Bilateral progression
Bilateral progression
Thinking about Malia's feat, Jason scanned his own mana from the inside and found out that both the passive mana gathering and absorbing techniques were definitely working well. It made him feel confident that he would probably be able to break into the Adept rank in two weeks at most.
He knew that the passive mana gathering technique he used was only a basic technique because everyone with enough credits would be able to purchase it.
There were probably much better mana gathering and absorbing techniques out there but he just didn't know any of them.
However, he didn't mind that.
Everything happens in its own time and Jason had more than enough time to nurture himself. He was determined to transform himself from a weakling into someone nobody would dare look down upon, provided no life-altering incident happened before that.
It didn't take them long to reach the combat area and Jason quickly went into the small changing room with a shower inside in order to change his clothes.
He decided to wear comfortable training clothes because he knew that his spar with Greg would stake some time.
Furthermore, if he wanted to practice his newly acquired movement skill, the whole spar would be more taxing and he needed to ensure that the clothes did not hinder his movement.
"I've learned a new combat technique during the last few days. Keep your guard up, Jason!"
Greg said and Jason found it quite interesting that both of them would practice their newly acquired technique in this spar.
While he would use his full strength, Greg restricted his strength to the 9th Novice rank though he did not suppress his soulbond.
Both stood opposite each other at a 30-meter distance and looked into each other's eyes signalling that they were ready.
They had sparred so many times with each other that a mere glance was enough to communicate.
After circulating his mana according to the 'Weightless Steps' description, Jason could almost instantly feel that his body was lighter.
It was relatively uncomfortable in the beginning but he was able to adjust to it pretty fast.
As such, Jason was the first one to take a step and it felt like his speed could increase by around 20% if he achieved the basic mastery of this technique.
The instant increase in Jason's speed was only around 10% when he rushed at Greg, who observed him carefully.
Greg´s newly acquired technique was similar to Jason´s Weaponry Knight skill but more advanced and he used his technique in addition to his all too familiar gloves.
While Jason charged at Greg, both circulated their mana according to their particular technique.
Jason´s increase in speed did not go unnoticed by Greg and he was astonished by this fact.
However, there was no time for him to admire Jason's speed as a dagger was thrust to his right.
It was a dulled dagger but it would have still hurt, had it been a real fight. Greg deflected the dagger thrust with a solid punch, while Jason felt the strong impact reverberating through the dagger.
He was aware that it was bad to fight a glove-user with his daggers because his weapon could be more easily destroyed during the fight. Thus, Jason had to enhance his dagger with a small membrane of mana in order to prevent such an accident.
But, that wouldn't stop him from practicing daggers as his main weapons for the moment, as he felt the most comfortable with them right now.
Greg immediately went into a defensive stance, using the short moment wherein he believed that Jason had lowered his guard to deliver a straight punch.
Jason, however, predicted that and rolled to the side to avoid the attack. Not a single second was wasted as Jason immediately stood up and found Greg standing behind him ready to strike him with another punch.
It was obvious that both knew each other's combat style and only new techniques or a complete change in one's combat style could surprise the other. Hence, Jason pushed his Weightless Steps skill to the limits, wanting to test himself to his fullest capacity.
To evade Greg's punch, he stepped forward with his body leaned closer to the ground.
Greg was astonished that Jason took a step towards him instead of backing away. His other fist was almost going to hit Jason when he sensed that Jason's dagger had already touched his abdomen.
The fight was instantly over and Greg stopped his fist mid-air before he stepped back a few meters.
Both of them had a tacit agreement that once one was hit, the other would win the round.
Jason was overjoyed that his speed was at par with Greg's, probably even better if he injected his whole mana pool into the technique. He grinned craftily at Greg, saying
"1:0"
Hearing this was extremely frustrating to Greg as he had underestimated Jason's speed.
Furthermore, he was unaware that Jason had learned a new movement technique, which astonished him a little bit.
