49 Combat training

Valerie's eyes widened, and looked at Xander accusingly, before a questioning look surfaced on her face, asking, "are you really telling the truth?"

At this, Xander just smiled and mouthed, "You would feel it once you tried it." Valerie, although she had a bit of animosity with Xander with what happened to her grandparents, who were demigod magicians, she decided to trust him just this once and began to let go of controlling the 3 other elements and focus on the darkness element.

She had immersed herself into feeling, understanding the darkness element. That was an important step of allowing your life essence doll to establish a resonance with the elements. There is, a form, of masking, of acting the element.

As soon as she had a stable control over a few darkness element particles, she practiced moving it to her will, focusing on refining her control. After a minute of practicing, she then attempted to control Fire, Water, and Poison elements.

Valerie was surprised. She could sense some sort of...subservience from the 3 other elements. It was as if she was a commander ordering the troops, a commander who knew the strengths, weaknesses of her troops, their names, their capabilities.

She could sense the 3 other elements! Valerie was giddy. She could understand the other 3 elements from a different perspective that she hadn't understood them from before. She continued to immerse herself in utilizing the darkness element to command and comprehend the other 3 elements, causing a stir in the environment around her.

As Valerie began to experience some sort of elemental enlightenment, it had caused the elements around her to be agitated, affecting even the other groups around her. Ms. Amelia had noticed the situation and was going to move to control the situation, but someone was a step faster.

Xander waved his hand, and the rampaging elements in the area surrounding Valerie calmed down, and she began to go into deep meditation, losing track of everything around her. Seeing that the situation calmed down, Xander smiled at the others and said,

"Everyone, the situation is resolved, you can now go and practice aga-" Before he finished his words, Another strong fluctuation occurred, this time, it came from Maryann, who had a look of enlightenment as well. She had experienced some sort of breakthrough about her ice and fire elements.

"I... understand now. I finally get it!!" Maryann shouted crazily, her face showing relief, happiness, and a form of weariness. The temperature around her rapidly decreased, and tongues of fire were birthed as the temperature fell. These tongues of fire, however, had different colors and intensities, that even the surrounding people could feel the blazing, burning effect of the fire even without being close to it. Some who saw it were screamed, clutching their eyes, which were severely burned. At the same time, there was frost starting to radiate from their eyes, slowly covering their bodies. Everyone who saw the outcome was panicking, and even Ms. Amelia was a bit stumped on what to do.

She had, after all, reached Legendary Class. She knew what it meant to have an initial fusion of your primary elements even before you made your own magic spell circle. The tongues of flame that were manifested contained the traces of fire representations and ice representations; this meant that such a spell is already an example of a self-made magic spell. But, Maryann Dykes was only an Elite-6; although it wasn't rare for people to create Master class spells at the Elite class, especially for supreme geniuses, it generally happened when they were Elite-9, or had just broken through to Elite-9. This was her first encounter with someone making a Master class spell at the Elite-6 stage. If Xander could hear her thoughts right now, he would have laughed. After all, he made his very first Advanced spell around Mundane-9 or Elite-1.

Seeing this, Xander sighed, and then waved his other hand, causing the flames to stop and freeze in place, before dissipating, like it never existed, and fragments of it entered Maryann's forehead, causing her to fall into a trance. The temperature, which was closely approaching sub-zero values, was gradually returning to normal. The eyes of those who looked at the flames were also returned to their normal state, and the frost covering their heads were already melting, evaporating into the air.

Xander, after checking everything is normal, stopped his control over the space immediately and resumed playing around with his phone, waiting for the two to come out of their respective enlightenments. He was actually bored. Maryann had developed her first Master class spell circle, which was an AoE spell that targeted anyone who can see the fire manifestation.

