Stella was now sleeping after this strenuous day… She practiced the whole morning, fought with Frank alone, met Enri, negotiated with the village chief, then continued her practice in several stances in kendo…

"Zangetsu… Kasumi… Juji… Mhmmm…"

​​

Reiji heard her mumble some words while she was sleeping. It seems that she was still practicing in her dreams.

Their last practice was related to five more stances in nitouryuu and Reiji remembers that she was enjoying it a lot…

'Well, learning new things is fun…'

Zangetsu no Kamae, or the Crescent Moon Stance, is a defensive stance against opponents who aims at their head by raising the shinai above the head and point it diagonally at the floor just to cover for 'men'.

It was a stance where Stella was having trouble finding her balance to have an effective strike.

Kasumi, or the Mist Stance, on the other hand, was probably the most defensive stance in nitouryuu for Reiji. After all, the stance covers all the datotsubui, or all the point areas in kendo… However, he didn't get deeper into teaching this stance as the kendo fights and real-life battles that Stella would be into were different… He had to adjust his kendo teachings to her.

Juji no Kamae, or the cross-stance, may have similarities with Enkyoku no Kamae with their crossed swords…. However, unlike Enkyoku where both the crossed swords are pointed towards the opponent, Juji would have the two crossed swords pointing up… It was a bit more balance between attacking and defending…

Stella also likes this stance than Enkyoku as she said that the weight of the sword was lighter if they are pointing up…

Reiji could understand her sentiment and taught her the effective fighting method using this stance… This girl truly likes having two swords so even though it was tough learning the style, she managed to grasp them with some effort...

However, it seems that Reiji enjoyed teaching too much and he forgot that she needed rest.

"Am I not giving her enough breaks?"

Reiji mused for a moment before he decided to talk with her about this…

If she wanted to do something else aside from practicing the sword, he doesn't mind giving her the time to do so. Especially now that he got three Arcana for his rank-up quest!

"Alright…"

Reiji briefly glances at her sleeping face before he floated to find the three staves she left on the table.

The staves were engraved with various markings that he was unable to read. It was perhaps related to the evil god that the cultists were worshipping.

Of course, Reiji didn't forget to appraise them.

[ Dread Staff – Modified ]

[ Type: Arcana ]

[ Rank: Common ]

[ Wielder: Mel Roc ( Deceased ) ]

[ Durability: 40/90 ]

[ Skills: Heavy Blow, Lesser Untraceable ]

[ Modified Skill: Binding Illusion, Imp Stamp, Chaotic Heart ]

[ Heavy Blow: Increasing the strength of the wielder by three times for five seconds

Cooldown: 3 hours

Energy Required: 20 units ]

[ Lesser Untraceable: Creates a shield to hide the presence of the wielder for 30 seconds.

Cooldown: 1 hour

Energy Required: 50 units ]

[ Binding Illusion: Borrows the illusion power of the Three-Eyed Imp for 20 seconds

Cooldown: 12 hours

Energy Required: 70 units ]

[ Imp Stamp: Marks any living beings that accepted the Three-Eyed Imp as their savior.

Cooldown: 15 seconds

Energy Required: 1 unit ]

[ Chaotic Heart: Greatly increase the strength of any living beings that have the Imp Stamp for three minutes.

Cooldown: 5 hours

Energy Required: 40 units ]

"Whoa…"

Reiji's mind was filled with the information related to the Staff…

He carefully read all of them as it wasn't every day that he can appraise an Arcana.

He was first curious about the 'Modified' thing…

However, he realized that it must have something to do with the engravings on the staff and also the fact that all the cult's Arcana were in the form of a staff…

He was unsure how they did it but it was good to know that it was possible to modify them.

"Only ninety, huh…" Reiji muttered after seeing its max durability.

The durability was just like the other Magic Weapons he saw before. However, he can't really use this as a reference to other common rank arcana since this is a modified one. Being modified might be bad for weapons and would perhaps result in lower durability.

Aside from that, he was also impressed by the number of skills it has. There is a total of five skills!

