It was a cloudy day in the Ghost Forest and somewhere within it, the streets of Ghost Town were crowded since early in the morning.
Thyriel and Asherit were walking towards the supply building, when Thyriel had entered in an illumination state, Asherit only ate a little from time to time, therefore, he was able to extend the supplies of a month to just over two.
However, these supplies had already run out, and although now that Thyriel was skilled handling her Spirit Sense, she was able to obtain her first month's supplies from the interespacial ring, they still decided to come collect more supplies and avoid people's suspicions.
Arriving in front of the counter where the supplies were distributed, they both searched with their eyes for Major Guo, but only a tall and stocky young human was seen going through some documents.
"Hello Brother, excuse me, do you know if Elder Guo is around here?" Asherit approached the young human commenting in a calm tone and seeming to ask a random question.
"The Great Elder Guo? Why would be the Great Elder in an unimportant place like this?" Some surprise was born inside Asherit upon seeing the square face of this young man who seemed quite confused by his question.
"The Majo..." Thyriel was about to clear things up for the young man, when Asherit made a sneaky sign for her to not continue.
"Excuse me for asking, some recruits saw the Grand Elder in this area and I thought that with any luck I could at least meet him by sight" Making a bet with his words, Asherit tried to gather some information from the young man in front of him.
"Haha, I see, so Grand Elder Guo passed by here, I would also hope to be lucky enough to see the Grand Elder whom even the high commands treat with respect"
Seeing the look of respect and adoration on the young man's face, Asherit vaguely realized the position of the Major Guo in Elite Division and began to think about their meeting the night they met in this place.
"Unfortunately it seems that we are both late because I have not seen the Great Elder around here" Pulling Asherit out of his thoughts, the young man commented with a more pleasant tone than at the beginning, knowing that they both admired the same person.
"I see, thank you brother" With the same calm Asherit thanked the young man, who smiled saying.
"Call me Ron"
"Thanks brother Ron, we also come for our monthly provisions" Asherit commented to this young man who looked quite nitwit.
"I see, I just need your names to make sure that you haven't already received monthly supplies" As Ron commented, from under the counter he took out a rather large book that appeared to contain the names of all the soldiers in this division.
"She is Thyriel and my name is Asherit" While saying their names, Asherit remembered that Major Guo never asked their names and probably due to their high status did not need that to give them some supplies.
"Thyriel and Asherit ..." Ron concentrated on looking for them and after some time he found them in the section of this year's new recruits and full of surprise he mentioned.
"You both have never come to pick up your monthly supplies since you entered the Elite Division, how come you guys have been eating?"
"Well…",
"Asherit Empyreal Ignis, the Seventh Prince of the Abysmal Realm!" Before Asherit could reply, Ron read his full name recorded in the log book and as his gaze fell on Asherit, he seemed quite perplexed to meet this young prince.
On the other hand, Thyriel's gaze was also on Asherit as some doubts grew in her mind, but she did not express them knowing that perhaps it was something he did not want to talk about.
"Hm, we hadn't come for supplies as we still had enough not to need them, however, we recently ran out and that's why we are here" Nodding, Asherit gave a quick excuse, and upon hearing him Ron also nodded, thinking that it was normal for someone from the royal family had these means.
"I see, give me a moment I'll go get your supplies" Seeing this young man running in search of theirs supplies, Asherit thought of the plight of humans in the army.
Although those in high position were somewhat free, almost all had to act humbly and seek support within their lines in order to live in this abysmal-dominated kingdom.
"Here are your provisions, Your Highness, I have put out some delicious rare fruits that some brothers obtained in a kingdom to the east recently" With a face full of smiles, Ron placed two large bags full of provisions on the counter.
"Thank you very much brother Ron, we don't want to bother you anymore so we are retiring now"
"Thank you very much Brother Ron" Taking the bags without intending to store them in their interespacial rings they both thanked Ron.
"Don't worry, remember if you ever need anything you can come find me in this building, although it doesn't look like it I'm a Second Lieutenant and I have a good position in the Division supply team" With a smile on his square face, Ron mentioned.
"Then we will go to the brother if we ever have a problem, see you later" With these words they both left the building and without wasting time they headed home.
