Asher opened his eyes and saw Nathan, who congratulated him. Feeling tired and dizzy, he wanted to rest for a bit. He tried to stand up but found his body's reaction was delayed.
"Don't move too much for now. Relax and clear your mind until you regain full control of your body. And don't try to use the rune right away," Nathan warned.
"I have to go tell your parents about you, but your training is not over yet, brat, so don't run away," Nathan laughed before disappearing into thin air.
Asher was covered in sweat, and the odor was unpleasant. After resting for a few minutes, he regained control of his body and was able to move all his limbs perfectly. He went to the shower room at the training grounds, turned on the water, and as the cold water hit his head, he moved his hair upwards.
"Phew, let's see the gains from all of this," Asher thought to himself.
"System, show me my status," he called out, eager to see his progress.
-----------------| Fate Devourer System |-------------------
[Name] : Asher Von Raven Greville
[Level] - 7 (EXP 0/7000)
[Bloodline] : Devil's Absorption Rank SSS
[Blessing] : Goddess of Time(Sealed)
[Body Constitution] - Mana Core Rank E
[Shop] [Quests] [Synthesis]
---------------------------------------------------------------
[-Attributes-]
Strength: 40+4
Agility: 30
Endurance: 45+5
Intelligence: 55+50
Mana: 60+6
Stamina: 47
Charm: 60
Fate: 5730
[AP]: 30 [SP]: 12
---------------------------------------------------------------
[-Skills-]: Time Dilution (Rank S) Lvl 1, Absorption (Rank S) Lvl 1, Ash-Sword Art (Rank C), Mana Flow (Rank C), Rune of Eirdin (New) Rank E
His fate points had increased by 2000 from the quest he completed during his birthday party. He also noticed an increase in his strength and mana stats after learning the mana circulation technique Nathan taught him. He knew he gained increased endurance stats from the whole experience Nathan made him go through.
"My intelligence increased by 50?" Asher was surprised to see that his intelligence stat had increased the most.
"System, can you explain what happened when the rune entered my body?" Asher asked. He had not forgotten that the system used one of his new bloodline's sealed abilities, but as the system had told him, he should not have been able to use it until he increased it with skill points.
[Insufficient Authority!!... Searching for other answers....]
[The rune was trying to manipulate Asher's mind, so the system used one of the host's hidden blessings. This was a rare phenomenon and will not happen again. The system advises caution with sentient powers in the future.]
Asher was still not satisfied with the answer. He felt like the system was hiding information from him and he was not sure what it was.
"Can you interfere and use my abilities without my permission like this?" The air around Asher changed and a chill spread through the atmosphere as some of his intense killing intent leaked out of his body. He hated being controlled by others. He hated bowing down to others.He did not know why, but every fiber of his being hated being forced to do something against his will. Call it arrogance, but Asher could not handle being controlled by others, no matter the circumstances.
[If the host's life is in danger or in unique situations where the host is unable to act, the system can use its abilities to assist. The system was created to assist in the journey and has no control over when it initiates or stops.]
Listening to the explanation, Asher calmed down and controlled his killing intent. Although he was still upset, if the system was really helping him, he had no reason to be angry.
"Argh, forget it. Explain what the rune does and why my intelligence stat increased so much," Asher said, still annoyed by his headache. He was not sure if the sudden increase in intelligence was the cause of it or if it was from the assimilation process he just went through.
[The host has gained a Growth Type Rune]
[Activating Rune of Eirdin....]
Asher watched as a black dragon-like tattoo appeared below his neck and traveled towards his right shoulder. He instantly felt that his headache was gone, and he could now easily use the knowledge he gained through the rune.
[Elaborating its effects...]
******************************************
[Rune of Eirdin] - Growth Type - <Rank E>
-> Increased mastery of the space element.
-> Increased intelligence
-> Growth equivalent to the mana core
Activation Cost: Mental Drain
*********************************************
[This rune is a growth type rune, and due to the Host's Rank SSS bloodline ability, you have unlocked the rune fully.]
