Chapter 246: Teaching Kiana the Sword Heart
"As for the so-called Sword Heart, you can understand it as a way to force your body into a state of absolute competitive focus," Rovel explained, pacing slowly across the training room floor. "Before a match, you clear your mind. You relax your muscles. You sense every microscopic shift within your own biology. Eventually, you reach a point where you are aware of nothing and perceive nothing—except for the raw power flowing through your veins."
He didn't bother teaching Kiana the actual Sword Heart Mantra. Instead, he opted to drill the core principles into her head first.
For one thing, Kiana had started her martial arts training incredibly late. Following the standard, orthodox step-by-step process of the ancients was no longer a feasible option for her.
The other reason was far more practical. Given Kiana's infamous, single-celled Paramecium brain capacity, expecting her to memorize a complex, philosophical martial arts mantra in a short amount of time was a fool's errand. Rovel had already decided he would just record an audio clip of the mantra later and force her to listen to it on loop.
"Aware of nothing... perceiving nothing..." Kiana muttered. She scratched her messy white hair, her brow furrowed so deeply it looked like she was trying to mentally solve advanced calculus. She clearly didn't grasp a single word of his lecture.
"It's fine if you don't understand the theory," Rovel said, the corner of his mouth curling into a faint, teasing smile. "I'll just use a more... forceful method to help your body get the point."
That smile made the hairs on the back of Kiana's neck stand up.
"...I have a really bad feeling about this," she gulped, taking a cautious step back.
A heartbeat later, a brilliant golden light flashed in Rovel's hand as he summoned the Xuanyuan Sword. Assuming he wanted to spar, Kiana instantly dropped her center of gravity and raised her fists into a defensive brawler's stance.
But Rovel didn't charge at her. Instead, he channeled his energy into the golden blade. The metal shifted and warped, transforming the legendary Xuanyuan Sword into the sleek, elegant form of a longbow—Luo Wuzhe.
"Listen closely, Kiana. In a moment, you are going to completely lose your ability to perceive the surrounding space," Rovel instructed, casually testing the tension of the bowstring. "Your objective is simple. You need to dodge the arrows I fire at you while completely blind to your environment."
He raised the bow, aiming directly at her. "Although these arrows are made of energy and won't cause permanent physical damage to your body, the pain will be very, very real."
"Huh?" Kiana blinked, dropping her guard. "Wait, what do you mean lose my—"
Before she could even finish her sentence, Rovel's fingers gently plucked the taut bowstring.
Twang.
A bizarre ripple washed over the room. Kiana instantly felt as if her body had been severed from her own consciousness. Her sense of balance vanished. Her feet stumbled over nothing, and she crashed hard onto the training room floor.
The world before her eyes violently distorted, twisting into a nauseating, kaleidoscopic swirl of colors that defied all common sense and logic.
"Well then, let's begin."
Ignoring the groaning Valkyrie on the floor, Rovel calmly nocked an energy arrow, drew the string back, and fired.
Whoosh!
The sharp sound of tearing air echoed through the room. Kiana could hear the projectile whistling toward her from behind. Panic flared in her chest. She tried to roll out of the way, but her limbs refused to obey. Stripped of her spatial perception, she felt like a piece of rootless duckweed tossed into a raging ocean.
She couldn't feel the solid ground beneath her knees. She couldn't tell where her hands were resting. She couldn't even distinguish up from down, let alone front from back.
This was Rovel's brilliant crash course method: strip away her reliance on her five senses, forcing her to calm her panicked mind and consciously feel the internal shifts of her own muscles.
"Ouch!"
The energy arrow struck her squarely in the shoulder. Kiana let out a sharp yelp of pain, instinctively trying to clutch the wound—only to realize she couldn't even coordinate her hands to find her own arm.
[Basic Sniping (White) · Mastery, Skill Proficiency +350; Xuanyuan's Blessing BUFF active, extra Skill Proficiency +350.]
Rovel's eyes lit up as the translucent blue text floated across his vision. He hadn't actually expected to grind his Basic Sniping proficiency this way. It was a highly pleasant surprise.
"The next arrow is coming," Rovel called out, drawing the string once more.
"Wait... Ouch! Stop for a second!" Kiana flailed blindly on the floor, trying to right herself.
"Next arrow."
"I said wait! Ah!!"
"Next."
"I'm seriously going to get angry! Ouch! Stop shooting my butt!"
The one-sided barrage continued for the better part of an hour.
By the end of it, Kiana was panting heavily, her uniform soaked in sweat. But against all odds, she was finally able to push herself up and stand firmly on her own two feet.