...
After arriving home, they both made breakfast so they finished quickly.
They made light dishes, fried rice and some boiled eggs was the main dish, it was accompanied by pork bacon that Asherit obtained from a dead pig and well preserved thanks to the magic spells of this world.
Thyriel prepared a water from a fruit similar to mango, it had a harder peel, but it was bigger and softer, since its seeds were as small as sesame seeds, it seemed that the whole fruit was pulp.
This was a rare fruit that Ron had told them about, the trees of said fruit reached impressive heights, but each one only produced a couple of fruits annually.
Thyriel also prepared a cocktail of some other rare fruits and as they ate the delightful faces on both of them seemed to certify the name of delicious and rare fruits.
They had a good time enjoying their food and when they finished they both went to the backyard of the house to start training.
Seeing the size of the yard, Asherit was quite happy knowing that they would easily be able to use it for training.
"Very well, first we will train hand-to-hand combat, although many mages train their bodies little, they are well versed in close combat because their mana allows them to reinforce themselves in these aspects, however, from what I have noticed, your techniques of cultivation not only refines and accumulates the mana in your Dantian, but also refines your body somehow” As he said this, Thyriel nodded to Asherit affirming his words.
"Therefore, in close combat, apart from having the support of your magic techniques you will also have incredible body strength which will give you the advantage against opponents of your level"
"However, that will only be so if you can take advantage of these strengths, if you do not have decent melee skills, the body refinement processes you go through will only be a waste" Hearing Asherit, Thyriel nodded.
With her cultivation methods in refining her body, although she cultivated faster than the others due to the talents of her bloodline, she still had to spend time refining her bone structure, organs and viscera, tendons and joints, meridians, skin and blood.
So, if she couldn't use them properly it would be like owning a great war horse without being able to ride it.
"Although the strength of the elves is formidable, it is well known that their greatest skill is found in their agility, being slowly refined I believe that your racial skills will intensify so I will teach you some skills focused on these aspects" While saying this, Asherit took a few meters away from Thyriel to demonstrate a series of skills.
'Swoosh' 'Swing' 'Swish'
Suddenly, Asherit began to throw punches and kicks, moving from side to side he was performing movements that looked powerful and agile.
Each move carried a deadly aura as he executed them like a sharp and graceful sword.
It seemed that his body had no restrictions in his movement, and with great flexibility he bent or took complicated postures that increased the speed of movement and the power of his blows.
This text was taken from Royal Road. Help the author by reading the original version there.
"This technique is called 'Sveralf', it is a fairly complete body technique of combat and movement, and although I do not know its origin, I am sure that it is closely related to your race, and with it I believe that you can use the full potential of your body"
When his mother was researching ancient ruins, she did not limit herself to places where humans had lived, but had investigated sites of all races and in some ancient elven ruins she found a great book that detailed this technique.
This was a technique focused on exploiting the power and body agility of its user without using a drop of mana, with it and with the magic techniques of combat and movement that Thyriel obtained from the writings of her bloodline, Asherit believed that she would become into a great fighter.
“Unlike magic techniques where the main fuel of their power is your mana, body techniques use the power of your skin, muscles, bones, blood, ligaments and tendons, these techniques have special ways of extracting the power of your body and empower it with special moves” While saying this, Asherit stopped his movements and approached Thyriel, in front of her, he continued his explanation.
“Not all beings are born with a Magic Spirit that allows them to cultivate magic, which is why since ancient ages there have been beings that cultivate their bodies, as powerful as the Great Mages are, there are beings among the corporal cultivators that can face them, however, since refining the body is a much more difficult path than cultivating magic, experts in body cultivation are very rare” Thinking of his next words, Asherit continued.
“Let's put it this way; In an average race like humans, one in a thousand has a chance of being born with a Magic Spirit and can become in mage, within the same race, one in a million has some chance of becoming a body cultivator with enough ability to face Great Mages” Hearing this number, Thyriel was surprised to understand how difficult it was to become an expert in body refinement.
