章 12: First Spar; Rentaro vs Roy

Outside in the small training field, Rentaro stood with impatience as he questioned, 'Before I spar with Roy, I have an important question. How do I cast elemental energy into the grimoire?'

It was a crucial question, had anyone been spectating, they'd immediately wager their bets on his loss.

[You've already shown your ability to gather the elemental energy in your surroundings around you. Do exactly that, then send the elemental energy along your body, down to your hand which is holding the grimoire, before ultimately guiding it into the grimoire.]

[However, make sure the elemental energy you draw towards you is of the elements you want your technique to be composed of. For instance, you can cast a pure elemental skill, a set of armor, or even a specific weapon. Then, choose an element like light, fire, or darkness, along with a design if you cast a weapon or armor. Lastly, cast it with the grimoire's assistance by willing it through your soul's bond with it.]

[Remember, it's best to cast any abilities with elements you have an affinity with. The stronger the affinity, the stronger the ability will be, especially when you lack a strong elemental control and can't cast the abilities on your own. Also, limit the amount of abilities you use to avoid not only tiring yourself out, but also exposing any possible trump cards. And while I mentioned casting armor, forget about that for now; it'd be dangerous if you lost control of the energy and maimed yourself.]

[Moral of the story, only cast abilities when they will be useful or necessary in any given situation and keep your mind alert for any sudden changes that may occur while fighting.]

Wilhelm rambled on, going rather off topic from Rentaro's question, but he didn't interrupt as he enjoyed the feeling of warmth from listening to the voice full of concern.

Rentaro smiled, 'Got it, let me try this out first.'

Donning his blue summoner's robe with the Grimoire of Twilight in his left hand, Rentaro started gathering the elemental energy in his surroundings. A gold-colored elemental energy soon started to condense around him, surrounding his body as it slowly traveled towards his arm, moving alongside his arm and into the grimoire.

"Shield of Light! Condense!" Rentaro yelled as his eyes filled with a light of anticipation.

A golden, semi-transparent screen formed around him, giving him about two feet of space between him and the screen.

The screen appeared rather fragile, as if it could shatter from the slightest touch, yet Rentaro smiled as his first ability was successfully cast. 'In combat, this shield of mine wouldn't last for even a second, huh?'

[You'd be surprised by how quickly a situation can turn in a split second. That's enough time to shift your body—even the slightest shift in position can change a fatal wound to a flesh wound, saving your life while also giving you the opportunity to counterattack your enemy.] Wilhelm immediately reprimanded.

[Furthermore, as you use your abilities in actual combat, you'll think of different ways to apply them. For instance, you can apply your Shield of Light in multiple different ways, depending on what the given situation calls for.]

'Hm, I see. Let's try something offensive now!' Rentaro reached his hands out as he shouted, "Sword!"

Within seconds, a fire elemental energy surrounded him before it poured into the grimoire.

Rentaro's right hand now held a fiery-red sword, though it had yet to fully form.

"Hah!" Rentaro swung the sword in a clumsy manner, showing an inexperienced swordplay.

His body positioning didn't line up with any of swings, giving an unsteady and unbalanced feel to his movements. In fact, he could be countered easily by even an unarmed mortal with his current "ability". And true practitioners of swordsmanship would scoff if they heard the term "ability" used to describe the abomination that was his "swordplay".

Thankfully or not, sword wielders would be singing high praises to the heavens as the "sword" appeared to be very unstable, ultimately submerging into a stick of red mass as the elemental energy around it seemed to be dispersing rapidly, portraying Rentaro's lack of control.

Even so, he continued to fiddle around with what was left of the blade.

[Ahem. I suggest you fight using simple elemental techniques as opposed to a sword for now. You need to train in stances and learn how to properly wield a blade before using one.] Wilhelm coughed awkwardly as he watched the sorry excuse of swordplay.

'Well, what do you expect? I don't have any prior experience with a sword. Why don't I try something else?' Rentaro feigned a downcast appearance as the sword dissipated, a sharp contrast with his eyes which lit-up as if he thought of the perfect solution, "Dawnbreaker!"

