Chapter 440: Progress

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Shin spent his next few days doing his training as per usual. There was nothing much changed in his Martial-Art training because he still hadn't mastered the reflex training. He was able to stand inside the circle for a long time already but he still couldn't stand there for as long as he wanted.

Doing that training with complex instructions was quite hard already, but interchanging the respective rules for the colored wooden blocks were quite confusing and made the training very tricky to deal with.

But compared to that, Shin was able to make himself used to the traps set up on the mountain path when he was fletching some water on the river. Even if it was adjusting to his speed whenever he grew familiar with it, their attacking patterns were still quite predictable. And due to that Shin was able to learn the right timing when dodging.

Given that, Shin was able to complete the task quite early and gave him a lot of extra time before he did the reflex training.

Shin was quite excited to learn how to properly wield the 'Demonic Qi' inside his body. But since he still couldn't complete the reflex training, he couldn't help but become a little disappointed for not being able to study it.

Regardless, he was still able to see the effect of this training the more he did it, especially when he was doing a sparring match with David during his Mentalism Training.

And talking about Mentalism, Shin showed an insane growth rate on this discipline; and compared to his Martial-Arts, his Mentalism improved with a great margin.

Not only did he improve his control over his Mental Energy, but he also mastered using the Mentalism Runes during battle. What's more, he also learned how to create some basic and intermediate talismans and was about to graduate from it.

Even Grandmaster Benn, who was fully aware of Shin's Mentalism Potentials, couldn't help but become a little shocked when he saw Shin's rapid growth.

Meanwhile, David was starting to get the whole picture whenever he saw Shin's growth during the entire training sessions.

'A monster with insane battle capabilities and high comprehension ability in terms of Martial-Arts, and an ever-growing freak who can learn everything almost instantly when it comes to Mentalism,' thought David to himself while being engaged in a sparring match with Shin.

Bang!

David blocked a very strong kick from Shin before looking at the latter with a huge smile on his face. 'And this freak is still asking for more like a beast who is full of hunger. Now, I'm starting to understand Sir Adam's decision.'

"Hup!" with his strengthened arms, David pushed Shin with a strong force. After that, he stared at the latter while wearing a huge grin on his face before asking. "Is that all you got? Show me more of your growth."

Shin suddenly smirked for a brief moment when he heard that and said. "Then let's fight seriously this time."

After that, Shin suddenly made a hand seal with his right hand while saying. "Haste!"

Then a pair of runes suddenly appeared and shone on each of Shin's legs right after he said those words. And on the very next instant he suddenly disappeared on his current spot before appearing right in front of David with just an instant.

"Fast but still not enough," said David with a smirking face as he threw a strong forward punch right after Shin appeared on his front.

Swoosh!

Puff!

That punch was quite fast and perfectly timed which made it very hard to be dodged. But when that very punch hit its target, David's fist just passed through Shin's body which suddenly turned into a bunch of white smoke right after getting hit.

"Illusion!?" David was caught a little off-guard the moment he saw that. But he immediately regained himself after an instant and quickly raised both of his arms to guard the right side of his head while also creating a Mental Energy barrier at the same time.

"Strength!" shouted Shin as he threw a strong kick at David while forming a hand seal with his left hand.

Bang!

The barrier that David had created using his Mental Energy was shattered instantly right after it came in contact with Shin's powerful kick. And immediately after that, David was sent flying with a great speed when he got hit by Shin's legs.

Swoosh!

Bang!

At the same time, Shin quickly kicked the ground and chased after David the moment his feet landed back on it. And alongside with it, he also reactivated the 'Haste Rune' during his run so that he could catch up with David while he was still flying in the air.

After catching up, Shin was planning to immediately throw another attack before David could even react. But before he could even execute his next move, he suddenly felt that there was something amiss so he quickly halted his run with a powerful stomp on the ground before crossing his arms in front of him.

And when he uncrossed those arms once again, a strong Mental Energy was released from his body before forming a dome-shaped barrier around him.

Bang! Bang! Bang!

Then the body that he was chasing earlier suddenly exploded and transformed into a barrage of beams which rushed towards him before bombarding the barrier that he set up.