“Even if the best techniques for combat and body movement were spread to all races, the number of experts would not increase almost anything, because, even if they dominate these techniques, the main question of them is that the body has enough strength to exploit them”,
“All body refinement techniques are full of challenges beyond imagination, some need rare materials that are born from heaven and earth to refine the body, some need extreme conditions to be able to perform, each and every one of them is extremely painful, and many experts die trying to get further in the process of refining their bodies” Grinning at Thyriel's surprised face, Asherit continued.
"Although none of these techniques is easy to dominate, in your case, because said technique came from the scriptures of your bloodline, I think you can certainly go very far" Seeing that Asherit had placed high expectations on her, a purposeful and determined look crossed Thyriel's pretty blue eyes as she nodded forcefully.
"People without proper technique can only extract fifty percent of their body energy at most and these are already rare beings",
"Whereas, for expert body cultivators, extracting one hundred percent of the energy from their bodies is easy and they can even multiply this energy by several times depending on the degree of their technique",
"The first thing you will learn is to extract this energy from each cell of your body, for this I will begin to teach you basic movements and postures that will help you become familiar with this power" While saying this, Asherit began to move making different shapes.
"The 'Sveralf' technique has 48 basic shapes, 12 slow shapes, 12 fast shapes, 12 unpredictable shapes and 12 dominant shapes",
"I will show you each one along with the mental state that you must take to practice them, you must try to capture every detail because in them is found the effectiveness of these forms to extract and multiply your power, when you master the bases of each one, your body energy can even multiply, so you must spend a portion of your time practicing them” Nodding her head, Thyriel didn't even blink at the movements Asherit performed.
Occasionally it moved much slower than a snail looking immovable, sometimes it was as fast and lively as lightning, sometimes its movements were mysterious and unpredictable, and at other times it moved furiously and domineeringly.
After an hour executing these movements, Thyriel began to follow him, although she moved roughly, she did not take her eyes off Asherit trying to capture his state and his flow.
And so, a week passed, the two of them did nothing but train these 48 forms and only retired to eat, wash and rest from time to time.
With great patience, Asherit displayed these forms over and over again as Thyriel put all her effort and heart into following them and copying his state.
And today, after a week, after finishing a round of these forms, Asherit stopped.
"Hm, you have already reached a basic understanding of the 48 forms and the correct state to practice them, try to use the fifteenth form to hit my hand" As Asherit extended his hand he gave directions to Thyriel whom, did not hesitate knowing a little about his strength.
Thyriel was standing a few steps away from Asherit, looking like a stone statue as she patiently reached a certain state.
'Swoosh'
Suddenly, out of nowhere an explosive force was born from her moving her hips and pushing herself with all the strength of her legs in a special way, it looked like the outbreak of a violent snake that attacked its prey to finish it off in a single movement.
'Boom'
Her whole arm seemed to cut through the air and her blow reached an impressive speed when it collided with Asherit's hand.
Feeling the force of this blow, Asherit was quite impressed, although his hand did not move a bit, he could feel a small subtle pain slide through it for a second.
Said itchiness may not seem like much, but it must be remembered that, although he had the same amount of mana as a Mage Rank E, his true skills were that of a Mage Rank C, and his bodily refinement was on the same level.
Which is why, feeling this coming from a girl who was just beginning to practice and had only refined her body for a short time left him somewhat perplexed.
While some credit belonged to the wonderful technique that he taught her, it was also due to her physical capabilities 'Without a doubt the bloodlines are amazing', while thinking about this, he analyze in detail the feeling and comment.
"From what it seems now you can extract 150% of your body energy, which is surprising because it only took you a week to do it, Congratulations"
"Hm, Thank you Brother Asherit" Hearing and interpreting Asherit's words as compliments, Thyriel blushed slightly as she thanked him.
"Now that you have understood the basics and have become familiar with your body energy, it is time to move to the next level and start applying these forms" After a brief reflection Asherit continued.
"These 48 forms are in themselves the bases of the technique, by joining them or using them in different ways is that you can achieve the greatest benefit from it, I will show you again a series of combinations of attack, defense and movement styles of the technique to that you understand better what I'm talking about, focus on following my every move” As she nodded to Asherit, Thyriel focused her gaze on him again.
