Chapter 348 (1/2)
Chapter 348: Melee Enhancement Tactics
When I stepped back into the second level of the Relicto behind me, a bespectacled clerk rushed up as his eyes darted across led forht? Where is your party?”
I shook my head and took a step past him “Fine Solo ascent”
Thewith a scroll he was carrying carefully in front of hi is notoriously difficult, sir Name, so I can record your return? Any accolades to report?”
Still walking, I said, “Grey Just Grey And no”
The clerk winced, lasses slip to the end of his nose “Sorry to hear that, Ascender Grey Might I scan—”
I stopped suddenly, forcing the man to jerk to a halt and turn back around to face lare in his direction, I said, “I am exhausted and would like to be on my way Whatever you need, just do it”
The clerk cleared his throat and fixed his glasses before pulling out soe artifact, please present it,” he said, so hi the length of ue “No accolades, as you say” Next, he turned his attention to a scroll he was carrying “Ascender Grey…Ascender…Oh, a professor!” He scribbled soies You’re so young, I didn’t realize…”
“Are we done?” I asked impatiently
“Yes, sir, of course Thank you for your patience” He gave me a nod and started to turn away, then stopped
Closing ainst my temple and down to my eye socket “Yes?”
“Well,” he started tentatively, “I just thought you an three days ago” With an aard sru my tired body across the second level toward the teleportation platforms
From the hall outside hter and shouts of the unsupervised teenagers inside
I caught snippets of conversation as I stepped through the door
“—told me that the new professor isn’t even a named blood Should be easy to—”
“—hear about the hot new assistant for Professor Aphelion?”
“—class is such a joke I can’t believe Strikers have to waste our tiforward to doing nothing in here”
I glanced quickly around as I descended the stairs Two young wo while another student goofed around with the controls A couple others had pulled out sparring du the around doing nothing
“The professor isn’t here again,” a bespectacled boy said without looking up from his book
“He is the professor, Deacon,” another student said It was the black-haired boy who had ordered the two bullies around in the library
“You’re late,” his broad co his thick arms over his chest
“And youhis long legs up on the back of the chair in front of him
“Very perceptive,” I said as I opened h it “You all sees under control for today I’ll be in my office” I closed the door before anyone could respond, cuttingeyes
The classrooain the moment my door closed
“Nice! Free day”
“—be exactly like last season—”
“—stupid idea to train without , I tuned the forward to rest h, I felt rin
I had actually done it
My mind buzzed as I considered the results of h it, but Regis see like he had while I trained with Three Steps in the peaks above her secluded village I hoped that meant he would restore hi the puzzle toy Three Steps had givento the seed within rattle I hadn’t been able to replenish h the second level of the Relictoe ofto occupyI noticed was my aether channels The flood of pure aether from the obelisk had widened them and scoured the insides clean of imperfections
There was a deep ache fro around inside the seedpod, but I focused on holding the shape Although I didn’t have much aether to pull froI could manifest it to a specific point of my body almost instantly
It still took tier, though, and led to focus on the shape Instead, I focused on er and one, and the aether within had resolved into a deep, rich violet hue Focusing closely, I could see the clear delineation between two separate layers ofthe pieces of my mana core, and a second, thicker layer
I had first forged my aether core by pure intent and sheer will At my weakest and most desperate point, I had turned total loss into an i perhaps no one in the history of this world had accoan to crack, I realized that I had to move beyond my current limited perspective I had followed the sah use, htened in color as they becaical h it required intentional meditation to make thetheir h use, like the strengthening of a muscle
But ression
Through significant effort, and the knowledge born of e and a ki user, I had been able to remove h this had allowed reater quantities, it had not brought about significant stages of progression like advancing through the orange, yellow, and silver stages
I realized that I needed to be more intentional If my aether core wouldn’t evolve on its own, I had to find so the vast reservoir of aether from the obelisk trap, I had formed a second layer around my core—very slowly, and very painfully
Unfortunately, the process had required nearly all of the aether channeled into the obelisk, so that by the time I was done there was none left to absorb for
Now that I had done it, I couldn’t help but wonder: Could I do it again? With enough aether, could I continue to add layers toexponentially more powerful with each one?
It was possible The biggest hurdle was finding a source of aether strong enough to forge the layer in a single sitting, alh aether in h a layer
In mydrastic or risk crippling iven , utilized multiple layers to capture and hold aether had served as the foundation of ht Even asleep in your egg, you keep finding ways to keep nored it
Another knock “Professor Grey?”
I sighed and released the aether claw “In”
The door opened, and a familiar face peered around the frame Seth, the boy from the library, was pale and sweaty, and his unifor to be teaching the class today?”
My surprise at seeing the boy lasted for about a second before I waved him away “Haven’t you heard? This isn’t a real class”
“But you told ht you oing to teach you?” I raised a brow “You’re a highblood, right? You’d be better off hiring a private tutor”
A chorus of laughter ca crestfallen, stared down at his feet as he slowly closed the office door, but I only activated the aether claw and tried again
“Don’t worry, we can help teach you a thing or two,” sorunt from just outside the door
The aetheric claw on nore the distraction Without realizing it, I had pulled the seed into the round opening and held it there, balanced perfectly within the stem hole, for thirty seconds orsteadily while holding the aether’s form
“No, not like that, orphan When you curl up, you lose sight of your opponent and”—there was another, sharper thump—“leave yourself open to blows to your head”
The edges of the hole buckled slightly and the claw slipped, but I was able to adjust ht Just a bit more…
A series of sharp, heavy knocks at the door broke my concentration, and I heard the seed clatter back to the botto, I quickly crossed the office and jerked the door open “What?”
The uniformed man on the other side of the door wrinkled his nose and pinnedfrown “Professor Grey, yes?”
“That’s ht tilt of my head
“We haven’t had an opportunity to ed, with gray hair at his te to appear around his eyes He earing a black and azure suit and a look that told lad to meet me “I, in case you did not know, am the head of your department”
He held out a scroll “This is an updated class list, which you need because several students have already dropped this course”
I took the scroll and tossed it onelse I can do for you?”
The departlowered “Yes, as aat your qualifications and recommendations, I am not entirely certain how you caless than maximum effort from the professors in this department Please ensure that you attend classes on time in the future, and that you adhere to the acadei ht between exhaustion and excitement to worry about this thin Alacryan’s threats
Forcing a contrite frown, I bowed shallowly “I apologize, there was a ain”
His frown smoothed somewhat “See that you don’t We don’t need any h Hall, Professor Grey”
Spinning on his heel, Rafferty swept out the open door On the other side,heard every word of my chastisement