Chương 41: Chapter 40 - One Week Later

Just like that, a week passed, and Ren falling into a rhythm that left little room for much of anything beyond training. The corpses of both the preacher and the homunculus had been discovered soon after the incident and duly reported to the Flameguard, yet barely anything came of it. No one had witnessed the culprit, and the rain had long since washed away whatever trail Ren might have left behind.

Not only had that, but the bodies been found in a bad part of town, even by the South-East Quarter's standards, and the Cult of the Abyss' preacher had also made no shortage of enemies over the course of his proselytising. More than a few devout worshippers of the Eternal Flame were, if anything, quietly pleased to see the heathen gone. His death was simply another incident swallowed by the chaos of The Crossroads.

Every one of Ren's mornings began with training behind that decrepit warehouse, tucked away in the cold shadow of the Crossroads' towering walls. From the moment the sun climbed well above the rooftops to the moment it dipped back below them, Alice drilled him relentlessly in swordsmanship. Or rather, she did her best to teach him, seeing as Alice remained a terrible teacher through and through.

So instead Ren did his best to emulate her strikes and posture on his own, trying his hardest to copy that graceful footwork and those fluid stances of hers. He practised Night's Opening Bar too, whenever he got the chance, since watching Alice fight the homunculus had shown him just how much he still had to learn and improve on.

On top of all that, Ren also practised circulating his essence, often doing it alongside his training so as to familiarise himself with maintaining concentration while moving, given just how helpful it had proven during his fight against the homunculus. Over the course of the week he'd gotten a great deal better at it too, gaining the finer control over the flow of his essence just as Mr. Jester had promised he would.

It allowed him to waste far less essence while reaping all the same benefits, all while being able to sustain the circulation for far longer than before. Now before his essence began to run dry, Ren could maintain the legendary technique for 20 minutes at a time. Slowly on the way to 100% uptime. Now, instead of up to three short bursts before his essence began to run dry, Ren could sustain the legendary technique for a full twenty minutes at a time, slowly but surely working his way toward complete uptime.

Finally, only once evening came around did Ren and Alice return to The Bumbling Magician where he would force himself through the mandatory Hero Training Program™. Only after all of that did he allow himself to sleep. Only once evening finally rolled around did Ren and Alice make their way back to the Bumbling Magician, where he would force himself through the mandatory Hero Training Program™, completing the hundred push-ups, sit-ups, and squats, followed by the ten-kilometre run.

And once all of that was complete did he allow himself to rest. Lying beside Alice on the floor of Mr. Jester's room, Ren would circulate his Soul Essence over and over, carefully guiding it throughout his body. He'd also worked out how to push a thin trickle of it into the bracelet around his wrist, going off what Varrin had told him about awakening items into Soul Attunements.

Ren had no idea how long it might take, or even whether his sister's gift to him held any potential to awaken at all, and so far it seemed it didn't. Still, seeing as it cost him nothing to try, he vowed to keep at it regardless on the off chance it would eventually turn into a Soul Attunement. Ren had also kept his promise to Alice and began teaching her how to circulate her own essence. She struggled with it far more than he'd expected.

The concept seemed simple enough on the surface, yet unlike Ren who got it almost instantly, whenever the doll-like girl tried to follow the flow described to her, her essence simply refused to budge. Still, she practised away with quiet determination every single night. Ren and Alice hadn't even begun planning their move against Esteban, captain of the Black Hawks mercenary band, choosing instead to follow Mr. Jester's advice and devote the entire week entirely to training.

That was about to change now, however, seeing as the seventh day's evening marked something of a milestone in that training. It was to be Ren's first real duel with Alice. This book was originally published on Royal Road. Check it out there for the real experience. Standing facing one another on the dirt behind the abandoned warehouse, Alice flourished her pure black longsword of condensed shadow as her hair shifted slightly in the breeze.

Ren held an identical sword in his own hands, raising the blade up in front of his face. Whispered Half-Plate encased Ren's body in its dark metal, and eager to grow accustomed to wearing it, he'd scarcely let it retire to his Soul Plane at all over the course of the week. Not that it matter much, as the armour was actually remarkably comfortable to wear, so much so that Ren often found himself forgetting it was even there at all.

