Mila
Watching Epecteos’s aura when he was looking at Aalam, Isaiah, and her without her disguise skill for the first time was quite entertaining, but seeing how fast he could move when Nana Xara was telling her it was obviously not his max speed really put into perspective how weak they were in the wider scheme of things.
She’d already intellectually understood how large the difference was between ranks, but she hadn’t seen a D rank fight since the third challenge of the tutorial, and that was two weak D ranks while Epecteos was max level with excellent combat capabilities.
If he wanted to, with a lot of work, he could probably destroy the entire planet so long as it didn’t reach a certain level of integration, let alone kill the four of them. And he was by no means unique.
“Hello again, Mr. Ka’Dravone. Let me first give some introductions.” Mila stepped forward slightly and indicated Diana, who moved over to stand next to Isaiah. “You’ve already met Diana, the sovereign of Earth.” She then pointed her hand at Isaiah. “This is Isaiah, who will be your apprentice.” Finally, she indicated Aalam. “And this is Aalam, Diana’s brother and the so called Heavenly Spark Soul King.”
Mila then gestured toward Epecteos. “Everyone, this is Epecteos Ka’Dravone. He will be our combat instructor going forward and, in the short term, he will also help us interface with the outside world.”
She then turned back to Epecteos. “Care for a bout so you can get a feel for your future apprentice and how you might help train the rest of us?”
Epecteos smiled and summoned a blunt metal longsword from his spatial storage ring. “Sure.”
“Alright. Let’s make it at least a bit fair, though.” Mila then sent over another contract to Epecteos.
Terms:
You will not become a servant of the Heavenly Spark Soul KingPunishment:
Base stats are reduced by a factor of 72 while in the Territory of the Heavenly Spark Soul King for the next six years or until the Heavenly Spark Soul King gives explicit permission for you to have full power in his Territory
Do you accept?
Yes/No
“Oh.” A look of interest appeared on Epecteos’s face. “So, soul shackles. That seems fair indeed.” He then turned to look at Aalam. “But you’re okay with giving me a boon before I’ve helped you acquire the Twelve Element Primal Code?”
Aalam, as well as Diana and Isaiah, all turned to look at Mila and Mila noticed an emotion of realization pass through Epecteos’s aura, the old man not at all naive enough to miss the obvious signs of the leadership structure of their group.
It wasn’t like she was trying to hide how they operated from him, however, so Mila answered instead of Aalam as she was the one making the decisions when it came to Epecteos and trying to acquire the Twelve Element Primal Code. “You already partially granted your side of the deal, so we don’t see an issue with partially granting our side as well, as, like you, we don’t lose anything in the process.
“Ideally, we wouldn’t need a contract at all, but keeping the formalities is still important.”
Mila then telekinetically grabbed the Twin Dragons Isaiah had been making use of over the last few months as a temporary spear and transformed it into its Lord’s Seal form before moving forward and placing it on Epecteos’s forehead. Then she used her own doubly boosted Devil’s Contract skill to enhance Aalam’s triply boosted Soul Lord skill, allowing Aalam to make a servant offer to a D rank like Epecteos, something an F rank would normally find impossible.
Epecteos accepted the servant request and his soul was instantly shackled, and, at the same time, as a result of Epecteos’s strength, the number of servants Aalam could have was cut by more than half.
Due to being a D rank with a C rank race, and thus having much higher affinities with most Laws compared to Aalam, Epecteos’s affinities barely went up, and his Soul stat only increased by about 1,125, 6.25% of Aalam’s effective Soul stat instead of his own, but, for Attunement, as his Attunement score was lower than Aalam’s, he received the full 6.25% boost.
