In the silence that followed Cassie's words, the bright smile on her face slowly faded away, replaced by uncertainty. Her delicate fingers tightened around the hem of her sleeve as she sensed the sudden tension spreading through the group.
"Uh… what's wrong?"
Sunny let out a long sigh and rubbed his forehead.
"No, nothing is wrong. It's just… that direction is the one we originally wanted to avoid."
After a mont of hesitation, he added in a quieter tone:
"That's where I ca from yesterday. There are a lot of scavengers wandering around there."
Cassie's expression instantly fell.
"Oh…"
The atmosphere beca heavy once again.
The Forgotten Shore was not a place where people could casually walk toward danger simply because hope happened to be waiting beyond it. Even the faintest mistake could easily beco fatal.
Nephis, who had been silently listening to the conversation the entire ti, finally shifted her gaze toward Cassie. Her pale grey eyes remained unreadable as always.
"Tell us more about the castle."
Hearing her question, a trace of excitent returned to Cassie's face. She straightened slightly and nodded.
"I saw a vast ruined city built entirely from ancient stone. Everything looked old… older than anything I've ever imagined. The walls surrounding it were enormous, almost like mountains themselves. They were cracked and weathered, but they still stood proudly, as though refusing to collapse even after countless years."
Her voice slowly beca steadier as she spoke.
"The streets inside the city were filled with monsters. So wandered aimlessly while others fought each other. I rember hearing distant screams and the sound of claws scraping against stone…"
Cassie paused briefly before continuing.
"But at the center of the city, there was a hill. And on top of that hill stood a magnificent castle."
A faint smile appeared on her face.
"There were no monsters inside the castle. Instead… there were people."
She lied smoothly, without even the slightest stutter.
Deep inside, Cassie silently prayed that concealing the truth would not eventually lead her toward a terrible future.
"I think… no, I'm certain they were Awakened. So guarded the walls while others carried supplies around the castle. I saw people talking, laughing, eating together… they looked safe."
Sunny blinked.
Safe.
That single word sounded almost unreal inside the cursed darkness of the Forgotten Shore.
"There was food," Cassie continued softly. "Warmth. Shelter. Nobody looked terrified all the ti."
Sunny unconsciously clenched his fists.
'That sounds too good to be true…'
Still, if such a place truly existed, then perhaps there was hope after all.
He cleared his throat.
"Did you see anything else?"
Cassie frowned slightly as she tried to rember.
Then her face brightened.
"Yes! I saw the five of us walking toward the hill together."
She smiled brightly.
"That ans we survive long enough to reach it!"
The joy on her doll-like face was so pure and sincere that even Sunny found himself smiling faintly.
Nephis, however, remained calm and unreadable.
After thinking for a while, she finally nodded.
"Then we go west."
As soon as those words were spoken, nobody argued.
Even Sunny silently agreed.
After all, no matter how dangerous the journey was, wandering aimlessly through the Forgotten Shore was no different from waiting for death.
Several days passed after Cassie's vision.
The group slowly advanced westward through the ruined landscape of the Forgotten Shore.
The journey itself was exhausting.
Ancient coral forests stretched endlessly beneath the crimson sky, while shattered ruins occasionally erged from the fog like forgotten graves of a dead civilization. Sotis they encountered Nightmare Creatures wandering alone.
Yet strangely enough, their teamwork gradually improved.
Or rather…
Senrix forced it to improve.
At that very mont, Senrix stood before Sunny, Nephis, and Cassie near a quiet section of a humongous crimson coral. His crimson eyes calmly observed the three of them while Elysia sat nearby lazily eating dried at and enjoying the spectacle.
The Gray-haired young man crossed his arms before speaking.
"Mastery of combat can be divided into two parts. The body… and the mind."
His voice was calm and steady.
"Training the body is difficult, but simple. Repetition. Experience. Adaptation. Those are the foundations."
He picked up a broken sword lying nearby and spun it casually in his hand.
"In battle, people do not have ti to think about every movent. A real fight happens too quickly. If you need to consciously think before every attack, then you are already dead."
The broken blade suddenly stopped spinning.
"That is why technique must sink into your muscles and bones until it becos instinct itself."
The three quietly listened.
"You can achieve the basics through repetition alone," Senrix continued. "But true mastery only cos through surviving real battles. Experience tempers the body far more effectively than practice ever could."
