55 Combat Training II (2/2)
Xander looked at the trio, who were geared and ready to practice. He then looked at Faykes, asking,
”You know how to do outside conscious control of elements, right?”
Faykes nodded and showed off his conscious control of the elements. After all, he had experience in using the elements outside and channeling it to his body for physical improvements during the Mundane class. He could sufficiently control Wind and Water elements, but for the remaining 2 elements, Wood and Fire, he wasn't that great at controlling it, and could only use the first two to guide the latter two passively.
Upon seeing this, Xander thought about it for a moment before giving him a suggestion.
”You know how one of each of the 5-elements can give birth to one another and restrict another right? Well when controlling your elements, ensure that they are in a cyclical sequence. This means that the last element you control brings forth the first element you control. As you are beginning to familiarize yourself with the 4 elements, you can start with a chain sequence first. You can start with Water, or Wood first, in that case.”
”If you can't do it, you can try dual controlling of elements. What you basically do is divide your consciousness in your life essence doll into two, and simultaneously do different actions at the same time. In this case, one part of you can be controlling Wind and Fire, the other can be controlling Wood and Water. This is a better alternative since you can't control all the 5 elements in the 5-elements system, making a stable cyclical sequence impossible. Although with enough knowledge, training, and comprehension, you can transform any of the 4 elements into one another as well as the 5th element, that would be far in the future.”
Faykes intently listened, before deciding to practice the first option instead. After all, his goal was to master his primary elements and allow himself to manipulate them into other derivatives and into the 5th element that he was lacking, Earth/metal.
Xander then nodded at him before looking at the other 2.
”So, let's begin our subconscious control practice. First rule: Nothing above Elite class spells. The second rule, anything goes when attempting to disrupt or counterattack the opponent's spells, except killing. I can heal all of your injuries, so go all out. However, in the future, make sure you aim to kill or maim the target, incapacitating them completely.”
”You will be fighting one another, before fighting me individually and then fighting as a group. This would help you know one's limits and abilities, enabling better coordination. Like always, expect that I will be using layered Subconscious spells. This will be what we are going to do for the next 2 days. We will only tackle biconscious control at the last 2 days, everyone agrees?”
No one said a word in response, indicating their silent agreement. Xander nodded and basically began pairing them:
Maryann vs Valerie
Valerie vs Faykes
Faykes vs Maryann
Maryann vs Valerie vs Faykes
Faykes vs Xander
Valerie vs Xander
Maryann vs Xander
The trio vs Xander
For now, Xander and Faykes were just watching the girls fight and practice their subconscious control.
Maryann and Valerie stood 4 meters apart, eying one another, with their magic barriers set up from the beginning. Basically, the first rule in a fight is that the first one to attack can either gain advantage or disadvantage for the rest of the battle.
It was Valerie who made the first move. Instantly, she cast [Corroding Arrow], which was rapidly stopped by [Ice curtain shower] Maryann had been preparing.
She didn't stop there and continued to prepare her next attack. Maryann, who was also preparing for her spell, noticed something was different with the arrow released by Valerie, causing her to move from her current position and activate her trump card immediately, which was activating her 2nd layer subconscious control, which was exploding the ice wall.
Maryann grinned at Valerie, before saying to her,
”So you learned how to cast the 2nd layer, huh.”
Valerie merely rolled her eyes, as if saying in response, ”you did as well, dummy!”
Xander was happy at their progress and Faykes, on the other hand, was a bit lost. The second layer of subconscious control? Delayed effect? What? He looked at Xander who briefly explained what layering meant and what it entails the caster, causing Faykes to have an enlightened look before moving a bit further away from the girls, practicing on his own.
The fight continued. Valerie, using the time she managed to delay Maryann with, cast her second spell, [Pending Darkness], momentarily surrounding Maryann in darkness. Usually, this can be easily solved by moving out of the spell's area cast, but the second layer had a hovering effect, so it attaches and hovers on the target.