It didn't instantly kill the Elite students because the magic energy supplying it was low and was provided for by elemental energy, which focused on natural energy movement. It was good that Maryann finally solved the issue of her 2 elements; amazingly, it only took her 4 hours to do so. She truly is a talented cookie. Now Valerie on the other hand, was smart enough to utilize this opportunity. With the influence of my control over Yin-yang and the other origin elements, I had stimulated the darkness element, allowing greater control over the elements under it.

What he found funny, however, was Valerie was actually talented in 5 elements, not 4. Darkness element always comes as the absence of the other element, Light. Darkness-Light, or Yin-yang, was basically the rulers of the 5-elemental series. Pity, she didn't have the resources for her to utilize both origin elements. If she could do it at such a young age as him, he would have a worthy competitor.

When Xander glimpsed a bit of Valerie's future, to identify when she would realize this without his interference, he saw that it was going to be realized 35 years from now, from her exploring a ruin somewhere in Ete continent.

She was trapped in a small space pocket that contained pure darkness and pure light elements. She basically spends 5 years in there comprehending it, and realizing her 5th primary element, which was light.

From then on, a rocket development appeared; 10 years after the incident, she broke through to Legendary; 9 years after, she reached Mythic with 95% elemental representation understanding with Fire, Water, and Poison, 90% on Darkness and Light representation. 30 years later, she steps into the Demigod class smoothly.

An 89-year-old Demigod seems passable in the wide universe, but in Eteria, you are considered a heaven's blessed at this speed.

Those who were watching the trio, however, had a different feeling coursing in their bodies: regret. If they had chosen Xander as a sparring partner, they might have gained enlightenment as well!

Anyways, there's still next week, where they can choose Xander as their sparring partners, hehe. Everyone had this kind of thought pass through their minds. Even Ms. Amelia, who had witnessed what Xander had just done, shake her head in amazement and pity for Xander. As she witnessed the situation evolve to what it is now, she had stopped the recording inside the building, ensuring none of these things get out; and if it is spread out, no one would believe it as there was no evidence.

Little did she know, someone was closely observing Xander from the shadows.

_______________________________

Unknown place in Eteria.

In a large villa facing the sea. A man was casually smoking, overlooking the sea, the island, from his balcony. A knock could be heard coming from the door to the room.

"Enter."

A man in butler attire entered, his face dignified and honored to be in the presence of the man.

"Your majesty, we have information concerning Xander Cloverfield. Just 10 minutes ago, he had caused two of his sparring partners to gain enlightenment by saying a few sentences. He had also demonstrated a strong, coercive power over the elements around the two sparring partners to avoid causing damage to the other students nearby. Our spy assigned to Xander cannot identify what elements were used by Xander do cause the coercive effect, or if he used elemental suppression in the first place." The butler said politely, reporting the information to the man who was still sitting by the balcony.

"Hmm...have we managed to infiltrate his retinue of guards and servants?" The man asked, not looking back at the butler.

"Your majesty, we failed to do so. For one, the current group dispatched to his villa was done by the Eta government in partnership with the Cloverfield Clan. It's not easy to utilize our people in the clan due to them being in a low position. The same goes for the Eta government." The butler responded, his voice containing a sense of disappointment to oneself and sadness. He was not able to fulfill the task that his master had sent him to do!

"Hmm, never mind that, continue the surveillance. Absolutely do not approach Xander Cloverfield. If one of the agents is compromised, I would have to replace your job with your other brother."

"Y-yes, my lord." The butler said, relieved and happy that the master didn't shout at him or kill him outright. The butler left the man and closed the door, allowing the sound of the sea waves and cawing of birds to resound in the room.

"Hmm... Xander Cloverfield, if it is truly you, I wonder what you got as an ability from God, I wonder."

_____________________________________

Grand Hyatt University, Faculty room.

Brian smashed his hands on the table, feeling angry. Surrounding him were his fellow professors who had the same rank as him.

