Chapter 6601 Reforging Traditional Swordsmanship Ketis tackled her Missions with a renewed sense of optimism and motivation. Ves knew that she would shape up eventually. She was not as weak and fragile as other mech designers. Although the long-term isolation from her family and support network was abrupt, she was a trooper who overcame many challenges. This was just a different kind of test than the more direct combat-related ones. Ketis soon found her own groove as well. She alternated her time between designing mechs, conducting research and expanding her grasp on swordsmanship. As the latest bearer of the Heavensword, Ketis already recognized that she was much more special than the other swordmasters such as President Fred Walinski. Even if she did not lead the Red Swordsmanship Federation herself, her teachings already influenced large parts of the official body of swordsmanship in the Red Ocean. She was pretty much the Heavensword Saint in all but name and rank. It did not matter that she refused to sacrifice her own swordsmanship accumulation in order to gain immediate mastery of the arts that allowed her to draw out the greater potential of the legendary blade. She did not feel tempted at all at the prospect of being able to gain so much combat power that she could probably give a greater phase whale a run for his money! That was because she knew for certain that the instant acquisition of a whole foreign sword style with its own separate principles and philosophy would end her forward progression. No Heavensword Saint managed to make any meaningful improvements in his acquired swordsmanship since they became the bearer of the grand work. Sure, these past cases did not serve as perfect references as the Heavensword was stuck in low-power mode back in the Milky Way, but Ketis did not think her situation was all that different. As a mech designer as well as a disciplined swordmaster, she highly valued the gains made through her own efforts. Just like how Ves repeatedly warned her that relying too much on the System would cause her to atrophy her technical problem-solving capabilities, inheriting a highly mature and developed sword style would cause her to be unable to improve it due to her lacking experience and insights. This was why she decided to adopt another approach to the gifts of the Heavensword. She decided to digest its teachings on an incremental basis. Instead of allowing the Heavensword to dump a huge chunk of its high-end inheritance straight into her mind like an enlightenment fruit, she insisted on taking old-fashioned lessons as if she was apprenticing herself to its past wielders! "Ha!" Ketis performed series of sharp and impactful strikes with her Bloodsinger, Despite the formidable length, mass and density of the exquisite greatsword, Ketis wielded it with a highly familiar degree of power and control. Greatswords actually weren't that slow or heavy, but it was easy to make mistakes and leave yourself open to counterattacks. They were also pretty impractical to use in confined spaces and way more exhausting to use over a longer period of time. Despite all of these disadvantages, they had their charm. Enemies always became intimidated by their sight and they were excellent at clearing spaces. In mech combat, greatswords were considerably more practical. Swordsman mechs could be designed with stronger arms and artificial musculature, as Ketis had done many times. She had gained a huge amount of proficiency in optimizing mechs for wielding these large and formidable blades. Baseline humans were nowhere close to good at wielding proportional greatswords as the likes of the Second Sword and more recently the Storm Sword. Genetic modifications and other augmentations could close the gap to an extent, but the human physique could only be molded so much before they reached a limit. Becoming a swordmaster partially broke a few of those physical limitations, but the scope was still limited. Ketis showed no sign of feeling deterred by these material limitations. This was because she understood that the true essence of extraordinary swordsmanship centered around the manipulation of energy rather than just the blade. That did not mean that knowing how to wield a sword in a proficient manner was not important. The sword was the foundation that extraordinary swordsmanship rested upon. It was the wand that wizards used to cast their deadly spells. It was the mech that high-ranking mech pilots used to amplify their willpower and distort reality. As Ketis developed more and more insights and theories about the essence of swordsmanship, she eventually discovered that her existing paradigms could no longer keep up with her brainstorming. In order for Ketis to make sense of her explorations, she decided to set aside all of her prior theories and assumptions and start from a blank slate. A typical swordmaster would never have the guts or ability to do this as they were warriors first and foremost. Ketis was not a typical swordmaster. She was a Journeyman Mech Designer. She was trained and educated to conduct research and development. This was merely another R&D project as far as she was concerned. The Swordmaiden mech designer probably wouldn't have committed herself to such a massive project under the current times. The Red Tide Offensive was steadily working up to a climax. Ketis felt she needed to arm her sisters with the best mechs and arms as quickly as possible. She also felt an obligation to keep herself as combat capable as possible. There was no time for her to take advantage of the Heavensword's generosity and explore the fundamentals of swordsmanship. She would have felt much more inclined to learn immediate applications of this potent grand work. Entering the System Space and taking a lengthy break from the main universe ended up being a blessing in this regard. With much more time at her disposal, she could invest herself in a longer project without feeling harried by her enormous workload. The separation from her family, her confidantes and the rest of the Larkinson Clan also turned out to be a blessing in disguise. Ketis did not realize how much her daily entanglements burdened her down and prevented her from spending long periods of