Now that Bruce had learned so many secrets, he recalled he was keeping one of his own. But hearing that, Mira simply replied, 「Yes, I know. You’re Jude Steiner, right?」 as she had known that for a long ti now.
「Ah… Yes, that’s !」
Thirty years had passed, and he had aged quite a bit, but Bruce was delighted that Mira had recognized him all the sa.
「You’re a valuable mber of the Tower, so of course I’d know.」
The truth was that she had only discovered that thanks to Examine, but she did not ntion that at all, instead smugly claiming all credit herself. Bruce was even more moved by that, and he vowed to continue working hard to keep the Tower of Summoning active.
「Wait, would that an that you’re in Nirvana…searching for one of the Wisen..?!」
Once Bruce’s emotions were starting to calm down, his face suddenly lit up as he ntioned that.
Mira had told him she was searching for the other Wisen, so it made sense that he made that connection. Everyone knew about the tournant being organized in Nirvana, and even he could easily connect the dots to figure out who Mira was searching for there.
「Yes, pretty much.」
Mira nodded and Bruce looked even more elated to hear that, 「Then please let help as well!」 he exclaid.
「There’s going to be a lot of participants in the tournant, and I’m well acquainted with that person as well, so I’m sure I can figure out where to look!」
Then, he ntioned that he was also in Nirvana wanting to take part in the tournant. Mostly to test his skills, but if possible, he wanted to end in a high position. That was also what propelled his desire to form a Contract with the Valkyries.
「Ohh, so you’re going to take part! Now that’s really helpful!」
Rather than his offer to help searching, Mira latched on to the fact that he was taking part in the tournant. She had been preemptively banned from the tournant, robbing her of a chance to showcase the power of summoners to the world. Now, she was looking at Bruce like the perfect savior to and that lost opportunity.
As far as she had seen, he was rather skilled himself, and with the help of Helcune and her sisters, she was sure that he would perform really well in the tournant. So she declined his first request to help.
「I should prove enough to find her. But I have a different request from you.」
Mira readjusted her position to sit up straight and looked straight at Bruce, who felt compelled to do the sa before saying, 「You can ask anything you want from .」
She proceeded to explain how she had been invited as a comntator for the tournant, which impeded her from participating herself, and stopped her from showcasing the power of summons in actual fights.
「So that’s where you’ll co in. The entire continent will have its eyes set on the tournant, so just think about it… A summoner breaking through the ranks!」
Mira lowered her voice into a secretive whisper as she said that. People from every corner of the world, of all ages, both warriors and spellcasters, all competing to be the best. Performing well there would surely create a dramatic change in the general perception of summoners.
Plotting all of that, Mira’s face took what almost looked like a villainous grin.
「Ah! I get it now… If a summoner defeats many strong opponents with such an audience watching… You’re truly a genius, finding a way to exploit a tournant like that.」
Bruce was also whispering now, grinning in a similar way as Mira. At first, he had assud the tournant would attract plenty of competitors stronger than him, so the thought of showing off as a summoner had not crossed his mind. But just like Mira, he dread of a day when summoners would make a coback, and she opened his eyes to the possibility. Such an event was too big to ignore.
「But, can I really…」
Then the reality hit him, was he really powerful enough to leave a strong impression that would improve the image of summoners?
Mira was essentially telling him to beco a stand-in for one of the Nine Wisen in the tournant. He had studied, trained, and researched plenty to be confident in his own skill, but that confidence turned to smoke when compared to a Wiseman.
「Don’t worry! I’m sure you can do it. After all, I’ll be training you here for a week to make you stronger!」
Mira jumped on her feet with a wide grin as she announced that, taking hold of Bruce’s arm and dragging him out of the palace before he even understood what she had said.
Mira took Bruce to the training area in the highest island of Valhalla and began her lesson right away. First, she checked how strong Bruce already was, and then taught him sothing befitting of his skill level.
「As you’ll be competing in a tournant’s arena, you won’t have any place to run or hide, largely exposing a summoner’s weakness.」
Mira’s unique traits aside, summoners usually fought by standing far from the battlefield, evaluating the state of the fight from a distance and commanding their summons accordingly, or adding more of them when necessary. The tournant would constrict the battlefield to a smaller arena, impeding the summoner from finding a safe spot and leaving them exposed to attacks.
「That’s where this will co in handy.」
After that quick recap, Mira partially summoned a Holy Knight’s shield, which appeared for barely a mont before vanishing. It did not look very impressive, but Bruce was a summoner from the Tower who loved research, so he quickly realized how useful that was.
「That looked like a failed summon from mana deficiency…but it was only a shield…was that intentional?!」
As Bruce assimilated everything, Mira followed it up with a Dark Knight’s partial summoning.
An enclosed arena also ant that the enemy would be within summoning range. Partial summoning used very little mana compared to full summonings, and also required far less preparation. If mastered, the enemy would have a hard ti reacting to the attacks, and they could co from any direction, becoming a quite nasty underhanded trick.
It all revolved around allocating less mana than was necessary, leading to only a portion of the summon appearing. But mastering partial summoning was harder than that, as rely limiting mana usage would lead to a random part of the summon appearing, hardly useful in combat. Mira had discovered that by focusing on issuing the order to attack and visualizing the weapon, it was possible to manipulate what part appeared, allowing her to use it as a viable attack or defense.
「Ohh! That was a Dark Knight’s!」
There was a beaten-up training dummy there, which received a violent slash from a black arm and sword that appeared for but a mont. Bruce’s eyes shone with wonder as he saw that, and then ran up to the dummy, which was built quite sturdy as it was used by Alfina and her sisters.
Looking at it more closely, there was a fresh gash on it from Mira’s partial summoning.
Seeing that, Bruce summoned a Dark Knight of his own, which slashed in a similar way, allowing him to compare the cuts. That way he determined that even though Mira’s attack had been far swifter, it had not lost any power, and Bruce’s mind was already racing with possibilities.
「How incredible…I expected no less from Master Da…Mira! Exactly how did you do that?!」
With both sharing the sa obsession for summoning, Bruce was quickly on Mira’s face, excited to learn more. Mira just chuckled and told him to calm down before going into detail behind the theory of partial summoning.
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