After returning to the courtyard, Almond started training on his Mana techniques as he wanted to improve them further.
He could improve them further because he had enough stats, mainly Perception and Focus, and his Mana control was high enough to do so.
He practiced Fortification and its lesser version, Mana Shroud, which didn’t give toughness but just erased his presence stemming from his body and mana auras. It wasn’t a useful technique during the battle as it was only used to sneak around, but even then, people using Focus Field would discover them.
But it was a must to practice Mana Shroud because there exited a higher stage of this technique—the 2nd stage, Aura Cloak, and it was something that could hide within someone’s Focus Field as well.
It was tough because Aura Cloak required a perfect understanding of one’s surroundings to change one’s aura to match the atmosphere or any object one would use for hiding oneself.
Suppose Person A hid inside thick bushes while using Mana Shroud. But if Person B used Focus Field, Person A would be discovered.
But Aura Cloak would change one’s aura to match that of the bushes, so it wouldn’t appear in the visuals provided by Focus Field. Of course, naked eyes would be able to see the person even with Aura Cloak, but not within the vision provided by Focus Field!
This technique could be used during battles as it was considered very strong. Adventurers greatly relied on their Focus Field because they could discover someone even from their blind spots, but with Aura Cloak, the blind spots would work again.
The requirement to learn Aura Cloak was 200 Perception and Focus because it involved a principle of Mana transmutation on a surface level.
It wasn’t about giving properties to their Mana to change and transform it but borrowing an object or atmosphere’s aura to blend into their Mana so that it would be indistinguishable in someone’s Focus Field. This required high perception and focus to actually study and observe the object’s and atmosphere’s aura and apply it to their Mana, but it was a technique worth having. It was powerful.
Almond practiced Mana shroud for a while before he used Focus Field to observe the surrounding’s aura.
With his 200 Perception and Focus, he could observe all that was affected by Mana and nature much more clearly.
Their aura had a pattern, and he just had to replicate it and apply it to his mana, though it was easier said than done.
But he had advanced experience with this because he could use the Elemental Mimicry technique of—Mana Transmutation to give lightning’s properties to his Mana and transform it thanks to his Lightning Elemental Mastery.
What he had to do here was simpler, but he had to learn to observe and implement the aura of objects and atmosphere first.
Almond continued to train in this, which made him closer to level 1 of Aura Shroud and also improved his Focus Field since this training required constant usage of it.
A few hours later, Almond changed his training to Fortification, Body Enfold, and Weapon Enfold.
His progress was unstoppable. It was like he had to read a page once, and he could remember everything.
He just had to train once properly, and he could level up in these three techniques.
‘Fuck it, I’ll train until night and reach level 10 in stage 1 of these techniques.’
Almond was absorbed in training, and so were Julian and Ashkar.
Julian had more of shutting down his mind and only just chopped his sword physically, without using Mana or anything.
It was a pure, primal training of chopping, and he put his mind on Almond’s words.
Once his right arm became completely numb and filled with pain, he switched to his left arm and continued to chop.
Ashkar was doing the same. Just chopping.
Alfred was doing his job while Benedict had gone to the beach to fight with Starlight Beast and the other three.
Sylvia was in her own world, but it seemed that her garden was getting bigger and more exotic…
Meanwhile, Roken was once again smashing hammers. Almond had given him rare-grade and uncommon-grade materials gained from his first two dungeons, so he had plenty of training to do.
When the clock hit 9 o’clock, Almond successfully hit level 10 in the techniques as the profile on his wristwatch updated, along with his profile in the restricted Database that only Admiral Rudra could access.
— Stage 1 Strength Boost level 10: +100% Strength stat. Enjoy new tales from empire
— Stage 1 Focus Field Level 10: 100 meters radius.
— Stage 1 Fortification level 10: +100% toughness (overall defense of his body and durability of the Fortified armor on the body)
— Stage 1 Body Enfold level 10: +100% overall boost / 100 minutes.
— Stage 1 Weapon Enfold level 10: +100% extra damage/defense.
Almond saw that he still had time, so he decided to practice his new skills.
‘Wish I had a tough sparring partner…’ Almond looked around, but everyone was weaker than him except for the training dummies.
They were freaking tough.
Almond stood ten meters away and focused on the central dummy.
‘Lightning Tailwhip.’
*Crackle!*
A thick dragon tail projectile made up of golden lightning appeared, fully in Almond’s control. It moved, tearing through the air at a breakneck speed, enough to crash the sound barrier with a loud boom before it struck the dummy.
A swift explosion occurred, loud and crackling. The dummy was sizzling with golden electric currents as the aftermath before electricity was gradually absorbed by the earth.
That was a 100 Mana cost Lightning Tailwhip skill execution.
In the next second, Almond’s eyes flickered again as three dragon tails appeared, striking all three dummies at the same time as loud explosions occurred.
‘Perfect. This skill has high push-power, along with shock and paralys…’ Almond’s eyes glinted. ‘And this skill is perfect to pair with Spirit Explosion for a combo.’
Spirit Explosion had a delay of 1 second, and 1 second was enough for strong Adventurers to move 1 meter, it was very easy.
Spirit Explosion was very powerful, especially if it triggered special effects. But 1 second was a pitfall…until Lightning Tailwhip came into the picture.
One slap from the Lightning Tailwhip damage, shock, and paralyze + stacked attack of Spirit Explosions = a recipe for one shot.
Since he could materialize Lightning Tailwhip anywhere within 10 meters, he could essentially push his enemies toward him or away from him!
It could pair very well with basic combat, like seizing an opportunity to make a follow-up strike after disorienting and paralyzing the opponent.
‘Voltron Edge.’
Almond took out his sword and used Voltron Edge as slick yet chaotic cracklings of lightning coated around his sword.
‘Weapon Enfold.’
The sword’s aura was now golden instead of the usual blue of Mana as Almond had given Lightning-style to his Weapon Enfold.
Weapon Enfold and Body Enfold consumed more Mana, but their boost was major in combat—a direct 100% boost of one’s overall stats and one’s weapon power.
Giving Lightning-style to his Weapon Enfold gave it bonus lightning damage according to Mana consumed, and it was further boosted by 30% due to Golden Haze lightning’s effect.
Almond cut himself on his arm, but the lightning didn’t damage him, nor did it interfere with his self-healing process. Instead, it actually increased his healing speed after the sword’s cut.
‘Noice.’
Looking ahead, Almond grinned and waved his sword, using Wild Blade skill.
Giving Lightning-style to his Weapon Enfold wouldn’t give lightning-attribute to skills released through it.
However, Voltron Edge was a different matter!
The arc of Wild Slash was beautiful and deadly golden, crackling with pure lightning!
The slash struck the dummy.
*Boom! Crackle!*
At that, Almond put his first mark on the tough dummy.