Name: Epecteos Ka’Dravone
Level: 216
Race: Psy-Jinn (C-Uncommon)
Bloodline: NA
Abilities
Psychic Leanings (Uncommon)
Iron Mind (Rare)
Class: Advanced 12 Elements Psychic Swordsman (D-Heroic)
Skills
Elemental Steps (D-Heroic) 100% mastered
Swordsman’s Senses (D-Heroic) 100% mastered
Telekinesis (D-Heroic) 100% mastered
Elemental Blade Infusion (D-Heroic) 100% mastered
Elemental Raiment (D-Heroic) 100% mastered
Lord (D-Legendary) 100% mastered
Laws
Law Pupae:
Void Slice - Early
Temporal Flux - Early
Regeneration - Middle
Soul Poison - Middle
Illusion - Middle
Shadow - Middle
Bolt - Middle
Iron - Early
Blaze - Middle
Rain - Middle
Stone - Middle
Gust - Middle
Stats
Strength: 97299 [shackled down to 1,351] (+0% + 50% when holding a sword))
Agility: 115487 [shackled down to 1,604] (+0% + 50% when holding a sword)
Endurance: 111391 [shackled down to 1,547] (+0% + 50% when holding a sword)
Toughness: 81883 [shackled down to 1,137] (+0% + 50% when holding a sword)
Vitality: 81883 [shackled down to 1,137] (+0% + 50% when holding a sword)
Perception: 111391 [shackled down to 1,547] (+0% + 50% when holding a sword)
Magic: 127775 [shackled down to 1,775] (+0% + 50% when holding a sword)
Spirit: 152643 [shackled down to 2,120] (+56.25% + 50% when holding a sword)
Soul: 142639 {+1125} [shackled down to 1,997] (+0% + 50% when holding a sword)
Aura: 1875 [shackled down to 1875] (+0%)
Attunement: 1875 [shackled down to 1875] (+6.25%)
Luck: 1875 [shackled down to 1875] (+0%)
Free Stats: 0
Soulstructures:
Lower Dantian: 1 Large Core Container
Middle Dantian: 3 Medium + 2 Large Mana Wells
Upper Dantian: 1 Large Mental Forge
Uniqueness:
NA
Assets:
3,489 D rank universal credits
79,309,283,981 E rank universal credits
649,005,296,103,892 F rank universal credits
Territory:
Lord
Toril [E Rank]
Overlord
Torem (Lord: Zoric Na’Milan) [F Rank]
Toran (Lord: Carth Hi’Olim) [F Rank]
Torot (Lord: Talia Wen’Lo) [F Rank]
Toref (Lord: Sawim El’Kimar) [F Rank]
Torik (Lord: Vot Na’Milan) [F Rank]
Boons:
Personal Servant of the Heavenly Spark Soul King: Increase the effectiveness of the Soul and Attunement stats by 6.25% and raise affinity with all Laws by 12.5%.
There were several important things Mila noticed when looking at Epecteos’s status. First, the natural advantages he’d been born with were nowhere near as powerful as any of theirs. He had no uniqueness, no bloodline, no soulstructures of a size bigger than Large, and his race was only Uncommon in grade.
Psy-Jinn (C-Uncommon)
A jinn heavily influenced by psyforce
Racial Abilities: 2
No limits, but a higher chance of psychic related abilities
Max stats:
Strength: 3,483,648
Agility: 3,732,480
Endurance: 3,732,480
Toughness: 3,483,648
Vitality: 3,483,648
Perception: 3,732,480
Magic: 3,732,480
Spirit: 4,478,976
Soul: 3,732,480
Aura: 3,732,480
Attunement: 3,732,480
Luck: 3,732,480
Stat Growth Per Level:
Strength: 864 (144)
Agility: 1080 (180)
Endurance: 1080 (180)
Toughness: 864 (144)
Vitality: 864 (144)
Perception: 1080 (180)
Magic: 1080 (180)
Spirit: 1728 (288)
Soul: 1080 (180)
Aura: 0
Attunement: 0
Luck: 0
Advancement Criteria:
Kill one creature of a higher rank
Requirements:
???
Even his racial abilities were quite weak.
Psychic Leanings (Uncommon): Master Psychic category skills 12.5% faster
Iron Mind (Rare): Increase the effectiveness of the Spirit stat by 6.25%.
The second thing Mila noticed was that his class showed he was following a similar path to Isaiah.
