Chapter 263: Zach

Chapter 263: Zach

The Sword

His mind was focused, his will trembling from the exhaustion. There were many different ideas and ways to meditate, but the one that Zach had always been more adept at was visual meditation. Imagining a task or goal in his mind, seeing himself doing something, training inside of his head. There was not enough room on the ship for any real training, nor was there any true privacy. So, Zach was forced to train inside his small room, by planning things inside his mind. For months, this was his daily routine, sit and meditate. He could feel the skill inside of him, his will brought into existence, bending the laws of nature. The training inside his mind was sharper, clearer, more real. It drained him, but he felt the wall in front of him now.

And he pushed. The skill quest required him to simply meditate a set number of times, but Zach didnt want a direct upgrade of his skill, he wanted more. To train without risk of injury, to do things that he couldnt in reality. He was fighting a group of bandits inside of his mind, but it was murky, their movements and even his own were not clear. It was him imagining something instead of what he wanted it to be.

His willpower trembled and he felt the skill evolve. He felt as if a bubble of pressure burst inside of his head, and he felt as if he had lost most of his strength. For a few seconds the feeling remained, and then it retreated, and he opened his eyes.

Naha sat across from him, looking at him. You did it?

Yes, Zach said as he pulled up a notification.

Congratulations!

Your skill has evolved!

Greater Meditation >> Phantom Training

It is exactly what I wanted, Zach said. By now, he understood how skills worked. You shaped them by need and will. They could evolve in moments of great stress, where their evolution would be guided by the need at the moment. A powerful evasion skill might become spatial if there was no way to escape an attack and the will to do so was powerful enough, or if one could evade, but just lacked a tiny bit of speed it could evolve into something that made one faster.

Both he and Naha had done so much research into skills, they had been evolving their skills slowly. Keeping them on their quests and devising a route forward, making sure that their evolutions were useful and right for them.New novel chapters are published at novelhall.com

Do you feel like you can use it? Naha asked, obviously referring to how tired he was.

The skill evolution had taken a toll, but he wasnt quite done. He closed his eyes, focused on his |Phantom Training| skill and activated it.

A sensation came over him, similar to what happened when he moved between realms. He remained where he was, the same room on the ship heading for the Empire of the Third Iteration, but Naha wasnt there anymore. The room was empty, and everything around him had a kind of Ethereal sense to it. It was as if he was looking into the realm of ghosts, everything was just slightly wrong. He stood up and looked around, then looked down at his hand and tried to change it. His hand transformed into a blade as easily as it did in the real world, and he raised it and cut around in front of him, getting a feel for it. This all felt a lot more real than it had before when he was just visualizing things inside of his mind. He could still tell that he was inside of his head, imagining everything, it was just more tangible now.

He tried to think up an opponent, a bandit, and a shape manifested in front of him. The human bandit was a lot clearer now, and Zach could recognize him immediately as one of the bandits that he had fought in the past. It was actually a strange sensation; he was almost convinced that he was remembering more about the bandit now than he had before.

He thought about the bandit attacking him and he did, his movements were exactly as Zach imagined them to be. Which was an issue, if that was all that this was going to be, it would only serve to be an elaborate dance thought up by Zach, not a real challenge. So, Zach focused his will, and slowly as he fought against the bandit he stopped trying to think about how the bandit should move. And slowly the dance turned into a real fight. Zach no longer knew what the bandit was going to do, but had to react to the unexpected. He fought, blocking and striking out, not pushing the bandit that wasnt nearly as powerful as Zach, but just testing the skill.

Then, his will ran out and the skill ended. The entire world inside his head disappeared and it was as it had been before, just his imagination without the clarity that the skill provided. Zach opened his eyes and saw Naha sitting up close, her nose nearly touching his. Something in his eyes worried him and he raised an eyebrow.

What happened? He asked.

You were in a trance, I couldnt wake you up, she answered.

Zach grimaced. He had expected something like that. A drawback, I get to train inside my head, but I end up being vulnerable in the real world. It is worth it though.

It worked how you hoped it would? Naha asked.

It did, Zach nodded. And there is still room for the skill to evolve, I can guide it in a direction to alleviate or remove the downside.

With enough will everything is possible, Naha added.

Zach smiled; it was one truth about the skills that drew him to them. The ability to make reality what you want, to change and influence simply through the power of your will.

Will you do it now? Naha asked after a moment.

Zach grimaced. His plan had always been to try and evolve one more skill to tier 6, one more perfect skill. His studies into skills, and the instructions of the Citadels Skill Master indicated that it was possible without creating an imbalance between his focuses. He knew that his secondary and tertiary focus couldnt be more than half of his main one, which is where they were now. His main focus was Class at six tiers, his Cultivation had two, and his skills one. Gaining one more perfect skill would put him over that, but if he had understood everything correctly, he wouldnt be feeling the effects of imbalance if he did things right. He hadnt felt them before either, and he knew that the reasons were because of the part of himself that he had anchored.

Anchoring a core of ones being made his will, his mind and his personality stronger, harder to influence by imbalance. If he managed to make one more anchor like the one before, he should be able to do it without creating issues for himself.

But that in itself was a big task. Finding what it was that was core to his being required a lot of insight into himself and what it was that made him who he was. He had spent a lot of time meditating, thinking, but He was still not quite certain that he had found what he was looking for.

I I want to, Zach said. Getting more power, especially considering where we are going and what we are doing. But I am not certain that if I did it now I would get it right.

Naha nodded. It is important, you cant make a mistake now. What do you think is the issue?

Zach tilted his head. Is that really different? Helping me do it by myself is still helping me, isnt it?

Cyrano smiled. There is a difference that you will know only after you have done it. And it is not a simple thing, to know yourself.

