Chapter 261 261 Augmentation technique

[Lucy's POV: ]

The first round: Ras Vs. Rex.

And both of them chose the simple 1v1 fight for their sparring method.

-Boooooooooom!

Ras is a pure physical swordsman and he knows Rex is pretty strong after seeing him in all the sparring classes we have had in the physical practicals.

And Rex knows Ras is quite strong as well so, he wasn't holding back too much.

-Swiiiiiiiiiiiiish~!

He was a mage from the general perspective of this world, however, in broader terms of the Worldline, it was better to call him an 'Energy manipulator'. Someone that kindled with the energy of this world and the reality itself to produce the effects he desires instead of playing with the existing laws and limitations of this world like the usual mages do.

'Rex's unique skill was called [Library of Knowledge]. A special skill that granted him knowledge that was beyond this world periodically.'

And his other unique skill was called [Flow]. A Zero skill that allowed him to practically control everything that existed in 'reality'.

'Energy is matter, and matter is energy. Things that exist, at least in the mortal world, possess matter, and so energy as well.'

And Rex can control all that as he gains more control over his powers.

'That was the main reason in some of the turns we had played, this poor bastard was the main villain that destroyed this world after either Cathy's death, or after he had enough of his damned father's tyranny.'

He was corrupted in some of the scenarios as well, and when that happened, practically the whole of this part of the Worldline was in danger.

'He could become such a great threat to this world that not even the headmaster could stand any chance against him.'

Aside from us, only he had managed to kill the headmaster in those turns.

Not even Ras had achieved something like that since this bastard was 'righteous'. And his morals did not allow something like that.

"Whatcha thinkin?" The initial instance of this chapter being available happened at N0v3l.Bj'n.

The two of them were fighting in the area while the rest of us were watching them from the spectating stands.

El was beside me, Nes was with Cathy, Lily, and Leon were closely watching the two of them, and the rest of them were taking notes of their fight with curiosity as well.

"These two.."

One was the protagonist and the second was the crown prince of the empire, as well as the second male lead of what used to be our game.

"How peculiar that they have a near-friendly relationship now.."

"Right? They look cute like this."

She was calling them cute.. well, their sparring with that serious kind of look was certainly cuter than when they used to fight covered in the blood and flesh of their acquaintances, with their eyes madly bloodshot and their hearts only filled with hatred for each other.

Seeing them holding back with the thought that they might hurt each other was more attractive to look at than a blood-covered battlefield covered in flesh and dead bodies with only the two of them left alive on them.

This was certainly pretty.

However, this could be even prettier.

-Swiiiiiiiiiiish~!

Rex saw a window of opening, that he knew was made intentionally to lure him in, so he proceeded to take the bait, with the thought of baiting Ras with his wrong move.

However, it was a mistake from his side since as someone with much greater real-life battle experience than Rex, Ras had a deep understanding of how to handle the opponents that were obviously much smarter than them.

He had created the opening thinking he would take the bait and try to bait him instead, and Rex fell for that.

-Click!

Ras ended the fight with a quick draw of his sword and a unique movement of his body that Ras failed to predict, resulting in Ras' sword stopping right before Rex's back, exactly above the part where his heart was.

"Rex lost."

"As expected."

Ras was pretty ruthless when it came to this normal kind of sparring where he though did not use most of his skills and Aura, he did not hold back from using his movement techniques that set him apart from the other usual swordsmen.

On the other hand, despite having the power to block that last attack from him after perceiving it the moment it was initiated, Rex just accepted defeat since he knew this was no serious spar.. a rookie mentality.

Someone who had experienced actual life-threatening fights and wars and relentless bloodshed would know every single situation, however predictable and however casual it may be, when it involved the use of actual weapons and dangerous powers, even a slight mistake could lead to danger.

'Rex did not have any actual battle experience just yet. And he certainly needed it if he wanted to beat someone as good as Ras.'

And, perhaps, after this trip of ours, he will know that fact as well.

"Good work you two!" I shouted while jumping down from the spectating stands.

Ras was the winner of this spar, Rex had already accepted this fact, so he canceled the attack he had prepared and surrendered.

"It was a good fight even though you didn't even use half of what you are capable of. It was impressive."

His swordsmanship had improved since the last time we had fought while Rex was pretty good with his [Flow] skill already.

