As Adyr’s sword sliced clean through the water sli, every soldier stood frozen in place, stunned.
They had never seen speed like that before.
As soldiers, they had witnessed practitioners in combat, but Adyr was sothing else entirely.
Unlike typical Astra Path users who relied solely on [Physique], Adyr also possessed the [Will] stat granted by the Ignis Path.
It didn’t just enhance his muscle fibers, reflexes, or genetic output. It refined his perception of motion itself. He understood movent—what it was, where it began, how to strip it down to only what mattered. Every unnecessary gesture was eliminated. Every part of his body moved with total efficiency, reaching the absolute limit of what it could perform in that mont.
"Huh... Am I late?" Vesha ca running as the others stood frozen in silence. When she saw the water sli’s sliced body lying on the ground, she frowned.
"Ah... It’s already over?"
She had really wanted to see him fight—to witness what a practitioner could do in action. But it seed she had missed it.
Siris stared at her, expression unreadable. For a mont, she wondered if the two of them had orchestrated all of this just to mock her.
While everyone remained silent, lost in their own thoughts, Adyr’s expression shifted.
"Looks like that wasn’t enough," he said quietly.
The water sli’s bisected body had already begun pulling itself back together. In re seconds, it had returned to its full form and resud its slow, steady advance toward him.
As the soldiers watched the sli’s body reassemble, they snapped out of their shock with trained precision, imdiately shifting into defensive formation.
Siris, wasting no ti, showed why she held the rank of commander. "Surround it. Don’t let it escape."
She never imagined she’d give that kind of order for a creature like this—but here she was. Sowhere deep down, she truly believed the sli might try to flee from a greater predator like Adyr.
"Sir..." She began, approaching quickly, then caught herself and corrected the title. "Lord Adyr. We are awaiting your orders."
In the presence of a practitioner, her title ant nothing. On the battlefield, she was no longer a commander—only a soldier expected to follow orders without question.
"Just stay back," Adyr said as he reached for his second blade, drawing it slowly.
"Let solo it."
A faint smile appeared on his face. It was a phrase he had wanted to say since arriving in this world—a phrase belonging to a legend that lived in the Lands Between.
With both blades in hand, he dashed forward toward the sli.
His sword technique was still unrefined. He handled the blades more like long knives than traditional swords, but even so, he wasn’t without skill.
And the water sli—slow and predictable—was the perfect training dummy.
He slashed. Then slashed again. And again.
Each strike landed with the precision of a machine, flawless and thodical, making Adyr’s movents resemble a dance as he tore away portions of the sli’s liquid form, reducing it piece by piece.
After what must have been over a hundred cuts, he finally stopped, standing over the remains pooled across the wet ground.
"Good. It’s a Level 2 energy crystal." He crouched, picked it up, examined it briefly, then sent it into the Dawn Land.
"Let’s keep going," he said, turning back toward the carriage, leaving the soldiers behind with their mouths agape.
"What are you waiting for? Move." Siris was the first to collect herself. Her voice snapped the others out of their trance, pulling them back into motion.
When she returned to the carriage, Adyr was already inside, legs crossed, calmly reading another children’s book.
This ti, she didn’t underestimate a single movent. The disdain she once felt had vanished, replaced entirely by a quiet reverence. She even found herself wondering how he could read those books so quickly, her mind slowly giving way to disbelief.
"How long until we reach the riverbed?" Vesha asked quietly. It was the sa question Adyr had been aning to ask, though he remained silent, too absorbed in his reading.
He needed to read as much as possible. Gaining a basic understanding of the world’s norms was essential. The pictures, in particular, were surprisingly useful in helping him recognize things that were unfamiliar compared to his own world.
"Reporting to the Lady. We have approximately twenty minutes until we reach the location where the Spark’s body was last seen," Siris said. There was no trace of her forr commanding presence—only the tone of a low-ranking soldier reporting to a superior.
Even the carriage was moving faster than before. It seed the soldiers, having found a new sense of confidence, had begun moving eagerly toward the target.
Exactly twenty minutes later, the carriage ca to a full stop. The sa soldier from before approached the window and spoke.
"Commander Siris—" He paused as her sharp gaze cut him off. She wasn’t looking at him but pointing ahead with her eyes.
Realizing his mistake, the soldier quickly redirected his attention.
"R-Reporting to the Lord. We’ve reached the riverbed, but due to a large number of water slis ahead, we’re unable to proceed further."
Adyr finally lifted his eyes from the book and gave a slight smile. "Thank you," he said, allowing the soldier to open the door before stepping out.
From where he stood, he could see the dried riverbed stretching into the distance. The water clearly hadn’t reached this area in so ti. Even the grass and trees surrounding it had withered, stripped of all moisture.
Just as the reports had described, the area was overrun with water slis. With a single glance, Adyr estimated well over a hundred of them.
But that wasn’t the most disturbing part.
A short distance ahead, at the very point where the water’s flow had been completely cut off, a massive entity lay still. It was about the size of a small house, dark blue in color, and shaped like a monolithic stone. It rested squarely in the middle of the riverbed, blocking the current entirely.
"You’re sure this thing is an Ignis Path Spark?" Adyr asked.
It was the first ti he had seen a Spark of this size. More importantly, Ignis was the Path of motion, tied directly to the [Will] stat. And yet, when he looked at the unmoving creature before him, it was hard to believe it had anything to do with motion at all.
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