"Brave warrior Moss! I see that Belo has already run off to conquer the Poisonflame Emperor Egg after seeing Ayrin, Stingham, and Rinloran's improvements. What about you? Have their improvements ignited your spirit as well? Are you also feeling the urge to train as if your life depends on it to catch up to them?" Minlur straightforwardly asked Moss, his eyes burning with passion.
"I am," Moss replied with a nod. His body was already trembling due to impatience.
After all, just who would accept being left in the dust by a teammate?
Especially when it was someone like Ayrin who often made fun of him.
"Louder. I didn't hear it." Minlur shook his head as he looked Moss in the eye, "How can you catch up if you yourself aren't confident?"
"I AM!" Moss roared with all his strength as Minlur's gaze inexplicably roused his spirits.
"Now you are talking like a true man!" Minlur guffawed.
"But before we start, you must understand this one point!" Minlur said as he looked Moss in the eye once more. "The stronger the arcane master, the more difficult it is to improve, and the slower the rate of improvement. Although you have fallen behind at this current moment, you will improve faster than they do. As long as you courageously continue to chase after them, there will be many opportunities for you to catch up to, or even overtake, them!"
"Teacher Minlur! What special training have you prepared for me?" Moss roared, his blood boiling from Minlur's speech. "Let's start!"
"Such zeal, brave youth! During this war, I, Teacher Liszt, and the rest of your teachers managed to obtain many things which we exchanged with Professor Plum for suitable skills!" Minlur ruffled Moss' fiery red hair and chuckled as he continued, "After today, you will be known atop the battlefield as the King of Sudden Attack!"
"King of Sudden Attack?" Moss repeated as his eyes widened in shock. It was such an intimidating title.
"Correct. What you are about to learn consists of a physical enhancement skill and an assault skill!"
"A physical enhancement skill and an assault skill?"
"Yep! Through your previous fights, you've already grasped the human missile fighting style! You became familiar with how to use Multi-sizing to instantly grow or shrink to maximize your speed. But just this is not enough against truly strong arcane masters."
Minlur winked at Moss as he bellowed, "Watch this!"
Boom!
A tremor swept through the air as a Minlur shaped hole appeared in a wall in the distance. Yet Moss hadn't seen anything.
"This?" Moss shivered as he watched Minlur erupt out from the hole and return.
He couldn't even react just now. Didn't that mean he would have been blown to pieces already if it were him?
"This skill is called Explosive Strike!"
Minlur looked at Moss as he exclaimed, "This skill has you use your strength and arcane energy to compress the air around your body, allowing you instantaneously erupt with a force no weaker than the steam cannons used by the giants during the Era of the War with Dragons. Moss. You have been blessed with a double bloodline. As a result, your body should be able to absorb more arcane energy than mine. In turn, the amount you can compress the air around you will be greater as well. And if you manage to master Independent Transformation… if you become able instantly release all the arcane energy absorbed by your body the instant you maximize the compression of the air around you… the sudden shrink in size!"
"You will experience less resistance as you explode forth!" Minlur's voice seemed to grow even louder as he bellowed, "With your one of a kind talent, once you master these two skills, you will be even faster than me!"
Moss felt his heart shaking as Minlur's words resonated through his mind.
At this moment, Minlur seemed to reach the peak of his excitement as he waved his fist in the air and roared, "In combination with Materializations, your speed and strength will have no equals! As long as you are willing to devote your life to this manner of fighting, you will certainly become a King of Special Attack!"
"How can Materializations affect my speed?" Moss dazedly asked as he failed to comprehend Minlur's final statement.
"Do not think of Materializations as just swords or shields which appear in your hands," Minlur ardently replied, "Materializations can also be things which can be thrown!"
"Projectiles?"
"You must dedicate yourself and learn Berserk God's Returning Scorched Sun!"
"Berserk God's Returning Scorched Sun?"
Moss' eyes widened as he heard the skill's tyrannical name.
"I only managed to obtain this skill from the Kingdom of Doa's Dauntless Fire God Ronaldo by offering our Holy Dawn Academy's Domain of Fatigue in exchange. We teachers all believe that this skill is most suitable for you." Minlur looked expectantly at Moss as he continued, "When invoked, this skill materializes and shoots a massive blade covered in raging flames behind you. But more importantly, you can control this blade to return to you, allowing for an unforeseen attack!"
"Think about it, Moss. All Materializations are condensed of particles which are stored within your arcane gates or channels like your arcane particles. Thus, when you use it Berserk God's Returning Scorching Sun, you are effectively shooting a portion of your weight behind you. So if you were to use it as you shoot towards someone using Explosive Strike, won't your speed abruptly increase even further?" By this point, Minlur was so excited by his vision that his shouts were causing Moss' entire body to feel numb.