His eyes narrowed slightly.
"A thousand hours of training will never equal the value of one fight where your life is genuinely on the line."
Sunny frowned thoughtfully.
At first, the statent sounded ridiculous.
After all, Legacies spent years training under experts.
But then he rembered the brief clash between Senrix and Nephis.
The terrifying pressure.
The overwhelming instinctive movents.
The absolute difference in combat awareness.
Perhaps Senrix truly understood sothing they did not.
anwhile, Senrix looked at the three of them with visible disappointnt.
"Right now, your teamwork is terrible."
Sunny imdiately frowned.
Cassie awkwardly lowered her head.
Nephis simply stared at him silently.
"One of you can barely fight properly," Senrix continued while glancing at Cassie. "And the other two constantly try to kill enemies alone instead of cooperating."
Sunny coughed lightly.
Nephis remained expressionless.
Elysia giggled quietly from the side.
Senrix ignored them and continued speaking.
"Training the mind, however, is far more complicated."
His tone grew more serious.
"Once soone reaches a certain level of skill, combat no longer begins with the body."
He tapped his forehead lightly.
"It begins here."
The wind quietly swept across the ruins.
"The outco of a fight is often decided before either person even moves."
Sunny's expression slowly beca serious.
"To master the mind," Senrix said quietly, "you must first understand the essence of combat itself."
He looked directly at them.
"Very few people ever truly understand that."
For a few monts, silence filled the area.
Then Senrix finally asked:
"What do you think the essence of combat is?"
The question stunned them.
Sunny instinctively wanted to laugh the question off.
The essence of combat?
What kind of vague nonsense was that supposed to an?
Still…
After everything he had witnessed from Senrix so far, he knew the man was being serious.
Sunny lowered his gaze and thought deeply.
If this had been another Legacy asking the question, he might have answered with aningless words like:
honor.
duty.
glory.
But Senrix clearly wasn't asking about ideals.
After a long pause, Cassie softly answered first.
"Victory."
At almost the exact sa mont, Sunny quietly said:
"Survival."
Then Nephis spoke.
"Murder."
The three answers overlapped together.
Elysia nearly choked on her food trying not to laugh.
Yet Senrix simply nodded calmly.
"All three answers are correct."
The trio looked at him in confusion.
Senrix slowly walked forward.
"Every fighting style possesses its own core."
His voice remained calm.
"So fight to survive. So fight to destroy. So fight to protect. Others fight to dominate."
He looked directly at Sunny.
"If soone who values survival forces themselves to fight for honor instead, they beco weaker."
Then he turned toward Nephis.
"If soone born to destroy restrains themselves behind hesitation, they beco incomplete."
Finally, he looked toward Cassie.
"And if soone who sees victory abandons foresight for brute force, they throw away their greatest strength."
The three quietly listened.
"There is no universal essence of combat," Senrix said softly. "Each person possesses their own."
For the first ti since the lesson began, his crimson eyes seed to burn slightly brighter.
"My essence of combat is devastation."
The atmosphere around him subtly changed.
"Whether ally or enemy. Whether righteous or evil. Whether monster or human…"
A faint heat spread through the air.
"I will burn through everything that dares stand in my path."
Silence filled the ruins.
Even Sunny instinctively swallowed.
Then Senrix calmly spoke once more.
"Now think carefully."
He pointed toward their weapons.
"Think about your abilities. Your instincts. Your experiences."
His voice lowered slightly.
"And answer again."
The three slowly fell into thought.
Even Elysia stopped joking around and quietly observed them.
After a long while—
Cassie spoke first while tightly gripping the azure sword Senrix had given her.
"Foresight."
Sunny slowly tightened his hold on his own blade.
"Freedom."
Nephis quietly lowered her gaze.
"Purification."
The mont those words were spoken, sothing invisible seed to resonate faintly within the air itself.
Senrix slowly nodded.
"If you understand that much… then you have already taken the first step toward mastering the mind."
His words quietly sank deep into their hearts.
Especially Sunny's.
Sothing within him stirred.
Sothing ancient.
Sothing sleeping.
Unknown to everyone present, the three of them had unknowingly taken the very first step toward awakening their Aspect Legacies.
User Comments
0 comments from readers