Lores sat in Lotus style, his eyes resolutely shut in meditation. Driven by his desire to make progress on his magical prowess, he spontaneously submitted to the tutorship of the sage.

"Focus and feel the primordial energy of the sun incorporate your energy vessels. Do not breath too hard. Your breathe should be in rhythm with the rays of the sun; stable and tranquil. Open your heart to the sensation as they explore your body." The sage caressed his beard while enlightening the boy.

Lores absorbed every words of the sage in compliance with the first set of diagrams sketched on the vellum sheet. After a few minutes of absolute concentration, Lores started emitting soft waves of light blue essence energy, a testament of his elemental affinity. The sage smiled when he espied it. The potentiality of Lores was incapable of being ignored.

The transcendental waves left his body like a holy mahasattva while he sat stock still. He willed for his sword to come, and the weapon flew straight away to his grip. With a smirk, he opened his eyes and rose to his feet. Now it was time to practice the other sketches made by the sage. After experiencing a palpable elevation in preternatural strength, he would take a stab at channelling his essence energy to his weapon again.

"You're now in your warrior state." The sage announced to their elation. "The potency of a mage's essence energy is determined by their stage. You will practice as per the directives I have written to enhance your essence energy. How potent can a mage's essence energy be?" The sage looked serious as if puzzled by his own question. He swayed his eyes to the aloof bamboo plantation.

Lores witnessed the emergence of a wind. The sage's hand was shrouded in energy, suggesting an impending catastrophe. With a palm strike, a blast of energy cratered into the bamboo plantation with an exertion 10 times the force of gravity and destroyed it, the stems slumping down on the earth. 

Lores was left agape. Somehow, it reminded him of Idrissa. When was he going to attain such potent essence energy? The sage just continued teaching as if nothing happened.

"That's the impact of a potent essence energy." The sage noticed the gloomy look on his student. He discerned the root of the emotion and conciliated kindly. "Kid, you were able to advance into the stage of familiarity at a very short period of time. You've also tapped into your warrior state with ease. Surely, you will improve in invincibility. It's only a matter of time."

Lores smiled and nodded at his master. He was emboldened. He took the other set of vellum sheets from his master and peered at them one after the other. The sage gave him ample time to study each sheet with care. On the sheets, Lores was studying were sketched a mage practicing several sword moves, the description and significance written underneath it.

After a good while of studying the sheets, Lores took a deep breath and brandished his sword to prepare himself. He did a three-arc combo as per the sketches; horizontal, vertical and horizontal again. It was expected that having tapped into his warrior state, those moves will transcend the limits of ordinariness.

"Repeat the moves for a thousand times. You may improvise." The sage said casually, indifferent to the weight of his words.

"HUH?!?" Was all Lores could utter. He blinked vigorously, hoping he had heard wrongly. A whole 1000 times! He wasn't a marionette for goodness sake!

The sage did not bother to consider the mountain Lores was climbing in his head. He just stroked his beard without replying while staring elsewhere. Lores did not have much choices since he was bent on progress. Besides, he trusted his master. There must certainly be an impact with respect to the swords moves he sketched. Lores sighed hushedly and dove right in to practice.

The sage left for a shade to take a good nap.

Lores swung his sword relentlessly until he couldn't feel his arms any longer. He spun his body as he arced through the air with his sword. The speed of the swiping sound of his sword gradually swelled with every passing moment as he sweated buckets.

It was getting close to 1000th three-arc combo and Lores was still wielding his sword tirelessly. He had done all the improvisations he could think of with regards to his body movements. Still, Lores was undaunted in waiting for a manifestation.

Suddenly, Lores' movements started leading to waves of heavy pressurized air. Lores was invigorated when he noticed the manifestation. He kept on swinging his sword to buy more time for the preternatural impact.

Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh!

The invisible mark on his forehead glinted. He jumped and twirled horizontally, his speed on another level. Every other thing about him leapt to another level. The feeling he once experienced in Red Moth Village was finally back. A victorious smirk marked his face.

The sage woke up due to the vigorous noises. His eyes met the extraordinary effect of his student's exertions. Fierce gales of wind could be seen setting around Lores. The air around him had already become a blur.

"The celestial manifestation of a divine swordsmanship. Swords are instruments of endurance and precision. This is the bedrock of my sketches. Swords and secrets. You have mastered the mystic blade of Asura." The sage commented in a tamed awe. "You can now have a good rest."

But Lores was submerged in the mood of swordsmanship. Despite already achieving the skill from his painstaking practice, he never ceased in swinging his sword. The sage started considering the atmospheric pressure mounted by the boy and frowned.