This time, instead of a blade forming in Rentaro's hand, there was a small red revolver in his right hand. Rentaro clicked to fire the revolver, only for it to suddenly disperse into flames—he knelt down in sudden exhaustion, feeling completely drained of his energy.

[Careful! The energy inside the revolver is rather condensed, thus the impact behind each shot would've been strengthened. Such an ability is not without flaws however, as each shot will require a lot of energy. When shot from a long range, there is plenty of time to dodge or block the shots fired by it. Lastly, the design behind that ability is too complicated. Had you actually fired it with your current control, it could have exploded in your own hands, crippling them!] Wilhelm rebuked loudly in worry.

Rentaro offered a bitter smile, his heart too was beating in worry as he thought of his possible futures had 'Dawnbreaker' backfired.

As Rentaro continued gasping for breath, Wilhelm resumed his analysis as he calmed down, [Casting a weapon unique to your previous life, a very interesting idea. While you might believe such a weapon would be strange in this realm, there are plenty of abilities that take on much more outrageous forms, so it shouldn't cause trouble even if you use it in public. I suggest you use such a weapon for a surprise attack or trump card...]

'Hah, I'll wait awhile before trying that again. Well, that's enough practice. I'll rest for a little before I spar with Roy. Hey, Roy!' Rentaro spoke as he took a meditative pose.

'Yes, Second Brother?' Roy's voice resounded with a tone of anticipation.

'The two of us will be sparing with one another, so rest up to your peak state. Remember, we're not trying to harm one another, only testing one another's abilities!' Rentaro emphasized.

'Hehe, Alright Second Brother!'

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

'Roy, are you ready to go?'

'I've been ready!' A voice burning with anticipation rang out.

"Alright. I call forth Roy, the strongest of all summons!" Eyes burning with resolution, Rentaro gave off a rather feverish quote alongside his summoning.

Following Rentaro's voice, the spatial pocket immediately opened with a beam of light flying out from within. The spatial pocket closed almost instantly, as the beam of light immediately grew to a wolf-like size.

Fueled with excitement by Rentaro's feverish summoning call, the beam of light unleashed a draconic roar which covered the training field and even caused the people to rush out of their homes to see what was going on.

Taken aback, Rentaro was stunned upon closer inspection of Roy as he noticed that his far left eye was encompassed by a deep purplish-black, his far right eye by a brilliant gold, and his two middle eyes still maintaining their molten-lava color.

[After you awakened your light element, Roy had awakened it as well through your soul contract, consolidating his cultivation stage at Affinity Foundation 3. Furthermore, the light and darkness elements balanced out, creating an equilibrium with the fire element.]

[Furthermore, his Black Flame Embrace has mutated into the Yin-Yang Flame Embrace, giving him control of not only primal black flames related to the Yang origin, but also the primal white flames of the Yin origin.]

'I see, well, that will certainly make this spar more interesting.'

[Of course, just make sure not to use any abilities that will quickly drain your energy or put you in danger—like that "Dawnbreaker" of yours.]

"Hehe. Well, Second Brother, I'm pretty impressive, right?" A voice containing a slight bit of narcissism rang out.

"Very impressive, but you have yet to see my own abilities as well. Remember, we're only sparring and showing off our abilities." Flashing a smile, Rentaro resumed a challenging stance, but not before stressing that it was only a spar. He didn't want Roy to accidentally decimate him with his primal flames instantly after all.

By this point in time, many villagers, young and old, had shown up to spectate. Their eyes flashing with interest towards the two strange guests. Icrin had also made an appearance, along with the group of elders and two grand elders watching in the background.

'Wilhelm, please link your voice to both of our minds and act as a host for our spar.' Rentaro smiled.

[Already done. The match starts now—Begin!]

Without waiting for any further instructions, Rentaro propelled himself towards Roy, who had crouched back, pouncing towards Rentaro as well.

"Fire!" Still holding the grimoire in his left hand, Rentaro thrust his right hand out, from which he launched a small ball of fire, seemingly a fire bolt.