He remembers that the Epic Rank Laguna Sword only has two skills… Although they were cheat-like skills, Reiji felt that it was still lacking…

'Oh… Maybe that wasn't awakened yet… Just like what Aria mentioned to Diether before…' Reiji remembered the things that Diether told him about the Arcana…

Anyway, even though that was the case, compared to the Heavy Blow and Lesser Untraceable, the Flash skill that the Laguna Sword has was too powerful…

One can just imagine having a sword clash with its wielder then without any warning, it would just blind the enemy so he can easily deal a critical blow…

The Purify was also impressive as it could remove all the abnormal status and make the wielder be in his peak condition in no time! The only downside was its long cooldown…

"Well, all of this staff's skills aren't that impressive…"

Reiji said as he didn't bother thinking about how it can borrow the power of the Three-Eyed Imp since it was not something he would like to study.

Anyway, Reiji decided to submit or sacrifice them to the deity…

"Finally… O sword deity, Albeiron! Please accept my offerings!"

Reiji said out loud however, nothing happened even after waiting…

He can only ask the voice that was helping him ever since he came here.

"Uhmm… Guide, how am I supposed to offer these things?"

Reiji waited for the answer. Luckily, the guide didn't disappoint him and quickly taught him the proper way of offering an Arcana.

[ Tap the sacrificial Arcana twice before you communicate with the deity to accept your offering. ]

"I see…"

Reiji followed the instruction and tapped one of the Arcana twice.

"Albeiron, the sword deity…. Here is my offering!" Reiji said with sincerity, even though he was unsure whether sincerity affects this deity.

Then, Reiji saw that the staff was covered by a white light! There wasn't any noise but the bright light lit up the whole room!

No, if there are people outside, they must've seen that as well!

Stella then made a grumbling sound before she covered herself with a blanket.

Reiji heard the notification from the guide but before that, he quickly floated and closed the window curtain!

It would bring trouble to Stella if someone reported the light they saw.

"Whew… Let's see…." Reiji heaved a sigh of relief after confirming that no one was alerted…

He then checked the guide's notification and confirmed that the offering was successful!

[ Rank Up Quest Progress

Common Rank: 1/4

Rare Rank: 0/1 ]

"Great!"

He was satisfied by the progress and continued his offering on the other two Arcana…

[ Rank Up Quest Progress

Common Rank: 3/4

Rare Rank: 0/1 ]

"Almost there…"

The reward for this rank-up quest aside from being a Rare Rank would be free SP and free Skill that he was unaware of. Reiji couldn't help but be excited about his own growth…

Once he's confident with his knowledge and strength… It wouldn't be too difficult to find a place to build his dojo and train people…

There, he would teach kendo and---

"Wait... Perhaps I can do it?"

Reiji suddenly had a determined gaze in his eyes, if he has one, as he was lost in thought...

"I can probably create my own sword style… Hmm… Miyazaki Arcane Sword Style doesn't sound too bad…"

Reiji chuckled as he mused about his future.

He dreamed to create his own sword art before… However, it was close to impossible in the modern era so he abandoned it when he was a teenager…

But in this place, where Spiritual Energy, Soul Energy, Magic Weapon, and Arcane Magic exists… He felt that it is possible to create his own and unique sword style!

***

On the next day, Stella heard the news about Frank and asked her master's thoughts about it…

"Stella… There are no more mountain bandits, right? They were captured by the cult and used as a sacrifice… And isn't it weird that only one person was guarding the transportation of that criminal? Sigh~ Just be careful in front of that woman…"

"Alright, Master… Should I continue my sword stance training! I like to master all of them!"

"Master them? Well, it will take you some time…"

"I will persevere, Master!"

"Very well… Let me Take Over then and watch me carefully!"

The training proceeded smoothly in the morning. After some time, Reiji talked about the schedule he planned for Stella.

The latter happily agreed and didn't bother to negotiate about adding breaks or even days off.

Of course, Reiji was also closely monitoring her health to ensure that she's always in her peak condition…

"It's time to eat… You can return home now… You still have to ask the apothecary's help to appraise those vials…"

"Oh! I forgot about that!"

Stella exclaimed after being reminded.

Actually, it was because she was thinking of something else.

She wanted to ask about the whereabouts of the three Arcana!

However, since her master didn't bring it up, she thought that it was a sensitive topic that her master would rather not talk about…