Zach sighed. I know that it might simply be that I am rushing. There is time for me to contemplate, to think and find myself. Yet I need power, as much of it as I can get.

Cyrano looked thoughtful. There is power in knowing who you are, understanding it. So, let me tell you about my life, a short one at that, and things that I have learned. Perhaps that will help you find what you are looking for?

Zach nodded and met the mans eyes.

I was born in a time that was great and horrible at the same time. I loved many things, and I indulged in them. I learned and became a great duelist, though, I believe that I was greatest near the end of my life, when I finally accepted myself. You see, there were things about myself that I had to hide, that when they came to light I had to run in fear for my life, simply because of who I was. I wrote stories about escape, fiction about worlds and travels that only I could see in my mind, romance, Cyrano closed his eyes, looking wistful. I loved the romance and wondered about what might come in time after I was gone. It gladdens me to see that many of the things I imagined are true, if not exactly how I believed them to be.

He paused then, and his eyes focused on Zach. Forgive me, I rambled on. It is strange to be here you know. I am me, but also not if that makes any sense? Myself as I was when alive would not have taken to all of this so calmly, yet my heart barely flutters now strange and glorious at the same time.

Zach let the spirit talk; he knew that some of them had this kind of reactions from his previous conversations with them.

As I was saying, Cyrano started. There is one thing that I think will help you beyond all else. And that is acceptance.

Acceptance? Zach asked, confused.

Yes, Cyrano said. Accepting who you are.

I already do, I need help trying to figure out why I am. What part of me makes me who I am, so that I may seal it and ensure that I remain like this forever.

Cyrano shook his head. I am a spirit of a man that dwells inside of you Zacharia, he said slowly, almost kindly. You call on us to fight, you call on us to think and to plan, to learn. We know you Zacharia as well as we know ourselves. And trust me when I say this: there are many of us, and all of us know ourselves perfectly. We understand you, we in some ways are you, at least a little bit.

What do you mean? Zach asked.

There are things that you arent admitting Zach, about what drives you. You say that it is fear of failure? That it is for the sake of loved ones? It is, but there is more. One more part that you try to ignore, and you think of it as if it is wrong. As if it makes you more like him. It does not. It is love and greatness, Cyrano leaned forward, his eyes gleaming with intensity. It is why you have us, you know? Why you gained this power, and all of us. Because deep down inside you have the same thing that we do, all you have to do is accept it.

Zach turned his eyes away, looking at the wall.

Cyrano spoke again. At the core of it, we are all romantics. We are all in love. Your first anchor is about love too, isnt it?

It is, Zach said slowly. He knew what the Cyrano was talking about.

Why do you think that it is wrong then? Cyrano asked. Because he loved it too? Because he indulged in slaughter, death and suffering? That is not because of fighting, of the sword itself, Zacharia.

He closed his eyes and thought about it for almost a full minute. The spirit remained silent, waiting for him.

It is older than that. I when we were young, we joined a dojo. We learned Kendo together, we sparred together, and it was clear from the start that I was better. Our instructors said so, and I I fell in love with it, with the sword. I trained and trained, and Ryun stayed with me, struggling, but somehow still managing it. He didnt have a talent for the sword, not really, Zach shook his head. Then our dojo was deciding who to send to the tournament, we had to fight other kids in our class. I went up against him.

Zach paused, then turned his eyes back to Cyrano. I was better than him in every way, I was taller, had longer reach, I was stronger and just a better with the sword. I knew the techniques by heart, I was one of the best students in the class. And then

You lost? Cyrano asked.

No, I didnt, Zach shook his head. I took the first point, easily. It was the second that went to him Ryun, he had no technique, no skill, he was just it was a wild attack, it was just I dont even know what it was. But he hit me, got that point. I won the next bout, of course, but I always remembered that one. He shouldnt have been able to do that. It made me feel like like all the time and practice I put into learning was pointless. What use was it that I was better when I got hit anyway?

I lost my drive for it then, started missing practice, then stopped going all together. Ryun did the same. I started to think that I wasnt really good at it, that me lacking in talent and drive was the reason why stopped going. Now I am older, I know more, I have practiced with the sword, a blade. I know that I was wrong, that one moment made me scared. It impacted me more than I have ever realized back then. And then everything else happened.

Cyrano nodded. So, you tried not to think about it? You saw him fight and seem to love it, so you tried not to be like him. I understand that Zacharia. But love for the sword, for the art of fighting itself is not wrong, it is often something that makes a person. All of us who dwell inside of you are defined by it, it is a core of who we are. We are, many of us killers, but when you look at who we were in life you will see how different than him we are.

Zach thought back on it, remembering other spirits. Salvator Fabris, a fencer and teacher. Miyamoto Musashi a swordsman and philosopher. Sasaki Kojir, master of his craft and teacher. Others that he had called, all of them were more than just followers of the sword. They were great in other ways. He looked at Cyrano, remembered what he said about his life. He was a writer, a novelist, none of them had been mad and obsessed with killing. His talks with them had always been like this, sitting across someone, almost philosophical in nature. They were violent people, but they didnt use their violence at every turn in life, and in death they were still teachers.

I see, Zach said, and he really did.

Look inside Zacharia, and you will find the core of who you are and who you want to be. To reach the peak of the sword requires more than simple violence and death, it is for those who are more than killers. None of us inside of you are simple.

Zach nodded his head, Cyrano smiled. Well then, I guess that you dont need me for the rest?

Zach inclined his head, bowing to him, and then pulled the spirit back. As the Cyrano dissipated and flowed back, Zach whispered. Thank you.

Alone, Zach took a seat on the ground, settling into a meditative pose. There were things for him to think about.