time on deep philosophical ponderings. She actually discovered the benefits of isolating herself so that she could solely concentrate on her obsessions. No wonder Ves was able to make so many wonderful gains at times. Ketis therefore approached her new undertaking with greater and greater enthusiasm. By employing the Scientific Method to reconstruct her theory on swordsmanship, Ketis was able to discard a lot of useless and outdated baggage. This forced her to ponder over a large amount of basic questions. "What is a sword?" "How do the properties of a sword affect one's swordsmanship?" "What is swordsmanship?" "What is a swordmaster?" "What makes a sword saint greater than a swordmaster?" These were basic questions that Ketis could readily answer based on her old theories, but she refused to adopt this brain-dead method. She needed to make an effort to formulate her own arguments based on the most basic axioms. As long as she did this often enough, she could steadily build up a new theoretical framework that was untainted by the mistakes and biased interpretations of her predecessors. Ketis did not entirely understand why she felt an increasing desire to forge a brand new start for traditional swordsmanship, but she could not get rid of this obsession. With the occasional hints and support from the Heavensword, Ketis was able to make brisk progress in reconstructing a theory on swordsmanship. The female swordmaster did not consider her activities to be a burden or a waste of time. Even if she spent precious time on reinventing the wheel instead of completing another lucrative Mission, Ketis believed her investment in the fundamentals was worth the equivalent of thousands of Ascension Points! This was because she became increasingly more determined to upend the existing paradigms of traditional swordsmanship and reforge it into a form that was adapted to the circumstances in the Red Ocean! "Traditional swordsmanship is powerful, but it is also flawed." Ketis summed up her thoughts. "Extraordinary willpower is an amazing energy medium. It is born from human conviction and amplified by sword technique through the phenomenon known as resonance. Yet... there is a limit to how extensively willpower can bend reality. The law of conservation of energy still applies even if I don't have a full understanding of all of the relevant variables. All I need to know is that the willpower of a swordmaster is the starting point rather than the destination." She continued to swing the Bloodsinger in a sharp and piercing manner that bore a striking resemblance to Saint Dise's newly acquired mastery over the metal element. With every strike, her Bloodsinger cut the air with a slightly sharper edge. What was remarkable was that this incremental improvement never stopped! Ever since Ketis came into contact with the Heavensword Association, she became fascinated by its enduring legacy of traditional swordsmanship. It completely overtook the inferior and more primitive forms of swordsmanship practiced by Ketis and her fellow sisters in the past. In the ensuing years, Ketis continued to master the existing tenets of traditional swordsmanship as she wholeheartedly believed in the superiority of its existing paradigms. Yet now that Ketis took stock of her current understanding and evaluated it from a fresh perspective, she realized that she was pursuing a dead end all this time. While she certainly learned a lot of valuable lessons from the traditions of the Heavensword Association, Ketis no longer blindly took its gospel as the absolute truth. According to her new theories, the practice of traditional swordsmanship in the Milky Way was more like a helpless devolution. The swordsmanship demonstrated by the past wielders of the Heavensword was much richer and more magnificent. She saw very little of that splendor in the more basic 𝗳𝚛𝗲𝕖𝚠𝚎𝚋𝗻𝗼𝕧𝗲𝐥.𝚌𝚘𝐦 sword styles in use today. That did not necessarily mean that the swordmasters the Milky Way were fundamentally wrong. They were merely limited by their environment. They were like third-class mech designers who could only design weak and basic mechs. Until recently, Ketis and Dise had both been trying to develop their swordsmanship as if they were still third-class mech designers. In truth, their conditions had already improved to the point where they earned the qualifications to promote to second-class mech designers. They could design much richer and more varied mech designs now that they could make use of better and more powerful means! Saint Dise only just managed to complete this life-changing transition by successfully discovering her affinity towards the metal element. Ketis took inspiration from her sister's successful ascension. As a witness to this profound breakthrough, the swordmaster wondered how she could replicate this process to make it suitable for swordmasters. "Swordmasters and expert pilots share the same root. What separates an expert pilot from an ace pilot is the formation of a Saint Kingdom. Then... if a swordmaster wants to become a sword saint, he must do whatever it takes to generate a domain field of his own." According to Ves' teachings, a domain was the characteristic property of cultivators of the second major rank. Every cultivator at this level acquired a domain in one form or another. "What is a domain?" The best explanation that Ketis could come up with was that it was an energy field that channeled the inner strength of an entity of the second major cultivation rank. "What is inner strength?" Was it one's conviction? Was it the artistic conception of qi cultivators? Was it the overwhelming belief in one's own self? "Perhaps... it is all of this and more, at least as far as swordmasters are concerned." Although Ketis was not able to come up with solid answers to every question, she believed she was steadily making progress in constructing a fresh new paradigm of swordsmanship. She spent hours writing down her notes in a virtual document. She frequently examined her words and either erased or rewrote them if they failed to meet her high standards. Over the course of several weeks and months, these writings gradually evolved into an increasingly more coherent manual. A manual of reformed swordsmanship.