"Amazing…" Moss thought to himself as an image subconsciously emerged in his mind. He saw himself shooting forward as the air around him popped when suddenly, a massive blade shot out behind him like a missile, causing him to shoot forward even faster!
"So what do you say, brave warrior? Have you imagined it yet? Are you trembling in excitement?" Minlur let out a booming laugh as he patted Moss on the head. Afterwards, his face abruptly turned serious as he said, "But that's not all!"
"What?" Moss couldn't help but jump in shock.
"Regardless of the size of the blade, if all the skill did was release a blade which can return to you, it wouldn't be worth one of our Holy Dawn Academy's taboo domains!" Minlur stared Moss in the eye as he said proudly, "The real reason why Berserk God's Returning Scorched Sun is most suitable for you is because as this Materialization forms, it will burn away at the blood and arcane energy within your body and cause countless blasts of air to erupt behind your body!"
"This is the most crucial reason behind why this skill will allow you to become the King of Sudden Attack!" Minlur exclaimed as he pumped his fist in the air.
"Sudden attack!"
"Exploding through the air!"
"Countless eruptions of air!"
"Sudden attack!"
The same couple of words continuously rang through Moss' mind.
"Teacher Minlur, hurry up and teach me these two skills so I can start my training!" Moss shouted. He couldn't wait any longer.
"Good!"
A sharp glint flashed through Minlur's eyes.
"You know, I am envious of you… because my bloodline makes me less able to condense arcane energy. As a result, I am constrained to using Explosive Strike and am forever unable to use Berserk God's Returning Scorched Sun. But before we begin, let me tell you that you will have to endure an enormous amount of pain to successfully train in this skill. Because as you condense and form the particles for the blade, your body will feel as if it is a piece of burning coal. This is why you have not been given a Poisonflame Emperor Egg. I'm afraid that the pain you will have to endure will be no lesser than if you had ingested an egg."
"So what do you say, brave warrior Moss? Do you still have the will to learn such a skill?" Minlur asked as he stared Moss in the eye.
"I do!" Moss shouted back without the slightest hesitation.
"Good! Then let us begin!" Minlur roared. As this final shout reverberated throughout the empty streets around the two of them, several huts trembled as if on the verge of collapse.
……
In a hut in another part of Witch Hut Town stood Carter and Ayrin. Carter stared intently at Ayrin for several moments before opening his mouth and saying, "I'm afraid that you are still not strong enough when compared to arcane masters of the same level."
"Not strong enough?" Traces of shock emerged in Charlotte's eyes as she observed Carter from the entrance of the hut.
Had she misheard? How could Carter say that Ayrin, who had defeated four gate arcane masters and become so experienced in combat, was not strong enough compared to others of the same level?
"You all should have already realized this, but there is a large difference between true battles and the matches fought in the National Tournament," Carter continued as he saw the minute difference in Charlotte's eyes. His eyes flickered between Ayrin and Charlotte as he continued, "In a one on one fight, Ayrin is certainly strong enough. But for the vast majority of fights outside of tournament matches, he will be fighting something which is not one on one."
After a short pause, Carter's gaze finally became fixated on Ayrin once more as he continued, "Just now, if those three arcane masters of the Blue Light team had decided to fight against you, you certainly would have lost. It is currently impossible for you to defeat a team as it stands right now."
"To be considered a truly strong arcane master, one must not only be able to easily win in one on one fights against those of the same, or even higher level, but also be able to hold their own, or even defeat, an entire team of arcane masters of the same level." Carter waved his hand, preventing Charlotte from interrupting him as he looked Ayrin in the eye and continued, "This is especially important for you, Ayrin, who might encounter a team of assassins at any time. Considering this point which your life has reached… your abilities may make it hard for any arcane masters to deal with you alone, but as it stands, you are not strong enough for top tier existences to personally come looking for you. They will only send teams like, or stronger than, the Blue Light team to kill you."
Charlotte's face abruptly paled.
For a house like House Baratheon which controlled countless territories, they naturally had a shocking number of ordinary arcane teams.
If they sent a multitude of these teams, they too would be very hard for Ayrin to deal with.
"Then I am about to learn how to deal with many people at once?" Ayrin asked eventually.
"Of course. And with your innate talents which allow you to continuously fight longer than any other arcane masters, you can say that you were born ready to do this." Carter took a deep breath as he slowly continued, "With your talents, you should have no trouble defeating ten, if not a hundred, arcane masters of the same level!"
"How should I start training then, Teacher Carter?" Ayrin asked as he vigorously nodded in agreement and flames began to burn within his eyes which seemed to know no fear.