Fay sat up and her eyes twinkled, "This- this is Lady Farah's specialized skill, Will of the Flame!"
Specialized skills were abilities created by combining multiple abilities within a person. So they could only be passed on by people who possessed similar abilities, some with more stringent requirements.
Will of the flame allowed Lady Farah to convert Indomitable into a flame and pass it on for use to another person. The consequences were permanent, allowing the chosen people to experience indomitable!
To use this skill one must have 3 abilities. A fire affinity, Indomitable and the ability to finely manipulate spirit essence on a granular level!
The last two requirements were incredibly hard to achieve. Will of the Flame was a technique so valuable as it could double or triple an armies power! It was a tactical weapon!
Some powerhouses used this ability to become famous and still live today. This ability was more like an open secret. But people were impressed by Darius' fire affinity. They all instantly assumed he had a high affinity for fire, but that wasn't the case. He had a decent fire affinity, which allowed him to deliver the Will of flame, but he tweaked it a lot.
Lara's blanket of flames changed into a storm of electricity all over her body. The electricity caused sparks everywhere! This was Darius' Main element! Lightning!
If he had only used fire then Lara would not have been able to receive his skill and it would have died by now. But using a newly gained skill he transformed the pitiful fire into magnificent thunder!
This was Darius' own specialized skill, Will of Lightning!
Will of fire gave one more stamina to battle with, but Will of lightning focused on increasing spiritual essence recovery and enhancing speed!
Lara moved like a lightning bolt between clouds as she dispatched her enemies. The mandrills tried to flee but most of died before they had reached their third step. That was how incredibly fast Lara was.
Lara sped to Darius looking for answers, but alas her resolve to battle dwindled, causing her to trip on her way there. She was moving at high speeds but was caught by Darius, who leaned back on the gate.
He put the lovely princess down and said, "You know, you're not as cute when your not psycho..ehem your highness." Indomitable had been temporarily switched off so he could save energy. He did this from time to time."
Darius turned around and started shaking, "You won't die, You won't die, You won't die, You won't die, You won't die, You won't die, You won't die." He couldn't handle the pressure and activated Indomitable in full.
"Ah, feels much better not being a pussy." Darius moved forward a few centimetres and said, "That's about right."
He created a large semi-circle with a 10-meter radius. Then he took the handle of his hammer and slammed it into the ground.
"Cupola di Fulmini"
A semi-circular dome of lightning encapsulated the unconscious Lara in a second. The hammer slammed into the ground and seemed to be the source of the dome. But there was a problem.
"He is out of the dome!"
"And he can't use his smiter. What is he going to do?"
Fay looked at her former teacher and said, "The next wave with be Nzou Elephants. Strength-based spirits that focus on defence! Your so-called disciple already had little chance, to begin with, and now he pulls this?"
Didier laughed, "Now now little one relax, I taught him more than one spirit art yesterday."
Stolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.
"More than 1? Yesterday?...Huh?"
"You heard me. It only took him a few elements to learn 3 spirit arts. Cupola di Fulmini (Lightning Dome) is the last one he learned. He mastered two other skills to a much higher degree. Look."
The old man pointed to the test. This was a heard of massive iron-like elephants with black skin. They made noise as they rumbled on toward their target.
In reply, Darius decided to…flex his muscles. Yes, that was what he was doing, changing positions like a confused Adonis. Then he settled for a hulk-like pose were all his muscles were stretched tout called Most Muscular. The eighth mandatory body-building pose. Why was he striking bodybuilding poses you ask? Most people were confused, but Fay knew and covered her mouth in shock.
"It can't be! That boy has learned that!?"
Darius flexed while the elephants rumbled on straight toward his, then he cast his spell.
"Potenza di Ercole!"
Fay lay shocked in her chair. "Potenza di Ercole. Might of Hercules."
She couldn't believe it! A Courage step 3 star spirit night was attempting to cast a spell of honour class difficulty!
'No according to the man's words.'
Fay focused on Darius as electricity covered his body. His entire body swelled with power as his muscles grew by a third. Especially his upper body. He now looked like a really muscular boy. The childishness was unfortunately still on his face, creating an odd and confusing paradox when one looked at him.
While Fay focused on his face, the elephants had already reached Darius. She heard a swoosh sound, but she didn't need to zoom out from Darius' face to know what it was. A Nzou had bee2n flung hundreds of meters away, and this wasn't the only one.
Swoosh!
Swoosh!
Swoosh!
Swoosh!
Swoosh!
Swoosh!
Swoosh!
Swoosh!
Swoosh!
Swoosh!
The entire heard was flung back by the ridiculously muscular Darius. The elephants were powerful but painfully slow, even slower than real elephants. If they were overpowered in strength like this, then they became2 useless in battle.
Darius stood still flexing as he changed poses. The side chest! Front lat spread! Darius had not been possessed by a ghost. The bodybuilding poses were necessary to get them running and keep it going. And only the caster knew what pose was required next at what level. regardless, it was a superb spell. One that granted the user an abnormal boost in strength and defence.
The old man next to her had used it many a time to save his life. He even used it sometimes when smiting! That's important it was. This was why Didier earned the title The Flex Spiritsmith. All his best work was created when he was flexing his gigantic muscles.
But there was another issue here. There was a general consensus that one was only capable of casting spells in their tier. Darius, though nearly at the peak, was still at the courage step, which is the first step! Using spells of the next step wasn't unheard off but really difficult. Not to mention…
"He learned it in one night."
Fay got somewhat depressed. She had met many earth-shattering geniuses but they all made sense. Their background bloodline and training etc, it all made sense. But a Hick from the countryside who wasn't even a Spiritknight has just cast Might of Hercules and was at the peak of the courage step.
HUH?
"I feel a headache come on."
She lay back in her chair as she saw the young Darius throw and flex from time to time. The elephants were very tough so falling didn't harm them much. Eventually, it reached the point of Darius ripping out tusks while the others watched. Another he ripped in two with his bare hands while another had its neck twisted. These elephants were tough but not idiots, eventually, the survivors ran with their tales in between their legs. Darius turned of his abilities and walked back tired. He was almost out of fuel but it was worth it. Using Potenza di Ercole felt so good. Made even more confident and gave him a massive rush of power. He could have killed the elephants faster but he was enjoying it just too much.
The other observers who didn't understand the skill had ugly looked on their faces. Spells to increase power were aplenty but why the poses. He looked like he found the experience pleasurable, looking like a pervert. Darius was unaware how much his reputation had taken a hit from this. The blood and gore plus flexing did not help his cause. But then again he doesn't give a shit.
The old man had promised him that the test would finish with the elephants so he could go out and relax.
"Congratulations! The test has passed with flying colours!" shouted Didier.
"Patriarch." Shouted Kylian.
"Grandmaster Laporte?" shouted the Emperor in shock.
The princes were shocked as well as they simply weren't important enough to have met this old legend. And quite the legend he was. The Flex Spiritsmith! Then people put two and two together.
'Flexing, massive muscles and a hammer?'
…
Lara and Darius were given time to rest and clean themselves up. A ball was going to be held later to celebrate their achievements.
The main star of the show was, of course, Darius, who was freaking out when a bunch of strangers came in and started telling him what to were and how to talk to certain pictures. Darius started having a mini panic attack as he cautiously learned everything taught to him. There was a simple phrase to explain this. Stage fright.