"Don't go easy on me," Ren called out, preparing his body for Night' Opening Bar. Alice smiled, "Alice will go a little easy on you." She lunged, preparing and executing Night's Opening Bar much faster than he ever could, forcing him to have to shift his footing and raise his sword defensively, deflecting her opening strike just enough so that the blade slid past him by a narrow margin.

Knowing he needed to press the opening, he attempted to follow up with a counterattack, only to find himself still far too slow, even while circulating his essence. Alice's leg snapped upward in a lightning-fast kick aimed directly at his head. Despite the dress she wore, she moved with remarkable agility.

It was only thanks to [Survival Instincts] sharpening his reflexes and warning him a heartbeat in advance that Ren managed to jerk backward in time, the kick passing close enough that he felt the air stir displace by his face. He barely had time to recover before Alice attacked again, her sword crashing down toward his shoulder.

Ren had come to learn that these shadow weapons were the equivalent of an Awakened attunement, matching Alice's own rank, and even though these particular ones had been blunted for sparring, he could tell just from the weight behind her swing that this'd hurt plenty if they landed.' [Accelerated Regeneration] only just finished healing me a couple days ago, so let's not get injured again so soon.'

Ren threw up his sword, managing to block the strike before, as he gritted his teeth in effort, attempting a clumsy riposte toward her side. Alice parried it effortlessly and gracefully riposted herself, the black blade slipping past his guard and slapping into the side of his head.

"Grrk!" Ren yelped as his vision rocked, and before he properly react, Alice's foot slammed into his stomach, driving the air from his lungs and sending him crashing onto his back. He lay there for a moment, gasping for breath as his chest rose and fell rapidly.' I sure have a long way to go,' he admitted grimly as he pushed himself up onto his elbows with a groan, finding Alice looking down at him.

"Fighting against a superior opponent allows for the most growth," she said simply. Ren forced himself back to his feet and raised his sword again.

"One more time then." The two of them stood facing one another once more, blades raised, and for a brief moment neither moved a muscle. Then Ren, circulating his essence, launched into Night's Opening Bar, choosing to try and set the tempo of the fight this time around. Alice let him have it, though it made little difference in the end, as she simply danced aside and beat him down all over again.

The clangour of swords filled the once-peaceful hiding place again, and by sundown Alice had knocked him down time and time again. And every single time, without fail, Ren picked himself back up and asked for another match. Bruises blossomed all across his body, and shallow cuts lined what little skin lay unprotected by Whispered Half-Plate. It was only thanks to [Accelerated Regeneration] that he could keep up such constant, brutal sparring at all, and even then, every last movement burned.

Eventually, Ren collapsed onto the dirt for the umpteenth time, with Alice standing over him, hands on her hips as she studied him carefully.

"Alice thinks Ren is quite talented at this," she declared. He let out a dry laugh as he stared up at the darkening sky.

"How could you possibly tell? All I did was copy stuff for a week, then get beat up every time we just duelled."

"Hmm… Alice supposes that is true," Alice said, tilting her head. Ren slowly dragged himself back to his feet, stretching his sore muscles with a tired groan.

"Alright," he exhaled.

"We should probably start heading back." Together, the two of them left the secret training ground behind and set off through the streets of the North-West Quarter. As they walked, Ren found his thoughts drifting toward their next target.

"Let's start thinking about how to deal with Esteban," Ren decided, glancing toward Alice as they passed the docks.

"I know you told me a little about his Soul Power a while back, but what else do you know? Like where does he hang out… or what types of things he might be doing?"

"Hmm…" Alice raised a finger to her cheek thoughtfully before admitting, "Alice doesn't really know much. Master Ohba only moved Alice here a couple of months ago, and he didn't tell her much, probably because she was new."

"Right," Ren nodded, slightly disappointed. But Alice suddenly brightened.

"Oh! But Alice does know he was in charge of guarding the place responsible for all the experiments or something…" Ren blinked and raised his eyebrows.

"What experiments?"

"Uhh…" Alice frowned slightly.

"Somewhere in a cemetery…? Ohh… Alice doesn't know... Alice wasn't really paying attention." Her shoulders drooped.

"If Alice knew Ren would need it later, she would have listened better…" But Ren wasn't the least bit disappointed by this. Quite the opposite, in fact.

"No, this is great, Alice!" he said quickly, with sudden focus.

"Any information is better than none."

"Let's go investigate some cemeteries tonight!"