Northern's breath caught in his throat. The na alone carried a weight of mystery that made the air in the Void Palace feel heavier.
"The Moonlit Whisper," Bairan continued, his white hair seeming to absorb the eerie blue light around them, "is not just a technique. It is the foundation of everything else you will learn."
He moved his sword from his shoulder, holding it at his side with a grip so natural it seed like an extension of his arm.
"Watch carefully."
Northern's eyes widened slightly. During the course of this training, he had seen Bairan demonstrate sword techniques, but sothing felt different this ti. The air itself seed to hold its breath.
Bairan didn't move. Or rather, he moved so subtly that Northern's eyes struggled to process what they were seeing. It was as if the sword was disturbing reality itself, creating ripples in the space around it.
'What... what am I looking at?'
The movent was smaller than a whisper, yet Northern felt sothing brush past his cheek. When he touched the spot, he found a single strand of his hair had been cut clean through.
"That was just a greeting," Bairan said, his voice carrying an unusual warmth. "The true technique is far more... intimate."
Northern's excitent from earlier transford into sothing deeper. A small frown creased his face.
'Did that technique bypass void force?'
It did not feel right. In the past-or to be fairer, since he beca a Sage-Northern had been developing a more practical use for void force.
Before now, Void Force had been a stagnant form of defense, a wall of air that diversified the space between him and an attack.
But Northern did not want to be protected by a wall of air like a helpless child all the ti. Hence, he looked for a way to make the defense chanism more practical.
It didn't take long to develop a thod for what he wanted. Northern took firm control of the force and compressed it so tightly that it beca a flexible concept.
That flexibility allowed Northern to wrap it around his entire form. Instead of being a wall around him, the void force beca a thin layer of defense framing him from head to toe.
There were advantages and disadvantages to this new form of the void force. One of the advantages was that Northern achieved what he wanted; the disadvantages, however...
The void force lost that quality power to endlessly stretch the distance between an attack and him. Now, it just stopped the attack from entering the Limitless Void instead of trapping it there like it would before.
It was regrettable, but he could always change it whenever he wanted.
The most prideful change that happened to the void force was that now, under Northern's direct supervision, it was impossible for any kind of attack to bypass it.
Before, the void force only reacted to sothing, but now, it was constantly being maintained by Chaos Eyes and his Limitless Void essence. Chaos Eyes served as its eyes of danger, his void essence served as its running fuel.
However, just now, it had been bypassed. The implication of this was that... as much as Northern hated to admit it, his Chaos Eyes... did not catch the move!
'I have to learn it at all costs!'
For Northern, this beca sothing that was not just about learning a powerful technique. It was about understanding sothing fundantal about the nature of swordsmanship itself.
"The Moonlit Whisper operates on a simple principle," Bairan explained, sheathing his sword. "Just as moonlight can illuminate an entire lake with just a touch of its reflection, a true sword strike need only disturb the air by the width of a hair to cut through anything."
He gestured for Northern to draw his sword.
"The drills I taught you weren't just about speed or precision. They were about understanding the threshold between movent and stillness. The Moonlit Whisper exists in that threshold."
Northern gripped his sword, feeling the weight of Bairan's words settle into his understanding. Everything he had learned over the past three weeks began to take on new
aning.
"Now," Bairan's voice carried an edge of anticipation, "show your current draw. Let's see how close you are to finding that threshold."
Northern took a deep breath, centering himself. The excitent from earlier had transford into sharp focus.
A mont like this was bound to mark the beginning of sothing profound, so he had to approach it with a level of seriousness he had never employed before.
His hand rested on the hilt of Stainless, and in that mont, everything he had learned about timing, about the single mont, about the perfect draw, converged into a single point of
understanding.
The Void Palace held its breath, waiting to witness Northern's first step toward mastering the legendary Moonlit Whisper technique.
Northern's hand tightened ever so slightly on the hilt of his sword. All his senses converged into that single point of contact between his palm and the wrapped handle.
Three weeks of endless drills crystallized in his mind. The way his thumb should rest, the precise tension needed in each finger, the microscopic shift in his body weight-everything aligned perfectly in his mind.
'Just like breathing.'
His draw was swift, precise, and by all normal standards, perfect. The odachi sang as it left its sheath, cutting through the air with deadly grace.
But it wasn't enough.
"Again," Bairan commanded, though his eyes held a glint of interest.
Northern didn't hesitate. Again and again, he drew his sword, each ti refining the
movent further.
His tenth attempt was noticeably smoother than his first. His twentieth showed even more
improvent.
By the thirtieth draw, sothing began to change.
It wasn't in the speed or the precision-those had been nearly perfect from the start. It was sothing else, sothing more fundantal.
On his forty-third draw, Northern felt it. A mont of... sothing. Like his blade had touched sothing that wasn't quite air, wasn't quite space, but existed between the two.
Bairan's eyes widened slightly.
"Again."
Northern drew once more, chasing that sensation. This ti, the feeling was stronger. The air around his blade seed to shiver, not from the speed of his draw, but from sothing else
entirely.
'There's sothing here. Sothing just beyond my grasp.'
His next draw caused the eerie blue light of the Void Palace to ripple, as if the sword had cut
through the light itself.
Bairan took a half-step forward, his usual composed deanor showing cracks of genuine
surprise.
"Master... you're..."
Northern barely heard him. He was lost in the sensation now, each draw bringing him closer
to understanding sothing his mind couldn't quite grasp but his body was beginning to comprehend.
On his fifty-seventh draw, it happened.
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