Sorry this chapter is late. I did a ton of research on the different sword styles, hoping one would match the one I had in mind, but to no avail. I would like to thank Mortium for the nice four star review. I would also like to thank Koutacchi for the nice, long, informative comment. It shows me you guys care. I endeavor to read every comment and every review on my stories. I value my audiences opinion and thoughts. When I hear you like it, it fills my heart with joy. When I hear you are displeased with something, I try to amend it. I'd like to thank VTkun, a reader who has commented on almost every chapter. To any other long time readers, I appreciate your dedication and perseverance. I am sad that I cannot recognize and thank every one of you by name, but I appreciate it. So drop a comment or review.

3 Days Later.

Abrum sat with his back against the tree, not even breathing hard any more. He had stopped really breathing hard after the day previous. His grueling training had finally come to an end. His beautiful stats were increased to their former glory. He had found that the pain was much less during the night due to the fact his stats increased, making the training easier.

He found that his stats were increased by 200% because currently, the moon was full in the night. Despite the incredible increase, the increase in training wasn’t nearly as significant as one would think. This was because his blood could not be used to shorten the resting time during the night. If one recalls, the Silver Blood is a potent healing agent during the day time, but at night, it becomes an even more potent aphrodisiac. Abrum almost experienced the night-time effects of the blood on the first night. He was reminded of this danger when he was reviewing his status window.

Abrum watched the setting sun as he sat under the tree, his bare back scraping against the tree.

‘I really need to get new pants and a shirt…’ thought Abrum as he pulled out the last of his rations from his inventory. Smiling as the warm light of the dying, he reviewed his status window, which bore the fruits of his efforts.

Status WindowName:AbrumAlignment:NeutralLevel:1Class:Moon StriderRace:Silver AngaellisGender:MaleTitlesSuperb ChefFame:NoneInfamy:None-Health:3500 / 3500[/ tr][tr]Mana:100 / 100Stamina:5000 / 5000Moonlight Energy:2534-Strength:600 (-300)Agility:240 (-120)Satiety10 % (Currently Eating…)Intelligence:10 (-5)Vitality:400 (-200)Leadership:10 (-5)Luck:-5

He smiled and noted that his meticulous, systematic, and grueling training had been successful, making his stats even greater than when he lost them. His stamina had been expanded from the repetitive, arduous training. The fact that he only took short breaks, and very few of those forced his vitality stat to expand to survive. His health had been expanded from the constant punishment that his muscles and hands took for four days straight.

(Note: Vitality: Increases rate at which stamina and health recover naturally

Intelligence: Increases rate at which mana recovers

Strength: Increases upper body strength

Agility: Increases lower body strength as well as the rapidity at which the entire body moves)

Abrum took a look at his hands which were deeply scarred. The wounds had been healed by the blood, however, due to the rapidity and frequency that the blood was used, some of the wounds were left as scars. Abrum could only barely see the wolf’s paw on his palm that he had received from Fenrir. He didn’t regret it a single bit though.

On the condition that he would pick up the katana. If he was honest with himself, Abrum knew he had been stalling on picking up the weapon. He stayed sitting, but stared at the sheathed katana.

Abrum reached out his hand. It hovered over the sheathed katana, shaking slightly. The pain of the experience came back fresh in his mind. The burning pain in his abdomen. The moonlight infusing into his blood stream, which felt as if his very veins were set aflame. He became hesitant, unwilling to pick up the katana.

But… then that moment crossed his mind. That cursed moment that was enshrined in his mind. The sight of Lilith in the guardian’s maw. Her piercing scream of pain. The crimson rain. The look in her eyes pierced Abrum right in the heart. The look in those eyes would never leave him. Instead of anger or disappointment, they were filled with trust. Trust in Abrum. Even in the jaws of the guardian, her eyes showed nothing but trust. She had put her trust in him even in the jaws of death.

‘How can I stop here?’

Abrum’s hand stabilized and decisively grabbed the sheath. Picking it up, he observed the lining on the sheath. He watched the ribbon attentively for any movement. No response was shown.

Abrum’s apprehension faded significantly at the lack of the response. The very next thing was his curiosity. What was this weapon and what were the stats? Abrum, using the identification skill came up with an unexpected box.

The status window for this weapon is hidden. It is only for those who know the name of the weapon.

In spite of himself, he became even more curious. He thought about it, and then brought up his message history until he came to the particular message box he was looking for.

For your unique class, it is required that you wield the sentient katana, Tsuki, as your primary weapon.

Abrum pulled up the locked window and said a single word.

“Tsuki.”

The window disappeared, and in its place appeared not one, but four boxes.

Tsuki is the name of the weapon passed down through generations of Moon Striders. A weapon that was able to control the light and dark of the night. A single entity in the beginning until a terrible, unspeakable tragedy occurred. This event caused the personality and form of Tsuki to splinter into two parts. The blade took upon the name Tsuki no Hikari. The sheath took upon the name Tsuki no Yami.

Tsuki no HikariMoonlight Energy:0 /100Damage:20-30Level:1Tsuki no Hikari possesses a personality completely devoid of the concept of consequences. This personality will do whatever it takes to eliminate the enemy, even at the expense of the user, cold and logically. This is because this personality inherited the strong drive of the origin, but not the people skills of its origin or the moral compass. This personality inherited the light capabilities from the origin, Tsuki.Iaijutsu no HikariThe first strike after drawn from Tsuki no Yami will convert 100 Moonlight Energy in the blade into damage. Conversion will increase when the blade levels up.Reaction to SeperationIf Tsuki no Hikari does not return to its sheath, Tsuki no Yami, within ten seconds after its drawing, the residue of the Moonlight energy will manifest violently and uncontrollably.

