The Author's POV

The next day.

"Phew, looks like this is the last of it."

I took a moment to admire the view from my brand-new apartment while I wiped the sweat that had accumulated on my forehead.

'I guess moving out was the right call.'

From where I was standing, I could see the city in all its glory, and the view was simply stunning. There was nothing to complain about.

After returning from the assembly and discussing it with Amanda, I decided to vacate my previous apartment and move into a new one.

This was a must as I was about to perform a dangerous operation on myself.

With that being said, when I said "move out," I simply relocated to the vacant apartment next door.

There was no problem because Amanda owned the entire building.

"Alright, I guess I should get started."

I flapped my tank top, creating a small wind that pushed up my chin and refreshed me.

After that, I went to the beige couch that was perched atop a grey furry carpet in the centre of the room.

I sat down on the couch and took a pair of glasses from my dimensional space and put them on.

It had to be noted that these were special glasses and weren't normal glasses. My eyes were perfect, and I didn't need to have glasses in order to see.

There was a glass table directly across from me, and I swiped my hand over it.

Three books materialized on top of the table the moment I swiped my hand. The books were of three different colours: red, blue, and green.

Engraved on the front covers of each book were two words.

[Keiki style]

[Gravar style]

[Levisha style]

"Who would've thought that I would one day take my time to learn all three of the techniques."

I bitterly thought while I opened the first page of the Levisha style and tapped my glasses, which immediately scanned and copied the information that was displayed in front of me, highlighting the key points in front of me at the same time.

Getting my hands on the Levisha style wasn't actually that hard for me. All I did was exchange the poison flask I found in Immorra for it.

Kevin didn't seem to mind anyway.

The Gravar style, on the other hand, was a bit easier. As part of the contract, I was to be given a copy of the Gravar style, and that was how I had access to it.

Under the terms of the contract, I was not permitted to teach the method to anyone else; that said, I had no intention of teaching it to anyone else in the first place, so everything turned out fine.

"Now... how do I go about this?"

As I had previously mentioned, the Keiki style was no longer useful for me to the same extent it was in the past.

I had already long surpassed its predecessor, and the same could be said for the Levisha and Gravar style.

But that was beside the point.

Developing my very own signature sword style was at the top of my to-do list right now.

I wanted one that was exclusive to me and no one else... and the first step for me to take to accomplish that was to conduct an accurate analysis of the three strongest sword manuals known to mankind.

I intended to combine the various aspects of each sword style—speed, power, and style—into one and create the most powerful and complete sword style out there.

'For that to happen, I need to completely memorize every single detail of these books.'

I tapped on my glasses again, and with a serious expression, I began to examine and break down every single thing that was written in the manuals.

*

deeply immersed in something.

stood up to look at the clock that hung

time for dinner. Rubbing my stomach a couple of times, I leaned back on

should I have

able to rely on my mother to provide me with warm meals, instead, I was responsible for preparing my own

bad cook, but cleaning was

could stop by their place and get

shook my head after deliberating over the matter for

not be a wise decision to show up unannounced

I'll just

app's menu. My finger scrolled down the page a few times before stopping, and my brows knitted together in a frown as I was suddenly brought

dark liquid materialized in

almost forgot

'Suriol's blood.'

the liquid in front of me with

been some time since I had received his blood, and I recalled how

knew the steps by

would not only make me more powerful, but it would also give me access to

not come without a cost, as there was a very real possibility that I could lose my

stared at the tube

or

I was desperate.

the schemes of the other me, Kevin, Jezebeth, the Akashic

to be a piece in whatever

wanted to be free,

knows, me taking the demon blood might just as well be something that

covered my mouth with my hand and bit my

Fuck...

transferred the liquid into a cup that was

Click!

"Hu?"

my apartment after a sudden clicking sound and I quickly retrieved my hand away and stored the test tube in my dimensional

are you

"Hm?"

she spotted me and place her thin brown jacket on the hanger at

then took

the one who told me to

"I did?"

tell me you

covered her forehead with her hand. Her face was filled with helplessness, and I

about it, I do recall

and leaned back on

forget. My thoughts were somewhat jumbled because of

"Is that so?"

tied her hair into a

she attempted to tie her ponytail behind her head, giving me a

body was her outfit, which was composed of a

of the couch, she sat next to me. A thin

smiled seductively upon noticing that I was looking

"Like what you're seeing?"

asked, removing the hairband from her mouth and tying

I nodded my head.

"Yes...Yes, I do."

would be a lie if I said

expression froze when she

"Eh?"

"What is it?"

the sudden shift

my shock, I watched as Amanda placed her hand over my head and looked

***

"What are you doing?"

sure you're