This time, seriché's blade didn't feel like a unyielding boulder. Instead it was like a.... Well still a boulder.
But this time, rein could see seriché step back, even if slightly.
"Skills are titles that grant you a small amount of core instinctual knowledge about the subject that it is based on"
Each clash was different, and rein learned really quickly on how string slash worked.
In simply words, rein had to consciously imagine a line where he wanted to swing, and then focus on the skill, then, a string would appear in his vision and when he cut it, he would be able to increase his power and strike true.
'i suppose i can increase the ammount of strings?, though I need to correctly predict where I would need to swing half a second beforehand to actually get the effects of the skill'
Was that what the pause was about?
Rein pulled the blade backwards and pushed it forward, hoping to peirce through seriché's defenses.
Seriche responded by sidestepping and the striking the base of the longsword.
"Bloomings is a special ability granted by none other then the beholder themself."
"Explain"
Rein said in a steady voice in between laboured breaths.
Midas took a second before responding,
"It's like... Special gifts that you can unlock after a certain act that is predermined by the will of the world according to your destiny"
Seriché stood patiently, letting rein not only catch his breath but also focus on midas' explanation.
"For example, frond gives you a weapon only you can use that is specially made for you"
Rein squatted, then leaned forward and pushed his right leg forward and held the longsword firmly in his hand.
Seriché looked at rein and then smiled softly.
He then shifted his stance and held the tachi to his side, getting ready for a final swing.
"And..."
Rein said
"What's a mandate?"
Midas's eyebrow knit together as he stared at rein before turning to stare at deski behide him.
Without looking for an answer, rien lunged forward, and so did seriché at astonishing speed.
Rein correctly predicted where seriché's blade would be, then drew a line to where he would strike...
And then, something was pulling his attention inside him, a pull of sorts.
Suddenly, he was in a imaginary plane, not being able to focus on anything around. It felt like he was surrounded by darkness but he couldn't see anything, it was more like he felt the he was in a dream like realm.
Rein could feel a system of sorts, a screen that was switching between numbers randomly from 1 to 100. He couldn't see it, nor could he sense it with any other of hus senses, he simply knew that it was happening.
Rein could not 'properly' focus on what was happening, he was too focused on seriché's swing and how to counter it.
[97]
Just as rein was about to cut the string, a substantial amount of power filled him.
It wasn't enough to make him twice as strong, not even near that amount actually, but it was enough to make a difference.
It wasn't physical or mystical power, it was just power in an unfiltered form.
'ah... This is my mandate?'
Rein cut the string, and met serichés blade.
Rein felt his shoulder groan but he persisted and brought his feet forward, pushed his body closer and let the force of the strike hit seriché's entire body and not only the blade itself.
Seriché stumbled backwards, if only slightly, his left feet whipping backwards at astonishing speed and stabilizing his body.
Rein didn't miss the opportunity.
The sound of metal echoed as reins blade passed by seriché's cheek, leaving a small cut on it.
[Sufficient proficiency reached, (awakened swordsmanship: severing ★) has became (awakened swordsmanship: severing★★)]
Rein feel backwards, landing on his back.
'god my body hurts'
Seriché stood still for multiple moment before bringing a handkerchief from underneath his haori and wiped his cheek.
"Hm, you are talented"
Seriché smiled softly.
"So uh... How many times did I die?"
Rein asked, shifting to look at seriché who was walking closer to him.
"I lost count after 25"
"Oh wow, I only counted to 19"
Seriché sheathed his tachi and offered rein a hand, which rein took and forced himself up.
'oh wow'
Seriché practically lifted him off the ground.
"Thanks"
"Mhm"
Rien, reinand seriché walked towards the porch and sat on the wooden flatform.
"mister shenhe—"
"Just call me rein"
'you're around my age anyway'
"Rein, you have the slash skill right? String slash I assume"
Seriché asked as he sat beside rein.
"Yeah, I draw astring and then cut it, you have that too, no?"
