Chương 93: Chapter 92- Target Practice

Elias slumped onto the bench, wiping the sweat from his face as his three companions wandered the practice yard picking up their discarded ammunition. The new [Displacement] skill worked wonders when used for its intended purpose as a defensive skill. The ongoing channeling cost may have been heavy, but when flickered so that the repulsive effect was only on when needed, the cost dropped precipitously, not enough to be used freely but enough that he wouldn't be worried about running himself dry.

Given that they were out in the practice arena Eli ran himself dry anyways, and since the two guards and Tia were having so much fun, he kept up the game, dodging instead of just repelling. Elias's Dexterity and Strength scores were high for his level, and considering they were augmenting his somewhat ample innate dexterity and strength that was growing steadily under Mira's tutelage, he was able to move quite a bit faster than his opponents.

Doing his best to ignore the faint headache that came with a depleted mana pool, Eli ran, jumped, dodged, and rolled his way through a very one sided game of dodgeball. If the game was one where the ball started as a plethora of pebbles, but quickly grew into larger sized rocks, and even some of the wooden throwing daggers from nearby racks.

He may have taken more than a few strikes, but in general Eli gave better than he got, and as his mana pool slowly refilled he would flick out the occasional block with the new skill's repulsion effect. Eli quickly found that while the spherical form of the [Displacement] effect was far better at actually repelling objects, the nearly random trajectories and unreliable velocities made it far more difficult to aim the projectiles in turn.

The sphere could produce a higher return velocity, and both forms produced a repulsion effect strong enough to ensure an opponent wouldn't be able to rearm mid fight as the projectile shot off into the distance, but the unpredictable nature left a bit to be desired. The plane on the other hand was proven to be the far better choice for direct retaliation.

Eli could already tell it would take quite a bit of practice to get his accuracy up to where he wanted himself to be at, but the initial tests proved his theory was valid. The angle Eli had to hold his fingers at was a little awkward at first, but if he caught and held onto an object over the center of his palm just right, he was able to flick on the repulsive plane and send it rocketing outwards at a velocity high enough to produce a small cracking sound as it split the air with a miniature shockwave.

He had held off on using the effect during their impromptu game, not wanting to injure his friends, but as he took a break on the bench a wild grin spread across his face as Eli contemplated the disaster he would be to wreak once he got the Skill dialed in to where he wanted it.

With the boost to his Endurance score it had taken quite a while to get winded, and after just shy of a half hour of high speed maneuvers, with few breaks in between, the three humans were rapidly running their stamina low enough to risk bottoming out. Tia had to tap out early, after a little over a dozen bombing runs of her own. Her physique was shaping up nicely for a young wyvern, but without the System born enhancements to her body she had trouble keeping up long term.

Tiamat did wear a smug smile as she pranced back over to the bench, her tail whipping jaunty patterns in the air, as three out of the last five of her runs struck home. The practice drills from Mira had been improving her proprioception and timing to the point where she was able to drop her payload with only a scant few seconds of travel time, which left hardly enough time to dodge.

The last one had landed squarely enough on Eli's back that, when coupled with coming out of his blind spot, it took him off his feet and left him winded for a short period as a thin stream of energy trickled out of his health pool to mend a fractured rib. Elias had taken a short recovery period to meditate while the trio continued the game on their own, slightly dismayed as an hour of meditation only recovered his pool to a little less than halfway.

He promised himself that he would train up his meditation skill or consider boosting his wisdom soon. With the way my mana pool is growing quickly from the boost it is getting from the new class I will have a tough time keeping it fully charged without a boost to regeneration too. I'll have to decide between physical endurance and boosting my resource recovery pretty soon. Practice for the offensive use of [Displacement] had started off very rock.

Not wanting to waste his newly acquired ammunition, Eli collected a fistful of pebbles and started launching them at the straw targets. After scoring a solid zero out of ten on his first practice round, he decided to switch targets to something a little more reasonable for his skill level, a large tree stump near one of the arming racks.

Exhausting his half full pool of mana, and improving his accuracy enough to strike an immobile tree stump from ten feet away at least half of the time, Elias decided to finally take a break. Sitting crossed legged next to the bench in the shade of a tree that over hung that section of the arena, Elias took a deep breath and closed his eyes.

A faint smile tugged on his lips as the trilling chitter of Tia's laugh mixed with the whoops and taunts of the two guards and the patter of feet as they raced around the enclosure. As the sensations of the outside world drifted from his mind, Elias sought the silence of the inner workings of his body, gently stirring the energy cycle of mana through his form. Prodding the cycle to a higher rate had become easier since the evolution, the flows were both easier to steer and more responsive to his will and intent.

