking one weapon art to the highest degree of mastery was already demanding enough, but Adam wanted all of them?

"What absurdity!" Asher finally snapped out of his daze. "Where did you pick up such ridiculous ideas from? I would understand if a katana is not your weapon of choice, but to claim you want to master all known weapons?!"

"I-I have my reasons," Adam replied in a low voice, averting his eyes.

Several seconds of silence settled between master and disciple, the uncomfortable atmosphere making Adam self-conscious. He glanced at his master and realised the man was studying him with a serious expression on his face, as though he was contemplating Adam’s words.

"Is that truly what you want?" Asher asked, his voice serious.

Adam let out a breath and replied, his tone serious as well, "Yes, master. I know it sounds crazy, but I can do it. My desire doesn’t stem from misplaced confidence, but from a genuine desire to learn."

"..."

A beat of silence passed.

Asher could tell his student was serious about his words. And although a bit disappointed, he could not force his ideals on the boy.

"This has something to do with your secrets, doesn’t it?"

Adam looked away. But his behaviour was enough. Asher, who had come to understand his student some more, sighed.

"Very well." He agreed.

"Thank you for trusting me, master." Adam bowed in respect, truly touched that he had such a master.

"Don’t get all serious with me, kid. Now pick up a katana and show me what you’ve got."

"Right away!"

With a beaming smile, he walked to the weapon racks and picked up a katana, taking a moment to appreciate the craftsmanship. He secured the sheath at his waist and calmly walked to the centre.

Asher quietly observed as his student closed his eyes to get into the mindset. With a slow release of breath, Adam opened his eyes and executed a quick draw, the blade hissing dangerously. But that did not end there. He continued with the motion and performed a few more moves, his execution filled with a few flaws.

However, before Asher could speak up, he noticed Adam correcting his own mistakes. His eyes widened as he watched Adam improve in seconds. Every mistake he made would be quickly improved at the next take.

’Such frightening talents.’

The vice-principal was thoroughly impressed. He circled Adam as he continued observing, reserving his comments for now. There were still a lot of areas to improve, but the boy was doing it himself.

’It’s like he has an autocorrect skill.’

He continued to watch as Adam came to a pause, seemingly getting inspiration to try something else.

Asher did not speak, silently waiting for what his student would do next. That was when his eyes widened ever so slowly as Adam displayed the very moves he had demonstrated several minutes ago.

His heart skipped a beat.

Adam’s moves were all over the place. But as he had thought before, the boy seemed to have some autocorrect skill, correcting and improving at a ridiculous rate.

The air whistled as the katana cut through the air, leaving a faint trail of Spark in the air.

’He’s already gotten this much control?!’ he could not believe his eyes. ’It’s only been a week!’

What Adam was partly doing subconsciously was channelling his Spark through the blade. This was a technique that required a very high degree of control. Most people only attained sufficient control over their Spark at the third realm, as mastery within the body came first before mastery without.

One could not simply channel their Spark into outside objects without grasping the essence. This took time; a lot of time, in fact.

Asher’s expression darkened as the reality of who he had chosen as his disciple truly settled in. He was not one to be shocked by many things. Today, however, had proved him wrong.

Adam had shown him things he didn’t even know he considered impossible. And yet, this sixteen-year-old boy had shattered every misconception he had about what talents were.

This disciple of his had thoroughly changed his worldview. The boy was in a class of his own! The standards of their world could not be applied to him!

Unaware of what his actions were doing to his master’s mind, Adam continued through the motion, applying everything he understood about the physics of motion, the mathematics of geometry, and the essence of Spark.

After attaining a sufficient enough understanding of the weapon arts, he slid the blade into the sheath and came to a stop, releasing a breath as he did.

Adam turned to his master with a smile forming, only to freeze when he saw the look on his master’s face. The man looked completely out of it, blankly staring at Adam.

This was the first time Adam had seen such a look on his master’s face.

"M-Master?" he called.

The man snapped out of his daze, his focus truly returning to Adam. He took a good, long look at the boy again.

"You... You’re the literal definition of broken." Asher said, a smile forming. "No wonder you wish to master all kinds of weapon arts."

"..."

Adam did not reply, realising he had overdone it again. Then again, his trust in his master had grown since the time he rescued him from that gang.

Suddenly, however, the vice-principal frowned as he dipped his hand in his pocket and pulled out his phone. As he read whatever text he received, his expression twisted into something dangerous.

Adam took an involuntary step back as a sudden pressure descended. But as quickly as it came, it disappeared.

Putting the phone away, the vice-principal looked at Adam. "It’s unfortunate, Adam. But I’ll have to leave you here."

"I-Is something wrong?" he swallowed.

The vice-principal approached him as he spoke, "It’s nothing to concern yourself about."

Then he tossed a key card to Adam.

"It’s your access key to this place," Asher explained as he stood beside Adam, his gaze ahead. "Close up after you’re done here."

Without another word, he walked out and eventually left the training chamber, the doors closing behind him.

Adam was confused.

Something must have thoroughly enraged his master. That pressure he felt was not imaginary.

’I hope he sorts whatever that was.’