[The rune will grow with the rank of the Host's mana core.]
[Some of its abilities will be unsealed and the existing abilities will be strengthened as you increase the rank of your mana core.]
"Increased space mastery!" Asher's crimson-red eyes shone as a smirk appeared on his indifferent face.
As the rune did not require any mana to activate, this would be one of his trump cards. His mental drain would already be low due to his absurdly high intelligence stat. One of the reasons many space element users died early was due to the drain they experienced when they used their spells.
Meanwhile, outside in the living room, as the week had passed, Arthur and Sylvie were sitting and chatting when they noticed Nathan had arrived in front of them. The twins were sleeping and Amelia had gone out, so nobody except the couple was there.
"Old man, what happened? Did he pass?" Arthur asked eagerly, wanting to know the result.
"Sigh, control yourself, you mannerless son of mine. Asher has done what you and Ivar failed to do," Nathan said proudly.
"So is his training over?" Sylvie asked, happy for Asher but wanting to confirm whether the training was complete or not.
"No, I will take one more week to train him thoroughly, but tell Lucas and Livia that they will also train with him now," Nathan continued.
"I didn't expect that brat to complete the whole process so quickly, so I will use the rest of the week to prepare him for his next dungeon run as well," Nathan said, already sitting on the dining table.
Asher got out of his bath and started practicing his sword. After half an hour of talking with Arthur and Sylvie about some important stuff that had happened during the week, Nathan saw Asher training with his sword.
"It seems you have rested enough if you can swing your sword like this," Nathan commented. At his words, Asher stopped his training.
"I am trying to get the feel of what has changed after getting this rune," Asher said, as he saw Nathan pick up a sword near him.
"Watch, brat. I will demonstrate some of my techniques which you can imitate on your sword later," Nathan said, taking his stance.
Asher was surprised to see that there was no gap visible to him in Nathan's stance, and anyone who was not more powerful than Nathan would have great difficulty injuring him.
"My first technique is the Phantom Swing, which you can imitate with a sword as well when you learn it later," Nathan swung his sword in multiple directions, going opposite to the previous one without cutting the force behind his attacks.
"Second technique, instead of maintaining the force of swings, amplify them into one strike," he took his greatsword again and slashed slowly towards the barrier.
*BAM*
Even though his strike seemed weak, the barrier shook and a loud noise of clashing between two hard objects could be heard.
"Don't focus on the technique too hard, get the meaning behind it and you can replicate it yourself in your sword art," Nathan moved a bit backwards.
"Third technique allows me to pass my sword through matter itself, which takes the first technique, and makes it seem like a child's play," Nathan threw a wooden sword into the air and passed his greatsword through the wooden sword as he slashed it. The greatsword easily went past the sword, as if it were going through water.
"This technique will require your advanced mastery in telekinesis and other teleportation space spells, and combining them together you can perform something similar to this," Nathan stopped as he watched Asher, who had his eyes fixed on Nathan's movement.
"I have a few more, but they are too destructive to teach here and they will not help you as a sword user as well. Combine your talent as a mage and apply it to your swordmanship," Nathan said, as he put down the greatsword.
"Okay, that's enough of these techniques. I've given you enough clues, and I'm confident you can enhance your sword art. Let me correct your basics," Nathan smiled as Asher looked confused.
"My basics are perfect. I haven't made any mistakes," Asher replied confidently.
"No one is perfect, and every sword has flaws. You must find those flaws and exploit them to gain an advantage over your enemy," Nathan countered.
"Come on, I'll use only basic sword techniques against you." Nathan controlled his power.
Asher slashed towards Nathan from the right, he was also fighting with his basic techniques. He saw that Nathan's simple counter nullified his attack. He was expecting it so immediately launched many similar attacks on him. His slashes were getting nullified and Nathan did nothing but counter him.
