Chapter 23: More Training
Adam’s POV
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Nishra leaped down from the tree like some kind of armored ninja, landing in front of me with surprising grace despite being decked out in full medieval armor. The clank of her gear was almost musical, like a clumsy orchestra warming up, as she struck a pose, hand on her katana, clearly waiting for me to notice her grand entrance. But I was too distracted by the status screen in front of me.
"Hm?" I mumbled, finally tearing my eyes away from the screen. "Sorry, I wasn't listening. Did you say something important?"
"I was admiring your way of fighting," she said, her tone serious enough to make a stone statue blush. "Surprising and resourceful. Where did you learn to do that?"
"Well, you have to be unpredictable in the art of killing," I replied with a grin that was probably more 'geeky kid' than 'deadly assassin.'
Even though I couldn’t see through her helmet, I sensed her surprise. "Are you really a 14-year-old kid?"
For a moment, I was taken aback, but then I remembered—oh crap, I was supposed to be acting like a kid! To quickly deflect her suspicions, I pointed at myself. "I mean, I definitely look like a 14-year-old, right? Acne and all?"
She stared at me for a moment before whispering, "That's true, you don't look like an old man. Or like you’ve been around the block a few hundred times."
Did she really just try to figure out if I was 14 or 30? This conversation was getting weirder by the second.
"Regardless, you were supposed to learn tri-fusion arts, not relearn the basic arts you used in your fight."
She started walking towards me as I rebuked her, "You didn't explain anything to me and then started a fight. How on earth was I supposed to learn a new technique? Do I look like a quick learner?"
As soon as I said that, Nove chimed in with her robotic voice in my head, "Argument: you learned how to use base arts again during the fight."
… She’s right but I’m not going to admit it.
Once Nishra was next to me, she started questioning me. "There’s just one thing I don’t get," she said, putting a hand on her chin. "How were you able to use base arts before? I didn't sense you using your NEP to interact with any substance, so I thought you had mastered it. But after learning it again, you didn’t even try to hide your NEP, almost as if you’re a beginner in base arts again."
"I... uh," I stammered, racking my brain for a plausible excuse. I couldn’t let her know I had two different core nodes no matter what.
Suddenly, inspiration struck. "I have to say the name out loud to use my base arts like a pro. I guess even if I’ve lost my memories, I haven’t lost my muscle memory."
Nishra looked at me skeptically, and I just hoped Nove understood my bluff. To prove my point, I pointed at the ground and said, “Knife!" A small patch of golden grass parted as a knife made of dirt jumped into my hand, leaving behind a shallow hole.
"Hmm, I see..." Nishra said, pondering like she was solving an ancient riddle. "It's really a shame you lost all your memories. With the potential you hold, you could conquer kingdoms or even clans with time, but you need to master the basics first."
She held her hand out in front of her, and a small pocket watch materialized, ticking softly. "Okay, we still have about another hour. Since I know now that you're relying mainly on instinct alone, I can teach you how to start from the beginning."
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Nishra began explaining all the basics again from the beginning while I tested my newfound powers on various materials. And by materials, I mean dirt, wood, and rocks. Incidentally, it was much harder to use base arts on rocks than on dirt. Apparently, the quality or density of a material affects my success rate with Metalweaving arts.
Regardless, the first step to using any arts is always the same: possession. This is when you release a cloud of NEP to possess some object or material. Base arts involve simply possessing objects and either tearing them away or keeping control of them through a web of NEP. Forge arts and fusion forge arts are different. Nishra explained it like this: “Trying to use Forge arts is like trying to have an insane battle with the objects after you take control of it.” And, “Trying to use Fusion forge arts is like compressing the material with your NEP until it takes the shape you want.”
For now, I just followed what she said. And after she moves away, I’ll do some of my own experiments. Anyway, I did follow her instructions to be able to use the other two arts, but since I knew that heating up is just making molecules excited, I ended up trying to do that while simultaneously trying to expand the molecules' space by using base arts to expand the inside of the materials.
It wasn’t easy. Most of the time, the dirt block kept blowing up in a small explosion, which was a mystery for Nishra because she’s never seen someone able to do that. But I did want to keep this in mind; I might be able to use that in combat.
… But to be able to use it in combat, I had a question.
“Nishra—” I began, but she smacked my head, making me lose concentration and causing another block of dirt to explode.
“I’m your teacher now, so call me as one.”
I massaged the back of my head where she hit me before responding again, “Miss Nishra.”
“Good. Now, what’s your question, pupil?”
“Can’t we just use Metalweaving arts on people? Or on their weapons? To turn the tide in our favor?”
Nishra went quiet, her atmosphere taking a sharp turn. I don’t know why, but this was the first time I’d seen her like this… even though I couldn’t see her real face due to the armor.
“First of all, Metalweaving people… It’s a taboo, and all knowledge that shows how to do it has forever been banned or destroyed. Which is why, never go in that direction.”
“Oh… Okay.”
“And regarding your second question, when you use your arts, your nexus core puts something we call an arts lock on your creation so that only you may be able to control or mold it. But there have been a number of instances when this lock has been broken and bypassed, allowing terrorists to deal a significant amount of damage."
Oh cool, so it’s like hacking? Every creation produces its own numerical password, and if you don’t subconsciously know that, you can’t bypass it? Something like that?
"You can try your luck metalweaving my helmet, but I doubt you'll succeed," Nishra challenged me, her voice tinged with skepticism. Undeterred, I gave her a determined nod and decided to give it a shot.
Standing on my tiptoes, I reached out for her helmet, feeling like a kid trying to reach for the cookie jar on the top shelf. But when I attempted to infuse her helmet with my NEP, it rebounded like a rubber ball. Before I could ponder this oddity, Nove chimed in with an unexpected warning.
"Warning: Arts locked. No known possible combination to bypass. If you’d like, I can try and bypass the arts lock. Bypass time: Around 3 days with constant touch to object."
I was taken aback by Nove's sudden intervention, but I quickly brushed it off before Nishra grew suspicious. "Not possible," I replied hastily, hoping to divert her attention.
"See? You need specific intelligent-type core nodes to be able to bypass an arts lock," she said before stepping back
After that brief detour, I resumed my training. Maneuvering through the different types of arts was a daunting task, especially since I was doing it solo this time, without Nove's assistance. Using base arts felt like playing with strings, forge arts akin to trying to make myself sweat, and fusion forge arts like attempting both simultaneously. It was a challenging endeavor, but I soldiered on.
With Nishra offering guidance by my side, I practiced diligently, focusing on mastering the basics without delving into advanced techniques. There would be time for that later, especially with the academy's library at my disposal.
My mission was clear: master the tri-fusion arts by blending the three beginner arts—base, forge, and fusion. Despite Nishra's persistent instructions to merge the trio, my Metalweaving skills were embarrassingly lacking. But with my sky-high Intelligence stat, I was determined to crack the code... and crack it I did.
After what felt like an eternity of trial and error, I stumbled upon a breakthrough. Instead of attempting to combine all three arts at once, I started by mixing two base arts before introducing the third. It was like solving a complicated puzzle with multiple pieces finally clicking into place.
And after what seemed like an eternity of experimentation and frustration, success! I finally managed to unleash the elusive tri-fusion arts. Victory never tasted so sweet—or felt so relieved.