After studying at the Water God Style Dojo for a week, one day after the daily sparring ended, I was sitting on the steps outside the dojo to catch the breeze. To my surprise, Izoruti sat down beside me. She struck up a conversation naturally.
"Junior Brother, what rank is your magic? It looks very powerful. Can you teach me how to apply magic to swordsmanship like that?"
What the heck, I was excited for nothing. At first, I thought the little girl had finally taken a liking to me. It turns out she's just a sword nut. She probably has zero interest in anything other than swords!
"Senior Sister, the magic I use in swordsmanship is achieved by controlling the corresponding mana through voiceless casting. Moreover, one needs to know how to cast the corresponding magic.
One must at least reach the equivalent of intermediate-tier magic. For example, my Air-Shattering Flash is a combination of the intermediate-tier wind magic 'Wind Blade' and the advanced-tier wind magic 'Wind Howl Blast'. If incantations are required, it would affect the speed of the sword technique, making it impractical."
"It's okay, Junior Brother, please teach me. Although I've never touched magic, I, your Senior Sister, am very talented. I'll surely be able to master the magic you mentioned very quickly."
I looked at her with squinted eyes, feeling like she was boasting. But then I thought, it wouldn't hurt to try. Maybe she really does have a talent for magic? Besides, it's a chance to get closer to a beautiful girl, so there's no harm in trying to teach her.
And so, after each day's sparring, I would stay at the dojo to teach Izoruti magic, starting from the very basics. Master Leda Lia didn't even stop us when she saw us learning magic. In fact, she looked quite gratified. I didn't quite understand; when we practiced swordsmanship, if we were even slightly lazy or our posture wasn't right, she would greet us mercilessly with her wooden sword, but she didn't forcibly stop us from learning magic.
"O swift spirits of wind, release your violent breath upon the earth! Whirl and swallow the dust, crush the enemy before me. Wind Gale!"
Pfft!
"No, no, you have to feel the mana in your body. Let the mana circulate and drive all the mana in your body, not just that small bit in your palm. Given your current total mana, that little bit won't do anything. It was supposed to be a Gale, but to me, it looked like you just released a fart in your hand."
Sigh, I held my forehead, thinking that the gap between people is indeed huge. The first time I cast magic, I could rotate all the mana in my body to cast it. But this operation was still too difficult for Izoruti. She studied for a week and only barely learned how to mobilize mana, but she was still far from correctly using mana to cast magic.
I recall Rudeus teaching Sylphiette when she was five, and she learned very smoothly back then. Why is it so difficult here with me?
Let's take it slow. The little girl's face turned red from my words. I suppose it's the first time she's encountered something she's not good at. She seems to be studying very hard. Every time she casts magic, I can feel her seriously gathering mana. But things one isn't good at are just harder to learn. I suppose Alice was the same when she was learning Fireball.
Thus, the days passed one by one.
A month later, summer had arrived. Although the Kingdom of Aras is at a high latitude, summer is still very hot, and of course, there's plenty of rain. After two weeks of heat, a heavy rain finally fell. This torrential rain poured down like a breach in the Heavenly River, with violent winds blowing. The rain formed a continuous curtain, splashing into water flowers as it hit the bluestone slabs. The air was filled with water elements. My best magic is water and wind magic. Taking advantage of the continuous heavy rain, I walked into the water to see if I could better hone my sword techniques in this natural environment.
I didn't use an umbrella; raindrops hit me like stones. Although it wasn't particularly painful, it made me personally feel the weight of water. The wind was howling, and the water, aided by the wind, hit the stone slabs even louder. I closed my eyes, and my thoughts settled. Shutting out my sense of hearing, I tried to use my body to feel the powerful water mana in the air.
I imagined the hot sun evaporating the ocean's water elements into the sky. Large Cumulonimbus clouds formed in the sky, and a cyclone was created due to the temperature difference. In this constant process of rotation, a massive typhoon was formed.
A typhoon's kinetic energy is immense. If this kinetic energy could be concentrated into a single point, it would have massive lethality. Holding my wooden sword, I formed a large vortex at the tip. I absorbed the vast water elements in the air, compressing them over and over again. I don't know how many times I compressed them. A deep blue, almost black Water Ball formed at the tip of the sword. This Water Ball was much larger than a normal Water Ball. I tried to throw it like a Water Ball spell, but I failed. Because it had been compressed so many times, the Water Ball immediately collapsed and disintegrated into a large puddle of water once it left my mana control.
I tried to condense such a Water Ball again, but this time I didn't try to throw it. I tried to use mana to condense the Water Ball into a thin film attached to the upper half of the sword, like an apple skewered on a sword—it looked a bit ridiculous. I tried to use this sword to strike a rock. With a bang, the moment the Water Ball hit the rock, the rock was crushed to powder. I don't understand the principle behind this, but it felt very powerful. This kind of Water Ball would likely be hard to generate in modern times. Water molecules don't condense or compress easily, but water elements can.
I was a bit happy; such lethality was exactly what I needed now. If I have a chance to fight Orsted in the future, ordinary slashes and ordinary magic won't be able to break through his Dragon God Battle Aura. Just like the sword Alice threw, it was deflected without him even needing to defend.
As long as he uses a weapon or a hand-blade to take my Water Ball Slash—unless he dodges it—I guarantee that whether it's iron or any other metal, it will immediately turn into dross.
Currently, there are two main issues with this move.
First, it requires a rainy day; there must be a lot of water elements in the air. Otherwise, there's no way to gather so many water elements. This could be managed by using other ponds or pools, but the efficiency of generating the Water Ball would slow down because water elements dispersed in the air condense better. Gathering water elements already concentrated in a pond would require breaking them down and re-compressing them, which would inevitably increase mana consumption. If all else fails, I'll wait until I learn Saint-tier water magic and fire off a 'Cumulonimbus' in advance.
Second, this condensed Water Ball requires constant mana control because its mass is greater than normal water elements. Therefore, it cannot be used as a long-range attack. Also, 'Disturb Magic' could easily interrupt it. Disturb Magic is okay, as very few people can use it. I haven't encountered that spell yet; I'll consider how to resist it after I have. As for the inability to attack from a distance, I'll have to think about that more.
While I was seriously contemplating in the rain, two people in the dojo were looking at each other. "Master, did you see that? The Water Ball Junior Brother condensed... it just touched that rock, and the rock turned to powder. What kind of magic is so powerful?"
"I haven't seen it either. However, Izoruti, your Junior Brother's magic attainment is much more impressive than his sword techniques. I don't know why he has never used Battle Aura, but his ability to utilize mana in sword techniques is a very remarkable thing."
"Master once heard a secret of our Water God Style from her own master. That is, our first-generation Water God, the founder who mastered the Five Secret Arts and created the style, was not only a master of swordsmanship but also one of the world's top magicians. At the time, he was already a God-tier water magician."
"Since the first Water God, no generation of Water God in our school has ever mastered all Five Secret Arts simultaneously. This is the limitation of our Water God Style. One could say we have never surpassed the bottleneck of the Water God Style; we can only continuously approach it."
"I had you learn magic from Dorin because I hope you can reach heights that no Water God of any generation has ever reached. If a school does not refine its martial arts for thousands of years, then no matter how powerful its swordsmanship is, it will eventually face extinction."
Izoruti nodded seriously. Although she doesn't like learning magic very much, for the future of the sect, she must learn it well. Nothing comes without effort and sacrifice.