The light from the summit of the Tower reflected onto the smooth concrete road as Knight stepped into the Athena Building district. The deeper he walked into the Class S zone, the more the atmosphere felt severed from the outside world. No engine noises, no student whispers, only the sound of wind rustling through trees meticulously arranged according to high-level landscape architecture.
Knight stopped at the private elevator for Class S students. He tapped his Primrose-level digital keycard on the transparent sensor. Instantly, the retina scan system activated.
[Data Detected: Student Knight - Class S]
[Welcome back. Please specify the desired floor.]
"Top floor," Knight replied shortly. The elevator soared upward with a stillness so profound he barely felt the G-force. When the doors opened again on the 50th floor, he paused slightly at the sight before him.
The hallway was not made of ordinary cement or tiles, but of imported marble polished to a mirror-like shine. The walls were adorned with contemporary art that seemed to have a faint flow of mana circulating to control temperature and humidity. Knight followed the coordinates on his smartphone until he stopped in front of a giant door made of jet-black hardwood engraved with gold patterns.
He tapped the card again. The door unlocked with a soft mechanical click before sliding open to reveal an interior space far too vast to be called a 'room.'
'This is... isn't this an entire house?'
His suite was designed in a modern luxury style with double-volume high ceilings. One wall was a giant floor-to-ceiling glass pane, revealing a view of the capital city and the base of the Tower shimmering with lights at night. The space was clearly zoned: a living room with a premium leather sofa set, a fully equipped kitchen zone, and a bedroom elevated on another level.
Knight explored the room silently. He found that one corner of the room had a door connecting to a 'Private Training Room,' which was a spacious hall lined with shock-absorbent materials and excellent energy-leakage protection, exactly as Arthur had said.
He walked to the bedroom and placed the cloth-wrapped chipped sword onto the weapon rack beside a king-sized bed that looked unbelievably thick and soft. Compared to the hard, slightly musty wooden bed in Dormitory 13 where he slept last night, this place was like heaven versus hell.
'More troublesome than I thought, but it really is more comfortable to sleep in.'
Knight collapsed onto the bed, feeling the softness perfectly support his back. He slowly unwrapped the bandages from his hands, looking at the scars that served as reminders of the trials he had endured.
The scars on his hands, abdomen, and back had healed well since Uriel took control of his body, but they remained as reminders for him to become stronger, even without relying on Uriel's power.
Knight lay still for a while, not wanting to move, before opening his status window once more.
[ Knight ]
Class: (Analyzing suitability based on combat style...)
Title: Giant Slayer
Physical Status: Dual Souls (Dormant)
Equipped: —
Items: —
Skill: Uriel (Cannot be used)
'So, the only reward from the first Box's trial is Uriel's soul, huh?' Knight pondered before walking toward the frosted glass door that led to the 'Private Training Room.'
'And the Aura I practiced haphazardly on my own is just a byproduct.'
As soon as he stepped inside, the sensor lights in the room flashed on, revealing a wide hall lined with high-elasticity, shock-absorbent material. Knight gripped the chipped sword tightly and tried to gather the Silver Aura within him until a cold mist formed inside the training room.
'Until now, I still don't understand why my Aura manifests as a cold mist, when it should be like Uriel's fierce heat,' Knight thought as he moved to perform sword techniques remembered from the Red Cross General's memories.
He stepped aggressively, swinging the sword with full-body force, using the momentum from the first strike as supplementary power for continuous and fierce slashes. But something felt missing.
'...This guy's swordsmanship doesn't suit me. It's too aggressive and heavy, meant for a greatsword. But the sword I have now is just a normal longsword.' Knight, who had been practicing for about ten minutes, stopped.
This style was the primary one he used during the Box trial because the sword he used then was the General's own. But now that the trial was over, all he had in his hand was a common longsword.
'If it stays like this, my skills won't progress anywhere.' Knight sat down on the floor and began practicing the circulation of Silver Aura while thinking of a solution.
'...Actually, Uriel's swordsmanship should be the most suitable for me. But in the memories I have, there isn't enough information on sword techniques. Do I have to grope my way through from her combat memories?'
Knight sat still in the middle of the silent training room, with only the faint sound of the ventilation system. Faint silver mist began to radiate slowly from his body, but it still looked disorganized, more like smoke than a functional power.
He tried closing his eyes, attempting to sink into the depths of his subconscious to find the 'traces' Uriel left during the trial. Although that soul was still completely dormant, the memory of the movements that once occurred in his body hadn't disappeared.
'Back then... the feeling wasn't like this.'
He recalled the rhythm of the sword in his hand slicing through the air like a miraculous light. Knight stood up slowly, gripping the same worthless-looking chipped sword. He tried to mimic the stances he had 'seen' through his own eyes at that time.
He began to step... However, only halfway through, his body lost balance, and the sword slammed onto the floor with a loud Clang!
"...No. The swordsmanship of the Red Cross High General is too aggressive even more so than the General himself. It doesn't fit this sword at all." Knight muttered, wiping sweat from his hairline.
He began to re-analyze. The sword in his hand was light and heavily chipped, but it possessed high agility. Using stances that focused on crushing force was like using a toothpick to smash a wall. He needed a more 'fluid' method.
He tried letting the Silver Aura flow to the tip of the sword instead of covering the whole blade. The temperature in the room plummeted until frost formed along the nicks of the blade. Knight began to move again. This time, he didn't force his body to follow the General's memories; instead, he chose to 'flow' with the weight of the sword.
