Space Odyssey: Spectre-Chapter 390: First Ancestor

Chapter 390: First Ancestor
Jace walked up to the medieval knight that had a longsword held in front of it. Jace looked over them for a moment and their simple armor before he reached out and touched the statue. He could feel a slight pulse and irritation.
It was the same feeling he got when he overused his powers. But he could already tell that this was a bit different. The exhaustion was a bit different. He would have to look into it later.
There was an almost invisible pulse followed by the rest of the status disappearing. Including the Xenar gold statue.
Then the statue in front of him began moving and the dust began falling off of it. Jace stepped back as the dust fell to reveal some metal armor with some chainmail hidden underneath. There was not nearly as much armor as he initially thought.
The colors on the knight’s armor, body, and sword appeared as well. After a few seconds it began moving forward a bit. It pulled its longsword over and rested the flatside on his shoulder. As it moved to the center of the arena it almost seemed to stretch.
"Okay... now how does this work?" Jace asked openly, not really expecting a response.
"That is simple. I will train you in the basics." The knight declared.
Jace blinked in surprise but then his leg hit something and he looked down to see a longsword laying on the ground. He bent down and picked it up.
"Get into the correct stance." The knight ordered as he began walking around Jace. "First I will start with the basic stances and you will swing a few hundred times until you are used to it. Then we will move onto the first assessment test once you are confident in the technique."
Jace frowned as he got into a stance where he was holding the sword with both hands. He was barely in the stance before he could hear the knight scoff at him. Then he stepped forward and corrected Jace’s stance. When the knight did, Jace could feel the more natural flow of the form.
"This is..."
"Correct. Now do a vertical swing." The knight ordered as he stepped back.
Jace frowned but followed the directions. In fact he spent what felt like several hours practicing the three forms that the knight had shown him.
The first one was the vertical swing. It was simple but he could feel how powerful the strike could be if the appropriate amount of force was put behind the correct movements. But he could also tell that it was still not the best he could do. He needed to train the form more in order to get to a state where the strike was perfect. For this form he needed to train his speed and force.
The same could be said of the second form he was taught. The horizontal strike. It was less about force and more about cleaving an enemy in half. He could tell for this technique he needed to get quicker and have more control with the technique.
Then the third and last one was the block. A simple turn of the blade to block strikes with the flat side of his blade. For this technique he had to practice control and force. He quickly realized this technique would help him the most when it came to extending his control over the sword so it almost acted like an extension to his own body.
After several hours of training the knight nodded his head. "Enough." He said one word and then moved opposite Jace. "You have the basics of the forms down. Now to test you." He turned to Jace and got into the same stance that Jace saw as a vertical stance.
Jace got into the same stance and watched the knight’s movements closely. They were completely still before they were moving forward and bringing their blade down.
Jace turned the blade and managed to block the attack while slightly leaning to the side. There was a loud screech of metal on metal as the two blades ran against each other. Then Jace controlled the movement of his sword into a horizontal strike.
The knight merely turned his own blade into the block position. The result was the knight being pushed back by Jace’s strike. Immediately afterwards the knight moved forward with their own strike. But Jace tensed his own muscles and reversed the direction of his attack.
Clang!
Metal struck metal in a fast and loud way as the two blades struck each other. After hitting each other they both stumbled back. But the knight was quicker on the recovery as he instantly went in for another horizontal strike.
Jace moved back slightly but grimaced as he felt the sword cut through his side. Jace had to switch around to a vertical strike as he launched himself forward and there was another loud clang followed by Jace almost losing his footing.
Jace was calculating his next move as he caught himself. But it was too late as he suddenly felt the sword slice through his body. Jace grimaced and collapsed on the ground. Then he realized he was bleeding from his side.
A second later as he blinked his eyes he realized that he was back in the sand looking up at the sky. Which was still a blood red like before. But as he pulled himself up he looked up and saw the knight sitting on a mossy stone that was not there before while he sharpened his sword.
"You cannot die in the Arena of Warriors. Injure your pride maybe. But death here is not permanent. But it also means the restrictions on you are greater here since you are merely using a projection of your consciousness." The Knight explained as Jace pulled himself up.
Jace thought for a moment about what he said. It sounded similar to the concept of astral projection. Perhaps it would be beneficial to train this ability. "I see. Is this Arena of Warriors a place where I can project my consciousness outside of my body?"
"Something like that. It is still connected to you by blood which is how you can access it. But you access it through meditation or faith." The knight declared as he stopped sharpening sword and stood up.
"Oh? Is that how you accessed it?" Jace asked in surprise as he looked over at a sword and picked it up. But when he reached for it he noticed his hand was slightly more translucent than before.
"Yes, I prayed to my god constantly. Eventually I was able to find this Arena of Warriors, although it was far less populated. I had also meant another person who said he achieved the same feat through meditation." The knight declared. "Now get... What is wrong?" He asked when he noticed Jace’s gaze.
"My hand is translucent." Jace answered. "How... why is it translucent?"
"Hmm... it is because you died once already." The knight declared with a chuckle. "As I said before, you access this place through a projection of your consciousness. Your projection can only withstand so much before you are sent back to your body." The knight admitted.
Jace nodded. "I would guess... three times? I assume that since you are not worried this is a form of training as well?" Jace guessed as he moved and stood in position.
"Oh?" The knight made a noise of surprise. "Why do you think that?"
"Because whatever I am training with my astral projection will make it easier to access as it gets dispersed and recreated." Jace answered and the knight waved his hand. Jace rolled his eyes. "Like how a muscle would get damaged and get repaired stronger as exercise, this would train whatever allows us to project our consciousness."
"You are correct. But I will leave that for you to figure out all on your own. I can only tell you so much. I can tell you that eventually you will be able to do things you never believed you could do." The knight informed him with a chuckle. "Now get in position."
Jace did as he asked and they started another bout. Only using the same three moves just like last time. The clanging of metal resounded throughout the arena as they fought.
Nearby, out of Jace’s view were a gathering of colored spirits as they watched what was happening. "Are you sure? We may be of the same blood. But as he will learn our techniques and legacies we learn of his own history and what he will leave behind. This one belongs in the Sewers of Shadows."
"This is right. He has emerged from the shadows and become a warrior. I have a feeling that he will only continue to grow as a warrior. We merely need to guide him on what he does not know. But I have a feeling that this one will not stop here. It has been awhile since another of our blood has appeared here. Only that creature knows what is going on, so we should just follow its lead." Another spirit that was light green answered.
"Very well, but I sense very little honor in this one. You saw the way he fought with his hands." Another red spirit pointed out. Getting murmurs of agreement from the other spirits.
But they just continued watching as the knight trained Jace.