Well, Lyren had miscalculated. He was over excited and he had even forgotten about the turmoil that had been going on in his body. His foot stumbled as he fell face first and his instinct as usual wanted him to support himself with his hand but that was where he had miscalculated.
His right hand had yet to regain its strength and he could barely feel it yet. His hand bent awkwardly as he fell on the stairs hitting his head and instantly, his mind cleared. It had been more than three months of turmoil working hard and cultivating and he had obeyed the request to hold back his breakthrough.
That was not all. He had spent time ranging to over a month on the 50th step of the stairs. The pressure to breakthrough aside, there was also the pressure that usually came from the stairs. He had actually used this pressure to suppress his breakthrough and also compress his Elyria.
That was enough for the first few days but when the Elyria reached breaking point once again, he had climbed to the 60th step where he had spent almost two weeks holding back. And the cycle continued and he was now at the 70th step where he spent around two weeks suppressing his breakthrough.
But it had reached a point he could no longer suppress it anymore. The pressure of the stairs that was always weighing down on his body started fading. Not because he had gotten used to it but because a new pressure had been forming around him.
Elyria had been channeled towards him the past two weeks and it ended up taking over the stairs pressure. It was so intense to the extent his bones threatened to crumble on themselves. But this pressure that came from Elyria became a blessing as it had helped him suppress his breakthrough longer but there was a limit to his body.
He was unable to hold on any longer and he had let the break through come. He had ignored the vortex around his palm and also the one that was surrounding his core. All that definitely had to have consequences and he had ignored it all.
The constant breaking of the core boundary clearly affected the internal organs that surrounded it. This should have been obvious but the brain had numbed out all the pain and this was the result.
His whole body had just been under pressure and it was highly likely that his bones were still stiff if not cracked. A sharp pain surrounded his belly region as though someone had punched him so hard and his whole body was awashed with fatigue.
When he hit his head, all the pain he had suppressed all along came back in waves strong enough to knock him unconscious instantly. But he had come to like pain and he had accepted it as part of his growth and so he did not let his consciousness slip away. He could not bear to grit his teeth because even they hurt.
He did not know how long it took for the pain to go away but he lived through it. It all started with him feeling the pain around his belly fading. His hand was the last to recover and it did not appear like it was going to recover any time soon. Some pain faded but the channel did not give any signs of calming down any time soon.
Lyren stood up slowly and he took slow, deliberate and cautious steps. A small thud would send a shockwave of pain through out his body. The pressure around the stairs was still there but he could comfortably withstand it, on a good day that is.
At the moment, he wanted to get as far away from the stairs as possible but he could not dare to move recklessly. If he dared to run, there was no telling whether he would end up breaking his bones. This was a chilling thought and he was not willing to test it, not when he had come this far already.
***
After what felt like an eternity later, he finally, took the last step to the ground and he heaved a sigh of relief as he walked towards the core of the array. He sat there and fell into meditative position. If he wanted to light it up, he had to let his body rest. Sleeping was good for his mind and meditation was definitely better for his body.
In his meditative state, Lyren did not let his thoughts stray as he contemplated on the sword technique.
VANTAGELESS BLADE
This name imprinted in his brain as he started recalling the seven sword swings he had seen. His memory was great than it had been before and he replayed the exact movements in his mind trying to find what was special about the first person.
He did not know where he was making a mistake but on a closer observation, he realized that even the grip of the sword was also important. He held the sword amateurish and swung it as hard as possible.
When he paid a closer inspection towards the swings of the person, it did not look as though he was straining at all. The sword slashes were so graceful almost like an artist drawing his brush on a canvas. There were no repetitions or even distractions in the path of the sword.
The sword seemed to want to obliterate through all obstacles that stood before it. The sword followed a graceful arc that sent a white flash forward. Each swing each following a different angle followed this same order. And when the final swing came, it appeared that all merged together creating an even greater impact that had sent his mind's eyes into turmoil.
Then it came to him that in order to master the first word, he had to carry out all the seven swings. Also, he had to be fast. It appeared like the person had been doing all the seven swings separately but that was not the case.
He had to do it all almost instantly in order for him to finally draw out the full power of the first person. This also explained why in his first glance of the sword, it appeared like it was only two sword swings.
This thought was chilling. The swings were slowed down so that he could see each one of them but in a true battle field, there was no one who was going to let you do all the seven swings. That was not all, the white flash that was released by the sword swing did not move until all seven swings were completed.
That was what it appeared like but was that really the case? On a closer inspection, it's just that the person was doing the swings so fast such that the arc had barely moved before the next swing came. Lyren now just realized that he was dealing with a legendary sword technique. If anything, he was grateful for this sword technique.
It had sixteen words and each word seemed to carry a complexity of its own. It was going to take him a really long time to be able to finally perform the entire sword technique.
But reflecting on the first person, one thing he realized was necessary was speed. Also, he had felt the will of the sword swings and they all merged to form a single word which was still elusive for him.
He could feel how the sword did not want to deviate from its path and how it wanted to obliterated all obstacles. Even his mind's eyes had been treated as an obstacle and it had ended up being targeted. Though nothing dangerous had happened, a warning had been issued.
Lyren felt that the two things he had to improve on at the moment were his grip and speed. If he could increase his speed, maybe he would have more insight on what mechanisms were going on in the first form. And then there was a matter of grip.
He had looked closely at the grip and it was ridiculous. The person held the sword so loosely such that he felt it might end up flying rather than cutting anything. And then there was a matter of using only one hand.
He knew that most swordsmen used one hand for their swings but he felt like that was wrong. Not in the sense that he was right but because he did not want to have one weak arm when using the sword.
He wanted to train both his hands so that he would get no weaknesses in the future. He knew it was easier for his right hand but his left hand was weak. That is why he kept swinging the upwards and downwards swings with both hands.
He would then proceed to one handed swings until he felt his left arm was getting to the same level as his right. Then, he opened his eyes a few days later with his body back to its tiptop condition. It was about time he wrapped it all up…