Chapter 6603 Sword Pacts "So what exactly is the significance of your theoretical model?" Ves asked. "Aside from the use of fancy terms, your description has not exactly introduced anything that sounds practical and immediately applicable. What is a swordmaster supposed to do with your teachings?" Ketis crossed her arms. "You should have noticed that I used the word 'score'. That is deliberate on my part, because I want every sword practitioner to start evaluating on how well they score in terms of Heaven, Earth and Man. They can use a numerical scale such as 1 to 100, or a letter scale such as D to S. They can even use a simplistic binary scale such as weak to strong if they can't be bothered with finer distinctions. What matters is that every sword practitioner must make an effort to quantify their progress in how extensively they mastered Heaven, Earth and Man at their respective ranks. That will tell them what they need to improve the most." Ves immediately tried to put this instruction into practice. "Let's start with a typical swordmaster from the Heavensword Association. If I have to judge his score, I would say that his Heaven score is D, his Earth score C and his Man score is A. Their willpower is probably top-notch, but willpower cultivation alone is not enough for them to break through. The swordmasters of the old galaxy are hindered by the deprivation of the power of heaven. This has also made it so that most of the swordmasters in the new frontier are still not used to leveraging E energy radiation." Ketis nodded in agreement. "The way you scored typical swordmasters is close to my own interpretation. You are right that we are still new to mastering the potential of Heaven. You are also correct that swordmasters have impressive willpower that it has formed a source of extraordinary power by itself. As for Earth... no swordmaster has developed the proper techniques to tap into the power of their equipment. That is partially because no one has been able to forge a proper sword artifact in the past. The swords wielded by the Heavensworders are excellent products of modern engineering, but they lack the qualities that can turn them into full artifacts." "What distinguishes a regular material sword from a sword artifact?" Ves asked an important question. The female swordmaster replied by taking hold of the floating Bloodsinger and partially drawing out its remarkable blade. "As you know, my Bloodsinger started out as a normal CFA-issued weapon all the way back when we entered the Starlight Megalodon." "I remember, Ketis. You repeatedly modified and upgraded your personal sword. Even if you haven't used any of the proper traditional blacksmithing techniques, it has sort of evolved into a low-level artifact under your care. Your weapon has especially benefited from long-term exposure to Sharpie's willpower baptism." Ketis smiled. "This shows that before I created my new theory, I instinctively understood the value of nurturing my Bloodsinger. However, I cannot consider my efforts in doing so a qualified success. My Earth score should therefore be rather low, just like all of the other swordmasters who have carried their weapons by their side for many decades. Almost every swordmaster does it, but I find it incredibly absurd that no one has truly made an effort to explain why this is beneficial and why their current methods failed to make a meaningful difference"" Her explanation made sense. It was all well-and-good to treat their swords like cherished possessions and ascribe greater meaning into them than mere physical objects, but without solid results, it all amounted to superstition in the end. "So how do you intend to turn this pseudoscience into an actual working solution?" "By taking a page out of your book." She replied. "I do not know how other sword practitioners have managed to do it in the past. I suspect that they are able to acquire much more developed sword artifacts that are specially designed and forged to conduct binding rituals. I cannot think of another way for a sword cultivator to increase his utilization of a sword artifact aside from forming a bond that can bring them together. Witnessing your Carmine mechs turn ordinary people into mech pilots leads me to believe that there is great potential in this. The necessity for peak ace pilots to merge with their prospective god mechs is another piece of evidence that backs up my hypothesis," In other words, every swordmaster aside from the Heavensword Saint failed to make substantial progress because they never successfully explored a way to increase the utilization of their weapons. "What you are describing is artifact cultivation." Ves stated. "Yes. Artifact cultivation is the right phrase to use when it comes to this, Ves! In my new manual, I wrote that a reformed sword practitioner cannot make enough progress unless he raises his Earth score. There are not many proven and reliable means to do so at the moment, but one of the methods that I have suggested is to convert a favorite weapon into a 'life sword." "A life sword?" Ketis grinned wider. "It is exactly what you think it is. It is the deliberate choice to form a permanent bond with a sword artifact that is capable of accepting it. If the bond is successfully formed, a contract exists between the two, just like your Blood Pact. Both of them shall prosper together. While I have attempted to soften the terms of the contract so that it can still enable the sword practitioner to wield other swords, the effect will not be as good in most cases." That was a rather clever idea. Ketis clearly wanted to imitate the model of the Carmine System to empower her reformed swordsmanship, but she did not blindly copy all of its traits. She put her own spin on the concept and tried to make it less restrictive and more palatable to everyone. Whether it would actually work was uncertain, but Ves applauded her initiative. 𝒇𝒓𝒆𝒆𝙬𝒆𝒃𝓷𝒐𝓿𝙚𝙡.