Chapter 175 Steel Sharpens Steel 2

She then looked at the half-dead 50-meter spider with only 5 legs remaining. It kept screaming unintelligent sounds as it started to eat the desert dragons still around. While Tsugumi injured it greatly she barely had any calibers left the option of drinking Antlion blood remained, but how much would she need to restore them to full?

"HEY! STOP THAT!! Are you trying to reduce my score even further?"

Due to the intense pain, the behemoth suffered, after the fires died down it spun a protective covering for its insides like a cast. It used its two front legs to pick up lizard after lizard and ate them. The Antlions which detected the death throes of the massive spider suddenly ignored Tsugumi and charged toward the injured beast.

The monsters instinctively knew who would give them more experience, and the spider far outweighed Tsugumi in terms of gain. Tsugumi who suddenly felt bitter got annoyed. "Why are you fucks treating me like I do not exist? This is my chance to show my Nii-sama what I can do! You little shits, come back here! Don't Ignore me!"

As hundreds of Antlions converged towards the Spider, even the Desert dragons started attacking its legs to protect their people. These monsters were brought here by a combination of lures Hiro's skills entailed. Now that the Butcher left the area, the effects started to diminish, which in turn caused the monsters to regain their sanity.

Tsugumi knew deep down that having the San-Baka perform worse just so she could win was absolutely meaningless. Participation trophies feel horrible to receive, where there is no merit there could be no reward. Rewards are meant to be the culmination of hard work. Not something you hand out just so you feel better.

"The only way I can win this is to take down both dragon eaters and all the Jormungandrs! But how? That Aura/Spirit construct ate all my calibers. Hmm. I had too much before so I felt bloated. Even if I refilled by leveling up It wouldn't be enough."

- You think too much, are you supposed to be a Caliber construct saint? -

"Oh, you're back? What do you suggest then?"

- A sword only has one purpose which is to sever. Empty your mind and focus on that. -

Like [Master Tactician], [One with Sword] was a skill that had its own inclination like Artificial Intelligence. Previously [One with Sword] knew how close Tsugumi came to going insane, it took its own steps to sever her mind into three, isolating them. If emotion had no logic it did not think of consequences if it had no trauma it could go on living.

The skill got forcefully shut down preventing [One with Sword] from maintaining the separate personas of Tsugumi's mind. When they rejoined as one the woman broke down in every sense of the word. Luckily a pillar supported her allowing her to move forward with one mind.

Now that the skill got freed of unnecessary responsibilities it could once again focus on its purpose.

- You are a sword saint if you want to climb higher you need to forget everything you know and relearn the way of the sword. The battle styles you adopted do not suit you. The sword needs not fancy constructs or explosions -

"Eh, you really are a sword nut, but without them, I would not have had the ability to turn that behemoth into a dying weakling."

- I am called [One with Sword] what do you expect? I never said you couldn't use them. I just said what you used isn't necessary. -

"What? You saying I can create cause explosions and create constructs using my sword?"

- Aura, Spirit, and Mana are the base energies of this reality. Throughout the years many use them to forge new more specialized energies. -

"Go on…"

- Because of the skill [One with Sword] you instinctively knew how to best use Spirit and Aura, you only diverge because you tried to imitate another. -

"Best use of Spirit and Aura?"

- Aura burns, Mana flows while Spirit Soars. This is their nature. Aura and Mana naturally oppose one another while Spirit can enforce or bend them. -

"Eh? But I used Aura and Spirit to cause an explosion."

- No, your spirit allowed the Aura to show its true potential -

"…"

- You focus on too many things, remember what you are, and return to your roots. -

" I am Tsugumi Mitsurugi, sister of the Heavenly Sword. A sword saint. "

- A sword only has one purpose to sever, meaning, feeling, outcome, the past, the future none of that matters to a sword. You exist only at this moment with only one purpose. -

"To sever? I use a rapier though?"

- The tool is irrelevant. Focus and empty your mind. -

Tsugumi closed her eyes and searched deep within herself [One with Sword] guarded her body as she meditated. As the Mitsurugi sister searched she soon found an empty space, she walked around and found nothing but darkness. Tsugumi strained her ears for any sound and heard the sounds of an object moving quickly through the air.

She then ran toward that space till she eventually saw a person and two giant pillars. One red like fire, one a light luminous green. Tsugumi only then noticed she had no weapon and walked cautiously toward the other human.

The person was a man with eastern armor and black hair and was practicing sword drills.

The man noticed Tsugumi and greeted her.

"Yoh! You finally made it here."

Dumbfounded Tsugumi calmed herself there was a man in her mind. Not a good-looking guy but a brusque warrior. "Who are you and what are you doing here?"

"I am hurt, you still don't recognize my voice after all the years we have been together?"

"…" The woman tried to deny it but knew who the voice belongs to Instinctively.

The man then shouldered his katana and smiled while explaining. "I am [One with Sword]."

Tsugumi couldn't believe her ears, [One with Sword] was a person? All this time she thought the skill simply advised due to the system. But a person? What the hell is going on?! Are all skills hiding people in them then?

[One with Sword] who already knew Tsugumi by heart due to the long time they spent together noticed her confusion and answered for her. "I do not know who I am, what I am, or why I am here. I simply exist. What I can do is help you survive and grow stronger. Nothing else matters, both to you or to me."

As she heard the man's words Tsugumi nodded. "How do I use Spirit and Aura correctly?"

"Think of Aura like a piece of iron, extremely durable, can withstand much punishment but apply too much force and it breaks. Spirit lacks the durability of Iron but can fill gaps to make something more sturdy.

"Do you know why steel swords are stronger than steel bars?"

"Because of their shape? Swords had sharp ends for cutting."

"No, steel swords are stronger because the insides are different."

"Huh?"

"Steel bars are one extremely sturdy piece of metal, Steel swords have many pieces."

The man then raised his katana to show to Tsugumi. "Take this Katana for instance, the inside is made of iron encased in steel why do you think that is?"

Tsugumi couldn't understand why would putting Iron inside a sword make it stronger than pure steel. She tried to think but couldn't come up with an answer and shook her head. No matter how smart one is if the trails of thought circle the same areas, that person will not get any wiser.