Advanced 12 Elements Psychic Swordsman (D-Heroic)
You are an exceptional swordsman and psychic with the power of the twelve elements
Effects:
Raise affinity with all Laws by 100%
Increase the effectiveness of the Spirit stat by 50%
Increase all base stats by 50% when wielding a sword
Skill slots:
6
May not learn skills of the following categories:
Crafting
Stat bonuses per level:
Strength: 648
Agility: 720
Endurance: 720
Toughness: 576
Vitality: 576
Perception: 720
Magic: 720
Spirit: 936
Soul: 864
Aura: 0
Attunement: 0
Luck: 0
Requirements:
1 high grade Law Larva for each of the 12 elements, has the 12 Elements Psychic Swordsman (E-Legendary) class, has spent an average of 106 minutes or more training with the sword every day of his life
Finally, third, he’d never received a single stat point from the System or from any treasure beyond what he received for advancing his Laws.
Mila had gotten so used to the System doling out rewards like crazy, but that was the advantage of an apocalypse style integration. Most didn’t get so many stats from the System, and no one on Earth, even Diana, had gotten anywhere close to the amount Mila had.
Treasures which boosted stats were also rare, fully controlled by the universe’s more powerful forces, and they generally didn’t work on those whose stats had already increased beyond a certain threshold, far more useful at F rank and sometimes E.
Yet still, even with all those natural disadvantages, and even facing them four on one with his soul shackled, Epecteos still easily destroyed them when they all flew up into the air and started to fight.
Isaiah took on the tanking role, moving close while again using the Twin Dragons in spear form, trying to block Epecteos’s mobility. Diana flew off to the side, attempting to attack Epecteos with alternating beams of death and flame. And, at the same time, Aalam stayed back and started writing runes around the battlefield with the help of the Left Hand of the Runescribe.
Finally, knowing her illusions and stealth wouldn’t work given Epecteos had Law Pupae of both Illusions and Shadow, Mila mainly tried to work to suppress his aura while disrupting him with her charm skill and using Artifact Enhancement on both the Twin Dragons and the Left Hand of the Runescribe, able to do so by strengthening the bonds she’d formed with the two artifacts with her Law Larva of The Healer.
Their tactics didn’t help, however. Epecteos just moved around, dodging everything Diana threw at him, avoiding every stab from Isaiah, and barely affected by Mila’s disruption. He did almost get hit a few times when Aalam’s runes started to throw some sort of invisible psyforce infused dimensional spheres at him, each only about 3 cm in diameter, but he never actually got hit and, after the first surprise, he started sending out little gusts of mana to disrupt Aalam’s runes as they were being written.
The all out fighting continued for about five minutes, but then Epecteos seemed to decide he’d seen enough of their skills and actually started to attack. Using his Telekinesis skill for the first time since the start of the fight, he increased his speed by a large margin and appeared next to Aalam, infused his Law Pupa of Stone into his practice sword, and then hit Aalam deep into the ocean.
This was then followed by him doing the same to the rest of them and only Isaiah required two hits due to pouring all his resources into his defensive skill to just barely block the first.
Wet and mostly undamaged, they all then flew back up and, spitting water out of her mouth, Mila asked, “So, do you have any suggestions for what we should work on?”
Epecteos looked at the three others in turn and then back to Mila, a serious expression on his face. “First, what has your master recommended?”
“She’s been letting us practice on our own for a few months,” Mila started, but then Nana Xara began talking to her and she paraphrased the words out loud. “We mainly needed to focus on our skills and Laws, so she let us do that and not worry about combat.”
“But now she has recommendations.” Diana took over, Nana Xara obviously now talking to her instead. “For Isaiah, there’s not much to say. His foundations are solid and the only things he should be focusing on are raising his Law Larvae to middle grade, practicing his cultivation technique up to level 6, and then leveling up and mastering his skills. He’ll then need to absorb a few treasures Mila has already got for him and clear out his channels afterwards, which might take a few months, but that’s about it. The rest of his time is fully available for training.
“Mila needs to do her spying work and doesn’t have much free time, but, while on Earth, she should probably spend an hour or two every day participating in fair fights. It’s not her style, but the experience would be useful. More important, however, is practicing her cultivation technique up to level 6 and then trying to raise her Laws one more time so she can practice up to level 7 before rising to E rank.
