Malon, Sailena, and Vaeral trekked through a vibrant, green expanse teeming with life. The air was thick with the scent of blooming flowers, and the gentle rustling of leaves accompanied their every step. Colorful birds flitted from tree to tree, their melodious songs creating a symphony of nature.
As they made their way through the lush landscape, they marveled at the variety of plants and creatures they encountered. Tall, swaying grasses brushed against their legs while delicate wildflowers painted the ground with their vivid hues. Butterflies danced on the breeze, their delicate wings fluttering in harmony with the beauty around them.
The trio paused at a crystal-clear stream that meandered through the verdant meadow. They cupped their hands and drank the cool, refreshing water, feeling its invigorating energy course through their bodies. Nearby, a family of deer grazed peacefully, casting curious glances at the travelers as they quenched their thirst.
Although Aion tried to speed that up, he was only able to do so sometimes. When Malon was training, he was unable to do that… it was like the visions wanted to make him understand what he was doing.
"I get it, I get it… he wants to do the same things that Malon that I face could do," Aion thought while feeling like sighing. "Still, it is boring to see others training."
Also, Aion was curious about what was happening in the real world… he would be screwed if time passed as fast as it is in that vision.
The addition of time magic would set Malon apart from traditional fighters. By tapping into the temporal energies that flow through the universe, he can manipulate time itself to his advantage. This grants him several unique abilities that complement their swordsmanship.
One aspect of time magic in this fusion is the ability to accelerate their own movements, effectively granting them incredible speed and reflexes. Users can momentarily hasten their actions, allowing them to deliver lightning-fast strikes, dodge incoming attacks with uncanny agility, and react swiftly to changing battle situations. This acceleration makes them appear as blurs of motion, leaving opponents struggling to keep up.
Another application of time magic is the ability to slow down the perception of time. By manipulating temporal flow in their immediate vicinity, these swordsmen can create a temporal bubble that slows everything within it except for themselves. This grants them the advantage of apparent superhuman reaction time, as they perceive events in slow motion while retaining their own normal speed. With this heightened awareness, they can anticipate their opponents' movements and counter with precise and devastating strikes.
Aion didn't feel that he could pull that off easily. The Malon that he faced didn't use time magic; he only used sword skills, high enough level to make it look like he was using time magic. In any case, even with his low understanding of time magic, Aion could tell that Malon could become invincible with his sword skills combined with time magic, and yet… he lost and died and probably brought Aion to that world as his friend's descendant.
In any case, based on what Aion saw, what the Malon from the future could do, he assumed that he increased his speed to the limits for a single moment to launch an attack that was almost impossible to notice and block. Meanwhile, the current Malon was trying to master the very basics of time magic that Ervan taught him, Ailen, and Sailena.
"That is weird training; you are using Mana, but I can't see anything happening," Vaeral said while they were cooking the dinner at the base of the mountain. "You might want to stop and rest your body because the journey ahead will be harder."
Malon didn't even hear Vaeral; he just kept training… Even if he can't see much progress in the practice, he will welcome it when it happens. A little bit at a time, and he will be able to pile all of that up and eventually take down Tenebres… it wasn't a bright plan, but it was his plan.
"You are doing the same thing with healing magic?" Vaeral asked while he saw Sailena using her hands together and using her skills together. "Your mana seems to be acting faster now and then… way faster… Time magic? I thought that only beings like Tenebres could do that."
"Erval taught a few things that he learned over the years, and he said that we can pull it off," Sailena explained. "Ailen never used magic before, but it seems that he is the one who is making the most progress."
Aion saw that too; Ailen could combine his arrows with magic and make them charge with a lot of power… then they would fly toward the enemies at a speed almost impossible to notice.
Aion wondered if he could apply that to his moves as well… but he couldn't test it now. After thinking for a while, he had some ideas… it was crazy that he could think of those scenarios even though he had barely reached the high level when it comes to elemental magic.
"For sword strikes, I guess you would need to envelop the blade with enough mana to make it ignore all of the physical limitations of the sword and the user," Aion thought. "Still, only someone with high magic or talent would be able to pull this off in a few weeks, or maybe months would be more accurate."
All of a sudden, Malon did exactly that… he enveloped his sword with mana and then pointed it toward a tree, and in the next moment, one of the branches fell down.
"What the hell… did he hear me?" Aion thought.
"Ugh!" Malon groaned in agony and then dropped his sword and began to hold his arm in pain.
"Malon? What happened?" Sailena approached, already healing Malon. "Your arm is… the muscles…"
"It seems that I went too far too soon…" Malon muttered while sweating cold. "I had a surge of inspiration and decided to try something.
Was that a coincidence that he had the inspiration to do what Aion thought?
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