New tricks

Shingi administered to Wild Tycoon some HP and SP Regeneration potions to help her wake up as he didn't bring her HP to 0. He had kept hitting some of her pressure points with his MARTIAL ART Skill and kept some mana at those spots. This way, when they were in the DOME OF SILENCE, he knew where those spots were and could hit them all simultaneously, bringing her into an unconscious state.

This move was typically a Master Rank move of the MARTIAL ART Skill, but with that much preparation and against a Warrior with no armor, it was easy to use to an extend.

Tycoon was back awake soon enough, and after Shingi explaining what happened and seeing her new Skill, she was happy enough to forget the beating she just had given to her.

The RAGE Skill improved her damage output, and even if it was reducing her attack speed, she had a way to solve it already.

The ACCELERATION Skill she learned from Shingi.

It was one reason he told her how to unlock the Skill. Combining it with RAGE was a must combination.

"Well, now you have to get used to that Skill. Keep in mind the more you use it without breaks, the more SP it is going to consume, so try to get used to it and raise it to lessen the burden." [Shingi]

Shingi didn't plan to fight with her as she didn't need it to get adjusted, but he used a MANA HAND to help fight the same way he did with Annoue. At that point, he could have one MANA HAND and program it to make certain moves at certain times, making it close to look like acting on its own. Of course, he could still command it and control it manually, but it was following its 'programming' if he didn't.

Now he focused on something he hadn't done for a while now.

It was time to learn a new Spell.

He gave it a thought, and he was confident the more Spells he had, the better the Class he could take by the crystal. But he wasn't planning to learn just any spell, but only ones useful to him.

He already had one in his mind.

He started with something he had done many times and got used to it, surrounding his body with Light Mana. This time, he didn't manipulate the light around him or merge it with his body but enveloped him and made a shell at his rough shape.

As he used more mana, he started glowing a little, but not too much for the moment. After a few seconds, there was a visible shell that had entirely enveloped him, and it was making him look shiny.

He kept focusing on keeping the shape as he started making some steps back while keeping it still.

So there was a somewhat transparent, shiny-shaped Shingi shell right in front of him. He focused on fixing some details of its body anatomy that he created by his movement.

When he finished with that, he focused on its left hand as he raised his left hand. He tried to make the shape to mimic that move, but even if its hand moved a little, it was just a few centimeters and not the entire movement he wanted it to do.

He kept repeating it, and when he could make one move, he started another and so on.

He had to keep feeding the shape with some mana to keep it active, so he would not train on it for a long time without a break to recharge.

He continued on that, and every five minutes, he had to take a break to recharge his mana. Even if his INT was high and his Mana Tree was developing quite well, there were limits he couldn't pass since he wasn't a Mage or had a class of that path. If he had, his MP consumption would be lower for some of his Spells, as also he might have double the MP he currently had.

He was confident that if Annoue finished her training and had earned her full Class, she would have more MP than him even if he had more INT than her. But if both of them have their Class, even if they had the same INT, he would have more MP since he most likely would have a full Mage Class and not a partial one like Annoue.

After three hours, he commanded the shape to make simple moves and move around relatively naturally.

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SPELL LEARNED

The spell MANA DOUBLE - LIGHT ELEMENT (Base Grade) has been learned

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After the System's notification, he felt like a Seal broke, and his control over his MANA DOUBLE became a little more manageable, and he didn't have to feed it with mana, at least not continuously. Of course, he could also create the MANA DOUBLE without making mana surrounding his body, but just using enough mana would get shaped in front of him.

He dispelled this MANA DOUBLE, and he started making another one, but this time with Eath-Element mana instead of Light-Element. Since the Spell he learned was of specific Light-Element, he had to follow the same training to form the shape.

This time it didn't take him too long as there were some similarities between the two spells, and after two more hours, another notification appeared.

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SPELL LEARNED

The spell MANA DOUBLE - EARTH ELEMENT (Base Grade) has been learned

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He took a brief break to recharge some of his Earth-Element mana and checked how the rest were doing their training.

Both seemed to be tired and ready to pass out.

Tycoon was cause she kept using her RAGE skill and swinging her heavy axe.

At the same time, Mizuneko, even if the air blasted on him, didn't mean to damage him; the repeated use of it was affecting him. The little Dragon didn't have perfect control over his mana and sometimes even blasted Mizuneko back but didn't deal any fatal damage.

