Skill Manipulation
2 hours had passed since my special training began.
Even though I was just standing there activating and deactivating my skills, my body started becoming more and more tired and my knees began to tremble from the fatigue.
This was consuming a lot more stamina than I expected, and with every little delay in deactivation, the stamina cost became worse and I could feel it in real time.
…………yet, I seemed to show no signs of improving and even though Alyazi could do it all in an instant, I couldn’t even begin to deactivate until it was fully activated.
“Alright, I think we should stop here for now. For your first day, you have shown a lot of improvement I must say.”
“……..no need for flattery. I can tell I haven’t done much.”
“Chris-kun, you are the type that is unnecessarily harsh on yourself huh. If it was something that could be learnt so easily, I would look like a fool. This is not flattery by any means, you have done well to have completed so many cycles of activation and deactivation on your first day, I mean it.”
He tapped my shoulder, and encouraged me.
He’s both thorough and polite, he was good man no doubt.
“I guess you’re right. I can’t learn it that quickly huh——hey, can you show me how you do it one more time?”
“An example? Sure…….in fact, why don’t I show it to you how I do it in an actual fight?”
“You sure? You’ll be showing me your secret trump card basically, you know?”
“fufufu, a bit too late for that no? You already saw me once when I was facing Ralf-kun anyway, and not to mention, just seeing it alone won’t make it easy to replicate.”
“if that’s the case, by all means, please go ahead.”
“Chris-kun, you don’t need to use skills by the way. You have already consumed most of your stamina, so just purely focus on how I use my skills.”
Saying that, Alyazi picked up a wooden sword and took his stance.
I took a certain distance from him and like he asked, focused only on his method of using skills.
“Whenever you’re ready.”
Right as those words were said, I began my attack.
Like Alyazi said, I was already at the ends of my stamina but I was not going to let that dull my movements.
I entered ‘Zone’ instantly and attacked with the full intention to beat him……..and to cram every little movement and action that Alyazi makes into my brain.
To make sure to not let even the twitch of a muscle pass by me, I fixated my eyes on him as I approached closer, but still, Alyazi showed no signs of moving.
If he won’t,——then I’ll go ahead and just attack seriously.
I slammed my foot on the ground strongly enough to crack it, and slashed at his upper body, when….the person in front of me suddenly felt like he turned into a completely different person.
His muscle mass, perception ability, the pressure he released, everything changed, and even though I had launched my attack first——Alyazi’s wooden sword, that began moving after mine, reached my own torso before my sword reached his.
And then, instantly after, Alyazi returned back to normal and then took a couple steps back.
………..I’ll be honest, I have no idea what the hell just happened.
Even though I should have sense everything when I’m in the Zone, to think a phenomenon like this could happen……….this guy, he activated multiple skills all at the same time!
Make no mistake, this wasn’t like how Greath or even myself activate multiple skills to overlap one after another. No, he activated them all at the exact same instant.
And then instantly deactivated them all the next instant as well.
………..And on top of that, Alyazi was able to do that without saying the skills out loud or anything at all for that matter.
Not even some small muttering or anything like that, he did this all while being completely silent.
“………..Incredible. now that I have faced it directly I can tell, this is a ridiculous ability to have. The fact that you even thought of learning to do this is incredible as well.”
“Now now, that’s a lot of compliments from you. Even if it is flattery, it’s not often I get praised like this so it does make me happy though.”
“No, I promise you, this is not simple flattery. Tell me, was that simultaneous multiple skill activation?”
“—-!! Chris-kun, I’m amazed. This is the first time someone has noticed that in a single bout.”
“I knew it. Also, you are able to activate them without saying it out loud, or even muttering it as well.”
“Yes. I think the latter is something that anyone can learn given time to be honest. Well, I suppose if you don’t make a conscious effort maybe you won’t even if you spend a whole lifetime though……….just remember the fact that you can, in fact, activate skills without saying them out loud. That is also a great shortcut to learning how to quickly activate and deactivate your skills.”
………This man is genuinely amazing.
I’ve only had a glimpse at his ability at Skill manipulation but still, I could see how proficient he was and how much work he must have put into mastering it.
In a way he was similar to how I found the plants as a method to get stronger……..I could feel he possessed the same stubborn tenacity as myself.
“Alyazi-san. That was truly enlightening to say the least.”
“Oh……..? Where did the ‘-san’ suddenly come from?”
“I always honour those who I truly respect. You are the second person ever, Alyazi-san.”
“Only the second? Well now, isn’t that quite the privilege. By the way, may I ask who was the first one?”
“An old man who runs a pawn shop in Realzard. He is, in many ways, my saviour………But all that aside, will you be willing to do these kinds of real duels again with me?”
“Of course. I’ll go along as long as my own stamina lasts of course.”
And so, hoping I could absorb even a little of his ability, I continued attacking and getting hit back by him—–until, like he said, Alyazi-san’s stamina lasted.
I still don’t feel like I’m getting even close to understanding it but, I still learnt things like how he breathed and what little movements he made before he activated his skills.
I focused on the more minute details, and tried to inculcate those into myself as a starter.