Tsuki no YamiYoru Energy:LockedDamage:10-15Level:1Tsuki no Yami possesses a personality that is unmotivated, but enjoys manipulating people’s minds. This is because this personality inherited the people skills, but not the strong drive or moral compass of the origin. This personality inherited the dark capabilities of the originYoru no YamiIf striking a target with the sheath, Tsuki no Yami, 10 Yoru Energy will be consumed and the target will be afflicted with a blind debuff for 10 seconds. Time for blind debuff will increase when sheath levels up.Reaction to SeperationIf Tsuki no Yami is not reunited with its blade, Tsuki no Yami, within ten seconds, the Yoru Energy will run rampant, causing an incredibly infectious madness to spread.

The personalities of Tsuki no Hiraki and Tsuki no Yami will not manifest unless they are separated for too long. The goal of the Moon Striders for the past generations is to reunite the two splinter personalities into the origin, Tsuki.

50% of experience gained will be relegated and then equally divided between Tsuki no Hiraki and Tsuki no Yami.

This was a lot of information for Abrum to absorb. The experience relegation would not affect his adventure much at all. He never relied on things like levels to increase his stats. The one thing that was did catch his eye was the Reaction to Seperation. The ten second time limit effectively forced him choose a different sword style.

‘It can’t be the Hyoho Niten Ichu-Ryu, I don’t have a wakizashi. The style that closest suits these particular circumstances would be Muso Jikiden Eishen-Ryu.’

This style is a focused upon the rapidity of the unsheathing, striking, and then resheathing. In essence, it was a quick draw style. It was the art. A style that emphasized resheathing the blade between each technique. It was an art that turned a sheathed weapon into an instrument of death in. Abrum, the character would have no experience with this whatsoever; however, Sameul possessed vast amounts of knowledge pertaining to sword styles. Sameul’s uncle had been an avid enthusiast of sword styles outside of his corporate job. His uncle, who spent a lot of time with his brother’s family, taught Sameul about many different sword styles.

Abrum stood up and walked to the middle of the clearing, holding the katana by his side. He was slightly sweating. Although his knowledge of the sword style was extensive, it was only theoretical.

‘Ten second limit… the basic So Makuri should only take 4 seconds with this body…That’s a six second margin of error… Well that’s comforting.’

Abrum breathed in. He gripped the hilt of Tsuki no Hikari and pulled quickly.

His katana glowed a silvery white. It danced up and down the beautiful blade.

100 Moonlight Energy consumed

He raised the sword quickly and made a diagonal slash, the silvery light making a line through the night air.

He raised the sword again and slashed diagonally in the opposite direction. No line of silvery light.

1 second

He then did a horizontal slash, and then another going the opposite direction

2 seconds

He then performed a slash to the legs. He returned to his natural standing position.

3 seconds

He tried to put the katana back in, but he missed the opening

4 seconds

Fumbling with the katana, Abrum tried to replace the katana.

5 seconds

6 seconds

7 seconds

8 seconds

Finally finding the opening, Abrum hurriedly sheathed the katana.

Shaking his head, Abrum made a decision in his mind.

‘That took too long. I guess I need to make a new technique.’

One might say this was impossible, but Abrum possessed an unusual sort of circumstance. He possessed the knowledge of numerous sword styles. These resources would give him a solid foundation, but also allow for modification.

Thus, Abrum went to work constructing his new style.

*Training Center*

(Still three days later)

Aleqe sat in the center of the training hall, observing the twins as they swung their training naginata’s.

The day after the paint fight, while they were eating breakfast in the back room, Aleqe proposed they both train with the naginata. Bella immediately accepted. She was tired of the painting, and painting, and painting. It always seemed to end up in her hair or her tail, and she couldn’t figure out how it always fell there.

Tella was a lot more uncooperative. Tella wanted to play the tail paint game more. This game sprouted from Tella’s boredom, since Bella always needed to be taught by Aleqe. The objective of the game was to get paint on Bella’s tail without her noticing. Tella hadn’t been noticed yet and she wanted to continue the game!

Aleqe pulled Tella aside for few seconds, and started to whisper something into her fox ears softly. In a few seconds, Tella came back with a stupid grin on her face, and she was ready to train. Bella didn’t know what was whispered, but she was happy to be done painting.

Thus, they had been training with the naginata for the past three days. From the paint fight, Aleqe knew the two twins had opposite specializations. However, those specializations complemented each other nicely.

Tella specialized in attack. She did not care for extravagant things like feints. Instead, she relied on her speed to make her thrusts and slashes deadly. She also relied upon it to block incoming attacks. She was weak to feints since she attacked mostly upon instinct.

Bella specialized in defense. She was not as fast as her sister, but she was infinitely more wily with her defense and attacks. She relied upon her incredibly fast mind to predict the enemy’s movement based upon the body language and positions of the enemy. Though, after a certain speed, her mind could not keep up and she was overwhelmed.

They were each other’s kryptonite.

Aleqe decided to let them improve by sparring with one another for three reasons.

1: They would familiarize themselves with each other’s combat style, and allow them to work as an efficient team in the future

2: Since their specializations were the weakness of the other, letting them spar against one another would allow them the opportunity to shore up their weaknesses

3: Aleqe did not have to do anything except give little pointers. Minimal work at maximum efficiency!

They had progressed quite nicely. The match that Aleqe was currently overseeing was comparable to a hurricane. Tella was thrusting her shaft at incredibly speeds while Bella was moving her blade in smooth long arcs.

Aleqe smiled and watched the match contentedly.