Sword Progenitor

Besides, if there was something to be derived from the sword art, he was sure hed happen upon it in future battles.

For now, he reviewed his battle, and his thoughts landed on a specific moment right before he clashed with the first rat. It was when he named his sword art.

What does me naming a sword art have to do with an increase with my mastery? Mastering an element means to become familiar with it. Is it because me giving my sword art a name gave me a sudden understanding, or did the realization come before the naming? He fell further into that rabbit hole, ”My understanding of water pushed my existence in the direction of the properties of that substance. The changing of my existence happened when I gave it a name.

”So, this means that my existence will only change when I make the properties of water personal to me. ” He was making the water part of himself, which increased his connection to it. That was his theory, and Ken didn see any other explanation for what happened.

Basically, when I gain insights about my element, and use those insights to enhance a part of myself, my existence is added to and grows, becoming something more. It was difficult to describe supernatural phenomena that defied all scientific logic in words that Ken could understand, but he could somewhat understand the process.

He turned around and threw his jian into the expansive pool of blood and sighed, ”I suppose much will be clear as time goes on. Ill have to wait for my next breakthrough to verify anything. ”

Ken summoned a ball of water in his hands, and could immediately feel something different upon closer inspection. The water had a faint connection to his thoughts. He didn have to directly focus on the water to make it move. Instead, his thoughts would be read by the water, and it would move according to that.

So this is what it means to push my existence closer to water, he thought. Ken knew he was making good progress, even with nothing to base it off of. He had no external help, but he had managed to unravel and answer a few questions that would lead him to higher powers.

He felt proud of himself for doing that.

But, a new thought entered his mind after he had calmed down and organized his thoughts, What happened to mom, dad, and Portia?

He had been so focused on surviving that he had completely neglected the fact that his family and girlfriend still existed. If the three of them were going through the same hellish experience as he was, Ken wasn sure if they would survive. He could only hope that his situation was unique, and that he could find a way back to the real world to confirm that.

”Ill have to fight my way through these waves, then, Ken thought, playing around with the ball of water. ”If I get more insights into my element, I might be able to find a way out of this wretched shithole. ”

An infinite plain with seemingly no edges and a sky that could summon hundreds, if not thousands of monsters on a whim. That was what he was trapped it. He would need time to figure out how to get out of there, but he knew that he would find a way eventually. He couldn stay in there forever.

Ken went over to his jian and saw that it had already finished absorbing all the blood in the vicinity. This time, the amount of blood to be absorbed was much higher, so he had to pick it up and move it to another spot.

He nodded when he saw that the jian had sharpened and barely darkened in color once again I expected as such, he thought, Upgrades grow harder to acquire the stronger they get.

When he touched the jian, though, the material had changed. It was no longer a rough wooden carving of a jian, but it was sanded, polished and shined. It was approaching a color close to midnight red.

He picked the jian up and swung it around. It had gotten heavier, which suited his needs more. Too light a sword would cause him to overuse his strength and miss.

Then, he drew his sword back and covered his wounds with water. His water was clear, so he didn worry about his wounds being infected. Moreover, he wanted to sanitize those injuries. Who knew what kind of viruses those vermin brought with them? After making sure that the water masked all his scratches, he dashed forward and began his training again. He didn want to waste time, so he spent his recovery on practising his Splitting Tide sword art.

All of a sudden, a flash came from the sky, and thunder rumbled.

Huh. The lightning stopped while I was fighting. Interesting, Ken thought as he jogged at running speed. His foundation had heightened beyond what a normal human could achieve.

He hadn been aware that the storm had ceased its flashing because he was too focused on his fight against the giant sewer rats, but now that he had the time to think about it, he wasn sure what the storm was. It was clearly much more than a simple storm.

This ”storm ” spawned monsters, and it seemed to watch him as he fought. When his battle ended, it would continue on with its business.

It was as if the storm had some sort of consciousness.

Nevertheless, the second wave had been overcome.

He was one step closer to returning home. Little did he know, that step was only one of countless thousands.