“Lastly, Aalam should be left mostly to his own devices. Trying to guide him at this stage would probably cause more harm than good and he needs to work on meeting the requirements for his class upgrade once his insane skill merger is complete. That said, please drag him out of his lab for combat training for two hours every day unless he’s absolutely in the middle of something. If he manages to win one bout in a fair manner against Poland’s Fist in an equal stat instance on the soul net, however, without the use of artifacts or his Runescriber skill, he can be relieved of all further combat training until he hits E rank.”
Aalam just stared at Diana with wide eyes and a look of horror on his face. Poland’s Fist was the username for Mila’s grandmother, who specialized in using her fists to attack and thus barely relied on artifacts, so Nana Xara’s instructions were basically to force him into combat training every day, something which Diana especially seemed to find humorous.
So, Nana Xara being Nana Xara, the words she had Mila say next were perfectly designed to bring Diana down a peg. “Diana, however, is the one who needs the most help. She needs lots and lots of sparring practice, which Nana Xara hopes you could provide. And she should really stop trying to develop a movement technique on her own until she has a better foundation in magical theory. Right now her attempts are just sad, especially when she could so easily ask her brother for help instead of being stubborn.”
Diana’s mouth closed tightly and she started frowning, but Mila then continued and what she said next seemed to make Diana feel a bit better. “Finally, for you, Mr. Ka’Dravone, you should probably consult Aalam for ways to improve. Your foundation is solid enough you could probably easily add runes into your power set for a relatively large increase to your combat potential, and it would be a good thing for you to learn, as it might open up a more powerful class evolution for C rank.”
Epecteos’s eyes grew wide again, his aura growing excited as he turned to look at Aalam, then he bowed toward Mila. “Thank you, Sage. I will follow what you say.”
He then turned to look at each of them in turn. “Although her potential is very high, I agree with the Sage that Ms. Diana needs the most work. I for one especially do not understand why you merged both of your spirits into your body at the same time instead of just one, allowing the other to fight beside you. Yes, your class is obviously designed for merging the powers of yin and yang at some point, but your control over your own mana isn’t even at the level to stop your massive reserves from leaking. Trying to merge yin and yang is way, way too advanced for you right now.”
Diana frowned again, but Epecteos just turned toward Isaiah. “I can see why the Sage thinks we would be a good match. Your foundation is very solid, but you can still use a lot of polish. And I can help you with that.”
Then he turned to Aalam, the feel from his aura slightly less confident. “You’re a crafter?”
Aalam nodded.
“And you’re somehow able to handle multiple thought processes at once as an F rank?”
Aalam nodded again.
“Then I think I understand what the Sage wants. Your control over your body is the worst of the four of you, so the main thing you need is to build up your foundation. I am your servant, however, and you are the source of my ability to possibly advance, so I will only train you if that’s what you want.”
Aalam looked hopefully at Diana, but Diana, who was still frowning about her own upcoming work, just shook her head and Aalam looked down toward the sea.
“You don’t have to worry about pushing him, Mr. Ka’Dravone.” Mila decided to explain, a slight smile on her face. “He won’t punish you for trying to help him and he’s the type of person who cares pretty much nothing for intrinsic hierarchy. He’ll defer to anyone in their area of expertise, such as me while we are here having our first meeting with you, or his sister when he wants validation to do something he knows isn’t good for him. On the training field, he’ll treat you like you are the master. Just don’t expect him to necessarily be a good student.”
“Got it.” Obviously relieved by the information, Epecteos’s aura grew more stable as he turned to Mila. “As for you, Ms. Mila, you feel like someone who had excellent combat training before you were introduced to cultivation, and you are a bit over-reliant on those old skills. For you, I recommend the opposite of what the Sage recommended for me through Ms. Diana on my way here. Try to integrate the use of your resources and Laws into all your movements from now on to get used to the power you hold. This should help integrate your old training with your new self and speed up the process of you gaining a foundation as firm as Isaiah’s.”
“Thank you.” Mila bowed to him as a sign of respect, helping to set a precedent for how the others should treat him when he was in the role of instructor.
“Should we go for another bout then?” Epecteos smiled as he raised his training sword and Isaiah radiated excitement. The Alvaro siblings, on the other hand, didn’t look quite as enthused.