"No actually.... I have the normal one, simply "slash""
Rein stared at seriché
"There's a difference?"
"Yes. I don't need to draw a string and can simply attack after a small pause, which makes the will of the world recognise my action as a official 'slash', boosting my attack... But string slash, from the knowledge i have, offers higher boost in power in exchange for a string to be draw and cut"
'so I basically got the lesser version?'
"H—hey"
Deski poked his shoulder with her finger.
"You h—have a mandate, right"
Rein shifted more towards seriché.
'my personal space be damned, huh?'
"Yes, it's called dhyana... Basically I roll a number between 1 to 100 and get power.... I don't know the exact particulars but I know that there are more details here and there"
Deski wondered for a moment... Then said in a calm tone
"I have one too, it's called "mù guāng duǎn qiǎn" uh... It basically greatly increases the level of control I have in things around me and myself depending on my ability to focus on the objective at hand and remove all distraction, focusing on a singular objective"
"Alright, here"
Midas came back with two glasses of water and a wooden box.
Rein took a glass and held it in his left hand.
Seriché took it and held it in both his hands.
.
.
.
Eventually, rein was sitting inside the room he was in before, the one decorated with blades, spears, bows, lances, makes, gauntlets amongst many other things.
'Though their number isn't much, there is a great variety'
Was this place supposed to be a weaponry room?
Once again turned his head down and stared at the glass like shard in his hand.
"It's what we call a spirit shard" midas said.
Rein shifted the spirit shard in his hand, expecting it to reflect his image, yet the spirit shard only shows a faint swirling of some sort of energy, making the shard glow faintly.
It wasn't big, fitting comfortably in his hand, rein felt a sense of attraction to it, as if... He wanted to break it and consume whatever was within.
'Something to power up?'
"A spirit shard is a object that is necessary to become a awakened. The qualification to Awaken... Are the presence of affinity, around 5 kills, Awakened monster ofcourse, not the unranked ones and a certain level of spirit energy's flow in the body"
"Kills?"
"Uh, yeah, it's something about adding weight to your existence, I am not exactly sure"
Rein pondered for multiple moments.
'i guess... Becoming stronger should be my main focus'
With the presence of monsters and ranks, it seems like this entire world was power oriented. It's only natural that, to find a way back, he has to became strong enough to find a way.
"Spirit stones are actually pretty expensive, though it's not way too expensive because these are only Awakened rank ones, the lowest you can get"
"Let me guess, you get these from monsters?" Rien said, fiddling with the shard in his hand.
"Yep, you can only get shards from Awakened monsters, not the unawakened ones, when a awakened or above rank monster is killed, a person can gather the floating energy of the recently killed monster and, guided by the will of the world, condense it into a shard like the one in your hand"
"Unawakened monsters?"
"Yes, the ones you fought in the spion forest were Awakened ones, Awakened mistborne: prowlers"
'is that so?... The ones I fought were incredibly strong, but I managed to kill one, even if the chances were in my favoured, i could did kill one... But I couldn't even properly cut seriché who is Also Awakened'
Was the disparity between Awakened humans and Awakened monsters so much. Or was the monster he encountered weak? Like the bottom of the Awakened scale.... Or was seriché much stronger than a average Awakened.
"Unawakened monster would be much weaker, like mistborne unawakened are the ones who are only recently born and don't leave the main base of the hive"
'this is slowly turning into a lecture, and I don't like that'
"So why are you giving me these?" Rein asked even though he already knew the answer.
'Because you need more fighters'
"Because we need more pillars"
Midas said. In a even tone.
"We don't get many spirit shard during the 'shard distribution' each month.
Our population, which is only around 14 thousand, doesn't qualify for a large amount of resources to be spared, especially considering the 1.2 billion population of the continent.
Normal people cannot just migrate to better cities because of the dengerous landscape and the arcian swamp that stands between us and ivoryhold.
Any resources we get is during the monthly checkup from iivroyhold itself.... Mostly that is spirit shards, food, clothing, housing, and some other basic necessities"