Chapter 12 - Third Floor (6)

The next day, Lumen woke up on the wrong side of the bed. Getting woken up in the middle of the night, and then getting kicked out of your room left a sour taste in his mouth.

The worst part is that he couldn't do anything about it. Not only did he not see Diana making that attack, but it also pierced through his Logia form and did damage to his body.

Lumen would have to learn how to use Shinsoo and learn it fast. The faster he manages to do so, the better he would be able to prepare for the future.

In order to focus on something else, he increased the gravity on himself to 6x and fought the monkeys with a 3x gravity on.

Tiana had some mild improvements, but it would take some time before he could increase the gravity on her.

During their training, Lumen received a message from Diana along with her contact details.

[Contact me when you are done training.]

"Bitch..." He silently cursed, still mad at her for kicking him out of his room.

When Lumen and Tiana were walking towards the Commercial District, a lot of Regulars pointed fingers at them, but none dared to talk to them.

They ate their meal in silence, and Lumen gave her the Peaches that they gathered for the day. She went to Monster Parts to sell them while he messaged Diana.

[I'm done.]

Moments later, he blacked out and appeared on in a spacious room. Diana was standing in front of him and was silently observing him.

"Now what?" He questioned her.

"Now we start your Shinsoo training. In order to manipulate Shinsoo, without using an item, a Regular would need to make a contract with the Guardian on that Floor. However, since you are an Irregular, you do not need to make one."

"Shinsoo can be used to enhance your physical abilities, to create various objects like barriers, or to attack an enemy using it."

Diana explained and raised her arm with the palm facing upward. A small white sphere that resembled a flower bud appeared in her hand. After creating the Baang, Diana stared at Lumen expectantly.

"Come on, it's your turn." She urged him.

"What? Is the Baang supposed to appear in my hand on its own?" Lumen was starting to doubt her teaching abilities.

"No, silly. Shinsoo is everywhere around you, so you first need to feel it."

Ever since Lumen came to the Tower, he had been able to feel the mysterious energy. After he started training with the increased gravity, he got even closer to that energy. It would wash over his muscles and enter his body with each breath that he took.

"The next step after feeling the Shinsoo around you is to guide it towards your palm in the shape of a sphere. Don't try to use force to do it. Be gentle, show it the path it has to take, and let it go there on its own."

"Don't forget to keep the mental image of a sphere, otherwise you wouldn't be able to form a Baang."

He concentrated and tried guiding the Shinsoo towards his palm. The mysterious energy, as if having a mind of its own, followed his directions. In a moment, he had a white sphere of Shinsoo in his palm.

"There you go, you made your first Baang." Diana congratulated him.

"I thought that's pretty obvious," Diana answered with a straight face.

Both of her parents are one of the greatest Wave Controllers in Tower. Her father, Po Bidau Gustang, is more on the technical side of controlling Shinsoo, while her mother, Eurasia Blossom, relied on her instincts to do so.

Although Diana, had a better understanding of how is she is controlling Shinsoo, thanks to her father. She relied heavily on her instincts like her mother. Controlling Shinsoo and breathing were the same thing in her eyes.

"Since you made your first Baang, now you have to learn how to manipulate it." Diana started juggling the white bud in her hands. After showing Lumen, she looked at him expectantly.

Lumen rolled his eyes at her lack of explanation and tried imitating her. He tried making the Baang move around, but after a couple failed attempts, the Shinsoo dispersed.

He formed another Baang in his hands and tried again. Remembering her words, "Don't force it, guide it.", he tried coercing the Shinsoo to move around. He was successful, and the Baang danced in his hands. Diana watched him with a proud smile on her face.

After playing around with it for a few minutes, he made the Baang fly in Diana's direction. She let the Shinsoo ball land on her, but it caused her no damage.

"Tsch." He clicked his tongue in annoyance.

"Already getting ċȯċky, aren't we?" Next thing he knew, he had a small hole on his shoulder. A white flame burst out and healed his wound.

"The next thing I will show you is how to strengthen yourself with Shinsoo. After forming a Baang, you can absorb it in your body. You can focus it on only a single part of your body, or you can spread it across evenly. Both options have their pros and cons, but they vary depending on the circumstances."

Diana showed him how to absorb the Baang in his body, and Lumen managed to succeed after a few failed attempts.

"You Irregulars are so unfair. You are not even from the Tower, but the Tower loves you." Enviously, she shook her head.

Lumen formed another Baang in his hand and wanted to try something out. He was interested to know if he could combine his Devil Fruit Powers with Shinsoo.

