Chapter 25: A Ray of Light
(A/N: Just a quick author note before you start reading this chapter but I just got offered a contract for Rain Catcher.
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I'll leave it up to you guys whether or not I should go premium.
Pros of going premium: I write more chapters because I have to or editor sans will come hunt me down.
Cons of going premium your coins will be mine!!!!
Leave a comment down below.)
On the next day, Will got up early and headed downstairs after lightly dressing himself in casual clothes with his sword dangling on his side.
The girl from last night was nowhere to be seen and instead was replaced by an older woman with hair that was a darker shade of brown when compared to the girl from before. Their eyes, however, were very similar in that they were both filled with life.
Assuming that the lady was the girl's mother or older sister, Will gave her a polite nod when their eyes met, to which the lady responded with a smile and a wave.
"Excuse me miss?" Will asked after she had acknowledged his presence, "Do you perhaps know where I could practice my blade?"
The lady quickly responded with, "Of course, there is an open field in the back of the Inn that you can use for swinging your sword or weapons. We are, after all, a inn in the city of dungeons."
"Ah, thank you very much."
The lady gave a smile. "If you perhaps wanted a specialized training area that might suit your training needs more then you can go to the area of the shopping district nearest to the outer wall. They have many specialized facilities there that can have specialized equipment specifically made to aid a person's develop their combat skills. You do have to pay them a certain amount based on the equipment you want to use and for how long."
"Thank you very much for the information." Will said before taking out a bronze coin and sliding it to the lady, who excepted it in a nonchalant manner.
"Any time for a customer. Please do ask me for advice if you need help with anything else. I would be happy to help."
Will gave her a nod before quietly exiting the Silent Night Lodgings and made his way towards the back to the open field. He had no need for specialized equipment yet. As a matter of fact, when he was a prince he had all the equipment he needed yet was still unable to grow stronger. What he needed to know now was how his spirit contractor skill grew so rapidly. There must've been a secret. Something that would help him break out of this 10 year bottle neck of his skills not growing stronger.
Will slowly drew his common sword and wielded it before him in a tranquil manner.
With a deep breath, he swung.
It had been a long time since he had earnestly swung his sword.
He had hit the 99% bottle neck when he was 10. He had started to doubt of ever progressing past 99% at the age of twelve. He had stopped practicing at the age of 16. He remembered how desperately he would sing for hours a day just to prove to everyone that he was not trash. To make her happy. But alas he had given up and dropped his sword.
But ten years later he had finally remembered his passion from when he was young. Will swung the sword, feeling it to be a weird mixture of familiarity and uncomfortableness, as if he was meeting an old friend who had become alien within a span of a few years.
His arms felt like liquid jelly after a few swings and his breathing got rougher and rougher with the second. Many beads of sweat started to drip down his face and skin and soaked his hair wet. However, the more he swinged and the more he felt his muscles scream in pain, the more familiar he got with his blade and handling it.
After an hour of light swinging, Will was unable to hold onto his sword any longer and let the sword drop to the floor before collapsing into the floor as well.
With a heavy pant but a small grin, Will stared at the sunburst dawn sky and couldn't help but laugh at himself in a half humorous half self deprecating manner.
He had noticed it during the battle against the Goblins and the minor sword duel against Roy but Will really felt that he had grown rusty. Years of acting as the persona of the useless prince had really weakened his bones and shrunken his muscles.
Will slightly took off his mask and wiped away the slippery sweat off with his arm before placing the mask back on.
It would be best for Will to readopt his daily practice of swinging his sword in the mornings and nights. He was no longer a sheltered prince and he had finally seen a glimmer of hope in growing stronger once again.
Will took out his phone and once again read the description of his sword skill once more.
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[ Skills ]
{Flowing Water Style (F)}
A Royal technique that has been passed down for generations. The main focus is to let your blade flow freely like water. To slice instead of shove, to redirect instead of defending, to pierce instead of stab. If you wish to advance this technique to the next level, embed the essence of water into your blade.
Mastery (99%)
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He had mastered everything except for embedding the essence of water into his blade. It was obvious that that essence of water referred to water attributed mana but Will still had no clue on how to embed mana into his sword or that the way he was trying to accomplish this was incorrect.
Will sat up and grasped his sword once more before closing his eyes.
He concentrated his mana towards his sword and frowned.
He felt his mana successfully gather into his sword and his mana was undoubtedly of the water attribute but even then Will was unable to grow. None of his previous sword instructors could provide a sufficient enough explanation to help him through this barrier. It was as if a storm had always blocked his progress towards the sky.
Will stopped infusing his sword with mana and still smiled. Even though he was unable to disperse the storm that clouded him from progressing any further, Will was able to spot a tiny little ray of light peeking through the dark grey rumbling clouds.
(A/N: Imma update more from now on I promise)
Weekly Power Status
-- Power
Ranking 
-- Power
stone