"Now, stop thinking about swordsmanship moves. Instead, take deep breaths. Inhale deeply, expanding your lungs to the maximum, then begin to exhale slowly.
"Don't let the rhythm of your breathing become disordered.
"By inhaling an excessive amount of oxygen from the atmosphere, put your brain into a dizzy and somewhat blank state.
"Then, maintain this state and fantasize yourself as a mountain rock. Adapt through perseverance, temper your will, and form a habit, until this mountain rock remains in your fantasy within your heart. You must remember, the mind has no limits.
"As broad as your heart is, so broad will be the future of your sword."
Through this method, Fiore taught the two the sword theory of this Rock Heart Kendo that he had comprehended over half his life.
Under this mental cultivation method, accompanied by sword practice, one's aura would gradually transform. Once successful, drawing the sword would make the opponent feel as if a great mountain were crashing down on them.
Fiore guided the two. As time slowly passed, Merlin only felt pain in his lungs from breathing, and his head was dizzy, more like the type of oxygen poisoning.
Clap, clap!
Suddenly, Fiore clapped his hands, attracting their attention. He looked at their symptoms at this moment, a smile appearing in his dark golden eyes:
"Alright, stop this kind of practice now! Having this phenomenon of oxygen poisoning proves that you have mastered the essence of this breathing method.
"Although this breathing method is a prerequisite for cultivation, it is not without harm. If the symptoms are severe, there is a probability of death.
"And people's constitutions are different, so the degree within this needs you to get used to and grasp by yourselves."
"Look..."
As these words were spoken, Fiore's breathing became rhythmic.
Immediately after, his aura rose, and at the same time, a passionate fighting spirit faintly emerged from him.
At this moment.
Under the interference of this passionate spiritual will.
Merlin's consciousness began to become somewhat trance-like. Then, he saw what seemed to be an increasingly high steep mountain rising from behind Fiore, seemingly ready to collapse towards him at any time.
His pupils constricted suddenly, and his consciousness condensed abruptly. But at this time, Fiore was still Fiore. He still sat cross-legged three meters in front of the two, his body like a small hill, his back straight.
A pair of bright eyes looked at Merlin and Yol expectantly. Seeing Merlin snap out of it, a flash of appreciation passed through Fiore's eyes. Then he saw Yol also snapping out of it, so the smile on his face became even richer.
"Not bad, your spiritual wills are very strong.
"If it were ordinary people, oppressed by my aura like this, they would definitely be scared into sitting paralyzed on the ground."
At this time, Yol looked at Fiore with amazement in her eyes, "Teacher. Is this your Rock Heart Fantasy?"
Fiore nodded with a somewhat proud smile, "This is the result of my cultivation of Rock Heart Fantasy for most of my life. There is a great mountain in my heart, used to sharpen the sword named myself.
"Therefore, under the influence of my fighting spirit, my aura will spontaneously trigger the object of my fantasy in my heart.
"This can also be counted as a kind of oppressive swordsmanship targeting the opponent's mind."
Speaking of this, Fiore became a bit chatty. He was incredibly proud of his fantasy results.
After a long time, Fiore felt a little dry in the mouth, then stopped talking. Looking at Merlin and Yol, he asked with smiling eyes:
"Is there anything else you don't understand?"
Yol seemed to understand but also seemed confused. She couldn't help but recall the prayer lessons she had day after day in the church since childhood.
Emptying her consciousness, then praying to the ethereal god. But now it turned into fantasizing about mountain rocks in her heart.
She felt like she had grasped something, but also felt like she hadn't grasped anything.
At this time, Merlin's eyes were somewhat subtle. This method of cultivating the mind... why did it have a shadow of those visualization methods in Taoism and Buddhism from his previous life?
During his chūnibyō period in his previous life, he had also searched online for those health-preserving mental visualization methods.
So.
"Teacher, rather than calling your method of training the mind Rock Heart Fantasy, wouldn't it be better to call it Rock Heart Visualization?"
"After all, this is constructing the outline of a mountain in consciousness, and then constantly deepening the impression in daily life.
"Thereby achieving a kind of cultivation of spiritual will, right?
"You should be able to apply this majestic momentum of the mountain to the sword, right?"
Fiore looked at Merlin in surprise. He hadn't expected him to have such unique insights and couldn't help but be delighted:
"Whether it's visualization or fantasy is not important. What's important is that we can use this method to cultivate our own realm of the mind from the inside out.
"The key point of everything, from beginning to end, is only to make our mental armament strong."
However, speaking of this, Fiore looked at Merlin with a gratified smile:
"But I didn't expect that you would also have some unique understanding of this kind of mental cultivation.
