Location: Behind the cabin at night.
Time: Month 9 to Month 11.After eleven months of relentless discipline, Lirion was finally rewarded:
[Due to your unprecedented physical perseverance, the following has been unlocked: Basic Swordsmanship Guide – Level 1]He learned three techniques, but putting them into practice was a nightmare. Magic demanded precision, and the sword demanded the exact same.
Root Stance: Required meticulous balance to channel mana smoothly through the legs.
Dawn Thrust: A piercing strike. He kept mistiming it, his wooden practice sword slicing only empty air.
Wind Shield: The hardest of all. It demanded lightning-fast reflexes to deflect and redirect an opponent's force.On the twentieth night of sword training, a wave of crushing frustration hit him. He still couldn't execute Wind Shield correctly. He sat in the dark, tears streaming down his face. Memories of his comrades' deaths in his past life surfaced. He remembered the blue digital cracks fracturing the gate.
"I won't fail again," he wiped his tears with angry determination, stood up, and pushed himself through the drills until dawn broke.By the end of the year, his proficiency had reached 18%. His body had become a finely tuned machine, his mana pathways clearer than ever, finally ready to bear the First Circuit.