Felix then asked the Guide to show him the descriptions of the technique first before each skill.

[Stage 2: Riverborne Technique

Description: Sword strikes are now guided by internal energy, like a river shaping its path.

Skills:

River Strike Lv1: Your sword has been infused with energy, piercing basic defenses.

Wave Step Lv1: You move with momentum like small waves, slowly overwhelming your opponent.]

Felix was vividly excited. He raised Rain and infused him with concentrated water energy.

A layer of concentrated water energy appeared, an inch thicker than before. Felix swept his gaze and his eyes landed at a huge trunk, lying on the ground.

It was twice thicker than his own body, perfect to test the sharpness of his sword.

He walked towards it under the curious gaze of Moon following him behind.

Once he stepped closer to the huge trunk, he didn’t hesitate to swing his sword downward.

To his surprise, he didn’t feel any sort of resistance at all as his sword smoothly cut through the trunk until the tip of the sword dug through the soil.

Felix was dumbfounded. He pulled his sword and crouched, caressing the huge trunk.

It was hard. He knocked on its ragged surface and his knuckled reddened after a while.

Felix was astonished. He glanced at Rain and beamed a smile.

He had grown stronger than before, able to smoothly cut through a huge trunk. With Rain, he might even be able to defend himself against a beast on the Lord rank—granted, he could react swiftly.

He turned towards Moon and was about to celebrate with him when he saw her staring at the huge trunk with widened eyes.

Felix chuckled. Moon sensed his intent and swiftly moved towards him and leapt on his shoulder.

For the rest of the night, Felix celebrated his milestone with his beast pet, meditating and working hard than before.

...

For the remaining last week of June, Felix invested most of his time cultivating his skills to reach the maximum level.

After he reached the Commander Rank, every time he meditated, he would dream of the grey silhouette and the river. The grey silhouette didn’t swing a sword once and simply stared at the direction of the river.

For the last day of June, Felix successfully maxed out his skill. The last dream he had before gaining enlightenment in the dream was for the river to finally reach its destination—dissolving on the ocean.

Felix was mesmerized. At the same time, he barely heard the Guide’s voice echoing in his mind.

[Congratulations for leveling up your skills to the maximum level.]

However, the grey silhouette’s voice caught his attention.

"Countless rain drops carve stone, but a flowing river carves a path that was once filled with mountains and trees. Strike like a flowing river, only disappearing when its mission has been accomplished."

Felix turned towards him and the grey silhouette beamed a smile.

"So must your sword flow—yielding, adapting, and striking where resistance fails."

The dream shattered and Felix opened his eyes. 𝕗𝐫𝐞𝕖𝕨𝐞𝗯𝚗𝕠𝘃𝐞𝚕.𝐜𝗼𝚖

Dawn arrived. Its golden dusk painted the horizon and its gleaming sunlight warmth Felix’s skin.

Despite staying all night to meditate and practicing his sword from time to time, Felix was filled with vigor.

Perhaps, after reaching Commander rank, he didn’t need to sleep regularly—in fact, five hours was enough on the condition he was not totally exhausted.

Felix sat on the floor. Moon sat on his shoulder, thrice as heavy compared to when she was a kitten. Nevertheless, Felix already grew accustomed to her weight.

He sheathed Rain and placed him on his lap.

They sat in silence, enjoying the warmth of the sun—except, Moon.

"Guide, please show me the descriptions of my current skills.

Skills:

River Strike Lv3: Your strike can now curve and flow unpredictably, hitting blind spots.

Wave Step Lv3: You move with near-instantaneous flow, like a wave crashing where you will.]

Felix beamed a smile. Not only he was exhilarated to know the effects of the River Strike, the Wave Step amazed him, as well.

It was not just a simple instantaneous relocation movement technique, there was also a dramatic impact ending at the destination.

In other words, as the surged of energy flow through his body to move at an extreme speed, the momentum of those energy would turn into an impact, similar to a wave crushing down on the land.

If his enemy could still block it, then the River Strike would finish them, as the sword energy would curve and flew, hitting their blindspot.

Felix was stronger at this point.

Out of nowhere, he thought of Krisha.

He smiled.

I wonder how strong she has gotten now?

Felix recalled three days ago, Krisha had finally caught up to him, reaching Commander rank. She hadn’t informed him since then.

She was obviously similar to Felix, working hard to continue proving each other they were worthy as rivals.

Honestly, Felix was surprised. In a span of week, he had maximized his skills’ levels. The dream that the grey silhouette showed, according to Guide, was to test his comprehension skill.

The Guide had also praised his comprehension skill.

Felix turned towards Moon and caressed her head.

He asked, "Tomorrow, we’ll finally be fighting against stronger opponent. Not only you’ll be facing two beasts at once, it might even be three. Are you ready to take them head on?"

Moon meowed indifferently. Yes.

Felix chuckled.

Rain’s voice filled with depressed tone echoed in his mind.

"Master, can I still not join?"

Felix smiled helplessly at Rain and caressed the sheath.

He said, "It won’t be enjoyable, really. You’re too stronger, Rain. However, there will be a time that I will face a tougher opponent and you might even find it difficult to cut through their body. Only then, you’d find excitement, Rain.

For now, let’s patiently wait for that opponent to come, okay?"

Rain finally simmered down after hearing what his master had said.

He replied in a jubilant tone, "Okay, Master!"

Felix beamed a smile and nodded.

Once the sun had fully appeared, Felix returned Moon to her beast quarters to fully rest and Rain on his weapon rack.

Afterwards, for the next straight seven hours, he slept.

===

A/N: Thanks for reading! Don’t forget to show your supports by giving golden tickets, powerstones, and reviews! It means a lot since this is participating for WSA.