The pain was real. That was the first, terrifying thought that registered in Adrian’s mind as his world dissolved.
Every nerve ending scread from the impact, a concussive force that bypassed his skull and rattled his very consciousness.
He had felt pain before, but this was different. This was the sensation of his systems shutting down, of his connection to his own body being severed.
For a split second, as his senses failed and the world went black, he felt a profound, primal sense of fear, a chilling reminder of how fragile life truly was. The thought of actually dying, of his journey ending, sent an instant shiver through his fading spirit.
Just after all things went black, the void turned to a brilliant, uniform white. This ti, he found himself standing with Master Von in what was the default state of the Simulation Chamber. An endless, featureless sea of white.
All the injuries, the bone-deep pain, and the crushing exhaustion had all vanished from his body. Adrian felt whole again and his mind was clear.
He looked forward at Master Von, the cause of his recent demise, and inwardly hoped that the Master didn’t propose another imdiate fight. To Adrian’s imnse relief, he didn’t.
Master Von simply stood there with his arms crossed, shaking his head in disappointnt. "As expected. You’re still weak."
Adrian didn’t argue. He had been completely dominated.
"You were giving up?!" Von’s voice grew louder in anger. "Did you think we were playing a ga in here? Did you not take this exercise seriously? You had barely taken a beating and you were already begging for the fight to end!"
Adrian had no words to say. In his opinion, accepting defeat when faced with an overwhelmingly superior opponent was the only logical move, since this was only a training session. It wasn’t cowardice; it was an efficient assessnt of a losing battle. But Von seed to have read his mind as he continued, his eyes narrowing.
"That is cowardice, boy. A warrior fights until his last breath, until his will shatters. Yours crumbled after a few hits." His expression hardened. "You are not a warrior. And I am going to make you one."
Master Von began to pace. "Your defense is weak. Your attacks are even weaker. We’ll begin with a proper defensive technique. I won’t be teaching you just one, so it depends on how much effort you’re ready to invest. I don’t mind us learning new techniques every day for the next six months, as long as I teach you everything in my arsenal."
Adrian pretended like he didn’t hear that last part and nodded. He was genuinely excited to learn new techniques. The brief spar had shown him just how vast the gap in pure skill was between him and a true master.
Von walked forward. "Shall we begin?"
After a quick nod from Adrian, Master Von’s deanor shifted, becoming that of a focused instructor.
"The technique I used to counter your initial attack is called Vortex Counter." He explained, "It’s a defensive art that works by absorbing and redirecting an opponent’s kinetic energy and montum. Its true potential is seen when your opponent launches at you with reckless abandon, just like you did. It turns their own strength into a weapon against them. Now, watch closely."
Adrian’s eyes imdiately glowed with a blue light as he activated [Omnisense], ready to capture every single detail.
Von first took a stance, one that was different from any Adrian had seen before. It was low to the ground, with one foot forward and one back, but his body was relaxed, not tense.
Adrian could tell it was pivotal for the technique, a stance designed to maintain perfect balance while absorbing an imnse external force.
Just then, Von moved his arms in strange, flowing, circular motions. Soon, he began channeling mana into them at specific, pulsing intervals. As he did so, his hands began to spin in the air, creating a small, visible vortex of energy in front of him.
Finally, after accumulating montum, he changed his stance quickly, shifting his weight to his front foot as he extended his palms outward.
~FWOOSH!~
Adrian could feel the air in front of Von’s palms crackle with force as he released the redirected energy into the empty space.
After he was done, Master Von placed his arms behind his back. "I don’t expect you to have gotten it the first ti. I perford it at combat speed. I’ll go again, slower this ti—"
"I saw everything." Adrian interrupted him. With [Omnisense] active, Von’s movents had been in slow-motion from his perspective, every muscle movent clear for him to see.
"Hmm." Von wanted to ask questions, but upon seeing Adrian’s eyes glowing a bright blue, he could only accept it. "Alright. Show what you’ve got."
Adrian took a step back. He adjusted his stance, mirroring Master Von’s perfectly. Then, he began moving his palms rapidly, repeating every flowing, circular motion he had just observed. At the end of the first sequence, he threw his palms forward in a similar fashion as Von had done.
Unfortunately, his execution didn’t provide the sa result.
But Von didn’t care about the result. He was beyond surprised. He stared at Adrian,
"What the hell...?" he muttered, his usual gruff persona montarily forgotten.
"How...? You got everything perfect. Every single physical detail. The posture, the speed, the flow... This is impossible."
Master Von was even more shocked because he knew Adrian hadn’t always been like this. He knew him to have an above-average comprehension speed, but this was on a whole different level. Learning the intricate movents of a high-level technique in minutes? He didn’t know how that was possible.
He let out a long sigh, a wry smile touching his lips. "Okay. This makes things easier. A whole lot easier." He added, shaking his head in disbelief, "Forget about six months. At this rate, you might learn everything I know in a few days."
Adrian simply gave a slight nod.
"Co closer," Von commanded, his instructor’s focus returning. "I’ll teach you how to channel your mana into the technique. For this one, the movents might be simple compared to Phantom Flow, but the mana channeling is far more complex."
For the next two hours, Master Von thoroughly guided Adrian through this stage. It was a much more practical and nuanced process, so Adrian couldn’t take any shortcuts with pure observation.
His imnse mana knowledge gave him an advantage in understanding the theory, but that was all. He failed at so points, his mana flow becoming chaotic or dissipating uselessly.
But they kept trying over and over again, Von correcting his mistakes with harsh critiques and demonstrations, until Adrian believed he had finally mastered the flow.
"I think I can try it for real now, Master Von."
"Hmm. Let’s test that theory," Von said with a dangerous glint in his eye.
Without any warning, he threw a quick, mana-enchanted punch straight at Adrian’s face.
Even without [Omnisense], Adrian’s combat instincts flared to life. He instinctively dropped into the correct stance, rotating his arms and imbuing them with mana at the precise, pulsing intervals Von had taught him. He caught the force of the punch in his spiraling palms, a jolt running up his arms.
After taking control of the force, he redirected it and shot his own palm forward to hit Master Von. The instructor was already in a defensive stance, bracing for the impact.
~CRACK!~
The counterforce struck him squarely, and while it didn’t injure him, he was forced to skid back several ters to dissipate the energy.
He looked up with a wide, impressed grin on his face. Adrian, anwhile had his attention grabbed by a familiar ping in his mind.
[Congratulations! New Skill Acquired: Vortex Counter]
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