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Mila
Watching Epecteos’s aura when he was looking at Aalam, Isaiah, and her without her disguise skill for the first time was quite entertaining, but seeing how fast he could move when Nana Xara was telling her it was obviously not his max speed really put into perspective how weak they were in the wider scheme of things.
She’d already intellectually understood how large the difference was between ranks, but she hadn’t seen a D rank fight since the third challenge of the tutorial, and that was two weak D ranks while Epecteos was max level with excellent combat capabilities.
If he wanted to, with a lot of work, he could probably destroy the entire planet so long as it didn’t reach a certain level of integration, let alone kill the four of them. And he was by no means unique.
“Hello again, Mr. Ka’Dravone. Let me first give some introductions.” Mila stepped forward slightly and indicated Diana, who moved over to stand next to Isaiah. “You’ve already met Diana, the sovereign of Earth.” She then pointed her hand at Isaiah. “This is Isaiah, who will be your apprentice.” Finally, she indicated Aalam. “And this is Aalam, Diana’s brother and the so called Heavenly Spark Soul King.”
Mila then gestured toward Epecteos. “Everyone, this is Epecteos Ka’Dravone. He will be our combat instructor going forward and, in the short term, he will also help us interface with the outside world.”
She then turned back to Epecteos. “Care for a bout so you can get a feel for your future apprentice and how you might help train the rest of us?”
Epecteos smiled and summoned a blunt metal longsword from his spatial storage ring. “Sure.”
“Alright. Let’s make it at least a bit fair, though.” Mila then sent over another contract to Epecteos.
Terms:
You will not become a servant of the Heavenly Spark Soul KingPunishment:
Base stats are reduced by a factor of 72 while in the Territory of the Heavenly Spark Soul King for the next six years or until the Heavenly Spark Soul King gives explicit permission for you to have full power in his Territory
Do you accept?
Yes/No
“Oh.” A look of interest appeared on Epecteos’s face. “So, soul shackles. That seems fair indeed.” He then turned to look at Aalam. “But you’re okay with giving me a boon before I’ve helped you acquire the Twelve Element Primal Code?”
Aalam, as well as Diana and Isaiah, all turned to look at Mila and Mila noticed an emotion of realization pass through Epecteos’s aura, the old man not at all naive enough to miss the obvious signs of the leadership structure of their group.
It wasn’t like she was trying to hide how they operated from him, however, so Mila answered instead of Aalam as she was the one making the decisions when it came to Epecteos and trying to acquire the Twelve Element Primal Code. “You already partially granted your side of the deal, so we don’t see an issue with partially granting our side as well, as, like you, we don’t lose anything in the process.
“Ideally, we wouldn’t need a contract at all, but keeping the formalities is still important.”
Mila then telekinetically grabbed the Twin Dragons Isaiah had been making use of over the last few months as a temporary spear and transformed it into its Lord’s Seal form before moving forward and placing it on Epecteos’s forehead. Then she used her own doubly boosted Devil’s Contract skill to enhance Aalam’s triply boosted Soul Lord skill, allowing Aalam to make a servant offer to a D rank like Epecteos, something an F rank would normally find impossible.
Epecteos accepted the servant request and his soul was instantly shackled, and, at the same time, as a result of Epecteos’s strength, the number of servants Aalam could have was cut by more than half.
Due to being a D rank with a C rank race, and thus having much higher affinities with most Laws compared to Aalam, Epecteos’s affinities barely went up, and his Soul stat only increased by about 1,125, 6.25% of Aalam’s effective Soul stat instead of his own, but, for Attunement, as his Attunement score was lower than Aalam’s, he received the full 6.25% boost.
