Chapter 85: Breaking Through the Master’s Bottleneck

  After resolving the questions surrounding the nature of time manipution, Alex immediately turo Stoo seek advi another issue—this time, it was about swordsmanship. He had inally inteo ask Stone during his trip to the Shadow yon, but due to a ck of time and subsequent ued events, Alex had been uo raise the topiow, with Stone present, he naturally wao address it.

  What surprised Alex, however, was that after hearing his question, Stone did not immediately respond. Instead, he studied Alex for a while before patting him on the shoulder with a sigh.

  "Holy, I didn’t expect you to improve this fast… But then again, it's no surprise... Hmm… Thinking about it, given your strength, entering this bottleneck is to be expected."

  "Bottleneck?"

  "That's right."

  Stone’s expression grew serious as he tinued, eyes fixed on Alex.

  "What you're fag now is a bottlehat every professional, whether a spellcaster or a warrior, will iably enter. If you mao break through, you'll step into the realm of the grandmasters. But if you fail to break it, you’ll be stuck at your current level for the rest of your life, uo advance further—no matter how powerful you are..."

  "Is it really that serious?"

  Hearing this, Alex's expression ged slightly. Seeing this, Stone burst into ughter.

  "Rex a little! It’s not as hard as it sounds, nor is it as easy as you might hope. Simply put, you've started notig the shortings in your swordsmanship."

  "Shortings?"

  Alex uzzled by Stone’s statement. He found the Royal Cross Swordsmanship to be quite effective. As a padin, he could fight, tank, perform AoE attacks, heal, and was even invincible for a brief period. What more could be g? Well, if the invincibility sted a bit lohat would certainly be nice...

  "You know, kid..."

  Stone seemed to sense Alex's thoughts and shrugged, then looked at the two-handed greatsword in his own hands.

  "The swordsmanship I practice, the Tempest Sword Art, was actually created by one of our aors, a woman. Back then, it wasn’t called the Tempest Sword Art; it was known as the Sky Sword. It was said to be as elusive as a breeze in the sky, impossible to trace yet present everywhere."

  "Uh…"

  Alex’s mouth twitched at this. What Stone described sounded pletely different from what he had seen. Alex had witoempest Sword Art before, and there was only one way he could describe it—a walking, human-shaped tornado.

  Impossible to trace?

  Not at all! A tornado that big, anyone who couldn't see it had to be blind!

  "But in my hands, it’s no lohe Sky Sword; it’s the Tempest Sword Art. Do you get it, kid?"

  As he spoke, Stoapped his sword.

  "We learn swordsmanship, just like spellcasters learn magic, but ultimately, these are things passed down from our predecessors. Our aor was a woman, and perhaps her style of bat was better suited to the Sky Sword. But not me—I prefer to crush things head-on. So, in my hands, the Sky Sword is no lohe Sky Sword; it’s the Tempest Sword Art. You’re the same, kid."

  At this point, Stouro look at Alex again.

  "Everyone has to find their own path, and you’re standing at that crossroads now, ready to make a choice. The reason you feel like your swordsmanship isn’t flowing smoothly is because, deep down, you’re not meant to fight this way."

  "......"

  Hearing this, Alex instinctively opened his mouth but remained silent, falling into deep thought.

  Did Stone make a mistake?

  To be fair, Alex thought Stone was quite right. In truth, Alex had never been a close-bat pyer. In online games, Alex preferred le attack csses, such as archers and mages. on his list would be stealthy, backstab-heavy csses like rogues. As for padins and warriors? Not his strong suit, aainly not his favorite. In fact, whenever Alex pyed an online game, the first csses he would try were always ranged or summoning-based ones, followed by those that could turn invisible or escape danger. Warriors and padins were always st on the list.

  Mastering the Royal Cross Swordsmanship had always felt more like being forced into it. Back then, Alex had no power, so he used whatever he could get his hands on, without sidering other options.

  In fact, Alex actually preferred the bat style from Dark Souls more than the Royal Cross Swordsmanship. That style allowed him to find openings, and exploiting weaknesses was something Alex really enjoyed. Put simply, Alex liked the satisfa of identifying an enemy's ot and delivering a devastating blow, rather than relying oable, methodical, and banced bat style of a padin like the Royal Cross Swordsmanship enced.

  To make a parison, it's like choosiween a rogue and a knight in a game. The rogue might have weaker regur attacks, but their sneak attacks could nd critical hits or deal triple damage. Oher hand, the knight’s regur attacks might deal higher base damage, but nding a critical hit was much harder. Given the choice, Alex would definitely prefer the former. Yet, right now, he was walking the path of the tter.

  Stone’s words made seo Alex. The biggest differeween a master and ae is that a master innovate, developing ueiques from existing foundations. This was why Stone had expihat the Sky Sword was known as the Tempest Sword Art in his hands. The same swordsmanship, executed by different individuals with varying focuses, look vastly different.

  Previously, Alex had been just a novice, using whatever worked, much like many beginner pyers who simply follow the in-game instrus. But as pyers gain experiend delve deeper into the game, they begin to develop their own styles. Some people enjoy charging headlong into battle, while others prefer a more cautious approach. So, when you see a hunter charging with a spear or a padin throwing hammers from a distahere’s nothing surprising about it.

  Now, Alex had passed his "novice phase" and reached the point where he o find a bat style that suited him.

  "So, teacher, do you have any suggestions?"

  "I don't have much advice to give," Stone replied, shaking his head when Alex asked fuidance.

  "If I had to say something, it would be to stick to your own ideas. Every bat style exists for a reason. Some people may not think much of a particur style, but that doesn’t mean it’s not useful. Stick to what works for you and find the style that suits you best. That's the only advice I offer."

  "Thank you, teacher."

  After hearing Stone's advice, Alex stood up and bowed to him. Frankly, he uood what Sto. Though it sounded simple, Alex khat refining his bat style—or even disc the style he truly wao adhere to—was no easy task. But regardless, Stone had pointed him in the right dire and answered his questions. Now, as Stone said, the rest to Alex.

  To be ho, Stone was quite a peteor. The two problems that had been troubling Alex had both been addressed—his time manipution abilities were weak because his overall strength was g, and his breakthrough in swordsmanship would require his own effort.

  Unfortunately, her of these issues could be solved easily. So, Alex had no choice but to temporarily set aside the idea of improving himself and instead focus on the group of cultists.

  After all, they were the real priority right now.

  (End of the Chapter)

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