Even though she still couldn't accurately dodge the incoming arrows, and her legs and hands were trembling from the phantom pain and extreme vertigo, the fact that she could stand upright in a distorted space meant everything. It proved she had finally begun to preliminarily sense the internal shifts of her own center of gravity.
"Not bad at all. As expected of me, coming up with such a genius teaching method," Rovel murmured, nodding in deep self-satisfaction.
Thanks to Kiana's selfless dedication as a human target, Rovel's Basic Sniping had successfully broken through to the Minor Accomplishment rank. The upgrade also granted him a brand-new passive effect called [Weakness Discernment].
It functioned somewhat similarly to his Clear Mirror Sword Intent, allowing him to perceive the structural flaws and weak points of an enemy. The key difference was application: Clear Mirror Sword Intent was an active, hyper-focused state used during intense melee combat, while [Weakness Discernment] was a passive observational skill.
Essentially, one was tailored for close-quarters slaughter, and the other was perfect for long-range execution.
Looking at Kiana's miserable, trembling form, Rovel finally felt a small twinge of pity.
"Let's stop here for today. Mei should be heading back to the dorms soon, and I want to give her a surprise."
Rovel lowered the bow and plucked the string of Luo Wuzhe one last time. The spatial distortion effect instantly shattered, and the training room snapped back into sharp, normal focus. Kiana could finally feel the solid floor beneath her boots again.
But the sudden return to reality came with a price.
"Blegh~"
Kiana slapped a hand over her mouth, sprinted to the far corner of the training room, and violently started vomiting rainbows into a trash can.
The sensation of having your spatial perception ripped away and then forcefully shoved back was incredibly jarring. Back during the Seven Swords instance, even Rovel had almost collapsed from the vertigo because he hadn't braced himself properly. For Kiana, who had zero prior mental resistance training, it felt like she had been strapped to a centrifuge and spun a thousand times until her brain turned to mush.
"Rovel, you absolute... blegh~"
She tried to turn around and glare at him, but her stomach violently disagreed, forcing her head back into the bin. She definitely wanted to curse his entire bloodline, but her physical discomfort refused to give her a window to speak.
"Eww," Rovel remarked dryly, turning his head away to avoid the sight. "Keep it in the bucket, please."
After a long, agonizing few minutes, Kiana finally pushed herself away from the wall. She looked incredibly pale and weak as she wiped her mouth with the back of her sleeve. She had undoubtedly just lost every single snack she had hoarded and eaten that afternoon.
"Rovel, you dog... Why are you such a dog?!" Kiana staggered over, swung her fist, and aimed a punch right at his chest.
However, her body was completely drained of stamina. Her fist landed against Rovel's shirt with a soft, pathetic thud. It didn't feel like a punishing blow at all; it felt more like a pouting girlfriend acting spoiled.
"Alright, alright, isn't this for your own good?" Rovel chuckled, easily catching her small fist in his hand. He rubbed his thumb over her knuckles, gently soothing her flared temper. "If you want to become stronger, how can you expect to do it without suffering a little bit? Consider this punishment for all your recent slacking."
He leaned in slightly, his tone dropping into a challenging whisper. "You wouldn't want to still be stuck as a B-Rank when Mei and Bronya inevitably get promoted to A-Rank Valkyries, would you?"
Hearing her pride challenged, Kiana's pouting lips slowly lowered. Seeing the shift in her eyes, Rovel immediately deployed his ultimate weapon.
"Tell you what. Tomorrow, I'll secretly sneak you out for fried chicken. I'll even buy you the kid's meal with the toy."
"Hmph... That's more like it."
Kiana immediately pulled her hand back from his grasp, crossed her arms over her chest, and turned her head away with a dramatic huff.
She really was incredibly easy to coax. A simple promise of junk food was all it took to erase an hour of torture.
"I... It's not that I don't want to work hard," Kiana mumbled, her cheeks flushing slightly as she stared at the floor. "It's just that every time I actually want to try, this devilish voice echoes in my head, telling me I deserve to take a break. And then, before I even know what happened, I'm lying on the sofa again..."
She nodded to herself, entirely convinced by her own terrible excuse.
"Actually, that's not entirely your fault," Rovel replied, his tone shifting into something surprisingly gentle. "According to the principles of neuroplasticity, the human brain subconsciously chooses the path that offers immediate, temporary benefits. That's the biological origin of procrastination."
He reached out and lightly patted her white hair. "For example, most people like to leave their homework until the very last day. Why? Because that way, you get to relax and enjoy the holidays, completely ignoring the pain until the deadline forces your hand. At times like that, you just need someone to intervene and push you a little."
"Oh..." Kiana blinked, leaning into his touch. She nodded slowly, looking like she somewhat understood his logic, even if the big words went completely over her head.
[Inorin's Note: