Warden didn't know how long it took; it was probably over a week, but he learned to fly just by sheer control of the pattern. Of course, it wasn't for too long, considering his body weight was still a few times more than that of a regular person.
However, the sheer amount of control and willpower required to even lift him up—if he didn't know better, he would have said he had touched the realm of mastery as the white-haired girl.
"So I'm prepared now?" he asked, as he let go of the swirls of energy. His form landed before the Fourth Disciple.
"To beat the next fellow?" Karim raised an eyebrow. "You're prepared for that from day one. Just don't think you can make it to the peak."
Warden's expression didn't change. "Well, I'm off then," he said and bowed down. "It's been a fun few days with you, Karim. Thanks for all the teaching."
The sword master snorted. "Please, I barely taught you anything. I just provided you with the pressure you required to open your mind."
"And I'm grateful for that."
"Off you go then."
Warden nodded as he began to tread on the mountain path again. The suppression on his body and spirit doubled right after he crossed the region of the checkpoint. Karim hadn't mentioned anything about this, but his mind didn't waver, even though his body felt heavier, spirit straining. This was the burden he had to move with if he wanted to climb to the top.
It wasn't simply the top of the summit, but the peak of the world. Obviously, the latter's burden would be a whole lot different than the suppression.
With his control over the pattern growing, he hardly had any problem overcoming them unscathed. That was until he found a vortex of wind bolting at him at a tremendous pace.
Warden faltered in his path and took in a deep breath. Unlike previous times, the vortex of wind blades didn't give any room to retreat.
He drew his will into the swirls of the pattern, easily doubling the number of patterns each second; however, the numbers were nowhere large enough to take control of it. The vortex swallowed Warden, rushing his form in the torrential force.
Warden ignored the cuts appearing on his body and grasped more of the swirls of the flow. He didn't remain on the receiving end for much longer. Warden pulled the swirls of the pattern in the opposite direction the vortex was revolving. He met with terrible obstruction in his approach, but Warden was nothing if not persistent, and a force to be reckoned with.
The torrential force of the stormy wind slowed down. Warden pulled in some swirls of the wind to swirl around him, to protect him from the attacks of the wind blades, while he worked to disperse the force of the vortex.
Still, Warden had to acknowledge it required a great deal of control to concentrate the attack to such a degree with such a casual swing.
Warden pulled swirls of pattern of his own and employed them to block the wind blade. The sword Intent broke through the wind, but by then, it had lost most of its power. Warden had no trouble avoiding it as he struck at the swordsman.
Their weapons clashed, and Warden got the better of him, causing him to take a step back. His foe raised an eyebrow and came with new vigour. His speed increased, his form flashed as wind rushed in. While his attack lacked Karim's tyrannical power, he made up for it with speed. Moreover, all of his attacks were perfect concentrations of intent and wind.
If Warden had the Divider, he wasn't sure if he could block even half of them—this guy was that much of a better swordsman. But he was much better with his spear, though he still missed the attack as sharp blade wounds continued to appear on him. He was really missing his armour now.
Warden harnessed the wind around him, trying to slow down the attacks. He did his best to obstruct the fellow, who changed his approach within a couple of minutes, finding his attacks weren't reaching Warden with the intensity as he desired.
He took a defensive approach, a far contrast to the earlier vigour he showed.
Warden guessed he didn't have the same vigour as him or Karim, so the short man would have to conserve as much of his energy as possible.
He sneaked in one or two attacks between Warden's swings; however, the break between his successful blows was so far apart that Warden's wounds had already closed, leaving only marks on his body. Some of the wounds had even reached his bone, Warden had to employ the remaining Radiance essence to heal them up.
"How long can you go like this?" the master of the sword said, thrashing over a dozen wind blades at him.
"I can do this all day," Warden replied, his form dancing through the wind blades with sinuous grace, which shouldn't be possible for a man of his stature.
Strain seemed to appear on both of their bodies, but Warden could recover faster than the nameless sword master. Still, a day was a long stretch... Warden would be exhausted within an hour. But that much time was more than enough. He didn't think his opponent would last half as long.
Warden didn't let him distance himself, as that would give him space to send a spree of wind blades. Instead, he kept the guy at his spear's distance, restricting him from leveraging his biggest advantage.
The training with Karim let Warden understand what he lacked in his Intent. He was far from achieving the same realm of mastery like Karim or his current opponent, but he had covered the gap by a huge margin.
Why did there need to be an attraction between his Intent and void energy? Both were his powers; while Intent was slightly different, Warden needed to change his mindset about it to synchronise both.
Easy to say, but impossibly hard to change one's mindset. It was like changing an absolute truth about yourself.
Still, Warden was good enough to give the guy a show for his money.