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.

*

say that time flies when one is deeply immersed in something. I guess they

at the clock that hung on the right side

stomach a couple of times, I leaned back on the

should I have

to rely on my mother to provide me with warm meals,

but cleaning was a

I could stop by their place and get something to eat from

deliberating over the matter

a wise decision to show up unannounced and demand

just order

app's menu. My finger scrolled down the page a few times before stopping,

that was filled with a dark liquid materialized in front of my

almost forgot about

'Suriol's blood.'

in front of

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

knew the steps by

but it would also give me access to a skill known as "Demon Transformation," which would give me power beyond anything I could have

as there was a very real possibility that I

I stared at

or should I

I was desperate.

not be involved with the schemes of the other me, Kevin, Jezebeth,

to be a piece in whatever grand game

to be

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

my hand

Fuck...

cap from the test tube, and then carefully transferred the liquid into a cup that was sitting on

Click!

"Hu?"

clicking sound and

are you

"Hm?"

me and place her thin brown jacket on the

took off

the one who told

"I did?"

me you

face was filled with helplessness, and

it, I do recall telling her yesterday something of

my palms together and

were somewhat jumbled because of all the studying that

"Is that so?"

me as she tied her hair

the moment she attempted to tie her ponytail behind

the curves of her body was her outfit, which was composed of a black turtleneck that was neatly tucked inside of her

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

upon noticing

"Like what you're seeing?"

her mouth and tying the

I nodded my head.

"Yes...Yes, I do."

lie if I said

froze when she heard

"Eh?"

"What is it?"

asked, curious about the sudden

placed her hand over my head and

***

"What are you doing?"

sure you're not