Heaven's Greatest Professor

Warden didn't know how long it took; it was probably over a week, but he learned to fly just by sheer control of the pattern. Of course, it wasn't for too long, considering his body weight was still a few times more than that of a regular person.

However, the sheer amount of control and willpower required to even lift him up—if he didn't know better, he would have said he had touched the realm of mastery as the white-haired girl.

"So I'm prepared now?" he asked, as he let go of the swirls of energy. His form landed before the Fourth Disciple.

"To beat the next fellow?" Karim raised an eyebrow. "You're prepared for that from day one. Just don't think you can make it to the peak."

Warden's expression didn't change. "Well, I'm off then," he said and bowed down. "It's been a fun few days with you, Karim. Thanks for all the teaching."

The sword master snorted. "Please, I barely taught you anything. I just provided you with the pressure you required to open your mind."

"And I'm grateful for that."

"Off you go then."

Warden nodded as he began to tread on the mountain path again. The suppression on his body and spirit doubled right after he crossed the region of the checkpoint. Karim hadn't mentioned anything about this, but his mind didn't waver, even though his body felt heavier, spirit straining. This was the burden he had to move with if he wanted to climb to the top.

It wasn't simply the top of the summit, but the peak of the world. Obviously, the latter's burden would be a whole lot different than the suppression.

With his control over the pattern growing, he hardly had any problem overcoming them unscathed. That was until he found a vortex of wind bolting at him at a tremendous pace.

Warden faltered in his path and took in a deep breath. Unlike previous times, the vortex of wind blades didn't give any room to retreat.

He drew his will into the swirls of the pattern, easily doubling the number of patterns each second; however, the numbers were nowhere large enough to take control of it. The vortex swallowed Warden, rushing his form in the torrential force.

Warden ignored the cuts appearing on his body and grasped more of the swirls of the flow. He didn't remain on the receiving end for much longer. Warden pulled the swirls of the pattern in the opposite direction the vortex was revolving. He met with terrible obstruction in his approach, but Warden was nothing if not persistent, and a force to be reckoned with.

The torrential force of the stormy wind slowed down. Warden pulled in some swirls of the wind to swirl around him, to protect him from the attacks of the wind blades, while he worked to disperse the force of the vortex.

Warden landed slowly on the ground as the wind dispersed around him.

He continued on the path. More vortexes of wind blades rushed at him the further he went, some he could avoid, but most he had to break through. Needless to say, his willpower and essence were exhausted within a couple of hours.

As far as he was concerned, it would take him half a day to reach the second checkpoint to meet his next opponent. He sat down, finding a safer spot, and meditated to recover his lost vigour.

He needed to rest multiple times to get closer to the second checkpoint. Warden could have reached there within half an hour if he had rushed on the path; instead, he decided to rest up. But this time, he didn't meditate.

After providing some ward stones, Warden lay on the ground and slept for some time. While Karim was hell-bent on saying he wouldn't find any trouble defeating the guy at the checkpoint, Warden didn't want to take chances, not when his life might be at stake. Although it might have looked like a great training ground, Warden had come close to death just with his training with Karim.

He had to use Absolute Invulnerability more than he liked to avoid death against Karim's tyrannical attack. Besides, spending the days with Karim and training under him, he had learned Karim was a very opinionated fellow.

Warden went to battle the next warrior the following morning. He woke up before sunrise and meditated for a couple of hours before walking his way up with an unwavering mind.

"So you got the better of the dumb fellow, huh?" said the man. It was another swordsman, or rather another swordmaster. However, unlike Karim, this fellow was five feet and nothing, a sleek blade in his hand. He had long grey hair like Warden, though tied into a bun on top of his head.

"I hope you show me a good time, though you never know, considering so many fellows were getting the better of Dumb Karim these days."

Warden stood a dozen paces away from him. He didn't bother to reply, nor did he look down on this opponent, even if all signs told him it would be a victory for him.

A silence descended between them, as both warriors studied each other. Sparks of their respective intent flared up as they gazed at one another in the eyes, the wind rushed on, curling around both of them.

"So, are we going to do this or what?" Warden opened his mouth, taking a stance.

"I'm ready when you are," replied the short swordsman.

Another silence descended between them, though this time they contended with each other with the grasp over the pattern. The wind answered for them, howling as they rushed in torrential force.

It was time for him to put what he had learned in the last few days to the test.

Warden charged, using the wind to boost his speed. He flew to meet the master of the sword, battle power surging through him.

The swordmaster replied with a bored swing of his blade. A concentrated blade of wind bolted at Warden. The attack was very reminiscent of Karim's final blade, Apotheosis of the Immortal Wind, though lacking in power. It didn't have the same vibe as Karim's attack, which left no room for retreat.

Still, Warden had to acknowledge it required a great deal of control to concentrate the attack to such a degree with such a casual swing.

Warden pulled swirls of pattern of his own and employed them to block the wind blade. The sword Intent broke through the wind, but by then, it had lost most of its power. Warden had no trouble avoiding it as he struck at the swordsman.

Their weapons clashed, and Warden got the better of him, causing him to take a step back. His foe raised an eyebrow and came with new vigour. His speed increased, his form flashed as wind rushed in. While his attack lacked Karim's tyrannical power, he made up for it with speed. Moreover, all of his attacks were perfect concentrations of intent and wind.

If Warden had the Divider, he wasn't sure if he could block even half of them—this guy was that much of a better swordsman. But he was much better with his spear, though he still missed the attack as sharp blade wounds continued to appear on him. He was really missing his armour now.

Warden harnessed the wind around him, trying to slow down the attacks. He did his best to obstruct the fellow, who changed his approach within a couple of minutes, finding his attacks weren't reaching Warden with the intensity as he desired.

He took a defensive approach, a far contrast to the earlier vigour he showed.

Warden guessed he didn't have the same vigour as him or Karim, so the short man would have to conserve as much of his energy as possible.

He sneaked in one or two attacks between Warden's swings; however, the break between his successful blows was so far apart that Warden's wounds had already closed, leaving only marks on his body. Some of the wounds had even reached his bone, Warden had to employ the remaining Radiance essence to heal them up.

"How long can you go like this?" the master of the sword said, thrashing over a dozen wind blades at him.

"I can do this all day," Warden replied, his form dancing through the wind blades with sinuous grace, which shouldn't be possible for a man of his stature.

Strain seemed to appear on both of their bodies, but Warden could recover faster than the nameless sword master. Still, a day was a long stretch... Warden would be exhausted within an hour. But that much time was more than enough. He didn't think his opponent would last half as long.

Warden didn't let him distance himself, as that would give him space to send a spree of wind blades. Instead, he kept the guy at his spear's distance, restricting him from leveraging his biggest advantage.

The training with Karim let Warden understand what he lacked in his Intent. He was far from achieving the same realm of mastery like Karim or his current opponent, but he had covered the gap by a huge margin.

Why did there need to be an attraction between his Intent and void energy? Both were his powers; while Intent was slightly different, Warden needed to change his mindset about it to synchronise both.

Easy to say, but impossibly hard to change one's mindset. It was like changing an absolute truth about yourself.

Still, Warden was good enough to give the guy a show for his money.