1588 Nothing

Alex was surprised when he realized that he only knew 2 Sword techniques that did more than just slashing.

They were the Heavenly Sword Slash and the Bursting Blaze.

He had many other sword techniques such as Penta-Sword Strike, 75 Sword Array, and a few others, but they either used more than one sword or didn't truly require a sword for the technique.

As such he only had 2 strikes that were more than just regular slashes.

One created a lightning strike, and the other created an explosion.

Given he had so little, Alex wanted to create a sword technique that was quite versatile so that he didn't have to worry about missing out.

After thinking for a while, he landed on something.

Instead of making a specific sword technique that tried to include everything, he decided to make a sword technique that could include everything as they were required.

After that, he came across another problem. What type of sword technique should he make?

There were 3 types of Sword techniques from what he could tell. The Offensive type, the Defensive type, and the type that didn't belong to the first two.

Alex wasn't sure if he was right to make the last category, but it felt right. As for right now, he wanted to make an Offensive technique.

An offensive sword technique that was in all essence just the base that he could use to grow it.

Alex sat around with Pearl and Whisker in the barrier, talking with them. "Should it be just a regular slash? That doesn't feel right to me," he said.

"What else can it be?" Whisker asked. "It is just a sword strike, right?"

"Sword strikes don't just have to be slashes," Pearl said. "There are ones that take the shape of swords itself. Others take the shape of snakes, wolves, birds, and so much more."

"That's right, it doesn't have to be just a slash, it can be so much more," Alex said.

"What shape do you want it to be?" Whisker asked. "A Phoenix, like sister Scarlet? Or a Tiger, like brother Pearl?"

Alex thought for a moment. That wasn't a bad idea when he thought about it, but he shook his head. "I cannot do that. It wouldn't fit my plan of making it just a base for everything to be added on."

"Why not?" Pearl asked.

"My mental image of phoenix involves fire. So if I ever want to make a Water attack, I wouldn't be able to make a smooth change since my perception of the attack will still be fire. I can surely get used to it, but I don't want to make it too difficult."

"I need some other ideas," Alex said.

The two beasts thought through what they could and suggested some more ideas, but none felt right to Alex. He simply didn't want to lean in just one direction.

After so many rejected, Pearl and Whisker were blank with ideas.

"I don't think we can do it right now," Pearl said. "Let's try thinking some other time. Maybe we can come up with something that better fits you, brother."

"Why are we complicating things?" Whisker asked. "Is just keeping it a simple sword slash too bad? It doesn't have to be anything else."

"That is true, but I still want my brand—" Alex paused as his eyes narrowed a little. His head tilted in thought. The two beasts stared back at him with curious looks.

"Brother?" Pearl asked.

"Hmm…" Alex made a small sound. "That… could work. I can't tell just yet, but, I will try if I can do that."

Pearl and Whisker both looked at Alex curiously. "Do what?" Pearl asked.

"Hehe," Alex chuckled a little. "Nothing."

He went through some preparation in the free time he had and created the overall idea of what the technique was to see if it even worked in the first place.

He wasn't going to wait until his first match to try and create it. 

Unfortunately, Alex didn't have the years to try and come up with the techniques, so he would have to take a bit of a shortcut. That meant using his Qi as well as Dao to form the basis of the technique that he could then copy to make his own.

The most important part of his technique was the Dao of Malleability and the Dao of Sharpness. Using those Dao to shape his Qi was not something Alex had ever had to try to do before.

This was one of the harder things he had to do in life. He struggled a lot, the first few times requiring him to use his Intent a lot.

However, after the first few times, it got easier. Then, he just had to mold the technique until it fit his criteria and then do it without using Dao. 

That was the harder bit, but he had confidence in himself.

When it was time to fight again, he was ready. Once he went through someone from the Loss queue, his first opponent of the day showed up.

An older man with bits of white hair on his beard and a bald head challenged him. The man had a cultivation base of Saint Soul 9th realm and was just steps away from entering the Saint Transformation realm.

Alex planned on testing his new technique on him.

The man used two battle axes to fight, one that was capable of using a flame lion-shaped attack, and another that was capable of using a wind eagle-shaped attack. They were the innate skill of the axes.

Alex concentrated before the fight even began. He took a deep breath and focused on his sword. The sword glowed with a white outline at first, and then entirely with Sword Qi.

He released some Qi too, as little as he could afford to give shape to the attack as needed. Without it, the technique wouldn't work at all.

Then, he concentrated on it. 'Smaller, even smaller,' he thought. 'Denser.' He strained all of his Intent to make something happen that would normally require power.

He took a deep breath.

'Become nothing.'

The man used the flame lion attack and Alex slashed diagonally.

The color of his sword dulled the moment the energy surrounding it left it. The man barely saw a flash of light in the air, thin like a thread, if that.

He saw the lion split into two out of nowhere, stopping right there. And then the man felt it on his own body.

Without him realizing when it had happened, the thin attack had landed on his body, sending him flying backward. Blood spurted out from his chest from a deep and thin wound that appeared on it.

The man could barely understand what had happened. All he knew was that he had lost.

Alex remained stunned at the site of the outcome. He hadn't expected the damage to be this high, regardless of how much Qi he had to use. 

His talisman buzzed, but he ignored it. He was transfixed at the outcome. The attack hadn't worked as well as he had wanted to, but there was time.

For now, he was happy that he had managed to create a new technique.