Chapter 251: Kaslana Gun-kata
Under Rovel’s specialized training regimen, it only took Kiana a single week to shape her Sword Heart and step into the world of Still Water.
Sever all stray thoughts. Regulate the breath…
Know nothing. Feel nothing…
In the depths of her mind, a single, crystalline drop of water detached from the void and fell into the placid lake of her heart. Ripples spread outward, washing away the chaotic noise of the world. When Kiana opened her eyes, her mind felt unprecedentedly clear.
“Kiana, you’re up,” Himeko called out, leaning against the wall of the training room.
“Coming! Class Monitor, I definitely won’t lose this time!” A confident, fiery smile curled onto Kiana’s lips as she bounded onto the mat.
“Is that so?” Fu Hua stood waiting, her posture immaculate. She extended her right hand in a relaxed, open palm, keeping her left resting lightly behind her back. Her voice was as calm as a gentle breeze. “These past few days, I’ve seen Classmate Kiana training quite diligently with Classmate Rovel. I would very much like to see how much you have improved.”
“Maybe I’ll give you a big surprise!”
Kiana pushed off the ground, closing the distance in a heartbeat. She launched into a flurry of strikes, her movements visibly sharper and more focused than before.
Then, after a rapid exchange of barely ten blows… Kiana was sent flying backward, her momentum completely reversed by a single, perfectly timed palm strike to her chest. She skidded across the mat, landing flat on her back.
“Thank you for the match,” Fu Hua said, bowing her head slightly.
Watching from the sidelines, Rovel crossed his arms. Hmm… Fu Hua is still holding back way too much. She clearly could have ended that in a single move.
“How… how is this possible?” Kiana groaned, sitting up and rubbing her chest. A trace of genuine shock flickered in her eyes. “I couldn’t even see the Class Monitor’s movements!”
Was the gap between her and a true A-rank Valkyrie really still this massive?
“Idiotka Kiana, you are not the only one making progress,” Bronya chimed in, her tone entirely deadpan as she hovered nearby. “The Class Monitor works harder than you and trains her martial arts every single day. You have only been trained by Rovel for a week. How could you possibly compare to Class Monitor Fu Hua’s daily perseverance?”
“True…” Kiana muttered, scratching the back of her head with a sheepish grin.
With her Sword Heart entering the world of Still Water, Kiana undeniably felt much stronger. Her perception of her own body and the subtle shifts in her environment had elevated by more than a full tier. But unfortunately, her opponent was Fu Hua. For the current Kiana to actually defeat the Class Monitor, she still needed to put in a monumental amount of effort.
From Rovel’s observation, Kiana’s fighting style was still fundamentally flawed. She relied entirely too much on raw, explosive brute force. The Kaslana Family’s Gun-kata she favored so heavily was, in Rovel’s newly educated eyes, riddled with glaring openings.
Could the legendary Kaslana Gun-kata really be this poor?
Rovel could easily teach her the Form Essence and Soul Essence of Taixu Sword Qi, or even pass on the Cun Xin Fist Style, but martial arts required a willing and dedicated heart to master. Kiana was stubbornly obsessed with her Gun-kata, likely because it was the only tangible connection she had left to her father, Siegfried.
Because of that, Rovel decided against forcing her to adopt a completely new fighting style. Instead, he planned to fix the problem at its root: the Gun-kata itself.
Giving Himeko a brief wave, Rovel quietly slipped out of the training hall. Watching the girls play house with their sparring was basically useless for his own progression anyway, and since he wasn’t leaving the academy grounds, Himeko had no reason to stop him.
A short walk later, Rovel pushed open the heavy oak doors of the administration wing.
“Headmaster!” Rovel called out, stepping into Theresa’s office.
Behind the massive desk, Theresa jumped in her seat. Caught completely off guard while slacking off with the latest volume of Homu manga, she panicked. With a desperate burst of Valkyrie strength, she crushed the comic book between her hands, literally pulverizing the manga into atomic dust to destroy the evidence before it could hit the desk.
Damn, another limited edition lost, she thought, her heart bleeding. But at least the Headmaster’s dignity remains intact!
“Rovel? It’s not even noon yet…” Theresa quickly adjusted her collar, stacking some blank paperwork to pretend she was swamped with administrative duties. “Wait, shouldn’t you be in class right now?!”
“Let’s talk about my attendance later,” Rovel said, amused by the faint dusting of paper confetti settling on her desk. “I want to learn a bit about the Kaslana Family’s Gun-kata. I wonder if Headmaster Theresa has any leads on where I could find a manual?”
