The second day at Mount Shiqu...
Lionel taught Niken how to become one with the gravity of the earth. Because they were in Shiqu, which incidentally had very light gravity, Niken would be able to master it in less than two days.
Lionel hoped, at least after three months hiding in this place, Niken had mastered the defense aura and created her own time-spacial. That way, they didn't need to worry if the white knight or Muyun would suddenly attack them as soon as they come down from Shiqu because Niken would be able to protect herself.
After finishing breakfast, Lionel told his disciple to stand in the open field where there was no grass or other living things.
"I will increase the gravity in the area around you. You will feel heavy and fall right away. Your job is to try to get up and stand straight against gravity. I will increase the pressure if you could hold on for ten minutes. Is there any question?"
Niken shook her head, then got ready to face the gravity pressure that would pull her down.
Lionel knelt and pressed his palms to the ground. Before carrying out the gravity technique, Lionel turned towards Kazuto first.
"I know you will want to run help her, but please don't disturb her training. Don't ever close in on her before this training ended."
Kazuto snorted harshly at that, but in his heart, he reminded himself not to move from his place. Besides, this training was essential to improve Niken's power. They only had three months before the white knight finally tracked Niken. Because of that, Kazuto wouldn't take the risk by holding back Niken's strong desire.
"Alright, I'll start."
Right after Lionel finished saying his statement, Niken's entire body felt heavy as if there was a colossal burden pressing down on her body, making her fall to her knees helplessly.
With all her strength, she held her body with one leg bent so that she did not entirely lie down.
"Good try. If you don't fall flat on the floor, you can stand up. But how long will you survive?"
Niken couldn't respond to the mentor's query at all. To keep her body from being pulled by gravity under her feet, it was so dense she could not make a sound just to speak merely one word.
"Ugh!" Niken struggled hard to push her body up and put her strength into her legs to lift her up.
Unfortunately, the results did not match her expectations. The more she struggled to get up, the stronger the force of gravity pulled her so that her body inched down instead.
"Don't rely on your body muscles. In this case, the more you rely on your physical strength, the stronger the gravity will pull you down."
Fortunately, Lionel understood what was in her heart because not long after that, Lionel gave an answer to her unspoken question.
"Let the astral energy in your body flow out and hand over the power of gravity to your astral power. To fight something visible requires physical muscle strength, but to fight something that is invisible, you can only rely on your astral power."
Niken could barely digest all of her mentor's explanations because, at this time, her body was under extreme pain, and her body was sweaty. It feels like a heavy-safe in a factory suddenly slides on your body and wasn't lifted in a few hours.
If the safe falls on you, some bones will crack and maybe even destroy internal organs. But this one, it felt as it was draining her strength or running in the desert for hours. She felt hot, thirsty, and exhausted.
Kazuto, who only watched Niken from the side, could not calm down when he saw her expression in pain. The usually bright and radiant complexion now looks pale as if the girl was seriously ill. His whole body felt itchy to stop this training, but he struggled not to interrupt.
Niken, you can do it.
Kazuto encouraged the girl through his mind-linking to Niken wishing the girl could hear it.
A faint smile on Niken's pale face made Lionel wondered. Why, at a time like this, the girl can still smile? Is it possible…?
Lionel glanced to the side where Kazuto stood only to see that the man no longer felt uneasy.
The next second, a long groan of Niken, made Lionel refocus his attention on his disciple.
Niken had moved her hands from the ground over her thighs, and now the girl was half standing. This scene made a pair of Lionel's eyes widen.
How long does it take Niken to successfully fight the pressure? Isn't it only been running for fifteen minutes? When he trained Xiao Feng decades ago, it took at least six hours for Xiao Feng to refrain from falling completely. Only then was Xiao Feng able to get up half-standing on the second try, which took nearly four hours.
As for Niken, not only did she immediately hold her body so that she wasn't face down entirely in the first try, but that girl could already lift her body half-standing?
Does it have to do with Kazuto? Could the force fusion work so well beyond expectations that Niken's progress was so rapid?
Whatever it was, Lionel got excited and confident that Niken could create her time-spacial for less than three months.
Five minutes after Niken's struggle to keep her back straight, she finally succeeded and stood upright in her place. Even so, Niken still didn't dare to move because the gravity pressure was still there.
"She managed to stand up, what will happen now?"
"Let her get used to the pressure for ten minutes, after that, I will add to the pressure."
After Niken started getting used to the gravity around her, Niken's body was pulled down with pressure for more than stronger than before.
Without warning, Niken's body crashed hard to the ground and immediately collapsed.
Oops, Lionel accidentally increased his pressure fivefold, instead of doubled it.
Kazuto hissed at him in annoyance then immediately approached the unconscious Niken.