"Obsidian-Scaled Armor!" Encompassed by his scaled armor, "Sorry, Second Brother. I'm the bane of all flames!"

The fire bolt had diminished upon contact with Roy. Had that been the end of it, there'd be no surprise. However, the Obsidian-Scaled Armor appeared to have absorbed the attack to replenish Roy's own energy, a characteristic that made Roy seem inexhaustible and invincible in a battle of attrition.

"Now it's my turn! Skeletal Control!" Suddenly, the spikes along Roy's spine extended out, piercing towards Rentaro.

"Shield of Light!" Although shocked, Rentaro knew about Roy's skills beforehand and was able to jump back, dodging the sudden attack by using the light shield to stall for what would otherwise be a short second of time. While he managed to buy a few extra seconds, the spikes quickly pursued.

As the spikes closed in, Rentaro had a sudden thought and yelled, "Shield of Light!"

This time, the shield of light didn't accompany the area around him, taking on a rather weird "shape" in which it blocked every spike perfectly.

Thankfully for Rentaro, the speed of Roy's spikes were slow and given the distance, Rentaro had time to make the proper adjustments to his shield.

Cracks slowly formed, before continuing to travel along the shield's surface shattering it, still giving Rentaro enough time to get another attack in.

"You're the bane of fire, huh? Then, let's try this out. Water!" A blue elemental energy was guided into the grimoire and this time, a light blue version of the fire bolt flew out, clearly much weaker however. As it sped towards Roy, much of the energy dissipated, leaving a much smaller ball of water.

The water bolt clashed against Roy, only to subside shortly after clashing with his obsidian scales which were now sparkling, as if the ball of water had merely cleansed them.

"Hehe, Second Brother, my turn on the offensive! I haven't had the chance to try out my fire yet!" Immediately, a black flame formed above Roy, taking on the shape of an arrow before flying towards Rentaro's location.

"Shield of Light! Fire! Water!" Rentaro quickly cast a chain of abilities, his shield for defense, while casting out another two bolts as offensive moves meant to weaken Roy's attack.

The two bolts managed to hit their target, slowing the arrow down by a couple of seconds, while slightly weakening the flames that it was composed of.

Given the extra time, Rentaro dived towards the side while continuously guiding light elemental energy into the shield of light around his body to protect himself as the arrow hit the ground and combusted soon after his dive.

[Alright, hold up you two! The spar is over for now. Now that you've had some practice, you should have an understanding as to where you can improve. Although absolute power is important, if you lack wits you'll still lose in a battle of attrition. Study up some tactical abilities, you two.]

[Rentaro, your adjustment to your Shield of Light was a good idea. Had Roy's spikes been faster, you'd need to focus on defending your vital points, leaving much of your body vulnerable. Your application of the element of water was also nice, though far too weak.]

[Sometimes, you need to use an element, even if you don't have an affinity with said element. Repeatedly doing so will help you form an affinity with said element anyway, though it's best to wait until you improve your general energy control.]

[Furthermore, your techniques lack variety. You'll need to study different techniques and methods of application, you can't just throw out different bolts of energy if you wish to survive any combat you might encounter in the future. If possible, try joining an academy. There you can study applications of elemental energy and physical training.]

[As for you, Roy. You'll naturally have access to more techniques when the time is right. For now, practice using your primal flames, they are a heavenly gift bestowed to you! It's a waste to just toss them around in whatever form you think of. There are many techniques that exist in this world and if you can't find one that fits your gifts, come up with your own!]

Having finished with his constructive criticism, Wilhelm left the two to ponder after giving Rentaro one last reminder, [Hey, don't forget about that kid, Icrin. He's been watching your fight, I'm sure his blood is boiling for a fight. Although he might be weaker than Roy who was born with primal flames, he has trained and practiced longer, so I'm sure his coordination and technique is stronger.]

[Heck, he's probably even more difficult to face than Roy.] Wilhelm continued to jab both of them, pointing out their weak points, while comparing them to Icrin.

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