Chapter 233 - Hua Tuos Hypothesis (1/2)

Zero mastered the art of stitching quickly after he designed a method to cheat. Unknown to him, Merlin who peeked in on Zero's progress was stunned. Parallel Minds were not easily developed and rigorous training in Mathematics was a requirement to unlocking more Parallel Minds. Truen and Merlin had both trained hard in this area to the point of near madness and yet, Zero had easily overcome his inability to do Math and created his first Parallel Mind, all through a sewing exercise.

Merlin felt tired. Was his research a joke? If it could be done so easily without subjecting his brain to mental torture, Merlin would have exchanged his entire library collection for it. Zero broke through the boundaries of splitting his mind so easily by finding inspiration in laziness. Where had the Wizard God gone wrong? Wait no, maybe it was Baal? He knew that the Demon Lord of Laziness was a divine fragment. Could it be that after receiving parts of the Divine Entities' memories, Zero gained new knowledge that surpasses even Merlin's own?

Yes, that was likely to be the case. The Wizard God certainly couldn't believe that the creator who'd lost all his memories would be capable of inventing new magic discoveries that took thousands of years to understand. It simply wasn't right... Merlin was a waste of a God and a huge laughing stock if it were true.

Back in the backyard of Endow Hill's homey hut, Mitchnew and Ruth were taking turns to occupy Zero with basic combat training while designing a new style of combat through observation of the brunet's natural talent.

Zero was not naturally well in sync with his five senses but he has a very wide range of awareness thanks to his cheating abilities. Ruth and Mitchnew also soon realised something strange. Zero never fell for feint moves that were direct. The vampire switched up techniques and realised that there was a flaw with that 'instinct' Zero had. While he was able to easily dodge moves with the intent to hurt him, Zero was often unable to react in time with things that come as a side effect of the ambush attacks.

For instance, while mana bombs were easy for Zero to dodge and throw up magic shields against, Zero wouldn't be able to guard against fake mana bombs that acted as a flash grenade instead. As usual, the young doctor threw up his barrier but quickly yelped in pain when bright lights attacked his eyes. Mitchnew also discovered that Zero was slow to respond to changes in the battle flow.

Ruth had snuck up on Zero again by using a doppelganger and Zero wasn't ready for the pebble that flew his way as he blocked the clone's stab to his torso by catching the clone's hand.

The pebble skittered through the air and struck Zero's elbow painfully, causing Zero to lose his grip on that arm. Mitchnew saw that slip-up and decided to add fuel to the fire by dropping low and sweeping Zero off his feet by kicking his ankles.

With such a powerful one-two combo, Zero didn't have time to retaliate and he found himself lying on the grass all over again. The healing magic worked quickly and Ruth dismissed his clone, jumping off the huge rock he was sitting on. Mitchnew calmly walked away and gave the vampire a hi-five to swap out. It was now Ruth's turn to do a review with Zero and spar while Mitchnew recovered her stamina and observe for Zero's habits.

The dark-elf couldn't help but be merciless during her combat training with Zero. It was like teaching Sekkin all over again and the seamstress had to admit, she was frustrated with Zero's inability to understand simple concepts. Things like constantly keeping an eye out for the surroundings while in a battle was lost on Zero as the boy would panic each time something gets too close to his personal zone. It didn't really help that Zero's first instinct when he panics is to grab ahold of something nearby or run.

If Zero loses his balance and falls, his first reaction would be to pull the clone holding a knife down with him. Mitchnew was thankful that the knife was merely a blunt practice blade crudely crafted by Ruth and not the real deal made by Tambolt. Somebody could have been seriously injured and from the training over the past few days, Zero would have died at least twenty times.

Ruth didn't look pleased and Zero didn't dare meet his teacher's eyes. He knew what he did wrong this time. It wasn't his first offence either and the young doctor grew more miserable with that judging stare. Although Mitchnew and Ruth didn't say it out loud. Zero knew that he was disappointing them both terribly.

Normally, Zero would be able to understand his mistakes and correct them. Whenever Hua Tuo told him to correct his posture or method of flicking needles during acupuncture practice, Zero would get it corrected immediately and it wouldn't happen a second time. The only time he ever made the same mistake more than once was during the time Zero tried to perfect revival magic. Even so, Zero was able to feel like he made progress with revival magic each time he failed. He knew what to pay attention to and the margin of error reduced each time he tried.

Seeing that the apprentice was close to tears, Ruth sighed. Combat really wasn't Zero's calling. If Hua Tuo wasn't as insistent about having Zero master basic reflexes to react in emergency situations, they would not have forced this upon the poor teenager. While Ruth and Mitchnew felt their hearts aching for Zero, neither of them turned soft on him. If anything, they were the epitome of tough love. Both experts dished out training more merciless than the previous one in hopes that Zero would overcome the insurmountable obstacle that is himself.

”That's the twenty-sixth time you've died,” the vampire commented and said nothing more as Zero bit his bottom lip hard enough to draw blood.