[What are you talking about?]
D asked as he heard Lee raising his voice, which was rather uncommon.
'D, how is Anaesthesia a Deception skill?'
D was sleeping on the couch inside the conscious chamber, when Lee raised the doubt. The sluggish and heavy eyes opened wide and D stumbled out of the couch, and stared at the info panel through Lee's eyes. With excitement, he spoke up.
[That is a highly underestimated Deception skill. Read the description.]
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Description: Anaesthesia creates short term sensory delays in the target. The lag is so tiny that the target does not sense anything wrong with the sensations. After a prolonged period of skill use, the delayed sensory impulses accumulate in the target and later creates distorted sensations.
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'I understand why you regarded it as a highly underestimated one. The description gives a concealed negative image. The very short period of lag and necessity of prolonged use makes it discouraging. But the effectiveness of the skill is no lesser than the Sense Scramble skill.'
Without buying any skill, Lee closed the Shop interface, as he sat cross-legged. His eyes were aimed at a distance as he recollected the names of the skill.
'D, saturate 597 muscles of my body with the Mana.'
After a second, Lee felt a sensation covering up his lower torso. A sense of relief and bliss came to his mind as he sat, with his mind lying on a cotton bed.
[Complete. 42 muscles of your upper torso are left to saturate. The saturated muscles seem to have gained more sturdiness. From what I have found out, the saturation also reconfigures your physique to withstand the strain and pressure of higher level spells and augmentations.]
'I felt that too.'
Lee leaned onto a tree trunk as he relaxed his body. His hands rested on his hips without a strand of strain. An noticed his calm and relaxed countenance and gave a glare, saying-
"Lee, come here. Spar with me."
Lee obediently raised himself off the ground and took Black from the Inventory.
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9 A.M.
83004 Essence harvested.
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'Upgrade Black to Lower Silver quality.'
[Used 49000 Essence to upgrade Black.]
As Lee waved his blade in the air, a faint aura was around it. The faint afterimage it produced was caught in sight by Mia. She was alert by the strange view, and unconsciously reached for her katana.
"Our first and last spar was unsuccessful. Hope you have become stronger."
Lee hovered his left arm's index finger over the blade, and placed his right foot behind. Black was near his face, when he slightly bended his knees to attain a stable posture.
"Let's find out."
An dashed towards Lee, who was observing each and every change of her. The removal of poison greatly increased her Strength, Health and Vitality. But as Lee sensed the burning spirit in her eyes, he got ready to evade her strikes.
*slash*
The pink coloured blade of the longsword slashed and Lee took a step backward. With the help of Foresight, Lee briefly observed the vibrating blade as it passed in front of his face. The unyielding sharpness was caught in his eyes, and he appreciated the maintenance given to the sword, by her.
Left, right, duck, repeat. Lee has been evading An's strikes with minimal movement and resulted in maximum efficiency. Gauthama evaluated that An alone cannot touch Lee, so he raised a question.
"Can they two join the spar?"
Lee glimpsed at his face as he executed a side-flip in air, while dodging the long pink blade. D approved the request and Mia and Tera pounced on Lee. But the katana and the twin hatchets sliced the empty air behind him.
In the first ten minutes, the coordination was pathetic. Mia, Tera and An repeatedly ran into each other and formed confusion and breakage of rhythm. Lee found it amusing and suppressed his chuckles, but the tides turned soon enough.
The next eight minutes were a period of adjustments and avoidance of collisions. The trio found their equilibrium, and the density of attacks began to increase gradually. Lee, who was untouchable, soon had his leather upperwear with cuts and scratches. Soon, a bond of interdependence and independence connected Mia, An and Tera. Lee had no other option, but to actively evade the strikes, as his breath began to roughen.
Lee does not have the leisure to peek at the Map, but the circumstances made him. He was aware that the weapons cannot wound him, lest scratch him, but he was also aware that every opponent he was about to face in the future was not weaker than him. The understanding of himself as nothing more than an organic being, bound by the laws of Dimension, urged him to act and react like a normal Utopian.
And that was tiresome! Half an hour into the spar, Lee found himself breathing heavily, while being chased by two swords and two hatchets. D was amazed by the trio's energy efficient coordination, and silently watched the earthling's effort to evade.
'D, are you limiting my Endurance or Agility? Because I feel heavy.'
The question was unanswered, as Lee had a smile plastered on his face. The torn upperwear danced in the air and was in the process of being chipped away.
'D, what is Gauthama teaching Ruella?'
[Focus on the blades around you!]
Sovereign shouted and Lee stepped to his right and jumped up while ticking in his legs. The longsword, katana and the twin hatchets sliced the air where his head, heart and knees were, a moment ago. Even without putting up an act, Lee lost footing and rolled like a tin can!
Lee crouched on his left knee, and his right elbow was supported by his right thigh. His grip was slowly loosening on Black, so he stored it in his Inventory. Against him stood three females who were ecstatic by their cooperation. Glancing at each other, they gave a smirk and stepped forward. As Lee expected, they have already found their compatibility
An, with her longsword went first at his chest with a stab. The act was unsuccessful as Lee stepped back, but it gave enough time for Mia to close in and execute a horizontal slash on his stomach. Barely avoiding the blade with a step to his left, the hatchet left him astonished!
*thud*
Lee was tired, so he decided to take the hit. Tera threw one of her hatchets at him, hoping that Lee would avoid them with his nimble steps. But her prediction went wrong, as Lee barely had any time to lean sideways. The back of the hatchet made contact with his cheek, and it was loud enough that Gauthama and Ruella turned their heads as they heard the noise.
Lee spinned as the force with which the hatchet came was not weak. Before he crouched down on his knees after a sudden twirl, he caught the hatchet mid-air, by its handle.
"Aww...that hurts."
Lee placed the hatchet on the ground and rubbed his cheek. It was red with the contact. An and Mia came to him and pointed their swords at him.
"Do you accept defeat?"
A playful mocking grin crept up An's face as he nodded in defeat. Gauthama came to see this scene and was pleased by his acceptance.
'Now I wish I had the Anaesthesia skill.'
Lee supported on his knees and stood up and let out a mouthful of air in relief. Ruella saw his condition and came forward to help.
"Let me help you."
She came near him as her hands extended at him. As the trio watched, her hands started to shake. Then they realised that she and Lee were shaking violently. A revelation hit An as her eyes scanned around and saw the entire environment trembling!