When Earth Awakened, I Became a Sword Saintess

Chapter 25 : The Polaris Sword Art

25: The Polaris Sword Art

Although she had gone to bed very late last night, Yuyin didn't feel tired at all when she woke up on Monday morning. Even without considering Primordial Energy, her energy was incredibly abundant. Girls with such vitality were a rare breed.

And thinking back to before her rebirth, Yuyin had been frail, listless, and easily tired. If she set aside the fact that she had become a girl, Yuyin truly loved the state she was in after being reborn.

Healthy, always radiating with abundant energy. It seemed even her breathing felt comfortable.

Having obtained the Polaris Sword Art, Yuyin naturally wanted to begin cultivating it as soon as possible.

She borrowed a staff about 1.2 meters long from the PE teacher to practice with. Yuyin was on good terms with the PE teacher because she was good at tennis. The school's storeroom also had swords for martial arts classes, but such things were difficult to borrow, and Yuyin planned to take it home to practice, so she borrowed a staff instead.

As a staff, it wasn't that long, but as a substitute for a sword, it was very long. Yuyin chose this length because the sword that wielded the Polaris Sword Art in the God-Devouring Chess was also very long, similar to the longswords of the Warring States period, but clearly far more extraordinary.

After school in the afternoon, Yuyin found a secluded clearing in the small grove behind the tennis club, ready to begin practicing the sword art for the first time.

After the golden female apparition recorded the complete set of movements for the Polaris Sword Art, it silently rearranged the order, sequencing the entire art form in a step-by-step, progressive manner. Furthermore, when Yuyin focused on a specific move, some ancient text would appear, offering guidance and explanation.

“Let's start with the basics.”

The Polaris Sword Art could be divided into three main parts: offense, defense, and body movement. In the philosophy of the Polaris Sword Art, the importance of defense and body movement was in no way inferior to that of offense.

This was something Yuyin, who had never trained with a weapon, had not expected.

This was an integrated offensive and defensive sword art, and it was unexpectedly strong in defense. The greatest specialty of the Polaris Sword Art was the counter-attack.

Any untrained person could swing a sword to cut someone, although they would likely miss the blade and end up just "hitting" them. But using a sword for defense was not like using a shield; it was not something an ordinary person could master.

This sword art had extremely high requirements for strength, technique, and state of mind!

To achieve this integrated offensive and defensive capability, the sword needed to be very long. But swords of such length were mostly two-handed swords, yet the moves of the Polaris Sword Art were primarily single-handed.

This was simply not a sword art meant for ordinary people.

Even holding one end of this staff with a single hand, an ordinary person would find it difficult to swing it effectively and generate power, let alone a real iron sword.

But Yuyin's Primordial Energy value was now 87, and she had eaten the Jade Body Ice Fruit. Her strength could no longer be measured by her ladylike appearance.

Whoosh!

Yuyin stood firm, swinging the staff with one hand, creating a gust of wind in the small grove.

The start was sudden, the finish stable.

This seemingly simple swing required considerable strength and technique.

A sword, even such a long, heavy sword, was never about brute force. Otherwise, one might as well practice with a mace.

It seemed that with her current physical foundation, Yuyin was already capable of cultivating this sword art.

The offensive techniques of the Polaris Sword Art could be divided into: strike, slice, thrust, slash, uppercut, and flourish.

Each offensive move required repeated practice to achieve mastery.

The defense of the Polaris Sword Art consisted mainly of two major techniques: parry and intercept.

The so-called intercept was to quickly strike the opponent's weapon as they made their move, deflecting their attack from its intended direction and position, serving as a form of active defense.

And parrying was not as simple as passively raising the sword to block. It required mastering the timing.

A timely and skillful parry or intercept could disrupt the opponent's movements, creating a major opening in their defense.

This was a method of parrying and intercepting that combined defense with actively creating openings in the enemy. When the opponent exposed a weakness, one had to decisively counter-attack. An attack at this moment was far more effective than a direct assault when the opponent was alert and fully prepared!

In a battle between strong opponents, the other party was not a fool. It was not so easy to just charge in and kill them with a single strike. One had to seize the opponent's opening to deliver a fatal blow in the midst of actively seeking battle. If the opponent had no opening, then you had to create one!

This was the essence of the Polaris Sword Art.

Yuyin practiced the offensive moves at school, where there was more space.

When she returned home in the evening, because the weather was muggy and she couldn't afford to turn on the air conditioning, she wore only a short tank top and small white shorts to practice her defense indoors.

Parrying did not require much space and could be practiced indoors.

But with no one to attack her, she could only imagine. She recalled the powerful monsters she had seen in the God-Devouring Chess, including the attacks of that flying sword, as they assaulted her, while she searched for the best moment to parry.

The optimal timing and position for a parry, the technique of the parry, the relative angles, the application of force. All these elements were indispensable. A perfect parry might seem simple, but it was actually extremely difficult.

Moreover, it also involved great risk. Purely passive defense was one thing, but to make a move at a critical moment, even a slight hesitation could mean being hit by the opponent's weapon. The difficulty was extremely high.

Without excellent technique, coordination, and state of mind, it could not be done well.

But Yuyin's athletic ability, judgment, and dynamic vision, honed from years of playing tennis, had laid the foundation for her to practice this sword art.

The room was stuffy and hot. Despite her scant clothing, Yuyin, who had been practicing continuously, was already drenched in fragrant sweat. A large patch of dampness spread across her small tank top, and the glistening beads of water on her ample chest sparkled under the light. The room was filled with the scent of a beautiful young woman after intense exercise…

She took a short break, picked up a bottle of mineral water, put the entire neck in her mouth, and drank it down in big gulps.

“Ahh… so refreshing.”

Exercise and cultivation truly made one feel fulfilled.

This week, Yuyin spent almost all her spare time practicing the sword art. Of course, she would occasionally practice her leg technique as well. The sword art and leg technique could be combined.

In the evening of the weekend, Yuyin had been at school all day, practicing in the clearing behind the tennis club.

Swish! Swish! Swish!

Her slices and thrusts were swift and precise.

Whoosh!

Her chops were decisive and powerful, carrying a vigorous gust of wind.

Yuyin felt that this sword art was probably originally designed for men. As she practiced it, she couldn't help but exude a bit of a heroic, masculine air, which gave Yuyin, who was not yet fully accustomed to being reborn as a woman, an extra measure of confidence.

Male or female, it didn't matter. Strength was what gave one confidence and self-respect.

As for parrying, Yuyin had practiced it over ten thousand times, and the movements were now very proficient. But for offense, she could still hack at trees or stones. To test the effectiveness of her defense, she could only rely on actual combat.

“Actual combat…”

After this week of practice, the fundamentals of the Polaris Sword Art could be considered basically mastered. She had, more or less, begun her journey.

“This should be enough… Spending another two or three weeks practicing alone probably won't yield much progress. It would be better to use combat as a substitute for training,” Yuyin said, holding the staff at her side.

The Underground Fighting Arena was perhaps the place in this great city that came closest to real combat.

Yuyin flipped her long hair. “It's time. I'll go back, take a shower, and change clothes. I'll go to the Underground Fighting Arena to sign up tonight.”