He tried imbuing his light powers in the Baang, and it worked without a problem. It felt extremely natural doing so. His light powers felt complete when combined with Shinsoo.

It was like adding the last piece to a puzzle that he didn't even know he is missing.

"Very good! You added a quality to your Shinsoo. I won't be surprised if that is your main quality seeing how easy it was for you to combine it with your Baang. Unfortunately, I don't have any device on me that could test your Shinsoo quality."

Lumen played around with the light imbued Baang in his hand, and fired it off in Diana's direction. This time, she didn't let the attack hit her. A petal sprouted from the white bud in her hand and blocked the attack.

"Hahaha." Melodious laughter left her mouth, and she sweetly smiled at him. "I will have a lot of fun helping you learn how to use Shinsoo better."

Gustang is the one that spent most of his time teaching Diana and her sister how to manipulate Shinsoo. Blossom, on the other hand, always told them to do whatever it feels natural to them since that's what she did.

Diana made him do exercises that included shooting stationary and moving targets, maintaining a Baang while attacking him and various other.

He did try throwing a few potshots at her, but she easily blocked his attacks.

By the end of the "teaching" session, Lumen's clothes were filled with holes.

"I haven't had so much fun in quite some time. Contact me tomorrow for our next session. Oh, and keep it a secret that you are an Irregular and that I'm teaching you how to manipulate Shinsoo." After saying that, she teleported him to his Apartment Building.

After sending him away, Diana made her way towards her bed. She was away from her favorite place for far longer than normal, so she had to make up for it. She undressed and laid down on her bed.

A couple of hours passed, but no matter how she turned around, she couldn't fall asleep. Something didn't feel right with her. The bed just wasn't warm enough.

She remembered how Lumen's bed had just the right amount of warmth, so she made up her mind. Diana quickly put a few clothes on her, teleported in front of his room, and knocked on the door.

Hearing someone knock on his door, Lumen felt a sense of deja vu. Cautiously he opened the door, and hid behind it, in case he gets greeted by another bunny flipper to the face.

Diana entered the room, kicked him in the buŧŧ, sending him outside, and went to sleep in his bed.

"Ah, this is perfect." She exclaimed and fell asleep instantly.

Lumen was fuming from being kicked out of his room for the second time. He wanted to do something about it, but Diana was currently stronger than him. In the end, he decided against trying to get her out and got himself another room.

Days passed by, and Lumen had spent his days in the same manner. Going to the Hunting Area, training his physical body with Tiana and showing her how to use Shinsoo. Being taught by Diana how to manipulate the mysterious energy and getting kicked out of his room at night.

Diana had told him to teach Tiana, how to form a contract with the Guardian and to help her out with manipulating Shinsoo. She told him the purple-haired girl would pick up on how to do it quite quickly.

When he asked her why she believed so, Diana told him she sensed a connection with her. The purple-haired girl was most likely an orphan from the 10 Great Families or a branch family, that was abandoned in the Middle Area.

Making a contract with the Guardian was a simple process. One has to make his Pocket visible and simply say: "Contract with the Guardian."

If the Guardian of the Floor finds you worthy, he would give you permission to use the Shinsoo on the Floor. Very rarely, would a Guardian deny forming the contract with a Regular or a Ranker.

Lumen asked Tiana what did the Guardian look like, but the only thing she told him is that it was big and looked very scary.

Only a direct descendant from one of the 10 Great Families or an Irregular would be able to learn faster than her. Diana said that Tiana has more talent to become a great Wave Controller, rather than a Scout.

A lot of Regulars had even asked the two to form a team with them or join an existing one. Most of them looked weak in Lumen's eyes so he refused all offers.

Two weeks had passed since Diana started teaching him how to use Shinsoo and Lumen's control over his Devil Fruit powers had reached a new level.

Practicing Shinsoo manipulation required a lot of mental control, which translated to his Devil Fruit abilities.

His physical strength had also increased greatly, and he now could kill a Red Scythe by slightly strengthening his body with Shinsoo.

All in all, Lumen and Tiana's strength had grown by leaps and bounds.

Lumen was very pleased with his progress, but he had to admit, that the best that happened to him, is that he was no longer getting kicked out of his room.

It was a month after Lumen got to the 3rd Floor when the rest of the Regulars from the 2nd Floor finally arrived. He had a lot of questions for Baam, so he was anticipating their meeting. He also had to pay him back for wounding him as well.

\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\

Rant time!

I have nothing to rant about... So I will ask you a question!

Since Lumen killed possibly the strongest Regular on the Floor, the rest wouldn't dare call him Weakfish anymore.

So the question is, what should his sobriquet/nickname be for the time being?