The worker carefully counted and inspected the stones before handing Lassim a slip confirming the completion of his task. "Well done. You’re ahead of schedule again it seems. Keep up the good work!"
Lassim nodded, accepting the slip with a sense of satisfaction. He had four full days ahead of him to focus on developing his new technique and he was ready to get back to it, at least after a quick shower.
He returned to the servant quarters, his body crying out for a shower and sleep after several days of nonstop usage of [Tempest Steps] and digging.
The hot water washed away the grime and tension of the past three days, leaving him feeling refreshed and rejuvenated.
After a quick meal to replenish his energy, Lassim sat down on his bunk bed and fell asleep as soon as his head hit the pillow.
Lassim awoke the next morning to the mouth-watering smell of meat cooking in the kitchen area.
His stomach growled in response, reminding him that it had been too long since his last proper meal. He stretched, and climbed out of bed.
In the kitchen area, Riku and Jiro were busy preparing breakfast.
Lassim greeted them with a yawn and a smile. "Good morning. Something smells amazing."
"Morning, Lassim," Riku said, handing him a plate piled high with eggs, slices of an unknown beast’s Spirit Growth stage meat, and some bread. "We figured you’d be hungry for your first real meal after all that work."
"Mirana isn’t here?" Lassim asked, noticing her absence.
Jiro shook his head. "She took your determination as her own motivation and decided to stay out at the Lightning Pools until she meets her quota. I’m planning to bring her a packed lunch later."
Lassim nodded. "Alright. Wish her good luck for me. I’ve finished and submitted my quota for the week, so I’ll be working on creating a new technique with my free time."
"That’s great to hear," Jiro said, eyes lighting up with interest. "What kind of technique are you aiming for?"
Lassim took a bite of the meat, savoring the rich, unfamiliar flavor. "Something that combines lightning and water in a more advanced and complex way. All of my offensive battle art techniques are incredibly simple and crude by comparison to the Spirit Ascension stage sect disciples I’ve watched training.
I have a few ideas, and I’m feeling inspired but it’ll take a bit more experimentation to find something without the help of the sect’s library."
Riku grinned. "Well, you’ve earned yourself some time until next week. And you might not know it, but developing your own technique instead of following another’s has a lot more benefits in the long run. You’ll be able to adapt it, and change it as you advance stages or even create new techniques more easily because of your experience doing it the first time.
It’s just the more time consuming route to go."
"Glad to know I’m not wasting my time at least! Thanks for the support Riku," Lassim replied.
At this point, Jiro left to bring lunch to Mirana, and Lassim offered to clean up as thanks for the food once he finished, letting Riku get back early to his quota in the underground.
With the kitchen clean, Lassim headed out in hopes that the Spirit Ascension disciples were still practicing.
It was midday, at least by his estimates, as the perpetual storm overhead clouded the skies.
He arrived at the training grounds to find a crowd gathered around, watching an intense sparring session. Intrigued, he made his way to stand on the low wall to get a better view.
Two disciples were locked in combat.
One dual wielded twin, single-handed battle axes, while the other fought with a pair of tonfa. The tonfa were like long batons covered in lightning runes, similar to the runes in Lassim’s halberd and the twin-axes.
The battle was fierce, the tonfa user repeatedly and skillfully caught the blades of the axes and disarmed his opponent. Each time, the axes reappeared in the wielder’s hands in a flash, summoned anew. This went on for a bit before the tonfa user activated some sort of battle art.
The tonfa user had begun to channel an insane amount of lightning mana into his weapons. The lightning became blindingly dense, and Lassim could sense the raw power and danger emanating from the technique.
As the lightning built up, it started dripping beads of plasma from the rounded edges of the tonfa.
With a quick leap and followup blow, the next attack was devastating. The tonfa struck out and slammed hard against the battle axe fellow’s arms as he attempted to block when his battle axes missed his opponent.
