Ashen Ascension: The Divided Flame-Chapter 79: Unrelenting Practice

After Ivor finished reviewing the Edge Compression scroll, he put it away carefully. He knew the knowledge was important, but it was useless unless he could actually use it, making it an instinctual part of how mana moved through him.

He climbed down and found a good, clean patch of ground for training. He didn’t want loose leaves under his feet or to leave easy tracks. Satisfied, he drew his sword and sat with it across his knees, leaning against the tree.

He knew he couldn’t use the skill yet, seven nodes was a long way off, and he only had one. But training now would improve his control. If he built the habit early, the skill would feel familiar and dependable when he finally unlocked it. 𝙛𝒓𝓮𝙚𝔀𝒆𝒃𝓷𝒐𝓿𝙚𝓵.𝙘𝒐𝒎

He started with the first stage the scroll insisted on: forming a static line while stationary.

He slowly drew mana from his core into his dominant arm. He avoided coating the whole blade, which was easier, and instead focused on the difficult Edge Compression. He tried to push the mana into a narrow line along the planned strike path of the blade.

Initially, the mana spread out, coating the steel in a thin, uneven film. He tightened his control, and for a moment, the narrow strip formed before becoming unstable and widening in the middle. When he tried to fix that, the tip lost its concentration. The line existed but was shaky, pulsing on its own. The moment he stopped focusing, it dissolved into a messy streak on the blade.

He exhaled, reset his grip, and started again.

The second try lasted longer, but the thickness was uneven. The bottom was thick, the middle was thin, and the tip was thick again. It was like the mana preferred the ends. He fixed this by changing how the mana flowed in his arm, slowing it down and focusing on shaping it instead of just pushing a lot of it. This made the strip cleaner and less shaky.

It still didn’t last as long as it needed to. Holding it for sixty seconds was hard without practice. He kept failing after twelve, fifteen, or twenty seconds. Each failure showed him what he was doing wrong: his breathing changed when he got frustrated, his wrist got stiff when he tried too hard, and the mana flow got too heavy when he focused on the outcome instead of the process.

He kept going until his mind relaxed into a rhythm. One attempt lasted long enough for him to watch it without constantly fixing it. It wasn’t perfect, but it was thin and the density was more even. When it finally fell apart gently instead of snapping, he considered it a success.

Once he understood the first stage, he moved to the second: density calibration.

He rebuilt the mana strip, then tried to increase the mana flow while keeping it narrow. This was hard; the mana wanted to spread out, making his arm hurt as he forced it to stay dense.

When it felt right, he lightly touched the blade to a tree. The line instantly broke and spread out, just as a warning had said. He tried again, using less flow but more compression. The strip looked weaker, but held better. A second tap made it tremble and thin in one spot, but it didn’t disappear.

That small difference mattered.

He tested the same thing on wood and a half-buried stone. Each time, he got feedback. If the compression was wrong, the line instantly collapsed, wasting mana. If it was closer to correct, the blade felt slightly different, wanting to bite even on a light tap. This taught him "pressure control."

Once he could build the line and keep it stable under light contact, he moved to the third stage: slow application.

He held the sword and made the compression strip. He tried a slow horizontal cut. As the blade moved, the mana strip got thicker. He tried to fix it by using less mana but making it denser. This helped, but the strip still wiggled mid-swing.

Trying again, he realized his body movement, especially his shoulder, affected the mana strip. By keeping his body still and the swing small, the strip stayed solid longer. As he swung wider, it broke sooner. He learned that keeping the mana stable required his whole body to be controlled, not just the mana itself.

That was both annoying and useful.

Ivor practiced slow swings, increasing speed bit by bit. He knew the mana line would break if he swung fast, so he gently tested the limit, backing off when it failed.

He also tried the fifth stage’s idea: focusing the sharpness only at the point of impact to save energy. He liked this efficient idea, but it was hard. The focused compression either spread out too much or vanished completely.

After enough attempts, he stopped.

His forearms were tired from careful control, not just hard work. He was sweating and breathing heavily. He could still fight or run, but his mana control was slipping.

He sat down, leaned against the tree, and relaxed his hands. The sword, now just plain steel, felt less sharp without the focused mana. He didn’t see this as a problem, but as proof that his skill was real and that his body had felt its power.

His mana core was low from training. He didn’t want to use more crystals, as they made his core impure. Instead, he chose the harder way. He closed his eyes, activated Soul Sense to ten feet, and ignored the forest and sounds. He focused on the translucent mana flowing around him.

He nudged it toward himself.

Initially, the pull was weak, the Scar’s mana didn’t seem to care where it went. He patiently guided the drifting energy toward his core in tiny steps. Pushing too hard brought a painful headache, a warning that focus had a cost. He ignored the pain and kept pulling.

The mana started flowing better. Loose mana gathered steadily, moving towards him. His center took it easily; it was cleaner than crystal mana, making the process bearable even as his head hurt more. He was using up his soul energy, as the Ember Seed’s glow faded and the golden circuit slowed.

He let three hours pass like that.

The cost was clear: his soul energy was almost gone, and he had a dull, constant headache. When he opened his eyes, the forest looked normal, but he felt exhausted, as if he had been physically strained internally.

He sat for a moment and accepted what the method meant.

Using Soul Sense like this quickly refilled his core with pure mana, better than crystals. However, it severely depleted his soul energy and caused mental fatigue. It was a last resort, used only for speed or purity, especially before deeper levels where contamination was a bigger issue.

He stretched, checked his sword grip, and used the remaining ache in his arms to focus. Hunting would be better at night; the area quieted, people moved less, and his senses were sharper in the dark. He didn’t need comfort, just to be ready.

When shadows grew deep, Ivor moved silently back into the forest. His core felt full, his head ached, and the ’Edge Compression’ steps kept running through his mind, a routine he planned to master slowly.