But both of them made some progress as Tycoon's RAGE Skill level was 16, meaning it had reached the Base Rank, while Mizuneko seemed to had stopped almost a third of the air mana blasted on him.

After he had a few minutes of breathing time himself, Shingi cast both his MANA DOUBLES in front of him, one next to the other.

They looked like twin brothers, but one was so transparent and white-yellow while the other was primarily brown, and its details were rougher. He commanded them both at the same time to do the same movements as he wanted to test what was better for what.

As expected, the Light Element MANA DOUBLE was faster while the Earth one had more power and more defense, but neither seemed to be battle-ready yet. But he didn't plan to use them in battle but as helpers at the shop when he crafted things.

His MANA HANDS were quite helpful, but with a MANA DOUBLE, he could do more precise work, as it was a Base Grade spell. So even if they were using more mana to cast it in the long run of the hours he spent on the forge, he would probably use less mana at his MANA DOUBLES for the same work that he would do with his MANA HANDS.

He tried to do the same thing he did with his MANA HAND to program them to do certain things, but it didn't seem to work. However, he probably could learn it later, like with MANA HAND, as long as he got more familiar with it.

After some more testing with his MANA DOUBLES, he called it a day for now, and after checking his students and his little Dragon friend, he returned to the house.

To his surprise, Karemon was again there, but no sign of Aneta. As for Annoue, she was at her room training.

When Karemon noticed Shingi, he welcomed him home and started chit-chatting while he was cooking something.

Karemon, this time, was in his human form, and he seemed pretty relaxed, especially after seeing that Shingi didn't have any problems with him after seeing his authentic look.

"You know it came to my awareness that you had made some preparations in case the not so friendly relatives of yours visit. Do you expect some?" [Shingi]

It surprised Karemon hearing that, as he knew that not just anyone could detect his repellents, but how could he know Shingi wasn't just anyone.

"I had spent some time with a few adventurers, and they have helped me with a few things." [Shingi]

Of course, one would assume that would mean that these adventurers helped him find these repellents. But Shingi was a master at keeping a lie between the truth to serve his purpose for the time.

"Well, I have had some weird dreams lately. Every time this happened, it had to do something with some demons. In the past, Angel's Feather was here to help, but since this isn't the case and no powerful Blessed one is around, I made some preparations just in case." [Karemon]

Shingi didn't enjoy hearing that since demons' attack wasn't a good thing, especially now. However, he had many plans to finish or start, and dealing with Demon's attack was the least he needed now.

But for now, he could sit and hope it was nothing, which he doubted cause he knew the System wouldn't throw these warnings if it were nothing.

Karemon finished his cooking, and after having some himself, he said his goodbyes. He had even prepared some of the usual vegetable soup for dinner.

Shingi went to get Annoue to eat together, and she told him about her progress.

She now could use four Enchantments, but only two of them she had utterly mastered. All four used just two different shapes, so they were of Low Grade, but her progress was quite good.

If she learned 20 Low Graded Enchantments, it would be enough for her Class to rise to Base state. But if she mastered some Base Grade ones, it would decrease that number. As for Master Grade one, she needed only one to earn her Class fully.

A Low-Grade Enchantment would use at most three of the shapes, and some rare cases used four. Base Grade ones used 4-8 shapes while Master was up to 15.

No known Enchantment had over 15 shapes, and there were no rumors of any existing or created, even by the Gods themselves. But this didn't seem the Gods weren't able to do it, but they probably kept it a secret if they were.

The one he used for the sword had seven shapes, so it was close to the limits of a Base Graded one, while the one he used at the sheath since he merged them; considered as a Low Graded one but had the power of a Base Grade one. At that point, he didn't need to combine them as not combining them may have made a more potent enchantment at the end, but a Base Grade Enchantment like that wouldn't be last long on a sheath made by simple iron.

He did not make a simple iron sword and had minor adjustments to handle the Enchantment with no problem.

After eating and checking her progress with the enchantments, Shingi stood up and left, this time with Annoue.

They headed towards their hideout, and when they got there before Shingi said anything, some movement happened at the branches of the Hollow Tree.

The next thing he knew, the gliding Egroeg appeared in the air and headed towards Annoue.

He didn't attack her, so he did nothing as Egroeg tackled Annoue and wanted to throw her off, it seemed, but Annoue was stronger and stayed in place.

It surprised Annoue as she didn't notice Egroeg gliding towards her, and after seeing him, one thing left her mouth.

"Aw.How cute." [Annoue]