Chapter 11: The Puppet’s Mysterious Ability

Ain barely survived the Rank-1 puppet’s sneak attack with Nox’s help; however, this was just the beginning. If these sneak attacks continued, even before the spirit masters exhausted their aether, Nox wouldn’t be able to support its innate skill, Possession.

Brains over brawn, while not always true, held special meaning for a powerless resident of the slum. Ain’s mind raced at unbelievable speeds as possible solutions to his predicament flew past. From the Puppet Command Token, he learned that Rank-1 puppets couldn’t be restored. His priority was to deal with them before Nox was exhausted.

The threat of a sneak attack pressed Ain’s heart to the ground. Within seconds, a battle plan was formulated. With an injection of aether into the Puppet Command Token, the dozens of puppets around him suddenly moved away, creating a wide circular clearing with Ain in the middle. “Now, I’ll be able to discover the assassin before it can approach me.”

In the distance, Carl and Mason saw this scene and cursed silently. Such a simple solution, why didn’t they think of it earlier?

“Carl! Get your Rank-1 puppet to attack him too!” Mason yelled. He believed that the kid couldn’t possibly fend off two assassins at once.

“You think I’m not trying? His Rank-1 puppet is blocking it!” Carl rebuked sharply.

These shouts naturally reached Ain’s ears, causing him to frown. To assure himself, he commanded his own Rank-1 puppet once again, telling it to entangle its opponent at all costs. Just as he finished, Nox urgently called out again, “Wooo…!”

The assassin was attacking from behind!

Nox immediately used Possession in tandem with Ain’s swift reaction. With a twist, he turned around while using Phantom Claws. The assassin was only a couple of meters away as a white gaseous substance covered his forearms, manifesting large white claws that exuded savage lethality. Without another thought, Ain swung his claws in wide arcs, intent on destroying the puppet in one strike.

“Got it!” He proclaimed eagerly as the claws reached within a few inches of the assassin’s wooden body. However, right before contact, the puppet’s figure abruptly disappeared before instantly appearing just outside his attack range!

Ain’s eyes widened in shock!

How did it dodge?!

With the short distance between them and the puppet’s momentum, his strike should’ve been unavoidable!

The puppet’s actions didn’t halt while he was stunned. Its default tactic was a hit-and-run, but discovering a weakness in its target, it pressed forward energetically and took advantage of the opening left by the missed attack to punch him heavily in the gut!

Bam!

“Gah!” A pained groan escaped Ain’s lips as the impact from the body blow pushed him back. The pain was incomparable to the Rank-0 puppets’ attacks. The rain of fists earlier seemed soft in comparison!

Resisting the urge to fold over, Ain straightened his back and retaliated by swiping his claws at the puppet from below. When the attack was about to connect, the puppet mysteriously shifted to the side again before aiming a fist at his face.

Having learned his lesson, Ain was prepared for this counterattack. He ducked down, allowed the punch to pass over his head, and bolted forward to tackle the puppet to the ground, hoping for a different outcome. Nevertheless, right before contact, the puppet abruptly vanished again. Ain rolled on the white sand to recover from the missed tackle and immediately clawed to his left where he’d sensed a disturbance in the sand.

Whoosh!

The attack was off-target, but it still disrupted the puppet’s movements and forced it to retreat.

Just as Ain mentally prepared for the next exchange, the assassin disengaged and retreated towards the army of puppets. The Rank-0 puppets attacked the assassin, but the outcome was no different from his own attempts. Soon, the Rank-1 puppet melded into the crowd, vanishing from sight.

Ain suppressed the discomfort from the pain as Nox appeared on his shoulder, revealing slight exhaustion from its concurrent usage of Possession and Phantom Claws. Although the consumption was better than their first attempt at this combination, the consequence of Nox’s low rank couldn't be avoided.

“Wooo…” Nox voiced out, informing him of its limits. It could only withstand a few more confrontations like this one.

Ain nodded silently while searching for the Rank-1 puppet. At the same time, he was thinking of a countermeasure. The exchange just now hadn’t been fruitless. The puppet’s punch let him experience his opponent’s strength while also highlighting his own durability. His abdomen was still in pain, but it wasn’t enough to take him down.

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During his initial escape from the puppet army, he’d eaten numerous punches from the Rank-0 puppets. He’d already noticed his body’s increased recovery rate when the pain had quickly faded away. Although the Rank-1 puppet’s attack was powerful, it didn’t cause any substantial damage. Moreover, the flow of aether served to ease the pain.

Wisdom Root allowed Ain to multitask, but he’d yet to fully adapt to it. Otherwise, he wouldn’t have been ambushed the first time. He focused on maintaining a persistent watch on his surroundings all the while pondering.

“We’re both at Rank-1, so it’s unlikely that I’ll be defeated in one attack. The real problem now is its mysterious evasion ability…”

Aside from himself, the Rank-0 puppets also failed to damage it. Only his own Rank-1 puppet seemed to be fighting its opponent blow to blow. “From the looks of it, those two spirit masters must’ve failed too. Otherwise, they wouldn’t have been passively defending all this time.”