Name: Epecteos Ka’Dravone
Level: 216
Race: Psy-Jinn (C-Uncommon)
Bloodline: NA
Abilities
Psychic Leanings (Uncommon)
Iron Mind (Rare)
Class: Advanced 12 Elements Psychic Swordsman (D-Heroic)
Skills
Elemental Steps (D-Heroic) 100% mastered
Swordsman’s Senses (D-Heroic) 100% mastered
Telekinesis (D-Heroic) 100% mastered
Elemental Blade Infusion (D-Heroic) 100% mastered
Elemental Raiment (D-Heroic) 100% mastered
Lord (D-Legendary) 100% mastered
Laws
Law Pupae:
Void Slice - Early
Temporal Flux - Early
Regeneration - Middle
Soul Poison - Middle
Illusion - Middle
Shadow - Middle
Bolt - Middle
Iron - Early
Blaze - Middle
Rain - Middle
Stone - Middle
Gust - Middle
Stats
Strength: 97299 [shackled down to 1,351] (+0% + 50% when holding a sword))
Agility: 115487 [shackled down to 1,604] (+0% + 50% when holding a sword)
Endurance: 111391 [shackled down to 1,547] (+0% + 50% when holding a sword)
Toughness: 81883 [shackled down to 1,137] (+0% + 50% when holding a sword)
Vitality: 81883 [shackled down to 1,137] (+0% + 50% when holding a sword)
Perception: 111391 [shackled down to 1,547] (+0% + 50% when holding a sword)
Magic: 127775 [shackled down to 1,775] (+0% + 50% when holding a sword)
Spirit: 152643 [shackled down to 2,120] (+56.25% + 50% when holding a sword)
Soul: 142639 {+1125} [shackled down to 1,997] (+0% + 50% when holding a sword)
Aura: 1875 [shackled down to 1875] (+0%)
Attunement: 1875 [shackled down to 1875] (+6.25%)
Luck: 1875 [shackled down to 1875] (+0%)
Free Stats: 0
Soulstructures:
Lower Dantian: 1 Large Core Container
Middle Dantian: 3 Medium + 2 Large Mana Wells
Upper Dantian: 1 Large Mental Forge
Uniqueness:
NA
Assets:
3,489 D rank universal credits
79,309,283,981 E rank universal credits
649,005,296,103,892 F rank universal credits
Territory:
Lord
Toril [E Rank]
Overlord
Torem (Lord: Zoric Na’Milan) [F Rank]
Toran (Lord: Carth Hi’Olim) [F Rank]
Torot (Lord: Talia Wen’Lo) [F Rank]
Toref (Lord: Sawim El’Kimar) [F Rank]
Torik (Lord: Vot Na’Milan) [F Rank]
Boons:
Personal Servant of the Heavenly Spark Soul King: Increase the effectiveness of the Soul and Attunement stats by 6.25% and raise affinity with all Laws by 12.5%.
There were several important things Mila noticed when looking at Epecteos’s status. First, the natural advantages he’d been born with were nowhere near as powerful as any of theirs. He had no uniqueness, no bloodline, no soulstructures of a size bigger than Large, and his race was only Uncommon in grade.
Psy-Jinn (C-Uncommon)
A jinn heavily influenced by psyforce
Racial Abilities: 2
No limits, but a higher chance of psychic related abilities
Max stats:
Strength: 3,483,648
Agility: 3,732,480
Endurance: 3,732,480
Toughness: 3,483,648
Vitality: 3,483,648
Perception: 3,732,480
Magic: 3,732,480
Spirit: 4,478,976
Soul: 3,732,480
Aura: 3,732,480
Attunement: 3,732,480
Luck: 3,732,480
Stat Growth Per Level:
Strength: 864 (144)
Agility: 1080 (180)
Endurance: 1080 (180)
Toughness: 864 (144)
Vitality: 864 (144)
Perception: 1080 (180)
Magic: 1080 (180)
Spirit: 1728 (288)
Soul: 1080 (180)
Aura: 0
Attunement: 0
Luck: 0
Advancement Criteria:
Kill one creature of a higher rank
Requirements:
???
Even his racial abilities were quite weak.
Psychic Leanings (Uncommon): Master Psychic category skills 12.5% faster
Iron Mind (Rare): Increase the effectiveness of the Spirit stat by 6.25%.
The second thing Mila noticed was that his class showed he was following a similar path to Isaiah.
