" while Omni Ingenio is an offensive skill, ars praesidium, is a defensive skill."
"What do we need defence for? I thought we already have Ardor." I replied while sitting with rapt attention to her words.
"Indeed Goshujin, Ardor is a stupendous defence. But with Ars praesidium, no attack will be able to reach you, should it now reach you, it will be blocked by Ardor."
"I see... that's nice to hear."
"Omni Ingenio and Ars praesidium are the basic attack and defence skills, of course as you grow you'll come to learn more about independent manifestation and other attack and defence skills. Ars praesidium blocks off all attacks before they reach you whether physical or magical, but it is something you have to be conscious of. You and I are one when using skills it has to be controlled by a powerhouse and that powerhouse is Goshujin's brain in conjunction with everything that makes your character strong, if your will is broken it is very possible to affect your skill control."
Softly, subtly, I smiled.
"...I know I don't have to get concerned about Goshujin's will being broken, I know you have a strong mental fortitude."
It's not bad to be praised by this crazy bitxh. I grinned as she spoke.
"Omni Ingenio is a skill that increases your proficiency in every field to the maximum, martial art, cooking art, magic, anything it is. Compared to ars praesidium, it's a passive skill, once I activate it, it kicks off, your knowledge about even the little things explodes to the maximum, and you can find yourself excellently good in arts you have barely a little knowledge about."
"Hey Ana, isn't that dangerous, I have read a lot of novels back in my days, it might just be fictional but I have a wide variety of knowledge, so much that I can almost merge it with my reality..."
She cut in before I continued,
"Goshujin, do you understand why you must not learn anything from this world, I am Overpowered, we are overpowered and when you have learnt this, you have only completely mastered 5%...it's a great pace for a strong start."
My lower lips fell, "...5? 5? 5? that I thought I was already at 40 or even higher, just 5?"
"Goshujin, what do you take me for when I say I am the strongest, I mean it." She said, folding her arms and closing her eyes. She floated towards my back and placed her soft small hands in the middle of my scapula.
"Are you ready?" She said to me from behind.
The thought of having an explosive knowledge about almost everything intrigued me, I thought of the novels I've read and how magic operated, down to the fictional martial arts I have always imagined in my mind but I knew was never possible, the martial arts I never got the chance to learn but knew little about, while there were so many things I was going to know, what truly made me expectant was the thought of being able to know all about martial art. I've never seen myself as a martial art freak before now, I've just always thought I'm using it to keep feat. But it seems I have more to myself than even I know.
"I was born ready," I replied to her and also gently closed my eyes.
"Open up: spids sti"
~Throb!~
As if my back was struck with a hammer but from within, a large magical circle coloured red appeared in between her hand and my back, and after the throbbing pain on my back the next thing was a tightening pain on my finger which the ring had melted on, the black marking glowed gold and stretched further to my knuckle, it was getting slightly noticeable.
~THROB!~
I thought it had stopped, but it hit back immediately, this time from the front, a feeling of a worm trying to creep out of your skin, that was how I felt.
Nothing was free after all, but in this moment of pain, I couldn't help but wonder if it can't just happen without causing me groans and moans.
"Done..." She said and floated backwards.
I was already drooling with an open mouth and a bowing face, my cross-legged sitting posture was disorganised but I was. I cleaned my drool with my hand by just simply swiping over and looking up.
The crimson colour of my eyeballs softly glowed as I looked at her.
It was funny how one's perception of things could change from just one second ago. My eyes widened and a wicked grin split my face, I looked into my wide-spread palms and slowly clenched them together.
"Anastasia... I feel like the world is within my hands."
"That feeling of superiority is part of it, as you learn more and more, you will continue to experience explicit change even in the way you perceive yourself. I'm sure Goshujin sama, you would not lose yourself."
I chuckled.
"What's so funny..."
"Lose myself? This is me finding myself, my imaginations and perceptions about situations, circumstances, concepts and even life as a whole have always been a part of who I am, I can't sway away from that, if anything it makes me stick by my ideology, which neither favours good nor favours bad, which is not for light neither is it for darkness, which does not make me a hero and not a villain."
She smiled proudly as she sat on my head, folding her hands and raising her chin. "And that there is why we are a match." Her words pleased me for the first time in a long while.
***
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Avery stood opposite the grandiose and fancy, four-wheeled, two-horse carriage that was meant to convey me to the capital. The Duke stood beside her as mother hugged me tightly and was finding it difficult to let go.
The Duke stepped forward and gently touched her shoulder, she released her arms and stood up, smiling at me she said, "Don't worry, I'll be coming to the capital soon and you can always come and spend some time with me."
I nodded with a smile and looked towards Avery who was cladded in her heavy armour, bidding me farewell before she goes on her way to challenge the grade S dungeon. Knowing her, she would probably be thinking of ways to go about it since I'm now out of the picture.
I hugged her tightly, she was taller but thanks to that I found it easier to slip my family crest into her hand. She noticed something enter her hand but made no noticeable reaction.
-Hold unto it, you must not lose it-
This time she flinched, 'Did I just hear Gil's voice in my head?'
-Correct-
'Gil?' She looked at me, unable to wipe away the shock from her face.
Mind transmission, was the basics in every novel, even in martial arts concentrated novels I often read, being able to speak to their mind, but using the concept of magic makes it more doable, plus I have ether which is an even higher and more durable existence than mana which meant the accuracy of the spells I would be using would be fulminant. It wasn't just magic, there are more surprises to come.