His initial request to gather the computing source of the university and focus on decrypting the code placed on Xander's papers and VR results were denied. Brian and his fellow professors had another identity in the campus, which is the fighting force of the campus in times of distress, or war. There are a total of 13 members, 2 of which was the Dean and the vice dean, and the remaining 11 are the most loyal and powerful professors in the university. Brian himself was a Mythic-3 magician, and he was 4th to the last in rank, or 10th in rank; this group was called Brightforce.

"Can you all honestly tell me, why you would unanimously vote 'no' on the decision? Did they pressure you guys? Or was it the Eta government?" Brian said, gritting his teeth. His other colleagues, who knew he would react this way, shook their heads in denial before one of them began to speak.

"Nope. It was the Dean's idea. You know how powerful the Dean is. He said that he knew you would react this way, so he wanted you to see something before you decide what to do." The woman spoke, handing Brian a crystal case containing a simple item: a photograph.

When Brian saw the crystal case, he already knew what it was: It was the very first photograph he had with the Brightforce members. He saw himself, the other faculty members, the dean, and a middle-aged woman. A woman he had no recollection of. Brian was puzzled. How could he not remember the members of the Brightforce? There must a mistake with this photo.

"So? What are you attempting to tell me? That there's an unknown woman with the Brightforce?" Brian said, obviously not seeing the problem.

"Brian, let me ask you, how many are we in the team?"

"Isn't that obvious? We have 12 members I am the 3rd to the last member, I am ranked 10th. Our members are the Dean and you guys."

"Brian... we are 13 in the group. That middle-aged woman you see in the photo is part of Brightforce."

Brian paled as if being affected by something, causing his face to produce such a pallid appearance.

"N-no! You're lying! You're just saying that to deny my request!" he shouted at them, causing one of the members, number 5, to get pissed off.

Number 5 moved his hand and pinned Brian to the wall, before saying,

"You idiot! That IS the reason why we are rejecting the request! Do you know what the Dean said to us earlier? Huh? Do you? 'The vice dean... ceased to exist.' and we were all confused and were wondering who the vice dean was. The vice-dean is that middle-aged woman you see in the photograph! Her existence was wiped out, not a trace remaining in this universe! You should know what power the Dean specializes in."

Brian's eyes momentarily glazed, before gaining clarity.

"Karma! Karmic elements. Existence, fate, karma... all our threads connecting to her was forcibly destroyed?" Brian said, causing number 5 to release his grip on Brian, causing him to fall face-first on the ground.

"Good job! See, I told you we should have done this number 8. Wasting our time, sheesh." Number 5 said at the woman who handed Brian the crystal case. Number 8 rolled her eyes and said,

"I was planning to let him know gently, now I have to use my magic to calm him down. Ugh." Number 8 waved her hands, causing a calming aura to radiate towards Brian, who visibly relaxed and became clear-headed. After a few minutes, Brian spoke.

"Thanks, 8. It's ok now." Brian thanked number 8, who stopped the domain.

"So someone who is an expert on karma... why didn't this middle-aged woman, or you say, our vice-dean, react to the magic spell? Wasn't she suppose to have an item that can help us detect if someone attempts to attack us through our life essence dolls, an item made by the Dean?"

"The dean's item actually disintegrated, and even the dean only had a few words to say before he also forgot the vice dean's existence entirely. He only feels like something was forcibly removed from him. He had tried to reach out to the husband of the vice dean that was listed in the emergency contact, a demigod, concerning the matter, but was notified that he was in critical condition. He checked compared the moment that he had felt the violation of his life essence doll and the time the husband before he reached critical condition; it had matched. He concluded that the unknown vice dean and the woman in the crystal case were connected to one another." Number 8 said gently, drinking the tea that was placed on the table that had turned cold already.

"What does this have to do with the test? Doesn't it mean she was targeted by an outside force?" Brian asked puzzledly, causing Number 5 to roll his eyes again.

