After giving Heavenly Demon a sword, I made another for myself. As I mentioned before, it was a spare.

Passing Dwarf enjoyed this sort of thing too, so we both had fun working on it.

SHHHHH!

"Pretty."

That was my brief assessment of the sword sparkling like glow-in-the-dark stars. It really was beautiful.

It was also highly practical, especially at night. With this sword alone, I would be able to see some of my surroundings. I had the Light crystal orb, but a glowing sword could be even more efficient.

'It produces aura so easily, even with barely any mana.'

What I liked most was its mana consumption. I'd expected it, but even a small amount of mana made aura ripple like flames.

For someone like me, whose weakness was endurance, that performance was like rain in a drought. Of course, Heavenly Demon's sword was so overpowered that this would remain a spare, but it was still excellent.

'This should help with training too.'

Since it used so little mana, controlling it wasn't hard either. A beginner-friendly sword.

It would be a shame to keep this to myself. I immediately posted it on the forum... or rather, I didn't.

'Wait. Couldn't this expose Heavenly Demon's identity?'

A sword that glowed in the dark. Heavenly Demon had one too.

She might not upload a proof post herself, but the moment I posted mine, her identity would be exposed. The thing sparkled with even a trace of mana in it. There was no mistaking it.

If her identity got out and she quit the forum, that would be a huge loss for me. Especially since she was one of the people who had saved my life. I would miss her all the more.

It wouldn't be an ordinary loss, but an irreplaceable one.

'That could have been a disaster.'

My carelessness had almost cost me a precious friendship.

It would probably be best to keep the sword's existence hidden as much as possible. If that proved unworkable, I could make one from pure mithril instead of the alloy, Mithricon.

'The time... It's almost evening.'

Between going out to get a crab and making tools, dinnertime had crept up on me.

I'd originally planned to consume an inner core, but making all those tools had taken too long. Besides, Heavenly Demon had said she was heading out for the first time in a while to test the sword.

That made me wonder if she really did spend all her time holed up in her room browsing the forum, but I let it go.

'Either way, I hope she likes it.'

If she didn't, I was willing to return Heavenly Demon's sword. My glowing sword was perfectly good, even if it wasn't on the same level.

Half hopeful and half worried, I waited for her message.

Heavenly Demon

My honored friend.

Are you there?

I have returned from trying the sword you gave me.

I'd been just about to check whether the CCTV had recorded anything. Since I already had the forum window open, I saw her message right away.

I let out a breath when it arrived. This was a slightly nerve-racking moment.

She had been the original owner of the sword she'd given me. Her swordsmanship had to be outstanding. That meant she would give my sword an objective assessment, which was exactly why I was nervous.

What do you think?

Pretty good, isn't it?

Heavenly Demon

Would you like me to be kind,

or would you like me to be honest?

Honest, please.

Heavenly Demon

A sword is only worthy of the name when it cuts what its wielder wishes to cut.

But this sword goes too far.

Too much is as bad as too little, as they say.

You're not saying it's bad, right?

Heavenly Demon

Quite the opposite.

It is so excellent that it could cause unintended damage.

I more or less understood. When preparing ingredients, you were supposed to cut only the food on the cutting board.

But the Mithricon sword I'd given her would chop clean through not just the ingredients, but the cutting board too.

It was a problem born of performing far too well.

Is it hard to handle?

Heavenly Demon

It is a weapon that those who cannot control themselves must never wield.

But I am not one of them.

I can handle this much with ease.

That's a relief.

So it's not that you don't like it or anything...?

Heavenly Demon

Not at all.

Rather, I am grateful that you gave me such a sword so readily.

I owed you that much, of course.

If it breaks, I'll give you a new one.

Heavenly Demon

That will never happen.

Every martial artist considers it a disgrace to let their sword break.

And I dislike disgrace.

An answer utterly typical of Heavenly Demon. She certainly seemed to have plenty of self-esteem.

And it didn't sound like an empty boast. Judging by everything she had taught me, she was highly skilled.

She might argue with Sword Masta every day... but they were probably both remarkable people.

Understood.

Then may I contact you after dinner?

I'm planning to take an inner core and recite the formula then.

Heavenly Demon

I shall be waiting.

Once we'd arranged that, I finished my chores. First up was the CCTV.

Fortunately, checking the footage revealed no intruders while I'd been out fetching the crab. I'd worried that some of the gorillas might try to retaliate, but those fears were unfounded.

'And I caught three fish too.'

After dinner, when some time had passed and the night had grown dark, I sent Heavenly Demon a message to say I was ready.

She must have been online just then, because she replied immediately.

Heavenly Demon

As I said before, this formula concerns entrusting your body to the flow of heaven.

Rather than absorbing the inner core with your body, you entrust your body to its flow.

I'll take that to heart.

Heavenly Demon

Are you ready?

One moment.

As soon as I read her question, I looked down at my hand. A small inner core rested on my palm.

Thanks to the storage case I'd traded for with Smart Demonic Cultist, it had retained almost its original form.

'There's far more mana in this than in a fish.'

At least fish had nutrients mixed in. This was a lump of pure mana.

If I failed to absorb it properly, I might end up groaning with a fever like last time. Thankfully, my body had already grown accustomed to mana.

Had I eaten it without that preparation, my body might have burst, just as Heavenly Demon had warned.