They were good, however, they could be better.

"Don't say it with that upset look. Lucifer. You know this was just a spar so there was no need to be serious, was there?"

"Certainly not, I know that already. But, I'm just upset you two didn't even try to teach your opponent a little bit.

Like, there are soooooo many things Ras could have learned from Rex, things like how to incorporate movements while casting, or how to focus on more than one thing while having a certain goal in mind.

Similarly, Ras could have learned the energy application from the way Rex does it and used it alongside your sword techniques.

The fight in itself was unsatisfactory if I say so myself."

They held back a little too much and took this whole opportunity as something normal.

'They did not know the preciousness of this experience, this chance to fight in a place like this just yet, however, I hope they do learn it by the end of this little trip.'

However, the two of them had confused expressions at the moment.

"Was there any need for that though? Can't we just.. learn from each other later when we have spare time?"

"Are you doing something important right now? Isn't this the same as your spare time anyway?"

Why did they want to hide their powers anyway?

The two of us knew what they were capable of and they knew that already so, what was the problem then?

"This place is sturdy enough so you could have just-.. haaaa. Let's leave it at that. It was your loss that you did not use this opportunity properly.

However, I don't want the two of you to be at loss here. So, how would you like to learn something cool from me?

As our sparring theme, we can show off how we use the thing I teach you, how about that?"

"You will teach us?"

"Master Lucifer will teach both of us? What though?"

"Well, that you will know after you accept these sparring conditions. El will decide the winner so you can be rest assured of the fairness of the match."

They were still confused about what exactly I meant by those words, but they nodded anyway since they saw nothing wrong with learning something from someone like me.

They knew I was strong, and Ras had already lost against me, so there was no way he was going to refuse to learn something unique from him.

It was beneficial to him anyway, and Rex did not care much about all this so it mattered little to him.

"Alright then."

"What? Wait. Don't you have to tell Lady Auriel-"

"I already did. Don't worry about that, Rex."

They forget we have this special telepathic connection sometimes. Not that it matters anyway.

"So.. energy.

Rex uses the ones present in the surroundings, in the nature itself while Ras uses Aura and Qi he cultivates inside his body. But ultimately, they are energy.

Everyone has a unique way of handling different unique energies. Mages use Mana to channel spells, while swordsmen use Aura to cover their weapons and enhance their bodies.

They use various methods, however, there is one thing that remains the same for everyone: the energy itself."

I channeled some Aura, gathered some Mana from my heart, used the two energies to pull the atmospheric energies, which were ultimately a form of Mana strings, and gathered all the various colorful strings on my palm.

-Ooooooooooooooooong!

A sphere of colorful light now rested on my palm, a surprised expression staining the two of their pretty faces.

"Is that.. Qi?"

"No way. I can tell that is Aether, as well as spirit Mana, and Dark Mana as well?"

Both of them were correct actually.

Anyone who can sense a unique kind of energy present here will sense that unique kind of energy from this sphere of energy since I had pulled all of those kinds of energies into this sphere.

"What the hell is that?"

"Can you.. Master Lucifer, can you really.. control all kinds of energies? Something.. something like that is possible?"

"Of course not, lol. I can only use Aura and Mana. And that much is more than enough, truthfully."

Mana strings were the core of all energy. The base, and the origin. And all the various kinds of energy, in a way, were ultimately derived from the pure Mana strings.

They are the fundamental particles of creation in this Worldline so, it isn't wrong to say they are everything at the base.

"One can use all kinds of energies if they can use one kind properly even if they do not have the affinity or permission to use them.

They just have to master one kind more than enough to learn how to increase what they possess by a few more folds.

And I do that with my (Augmentation) technique."

It was possible to increase the power of one's Aura or magic for a short time or prolong the continuous use of it by increasing the overall limits of energy one can handle with the use of various different atmospheric energies.

My augmentation technique was a part of my breathing technique however, one can learn it individually as well.

And, if one masters how to increase the amount of energy they can handle with the help of various different energies around them, it wouldn't take them long to figure out how to use their own powers more efficiently by incorporating the unique skills they possess.

'It wasn't easy to do this thing for any normal person, however, if we were talking about these two bastards specifically..'

An hour should be enough for them to learn this thing that took me months and years of in-game time.