Elemental Sword Aura

"Bai, what does it mean when a skill 'requires enlightenment'?" Lin asked as he stared at the sword aura skill he has been unable to use after he acquired it through the level 50 threshold. It's been a full 2 weeks and he hasn't gotten anywhere with it.

"When a skill requires enlightenment it requires a sudden shift in perspective, an abrupt realization, or full comprehension of its concept. Enlightenment is usually naturally triggered through a life or death situation, desperation, or efficient practice. It can also be artificially triggered through a thorough explanation from a seperate individual or a special treasure with the ability to trigger enlightenment." Bai explained.

"Do you know when I might experience enlightenment or how long it usually takes?" Lin inquired.

"Enlightenment cannot be predicted and there is no average duration for how long it might take due to the methods required to trigger it. I suggest going deeper into your ability environment to find a stronger opponent. That just might trigger enlightenment for you."

"You're asking me to seek danger for enlightenment? I mean it makes sense but I'm still a bit hesitant…"

"You don't have to if you don't want to. I'm just offering you an option."

Lin thought for a moment and finally came to a conclusion. "I'll do it. It's not like I can die." He said with a determined expression. He wasn't looking forward to the possibility of immense pain, but he wanted to activate sword aura so he was willing.

The moon slowly rose as the clock beside his bed glared the numbers '9:27'. Lin closed his eyes and fell asleep. He once again activated his ability and he found himself in a forest. Trees spread their shadows along the dirt as they towered in sparse concentration. The area Lin stood in was of the thinner parts of the forest and he could see the trees thicken far ahead.

He sucked in a deep breath and began walking towards the deeper parts of the forest, ignoring his racing heart and sweaty palms.

The tree canopies let no light through and the deeper he went, the darker the forest became. He had walked for over 2 hours with zero encounters when he suddenly heard a rustling sound to his left. He immediately got into a defensive position, facing the direction the noise came from.

A large white tiger slowly stalked behind the brush, its yellow eyes peeping through the leaves, staring Lin down. Lin could feel the strength emanating from the tiger as it prepared to pounce at him.

After a moment of silence, the tiger leaped out, claws outstretched and letting out a deafening roar. Lin barely dodged its paws and a shallow scratch formed on his arm. The monster gave Lin no chance to attack as it once again swung its paws at him. Lin swung his blade at the tiger, attempting to chop off its claws but instead of slicing through fur and skin, it felt like Lin had hit a thick block of steel.

His arms felt prickly and numb from the impact but luckily the tiger's paws were redirected to the side. The tiger continued to relentlessly attack as Lin continuously dodged and blocked its claws. He gradually became exhausted and was sweating buckets, but he had no time to rest as the tiger continued to bombard him. His movements slowly became sluggish and the tiger started to land its hits.

A deep gash bled on his leg, his forehead dripped with blood after the tiger flung a large rock at him, his fingers were swollen and his wrists ached, yet the tiger continued and more relentlessly at that.

Lin sobbed in desperation and pain, wishing he could run but knowing the tiger would catch up easily with its speed he didn't. He knew he wouldn't die but he didn't stop, a feeling nagged at his thoughts, telling him he was so close, just a little longer. And as if the gods were answering his prayers, a large and refreshing gush of qi suddenly coursed throughout his body. His injuries slowly healed and his fatigue and aches faded away.

He somehow knew that he'd just experienced enlightenment and he felt the invisible barrier blocking his sword aura break like a dam falling beneath the pressure of a large wave.

Qi rushed through his fingertips and enveloped itself around the sword's blade shining brightly with multicolored energy. Lin wasted no time slashing at the tiger's neck, but before the blade even got near the tiger's skin, a sharp wind blade formed and sliced its head off, but it didn't end there as the corpse went through many phases first getting sliced by tiny water blades, then turning into ice, then getting encased in stone, and finally being burnt to ashes by a raging, blue fire.

Lin looked at the black soot that used to be a 3 meter tall tiger with bewilderment. The ashes then turned into pixels and a yellow orb was left in its stead.

"What the hell just happened?!" Lin exclaimed aloud. But before he could think even a second longer he woke up, his body slick with sweat.

Bai materialized on top of his chest and looked at Lin with excitement.

"So? Did you receive enlightenment?! Did you?!" Bai said with anticipation. He knew that sword aura was a very powerful ability with the power to slice steel like it was soft butter, so he was looking forward to Lin's answer.

"I think so…?" Lin replied.

"What do you mean you 'think so'? If you felt a rush of qi and your injuries, aches, and fatigue disappeared then you did. So did you?"

"Then I did, but I don't understand something. The skill description described sword aura as the ability to wrap your weapons with qi and make them unbelievably sharp but that wasn't what happened with me." Lin said slowly. "The aura was multicolored and super powerful. It did more than just slice…"

'No way… there's no way…' Bai thought with a sudden realization.

"There were wind blades and water blades, ice, rock, and blue fire… That was never mentioned." Lin finished.

