Chapter 66: The First Weapon Art

Chapter 66: Chapter 66: The First Weapon Art

Time quietly passed.

Once Damon became comfortable with his stance, he changed his grip.

Both hands wrapped around the shaft.

One near the rear.

The other closer to the middle.

Enough space remained between them to give the spear proper leverage.

He practiced extending.

Then shortening his grip.

Again.

Again.

Until every adjustment became natural.

"Good..."

He smiled.

"This feels much better."

Now...

He moved to the core techniques.

A clean thrust.

A half lunge, extending his rear foot to gain extra reach before immediately recovering.

A sweeping motion that could knock aside an opponent’s weapon or clear space around him.

The butt strike, turning the rear end of the spear into a close range weapon.

Then an overhead stab, driving the point downward toward an imaginary enemy.

Each technique flowed into the next.

There were no wasted movements.

Whenever he made a mistake...

Cedric’s voice seemed to appear immediately.

"Too slow."

"Your footing."

"Recover faster."

"Don’t overextend."

Damon smiled bitterly.

"You’re still correcting me after all these years."

He repeated everything until it felt right.

Then moved to defensive drills.

Redirect.

Block.

Parry.

Recover.

Step.

Turn.

Attack again.

The cycle continued.

Sweat slowly covered his forehead.

Yet he never stopped smiling.

"I really missed this."

Freya quietly watched through their connection.

She was pleased.

Very pleased.

Although she had only become a spear recently...

She somehow understood.

They had already gone beyond simply learning how to hold a weapon.

This was the foundation.

Without it...

Nothing above it could stand.

Damon continued.

Sometimes he imagined fighting the Stormreign Wyvern again.

Other times...

He pictured facing several opponents at once.

Each imagined battle changed his movement slightly.

Making him adapt.

Making him think.

The more he practiced...

The more natural everything became.

Without realizing it...

Hours slipped away.

Until...

A gentle emotion brushed against his mind.

Freya.

She wanted his attention.

Damon stopped.

"What is it?"

She answered through their connection.

Not with words.

But with intent.

She wanted to go one step further.

He hesitated.

"Already?"

Freya answered confidently.

She would guide him.

Their connection had changed after her evolution.

Much stronger than before.

Much clearer.

This wasn’t something he had to force.

It was something they would learn together.

Damon looked down at the spear in his hands.

"You really don’t do things halfway."

He smiled.

"If we’re going to do this..."

"Then let’s do it properly."

His grip tightened.

He took a slow breath.

"Ready?"

Warm emotions immediately answered him.

Freya was more excited than he was.

Damon chuckled.

"I figured."

He slowly circulated the silver lightning within his white core.

The moment the energy reached the spear...

Everything changed.

The spear answered instantly.

Silver lightning surged across its entire body.

The pressure filling the chamber rose sharply.

The nine lightning ribbons behind the spearhead came alive, dancing wildly around him.

Even the air began to crackle.

Damon’s eyes widened.

He stared at the weapon in disbelief before a grin slowly spread across his face.

"...Incredible."

Damon finally moved.

His grip tightened around the lightning spear as he let his breathing settle. His heart beat steadily, and through their contract, he could feel Freya matching his rhythm.

They were ready.

Instead of rushing ahead, Freya guided him back to the beginning.

The foundation.

The spear thrust.

Damon smiled.

"So we’re starting from the basics again?"

A cheerful feeling answered him immediately.

She was serious.

He nodded.

"Fair enough. Foundations first."

He stepped forward.

His lead foot slid across the ground while his rear foot pushed his body ahead. The spear shot out in a clean thrust.

At the same time, silver lightning flowed from his white core.

This time, it didn’t simply coat the spear like it had when he used his knife.

It flowed naturally into Freya.

The spear answered.

Lightning wrapped around the spearhead before fading away just as quickly.

Not enough.

He withdrew and thrust again.

Again.

Again.

Each strike carried a little more understanding than the last.

The movement itself wasn’t difficult.

The difficult part was becoming one.

Sometimes Damon released his lightning too early.

Other times Freya answered a heartbeat too late.

Their timing never quite matched.

The spear flashed with power before losing it halfway.

Sometimes the lightning burst before the thrust landed.

Other times the thrust reached its target before the lightning arrived.

Neither outcome was what they wanted.

Still, they refused to stop.

"Again."

Another thrust.

"Too slow."

Another.

"Almost."

The spear left shallow dents in the stone walls around them. Small sparks scattered across the floor, but Damon could already tell something was missing.

Their intentions weren’t perfectly aligned.

Freya seemed to understand that as well.

She suddenly pulsed through their connection.

Once.

Twice.

A simple rhythm.

Damon’s eyes widened.

"I get it."

Instead of forcing his lightning first, he waited.

He counted with her.

One...

Two...

Now.

The instant Freya pulsed, Damon released his lightning.

The response was immediate.

The spearhead shone with a sharp silver glow.

The lightning compressed instead of spreading outward.

Every bit of power gathered at a single point.

Damon thrust.

CRACK!!

A silver streak shot forward.

The stone wall several meters away exploded with a deep hole punched clean through it.

The surrounding cracks spread like a spiderweb.

Even after the spear stopped moving, lightning continued dancing inside the hole.

Damon stared.

"So..."

A grin slowly spread across his face.

"...that’s what we were trying to do."

Freya practically bounced with excitement.

She had figured it out.

More importantly...

He had understood her signal without words.

Damon laughed.

"You’re smarter than me."

Freya responded proudly through their connection.

She didn’t deny it.

Watching from nearby, Sylphie chirped excitedly before flapping all six wings.

"Crii!"

Damon chuckled.

"I know. That was cool."

From that point onward, everything became smoother.

The timing improved.

The synchronization became cleaner.

The more they practiced, the easier it became to understand each other’s intentions.

Soon they weren’t just repeating the same thrust.

They began experimenting.

"What if we compress it even further?"