“Hmm? Why are you suddenly interested in the martial arts Kiana is practicing?” Theresa blinked, her faux-strict demeanor melting into genuine curiosity. With Rovel’s current level of strength, did he really need to go out of his way to practice a gun-and-kick routine?
“I just feel like the Gun-kata Kiana is using isn’t quite right,” Rovel explained, pulling up a chair. “It’s full of unnecessary openings. Is this really the grand martial art passed down through the Kaslana bloodline?”
When Rovel had first learned the Cun Xin Fist Style, he had already suspected the Gun-kata was mediocre. Now that he had mastered Taixu Sword Qi and pushed the Liangyi Immortal Art to perfection, his understanding of martial theory had reached a deep level. The more he watched Kiana fight, the more he felt her combat foundation was a complete mess.
“About that…” Theresa tapped her chin thoughtfully. “I remember Siegfried fighting exactly like that, and it didn’t seem to have any problems when he used it…”
Despite her defense of her old friend, Theresa turned to her computer terminal and began typing rapidly.
“Found it! The Schicksal Library’s central database has a complete, unedited record of the Kaslana Gun-kata. I’ve just unlocked the reading permissions for your ID, so you can access it directly from your terminal.” With a proud wave of her hand, Theresa finalized the transfer.
“As expected of the Headmaster. So efficient and reliable,” Rovel praised, offering a smooth smile.
“Humph, this is simply the Headmaster’s duty!” Theresa declared, crossing her arms and puffing out her chest. “How could I ever restrict knowledge from a student who possesses such a fierce desire to learn? Especially since you’re doing it to help Kiana, your precious comrade.”
If nothing else, on the metric of caring for her students, Theresa completely outshone every other branch overseer in Schicksal.
After bidding farewell to the beaming Headmaster, Rovel retreated to a quiet corner of the academy grounds, pulled up the digital archives on his terminal, and began to study the Gun-kata carefully.
About an hour later, Rovel lowered the holographic screen and rubbed his temples with a heavy sigh.
[Learned Skill: Kaslana Gun-kata (Purple)]
This was a high-tier martial art, easily on the same level of complexity and lethality as the Hokushin Itto-ryu. Yet, it was being used so poorly by Kiana… No, the blame lay higher up the family tree. It was being used poorly by Siegfried.
Kiana’s half-baked, chaotic skills were a direct result of Siegfried’s teachings. After reading the complete, orthodox version of the Kaslana Gun-kata, Rovel realized that the version Kiana used was a complete bastardization. It haphazardly mixed in standard Schicksal Valkyrie combat techniques, resulting in forced, unnatural transitions.
It lacked refinement. It lacked understanding. It was purely a flashy, brute-force performance masquerading as a martial art.
“I’ll get proficient with the orthodox version first, and then correct Kiana’s form bit by bit,” Rovel muttered to himself, stretching his shoulders.
Kiana’s martial comprehension hadn’t reached the level where she could just fight on pure instinct and intent. To fix her, he had to start her training from the absolute basics—the fundamental ‘Form’.
Rovel summoned his weapons and began to move, his body flowing through the orthodox stances detailed in the Schicksal archives.
[Kaslana Gun-kata (Purple) · Entry: Skill Proficiency +320. Xuanyuan’s Blessing BUFF active: Extra Skill Proficiency +320. Liangyi Immortal Art proficiency has reached Perfection: Extra Skill Proficiency +1600.]
[Kaslana Gun-kata (Purple) proficiency full. Skill Proficiency increased to Proficient.]
[Kaslana Gun-kata (Purple) proficiency full. Skill Proficiency increased to Mastery.]
Because he had already pushed the Liangyi Immortal Art to the world of Perfection, his physical and mental aptitude for absorbing new combat techniques was absurdly high. It was the exact same phenomenon he had experienced when learning Hokushin Itto-ryu, where his foundation in Basic Kendo provided a massive proficiency multiplier.
[Kaslana Gun-kata (Purple) · Mastery: Skill Proficiency +310. Xuanyuan’s Blessing BUFF active: Extra Skill Proficiency +310. Liangyi Immortal Art proficiency has reached Perfection: Extra Skill Proficiency +930.]
Gunshots rang out across the secluded training grounds, punctuated by the sharp, rhythmic snapping of Rovel’s kicks cutting through the air. After practicing continuously for about two hours, his movements transformed from calculated and deliberate to smooth and deadly.
He had finally raised the Kaslana Gun-kata to the world of Minor Accomplishment.
Wiping a thin layer of sweat from his brow, Rovel dismissed his weapons. With his Intelligence attribute stacked high and multiple passive buffs running through his veins, learning new tricks was almost entirely effortless.
[Inorin’s Note: