Chapter 14: Chapter 14: Creating Skills for the Honour Guards
Marcus decided to create skills for his Honour Guards first as they were his elite fighting force. They were also the only ones he would consider training in his dungeon as the others were still not showing any talents that would interest him. He was also the most familiar with them so he could personally tailor the skills without having to worry about anomalies that might pop up.
He started with Delsair as she was the only long ranged combatant in the group. He took out a crystal ball and a book from one of the storage rings on his hand. He then wrote the following verses into the first page of the book: Move with the wind, Come with the storm; I weep upon millions, A single hymn plays throughout; Light shall not hinder me nor shall darkness blind me, No obstacle can block my might as I whistle through the sky. He then named the book Archery Origin Scriptures. Although he wasn't well versed in archery, as a prodigy, he had dabbled a little into it and his achievements were enough to put most masters to shame. From his experiments, he found out that the best way to train an archer was to point out the destination and the path to them but not the way to traverse the path. He planned to take this exact approach in training Delsair and any other talented archer who he might encounter in the future and wish to train. Therefore he added a few fundamental skills, the path, to get Delsair started and to give her a template to create her own skills in the future. He also gave her the strongest techniques that he knew, the destination, to prevent her from straying from the correct path. Although he believed that the Way of the Bow should belong to Nine Great Paths, it is simply a lost skill. The last great archers were a Goddess named Artemis and her brother Apollo. They were Primordial Gods and helped to create the universes. Unfortunately, like the other Gods of that time, they had disappeared long ago and the Way of the Bow disappeared with them.
The Nine Great Paths were: Path of the Sword, Path of the Saber, Path of the Spear, Path of Magic, Path of Body Enforcement, Path of the Divine, Path of the Demonic, Path of Medicine, Path of Origin, or as it is more commonly known, Path of the Defiant. These were the main Paths that a warrior would choose when embarking on their long and arduous journey. These Paths, when completely traversed, led to the peak of the world in both power and reputation. Below this was the 18 Major Paths and 36 Minor Ways. As one would expect the Way of the Bow is part of the 36 Minor Ways. It had fallen from Heaven to the depths of Hell. It was a great fall and one that it still hasn't recovered from and, most likely, never recover from. Marcus had heard of this during his expeditions and he impulsively decided to study the Way of the Bow. He decided that he would give a talented individual a chance to revive the Way of the Bow as he was just not that talented using the bow. Where better to start than with one of the ancestors of the bow? In fact, in his current universe, the High Elves were the only ones who would still constantly use the bow for battle. However, they rarely come out of their haven and never pass down the Way of the Bow to anyone other than their own kind.
After writing down the techniques Marcus then stood up and injected mana into the crystal ball. This was called a Magic Powered Light Absorbing and Projecting Soundless Century Lasting Self-Destructing Magic Crystal; it was a basically a Recording Crystal. The company who made this would charge extra the more words there was in the name so they... Anyway, Marcus demonstrated the movements of each of the skills once and recorded it into the crystal. The crystal would only play the movements a hundred times before self-destructing. The Magic Powe... Recording Crystal flashed once before turning into a cold crystal ball once again. It could only be activated if mana was injected into it. This would make it play its recording a hundred times before blowing up in the person's face. The company who made this really had no morals...
After finishing with the Martial Skills for Delsair, Marcus decided to move on to the Path of the Sword. Marcus' main weapon was a sword and he dedicated most of his life to the Path of the Sword. If he claimed that he was the second best in attainments in the Path of the Sword no one would dare to claim first! Not even the Gods, Devils or Buddhas would dare to say they were better. After this was a Primalborn they were competing against. There was a saying that Primalborn may be suppressed since young in cultivation, status and reputation but never in the Path of the Sword! This meant that the moment they were born they would never be below anyone in the Path of the Sword except for their own kind. It was due to this overwhelming statement that the Gods, Devils and Buddhas decided to try their hardest to exterminate them. However, they suffered heavy losses in doing so. There was a story that said ten Gods had surrounded a single Primalborn whose magic pathways was crippled by an encounter with ten Devils just the day before. The ten Gods engaged him in a long battle but they were unable to take the man down! This Primalborn simply relied on his attainments on the Path of the Sword to suppress the ten Gods. In fact, it wasn't true that the Primalborn were unrivalled in the Path of the Sword. Instead, it would be better to say that they were unrivalled in the Path of the Blade! This meant that as long as it had a blade they were proficient in it! That means they were proficient in at least three on the Nine Great Paths! This did not include any of the 18 Major Paths or the 36 Minor Ways!
Marcus decided that he would first teach his Honour Guards the core movements of the sword: Stab, Cleave, Parry and Sweep. Then he would teach them the ten basic movements: Flick, Wave, Hack, Poke, Jab, Curve, Smear, Raise, Intercept and Shave. Then he would teach them the intermediate and advanced movements as well. Only once they had mastered this would he allow them to learn Martial Skills. However, in the eyes of others his core, basic, intermediate and advanced sword forms can already be classified as Martial Skills! This was the depth of skill the Marcus possessed in the Path of the Sword and, more extensively, the Path of the Blade!
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