Astrid blasted up into the air with a powerful jump, along with all the other illusions. She didn’t know how Leena knew exactly which one she was, but it had to be related to a skill that she didn’t know about. Not even scouring her thoughts was telling Astrid the information she needed.
Instead of continuing her mind reading ability, Astrid cut it off completely. She didn’t want to rely on a skill that she couldn’t always use. It was a waste of her precious training ti.
It was ti to rely on her battle instinct.
Astrid reconnected to the connection of the wooden needles as Leena stomped through the sand. Her high speed made her reach just a tre in front of Astrid down on the floor.
Right where she stood, the needles exploded toward Leena as they attempted to find any openings within her stalwart armour. One, two, four, eight, until hundreds peppered the battle-maids armour like rain. If it was to hit, then the fight would stop, then start once more.
If she was to use proper weapons, then the fierce spar would turn into one of potential death. As a Sinwen, their fighting was more intense than other families, yet care still had to be taken. Astrid understood that well.
The last thing she wanted was to accidentally kill her life-long friend in a freak accident. But the risk of injury was always there. It was the unfortunate result of learning how to fight, and the understanding of becoming stronger. Many lives had been lost in the pursuit of strength–whether without aning to–or intentional…
Leena’s weapon instantly changed from a lance capable of an unstoppable charge, to a tallic umbrella that could stop teoric debris from the sky. Her other arm covered the nape of her neck as the needles tinged against her strong armour.
Does she have a weakness at the back of her neck? Astrid thought as she witnessed Leena’s exaggerated movent.
Being in the sparring environnt, without the worry of death at every attack, it enabled her to think more about her attacks. Or in this case–defence.
Astrid had always used her Mind Domain as a sphere around her body, and although it was an instinctual shape to create, it needed improving.
Just like how Nick parries incoming attacks, I should do that with my own shield. With the thought entering Astrid’s mind, she altered the shape of her shield in preparation for Leena’s attack.
Leena’s thickened heels dug into the ground, then blasted up at Astrid with her lance pointed at her body.
Astrid could move out the way and keep Leena chasing her, but the point of sparring was to improve. Astrid tracked the trajectory of the lance, then altered the Mind Barrier accordingly. It was the sa shape as before, but the mont the attack was about to make contact with her shield, it tilted just like a warrior parrying a heavy attack.
The oversized pointed weapon dug into her shield, then slipped past and pierced nothing but air.
Astrid grinned at her maid's sudden loss of control and [Crashed] Leena’s chest. She was sent tumbling to the floor, but Leena managed to gain control by altering her armour. The weight changed, as if thrusters were attached to her body. It allowed her to fall to the floor with a thud.
Without waiting, Leena charged once more. Astrid changed her position within the group of illusions, but to Leena, it didn’t matter.
All of a sudden, all her armour disappeared within her body in an instant as she leapt toward Astrid at an unprecedented level of speed. The sudden speed caught Astrid unaware as she moved back in mid air with haste.
Leena sent a grin back at her as her body lurched in mid-air, and chased Astrid’s body like a phantom. Her body was unarmoured.
Astrid frowned and her mind [Crashed] into Leena’s body without a shred of hesitation. But that wasn’t the end of her attack. She connected to the dark matter within the world as she felt her mana container drain considerably. A faint droning pain in her mind told her that she was reaching dangerously low levels of mana, yet she persisted. There was no ti for a mana potion as creating her black hole explosion used a trendous amount of concentration.
It was heavy. Without the Mind Domain buffs, it felt like she was caught in a vicious riptide that was fighting against her every movent. As if it didn’t want to be controlled, yet Astrid didn’t care.
Form! She willed her psychic mana as the purple-black void pulled Leena’s body inch-by-inch.
Leena grit her teeth as the sound of screeching filled the illusionary battlefield. She attempted to fight against the magnetic pull, but it was far too great. Her seething, turned into confusion. Leena growled and slamd her lance into the hard floor.
Her confusion turned to helplessness.
That’s ti. Astrid thought cut off the ability, or attempted to.
The connection wasn’t listening. Astrid’s eyes widened, but she didn’t panic. She released the self imposed limit on her strength and closed off the eviscerating black hole.
I need a lot of strength to stop that attack. Astrid sighed as she lowered herself back onto the floor.
“How was that attack?” Astrid asked.