"The heck? How can he create a decoy that fast in that situation?" muttered Shin with his knitted eyebrows. As a cloud of dust starting to block his view due to the repeated bombardment of the beams of light.

When the bombardment finally stopped, Shin quickly swung his arm to the side and made the barrier around him spin rapidly and scattered the cloud of dust around him, clearing his field of view.

But right after he did that, he saw another beam of light which was coming from a distance. And this time, that incoming beam was much larger compared to the ones that bombarded him earlier.

Seeing that, Shin quickly put his hands together before forming some seals with them immediately after.

"Reinforce!" yelling that word, the spinning barrier around him slowed down its spin before having a sudden change on its appearance.

Hexagonal shapes suddenly appeared on the surface of the barrier around Shin, interconnected with each other. At the same time, a certain Mentalism Rune was shining at the center of each hexagon on its surface.

'Four Symbol Scripture: Turtle General Guard – First Form'

BOOM!

A powerful explosion was created when the incoming beam of light collided with the battier that Shin had created. But despite being hit by such a powerful attack, the barrier protecting Shin was still perfectly fine as if nothing happened.

Regardless, Shin still didn't dare to put the barrier out as he could sense a dangerous threat locked on him.

Swoosh!

A moment later, just like what he was expecting, the cloud of dust above him was suddenly split open and showed David who was currently falling from the sky with a great speed and unstoppable force.

His fist was shining with a blinding light as if there was a miniature sun on it. And when he was about to reach the top of the barrier surrounding Shin, he suddenly swung his shining fist downwards and planned to smash the barrier with it.

But before could even shatter it, Shin suddenly changed the seal on his hands before turning his right hand upwards and letting his palm face the sky.

The moment he made those hand gestures, the hexagonal sections of the barrier surrounding suddenly separated from each other before forming a multilayered wall right above him to block the incoming fist.

'Four Symbol Scripture: Turtle General Guard – SecondForm'

Boom!

A powerful shockwave was created right after the collision. That shockwave sent a repeated ripple in the air surrounding the two which made the entire place quite chaotic.

The two didn't immediately make their next moves as they maintained that state for a couple of seconds to catch their breaths.

Not long after, David put more strength on his arm before pushing himself away from the wall which was blocking him.

Ta-ta!

And when his feet landed back on the ground, he immediately spread his legs a little while squatting his hips. At the same time, he moved both of his hands in circular motions before clasping them together.

Right after he did those actions, his Mental Energy was spread outwards before creating a dome-shaped around him which was quite similar to Shin.

After setting it up, David slightly raised his head and looked at Shin with a provoking face. It was as if he was inviting Shin to try breaking the barrier with his own offensive technique.

Seeing that, Shin couldn't help but grin a little and immediately put his hand together before making another set of hand seals with them. And when he was done forming the hand seals, a bunch of Mentalism Runes suddenly appeared around him and floated in the air.

"Condense!" shouted Shin as he clasped his hands together once again. And when he said those words, the Mentalism Runes floating around him started fusing together before forming a single rune encircled by the same set of runes.

This was the hardest rune set that Shin had learned so far. He just mastered forming it just recently after combining all of the knowledge that he accumulated these past few days of learning the Mentalism Runes.

Due to that, he hadn't tested its battle prowess yet. But since David was giving him an opportunity to test it out, Shin was more than willing enough to accept this chance.

Given that, Shin waited for the new rune sequence to accumulate enough energy before pointing at David who was waiting for his attack.

'Four Symbol Scripture: Unition Ray of the Divine Beasts'

Bang!

Then a powerful beam of light was suddenly fired from the floating rune above Shin and flew towards David.

BOOM!

Not long after, that beam of light collided with the barrier that David had set up which led into a massive explosion. But no matter how powerful that beam of light was, it still couldn't break through David's defense. And it didn't take long for it to completely exhaust all of its energy before dissipating into specks of lights which were slowly disappearing.

But despite his attack being completely ineffective against David's defense, there was still a huge smile on Shin's face as he could now clearly see the result of his training.

Looking at the devastated path that the beam of light took, Shin relaxed his body a little before muttering to himself. "So, this is the power of Mentalism."

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