Ash knew that the way he fought wasn't sustainable.
His fighting style lacked many things.
It had no technique, no figure, no intent. It was just dodges and slashes over and over again.
Then again maybe the intent was there.
Survival!
Something designed to specifically deal with these large sized, but kind of defensively weak abominations.
But alas it seems a change was needed, as their increasing numbers didn't let him continue using this current one.
There was just one problem.
Ash knew nothing about swordmanship.
He was a total newbie, someone that wielded the sword for the first time today.
As such he couldn't even imagine where to begin.
Should he improve his form, make a swordmanship style just for himself. He had no clue, even these ideas only coming from books he'd read before.
Sitting there in the dust, with a dumb expression, Ash was lost.
There was no one to guide him, and he was in desperate need of guidance.
By this point Ash had been sitting in the cave for around half an hour, trying to find anything that could help him.
The gears in his head moving as quickly as they could.
Suddenly a clear picture appeared in his head.
It was of a somewhat taller man, holding a sword, while radiating a silver aura, and then decisively slashing downwards.
It was his memory of Will. Of the time when he gave him his sword to showcase his core ability.
This memory wasn't even that old as this just happened today, even if today has been longer than any other days Ash had been through.
Thinking of the memory, to see if there was anything he could salvage from it, there was something that clearly jumped out to Ash.
It was the light radiating from Will.
It was Aura, if he remembered correctly.
Ash had heard about Aura before, but back then he still didn't care much about the subject so it was quickly forgotten.
Aura was the manifestation of ones core energy, in it's purest form.
Aura was the basis of all abilities, be it the core abilities everyone innately had or the skills they had later learned.
Aura was something that could be freely used and shaped. The skills people would use always used their own Aura as a fuel, carrying with it the intent and will of the skill.
The way Will was using it was simple. It strengthened the sword, increasing it's sturdiness and sharpness, and just improving the lethality all around.
This was just what Ash needed.
He needed to learn how to use his Aura.
Adjusting his posture into a more meditative state, Ash closed his eyes and tried feeling his Aura.
The results?
Nothing.
There was one major problem.
Normally the use of Aura is taught, by teachers or masters, not something that you generally discover by yourself. And even when one does it by themselves they usually have a point of reference.
Take Will for example, his skill giving him weapon mastery allowed him to use Aura unconsciously. Then after ending the skill he could think back to how he'd done that and boom, there it is the spark needed to start learning it without outside guidance.
But Ash's skill was different. It was closer to a passive skill, something he wouldn't actively use. As such the expenditure was way less noticeable, even if it was still there.
Ash had no point of reference, he could only hope he would find it, but his chances weren't exactly great.
Ash sat there in a meditative state, but instead of emptying his mind he was trying his hardest to find any trace of his Aura.
Hours passed by with no noticeable progress.
It was already past midnight by this point, this was when Ash heard tremors coming from outside.
He slowly opened his eyes, already tired but still awake and looked out of the cave entrance.
With the town's night lights helping he could see what was going on outside.
He could see the town tremble as the barrier surrounding it slowly started showing cracks.
The thick darkness started spilling through some of the cracks almost like it was water.
And then CRACK.
A noise like a vase was just shattered sounded across town loud enough to be heard, but not enough that it would wake him were he to have been asleep.
The darkness was not just spilling now it was flowing in quickly consuming the whole town.
Ash's vision became dark, unable to see anything.
It was a familiar sight, he had experienced it during one of his prior loops.
Still, he could feel he was still in the cave, nothing changing.
Giving up for the day he slowly felt around for where the floor was and layed down to sleep.
...
Waking up he was welcomed by a ray of sunlight shinning down through the cave entrance.
He was once again in the middle of the desert with no sight of the town nearby.
But this time he didn't move, he just sat up and went back to meditating like he'd done the day before.
He knew he couldn't make it out, so he instead decided to make use of his infinite time.
So he continued.
Sometimes thinking, sometimes emptying his mind and truly meditating.
Minutes passed, soon hours passed by, nothing changing.
He just sat there with no concern for the outside world.
Night arrived once more, tremors appearing once again, but this time Ash didn't bother to check for the source, he had an idea as to who or what it was.
He simply continued sitting, hoping for some sort of breakthrough.
In the end the tremors continued throughout the night, but in the end the worms seemingly never found him, as in the morning he was once again able to open his eyes to the same desert.
But he didn't care, he simply continued, with a will so solid even he would have been surprised.
I say he would have been, because right now the thought of how hard what he was doing was didn't even cross his mind.
Soon many days passed by with nothing changing.
That was when Ash faltered for a moment and felt his state interrupted by a sudden burst of pain.
The pain form the past days hitting him all at once.
Unbearable thirst and hunger.
With his mind returning to it's normal state Ash opened his eyes and tried to shout in pain, but by know he didn't have much strength for either.
He fell over to his sides and struggled.
The pain was unbearable, and lasting, never subsiding for a moment.
He was dying from thrist.
He didn't know how long he'd been meditating for, but knowing about the limits of the human body, he figured it had to be around five or so days.
At the end of his struggle he could feel the impending release coming, with his body sending out all it's painkillers as a way to make his death more comforting.
...
Ash woke up once again back in the cave, but this time the outside was not the endless desert, but the small town of Blackheart.
'It's finally over.'
This time Ash had suffered a lot, his return filling him with great relief.
Then he looked back at his days of meditation with a sour expression.
'No progress...'
It seemed all his pain was for nothing as he hadn't gotten any closer to using Aura.
The Interface appeared once more, with no changes.
Deciding against continuing his meditation Ash stood up and grabbed his sword.
It seemed he had to discard his thought of learning Aura for now, hoping for maybe getting a sudden revelation through combat, as meditation seemed to prove pointless.
Outside he was once again face to face with the first monster, the one he had seen most.
The monster started to charge, but this time Ash decided against dodging and instead took the monster's charge head on.
As the monster charged at Ash head first, he focused and once the distance was small enough he slashed down, cutting one of the monsters heads off instantly.
Still despite his strike dealing considerable damage, it didn't stop it's momentum.
Ash was sent back flying, but this time he was more prepared and landed on his feet instead.
Landing he could feel his leg aching, clearly the landing inflicting some damage, enough to where it would hinder his ability to fight.
The monster looked ready to charge once again this time only having two heads left.
Looking at the moster a sudden thought came to his head. He changed his stance and hung his sword high. He resolved to try a different approach.
The monster charged, and Ash exhaled.
Ash slashed down with force unlike anything he'd done before.
*Slash*
The sword connected with the monster's flesh and cut through.
The slash went deep, inflicting fatal damage.
But it was not instanly fatal, the monster would certainly die, but now it was still alive.
It rammed into Ash sending him flying, this time he wasn't able to redeem the landing.
But Ash's face showed no pain, no there was only one thing on his face.
A terrifying satisfied grin, one of pure and utter joy.