"This is very good. By the way, have you learned this kind of visualization cultivation before?"
Fiore was a little curious. After all, the origins of these two disciples were very mysterious, but he wasn't the kind of person to get to the bottom of things.
As long as they didn't harbor malice towards him, there was no need for him to delve deeper.
Regarding this, Merlin half-truthfully said that he had observed cats at close range and thus imitated some of the cats' body movement methods.
After listening, Fiore immediately laughed loudly and clapped his hands, "You've got some skills! This coincides with my Rock Heart Sword Theory!
"Just like your Eldest Senior Brother. He is as intelligent as you. He didn't learn [Rock Heart] completely from me; instead, he figured out a [Sea Wave] mental cultivation method himself.
"That kid even named himself [Wave Heart] for the sea waves!
"Haha, getting old, getting old. This old man can't compare to you young people anymore!"
Listening to the discussion between the two, a trace of thought flashed in Yol's eyes. It seemed that this method of cultivating the mind wasn't limited to just one kind.
And Merlin was also a little curious at this moment:
"By the way, Teacher, we've been at the dojo for a week, but why haven't we ever seen the Senior Brother and Senior Sister you mentioned?"
Fiore smiled and said with some pride in his eyes:
"Your Senior Brother is called Fulvio, just over twenty this year. Your Senior Sister is called Teresa, eighteen this year. Both of them are currently engaged in bounty hunter activities to practice their swordsmanship.
"They come back here to rest for a while every now and then, settling the experience they gained outside.
"Mmh! They will come back in about a week. You can have a good discussion together then."
Hearing this, Merlin nodded with a smile and agreed for now. As for whether to make contact later, let fate decide!
At this time, Merlin glanced at Yol, with some thought in his eyes, and said to Fiore:
"By the way, Teacher, I heard from Monde that not only is your swordsmanship superb, but you are also a master in weapon forging.
"Then can you re-forge a rapier for me? I want to re-forge a rapier of Wazamono (Sharp Sword) quality into a greatsword?"
Fiore was surprised hearing this and immediately scolded with a laugh, "Monde, that big mouth. It's only been a few days, and he's already exposed all my secrets."
However, speaking of this, there was also some interest in his eyes. In recent years, after making little progress in the field of swordsmanship, he thought about entering the field of forging. To see if he could learn by analogy. Therefore, although his swordsmanship realm hadn't broken through in ten years.
He had gained considerable harvest in forging weapons. He was still confident in forging a weapon of Wazamono quality.
However, at this moment, he also became curious, looking at Merlin and asking:
"I observed that in this week, you used the rapier the most. Why do you want to use a greatsword?"
Merlin smiled, "It's for Yol."
Fiore was surprised.
At this time, Yol said with some helplessness in her eyes:
"Teacher, in this week, I have used all three types of swords, but in the end, I think I'll use a greatsword!
"Using a greatsword can maximize my physical strength."
Fiore laughed hearing this, "That's right. Born with strong physical fitness and a very flexible body.
"Any type of sword suits you, but I sincerely feel joy that you can choose the greatsword.
"Teresa also uses a greatsword.
"At that time, you two strong girls can also discuss your insights on swordsmanship with each other."
Speaking of this, he looked at Merlin:
"What about you, Merlin? Have you decided which sword to specialize in? If so, taking this opportunity, I'll forge a sword for you too!
"Mmh, by the way, this old man charges for forging weapons. Hahaha.
"Forging fees, including materials: forging a Wazamono is one million, Ryo Wazamono is five million. Although the output of Ryo Wazamono requires luck, this old man has successfully forged them before."
Hearing this, Merlin was surprised but nodded in agreement: "Then thank you, Teacher. I want a katana (uchigatana)."
Fiore raised his eyebrows, then smiled: "So it seems you plan to use the blade as a weapon in the future."
Merlin nodded: "Mmh, I plan to use a blade in the future. But Teacher, when you forge it, I want the curvature of the blade to be smaller and the blade body to be straighter."
Hearing this, Fiore understood after a little thought, so he nodded with a smile:
"I understand what you mean. Alright, bring that Wazamono to be re-forged later.
"I will forge the weapons for you as soon as possible."
Joy appeared in Merlin's eyes, and he thanked Fiore:
"Then sorry to trouble you, Teacher.
"But my blade also needs to be re-forged. The material of my blade itself is good. Although it's not a famous sword, it's also a rare and excellent weapon."
Listening, Fiore couldn't help but sigh with emotion in his heart. This pair of little guys was really rich!
And mysterious.
However, this was not important.