Chapter 23: Acclimating his Gains

Julius was currently holding two condensed orbs of fire and kinetic mana in one hand, while he was also trying to create a third one in his other. During his fight, he realized that he wasn’t able to hold multiple compressed constructs at one time. If he was able to control four of his enhanced [Firebolts] he would have been able to take out two instantly, and then have plenty of time to prepare for the other two. He was able to create and control many weaker and non-condensed constructs, but he wasn’t able to do the same with condensed ones. It was something that he wanted to change.

Admittedly, it was a little scary at first. He could barely control two condensed orbs at one time, and any mistakes would cause them to blow up in his face. Not to mention, the noise might alert other monsters in the area of his whereabouts. It was stressful but valuable training for Julius. His kinetic control had taken a noticeable dip, but he was already recovering to his previous level at a rapid pace. He also discovered that just as he was able to augment his flames with additional kinetic energy, he was able to weaken them as well. This meant he was able to create dangerous compressed orbs of fire and kinetic mana, and then slowly dissipate them.

Originally, he thought he would need to hold them while practicing and then shoot them across the plains after he was done. So he was glad he didn’t have to resort to that. There had been another surprising benefit as well. While dissipating the orbs, he was able to recover some of the mana expended to make them. It allowed him to practice more, as he didn’t need to constantly wait and regenerate mana.

It was incredibly taxing though, especially while holding multiple orbs that were practically bombs, but it was the perfect way to challenge himself. And if he was being honest with himself, the danger excited him.

If he was able to create and control multiple powerful constructs he wouldn’t be restricted to shooting one or two powerful attacks at a time. Instead, he would be able to unleash a barrage in an instant.

That’s my plan, I’m not sure how long it might take to accomplish it though, Julius told himself. However, if he got to that point he would finally need to start worrying about having enough mana to power his attacks. This was funny because he thought that out of everything, he wouldn’t be worrying about having enough mana. Now, with his new attack, he wasn’t quite sure he would have enough for more than a few constructs.

Several days quickly went by like that. He would train like a madman for every second of the day. He had even given up sleep to practice longer. [Restoration] was able to take some of his mental exhaustion away, and he now only required about an hour of sleep a night. It was a game-changer when it came to training.

He also began practicing using kinetic energy with his improved body for several hours each day. He tried out everything he could think of, though primarily, Julius was practicing his ability to quickly move in a single step. In a fight, the difference in being an inch from where you needed to be could be the difference in life or death. It was crucial to be able to properly gauge his position relative to his opponents, which was easy thanks to [Spatial Perception]. It would allow him to capitalize on small openings or timings that would make or break a fight. But he also needed to be physically capable of precisely positioning himself.

It was much harder than one would expect. The amount of force he created when he released the kinetic load, launched him forward like a missile. It was fast and exactly what he was looking for in this technique, but it was too fast. At first, he was trying to stop himself with pure friction but the speed would be too much for him to stop in time. Instead, he would either trip over his legs or slide for several feet before coming to a stop.

The only way he prevented this, was by going slower. However, that wasn’t ideal either. His whole reason for this ability was to move incredibly quickly, efficiently, and precisely. He didn’t want to sacrifice one of them for another. It was greedy, but in his opinion, necessary.

So Julius came up with a new idea. Not only would he release kinetic energy to dash forward, but he would also absorb his kinetic energy to stop. Thanks to [Kinetic Reinforcement] his body could take the extreme force of stopping so abruptly. It was the technical aspect of it that made it hard. Much like when he was first learning how to properly unleash a kinetic strike, he was having a hard time with the timing.

Julius placed several rocks as targeting points for his training. He would start at one, then burst as fast as he could to the other, attempting to kill his kinetic energy right in front of the rock, pretending it was a monster. He would continue these drills for hours on end, until he was no longer able to physically, or got bored with it. Honestly, it was usually boredom that ended his training, because [Restoration] took care of physical fatigue. He hadn’t even felt hungry yet, which he theorized was also because of his skill.

With that being said, his build was coming together. He evaluated his strengths and weaknesses and decided on a path for himself. He wanted to have strong long-range capabilities, but also be capable in close range as well. He had given up the idea of creating an absolute defensive skill for now. Realizing that with his affinities, it would prove difficult. If he had an earth or metal affinity, then it would be a good idea to create an unbreakable defense skill, but that wasn’t the case for Julius.

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He would focus on an elusive defensive style that relied on his speed to avoid attacks and [Restoration] to recover from any hits he took. It should work well, because [Spatial Perception] gave him an unnaturally good sense of his surroundings and incoming attacks.

After he finished his physical training, he would start on his mana control exercises. At the moment, he was trying to increase how many condensed constructs he could manage at a time. He was able to comfortably hold three now, but there was a lot of room for improvement.

There were other exercises he tried as well. One of them was weaving fire and kinetic mana together like how he did with life mana. He had mixed results. With fire mana, he was able to create small spikes of woven fire mana. By utilizing the weaving property, he had been able to create a hardened mana construct. Typically, fire mana was hard to create solid and tangible constructs but weaving mana seemed to change that. They were also stronger than his normal [Firebolt] but not quite as strong as his condensed [Firebolt]. However, it costs a lot less mana. They also took a lot more time to create compared to a regular [Firebolts] but that was to be expected considering he didn’t have a skill for it.

Kinetic, on the other hand, was difficult. Kinetic mana didn’t behave like normal mana. Therefore, when he tried to weave strands of it together it didn’t work. They just slipped away, much like trying to balance several spheres on top of each other.