His mind calmed, drifting as he subconsciously cycled the streams of energy and pondered the difference. Unlawfully taken from Royal Road, this story should be reported if seen on Amazon. It was almost as if there had been an innate resistance in my tissues before that is missing now. Maybe there was some kind of density gradient that lack of mana from my old world had caused?

Before the threads of mana had to be spun and woven through gaps in the tissue instead of along channels within the muscle itself, it feels like the essence infusion from the Tier upgrade must have raised the concentration allowing it to flow easier. Before it had felt like pushing a needle through thick fabric and now it feels more like pouring water down a pipe, so much easier.

The sensation of the outside world had grown very dim, but a soft breeze stirred cooling the sweat across his brow, and a familiar voice filled his mind. I am glad to see you are diligent and prompt in your training Eli. It has been very entertaining so far. A quiet chuckle rumbled through his mind as Eli resisted the urge to roll his eyes not wanting to disturb the cycling and ruin the effect of the meditation.

He pushed his thoughts to a similar place at the forefront of his mind where he sent them when he wanted to communicate silently with Tia. Is that right? glad to see you're having fun. Can you actually hear me from here? It is faint and hard to discern, but yes. Deep meditation can work as a proto dream state, with the soul connection being high enough to use the same method I used to speak with you after your evolution.

The cost is much higher on my end, but that is none of your concern, and I wanted to check in on you. Being a deity does have its perks after all… I bet it does. A beat of silence passed between them. You could have warned me about the teleport. And have you refuse to use such a valuable Skill? Never! It is just a bit of discomfort after all, you did not even vomit once! When I teleported for the first time, I painted the receiving chamber and the people waiting in line a rather disturbing shade of puce.

I lost my taste for rose wine for nearly three centuries after the fact, since I could simply not bear the shade. Eli let out an involuntary chuckle at the image of the ever elegant Vael projectile vomiting over a horrified audience, I guess even Gods have their indignities. A bemused voice with an feigned indignant tone answered him, I was not always in quite such a lofty position, I will have you know! I was young once too my boy.

There was a small pause as if Vael was thinking for a moment before he responded, The experience does get better. As you refine your shroud and gain the power to reinforce it with additional layers the sensations will fade and the few that remain will affect you less, although they will change often. Frankly, it was a far smoother trip than most experienced for their first, only the very high affinity of the body I built for you would even allow you to travel with such a flimsy shroud.

After a short pause, you are welcome. Elias gave Vael his best deadpan voice in return, Thank you Vael. There was a short barking laugh before he answered, Ah, to be saddled with such an ungrateful bastard as my disciple! His voice perked up with excitement, So what did it feel like? The chaotic energies of the void between realms is always different, but it almost seems to relish in being… unpleasant. What flavor did you get?

A rain of sharp sticks, a solid round of being shaken like a rock in a barrel, and what felt like a tongue bath from about fifty different cosmic horrors, and they got really personal with it. A wild cackling laugh filled his mind as Eli smirked at Vael's gleeful mirth, as the laughter slowly trailed off. After a few minutes of silence Eli grew confused, and after a few more minutes of idly spinning his mana cycle he projected his thoughts into the fore of his mind once more. That's it?

You just stopped by to laugh at the tongue bath and leave? Yes. What a dick. I heard that.

Elias's meditation passed peacefully with no further distractions, the cool breezes that blew through the arena only bringing relief from the low heat of the afternoon and the sounds of his companions going about their own training. The rhythmic sounds of wooden instruments striking leather and the patter of feet as Tia worked on her own agility drills lulled Eli into a waking restfulness that eased his mind as time flowed like water under a bridge.

As his resources slowly grew full, Eli's subconsciousness stirred, but it was not until the sound of distant steps bringing a familiar knot of emotions closer broke, that the outside world broke through his fugue state. Instead of surfacing slowly, his consciousness shot upwards from his inner depths, like a free diver racing for the surface as if they had never heard of the bends.

The steps crossed the entrance to the arena just as Elias opened his eyes, as a familiar form strode across the lot with a brilliant smile spread across her face as she stopped in front of Eli and propped her hands on her hips." So I heard that you have a new skill that detonated one of my targets like a river rock dropped in a cook fire." Her smile spread into a wild and slightly predatory grin at Elias's smug nod in return, and she thrust a hand out to help him up, " Show me."