“And there’s also that strange feeling I had earlier…” Ain narrowed his eyes slightly, recalling the previous exchange. He hadn’t noticed anything peculiar when the puppet initially dodged his attack as he’d been taken by surprise. In the subsequent instances, he seemed to notice a strange yet familiar sensation.

It was ethereal, containing meanings beyond his knowledge.

Ain’s boosted cognition worked overtime as he attempted to comprehend this feeling. With Wisdom Root, his recent experiences were crystal clear in his memory. Countless pieces of information arose, forming myriad connections in his mind like a spiderweb.

Minutes seemed to elapse, but only a couple of seconds had passed in reality.

Like puzzle pieces, everything was falling into place. What he’d been doing before reaching this hall was the final piece. Soon, a light of realization shone in his gradually widening eyes.

Could it be-

“Wooo…!” Before he could finish this thought, the Rank-1 puppet struck again. With agile steps, the puppet rapidly crossed the clearing and punched out!

This time, Ain wasn’t afraid. He even held some anticipation, hoping to test the validity of his conclusion.

Nox’s Possession only required an instant. With his bolstered physique, he refrained from using Phantom Claws, opting to rely on his agility to dodge instead.

Whoosh!

A dark wooden fist passed over Ain’s shoulder, causing the displaced air to ruffle his black hair. Grasping this opportunity, he aimed his fist at the puppet’s chest and struck out perfunctorily, with almost no power behind the attack. His feet remained steady on the white sand.

To no surprise, right before contact, the puppet seemingly teleported to the side, effectively avoiding the attack. As there was no strength behind his punch, Ain’s center of gravity was still stable as a mountain, creating no new opportunities for the puppet to act upon.

Almost instinctively, he grasped the puppet’s position when it reappeared. With a quick motion, another weightless punch hurtled towards the puppet. In the next instance, it vanished without a trace, appearing slightly off to the side again.

Ain’s eyes shone with certainty as he meticulously sensed the puppet’s aura with the rudimentary yet instinctive perception he currently possessed.

“I was right. This feeling reminds me of the Chronarch Precept and Temporal Blitz! It’s similar to the obscure sensation I get when practicing them!” He muttered in excitement. Of course, that wasn’t all. As he observed the puppet’s mysterious ability, he felt himself at the precipice of enlightenment. He felt as if a veil, obstructing what he sought, was slowly being undone.

“Using time to bridge the spatial gap… is that what this puppet is doing?” Ain recalled the foundation behind Temporal Blitz. After mastering the motions, aether circulation, and spell rune, only the conceptual understanding was remaining.

“Temporal Blitz is an offensive technique whereas the puppet is just evading. However, the concept behind them seems to be the same…”

Initially, he’d failed to understand why a conceptual understanding was required. However, as he carefully sensed the puppet’s actions, a new conception of time began germinating within him. The same sentence, ‘Using time to bridge the spatial gap,’ suddenly seemed to possess meanings beyond what he could articulate.

As he gained enlightenment, Ain’s unthinking attacks on the puppet never stopped. His only purpose was to entangle it in an unceasing cycle of evasion, allowing him time to comprehend.

As the seconds trickled by, he even began predicting the puppet’s new position. Whenever the puppet vanished, a curious sensation akin to a string being tugged would arise at its destination, allowing Ain to trace its movement. The delay between the shifts was minuscule, affording him no time for a preemptive strike, but containing the puppet became effortless with this ability.

Unknowingly, it’d been several minutes since Ain began his monotonous attacks. He was engrossed in his task with zeal when Nox suddenly relayed its thoughts.

Wooo…

“Hmm?” Ain’s actions momentarily paused. Taking advantage of this lapse, the puppet retreated with swift movements, burying itself in the army of puppets. It’d been attempting to escape since its first missed strike, and now it was granted the perfect opportunity.

Casting a cursory glance at the retreating puppet, Ain confidently ignored it. His surging aura deflated like a punctured balloon as Possession was canceled. Nox appeared on his shoulder, its cotton-like body slouching listlessly, “Wooo…”

It was exhausted. Even without using Phantom Claws, it couldn’t support Possession for too long with their current rank difference. Ain patted it gently with an apologetic expression, “I’m sorry, I forgot about your consumption. Rest up for a while. I think I’ve finally understood what I was lacking.”

“Wooo…” Nox nodded by moving its eyes, looking forward to his performance.

Glancing around the battlefield, nothing seemed to have changed. He’d been in a strangely lucid yet trance-like state earlier. While comprehending that mysterious sensation, he was still aware of his surroundings. He didn’t need to ponder on it. It was due to Wisdom Root. Its effects on his cognition were profound.

Leaving these thoughts behind, Ain stared at the surrounding perimeter intently, suppressing an excited smile. He’d already grasp something. It was time to test it.

Gazing ahead confidently, he declared, “Let’s see you jump out again.”