It was an attack that far outweighed any of her other current skills. It was a terrifying ability of raw destruction.
“Strong.” Leena took a breath. “Is that the skill you obtained with your new class?”
Astrid nodded. “One of them, anyway.”
“Another being the storage skill?”
“That’s right,” Astrid said. “Enough about , I didn’t know you could move through the air.”
Leena smirked. “It’s hard to control it because of my lack of mana, and I can only do it in short bursts of movent.”
“Regardless,” Astrid said, “it’s a good move that can prove lethal in the right monts. I also like removing your armour to increase your speed, that was aweso. And how did you know it was through all the illusions? Your Intelligence stat shouldn't be all that high, is it a detection skill through tal or sothing?” Astrid scrunched her brows in thought.
“It’s neither a skill, or because of my Intelligence,” Leena admitted. “But your eyes.”
“My eyes?” Astrid asked in confusion.
“The eyes are the gateway to a person's actions.”
Astrid pinched her chin in thought. “Like sword-fighting.”
“Exactly,” Leena continued. “The emotion in your eyes whenever you attack or defend is clear as day to soone who has watched you all your life. Even without the familiarity, an experienced warrior will be able to tell just from a glance what illusion is real.”
Astrid agreed with her. It was sothing that she had failed to notice.
I need to learn how to stop telegraphing my attacks with my eyes, although that’s easier said than done. Astrid thought.
An easier thod was just hiding her eyes from sight. She could cast a field covering illusion, like smoke to cover her body entirely. Against more powerful enemies, she would need to cover her eyes completely.
Just another damned thing to worry about. Astrid stomped on the floor, but it wasn’t out of frustration or anger, but excitent.
It was what she loved about battle. There was always sothing to improve upon, sothing to do differently to improve her chances of becoming the ultimate victor. She was well aware that she was still learning, but at the very least, she wasn’t naive.
Astrid understood that she needed to evolve her use in her skills. Sothing beyond relying on the brute force strength of her skills. Although that was the best use of her abilities, she wanted to learn more, improve more. It brought her to a terrifying realisation.
She needed the help of science users.
I’m smart, but everyone needs help now and then… But they’re all terribly useless in battle scenarios. Astrid tutted. It wasn’t the first ti a mage had trotted over to the science users in need of help. After all, unlike the mages, the science users devoted their entire life to their studies.
Astrid simply didn’t have the ti for all of that stuff.
So I need to find soone that has battle experience. Soone that matches my own combat style and thoughts. Astrid shook her head. That was exactly like trying to find a needle in a haystack.
For now though, let’s start from the beginning. Matter is everything in the world, I can recreate everything to my will–to my very thoughts. My power is only limited by my imagination and mana. Astrid crossed her arms as Leena was busy playing around with the stray pieces of Voidbent ore as if it was clay.
She gazed at a cluster of Voidbent tal as inspiration from Leena sparked within her mind like a shining light-bulb.
Astrid brought it closer to her with Psychokinesis and rested her hand upon it. Just like Leena did with the tal ore, Astrid wanted to form a connection with it. In theory, she could replicate her tallic-maids skill with her own.
First refreshing her mana container with a potion, she seeped her mind down into the depths of the rock. The matter was common and bland at a first glance, but with flaring her mind’s psychic mana, and concentrating with Psych Domain, it was like looking through a magnifying glass. The regular grey matter soon turned dark–almost like a deep purple.
“The void,” Astrid muttered under her breath.
She sifted through the purple matter. The easy part was done. Now it was ti to sohow forge a connection with it and blend it to her body. The thought of creating her very own armour was urging her forward.
Astrid had no idea on how to form a connection with it, but she soon felt a slight change in the properties of the matter. The longer she played with it, the more malleable it was becoming. It was like a kid playing with a new toy they didn’t understand, only to slowly gain a realisation of what it was, and how it worked.
Instead of rely sifting her mind’s psycho mana through it, she pulled the purple matter toward her hand. But it stopped… Her hand was like a wall that it refused to pass through.
Can I make the matter into a weapon? Astrid thought.
She pushed the matter together as if it was wet sand and ford it into a rudintary needle. She had no idea if it would work, but not even trying would be a sin. It was better to fail, stumbling within the dark, than not trying at all.
Astrid took a breath, then pierced the matter needle into her finger.
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