Advanced 12 Elements Psychic Swordsman (D-Heroic)
You are an exceptional swordsman and psychic with the power of the twelve elements
Effects:
Raise affinity with all Laws by 100%
Increase the effectiveness of the Spirit stat by 50%
Increase all base stats by 50% when wielding a sword
Skill slots:
6
May not learn skills of the following categories:
Crafting
Stat bonuses per level:
Strength: 648
Agility: 720
Endurance: 720
Toughness: 576
Vitality: 576
Perception: 720
Magic: 720
Spirit: 936
Soul: 864
Aura: 0
Attunement: 0
Luck: 0
Requirements:
1 high grade Law Larva for each of the 12 elements, has the 12 Elements Psychic Swordsman (E-Legendary) class, has spent an average of 106 minutes or more training with the sword every day of his life
Finally, third, he’d never received a single stat point from the System or from any treasure beyond what he received for advancing his Laws.
Mila had gotten so used to the System doling out rewards like crazy, but that was the advantage of an apocalypse style integration. Most didn’t get so many stats from the System, and no one on Earth, even Diana, had gotten anywhere close to the amount Mila had.
Treasures which boosted stats were also rare, fully controlled by the universe’s more powerful forces, and they generally didn’t work on those whose stats had already increased beyond a certain threshold, far more useful at F rank and sometimes E.
Yet still, even with all those natural disadvantages, and even facing them four on one with his soul shackled, Epecteos still easily destroyed them when they all flew up into the air and started to fight.
Isaiah took on the tanking role, moving close while again using the Twin Dragons in spear form, trying to block Epecteos’s mobility. Diana flew off to the side, attempting to attack Epecteos with alternating beams of death and flame. And, at the same time, Aalam stayed back and started writing runes around the battlefield with the help of the Left Hand of the Runescribe.
Finally, knowing her illusions and stealth wouldn’t work given Epecteos had Law Pupae of both Illusions and Shadow, Mila mainly tried to work to suppress his aura while disrupting him with her charm skill and using Artifact Enhancement on both the Twin Dragons and the Left Hand of the Runescribe, able to do so by strengthening the bonds she’d formed with the two artifacts with her Law Larva of The Healer.
Their tactics didn’t help, however. Epecteos just moved around, dodging everything Diana threw at him, avoiding every stab from Isaiah, and barely affected by Mila’s disruption. He did almost get hit a few times when Aalam’s runes started to throw some sort of invisible psyforce infused dimensional spheres at him, each only about 3 cm in diameter, but he never actually got hit and, after the first surprise, he started sending out little gusts of mana to disrupt Aalam’s runes as they were being written.
The all out fighting continued for about five minutes, but then Epecteos seemed to decide he’d seen enough of their skills and actually started to attack. Using his Telekinesis skill for the first time since the start of the fight, he increased his speed by a large margin and appeared next to Aalam, infused his Law Pupa of Stone into his practice sword, and then hit Aalam deep into the ocean.
This was then followed by him doing the same to the rest of them and only Isaiah required two hits due to pouring all his resources into his defensive skill to just barely block the first.
Wet and mostly undamaged, they all then flew back up and, spitting water out of her mouth, Mila asked, “So, do you have any suggestions for what we should work on?”
Epecteos looked at the three others in turn and then back to Mila, a serious expression on his face. “First, what has your master recommended?”
“She’s been letting us practice on our own for a few months,” Mila started, but then Nana Xara began talking to her and she paraphrased the words out loud. “We mainly needed to focus on our skills and Laws, so she let us do that and not worry about combat.”
“But now she has recommendations.” Diana took over, Nana Xara obviously now talking to her instead. “For Isaiah, there’s not much to say. His foundations are solid and the only things he should be focusing on are raising his Law Larvae to middle grade, practicing his cultivation technique up to level 6, and then leveling up and mastering his skills. He’ll then need to absorb a few treasures Mila has already got for him and clear out his channels afterwards, which might take a few months, but that’s about it. The rest of his time is fully available for training.
“Mila needs to do her spying work and doesn’t have much free time, but, while on Earth, she should probably spend an hour or two every day participating in fair fights. It’s not her style, but the experience would be useful. More important, however, is practicing her cultivation technique up to level 6 and then trying to raise her Laws one more time so she can practice up to level 7 before rising to E rank.
