The Innkeeper

Cassandra was not a strict teacher. She never forced Lex to do anything, nor did she yell or set stringent rules for Lex to adhere to. In each lesson, she would meticulously explain to Lex what his objective was, how that would benefit him, and how to go about it. No matter what lesson it was, Lex always discovered that she had given him exactly enough guidance for him to comprehend the topic. All that was needed was for him to put in the necessary effort.

At the same time, there was not a single lesson she taught where Lex did not bleed. No matter how quickly he improved his swordsmanship, how he improved his sword intent, how adept he became at controlling divinity, or how he mastered space, he would always bleed.

The absurdity of the situation was such that on the third day, Cassandra gave him a headband - not to keep the sweat out of his eyes, but his blood!

Each lesson was always extremely harsh, yet somehow within his capacity to tolerate. To top it all off, the perfectly selected menu each day, paired with the perfectly rejuvenating night's rest, always put him in the perfect state to continue training at the same barbarous level, if not at a higher one.

At a certain point, Lex himself wanted to be mad, but the tremendous growth he was experiencing, as well as the amazing new mastery he was getting over his existing skills, alongside learning new ones, filled him with an unquenchable thirst for more! He was concerned that he may be turning into a masochist, but how could he care when he was finally learning how to teleport using only his own affinity?

As per his request, his lessons were mostly focused on swordsmanship and the space element, alongside divinity, which was Cassandra's own requirement. He learned about sword intent, and how each stage had a cool sounding name, which Cassandra thought was pointless because Lex's level was too weak right now. Only when his sword intent passed through a few more stages, would it reach the average Golden core level, which was not even enough to harm Lex!

The only reason it seemed like his sword intent was giving a massive boost to his attacks was because of his tremendous strength to begin with, which benefited even from a tiny improvement. If he relied solely on sword intent, then he could not harm his own training clothes, let alone his enemies.

Unfortunately, improving intent was nowhere as 'simple' as it was to learn. Learning entailed bringing his swordsmanship to a level he himself thought was impeccable. This was because sword intent, or any kind of intent, as the name suggested, was strongly linked to the user's state of mind alongside sufficient mastery. After all, blatant confidence with zero skill would not yield sword intent, as that would not result in any resonance with the affiliated laws.

Improving your intent was directly linked to, and affected by, one's improvements and increased comprehension in the associated field.

For example, if Lex wanted to increase his sword intent, he would need to attain a better understanding of swordsmanship, or learn significantly difficult sword techniques to improve. This understanding did not necessarily need to be about moves and techniques, but could be a philosophical one as well, such as when one should wield the sword, what does it mean, is it for fighting, killing, protecting, etc.

Similarly, mastering a difficult technique was a way to quantify his improvement, and could thus translate into a direct improvement and better resonance with the law.

While basic intents were common, to the point that most immortals are usually known to master dozens of, if not hundreds of basic intents, raising their levels was far from easy. The higher the level, the more abstract one's comprehension would have to be. But, subsequently, higher level intents were also similarly more powerful.

Nonetheless, Lex was still far from having to reach such a level for now. Although his improvements had slowed down from when he began, they were still steady.

He was also making admirable progress in his control of divinity, so much so that his range for influencing divinity had reached 15 feet (4.5 meters). At his level, this was already remarkable, and even Cassandra admitted that it would be very difficult for him to improve his control beyond this in the short term.

But his greatest improvement was not in either divinity or swordsmanship, or even his cultivation, which reached the peak of the Golden core realm! No, his greatest improvement was in his control of space.

Cassandra informed him that beyond any affinity he had, he was most likely suited for controlling space because his comprehension of space was phenomenal. She said the most likely reason for this was that his mentally probably just suited the element.

Lex had his own theory. He suspected that his time controlling space in incredibly complex ways in the Midnight Inn and Tavern translated into his own personal experience. He already knew what it felt like, so replicating the process was much easier than learning something he had no experience of.

It was around the time that Lex mastered Blink, a very famous and popular space based ability which allowed short distance teleportation, that he had a random thought, and asked Cassandra about it.

"Is there some kind of space intent?"

"No, intents are based on skills that you can learn naturally. Sometimes the line between what can and cannot have an intent is vague, but what is certain is that everything has a Dao. Learning an intent can help you on the road to mastering a Dao, but even without it you can gain mastery over a Dao. For example, I believe you have a strong affinity for the space Dao."

"What's the difference between a Dao and a Law?" Lex asked casually, most of his mind still focused on his training. Cassandra, on the other hand, did not treat this question as lightly. She looked at him for a moment, but then eventually shook her head and decided to give an extempore answer.

"A law merely outlines the behavior or effects of a Dao. A Dao, on the other hand, is all-encompassing…"