"Holy sh*t!!! Are you f*cking kidding me?!" Bai exclaimed as he stared wide eyed at a holographic screen in front of him, his voice so loud it gave Lin a headache.

"What the h*ll… dude calm down…" Lin said, his head throbbing.

Bai looked at Lin with disbelief. "How the f*ck am I supposed to calm down?! I can't believe this, I won't believe this!" Bai summoned a basic sword and flung it at Lin with its mouth. "Show me your aura!"

Lin grabbed the sword slowly with a confused face. He conjured his sword aura two seconds later and a rainbow of colors shined from the sword.

Bai was left speechless. "So it's true… it's actually true…" He muttered. "No… it might be the Peak Sword Aura that's rumored to be multicolored. I won't believe it until I see it for myself…" After a moment of contemplation, Bai spoke again, "Ok, when it's your individual practice period, show me the powers of your sword aura. Even the Peak Sword Aura skill would be able to destroy your room to oblivion, let alone the Elemental Sword Aura."

Lin nodded. 'Maybe the sword aura I have is super rare…! No, don't get cocky. Who knows, it might be so shockingly bad that he couldn't believe it. But if my sword aura is bad, I can't even imagine what strong sword aura is like.' Lin tried to guess what might be happening. It was obvious to him that his sword aura was super strong, but he didn't want to be complacent and get his hopes up for something that seems too good to be true, so he made sure to put down any big thoughts until he knows what is actually going on. This has been a habit for him for as long as he could remember. He's always lacked self confidence and it feels wrong to him to be confident, almost like it's a bad thing.

***

It was now his last period of the day, individual practice period. Lin stood in front of a defense puppet, taking deep breaths before preparing to attack. In a split second, his sword was emitting multicolored lights, attracting the surrounding students' attention. They all stared at the sword in wonder, like they were watching a light show, but they could feel the danger emanating from Lin and they all instinctively took a step back.

After a long month of training, they had developed enough sense to know that they should stay far away from Lin and his beautiful light display. The students in front of him scurried out of the way after sensing the danger, not wanting to risk their life for no reason.

Bai's fox body materialized on top of Lin's head, ignoring the bewildered gazes of the surrounding teens. Lin lifted the sword high above his head and swiftly struck the defense puppet, his sword moving at the speed of light, giving the puppet no chance to even realize it was being struck.

The sword sliced the puppet as if it were air and struck the ground beneath. A fissure with a width of around 5 yards and a length of about 300 yards formed beneath its might. One side of the fissure was frozen and the other was on fire. Water filled the cracked ground in waves and green wind blades split the water within the chasm like the splitting of the sea.

The students spectating had their jaws on the floor and some even fainted from the immense shock. Then they suddenly started yelling for the teachers and calling for staff to come and assist. Lin just stood there, his mind blank, his unfocused gaze sweeping the large crevice in the ground.

Bai stared at the crevice, having no words to describe what he was feeling. He only had two words… "The F*CK???!!"

Lin felt slightly dizzy since he had used a lot of qi. But the fact that he didn't faint and only felt a little light headed was so amazing that someone could argue it was just as shocking as the gap of earth before them.

"How are you not unconscious right now???" Bai cried out, shocking the students. He forgot to use telepathy and everyone could hear the language of Numia slip off his tongue.

"Wait, you can talk out loud?" Lin said after Bai's words snapped him out of his daze.

"Of course I can… I just usually use telepathy for privacy and such." Bai said matter-of-factly.

After a few minutes of commotion, everything suddenly hushed. Students whispered in awe as two adults walked towards the scene with haste. One of them was the provost of the school who was following the other adult with a worried face. The other man held a confused but determined look as he walked briskly towards Lin.

Lin stood awkwardly as they both approached him.

"Are you a first year?" The man in front asked.

"Yes." Lin affirmed.

'A first year did this? They've only been here for a month!' The man thought inwardly.

"I am the chancellor of this academy and when I heard about the commotion, I immediately ran over to check what was causing such a big fuss… Can you give me your name?"

"Hao Lin."

The chancellor noted Lin's name within his records inside his office with a long distance qi technique. He then continued.

"Can you explain to me what happened here?"

"Um, I wanted to test out my new skill, sword aura, and this was the result of my sword swing… I didn't do anything else." Lin explained as fourth year instructors rushed past him to put out the fire. It took 3 water qi intructors at full strength to put out the blue, scorching flames.

'This mess was created by a single sword strike? That's insane!'

"I'm so sorry!" Lin exclaimed as he bowed his head to the chief executive of the school.

"…"

"…"

Suddenly the chancellor and provost bursted out laughing. They laughed and laughed, trying to make the sinking dread and disbelief in their stomach go away.

"Hahahahaha! That's the most I've laughed in a while! I'll let you off the hook since you didn't do this on purpose. Good day!" The chancellor said before walking back to his office. Everyone stared at him in bewilderment.

'I cannot offend that child, or else I won't even make it to my 50s before he comes for blood…' he thought with a serious face. The provost thought the exact same thing and followed the chancellor as he walked away.