Maryann, who was momentarily taken aback, cast the two spells she had been preparing, [Shatter Ice Wave] and [Devouring Firestorm] in succession, showing the fusion and unity between the two spells. It didn't cancel one another, but actually strengthened the effect of each other!
She used the wave to freeze her surroundings, including the dark mist, Shattering them to pieces and launching them towards Valerie. The remaining dark mist was burning all into nothingness, and then the fire began expanding towards Valerie as well.
Initially, she easily evaded and deflected the ice mist shards, using [Fire Barrier] to melt them to dark mist once again, before evaporating. However, the firestorm heading towards Valerie was actually devouring her fire barrier, causing her to panic for a bit, before casting a [Water Barrier] in that time frame. When the strengthened Firestorm touched the water film, it momentarily stopped, causing Valerie to sigh in relief, before hearing a 'cracking' sound.
At the points where the Firestorm was touching the water barrier, they were starting to freeze and turn into ice, causing the now frozen barrier to creak and ultimately collapse into fragments, along with the firestorm. However, it wasn't over. The period that Valerie was evading and defending the attacks was enough for Maryann to cast another spell, [Frost Nova], causing Valerie's legs to freeze in place, and continuously lowering her body temperature, the ice climbing up from her feet to her legs.
Of course, Valerie still had one more spell that she had been preparing since the beginning: [Imperial Dark Order - Devouring].
Immediately, once she had cast it, the area where they were fighting was surrounded in complete darkness, causing anyone viewing the fight to be unsure of what was happening. Of course, Xander could still see clearly inside what was happening, so did Ms. Amelia.
Xander was a bit interested in the spell, mainly because the spell had the rule of devouring, but a different kind of devouring from the Chaos element, a bit weaker. It slowly devoured the life essence in the area, both the caster and target. At the same time, it contains poison, a 2nd layer Valerie had added to the spell. It mainly causes the entire area to be only filled with Darkness element, forcing all other elements under the Yin-Yang element to be suppressed.
Basically, the fight has been reduced to Maryann attempting to approach Valerie to physically beat her, while Valerie was just hiding in the darkness, continuously draining Maryann's stamina. After a few minutes, the dark dome collapsed, revealing the body of Maryann lying down, weakly breathing, while Valerie was standing, smiling victoriously. Both were severely poisoned.
Xander sighed before waving his hand, restoring their condition in a matter of seconds. Maryann stood up energetically, a bit surprised at her defeat. After all, it had seemed that she had the upper hand. Valerie, however happy she is, knew her limitations. If this was a do or die battle, she would have perished. She needed to be prepared for attacks like this and have her spells ready for deployment, but she didn't know how to prepare them. All she can do is continuously improve her casting speed of the spell by increasing her understanding of it, allowing her to unleash their potential.
That was also why Maryann was a bit better than her in the fight; she had chanted spells shorter than hers.
Xander looked at the two, before declaring the winner.
”In this round, Valerie barely wins. Maryann, you had strong momentum, but bad strategic planning. You should have begun with [Frost Nova], ensuring the target doesn't move, and then surround her with [Ice curtain shower] with a rebound, elemental conversion, or fire absorbance effect, ensuring her attacks besides Darkness and Poison would not work. Then, with her being a trapped turtle, even if she cast her AoE spell, you can be safely out of the area, and continuously bombard the spell area with your own plethora of spells, until it collapses.”
”Valerie. You did well. However, you would be dead as well if this was a real enemy. The universe is not a friendly place, heck even this planet isn't safe. A do or die like this, you need to have items that can counteract the effects of your spell or ensure enough comprehension and control over your primary elements and pseudo-spell that you aren't affected by the negative side effects.”
”Both of you did well for integrating second layer subconscious control, but I suggest you improve your first layers first to the point it is less than 1/100th of a second before you begin practicing the 2nd layer. With your talent and current casting speed, 6 months or less is enough to improve your casting times,” said Xander, before calling Faykes.
”Faykes and Maryann, you two are up. Maryann, just a heads up, Faykes controls Wind, Fire, Water, and Wood elements, so don't be surprised if you can't win unless you use your Master rank spell.”