'If I absorb the whole inner core, I can become stronger.'

And I had several, not just one. Though I intended to keep a few as emergency food for the speed-sloth.

The first time was always the hardest. I barely managed to calm my pounding heart.

I was worried something might go wrong, but all I could do was trust Heavenly Demon's formula.

I'm ready.

Please tell me now.

Heavenly Demon

You who would stand in heaven.

Feel that heaven in its entirety.

Where heaven goes, and what heaven points toward. You who have felt heaven.

Entrust your body to that heaven.

Then...

As Heavenly Demon had said, the second formula was about entrusting your body to the flow of heaven.

Know yourself and know your enemy, and you need not fear a hundred battles. Understanding both yourself and your opponent gave you the advantage needed for victory.

Heaven was no different. Understand everything it held, and you could gain the upper hand.

GULP.

I swallowed the inner core and began the internal energy cultivation method. At first, I used the same breathing method I always did.

But perhaps because I'd swallowed such a huge lump of mana, its already powerful flow began growing increasingly turbulent.

I wanted to forcibly seize that wild flow, but failed every time. It felt like pressing a hand against a spinning disk and getting a painful friction burn.

'I mustn't force it to stop. I need to give myself over to the flow completely.'

I silently recited the formula Heavenly Demon had taught me.

Don't grab the flow to stop it. Just hold on.

Hold on and let my body move with it, learning its flow. Learning what it wanted.

Rather than using my body to calm the energy, I had to adapt my body to the energy crashing through me like waves.

'Like entrusting myself to drifting clouds. Like entrusting myself to flowing water.'

And just as my body gradually began adapting to the energy within...

ZZZ...

I fell asleep without even realizing it.

* * *

I had a dream.

A dream of floating freely high, high in the sky. I'd had this dream before, when I'd recited Heavenly Demon's formula while suffering from that fever. Back then, too, I'd fallen asleep as though passing out.

The difference this time was my reaction, I suppose. Rather than wonder, I mostly felt unsettled.

'Don't tell me I have this dream every time I learn a new formula?'

The timing was too coincidental not to think so. I'd only know for certain if it happened again next time.

For now, I should make good use of this rare opportunity.

'Let's see. That's the sea over there, so...'

I looked around the forest. Scouting couldn't have been easier with me floating in the sky.

How did I know this was the Forest of Four Seasons? My shelter was right below my feet, so I'd recognized it immediately. Judging by the pitch-black night, it was also roughly the same time as when I'd fallen asleep.

'I can move around freely too...'

Unlike last time, though, I felt something strange. Even when I stayed still, it felt as though something was moving me.

Suddenly recalling Heavenly Demon's formula, I closed my eyes and concentrated. For a moment, I wondered whether I needed to practice my breathing here too.

'... Something's moving.'

Though I was motionless, I could sense a tiny movement. It wasn't the clouds, the wind, or the animals below.

It was the sky itself, in which I now floated so openly. However faintly, I could feel the sky moving.

'But...'

The problem was that those movements were tangled into a chaotic mess. Instead of moving in the direction of the planet's rotation, they went wherever they pleased.

I wondered if that was even possible, but this was the Forest of Four Seasons. Even space warped here. I just had to accept it and move on.

'Still... there seems to be a somewhat consistent flow within each area.'

Comparing the area across the river with my shelter made it all look chaotic. But when I considered them separately, I could tell each flowed in a fixed direction.

What use was knowing that, though? I still had a long way to go.

Light flashed.

Hardly any time had passed, yet the sun was already beginning to rise. The feeling that time was passing unnaturally fast left me rather bewildered.

At the same time, my body began to be drawn slowly downward. A kind of alarm telling my soul to wake up now that my physical body was waking.

For a moment, I flailed at the sensation of someone tugging on me.

"... Huh?"

I could see it clearly.

A "tree" towering alone in the distance. A presence that could not be hidden, standing out even amid that vast forest.

I wanted to get a clearer feel for it, but unfortunately, I was out of time.

And so my body fell toward the shelter.

"Ah."

The moment I opened my eyes, a dumbfounded sound escaped me.

I felt as though I'd just seen something, but couldn't remember it properly. A tree, I thought.

I couldn't quite distinguish dream from reality, which left me confused.

'... Why did it feel like time was going so fast?'

There was a lot to think about. I let out a breath and looked around.

It must still have been early, because the speed-sloth and Roundfur were fast asleep. I crept outside so I wouldn't wake them.

I didn't forget to take Heavenly Demon's sword. There was something I wanted to check.

'Shall we see what's changed?'

I'd absorbed all the inner core's energy, and very cleanly at that. The dream had been unusual too, so there must have been some significant changes.

A little nervous, I slowly fed mana into Heavenly Demon's sword.

WHOOOSH!

Flame-like aura, far larger than before, rippled over the sword. Previously, it had been just big enough to envelop the whole sword. Now it was nearly twice that size.

Consuming the inner core and using the formula had worked. The only problem was...

'Didn't he say that just making it bigger was pointless?'

Sword Masta had been scathing on that point. Increasing the size of your aura was the height of inefficiency.

Yet I was supplying the same amount of mana as before. My efficiency had definitely improved, but only in a strange way.

'... This really is a sidegrade, isn't it?'

Should I just be satisfied with the extra reach?