Chapter 212: Training bears fruit.

Chapter 212: Training bears fruit.

~2 months later

I breathed in and out, steadily repeating the rhythm as mana began to flow into my core. The act had become second nature over the past few months, as the majority of my time had gone towards meditation. It was high time for my core to evolve, but progression had proven difficult to acquire. Nonetheless, I had to remind myself that my efforts were about to bear fruit. After two months of gruelling training, [Overloading combustion core] had finally reached the ninety-ninth percentile.

What better way to push it over the edge than face Arcellus one final time, right?

Across from me, Peter didnt seem to think so. Still as stubborn and prideful as he had ever been, he hadnt fit in easily with the rest of us. Cerion seemed to despise him, getting into any fight or argument at the first opportunity and Emeri did her best to avoid him.

That left only myself as a person willing to be in the same room as him. Or, in this case, on the same battlefield. Cerion didnt want to fight him until he was certain he could win, after all.

Unfortunately, Arcellus had grown just as much as we had, his sun-born flames making me sweat even from this distance.

For the past few hours, Arcellus and I had been trying to overwhelm each other by using our most powerful skills exclusively. That meant that whenever our cores recovered from their exertion, a new sword laser would clash with a miniature sun, pulverising the area around us, rinse and repeat.

I was getting close. I could feel it, sense it. Only a little more

With a groan of exertion, I pushed all the mana I had managed to gather into the skill enveloping the broken sword in my hands. The practice weapon disintegrated even further, but not before allowing me to unleash another bolt of pure darkness at Arcellus.

His marble-shaped sun shone with fervour, rising to meet my assault with calm certainty. When the two skills collided, yet another explosion erupted, threatening to throw me into the air. By now I was prepared for it, however. Using [Aura dash], I kept my feet firmly planted on the ground and kept myself from tumbling. As the dark mana, fire mana and light mana vied for supremacy, wisps of concentrated power shot off in all directions. With my heightened mana sense, this was even clearer than it had ever been.

With a vague sense of desperation, I pulled the wisps of mana toward me as they were about to be dispelled, re-absorbing them and sending them right back into the beam of black light than continued to stream forth from where my sword had been. Now, only the handle remained. But that was enough. The absent blade was replaced by the laser I had created, after all.

The mana within me started to exceed the amount I could push into the skill at one point, spilling into the air around me and forcing [Dark embodiment] to work overtime. Eventually, I got the notification I had been waiting for. At last.

[Overloading combustion core](100%)

Tier 4 skill.

You possess the ability to transfer your body and equipment from one location to the other, using sufficiently dark locations as a medium.

Become intangible for 0.5 seconds after apparating.

Progression increases through experience.

Tier 5 upgrades:

[Phantom apparition]

Intangibility is increased to 1.5 seconds. Increased distance. Apparate to any location, regardless of how well-lit.

A direct upgrade of [Ghost apparition].

[Phantom presence]

Turn intangible and unsensable for a maximum of three seconds. Cancel intangibility at will on certain body parts or equipment. 0.5 seconds later, the rest of you will follow.

Warning: Previous skill effect lost.

[Spectre shift]

Turn intangible at will, for a maximum of 1 second. Transfer your body and equipment from one location to another at will. Both skill-effects can be instantly reversed at will.

Using them in conjunction increases mana-expenditure exponentially.