"…Huff."
Akamir drew in a deep breath as he stepped forward.
He tensed the quadriceps in his lead leg, careful not to put too much weight on the ground.
Using that tension, he burst forward, repeating the process with the other leg.
'This is going to take time.'
He thought, repeating the same process while calculating his every step.
Akamir's movements were fluid, silent—like a shadow tracing the lines of the world.
Not even the leaves beneath his feet dared to rustle.
He wove between low poles, crouching when needed, keeping his center of gravity tight and low.
'Keeping the weight on the ground as little as possible.'
He pressed his heel into the earth, rolled it to spread his weight, then slid to a halt.
[Foxdrift Footwork has been registered.]
"Huff…"
Akamir exhaled slowly, eyeing the translucent message floating before him.
'What is even the criteria for registration?'
He couldn't help but wonder, placing his hand under his chin.
Yesterday it registered the Holy Aura just by looking at it, but not his footwork.
'Still, it's a good thing that my previous world arts still work here.'
Foxdrift was one of the finest footwork techniques he had ever learned.
A footwork made to confuse the opponent, as it was too hard to follow and made close to no sound.
But what made it special was that it could be integrated with any type of sword art.
A well-diversified footwork that Akamir liked a lot.
==
Would you like to learn "Foxdrift Footwork"?
==
The same question floated in front of Akamir like last night.
After thinking for a while—
'...Yes.'
Akamir chose to try it.
His shadow flicked into existence, making him take a step back.
The shadow had features similar to him but was entirely black.
It crouched low, shifted its weight, and vanished—leaving an afterimage behind.
Akamir glanced back at the three guards resting in the shade of a tree.
'So, I am the only one who can see this.'
Akamir concluded, looking back at the shadow.
Akamir's eyes tracked every muscle twitch, every shift in balance.
The shadow moved in a figure-eight, then disappeared for a heartbeat before reappearing two feet away with no sound.
'It's optimizing the technique… to fit my current body.'
Akamir wondered, and only after a few moments, he was sure of it.
The shadow pivoted, sliding across the grass, then twisted on the ball of its foot.
No wasted motion.
No pause between intent and execution.
[Progress: 7%]
'Huh. That's new.'
The message flickered in the corner of his vision.
It seemed the system was tracking his comprehension of the technique.
Akamir mirrored the movements.
It wasn't perfect—his muscle memory was gone, and his current body was different in size and strength.
But each attempt sharpened his awareness—the tension in his calves, the angle of his hips, the balance in his heels.
For the next fifteen minutes, Akamir followed the shadow.
[Progress: 12%]
He finally stopped, panting as he rolled his ankle and slid to a gentle halt.
Drawing in another breath, he straightened his back.
'Give me a day,' he thought, straightening and wiping his brow. 'Just one… and I'll make this mine.'
To begin with, it was always his.
The shadow dissolved back while Akamir moved toward his soldiers.
"Are you done, young master?" Danzo asked, standing back up.
"Yes," Akamir replied calmly. "Did you finish what I asked?"
"Yes, sir." Jade replied, standing up as well. "We have disposed of the body properly."
Akamir gave a short nod before giving them the orders.
"Patrol the town. Ask Chief Daris to gather some workers next week."
"Huh?"
Danzo let out a startled voice as Akamir turned around. "But why?"
"Just do as I say." Akamir replied, walking inside the house.
'One week should be enough.'
He thought, opening the door as he returned to his new room.
Zia was inside, dusting off a shelf.
She turned as he entered. "Are you going to take a bath?"
"In five minutes." Akamir replied, looking around the room. "Where did the map go?"
"It's on the table."
Akamir moved and quickly unfolded the map.
"Hmmm."
It was a map of the Forest of the Dead, the place where the Witch of End died.
The place Akamir had planned to use for himself.
'It's quite big.'
Akamir wouldn't be surprised if one could make an entire kingdom with this much land.
It was so big that it was impossible to outline the entire place.
And despite it being in the middle of two different kingdoms, none of them had taken hold of it.
Their fear of the witch was deeply rooted.
'That's why they'll let me have it. What they fear… I'll own.'
Akamir still had to check the place himself to determine how bad it was.
But—
'I can't find any other good place.'
The whole forest was one of the best places to start.
The only problem Akamir was facing was that he was alone in this.
'It's not really a problem.'
He only needed a place where he could be alone without anyone knowing.
A place to hide if things went south.
'And maybe I'm not really alone.'
He thought, looking back at the girl clearing the room.
"Zia."
He called, leaning back on the table.
She blinked. "Yes."
"We brought a lot of books from the Dukedom, right?" Akamir asked, looking at her.
"Yes. I packed a lot of them." Zia replied, while cleaning her hands. "Should I bring them here?"
"Please do." Akamir replied, glancing back at the map. "Especially anything about teleportation portals."
She bowed slightly. "As you wish."
Just when she walked out of the room, Akamir once again turned towards the map.
Picking up a marker, he made a circle at the very center of the forest.
"Now…" he murmured, tapping his chin, "how do I bring people here without raising suspicion?"
Akamir's best bet was on creating an artificial teleportation portal.
A far-fetched plan, but he was more than capable of creating one.
"I know all the basics and things that I needed for it." Akamir whispered, remembering his previous knowledge.
"All I need is a way to implement them here."
Akamir's fingers tapped lightly on the edge of the table, his mind racing through different plans.
'I'll have to adapt the design to this world's mana flow patterns.'
That could be the most difficult part but the most critical one as well.
"I should survey the forest today." He mumbled, picking up the map and folding it back.
And—
Just as he turned, the door slammed open.
Zia rushed into the room, her breath a little ragged.
"What happened?" Akamir asked, frowning in confusion.
"We have a guest." She said, moving away from the door.
Though still confused, Akamir walked out of the room.
As soon as he reached the stairs, he saw his guest.
At the bottom of the stairs stood a woman in pure white armor, covering her from neck to toe.
She had short black hair, her face cold and detached without any hint of emotion.
As soon as she noticed Akamir, she bowed slightly. "Sir Asher."
Akamir moved toward her, confusion coiling in his mind.
"Who are you?"
The lady blinked before she straightened her back.
"My name is Maria," she said. "Lady Inara's personal knight."