Elizabeth felt the urge to ask her teacher if he was right. After all, it would be a bad idea to accept his advice one-sidedly. That was the sole advantage Elizabeth had over Shirley and Freon. Her teacher was literally in her hands! She focused and began a telepathic conversation. (Teacher, what do you think about the Sword King's advice?)
Rena replied, (I was going to wait a bit longer, but the Sword King is right. Your fundamentals are strong enough, and you're at the Half-Condensed Drop Core Level. It's about time for you to begin developing a combat system and consolidating your strength. You should know how badly you need to after the Battle of Liguang.)
(He was right?) The doubt in her voice was apparent.
(Although he's young and inexperienced, he is still an Instinct Realm and a Rank 3 King. His insights are far above yours. However, there is one thing that I would like to emphasize. Creating and refining a combat system isn't as easy as you might think it is. Every part needs to synergize with the rest to form a harmonious balance. One thing out of place and the whole system comes crumbling apart. It's a long and continuous process that requires constant adjustment and experimentation. Not to mention, you need real combat experience to truly see its strengths and weaknesses. A refined combat system might take an entire lifetime to achieve.)
(That long?) she sucked in a cold breath. Like Rena said, it seemed like she severely underestimated the difficulties involved!
(Even Rank 5 Gods might struggle to make a perfect combat system, but there's no point in setting your sights too high. For now, you should focus on creating a simple combat system that's tailored to your personal skills and needs. You can always change or improve it as time goes on.)
(The Sword King mentioned five main areas: offense, defense, mobility, perception, and recovery… They're self-explanatory, but it takes me several seconds just to cast one high-level spell. Isn't this too much to ask for, especially in the middle of combat? The risk of backlashing would be high, and I would be pushing myself into an early grave.)
(That's why people use multicasting or multitasking,) Rena explained. (Multicasting refers to what humans call 'double-casting' or 'triple-casting' for Arcanists. Multitasking is the same, except for martial artists. This enables people to use multiple abilities simultaneously. It's essential for any combat system.)
(If I recall correctly, double-casting is an ability that very few Condensed Drop Arcanists can grasp. As for triple-casting, only Protector Avin Arcellius managed it, and he's a Blue Depth Arcanist. Wouldn't that mean that very few people in the world could use a combat system properly?) Elizabeth had to question the point of such a system when the starting line was so far. Equally, she had to question whether she could grasp double-casting at all. She would be wasting her breath in developing a combat system without it.
(That's where you're wrong. Double-casting, and even triple-casting, isn't a special ability. In fact, it is quite ordinary. Many advanced civilizations would consider double-casting barely acceptable…)
(Then… what would be considered good?) she wondered.
(It's been too long, so my information might be outdated, but I believe for Rank 2 Lords, five-casting was considered good. As for Rank 3 Kings and above, the standards become harder to measure. I can't easily comment on them.)
(How do you know all this?) Elizabeth had to ask.
Rena was a spirit inhabiting the crystal in her Whiteangel Bow, meaning there was no chance for it to travel the world and learn everything that it knew. To be honest, she found the idea weird to begin with. Rena was an existence that seemed to eclipse everyone else she knew by a very large margin, yet the spirit was trapped inside this crystal. What was Rena's history and true identity? There must be more than meets the eye. Perhaps, Rena read her thoughts, but the spirit went silent. Elizabeth took this as a sign that their conversation was over when the sound of the Sword King's voice pulled her back to the real world.
"Your priority should be to develop a recovery method first," he stated. "I classify recovery methods under three categories: physical, mental, and energy. Physical means to work on the body, such as a method to heal your injuries, stop your bleeding, or mend your bones. Mental means to work on the mind, such as a method to maintain your concentration, consciousness, or reasoning. Energy relates to recovering your own energy in the middle of combat, thereby extending the time you can fight. A good recovery method can go a long way to keeping you alive. I would focus my efforts on here."
Hearing this, Freon was reminded of the heavenly phenomenon in Firecast. His uncle had siphoned the World Energy throughout the capital and funnelled it towards himself, directly regaining his Blue Depth Core combat strength again. It gave his uncle the power to contend against the Third Hand and later rescue him from the Whispering Shadow! It sounded as ridiculous as it was. Freon realized now that this was a prime example of an energy recovery method the Sword King talked about. He regretted never asking his uncle more about it. If he had it during the Battle of Liguang, things could have ended up very differently. All those people might not have needed to die in vain. Guilt washed over him and made him take the Sword King's lessons far more seriously.
"I'm confused about one thing, master. Martial techniques require Martial Energy to use, and magic spells require Magic Energy to use. In that case, how can an energy recovery method exist? We would be using some energy to recover even more energy. How is that possible?" Benedict raised a good question because going by his master's explanation, a person could fight forever using an infinite supply of energy! No matter how powerful his master seemed to be, this was surely impossible. It approached the realm of gods! No one should have that level of power.
"It's not a martial technique nor does it require Martial Energy to use. Let me ask you this then: where does your energy come from?"
"It's… created inside our bodies."
"And how do we create it?"
"We… make it from food, right?" Benedict was unsure.
The Sword King's face dimmed. "That's one way of phrasing it. To be exact, Arcanists can draw the World Energy from outside their body into themselves, converting it into Magic Energy as it passes through their Channels and into their Core. Martial artists function the same way. By eating, drinking, and resting, our bodies convert World Energy into Martial Energy. It's the same reason why you regain your energy after a good night's sleep. Remember, Martial Energy is synonymous with stamina. The process might be different, but the result is the same."
"You're not telling us to eat and drink while fighting, are you?" Shirley was slightly disgusted at the thought.
"No… I'm not."
"Then you want us to-"
"Ahem!" Freon coughed. "Shirley, I think we should let the man continue."
"…As I was saying, the process might be different, but the result is the same. You're not using energy to produce energy because it's our body's natural recovery rate. An energy recovery method simply accelerates that process. I won't go into detail but know that it's not anything special."
Elizabeth sensed the confusion around and suggested, "Sword King Sin, might we have a demonstration of a complete combat system? I believe it should clear up most of our confusion."
"Very well. Watch carefully." He proceeded to draw his sword and casually slashed at the open sky, creating a gigantic crescent flying slash! The sheer ease startled Elizabeth and her friends. He ignored their gawking expressions, and explained, "This is one of my offensive methods, Heaven's Divide!"
He then disappeared, leaving a flash of moonlight in his wake. "Mobility method, Moon Flash!" Everyone looked up to see the Sword King standing on the air, facing his own attack head-on. His speed surprised even Perception Realms!
"Defensive method, Swallowing Sea!" Thrusting his sword forward, he released the exact same amount of energy that his Heaven's Divide had. Boom! The two attacks instantly exploded and cancelled each other out. They were perfectly negated! It was actually the same method that he used to defend against Elizabeth and her friends' attacks earlier.
"Recovery method, Sipping Cloud!" He cupped his mouth and took a deep breath. As he did so, thousands of rainbow-colored threads of World Energy formed around him and were drawn into his body. It was eerily like the heavenly phenomenon in Firecast, except on a much smaller scale! The chaotic energy left behind from his methods were also absorbed, returning the sky to its original calm.
"I can't easily show you my sensory methods, so you'll have to make do without them," the man said, reappearing in front of everyone. "This is one example of a combat system in my Cloud Sea Style."