Impenetrable Dungeon - Chapter 16

Marcus took in a deep breath and sat down. It had been a long time since he had used Sword Soul and he was a little rusty so it took a lot out of him to execute it once again. Furthermore, he went beyond the realm of Sword Soul which even more out of him. Fortunately, it was just physical exhaustion which can be easily solved with a few spells. He cast [Rejuvenation] on himself and his body soon recovered to his peak. He let out a smile as he held his sword once again. This sword had accompanied him since his birth and it was the only sword that he had used as he tried to find out the mysteries of the Path of the Sword. Unfortunately, the sword had been sealed and was unable to unleash its full powers. No matter how deep his comprehension of the Path of the Sword was, he couldn’t undo the seal that was placed on the sword. This was because the sword would only be able to be unsealed by a Primalborn that had unlocked his or her battle form. Otherwise, their body would be too weak and they would blow up from the power that the sword would provide them. He knew that the sword had a name and he wanted to dearly call its name but it has never told him its name. This was one of his few regrets in life. However, now that he was immortal lest the dungeon falls, he was determined to unseal this sword and let it experience the glory of being able to fight with a Primalborn that had his battle form unlocked. No, he wanted it to be able to fight beside the greatest warrior in existence. That was far off in the future and he would prepare for it but for now, he should focus on the task at hand.

Marcus took the Recording Crystal and had its data transferred to multiple other Recording Crystals. He decided that in the future anyone amongst his subordinates that wanted to traverse the Path of the Sword and learn how to use the sword would have access to this Recording Crystal. The original copy would remain with him and he would produce many other copies for his subordinates to use. He would also give a copy to his Honour Guards who want to learn the Path of the Sword. However, he would also give each of them their own personal Cultivation Techniques. A Cultivation Technique, basically put, was a compendium of Martial Skills that supplemented one another. Each move flowed to the other and they made a flawless skill. A Cultivation Technique is still classified as a Martial Skill despite it actually being many Martial Skills since the Martial Skills in a Cultivation Technique when broken down are less effective and are weaker. Therefore, masters think that it is an offence to call those individual techniques as Martial Skills. However, in a backwater world like the Dungeon World, each of those individual techniques could indeed be called Martial Skills.

Marcus first made a Cultivation Technique for Drathalsiel. Normally, what Marcus is doing would lead to the student being unable to reach the peak of the Path of the Sword. This is because the student is being limited and is unable to learn other sword styles. In the end, this would lead to the student being unable to fulfil their true potential. However, Marcus was sure this was going to work for two reasons. One, he was someone who had achieved the peak of the Path of the Sword and has even gone beyond it. Therefore, he was absolutely sure in his judgement and that his Honour Guards would not be able to find a more suitable style for themselves. Two, his Honour Guards were extremely talented and he believed that they would be able to reach the peak with any given style. Furthermore, his Cultivation Techniques allowed for slight changes and deviations so his Honour Guards could personalise them in the future when they have been enlightened and it wouldn’t jeopardise their potential or ruin the fluidity of the Cultivation Techniques.

The Cultivation Technique that he especially crafted for Drathalsiel is called Sword Legion. It was true to its name with most of the Martial Skills in it relating to attacking with multiple swords or using sword arrays or sword formations. He picked this Cultivation Technique for her as he thought it best suited her fighting style. Drathalsiel liked to be as flexible as she can in combat and she wanted to execute the right style to completely counter her opponent. This technique allowed her to execute different techniques with every sword and it also allowed her to execute multiple styles simultaneously. This would eventually give her a huge edge in battle as she would overwhelm her opponent with many different styles making it hard for them to find a weakness in all the styles. Furthermore, if she was able to train this to the peak, she would be able to make the different styles look like a single fluid style. This would confuse the opponent and lead them to think she was using a single style when in fact she was using multiples! In most cases, her opponent would have already fallen before they realise that she was actually using multiple styles.

Also, this Cultivation Technique provided flexibility in that she didn’t have to be grounded to fight. Most Martial Skills and Cultivation Techniques pertaining to the sword required for the user to be grounded. Only when the user has grown in power and able to compress the air beneath them to become similar to the ground would they be able to execute the techniques in the air. This would obviously limit Drathalsiel’s fighting capability since she had wings and was only natural that she use the wings to her advantage. If she was grounded wouldn’t she be just like a penguin? The wings would simply become a decoration! When she does eventually execute her techniques in the air, she would be doing it with the help of the compressed air. Her wings would still be useless!

There was also something special with this Cultivation Technique, In fact, there was something special with all the Cultivation Techniques that Marcus makes. Each individual move in the Cultivation Technique were Martial Skills! This wasn’t a Martial Skill that would be recognised only in the Dungeon World, but even those masters would recognise them as Martial Skills! This was unprecedented in history! Never has a Cultivation Technique been made with full-fledged Martial Skills! Only time will tell how powerful these Cultivation Techniques are in comparison to the normal Cultivation Techniques.