Whish!
The sword traced a beautiful and simple arc through the air. Knight felt the momentum sent from his heart synchronize with the freezing Aura at the sword's tip. Every time he flicked the sword, cold mist was left in the air as a long trail, like a silver ribbon.
'I see... it's not the force I lacked, but the connection.'
Knight began to increase his speed. His stances were no longer stiff like before; they became continuous until they looked like a dangerous dance. He didn't just use his arms, but every part of his body to transmit force. The Silver Aura condensed into a thin ice coating on the blade's edge, indicating he had begun to grasp the control of Mana and Aura at a certain level.
[Congratulations! You have created a new skill: "Basic Swordsmanship"]
[You are the first person to create a skill on your own without relying on the power of a Box!]
[Delivering reward: "Basic Swordsmanship" has been transformed into "Formless Swordsmanship"]
The status window flashed in front of him. Knight stopped his feet while his body remained in the final stance of the sequence. His back was drenched in sweat, but his surroundings were filled with cold mist settling as tiny snowflakes.
'Formless Swordsmanship...' Knight murmured the name of the new skill the system provided. It was as if this Tower rewarded those who knew how to refine themselves without relying solely on fate from a Box.
He tried gripping the chipped sword in his hand again. The feeling had changed completely. The sword that had felt heavy and awkward at first now felt like an extension of his own nervous system. When he concentrated his silver mana into it, the sword wasn't covered in thick ice like before; instead, it looked like a 'blur' vibrating at such a high frequency that the surrounding air made a faint whistling sound.
Knight tried stepping out again. This time, he didn't lunge straight forward; instead, his body blurred, evading unseen things. The chipped sword in his hand traced unpredictable lines through the air. It flowed like water but was sharp and still like ice at the same time.
[Skill: Formless Swordsmanship (Unique)]
Description: A sword style created by merging the memories of warriors and the relentless circulation of Aura through the body. There are no fixed forms; it focuses on adapting to the weapon and situation. The higher the user's imagination and concentration, the more the intensity and speed will multiply.
'This... suits me much better than the General's technique,' Knight thought with excitement. He immediately began practicing further to test the limits of the new skill.
'But I'm starting to grasp how to use Mana. Should I try it now?' Knight now fully understood the principle of using Mana created from the heart and pumped through the muscle fibers.
Knight stood still in the center of the training hall, his gaze much calmer and deeper than before. Although his body was still that of an ordinary human covered in scars, it was a body that had been heavily tempered, starting to signal its true energy source.
'Aura is what circulates through the veins... but that's just the outer shell.'
He began to analyze his new discovery. Mana and Aura were complementary energies. The Silver Aura he used to create cold was born from the blood flowing through his body, but it lacked the massive 'propulsion' needed to turn him into a beast on the battlefield. And the source of that propulsion was the 'heart.'
Knight took a deep breath, closing his eyes to focus on the organ beating rhythmically in his chest. He began to imagine Mana packed within the chambers of his heart. Instead of letting it flow out naturally, he used his newly discovered control to 'squeeze' and 'pressurize' Mana to its absolute limit.
Thump...
His heart beat heavily once, accompanied by a massive eruption of energy injected directly from the heart into the 'muscle fibers.'
[System: You have discovered the principle of 'Mana Injection']
[Your muscles respond violently to the Mana pressure - Physical power increases exponentially]
The moment the silver mana flowed into his muscle fibers, Knight felt as if his body had been ignited from within. Muscles that were once fatigued from training became tense and immensely powerful. The mana pressure caused his skin to radiate a silver aura several times more intense than before. He opened his eyes, his gaze as still as frozen water.
Knight moved only a fraction, and his body shot forward, leaving only a wind blast that tore through the air.
Whoosh!
He began performing the 'Formless Swordsmanship' again. This time, it was entirely different. The chipped sword didn't just glide smoothly; it was infused with 'suddenness.' Every time the heart contracted to send mana to his arms, the sword's swing intensity multiplied until it produced a shrill but heavy air-piercing sound.
He swung the sword at the training room's toughest dummy.
BOOM!!
A single simple strike, but with physical strength enhanced by mana injection through the heart, that chipped sword sank deep into the shock-absorbent material, nearly cutting it in half. Not only that, the Silver Aura generated from the rapidly circulating blood froze the wound into brittle ice crystals instantly.
'This is the perfect fusion... Mana from the heart provides propulsion; Aura from the blood provides cold.'
He continued through dozens of forms. His formless sword adapted to situations rapidly, like a chameleon changing color based on its spot. Every movement was driven by the rhythm of his heart squeezing out mana continuously. However, after only a few minutes, the heat in his chest began to climb until he felt a sharp pain. A body not specifically modified began to protest against this heavy burden.
Knight stopped moving immediately. Cold mist puffed from his mouth as he panted heavily. His body trembled slightly from the mana pressure trying to tear his muscles apart.
"Hah... hah... At this pressure level, a normal heart and body can't take the burden for long," he muttered, clutching his pounding chest. "But this much... is more than enough for a start."
He looked at the sword marks left on the walls and the dummy with satisfaction. Tonight, he hadn't just gained a new skill; he had discovered a way to make his human body as powerful as the monsters within the Tower and the Welders who used high-level Boxes.
Knight slowly sheathed his sword before heading to the shower to wash off the sweat and the frost clinging to his body. The light from the window began to signal the morning of a new day.