“Lastly, Aalam should be left mostly to his own devices. Trying to guide him at this stage would probably cause more harm than good and he needs to work on meeting the requirements for his class upgrade once his insane skill merger is complete. That said, please drag him out of his lab for combat training for two hours every day unless he’s absolutely in the middle of something. If he manages to win one bout in a fair manner against Poland’s Fist in an equal stat instance on the soul net, however, without the use of artifacts or his Runescriber skill, he can be relieved of all further combat training until he hits E rank.”
Aalam just stared at Diana with wide eyes and a look of horror on his face. Poland’s Fist was the username for Mila’s grandmother, who specialized in using her fists to attack and thus barely relied on artifacts, so Nana Xara’s instructions were basically to force him into combat training every day, something which Diana especially seemed to find humorous.
So, Nana Xara being Nana Xara, the words she had Mila say next were perfectly designed to bring Diana down a peg. “Diana, however, is the one who needs the most help. She needs lots and lots of sparring practice, which Nana Xara hopes you could provide. And she should really stop trying to develop a movement technique on her own until she has a better foundation in magical theory. Right now her attempts are just sad, especially when she could so easily ask her brother for help instead of being stubborn.”
Diana’s mouth closed tightly and she started frowning, but Mila then continued and what she said next seemed to make Diana feel a bit better. “Finally, for you, Mr. Ka’Dravone, you should probably consult Aalam for ways to improve. Your foundation is solid enough you could probably easily add runes into your power set for a relatively large increase to your combat potential, and it would be a good thing for you to learn, as it might open up a more powerful class evolution for C rank.”
Epecteos’s eyes grew wide again, his aura growing excited as he turned to look at Aalam, then he bowed toward Mila. “Thank you, Sage. I will follow what you say.”
He then turned to look at each of them in turn. “Although her potential is very high, I agree with the Sage that Ms. Diana needs the most work. I for one especially do not understand why you merged both of your spirits into your body at the same time instead of just one, allowing the other to fight beside you. Yes, your class is obviously designed for merging the powers of yin and yang at some point, but your control over your own mana isn’t even at the level to stop your massive reserves from leaking. Trying to merge yin and yang is way, way too advanced for you right now.”
Diana frowned again, but Epecteos just turned toward Isaiah. “I can see why the Sage thinks we would be a good match. Your foundation is very solid, but you can still use a lot of polish. And I can help you with that.”
Then he turned to Aalam, the feel from his aura slightly less confident. “You’re a crafter?”
Aalam nodded.
“And you’re somehow able to handle multiple thought processes at once as an F rank?”
Aalam nodded again.
“Then I think I understand what the Sage wants. Your control over your body is the worst of the four of you, so the main thing you need is to build up your foundation. I am your servant, however, and you are the source of my ability to possibly advance, so I will only train you if that’s what you want.”
Aalam looked hopefully at Diana, but Diana, who was still frowning about her own upcoming work, just shook her head and Aalam looked down toward the sea.
“You don’t have to worry about pushing him, Mr. Ka’Dravone.” Mila decided to explain, a slight smile on her face. “He won’t punish you for trying to help him and he’s the type of person who cares pretty much nothing for intrinsic hierarchy. He’ll defer to anyone in their area of expertise, such as me while we are here having our first meeting with you, or his sister when he wants validation to do something he knows isn’t good for him. On the training field, he’ll treat you like you are the master. Just don’t expect him to necessarily be a good student.”
“Got it.” Obviously relieved by the information, Epecteos’s aura grew more stable as he turned to Mila. “As for you, Ms. Mila, you feel like someone who had excellent combat training before you were introduced to cultivation, and you are a bit over-reliant on those old skills. For you, I recommend the opposite of what the Sage recommended for me through Ms. Diana on my way here. Try to integrate the use of your resources and Laws into all your movements from now on to get used to the power you hold. This should help integrate your old training with your new self and speed up the process of you gaining a foundation as firm as Isaiah’s.”
“Thank you.” Mila bowed to him as a sign of respect, helping to set a precedent for how the others should treat him when he was in the role of instructor.
“Should we go for another bout then?” Epecteos smiled as he raised his training sword and Isaiah radiated excitement. The Alvaro siblings, on the other hand, didn’t look quite as enthused.
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