The battle axe wielder roared and then grit his teeth in pain with a severe burn across his arms where he blocked before the sect elder overseeing the lesson intervened.
"Well done," the elder said, commending the tonfa wielder. "Your initial stage mastery of the Plasma Blade technique is impressive. This technique adds lethality to your otherwise blunt, crushing weapons. You did well in choosing something to increase your offensive power. Keep refining it and focus more on controlling it and managing the density of the Lightning mana.
The more refined and dense, the more dangerous and lethal it becomes. This technique can take you far into the upper realms easily. Congratulations, as well, as you’ve earned yourself a passing grade to enter the next dimensional trial."
The lesson ended, and the crowd began to disperse. Lassim felt a surge of excitement and inspiration.
He rushed to the training arena, eager to see if he could replicate the essence of the technique he had just witnessed, but with his own twist.
At the secluded part of the training arena, Lassim stood before the worn training dummy, his halberd in hand.
He took a deep breath, focusing on the elements he wanted to combine. He coated the blade in lightning first, feeling the familiar crackle of energy.
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He swung the weapon, sending bolts of lightning toward the dummy. The strikes were powerful, but it didn’t really match the [Plasma Blade] technique he saw.
He refined his attempts several more times for the next few hours. Constantly attempting to maintain the density of the lightning on the edge of his blade.
Several times the lightning went wildly out of control and flailed wildly about. There seemed to be a certain correct amount of control needed to manage the unruly lightning and stabilize it.
Eventually he figured out that if he took his time to slowly build up the lightning bit by bit, it would act in a less rampant manner, acting more tame.
It was now the middle of the night and he was the only one left in the training arena when he felt like he finally got the hang of it with the help of Zaphy’s innate affinity with the lightning element.
He was able to get tiny drops of plasma to drop from his halberd’s edge for a few seconds before it went out of control again.
"Okay. It’s somewhat stable. I could make it more consistent if I practice it further but I probably won’t receive immediate results without the remaining 3 days if I focused on practicing it. For now, let’s try something different to make this really my own. I don’t want to just copy some sect technique," he muttered to himself.
He coated the blade in water next, hoping the increased density would do something like Lightning had done. Using the experience he’d already built up with Lightning, he mimicked it in creating a shimmering layer of incredibly dense water mana around the halberd’s edge.
He swung again, the water adding a fluid grace to the strike but lacking anything special or the power he sought.
"This isn’t anything at all," Lassim said, frustrated. "Let’s combine them in a way and see if that creates something new."
He paused, recalling the intense battle and skill he had witnessed earlier. The tonfa wielder had channeled a massive amount of lightning, creating heated and dense amount of energy that turned it into plasma.
What if he could achieve a greater effect by combining lightning and water in a more controlled manner?
"Alright, let’s give it a shot," he said out loud as if motivating himself for the difficult task.
He first coated the halberd blade with water once more, the more stable element. He focused on maintaining the most dense amount of water mana he could manage.
The water was so dense it started turning more opaque and almost black. The mana particles were tightly packed against each other in Lassim’s spirit vision.
With his practiced effort, he channeled lightning through the blade. The Lightning mana traveled almost freely through the tightly packed mana particles. Suddenly the black coloration started to distort and swirl.
Knowing that he’d have a limited time to maintain the plasma level intensity and heat based on his previous experiments and lacking control, he raised his halberd and swung.
The moment the blade struck the dummy, an explosion that rocked the entire arena, nearby courtyard and shifted the rocks that built the adjacent guard wall erupted.
Lassim, unprepared for the pure chaos and terror he had unleashed, was knocked backwards with the halberd thankfully still in his hands.
He quickly stored it away in his inner heart world as he flew through the air and slammed hard against the ground nearly 100 meters away. The air was filled with the scent of ozone, scorched wood and burnt dirt.
Coughing and gasping for breath for the wind that was knocked out of him he said, "W—*cough*—What in the heavens was that?" he asked, bewildered.