The Aura Ascendant: A Knight's Unbroken Path

It must be remembered that when Hayden entered the academy, he had shown his modified or improved version of the Dawn Swordsmanship.

Many students at that time felt that Hayden was being disrespectful to the Academy's swordsmanship. The others thought that he was simply incapable of learning the true Dawn Swordsmanship because of his physique, while a few of them believed that Hayden was just messing around to cause some trouble.

However, Ulysses had a different thought.

As soon as he witnessed Hayden's version, he immediately realized that it was an improved version, removing all the flaws it previously had.

Because of that, he had ingrained all of those movements in his mind and practiced them for about three years!

Now, with the upcoming competition, he would be using this modified version to win the event!

'I've never shown this to others… This will definitely surprise even the Headmaster.' Ulysses thought as he arrived at his private courtyard.

Of course, this private courtyard wasn't truly just for him. It was supposed to be a place where anyone could rent in order to practice. However, Ulysses was able to constantly pay 5 Dawn Points per week, and because of that, he was able to secretly practice the modified Dawn Swordsmanship without any issues.

At this time, Ulysses stood before a reinforced training dummy while behind him were a dozen more dummies he could use for replacement…

"Hu~"

Ulysses exhaled slowly as he held his unnamed sword... With his background, he could certainly ask his family to get a better Named Sword or weapon that was enchanted with Aura or Mana.

However, after seeing Hayden's Dawn Swordsmanship, he knew that as long as he mastered it, even if he was holding a stick, he would be able to win against other swordsmen.

Soon, he closed his eyes, recalling Hayden's movements…

'His perfect stance... The way he shifted his weight before striking… It's no longer the pure Dawn Swordsmanship. It's perfected… I can do it too!'

Ulysses then opened his eyes—and moved.

His blade struck and a series of movements followed by sword strikes occurred as he mimicked Hayden's modified Dawn Swordsmanship.

As he did this, he couldn't help but compare his movements…

Apparently, Hayden's technique was sharp and had no wasted movements…

However, Ulysses' version seemed a bit wider, and more aggressive, as it was most likely due to his own longer reach and longer blade.

Nonetheless, he knew that he was still following the same movements.

Furthermore, his transition with each movement was smoother now.

Movement Eight, or the Crescent Step, was now more balanced.

Movement Fourteen or the Whirlwind Turn was now faster and could ignore almost any attacks from all directions.

Movement Eighteen or Flowing Blade was no longer taxing to the wrist as he was able to have a better grip and position with the sword.

Movement Twenty-Five or Flickering Blade was now seamless and he could easily redirect the position of his sword.

There were other things he was able to do and all of it would be shown in the upcoming competition.

Thud!

Soon, the dummy shuddered under the assault, and deep gashes formed in its reinforced hide.

Ulysses stepped back after completing a set of moves and looked…

'Close…' He thought after seeing the result…

"Now I have to copy that Dawnbreaker Sword Style… This is only the second time I've seen someone use that technique other than the Headmaster." Ulysses thought.

The first user of that was definitely the Headmaster's grandson who would visit the Academy from time to time. This grandson was probably about 22 years old right now and most likely an Aura Knight already.

"Alright… I should practice it now while it's still fresh in my memory." Ulysses muttered as he started moving...

The Dawnbreaker Swordsmanship was indeed very interesting. After all, instead of using brute force, the sword technique relies on counterattack. It requires a better grasp of the opponent's movements to use it against them.

However, the most important part of it was the fact that it targets the vital parts of the enemy… It was truly a sword art meant to kill their target.

It was such an interesting choice of Sword Art, but Ulysses could understand the Headmaster's decision.

Thud!

After finishing the sword movements, Ulysses frowned…

"Not enough…"

Hayden's movements had been effortless as if he was flowing with the battle. Ulysses' replication was powerful, but it lacked that instinctive precision on his strikes…

'Is it the Aura control? Or is it something else?'

He didn't know.

"Maybe I just need a moving sparring partner… Right, how much does it cost to hire Squires right now." Ulysses muttered as he considered simply hiring Squires or lower-year students as a sparring partner since he might be able to learn better that way…

Anyway, he would figure it out, no matter what just like how he learned Hayden's modified version of Dawn Swordsmanship.

As the sun dipped below the horizon, Ulysses finally stopped practicing… He had been doing this for several hours already and didn't feel tired at all.

His Aura was already good enough to support his body for long hours of training at this point.

Nonetheless, he may be doing some repetitive and boring movements all day long, but he was still happy with the result.

Hayden Gray had just given him a new standard to surpass and he was willing to challenge and achieve it.

***

In the meantime, Hayden was already alone in his room, completely unaware that he had a huge fan who had been tirelessly practicing his corrected version of Dawn Swordsmanship.

"I thought I could borrow that Orb of Trial. That Headmaster was too stingy." Hayden muttered as he looked at his rewards.

He obtained some Dawn Points from the Headmaster, including some money, a new pair of gloves, and a necklace…

Unfortunately, his Lens couldn't properly appraise the necklace and the pair of gloves since according to the Headmaster, they were Mystical Artifacts that could be used by all Aura Users.

His Lens still needed a lot of samples in order to properly and accurately assess them.

For now, he could only trust the Headmaster's words about the mystical abilities that these Artifacts could give him.