"That's enough already. Are you going to pull down my house?" The sage queried, though there was no significant rudeness in his tone.

Lores stopped momentarily to see the sage standing in front of him. He smirked at the treacherous thought that blossomed in his heart. How effective can the mystic blade of Asura be in combat? Lores wouldn't know unless he tested his new swordsmanship technique on his master.

Lores pointed his sword and glided midair towards the sage. The sage stood calmly like a millpond, awaiting to be pierced. Just when Lores' sword was a hair's breathe away from his master, he lost sight of that old man. Lores knitted a brow in question. Someone poked him from behind. He turned and saw his master with a look of resentment on his face.

"You're going to test your newly attained swordsmanship on your master as a thank you? Jeez, what a troublesome kid."

Lores smiled haughtily. "Master, there's a prevalent thing among young people called curiosity. Please pardon my rudeness." Lores responded with a gesture that suggested he wasn't really at fault. Apart from testing his swordmanship, Lores also wanted to spar with his master to evaluate how strong he had grown.

"But I don't spar with kids. I have lived for more than two centuries to be fit for that." The sage said with his own haughty smile. A contortion coloured Lores' face.

"Master, it's not good to look down on your student. You said I could become a great mage. Why not give me a try?"

The sage only snorted a 'hmm'. It reminded him of how he sparred with Shawlunge many years ago. "Let's see what you're capable of." The sage invited.

Lores lunged with gusto. He would be more alert this time around as opposed to earlier when the sage appeared behind him like a ghost, inflicting a terrible blow to his acuity. That was an automatic loss for him.

The sage deflected Lores' swiping sword with his energy-embedded hand. As Lores raged a barrage of robust swings, the sage deflected each with ease. They both utilized ample amount of energy, leaving a blurry surrounding in its wake.

Lores tried a keen tilt but the sage stagnated his sword using his first two fingers. The sage's smile was pure and free of the slightest exhaustion, as if he hadn't expended any energy at all. While Lores' face was strained, the sage gave him a palm strike which blasted him away. Even with the potency of the strike, he could still tell that the sage was lenient.

Lores saw the insignificant impact his moves had on the sage despite that the old sage had yet to launch an offensive. He had to change tactics. His melee attacks failed to yield the desired result. He would try from range.

He spread his palm and imbued his essence energy on his sword, refining it with a faint blue glow. The diamond shaped mark glinted once more. The sage had a mixture of interest and amazement on his face.

"What was that on your head?"

"I don't know. It just appears sometimes." Lores cluelessly answered. The sage wore a thoughtful look. It was a mysterious occurrence, a puzzling one that needed attention to prove his thoughts. He hoped to be wrong but somehow also right. He did not tell Lores the meaning of the mark.

The youth saw his master looking emotionally thoughtful. He didn't want to carry a sneak attack on his master, for it was considered a petty trick of no dignity, so he called him back to reality.

"Master." He called out of concern. The sage waved away his train of thoughts with a benign smile. "Kid, you were going to use your trump card."

Lores wore back his challenge mode gaze, his lips curving upward with an idea of treachery.

He artfully flaunted his sword, gyrated and swung it aggressively. A light shade of blue mist fled from his sword's edge. The sage twirled to evade.

Lores artfully made five dormant slashes in the air, and flung them using his sword. Five arcs of blue mist simulating the edge of a scythe flew towards their victim. They were impeded by a barrier willed by the sage before dissipating.

Lores, however, was not dampened. He jumped at a great height, holding his sword with both hands. He initiated a vertical arc destined to slice the sage into two. With only a hand gesture, Lores was suspended midair by the sage. His face strained as he tried to unbound himself from the force holding him, but his effort was fruitless. He reinforced his essence energy and eventually broke away from the force, his mark glinting in the wake of it.

"YAAAAAHHHHHH!!!!" Lores yelled, descending with all his might to obliterate anything in sight. The sage's eyes shone. The descending figure enshrouded in fatal waves was no longer his innocent student but an embodiment of calamity. But with superior strength and years of experience, he struck in time with an ample amount of energy using his palm. A burst of energy blasted Lores away and crashed him onto the ground.

The sage was moved. His eyes were affixed on Lores with vigilance. "Kid, I can barely tell what strange phenomenon you're exhibiting, but you've really improved. You made me use nearly thirty percent of my powers. I must commend you." The sage smilingly complimented.

Though it was a defeat on the side of Lores, he was elated by how far he pushed the sage. His lips spread  slowly into a smile.