Asher could now understand why Nathan said he could improve his basics even further, but Nathan underestimated the capabilities of Asher in his sword. His new high intelligence made him have a better control of his killing intent so he decided to go a bit serious against him. His eyes sharpened and his attacks got more precise.
He immediately started to trap Nathan into his feints creating a fake pattern in his swings and after 25 such exchange of their swords he attacked Nathan from an awkward position making him take the blow on his hand as he could not use anything other than the basics of the swords.
Seeing that Nathan who was defeated due to the sudden shift of pace by him, Asher gave Nathan a arrogant smirk,
"This fuc**** Brat!" Nathan was holding in his anger and forced himself to smile.
Nathan was going easy on him ofc! No way OP grandpa loses to him right? ><
During the duel, Nathan saw that Asher was trying to attack him from multiple angles,
'Heh, brat, you are a thousand years too early to make me block you!' Nathan thought as he countered each of Asher's strikes.
But suddenly he noticed that Asher's behavior had changed and his gaze was a lot sharper. His gaze was similar to someone who had a lot of experience fighting others. Asher's attacks were becoming unpredictable but Nathan could still counter most of them.
'This kid is good,' Nathan was having fun while easily countering Asher's attack, but he needed to be careful controlling his strength if not he could have broken Asher's arm with a simple soft counter.
'Hoh! He is following a rhythm,' Nathan noticed the pattern in Asher's sword, it was easy for him to sense it.
'Show me what you got brat' Nathan spoke to himself as he pushed Asher's sword back to him.
This was the moment when Asher knew that Nathan was comfortable with fighting him and with a huge part of his attention was kept on controlling his strength. The basics of the sword they were fighting on had strict footwork and strikes so the range of motion was limited. Asher took advantage of this fact and altered his pattern and faked the swing on his left.
'Hoh, I will give this one to you brat' Nathan let Asher hit him. He knew if the gap between them was not so huge this move of Asher would have definitely caught him off guard. Despite he could have countered that, his pride as a swordsman did not let him take this win from Asher.
Asher also knew that Nathan let him win this intentionally but he still smirked at him. This was the result of him not controlling his true emotions and letting them out partially. A person could only control their true self, not change it. Masking yourself into a different person had its limits and Asher was one such person.
His mocking expression annoyed Nathan. Nathan was not a saint, he might have seemed like a happy grandpa thus far but there was a reason most powerhouses avoided him. Nathan, who also had the Rune of Eirdin, was constantly tormented by nightmares.
Losing many people throughout his journey gave him many regrets and his last ascension to Rank SSS almost made him lose his mind. His way of acting silly was his escape from his nightmares and Arthur who also knew this did not mind Nathan's constant insults and played along with him most of the times. Greville were famous for their cruel personalities throughout their history, and Nathan and Arthur both lived up to these rumours. The only normal person in the whole Greville family was probably Amelia who was internally an honest and emotional person.
"This fuc**** Brat!" Nathan dangerously smiled at Asher,
"HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA, It seems your basics are already perfect so let's hone your sword versus my greatsword." Nathan came close to Asher and stared down at him with his red eyes. Asher looked small in front of his huge build.
"Why not?" Asher was not a coward even though he knew he had provoked Nathan. He knew this was the best way for him to learn from Nathan. He already knew the fundamentals but what he wanted to learn from Nathan could only be learned by both of them dueling.
"Brat, use your mana or anything you have. We will duel until the twins come for their practice." Nathan told him.
Asher calmed his mind and decided to use the new mana circulation technique during the duel. He found that he could channel his mana better now. His new intelligence boost had increased his comprehension rate which helped him connect all the new paths Nathan created with the existing ones.
< Mana Circulation Technique: Rank A learned >
He did not know what the rank given by the system was based on but he knew that this circulation technique was better than the one he used in his previous life. Mana started coating his body and strengthening it. He focused his mana on his limbs and increased the force behind his attack. Asher dashed and attacked Nathan who disappeared from his place and kicked him on the back.
