Master Of None



"Walker said it was all connected. A cycle of elemental manas that came together to form natural mana." Gil was mumbling to himself. Some in his own head and some out loud. But he had not stopped since he started letting his body follow the hard trained movements of the different elven dagger styles. 

It had been a long time since Gil had made his muscles memorize every single movement he could discern. While some had been easily learned from elves, others had been taken from accounts. Books from older generations. Or even ruins that were still not translated fully. All of it would be tougher to understand if he didn't have the help of the elves of today's generation. 

This didn't mean that he was ahead of anyone though. Many of the elves had heard of his goals and begun to learn. The elemental dagger techniques had already started to resurface. Especially since the elves had begun to come together again. But there had been friction. 

Not every single difference had been erased. The dark and the stone elves had been able to rectify their differences over many generations of isolation from the world. They chose to keep their union locked away from the rest of the world for safety and growth. But that wasn't followed by all elves. 

The water elves and the fire elves had the same issues. Some of them wanted to assert their dominance over their elemental affinity compared to others. That was why Alma had so much trouble when the fire elves had begun to join them in Genesis. 

The elves had all taken different sections to create their own homes. The water elves were near the rivers and got along amazingly with the merfolk. But the fire elves had wanted more space and a hotter environment. That would have encroached on the water elves' cool water. This had caused basic spats and arguments between the two showing why the elves had split in the first pace. 

The small differences would grow in to larger issues over time. Just the call of the dagger techniques wasn't enough for them to look and study each other's styles. Instead, they wanted proof that the high elven ways could be brought back. That the high and mighty elves that had wielded multiple elemental manas and united them many generations ago could even be glimpsed. 

This had been the stubborn stop that Alma had found them at. The fire elves had refused to go further and the water elves remained stubborn as well. They had blown things over the top and claimed that they would not budge unless proof that the different elven ways could be brought together. That the hero of the elves would show them the proof since he had so highly pushed the high elven dagger goals on everyone. 

As this had been one of the last issues that Alma had faced, Gil was not oblivious when they were leaving Genesis for this adventure. For this major quest to keep everyone safe. With this thought in the back of his mind, Gil had been worried the entire time. The elves that came with him were getting along greatly, but that didn't mean that they didn't have hidden enmity with the other elves. That they also weren't waiting for some sort of reason to split back up. 

The elves had split and a generational and elemental gap had formed. This was an issue that plagued Gil while he trained. Even here, on another continent, he strived to put the pieces together. Every single dagger style he shifted between was flawless. He had trained and was able to switch them instantly, but that was the issue. 

With every slash and shift, Gil defeated an undead. The mummified worshippers fell to the flow of the water dagger style and then were brutally slashed by the fierce fire dagger style. But that was it. He used each one separately. That was why he was growling to himself within his mind about how he had to fuse them. How he had to unite them. That was why he was so trapped when he felt the small insights to elemental manas as the reward from the system. 

The inspiration had been small, but Gil had been watching everyone. Asking the elves, the mages, and anyone he could get his hands on. Especially the elemental royal dragons. While some had barely given him the time of day since they didn't understand why they should help him get stronger, he had still asked and gotten some answers. 

It wasn't that the dragons didn't care, but a dragon got stronger through their own effort. Gil did not hate them for this but understood that he was going to have to find these answers for himself. That he had to understand the elemental manas more deeply and put them together. Therefore, when the system had opened his eyes more, he saw that flow of elemental manas around him more clearly. Especially when Walker brought them together in his body. When the natural mana that was attracted to Walker and Fleur condensed around him. 

The tiniest of feelings had awakened within Gil. this tiny feeling that he was on the edge of something. This was his small insight. That the natural mana was everywhere, that elemental mana was just part of that. "I have the parts, I need to make them whole." that was what Gil had felt scream through his mind. 

The elemental elven dagger techniques were perfectly crafted parts. They were amazing alone. Yes, they could even support entire kingdoms and groups of elves in everything they did. But they were parts.

This understanding began to shift how Gil saw himself. It was as if he was looking at his body. He could feel and sense the jerky shifts between the different styles. How he was striking fluidly then stopping and forcefully changing his stance. 

It may have looked to others that he was ideally executing moves. Even to his party members, it was a flow to them. A perfect style. However, it was just using parts. The next mummified worshiper that came near Gil found itself locked in his gaze. It wasn't that Gil was doing anything, but the mana around him was being drawn toward the styles. That was how closely the elves had developed their style based on their neutral mana affinities. 

When Gil had felt the enemy approach, he had let his instincts come over him and act. The odd way he moved used the darkness dagger style but he felt something else. A steel in his muscles. As if he had used the earth dagger style to take a strong and powerful stance with toughness in mind. 

Gil's body moved around the undead worshiper and then struck upwards with force. A dodging and agile movement with the power and stability of the earth elven dagger style. The melding of earth and darkens had been enough to change the mana flow around him while also opening Gil's eyes. 

This was like an explosion to Gil. he felt his heart beat faster and his eyes open wider. The world around him seemed to have faded a little. All that mattered was the battles and the instincts within him. He stopped caring about the reasons behind fusing the dagger styles and the fact that they were one style, not many. 

As this event happened, Walker looked on and felt a change. The change had brought him from his sealing undead in sand and breaking of runes. The reason for this was because he had felt the mana shift. When he found Gil, Walker could see that the small amount of mana that normally attracted to each style had begun missing. That Gil's movements had melted together. He wasn't just attacking with single moves anymore. He was seemingly making new ones that were half one and half another. 

"He's doing it." Walker laughed a little because this was an amazing sight. Gil did not have all elemental affinities, but the dagger styles were attracting significant elemental manas to Gil and mixing them. Specifically, they were blending the very same way that Walker had first learned to mic elemental manas to create natural mana. 

Therefore, Walker and a few mages reacted. They sent mana toward Gil. For just a few moments, Walker watched as a mummified soldier charged at Gil. Yet, when it approached, the mana shifted and Gil appeared to gain much more strength. 

In a flash, Gil moved to dodge and slash at the mummified soldier. The loss of an arm was nothing to it. But to Gil, it was the start. The natural mana that had gathered around him was strengthening his body. Making the dagger strike and break away the undead. 

The thing that shocked everyone was that Gil's next overhead slash caused the mana around to ripple. The same way that Walker could when he used small amounts of natural mana to attack. But the result that no one expected was that the dagger strike caused the mummified soldier to crumble to dust. As if it had been severed from the control of the enemy behind it. Gil had been the first to properly purify the undead that had been causing issues for years. 

….

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