'Swoosh' 'Swish'
'Swing' 'Boom'
Asherit began to move and launch attacks as he did the first time he showed the technique to Thyriel, from time to time he also adopted defensive stances combining some of the 48 forms.
Looking like an immovable mountain, it also moved around the entire backyard with different motions, very fast and sometimes explosively appearing somewhere and throwing punches or kicks with amazing power.
From time to time his movements within the courtyard were unpredictable and the wind seemed to cut off in supernatural ways, sometimes his blows carried a dominating power as if to bring down the skies, and at other times his movements seemed so slow but gave a mysterious feeling that he would envelop his opponent and they would not be able to dodge this slow and heavy blow.
Thus, Asherit continued to perform and combine the various forms of the technique throughout the day while Thyriel just watched him.
A few hours had passed since sunset when Asherit realized that Thyriel sat in lotus position to meditate, and realizing that she had begun to digest the patterns and movements that he was executing, he stopped and sat in the same position facing to her.
...
It was until the afternoon of the next day that Thyriel slowly opened her eyes and seeing Asherit receive her with a warm smile, she just like him smiled.
"Brother Asherit, it seems that I have grasped a bit about the combinations and movements of the forms" Hearing this, Asherit nodded and as he stood he commented.
"The fastest way to grasp these techniques is to use them in combat" When he learned many techniques Asherit did simulations in his powerful mind, but he always got more ideas when he practiced with his mother.
Although he had not yet mastered all of them as an expert and was only skilled in them in a basic or intermediate way, he understood this principle very well.
And upon hearing it Thyriel got up preparing to train with him.
"Jaja, that's a good mentality, but let's have something for breakfast first to replenish our energy"
"Hehe, alright." Thyriel thought of Asherit's words, feeling a bit hungry and both headed to prepare a healthy meal.
...
They ate a rich stew of meats and vegetables that Thyriel prepared which was accompanied with a rare fruit salad made by Asherit.
Although days had passed since they received the fruits, because the space within the interespacial rings was completely hermetic, without the influence of external factors any type of food could be kept for a long time without problems.
After eating and cleaning up a bit in their rooms, they both went out to the backyard to continue their training.
"Very well, try to use the combinations and movements that you saw me do, as you get used to it you will be able to flow in a better way and find new methods of attack, defense and movement based on these forms" Nodding to Asherit, Thyriel concentrated and then she lunged at him attacking with the moves she had learned.
'Swoosh' 'Boom' 'Swish'
Practicing the 48 forms and executing them in combat was something completely different from what Thyriel had imagined, she would move roughly and awkwardly trying to combine these forms, sometimes she would lose the proper mental state and sometimes she could not get even 90% of her body energy.
Although she was the first person Asherit taught, thanks to his great comprehension skills and his high perception, he flowed with her in a relaxed manner and as he did so, he began to give pointers to Thyriel to improve her movements.
"In those forms, once your right foot explosively propels you, don't try to use it for anything else and let your left direct the power while your right hand feints and the left hand changes shape to deliver an unpredictable strike"
"When you start short lateral movements with your feet in that form, try not to stop for a second when propelling yourself forward so as not to lose a single drop of energy that you accumulated with the previous form"
"Keep your back and neck straight when doing that movement and in the slow change in your arms try to throw your weight with your blow to lock in the opponent"
"Use your senses to orient yourself when combining these shapes into a movement skill and capture the right moment to create defensive shapes in your posture"
As the two exchanged movements, Asherit made occasional comments about Thyriel's mistakes and opportunities for improvement, she digested them slowly and without stopping they continued fighting around her great courtyard.
They spent many days training, they only stopped when Thyriel was exhausted, after eating something, washing up and resting a little they would return to the same routine where Thyriel was gaining experience and illumination every second.
Sometimes attacking, sometimes defending, suddenly escaping, sometimes trying to hit by surprise and in the meantime, Asherit would give her advice to refine her techniques more and more, and sometimes press her trying to extract all the potential that she carried in her body.
Thus, two youngs were seen sweating and exchanging movements for long hours in a backyard in the Ghost Town, trying to strengthen themselves at every moment and preparing for the challenges that awaited them within the Elite Division.