*Thud*
Asher landed on the ground as he crouched with one of his hands on the ground.
"Why so weak brat?" Nathan smirked back at him.
Asher had a calm face but he was not going to settle down with this much. He saw Nathan who appeared in front of him and saw his greatsword coming towards him from above. He braced his legs blocking the force.
"ARGHHH" Asher used more mana as he strengthened his limbs even more. He pushed the Greatsword back but could not move Nathan from his position. Knowing this he immediately took 2 steps back from his position.
*Clang* *Clang*
Asher and Nathan were sharing many blows but Asher kept getting pushed back because the force behind the greatsword was too much to completely nullify it. Asher was using their height difference to dodge most of the swings Nathan struck him with. Asher was timing his strikes because the reach of the greatsword was greater than his sword.
"Come on brat, show me that smug expression of yours," Nathan was not going to let Asher out easily. Call him petty but he was having a blast tormenting Asher and removing his escape routes every time he attacked him.
Asher was panting heavily but his focus was not broken at all. He was used to fighting people while breaking his own body. This made him lose the sensation of stopping when he felt tired. They went like this for a whole 20 minutes and Nathan found it surprising that Asher was not quitting at all. He decided to stop the duel by using the force behind his greatsword to send Asher flying back when he tried to block it.
Asher focused on his wrists and braced the impact but he still crashed onto the wall. At this moment he was gasping for air. But he still stood up. There was a reason even after killing numerous people, Asher was still alive until the day he regressed. Although his body was not able to keep up with his mentality.
"Let's stop brat, get some rest while I train those two." Nathan stopped as he looked at Lucas and Livia who excitingly looked at both of them fighting for quite some time.
"Okay!" Asher replied while breathing heavily.
"Okay, so did you two practice what I taught you," Nathan asked them,
The twins looked up and replied," Yes" at the same time.
"Good job brats, now I will teach you guys some other things before your awakening next week." Nathan started teaching various martial arts which would help them regardless of the result they got from their awakening.
Lucas wanted to follow the path of the sword as he admired Asher but Livia on the other wanted to learn to wield the greatsword. It was odd for a girl who liked cute things to get fascinated by Nathan's swordplay.
After teaching the twin and Asher getting a rest of 2 hours, they again started their duel. Nathan held back a little, unlike his previous duel where he wanted to thrash Asher around. Asher tried various techniques he came up with. The whole week, Nathan had Asher focus solely on swordsmanship training. He didn't train him to improve his physical strength or mana. Nathan knew that there were others at the World Academy who could teach Asher better.
After their last duel, Asher went to the shower room to wash his body covered with sweat. Multiple blue and black spots could be seen on his upper body. Nathan went ahead and made sure that Asher knew who was the boss in this family. This week even though his sword mastery had increased quite a bit, he was still working on mixing this style of sword with his current one. He knew that he would be able to invent a new sword style if he went through more battles.
As the water dripped down on his well-chiseled muscles, he was thinking of what he was going to do next. He knew that the dungeon in the mountain range he purchased would appear soon. He was now free to enter the dungeons of his level alone but Emmy would still follow him to the dungeon gate.
"Lucas will go through his awakening tomorrow, I can take him there with me," Asher decided to take Lucas with him as he knew what he was capable of doing. He got out of the bath and finally exited the training ground after two weeks.
He went back to his room because it was early in the afternoon and he decided to get some sleep before dinner. The curtains were shut but dim sunlight could pass through them and which gave a woody vibe to the room. Asher had always disliked loud places. He looked at the painting which stood near his bed. After his increased mental strength he was able to place a lid on his inner madness but he was unable to control it. Looking at the painting he felt that the burden on his mind, the constant thoughts that drove him mad were gone.
"I should go to sleep for now. Dinner would be too chaotic due to the dungeon explosion anyways," Asher leaned down on his soft bed feeling drowsy with his chaotic thoughts gone he went to sleep. The dungeon explosion where Nathan should have died was going to happen during the time they were having their dinner.
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