Chapter 263: Daily Life With Akari [5]

The next day.

Swish!

Swish!

Swish!

Noah’s sword thrust forward repeatedly.

This time, Akari allowed him to perform only one thousand thrusts. However that wasn’t the end of his training. After every hundred thrusts, she would personally spar with him.

Each time she effortlessly deflected his sword before pointing her blade at his throat.

"No. Your thrust is too predictable."

Again.

"Your wrist moved."

Again.

"You shifted your weight too early."

Again.

"You focused on speed instead of precision."

Even after his thousand thrust were completed, she continued to spar with him. By sunset, Noah had exchanged thousands of thrusts with her. His entire right arm had gone numb.

Yet his thrusts had become noticeably straighter. They were more stable and more efficient.

---

The third day.

Clang!

Clang!

Clang!

The entire day revolved around blocking.

Akari attacked from every possible angle.

Sometimes fast. Sometimes slow. Sometimes with deceptive feints. At first, Noah simply stopped her blade.

Every single time. She corrected him.

"Don’t fight against the attack. Guide it. Control it. Steal your opponent’s balance."

"As you say master." Noah never complained to her. If it was some old man teaching him. Then he might have asked and question many things. Just because he felt irritated. But here he believed in his dragon.

Gradually his sword stopped meeting hers head-on.

Instead it began redirecting incoming strikes with increasingly smoother movements.

"You are fast learner."

By evening, Akari finally gave a satisfied nod.

"Much better. You learned too fast."

The fourth day..

Parrying. The exercise Noah hated the most. Unlike blocking everything depended on timing.

If too early, he missed completely. If too late the attack landed. For hours, Akari attacked without mercy.

Clang!

Clang!

Clang!

Noah’s wrists screamed in pain. Whenever they became too swollen to continue.

Akari would gave him some time to rest.

He would complain sometimes.

"We will continue soon."

"You’re too cruel, Master."

’Though I love to see her fighting with sword. The way she move is just to beautiful to watch. And those slight bounce of her breasts. Hehe!’ He thought with evil grin.

"I prefer disciplined. And what are you thinking? I don’t like that look you are having on face."

"It’s nothing master. Just thinking how strong I will be after few months training with you."

She narrowed her eyes suspiciously. She knew he thought something bad but she just couldn’t prove it.

So they started again.

By sunset his parries had finally begun flowing naturally. For the first time he could redirect an attack using surprisingly little strength. And it was amazing since Akari was moving much faster than him.

With each day training They were becoming more close to each other.

---

The fifth day.

Swings.Compared to everything else. This should have been the easiest. Or so Noah believed. He was wrong.

"You are being wide. But better than before."

He did again.

"use little less strength."

Again.

"You exposed your side., but that swing was good. A person equal to your power had taken the damage." She instructed.

Again.

"You lost your balance."

Every swing was dissected. Every mistake corrected. Akari demonstrated each movement with astonishing elegance.

Her sword seemed to glide through the air effortlessly. No wasted motion. No unnecessary force. Watching her was almost like watching flowing water.

Noah tried to imitate her countless times.

By sunset his sword no longer whistled wildly through the air. Its path had become clean. Days slowly turned into weeks. Morning after morning. The peaceful forest echoed with the sound of steel.

Swish!

Clang!

Tak!

Akari remained as strict as ever.

She never praised Noah lightly. But every few days. She would quietly smile and say, "Better."

That single word motivated Noah more than he expected. Whenever he made progress. She immediately increased the difficulty.

Even Akari was enjoying training Noah a lot. She never thought having disciple was so much amazing. And to her delight Noah was too much of fast learner.

Whenever he relaxed. She exposed another flaw. There was never an easy day. Yet Noah never complained again. He had already realized something.

Every correction she gave. Every seemingly endless repetition. Was steadily transforming his swordsmanship into something far more refined than brute strength alone. The foundation of a true swordsman was finally beginning to take shape.

After the doing training for whole day she would help him in mana control or provide him mana cores that she had collected over the months.

---

After two weeks of training under Akari.

Noah was finally on the verge of a breakthrough. He sat cross-legged in the yard beneath the quiet night sky.

A gentle blue aura enveloped his body as mana continuously flowed into his core. The mana core of a monster rested in his lap, its energy being steadily absorbed.

Inside his body, his core compressed further and further, forming an even denser layer of mana over it.

It had reached its limit. Sweat soaked his clothes as he gritted his teeth, enduring the pressure while forcing the breakthrough.

Crack.

Crack.

A faint cracking sound echoed from within his body.

Akari watched him silently from the porch of the house, a small smile resting on her lips.

BOOM!!

A gentle wave of mana burst outward from Noah, sweeping across the yard. He let out a long sigh of relief before slowly opening his eyes.

Akari walked over and stopped in front of him.

"Congratulations on breaking through to the Condensed Core, Low stage."

Noah immediately stood up.

"Yes!! I did it!"

Unable to contain his excitement, he lunged forward and wrapped his arms around Akari in a tight embrace.

She was caught by surprise for a brief moment, but she didn’t push him away. Instead, she slowly wrapped her arms around him in return, feeling the warmth of another person’s embrace after so many years.

She gently rested her cheek against his shoulder while Noah buried his face in the crook of her neck.

He could feel her soft mounds pressed against his chest. But he was double happy. She allowed him to hug her.

’This is best breakthrough of my life!! I will get more close to her.’