Azrael spent the remaining days polishing his swordsmanship with Ashara’s help. Aside from practicing swordsmanship, he simply spent time with Kael and the others and didn’t engage in anything else.
Days passed, and now only two days remained before the opening of Eonrift.
Inside the training room, Ashara guided Azrael as he attacked a training dummy using Fallen Star. The sword was covered in a layer of cosmic energy, and each time it struck the dummy, the dummy glowed with a red light, indicating that every one of his strikes was fatal.
Azrael continued to strike the dummy for nearly an hour, maintaining perfect control over the cosmic energy to ensure it enveloped the sword the entire time.
After one hour, he had used up almost all of his cosmic energy and finally stopped. He panted heavily and wiped the sweat off his face.
Ashara walked over upon seeing him stop and gave a nod.
"You have pretty much learned everything you can for now. If you want to learn advanced swordsmanship, you will need to increase your level—your current body won’t be able to handle it."
Azrael nodded at her words, as he could feel it too that this was the limit of his body. The more advanced sword techniques placed immense strain on the user, and he wasn’t yet strong enough to endure it.
Ashara looked at Azrael for a few seconds before speaking again.
"I wasn’t actually planning to tell you about this, since it’s something only those at the Legend rank (level 51 to 100) and above can learn, but from what I have seen so far, you might be able to comprehend it before reaching that level."
Azrael, who was still catching his breath raised his head and looked at her in confusion.
Seeing his reaction, Ashara grabbed a training longsword from the weapon rack and walked a short distance away from him.
"Watch closely," She said.
As she spoke, the sword in her hand began to emit a scarlet glow, and the entire training room was immediately filled with an overwhelming amount of killing intent.
Azrael suddenly felt his body become incredibly heavy, and to his shock, he noticed the cells in his body showing signs of dying.
The oppressive sensation only lasted a second before the room returned to normal—but Azrael still couldn’t move. His body remained burdened by the residual weight.
Ashara walked over and gently patted his shoulder. As she did, a soft wave of cosmic energy entered his body, helping him recover.
Azrael took a deep breath and looked at Ashara with burning eyes. He wasn’t afraid of what had just happened. Instead, he was eager to understand what she had just used.
Ashara smiled when she saw the lack of fear in his eyes, replaced instead by a look of excitement.
"The thing I just used is called intent," She explained, tapping him lightly on the forehead.
"Intent doesn’t rely on cosmic energy or physical power. Instead, it’s fueled by your Will and Spiritual Power. To use intent, you first need to realize what kind of intent you want—and then use your willpower to bring that intent into reality."
"Realize what kind of intent I want... and make it come into reality using my willpower..." Azrael echoed in confusion, raising an eyebrow as he tried to grasp her meaning.
"Yes, realize what kind of intent you want. For example, you could try to cultivate an intent that increases the cutting power of your sword. For that, you would need to have absolute confidence in your attack—confidence that you can cut through anything that stands in your way. Let that confident thought resonate with your Will—a Will to cut through everything. Merge that resonating Will with your spiritual power and let the world bring that intent into reality for you."
She paused and smiled slightly.
"Of course, it’s just an example. You can think of any intent you want. What matters is understanding your own heart—what you truly desire. Only then will you be able to awaken a powerful intent."
Azrael fell deep into thought after hearing her words.
He more or less understood what she was trying to convey and had a rough direction of what he needed to do next.
Ashara patted him on the shoulder and said gently,
"No need to think too hard. You are still a level one noob and need to increase your power before you can fully grasp what I have just explained. Once your level rises a bit, it will be much easier for you to comprehend intent."
Azrael nodded and took a deep breath. He waved his hand and stored away the Fallen Star.
Since Fallen Star was a soul armament and had formed a contract with him, it was now a part of his soul— and Azrael could directly store it inside his soul space.
"There are just two days left before the opening of Eonrift. What do you plan to do tomorrow? Practice more?" Ashara asked upon seeing him put away the sword.
Azrael thought for a moment before shaking his head.
"No, I am too tired of training every single day. How about all of us go out tomorrow?"
Ashara was stunned by his words at first, but then smiled warmly.
"Sure. Let’s go on a picnic tomorrow."
Azrael nodded and walked toward the bathroom to shower and wash off the sweat.
Ashara watched him go, a smile of relief on her face.
She was glad that he hadn’t pushed everyone away because of his Cold Blooded trait.
’Though the grade of his Cold Blooded trait is much lower than mine... he is doing better than I did,’ She thought, recalling her early days— back when she had just awakened her own trait.
A faint bitter smile crossed her lips as memories surfaced. But she soon shook her head and regained her composure.
’Well, you can’t change the past. But you can always make a better future.’