Chronicles of Forgotten Extra - Chapter 81

Chapter 81: Training Chapter 81: Training Alden calmly scanned his katana.

He already had information about how to handle all bladed weapons-the weapon art made sure of it.

But knowledge was not experience.

Sevenfold Ruin was a weapon art and not a sword art.

It wasn’t designed for just one weapon but could be adapted to any bladed one.

His inherited knowledge filled his mind, detailing every movement, every form.

A longsword wielded it with raw destruction.

But a katana?

A katana leaned more into speed and precision.

Alden swung the katana a few times, adjusting his grip slightly.

The balance was different.

It felt lighter.

It suited Sevenfold Ruin’s chaotic nature far better.

Yes.

This was the right choice.

For now.

There was no need to overcomplicate things by trying to master every weapon at once.

If he couldn’t control even one weapon properly, what was the point in mastering many?

A katana would be his blade.

His starting point.

His foundation.

Once he had mastered it, then he could think about using other weapons.

But first, He needed to train.

Among the vast knowledge Alden had inherited, there were fragments of insight left behind by previous successors.

Each previous successor had wielded the weapon art in their own way.

Some had chosen greatswords, turning each strike into an earth-shattering force.

Others had used daggers, adding destruction into every fast movement.

But among them, one stood out to Alden.

The third successor.

Raizen Kurogane.

The only successor who used a katana.

According to the inherited memories, Raizen was known as The Silent Ruin.

Alden didn’t have much information about anything else other than the names and titles of past successors.

And most importantly, their insights.

Raizen’s insights were very useful to him.

They were precise and honed, refined through years of his experience.

He had recorded all the information about how he used the weapon art at each step.

Although Alden could only access insights about the first step at his current level.

Raizen had refined the first step,] Ruinous Severance] into a specific technique most suitable for Katana.

A quick-draw technique.

It was still [Ruinous Severance] at its essence, and only the method to use it was changed with some added insights.

According to the insight, he had to flare his mana two times just slightly enough to not disrupt the resonance.

The first time he is going to draw, which will help him increase his speed.

And the second time at the moment of contact, which will increase the severing effect of the technique.

Summarising the information, he took a stance.

He held the katana in a quick-draw-style position.

The katana rested at his side, as if still sheathed.

He didn’t have a sheath for it yet, but he just treated it like it was sheathed for now.

He was going to buy a sheath afterwards.

Right now, his focus was only on the technique.

This was nothing like his previous weapons.

He was used to heavier blades.

He focused.

Mana flowed into his katana, as he could feel the Sword of Chaos hum with energy.

A sweat started to form on his temples as he concentrated to the utmost extent trying to sync his mana with ambient mana.

Currently for him, it took all his focus to do that.

Soon enough he tapped into ambient mana flow as he tried to match mana in his sword with that flow.

Only after a few minutes did he succeed.

He inhaled.

Finally, The world slowed down.

Then- He quickly slashed horizontally with his sword as if drawing it from the nonexistent sheath.

The katana flashed.

Sever.

But nothing happened.

The training dummy… remained standing with a small scratch.

Alden blinked.

He knew he had cut it.

He had felt the strike.

And yet- Only a scratch.

His grip tightened as he understood what he had done wrong.

My movements are too forced.

My wrists were too awkward while swinging the sword.

But it was to be expected, as this was the first time he had even wielded a katana.

The small wavering of my hand while swinging is disrupting the flow.

My swing should be without hesitation.

The small wavering in my hand is disrupting the flow.

A quick-draw technique should be fluid.

Without hesitation.

There was one more important issue.

My timing is off as well.

But it was harder than it was mentioned.

He tried again, and this time he flared his mana right at the time of draw, and he was successful as his strike accelerated.

His movement became uncontrolled, but he still followed the pathway to sever.

Just as the sword was about to connect with the dummy, he tried to flare his mana, but due to the acceleration of the sword, his timing got off by just one second.

The dummy was hit, but instead of severing cleanly, the blade clashed against it, sending a reverberating shock through his arm.

Alden exhaled.

He was feeling irritated.

Every time he got one timing right, the other was messing up.

This wasn’t like before.

When he had tried the first step with a longsword, even imperfect strikes had been effective.

Because back then, he wasn’t following any sophisticated techniques.

He was just forcing through it.

But this technique with the help of insight?

This demanded perfection.

No hesitation.

No wasted motion.

And precise timing.

If he managed to perfect it, this could be more devastating than just brute-forcing the technique.

He tried it a few more times.

Sometimes the cuts were too shallow.

Sometimes too imprecise.

Or sometimes even worse, as he couldn’t even activate Ruinous Severance properly at all.

His body was covered in sweat.

He had never struggled like this before.

Not even when he first started learning how to wield the longsword.

Alden wiped the sweat from his brow, breathing out slowly.

No.

I am approaching this wrong.

A katana wasn’t meant to be swung like a longsword.

It wasn’t about brute force-it was about flow.

The flow of mana.

The flow of movement.

He relaxed his body as he got into the stance one last time.

One last try.

His mana was nearly depleted.

It was only enough for one last try.

But this time… he didn’t force the blade.

He let it move.

He inhaled.

Mana coursed through his body, syncing with the blade.

Then- Draw A blur of motion.

Sever.

The sword passed through the dummy cleanly without any resistance.

For a moment, nothing happened.

Then- A clean, thin line spread across the dummy’s surface.

Alden watched as, this time, the dummy didn’t explode or crumble into dust.

It’s simply… split into two halves.

The two halves slid apart slowly.

Alden exhaled.

Not perfect yet.

But this time, he had felt it.

A glimpse of what the technique was meant to be.

His lips curled into a faint smirk.

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