Chapter 99 Training

Three days had passed since Grove Village had been destroyed. Leo and his group had begun their journey to a nearby village after being told by a survivor of the attack that one of the cultists used to live there.

It was currently night time and the group was sitting around a camp fire they had created. Clay, Cain and Rene were talking to each other about the different food their towns were known for making. With Clay and Cain being from the same village, the conversation was seeming a bit one sided.

Leo and Nila were both sitting in silence while staring at the fire and listening to the others. Leo had been spinning the metallic balls in his hand for about an hour now when suddenly he heard Dreifus speak inside his head. 'Looks like your break time has ended, time to get back to training.'

Leo checked his system and noticed that he had indeed recovered all his energy. Leo stood up and excused himself from the group as he turned around and walked into the forest nearby. He didn't go deep into the forest, only going far enough that the others couldn't see him.

'Alright, you know what to do. Use Battle Aura and try to sense the movement of the particles around you.' Dreifus instructed.

When the information regarding Leo's ability had been transfered to his mind the day he received it, he had learned about the existence of particles. He didn't know much, only that there were floating orb like objects filling the air around him and that they were too small to feel or see.

Leo had been using Battle Aura all day, every day, since leaving Grove Village. Initially he attempted to sense the particles in the air, only to realize that he was completely unable to do so. By using the skill constantly over the past three days, Leo had increased his understanding of the ability and what he was sensing around him.

Soon he was able to sense the wind outside the carriage, followed by the beginning stages of sensing particles. Just before setting up camp, Leo had received a notification from the system saying that Battle Aura had reached level 2.

The description for the skill hadn't changed but Leo noticed that it made the skill more sensitive to movement, allowing him to sense the particles around him. It was then that he chose to take a break and replenish all his energy before moving on to the next step.

[Battle Aura]

The Battle Aura extended outwards and Leo was immediately able to see the particles that had illuded him for days. 'Good, now you need to try and move them. It should be similar to what you did with Force Strike, only slower and with more control.' Dreifus instructed.

Leo extended his hand and tried to manipulate the particles using his energy. Since he had already achieved some sort of success in this by doing the Force Strike, he was able to influence the particles relatively quickly.

After an hour of trying he managed to make the particles in a small area, about the size of his hand, move in a direction of his choosing.

To do this he would send small amounts of energy from his hand to a different space within the Battle Aura. Then he would move his hand and influence the energy he had yet to release from his control, therfore moving the particles.

'I don't know if that really counts as the same thing but I'll take it.' Dreifus commented. 'What do you mean it doesn't count! Covering them in energy and then moving the energy, that's got to be some kind of genius. You couldn't even think of that!' Leo was pissed off that Dreifus was looking down on his achievement. Especially when all Dreifus could say as an explanation was ' try to move them'.

*Ding

[Skill - level up]

[Energy Control] (Level 4)

- Can now affect energy from a distance.

'See, even the system agrees that I've accomplished something. I managed to get my Energy Control to level 4.' Leo said smugly, trying to mock Dreifus. 'Yeah yeah, whatever kid.' Dreifus was very annoyed by Leo's provocations.

Leo continued to practice moving the particles around as fast as he could. Eventually he managed to mimic what could be considered as the wind blowing mildly.

After watching Leo shove all his effort into moving the particles, only for the result to be a slight gust of wind, Dreifus couldn't help but burst out into hysterical laughter.

'Hahahah... Haha... Damn kid, nice one. Your enemies will cowar in fear before your mighty wind! Pwahahaha!!' It was the most intense laughter Leo had ever heard before in his entire life.

'Shut up! You're such an asshole...' Leo was both embarrassed and furious. He had really put everything into that last one and seeing that it only made some slight wind made him feel very embarrassed. At the same time, being mocked constantly by Dreifus didn't do him any favors and only managed to distract him.

'You wanna know the best part about all this?' Dreifus asked mockingly.

'...'

'It's that I already know how you could do this better!' Dreifus laughed some more after he said this.

'Oh yeah? Then why don't you enlighten me.' Leo sounded like he was mocking Dreifus. The questioning tone suggested that Leo really meant 'You've done nothing helpful till now so I don't believe you'.

'I could, but then you wouldn't learn anything. Figuring this out for yourself is the best way to improve you ability in the long run. If I gave you all the answers, you'd need me to tell you how to use your ability.

'Aarrrgghh!! Fuck! You're right... Fine, then how about this. One week. If I don't figure it out by the end of the week then I want you to give me a hint.' Leo suggested.

'Hmm alright, that seems fair. Just so you know I won't be giving you the answer, only a hint.' Dreifus replied with a hint of suspicion in his voice.

'That's what I said isn't it?' Leo decided to continue training for a few more hours before finally heading back to the camp site the group was at.

When arriving back Leo was surprised to see that everyone was already asleep, all except for Nila. She had been designated as the groups guard for the first few hours of the night.

Leo started getting ready to sleep as well but before he was finished he was stopped by Nila. "If you don't mind, I'd like to speak with you. There's something I'd like to tell you."