章 44: The huntress' struggle

A yellow screen greeted him as soon as he made his decision.

[Would you like to appoint the individual: Max as [Jury]?]

[Would you like to appoint the individual: Mordred as [Jury]?]

'Yes and yes'

[You have appointed the individuals; Max and Mordred as [Jury]]

Brilliant sunlight pierced through the gray sky and fell upon Max and Mordred.

Ethereal golden glow engulfed them before they quite literally ascended to heaven.

'Goodbye for now, I guess.'

[Current number of [Jury]: 2]

[Jury bonus: 20% attribute boost during judgment]

[The [Jury]s will be automatically summoned during a judgment trial]

[The current [Jury]s will be residing in Valhalla until further action]

'It seems that anything to do with my title is colored yellow while my standard one is blue.'

'Something tells me this title is something different, something else from my system.'

He contemplated for a while then remembered he had a business he had to attend to.

"Ahh right, you said you will teach me how to fight right?" He asked Auryon.

She was gazing knives into the spot the specters ascended on, dumbstruck.

'I wish I could just ascend like that.' She cried in her heart.

She glared at Aster hatefully before closing her eyes and taking a deep breath.

'I underestimated him. I shouldn't teach him anything at all. What kind of a monster has sonic speed, brute strength, beefy body, excellent reaction time, powerful elemental magic, ability to manipulate spirits, strong yet large aura cloud, excellent precision, ability to multitask and that weird fire?'

'He's a monster. He would become unstoppable if he learnt how to properly fight.'

She exhaled shakily. 'I should be very mindful of what I teach him. Don't want extra trouble.'

"Alright, I have decided."

"I won't teach you how to fight."

"Hah!? But you said-"

"What's a criminal's words to you anyways." She sighed. "Now listen here, you little shit."

"You're too strong."

"What!?"

"So I won't teach you how to fight."

"What kind of bullshit answer is that?"

"It's not like my fighting style would suit you anyways. Mine focuses on silent, deadly, stealthy ambushes which is the polar opposite of what you have done so far. You make too much noise and too much destruction by just moving."

"You do some extravagant magic and you rely on brute strength to beat your opponents into meat paste."

"No thinking, just slaughter." She continued to scold him.

"That's not how a tiger hunts."

"But I'm good at stealth too, tho?" He muttered as he remembered his high stealth attribute.

Auryon's beautiful face stuck as her brain did a reset. Then she groaned with great frustration within her heart.

"Well that is… true, I guess. I haven't detected any body odor from you." She says while biting her extremely long nails.

'I just realized that, Artemis fuck us all.'

'His heartbeat is barely audible, his scent is practically nonexistent and he breathes really quietly.'

She felt like pulling her hair out.

'So he's good at hiding too? Did he hoard all of the talent from the next generation or what?'

'And the fact that he gives off a weird vibe. Why did I even want to help him in the first place, why did I leave my daughter when she just had a life threatening experience?'

'Why did I even try to have some fun with him??? Normally I would have just pulled out his heart from behind. FUCK, HE HAS [CHARM] TOO???'

Auryon bit her lips until it drew blood.

"I'm so done with you." She says before turning 180 degrees and goes back inland.

"..."

[[Great strike] has been activated]

[[Vital strike] has been activated]

[[Strengthen] has been activated]

[[Dash] has been activated]

***

He crouched down and got ready to strike her down.

The muscles of his legs tensed and he was about to kick the ground with full force when she gave him some much needed guidance.

"Try giving your aura a physical form. I know you can do it.

Aura is all about willpower. If you're brazen enough, the strength of your aura will get stronger.

However, that's not enough to give it a physical form.

You need to give it a direction for that.

Bloodlust is one easy way to achieve a physical form but it will have its flaws.

Your direction would decide the nature of your aura. Bloodlust will give it an extra edge so it would be easier to harm but it would be much harder to defend with it.

Wanting to protect will give it a tougher physical form but it would be stiff and harder to shape it flexibly.

Your direction has to be about what your end goal is, your journey and what you want to accomplish.

Remember, you can't just change your direction on the fly. That would be a sign of indecisiveness and a weak will. It would harm your aura greatly.

So, go meditate or some shit and find out what you want to accomplish. What kind of strength would you need for that and how to integrate your aura to it.

That's all I'm going to say to you."

Her words reached Aster's ears and he canceled his skills.

He pondered over his wants and needs as he watched the sight of the huntress grow smaller.

"Oh and one more thing." Her voice reached him, full of harsh determination and strength.

"You should know better than to poke a tiger when she is sparing you, ungrateful fucker."

These words struck a cord within him.

'Are you saying you're stronger than me?'

'Wow.'

He was tempted to chase after her and finish what they had started but he didn't act on his desires.

It seems he had developed a bit of respect for her after all.

Besides, he couldn't exactly refute her claim of being stronger than him either.

It was clear as day that Aster had many more base attributes and plethora of skills. But he knew practically nothing about her skillset.

When they fought, she did a number on him without doing any fancy skills. She even managed to adapt and avoid Aster when he was zooming. She was an excellent fighter.

For all he knew, she had a bunch of [Master] tier or above skills, a stash of attribute and skill points and trump cards he couldn't even fathom.

'Damn, I should have looked at her attribute panels.' He lamented.

'And I forgot to put a hunter's mark on her.'

'At least I put one on her daughter. Fate decides if we will meet again.'