*Groan*

-Next evening, 11th day since awakening-

At the end of her lesson with Haryk, he was sporting a grin as out of nowhere he reached down and pulled out a case before offering it to her. "Guess what I finished today?" 

With widened eyes Axilya reached out, grasping the case in both hands. "Is this what I think it is?"

Haryk nodded, pride obvious on his face. "Indeed! I have to thank you for getting me some of this harder-to-get wood. Without the strength of a cultivator, I wouldn't have been able to make this. What I have left will definitely be useful in quite a few of my projects! Think of the bragging I can do when I show those merchants my new wine bowls!"

Axilya idly nodded at his comment, before opening up the box, only to stare at it in awe, a grin forming on her face. A moment later her face was once more blank, but the satisfaction in her eyes was plain to see. "Thank you Haryk. Truly. I'll see you tomorrow."

Haryk chuckled at her before beginning to pour himself a bowl of wine. "Of course. Have a good night Axilya."

"You too!" She practically raced towards her training spot in the forest with the box tucked underneath an arm. As she got there with her one free hand she began to wave away the snow clearing out a small person-sized area to place the box in. 'I'm a living snow blower, aren't I? Probably by the time I reach Houtian, and definitely at Xiantian I could just blow away all the snow in the village's farms and fields, couldn't I?' Shaking that thought out of her head, Axilya gently placed the wooden box on the ground, and carefully opened it up placing the lid to the side. 'It's truly beautiful.' 

Resting her eyes on the wooden saber the remnant Human in her was awed at the Elven craftmanship, whereas the Elf part simply felt pride. As her heart began to radiate cold sucking away her emotions, her hand reached out and grasped the wooden saber.

The cold pouring from her heart retreated, and as Axilya lifted up the saber and reverently put her second hand onto the hilt, her vision went black. Her vision shifted and changed. Once more, she was back in the void, but this time she was there in her new Elven body, and that woman wasn't there. Instead, there was just her, and an object gently floating in front of her.

A pitch-black saber radiated immeasurable might and pressure as out of nowhere it chopped downward. Again, and again. Yet she felt no pain as it cut her in half, then she was healed and got cut in half again and again and again. The cycle continued seemingly forever. But, there was no fear. No pain, no horror. Instead, the only thing she felt was awe. Awe at the beauty, awe at the perfection, awe at the might of each blow. Cut! Chop! Pierce! Each one was the simplest of blows, yet each one contained an unfathomable number of permutations and variations from each other.

After each blow, her heart attempted to radiate that ice-cold that sucked away her emotions, but the next blow would always chase it away. It was perfect, it was divine. Even without someone guiding it, the saber just acting by itself was beyond the pinnacle of what anyone could hope to achieve in a million lifetimes.

Axilya's eyes snapped open into the real world and her hands holding the wooden saber snapped down. In a singular blow, a tree was cleaved in half. There was no excitement, but only disappointment. "Too far from the saber! There were 37 errors I could spot in that one blow. Again!"

[DIN-

Axilya ignored the message and swung out her saber again, and again, and again.

[DIN-

She ignored it and continued to practice. "53 errors." Swing! "49 errors." Swing! "68 errors." She didn't realize with each blow her heart beat faster, or her voice got more and more excited. All she was focused on - all she was enthralled with, was the saber, and each blow. "97 Errors." Swing! "132 Errors." Swing! "123 Errors." Swing! "101 Errors." Swing! "152 Errors." Swing!

Over time the number of errors Axilya shouted out seemed to increase, and yet, if anyone were watching - they would realize that each blow got more precise, swifter, and deadly! 

-????-

They stared. "The first time - the first fucking time?!? She learned the visualization technique the void lord imprinted onto her the FIRST TIME she picked up a Saber." Their teeth ground together as their eyes reddened. "Bullshit! Fuck you void lord. Fuck you! 'Just one!' Just one?!? I'LL BE STUCK HERE FOREVER WITH THIS JUST ONE!" 

As they raged, the area around them began to crack and shatter. Within the shattered bits of space unspeakable horrors beyond the mind of mankind could be seen, and yet, as these unspeakable horrors began to reach their tentacles through the shattered space, a mere gentle gust of wind filled the area and fixed it, mending the cracks in space and time. The gentle wind gusted by the being, and they stopped, freezing as their face paled. "O-of course I'll abide by our deal! You know I would never go back on it!"

The only response was mischievous laughter, and as that laughter echoed out the sky in the dimension the being was in turned bright neon orange, with cute little tentacle clouds with each cloud having thousands of eyes that stared directly at the being, seemingly watching them and their every move.

-Axilya-

Wiping the sweat away from her brow, she gently placed the saber back in its box, and as that happened a wave of cold rocketed from her heart, and her emotions faded. Yet, as they faded there was still a faint smile on Axilya's lips, and her eyes weren't perfectly blank holding a subtle, yet there glee. However, Axilya herself didn't realize this as she focused on something else after closing the saber box. 'System, I had some notifications?' 

[DING!

Host has learned the Visualization Technique of the Outer Lord of the Void - Seeking the Truth: Saber

Host's soul has healed to the level of Photographic Memory - ???? Level Soul

Host's soul has healed to the level of One Mind, Two Thoughts - ???? Level Soul

]

"Oh." Her mind, funnily enough, although immensely strengthened, came to a halt at this point. "That's - I didn't expect that." Her brows furrowed as she read the message again and again. "One Mind, Two Thoughts. That's splitting the mind, right? Something that's meant to represent a Zifu Disciple-level soul. Although in Desolate Era Ji Ning could do it at four."

With that in place, her shock and surprise faded away. "I suppose if a four-year-old could reach that level with a beginner World God's visualization technique, it's not that surprising whatever level that magical girl cosplayer is on could simply heal my soul to this level. Especially when you consider that 'four' in this case, actually means closer to something like two and a half. But when did my soul reach the Zifu Disciple level? Besides... I still feel that cold. I still feel it slowly sucking away at my emotions, so then - is my soul not healed completely yet?"

With numerous thoughts and questions eating away at her, Axilya slowly cleaned her training ground of the numerous wood chips, chunks, and blown away snow, before heading back to her house wooden box gently carried under her arm. 

As she opened her door and stepped inside her house a thought struck her, 'Will I be able to visualize that saber every time I train?' With that question, she almost wanted to pull out her wooden saber again and try it, but the pain building in her head and chest dissuaded her from that notion. 'I'll try it out tomorrow!'