𝒄𝓸𝒎 "What do you call your version of the Blood Pact, then?" "A Life Sword Pact. It is the most extreme and sacred pact that I have devised up to this point." "You created more?" Ketis nodded. "I did. Why would I stop with one? The Life Sword Pact has the potential to produce the most dramatic results, but the downsides are equally as severe, just like the Blood Pact it was modeled after. In order to accommodate the needs and circumstances of other sword practitioners, I have tried to develop other possible sword pacts. I have written them down in the manual, but I have made sure to warn my readers that it is all based on unsubstantiated theories. This is one of the reasons why the current text is only a draft rather than the final version." Ves quickly scrolled down the virtual document he received and focused on one of the chapters in the Earth section. He quickly became impressed by the amount of pacts that Ketis managed to devise. Her imagination must have been working in overdrive when she wrote this chapter! "Interesting. Interesting! What is the premise behind the 'Mother-Child Sword Pact"?" "That is an answer to sword practitioners who want to enjoy most of the benefits of a Life Sword Pact, but still want to wield many more words." Ketis said. "The idea is for a sword practitioner to form a pact with a sword that is especially designed to shed pieces. As long as the pact has developed to a point, it should theoretically be possible to split the sword pieces and turn them into 'children' that are still somewhat connected to the sword practitioner. They can subsequently be reformed into full swords. If this works as well as I hope, then the loss of a 'child sword' will only set the sword practitioner back on a temporary basis." The idea sounded rather similar to the premise behind the Fey Fianna, but the details were naturally different. Ketis relied too much on her assumptions and not enough on actual proof for this particular idea. "The Spirit Sword Pact sounds interesting." "This is another idea that is based on your work, Ves. The idea is to form a pact with a companion spirit that is shaped into a sword. As long as the conditions are right, the sword practitioner has successfully acquired a 'spirit sword. The two are much more tightly bound together, and shouldn't have any compatibility problems. It is much easier to hide the spirit sword, but it is also not that useful to use against powerful physical targets. The best way to use the spirit sword is to temporarily imbue it into a physical sword so that the latter can gain additional power." Many mech pilots with companion spirits were already doing this with their mechs, so Ves knew that there was merit to this proposal. The only part that Ves was not certain about was whether it was possible for a swordmaster to treat a companion spirit like a literal sword. If Ves hadn't already created Blinky, he would have felt tempted to pursue this idea! Forming a spirit sword sounded fun. Ketis came up with a few more sword pacts than that, such as a Slave Sword Pact, an Inheritance Sword Pact, a Bone Sword Pact and a Planet Sword Pact. However, without proof to back up her increasingly more outrageous assumptions, it all sounded like fantasy. "Don't pay too much attention to these other Sword Pacts." Ketis advised. "They are ultimately derived from the most foundational Life Sword Pact, which possesses the strongest empirical backing. The ultimate goal of forming the concept of a Sword Pact is to tell every serious sword practitioner that they must bond with a sword if they want to promote the development of their own domains. This is exactly what I have been missing. Without a Sword Pact, my prior attempts to become a sword saint were ultimately ineffective." "It sounds like you have managed to clear the fog that has kept you lost all of this time. This is incredibly valuable." Ketis nodded in agreement. "I have already decided to put my theory to the test. I am ready to form a Life Sword Pact with my Bloodsinger." "What?!" This was a big deal! "If this is anything like the Carmine Pact, then you know that this will be permanent, right?! I mean, you probably know the pros and cons far better than I, but are you truly ready to turn your Bloodsinger into your lifelong weapon even if it is clearly not the best weapon that you can acquire?" What about the Heavensword? "My decision has already been set long before this day, Ves." Ketis calmly replied in order to show that she maintained her reason. "Forming a bond with the Bloodsinger is the right decision. No other sword qualifies, and that includes the Heavensword for reasons that I have explained earlier. You are correct that it is not the best sword that I can bond with, but I have spent a decade nurturing this blade. Why would I throw away this investment? I have already made it mine for the most part. Forming the pact is the final step that completes my ongoing attempt to join my fate with the fate of the Bloodsinger. I will start right away now that I have accounted for myself." "WAIT! Don't be in a hurry! You can still apply last-minute upgrades to the Bloodsinger! Won't it be nice if we purchase a few rare materials from the Divine Bazaar and upgrade the materials of your greatsword? Aside from that, we can also attempt to transform your weapon into a powerful D-arm that is equivalent to a high-level artifact through Demoncasting!" Ketis shook her head in rejection. "I can upgrade the Bloodsinger after I have turned it into my life sword. There shouldn't be any restriction that prohibits me from doing so. I just need to keep the weapon intact enough, just like when you upgrade one of your old mechs. As for Demoncasting... no. Just no. Do not attempt to persuade me further." Her mind was set. There was no way to persuade a swordmaster to change her mind. Ves couldn't even persuade her to slow down and test her Life Sword Pact on another swordmaster before she made her own attempt! "I will not put others at risk of suffering from my mistakes." She self-righteously declared as she fully unsheathed her impressive Bloodsinger. "It is only right that I shall bear the risks of my own work! I am my own test subject!"