Jason had acquired two-tiered skills in a relatively short time, which was uncommon even for the students of the main Vanguard school. He marveled at Jason's feat which made him scrutinize his own achievements.
But Greg wasn´t really displeased, he only lost because of the surprise attack and the next rounds would prove his mettle again!!
"Again!!" Greg said confidently before both walked in the opposite direction to put some distance between themselves.
"Go!" Both said at the same time and their eyes shone in excitement while a foolish smile blossomed on their faces.
The spar between the two youths was growing fiercer as both of them adjusted their newly acquired technique to the combat style of their respective opponent.
Each round was taking longer to end, while they tweaked their combat style each fight in order to surprise attack each other.
This went on for hours until it was lunchtime and they grew exhausted. Both were lying on the ground, panting heavily but still smiling foolishly.
Both were proud due to the same reason.
Previously, both of their new techniques' proficiency had been substandard and almost non-existent, but right now it seemed that they were already nearing basic mastery, which was an astonishing feat.
"10:6 …. Hahaha, I won!!" Greg said with an exaggerated pride shining on his face, while Jason remained silent thinking that Greg was not looking at the big picture.
Earlier, Jason had been unable to defeat Greg even once, which had changed now.
After sparring with Seron and in addition to the newly acquired movement technique, Jason was able to overcome Greg's overwhelming fighting style better than before.
Jason was very close to the basic mastery of the weightless step technique, as it neared an acceleration of 20%.
By the time both had washed up and changed into a clean set of clothes, 1 pm had already passed. Thus, they sprinted to the dining table, where everyone was already waiting for them.
Malia had seen them sparring with each other and hadn't wanted to disturb them as it looked like both of them were fighting with all their might, while trying to adjust their combat style to land a surprise attack.
Furthermore, she had noticed that both youths had been using new martial art techniques.
Gaining insights to improve one's fighting style was extremely difficult and she would rather let them starve instead of disrupting their enlightenment.
Gabriella looked at them with a smile and gestured to them to sit down, while Mark was looking at them with an unreadable face.
Greg and Jason had used up too much energy during their fight which caused them to gobble down their lunch and had their third helpings within a record speed.
Looking at the two gluttons made the others smile weirdly, and even Mark had trouble keeping a straight face.
After they finished their meal, Jason washed the dishes before he went into his room to practice the Heaven's Hell technique with the five-braided helix again.
This time it took only 85 minutes and he did not encounter a major obstacle.
It made him confident that he could reduce the Heaven's Hell second-level refining time to 60 minutes or probably even more as long as he practiced enough.
It would give him more time to practice his martial art skills or read more books, which could be helpful in the future.
Jason felt like he was turning into a bookworm because he couldn't get enough of the various books that increased his thirst for knowledge. The different types of magical plants, beasts, habitats, important characteristics, mutations of beasts caused by selection pressure, genetic mutations, rare ores, soul and Mana weapons, foreign intelligent races, information about souls in general etc. fascinated him to no end.
His unquenchable desire to keep learning saw him spend at least six hours a day reading alone.
This caused his knowledge to surpass his peers by a huge margin because they were mostly training their body, mana core, soulbonds or even playing around with their friends.
However, that was only the case with average families, as superior and big families, clans, and companies did not prioritize strength over other factors. They were well aware that intelligence, craftiness, and other characteristics were, at least, as important as strength.
While reading many books, Jason often came across Alchemist, Blacksmith, and Runemaster, and he found all three lifestyle occupations extremely interesting.
One could say that these lifestyle occupations were almost as important as Beast creators.
Unfortunately for Jason, there was not much information about Beast creators in the book he had access to, which caused him to be slightly dejected.
Jason wondered how it would be to have a lifestyle occupation of a blacksmith, alchemist, runemaster, or even a Beast Creator.
They were said to be some of the most profitable occupations, while their criteria were also extremely difficult to meet in order to reach higher ranks.
It was a far-fetched dream of his and while browsing through the School's forum, he read a particular thread that piqued his curiosity.
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