Chapter 1618 1618. Dark Training
By the time that Walker, Alice, and Rise had finished their time in the forge, Walker had been thoroughly talked to death. He felt that he couldn\'t manage to answer another question if his life depended on it. But that was just how much the other blacksmiths wanted to learn from the wandering blacksmith.
"I thought you would never enter a forge, it\'s very confined in there." Mordant saw the three as they made it to the top of the ship. They had all taken time to rest. Rise hadn\'t really needed it but she was still very interested to see the process in which Walker stored the natural mana for Slice to use. She wanted to see the results of what had been made.
"I was overseeing the creation of a valuable new mana storage gem that could change the armors all dragonkin and dragons wear. You should spend more of your time valuing the future of the dragons." Rise\'s response was sharp enough to cut.
Mordant only smiled seeing that he had gotten some annoyed looks from Rise. "I have been guiding something else. Look at those three, they seem to have gotten themselves very wound up here." Mordant had been helping Leon, Su, and Midnight train.
"Why is Leon there? I thought he would be busy…unless Scylla took the lead as we started moving again." Waker noticed instantly that Scylla was nowhere to be seen which meant she was most likely in the water. But she had to take a trump in to the underwater areas at some point, so this did make some sense.
"That is the case. Scylla desired to check the work and the sands washed down the river. No one argued because she was able to take over a larger portion of the underwater patrol with her leviathans." Mordant\'s explanation made them all agree. Scylla had the ability to cover much more ground than the other demi-humans or merfolk.
"Midnight was asking me about how to blend in with shadows better. She had some guidance about her light elemental breath attacks and wanted to better utilize her fire. But she has no issue making dark and fire elemental flames. It is second nature because of her mother. This is clearly passed down. But she lacks the ability to confuse others with shadows like this."
Since Mordant had been standing right in front of them, neither of them realized that he had been starting to demonstrate something. Rise could tell because she had seen it before but Alice and Walker were a little surprised.
The shadows twisted around Mordant\'s dark scales making it seem like his body was bigger and smaller in fluctuating rhythms. This would make it much harder to strike him since he would be a smaller or larger target at different times. Overall, it was a very good skill to have when it came to protecting his body from harm.
"Is that a darkness mana type illusion skill?" Walker knew it at a glance. He felt that he was watching someone so well practiced in darkness that he should just assume it anyway.
"Yes, it is. But it can be done with light too just to a smaller degree because it is more similar to blinding someone with light. I am using my own shadow to wrap my body here and there. But instead of just hiding in shadows I let myself get shown to others. This will make them attack you and miss attacks more often. It tricks their mind that you are where they see and not where you truly are."
To demonstrate this, Mordant walked in a simple circle around Walker and Alice. His shadow seemed to leave a trail behind him while also stepping ahead of him. It was clear that Mordant was leaving his main body clearer so that Walker and Alice could learn about this skill. "If Midnight manages to alter her shadow wrapping skill like that then she might be able to stay closer to enemies while battling."
"She can hide anytime." Alice saw a different possibility. She knew that Midnight used the shadow wrapping skill to sneak around often. But with the skill that Mordant was using and the shadow wrapping skill, Midnight could more easily hide away during a battle without causing the enemy to know.
"That\'s a good point, this is an improvement. It\'s like being half ready to be in a full shadow wrapping state at any time." Walker grew more interested while he watched Leon trying to strike Midnight who was using slower motions to attempt to use the skill Mordant had just demonstrated.
"So that means that Su is trying to learn a skill that enhances her speed?" Walker saw that Su was moving around Midnight and Leon, trying to jump in and block attacks then retreat instantly.
"Yes, Su had been showing a great growth speed. If you haven\'t noticed, she is accepting the bonds with Midnight and yourself through Midnight much faster than imagined. That is helping her body grow and change." Mordant looked troubled for a little bit.
"What\'s wrong?" Since it seemed Mordant was worried, Walker had to ask.
"Hmm, She just appears to be a little on edge with her emotions. It is good to put yourself in to a lot of training to get stronger. yet…I believe she is covering up something a little with training. She might not make as many improvements as she believes."
"I can see what you mean. She is rarely that angry looking. But it\'s not really angry. I will talk to her in a little bit. I want to see what happens when she starts to grasp the ability to move faster with the shadows helping her." Walker saw that Su was too focused. If he were to get in the way now then he might ruin a perfect breakthrough.
The skill that Su had been shown was a skill that used the shadows to assist in speed. The darkness elemental dragonkin used this skill to get around better even though they could also hide completely within shadows to travel. Instead, Su used the shadows to allow her to have less resistance on the ground she walked. If there were shadows, she could push off the ground faster or stop faster. It made her motions sharp but in a way that made her faster and not less elegant.
For someone that carried a lot of weight at all times, having a better ability to move because of the shadows was amazing. It would make Su a much better guardian. She would have to worry less about protecting others. She would be able to get to them when they needed her help faster. Any monster or person that attacked her family would find that she was already in front of them with a shield defending.
The other added bonus came to force. Because Su would be able to move faster, she could improve other skills. Mainly, the shield charge or shield bash. With additional speed came the additional force behind her shield. This could cause more blunt force attacks. Paired with her partner, the earth elemental spirit, Su could create spikes on her shield and do devastating damage as a guardian.
"That was it! Focus on that feeling and run with it!" Mordant saw Su change the shape of a few shadows on the ground. It was a sign that she was beginning to grasp darkness elemental mana. Since Su had a bind with Midnight, she would be able to better understand all the affinities Midnight had. And since earth and darkness elemental manas worked well together, Su had another advantage.
"So that leaves Leon just training his speed in spearmanship. Good, he can challenge everyone a little." Walker was watching the precision in Leon\'s moves. It was very clear that Leon trained very often with his spear. It was a perfect extension of who Leon was.
"If I heard him correctly, Leon said he desired to awaken the spear soul skill. A skill that I have seen written but not in person." Mordant wanted to explain more but it seemed that Walker had already heard of this skill before. A very important skill that any person mastering the spear would want to learn.
"That\'s the skill where someone who has a mastery of their system can use all of their mana to enhance their entire spearmanship for a single set period of time. If I remember, they can only use that skill a limited number of times a year." Walker knew this because whenever someone achieved this level of their system it was always shared as a major story in the world. Many people would go to see that master.
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