Chapter 20

'It's been a fruitful year…'

I sigh as I stand up, popping sounds resounding throughout my body as I stretched for the first time in a while. I wryly smile while looking at the room I was in.

Furniture, walls, and decorations were all neatly cut in half, creating a mess of epic proportions. That's what you get for forming a sword domain indoor.

I use a few repairing spells to put everything back to clean up the room and make it seem like nothing happened while remembering the progress I made in the last year.

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Every day was full of cultivation and experimentations. I alternated between sword cultivation and the emulation of the Eight Divine Gates whenever I grew bored or stuck in my progress.

The first obstacle that I faced with EDG was that the energy I used to fuel, namely Prana, was of a higher standard compared to chakra, meaning that its effects were somewhat different which rendered Gai-sensei experience with the technique obsolete.

I then had to create a new order for the opening of the gates, while also evaluating the effect of using Prana on them. I quickly discovered that using Prana to operate the Eight Divine Gates also implies having a different set of 'gates' so that it's strength could be fully brought out. Luckily, a few of the gates from the chakra-version were still the same, so I didn't have to start from scratch.

The gate of Death (heart), the gate of opening (brain), the gate of pain (spinal cord) and the gate of view were all in the same place, so I only had to find the other four to complete the technique.

With Alfred's help, the research took much less time than it would have if I was alone, and I was able to find the last corresponding gates. The gate of healing was in my tailbone, which if opened, would directly stimulate my bone marrow to increase cell production and increase my regeneration.

Moving on, the gate of limit is right on my solar plexus, the gate of wonder is right below my navel, near my little brother. As for the last gate, the gate of life, it was a real pain to look for it since it was hidden in plain sight. I discovered that the gate of death didn't take the whole heart, but merely the right side, while the gate of life took the left one.

This served as a clue for me when I was trying to discover the best sequence in which to open to gates in. After many trials, I confirmed that to increase my chance of succeeding in performing the techniques, I had to open both the gates of death and life simultaneously.

I also remarked that the position of my eight gates strangely corresponded to the seven chakras seen in yoga. It could be a hint to my path of progression, so I added it to the list of things to look up.

Moving on, I also made some progress in sword cultivation, though I'm still nowhere near a certain Lord of Chaos.

The sword is a peculiar thing to cultivate, it is a companion, yet is different from a wife or a friend. It is more like your little brother, which is part of you and that you can wield to fight.

And so, everyone can wield a sword, but not everyone can skillfully do so, which is why the sword realms came to be.

Starting from the first level, sword-wielding, which is the level of anyone taking a sword for the first time, you had to grow more proficient in using the sword and grow a bond with it until you reach 'one with sword'.

From there, one would become a real swordsman who can wield a sword as if it was an extension of his body, showing amazing skills and control. Then, after learning to synchronize the sword and the body, one would begin the fusion of one's energy and the sword, resulting in Sword Qi.

Sword Qi is the first and weakest type of fusion one can acquire when fusing energy with the sword since the synchronization rate is less than 20%, it shouldn't be underestimated though since one would be a sword adept able to cut through steel like tofu.

That step can be difficult to reach for many people, but once there, you just have to increase your energy synchronization rate through training and battle to reach 60%, then, the produced energy will have become sword energy, that is when one becomes known as a swordmaster.

The difficulty increases once again from there since to reach a 100% synchronization rate, you will need to add your soul to the fusion, which requires a whole different level of understanding. If you truly can accomplish so, then your sword will no longer be bound to the physical world and will be able to reach the soul of your enemies, you will then be known as a sword sage.

After this, you will have to find and incorporate your understanding of the sword with the world around you, forming your Sword path and creating a domain of your own. This is the realm of sword saints, and also where I am right now.

A developed Sword domain could kill someone from miles away without moving a step, just like the sword immortal of legend.

But all of these stages, from 'one with the sword' to the formation of the 'sword domain' are only preparations to reach the real deal, also known as Sword Essence.

In this stage, your sword energy, your sword Dao (path) and your sword domain form the foundation. Then, by perfectly fusing your body, soul and energy to have matchless control of your 'self', you will be able to 'manifest' your Essence of the sword, creating something like a natural law, akin to life and death, that cannot be escaped from.

This step was merely a legend in my previous world since to perfectly fuse the body, soul and energy was impossible (until I came haha). From the stories that were passed down, anyone who could reach this level of sword cultivation would be known by a distinctive prefix, namely, Sword Prime while also adding their title. (AN: so something like Sword Prime Zoro. ;) )

I already had half a step into the last realm, and just needed to develop a bit more my sword path.

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'Alright, it's time to get to it.'

I wanted to begin practicing my Eight Divine gates, and so I needed to open the Gate of life and Gate of death. And I knew exactly the best place to help me out, Saturn.