The training room became a second skin.
For three days, he said almost nothing to anyone. He rose early, showered, passed the receptionist (who always glanced up too quickly then pretended she didn't), and vanished into the skyscraper's top-floor training hall.
Katana in hand. Silent. Focused.
He didn't fight. He refined.
Each motion dissected. Cleaned. Rebuilt.
By the end of the second day, the blade was an extension of his breath.
Draw. Cut. Shift. Sheathe.
Repeat.
The third day…
He stopped just before sundown. Blade still in hand. Breathing steady.
And said softly to himself:
"It's time."
---
He stood in the center of the room.
Focused.
Hands at his side. Katana in its sheath.
And behind his eyes… the Vault stirred.
> [Tier 1 :: Vector Framework Engaged.]
[Access: Velocity / Force Override – User Object Only.]
A faint pulse throbbed around him. No aura — just presence. Like space itself had leaned in, curious.
He raised his left hand. Pointed a finger at a training dummy.
"Push."
The air shimmered faintly, then snapped — and the dummy launched backward, smashing into the far wall.
He didn't blink.
He looked at his katana.
Then back at the space where the dummy had stood.
What if I don't push the dummy…
What if I push the blade?
---
Day 4–6: Vector-Infused Sword Style Development
Experiment 1: Silent Draw – Boosted Slash
He set a backward velocity on himself mid-draw.
→ The katana lashed forward with double speed.
→ It cut through the dummy before the sound of the draw even hit the walls.
Experiment 2: Pause-Cut
He launched the blade forward mid-slash, then cancelled his body's momentum, staying perfectly still as the katana moved ahead of him.
→ A ghost-strike.
→ His body didn't move — but his cut landed anyway.
Experiment 3: Instant Turn Slash
He stepped forward, overrode his foot's vector to spin instantly mid-step.
→ Slash came from the opposite direction without warning.
→ Perfect for feints or switchups.
Experiment 4: Flick Cut
He flicked a pebble with vector-boosted speed to distract a sensor dummy.
→ Then launched himself sideways at low velocity.
→ Slashed upward before the system even recalibrated.
Experiment 5: Weightless Dash + Crush
He zeroed out his body's vertical vector—became nearly weightless—then slammed it back on impact.
→ Light as a shadow in the air.
→ Landed with explosive force when the vector returned.
---
(Nex's pov)
Standing there, katana sheathed, palms slightly bruised from hours of repetition…
He exhaled.
The air shifted as his body cooled down. Muscles ached the right way. His heartbeat had rhythm now — not from fear, but from flow.
"It's not just a power," he thought, eyes scanning the quiet room.
"It's part of the style."
"Force and velocity… aren't just numbers. They're intent."
He rested a hand on the katana's hilt.
"If I'm fast enough to kill before they blink…"
"...then they don't get to ask who I am."
---
Day 7- salvaging what remains,
He knew he had lost his ice affinity and the skill that it had left behind but he still tried to use the skill,
"Icial barrage " but only fifty pebble shaped shards came out with barely any force behind them,
Then he decided to use vector on his little ice skill,
The air went cold, but not magical.
It was forced. Mechanical. Frozen by effort, not affinity.
His hand trembled slightly as the first few shards spun into existence — small, about the size of pebbles.
Faint. Translucent.
Fifty of them.
They circled above his palm like a school of jagged snowflakes, swaying and tilting in erratic motion. They weren't elegant. They weren't pure.
They were desperate.
> "Icial Barrage… fractured and dying."
> "Fine."
> "Then I'll make it bleed."
He inhaled.
Engaged the thread.
> [!! Vector Field Engaged – Multi-Object Pathfinding]
[Object Count: 50]
[Micro-Target Configuration: Random Spiral]
[Velocity Range: 110–300 m/s]
[Target Area: Omni-Directional Burst]
His pupils dilated.
The air rippled.
> "—Launch."
---
The room detonated.
Fifty microshards exploded outward like bullets from a frozen cyclone — zig-zagging mid-air, banking off his manual velocity corrections. They rained on the dummies in a spiraling pattern, piercing, ricocheting, and shattering like a deathstorm of ice-laced shrapnel.
Even the reinforced panels groaned under the sharp, ripping pressure.
The air screamed.
The glass trembled.
Each shard impacted with a velocity far above its mass — a calculated force multiplier.
> "Tiny weight. Terminal damage."
They didn't explode.
They tore.
---
Aftermath – Crash
He barely stayed standing for two seconds.
Then the dizziness hit.
The vector threads snapped, and the world lurched.
He staggered, collapsed to one knee. Blood poured from his nose, his lip, even the corner of his eye. A faint ringing echoed in both ears.
Like feedback through broken speakers inside his brain.
His vision flashed white, then red.
Hands trembling.
Spine locking.
Every synapse screaming.
> "Too much… 50 was too much…"
> But gods… it worked."
____________________________________
Skill Name (Prototype)
Fractured Vector: Micro Swarm
> Launches up to 50 unstable, pebble-sized ice shards using individually calculated vector velocities. Sacrifices power per shard for wide area saturation and trajectory unpredictability. Unsustainable. Neural risk level: CRITICAL.
____________________________________
He lay there for a while, bleeding onto the tile, staring up at the ceiling.
"It's not elegant. It's not magical."
"But it hurts them."
"And that's enough."