"Look, Brian, the time the vice dean disappeared, and the time we all lost our memories coincided with that fact. We cannot recall anything about the woman except through this photo and the emergency contact owner empty and contained only the name of the emergency contact. We have 2 running hypotheses on the situation:

1. It was an outside force. They targeted the vice-dean, the second strongest in command. It was merely a coincidence that they struck after the Midterm exam made for Xander Cloverfield.

2. It was done because the vice dean triggered a delayed spell, or curse, by varying situations, or even thoughts, or flow of energy in the body. Since we have daily scans, it can't be made by an outside force; it must have been placed on the day itself. It might have been placed by Xander Cloverfield, or a guardian that protected Xander Cloverfield, or that mysterious person, Homer Simpson.

So right now, anything related to Xander Cloverfield is off, and all our efforts are focused on looking for clues and traces of the spell."

Upon hearing this, Brian had calmed down to his cool, collected self. He also nodded in agreement with what Number 5 said. But it puzzles him how a photo could survive such a powerful spell.

Number 5 laughed and nudged to the guy beside him, Number 3.

"Hey 3. Tell him what the crystal case is made of."

"It's made from the skin of a Sage-class being. It basically isolates anything inside from everything outside." Number 3 said quietly, causing Brian to have a look of understanding.

"Ok, so what do we do now?" Brian said, focusing on the task at hand. Looking at him, everyone nodded at his ability and began their discussion.

Pity, someone was watching them, allowing that person to realize that he left some evidences.

__________________________________

15 minutes had passed, and Xander opened his eyes, twinkling with knowledge. Xander had just finished his spatial viewing of the space where Brian was in; although there weren't any sounds, he could deduce the conversation by their lips.

A sage rank artifact... and a man-made one at that. He should get rid of the photograph if possible. The problem is, he didn't have any records of sage rank artifacts in the database of the world council. Any artifact above Demigod was not recorded. Maybe it was just written and not stored digitally, Xander mused.

Instead of stealing the case and triggering any sort of traps placed there, he could target the photograph when they attempt to trace the karmic thread present there to me. After all, if they want to trace the thread, they have to bring it out of the isolation case. The problem is if they could find the thread immediately. The moment it appears, a karmic thread would appear in my life essence body, albeit faintly, and I can begin tracing. if they begin tracing as well, I would instantly notice a transmission and do a reverse trace, destroying the photo's evidence of Mrs. Carliste, removing everyone's memory of her once and for all.

Xander looked at the two girls who were coming out of their enlightenments. They both rose a rank, with Maryann now Elite-7, and Valerie an Elite-8. He smiled at them and stood up when he saw them wake up.

"Ok, since you have a general idea of how conscious control is done, let's attempt subconscious control. This is a good way to stabilize your powers as you have both ranked up, and a great way to test out your comprehension. Let's begin the fight, then." Xander smiled, before approaching them quickly.

"I'll be using physical enhancement magic and pseudo-spells only, ok? Get ready!" Xander immediately launched a punch towards Valerie's stomach twice, and then moved towards Maryann's position, who was still flustering. She hasn't even propped her magic barrier up in that split moment.

Xander was inwardly shaking his head as he used his palm to smash Maryann's body to the ground, causing it to shake a bit, before he began moving away from their positions.

"Come on girls, you can do better than-" Xander wasn't able to finish his sentence as he was interrupted by a guttural growl coming from Valerie, who immediately cast 3 pseudo-spells simultaneously. It wasn't bad but it was just too slow; she still had to say a part of the incantation, rather than skip that and do the magic visualization instantly.

It took her 3 seconds to finish casting, but Xander had already approached her and slapped her in the back, causing her focus to loosen, leading to the spells to backfiring, causing her to cough out blood.

"First lesson: Don't expect your enemies to let you prepare for your spells. Learn how to instantly cast or shorten the spells to a syllable and also, always, always have your magic barrier up when you know you are going into a fight." Xander spoke softly, but his voice was echoing in the momentarily silent classroom, with his classmates staring at the trio, dumbfounded.