Twisting in midair, Apollo stabilized himself and landed on his feet on the stage.
He immediately checked his body, letting out a sigh of relief when he saw that he hadn't sustained any injuries.
"That's dangerous," Apollo muttered, fear in his voice. He was still injured from the Advancement Examination and couldn't afford to make it worse. Shaking his head, he walked over to the wooden sword and saw that the wind surrounding it had dissipated.
He slashed the sword, expecting the Wind Blast to release as a wind slash, but the outcome wasn't what he had hoped for. The Wind Blast exploded as it was meant to, but not in the way he wanted.
Nothing changed. Different approach, but the same result.
He hadn't truly fused the Wind Blast with the Simple Sword Technique; the Wind Blast merely covered the wooden sword. Apollo realized this when he checked his body—he wasn't injured because the output was greatly reduced. If the two techniques had actually combined, his body would have been shredded.
Picking up the wooden sword, Apollo tried again. If he couldn't do it in one try, he'd try a second time. If the second time failed, he'd keep trying—third, fourth, fifth—until he succeeded.
The sound of air exploding echoed across the stage. Fortunately, the Training Ground was far from any buildings, or they would have been disturbed by the continuous explosions.
Thirty to forty minutes later, Apollo finally succeeded.
"Ha!" the Beggar shouted, slashing with his wind-covered sword. The sword let out a whistling sound as the chaotic wind released as a long wind slash. The attack was fast, and the lower part of the slash cut through the stage floor like it was nothing!
The wind slash continued off the stage and disappeared after a dozen meters.
Apollo's eyes widened in surprise. This… this is too overpowered! Looking down at the stage, he saw the floor was cleanly sliced, without any jagged edges! And that was just the bottom part of the technique. If he had aimed the attack at the stage itself…
He was tempted, but shook his head a moment later. Clearly, this stage must have cost a fortune to build.
His gaze then landed on the newly installed training dummies.
They're meant to withstand techniques… it's not my fault if I destroy them again, right? Apollo quickly made up his mind and jumped toward the nearest scarecrow.
Raising the wooden sword and covering it with the Wind Blast, Apollo was about to slash the dummy when he stopped. "I forgot to name this technique."
Wind Sword Technique?
Simple Wind Sword Technique? Yeah, this is it! Apollo thought.
After giving his new technique a rather generic name, he raised the wooden sword and slashed the scarecrow.
A two-meter tall wind slash shot from the sword, slicing the training dummy clean in half! The attack continued, striking the scarecrow behind it and cutting it like it was nothing, all while carving a ravine into the grassy ground.
Apollo smiled in satisfaction at the success of his experiment. He knew there must be other techniques capable of producing the same effect, but this Simple Wind Sword Technique was something he had created personally. With it, he could cut anything from a distance, no longer needing to get close to his enemies to use the Simple Sword Technique on them.
A sword that can cut almost anything, even Battle Techniques. Apollo suspected that with the Simple Wind Sword Technique, he could now cut through the barrier from the Ten-Tail Alphadusk Shadowtail, though he couldn't prove this theory anymore since that guy was already dead.
Come to think of it, Axton had promised to explain why his True Understanding of the Sword didn't work on that black barrier, but Apollo had forgotten to ask. He already guessed that the reason he could cut through almost all Battle Techniques was due to his True Understanding of the Sword—something he hadn't known about until the Headmaster of the Great Serpent had mentioned it.
Apollo didn't know if it was something amazing or not, but honestly, he didn't care much.
Looking around and spotting more scarecrows, Apollo smiled mischievously and ran to the nearest one, slashing it with his wind-covered sword.
"Hahaha! This is fun!" Apollo laughed loudly as he ran around the training ground, cutting the scarecrows in half. The ground was cleanly sliced as the wind slash tore through everything like it was nothing but paper.
After a while, Apollo finally calmed down. Surveying the destruction he had caused, he scratched the back of his head with a bitter smile. He couldn't help but get carried away. The System had explained that he and the Original Body had merged, with him taking most of the control, but bursts of childishness and immaturity still slipped out from time to time.
Shaking his head, he glanced up at the moon, its brilliance shining down on him. It was nearing midnight, and Apollo decided it was time to stop experimenting. With the Wind Blast and Fire Blast having the same principle, he figured he could probably combine the Fire Blast with the Simple Sword Technique too.
However, the Beggar decided to save that for another time, as he'd already spent the entire night having fun. Besides, he needed to cultivate and increase his strength as quickly as possible—his instincts told him the second part of his mission wouldn't be easy.
Apollo took one last look at the training ground before turning and heading out. Once he reached the street, he realized he couldn't just walk around with a wooden sword in hand.
He wanted to make it at least somewhat presentable, so before heading back to his Beggar Spot, he ducked into an alley. There, among the trash, he found a piece of cloth, which he used to wrap the wooden sword.
"This is great," Apollo muttered with a smile. He didn't need a strap for the sword—he figured it looked cooler to carry it in his hands anyway.