Published at 14th of September 2026 6:33 am

Chapter 1103: 76%

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As the days passed, a smile couldn’t help but appear on Asher’s lips as he had deepened his knowledge in the path of the sword, and he made considerable progress. He finally came to a stop as he stopped sparring with the Shadow FatelessPen.

Virelass hummed in his hands as though she too was enjoying the training and making progress. Asher wiped the sweat from his forehead. The moment he did that, the Swordsmanship Training room shook for a moment as the ground seemed to open up.

Asher’s eyes snapped to the various openings on the ground as he wondered whether the Swordsmanship Training room was reacting because he had made tangible progress in his current sword realm.

From the ground, what seemed like scarecrows, but weren’t, rose. They seemed like those training cross-shaped wood or metal poles in various manhwa he had read back on Earth. He did nothing and just stood and waited as he watched. Information flowed into his mind like it did back at the Physical Conditioning room.

There were six cross-shaped metallic poles, and according to the information he received, lights of various colors were going to flash on each cross-shaped metallic pole randomly. Each color represented either a slash, a thrust, a cut, a stab, and the likes, and he was meant to attack exactly where that color appeared. If he missed by even the smallest of centimeters or margin and the attack still landed whole on the color mark, then it was counted as a failure.

After all, attacks and Swordsmanship were about precision.

Red was a stab. Green was a cut. Purple was a slash. Blue was a cleave. Pink was a thrust.

As for the defense, from each of these poles, various attacks would be unleashed, each attack meaning various defense techniques.

An arrow was a parry. A senbon was a block.

And at the end, he would be scored out of one hundred, as the difficulty of what was about to happen had been raised to his level.

Asher stood in the middle, the six cross-shaped metallic poles surrounding him as they all stood a couple of meters away. The next moment, blue flashed on one of the poles. The moment the color appeared, Asher moved in a blur, Virelass rising upwards as he performed a cleave. The moment he did, pink and green flashed on another pole.

Asher vanished from where he was. The moment he appeared, he performed a thrust at the pink color, and a cut at the green, all in the same motion. The moment the attacks landed, from behind, a series of arrows shot out in a burst of speed and force. Asher immediately turned around, his hand turning into a blur as he met every arrow with his rapier, parrying each of them into various directions.

But the next moment, he frowned as he parried a senbon in tandem. The senbon had been mixed into the arrow.

His figure blurred again as red appeared on another cross-shaped metallic pole. The moment the color appeared, he was already there, but the moment he arrived and moved to perform a stab, from that same pole, a rain of senbon shot out continuously.

Asher immediately abandoned his attack and shifted into a block, the needles falling and clattering to the ground. But the moment he transitioned into that defense, the red color was already gone, as each color was only there for a single second, and if he didn’t meet it with an attack, it would vanish.

Asher spent the next couple of days flashing between attacks and defense, his Perfect Muscle Memory and Optimal Movement Efficiency correcting every error in his attacks when he made it and it didn’t land perfectly.

And as though sensing his outrageous progress, the Swordsmanship Training room upped the difficulty even more. As time passed, his body finally came to a stop, and at that exact moment, the colors flashing on the cross-shaped metallic poles also stopped.

Asher panted heavily, his body filled with sweat again as his chest and shoulders rose and fell. He had been at this for days without rest, and now his stamina was consumed. He had no more fuel in the tank.

The cross-shaped metallic poles retreated into the ground as they marked the end of the session. As the poles left, a score appeared in the air above Asher. He raised his head to look at the score.

76%

Seeing the score, he shook his head as he dropped to the ground and sat there. He then lay on the ground as he stared at the ceiling for a moment. He tried to control his breathing rhythm. He was resting for the next training, but for now, the Swordsmanship Training had come to an end, and the gains were immense, to say the least.

As an hour passed, he shifted into a seated position and ate his food as usual. He leaned against the wall and waited for two more hours to pass, as by then he would be back at his physical peak. He didn’t want to start a new training when he was still a bit tired. Rest was also part of training, and knowing when to rest and when not to was beneficial.

As two more hours passed, he rose to his feet and stepped out of the room, Astra energy cleansing him again as he changed into a fresh set of clothes.

"Sighs... three whole months have gone by," he spoke aloud just so he could hear the sound of his own voice, as he had no one to talk to for the past three months.

One month and two weeks at the Astra Veins Cultivation room. One month at the Physical Conditioning room. Two weeks at the Swordsmanship Training room.

"I wonder what Finch, William, Ryaen, and Vaelric would be learning now," he mused to himself as his voice echoed to him alone.

"Those cultivators in Xianxia novels who always spend thousands of years or even millions in seclusion are a different breed." He shook his head as he spoke, "Just three months alone and I’m already talking to myself to be sure I’ve not suddenly forgotten how to speak or something." He released a small laugh.

"Well... to the next training, playing and lazing around can come later," he spoke once more as his eyes turned to the doors on the left.

"Technique Creation, Elemental Control, and Combat Refinement and Attunement are the remaining ones," he stated as he folded his hands against his chest as though thinking of which to choose.

After a moment, he went with Combat Refinement and Attunement. Creating techniques and increasing control over elements were a good feeling for the final phase of training. Without wasting any more time, he stepped forward and stepped into the room.

As usual, the room was the same size as the rest. He couldn’t use Astra energy as usual, but within these rooms were wooden puppets that stood as though they had their strings cut. Asher stared at them for a moment and wondered if he was about to spar with these puppets. There were about ten wooden puppets, his purple eyes examining each of them calmly as he didn’t want to be suddenly caught off guard.

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