Hello there, I hope you are having a wonderful day!
So, I'm passing here to give two messages:
1- I have posted my new novel which is participating in the Fantasy Carnival's contest. You can either enter my profile or search "Accursed Dices" on Webnovel. I thank you all for the support in advance;
2- I have seen that we have already crossed 100 Power Stones mark, so I will post the bonus chapter later today.
Having said this, have an enjoyable read! 🍷😎
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"Okay, before we start what could potentially be a trauma later on, I want to ask you two, what path do you want to walk on?" Hai said while forming two human-like bodies made out of ice, one at his left and another at his right.
"A mage?"
The ice doll moved its arm and ice spikes spurted out of the ground.
"Or a martial artist?"
The other ice doll punched forwards and sent a shockwave forward while cold wind could be felt from its traces.
"As you can probably see, a martial artist is focused on a more internal aspect, meaning that you would have a better and stronger body, thus being the tough one in a fight. Also, being a martial artist doesn't mean that one wouldn't have other ways of attacking and such things. At higher enough levels, martial artists can be the bane of mages." He said while he willed his mana band made the doll's insides visible. There, both Hong Li-Wei and Kryn saw a yellowish energy flowing around its organ and making a certain path to course through the whole body.
"And as a mage, you will be more focused on external aspects, meaning that things like: firepower, buffs, debuffs, curses, and other ways of affecting someone or the surroundings will be you strong point. You wouldn't necessarily have a weak body because you can simply reinforce yours with mana, but it will still far short when compared with a martial artist." He let them both see the insides of the other doll.
There, Hong Li-Wei and Kryn saw that the mana circulation was smoother and less spread compared with the martial artist doll.
"While there are some other variations such as sorcerers and some others, those two which I explained are the most basic ones and can serve as a base for you to follow whichever path you will come to want in the future. Now, please think about it and give me an answer so I can start training you." After saying so, Hai undid his ice dolls and closed his eyes while putting his hands behind his back.
"…" Hong Li-Wei looked at him for a few seconds before coming out of her stupor.
What did she want?
She still doesn't believe that training will yield any result as she doesn't have talent in any, but she also doesn't doubt Hai, because he has already pulled off too many impossible things.
As she was thinking, Kryn was also immersed in her thoughts while consulting Laila.
[Kryn, I think you should pick the mage path.]
'Magic?'
[Yes. Remember that I can give you rewards that will boost your strength, however, the number of them that fall into the category of martial artist are far too few. I don't think you would make the best of me if you choose martial artist.]
Kryn said nothing and closed her small eyes.
She thought back to a scene that will be forever etched into her mind.
She found someone who she could spend her time with and even had a fun day with him.
But then, it all went downhill when they were attacked by that crazy guy.
Through all their fight, Kryn kept her eyes wide open just like Hai said to her.
And she will never forget it.
The scene of Hai easily toying with a whole battalion while he was alone and defending her on top of that.
And even more after, where he directly confronted that scary thing without even flinching.
His imponent and unmovable figure is still deeply craved into her childish mind.
Kryn opened her eyes with sparkle in them and firmly nodded after making her decision.
'Huh. Mage.'
[(❁´◡`❁)]
Kryn turned towards Hai and opened her mouth.
"Mage." She stated while looking at his eyes.
Hai opened his left eye and looked at her before nodding and closing it again.
Hong Li-Wei meanwhile was lost in her thoughts.
'What do I want?' She asked herself again.
She had never stopped to think about it, but what did she really want of her life?
She always did missions with her team and risked her life for money like any mercenary would.
However, for what?
She had money, and it wasn't little. But did she stop doing missions?
The more Hong Li-Wei thought about Hai's question, the more she realized how much she didn't know what she wanted.
*SIGH*
In the end, Hong Li-Wei sighed at her situation. She would solve it later as she doesn't believe that she will get a divine revelation out of nowhere like that.
"I will be going as mage." She said after some deliberation.
Although she thinks that having a better and stronger body is going to be good, she knows that she wouldn't make do with just it.
So, she chose mage because even if she doesn't have talent in it, she probably can still do some things with just the basics.
"Okay, now that you two have decided what path you want to walk on, I will be starting your training immediately." Hai said after hearing Hong Li-Wei's decision.
Raising his hand Hai did two small blue dots and made them float towards them both.
Then, the blue dots stopped before their stomach and while they looked curiously at two dots, they heard Hai's voice.
"Those dots are just a small agglomeration of mana. I will make them go inside your body and flow through your body, so try to understand and remember the feeling and where they pass through. This will make it easier for you to start to become an adept." He said before making the dots enter their bodies.
After the dots entered, both Kryn and Hong Li-Wei felt a slight refreshing sensation coursing through their bodies.
They closed their eyes and tried to feel what was it to have mana moving inside of them.
Kryn had an easier time feeling the mana as she had already used some magics through Laila.
She felt something foreigner and weird moving inside of her. She felt the dot moving around her stomach, then passing through her organs and going to her heart, then it went up and did a quick trip to her brain and back.
She concentrated on the feeling that the mana was giving her and where it was passing through.
Hong Li-Wei meanwhile was having a bit more of difficult.
Although she could also vividly feel the sensation, she had a hard time grasping its move.
She concentrated on the dot, but there were times that the dot vanished and appeared somewhere else.
However, this didn't hinder her in the slightest.
Making use of her intelligence, Hong Li-Wei deduced the most likely paths that the dot could take and observed it closer while seeing what was the correct path.
Hai observed their expression carefully and nodded inwardly.
Although he didn't say it, he knows that Hong Li-Wei would have a hard time becoming a mage due to the lack of natural talent. Hence, he made she purposedly have a harder time in feeling the mana even when it should be easy.
The mana dots he made are the most basic and effective way of making someone be able to feel what mana is like, and even a common person would be able to feel it easily.
However, he made it harder for Hong Li-Wei as to make her use her mind and find ways to solve her problems or work around them.
Although she indeed doesn't have talent, Hai is someone who believes that talent is only a pair of shoes.
You will be able to walk more comfortably with it, but it changes nothing that you can walk all the same even without it.
By making her use her brain and solve her problems, Hai is making sure that she wouldn't hit the wall which separates genius from a common person just because of something like "talent".
She is also a genius in her own right, so she will be able to move forwards in her own way.
Looking at their expressions, Hai concluded that it was enough and snapped his fingers.
The two mana dots suddenly vanished and both Kryn and Hong Li-Wei opened their eyes.
"How did it go?" Hai asked them while using mana in his eyes to look at their bodies.
'Kryn progressed in figuring out her mana channels, as for Hong Li-Wei…'
Hai suddenly smiled when he looked at her.
She had managed to devise a better path for her mana channels than what Hai had thought she would.
"Huh. Good." Kryn said before looking at Hong Li-Wei.
Said person felt a gaze on her and smiled wryly.
"I think I did good." She said, a bit unsure about how much her progress was worth.
"You both did a great progress for your first time. You two managed to figure out and devise your own paths of mana channels." Hai stated with a smile.
Kryn nodded with her lips slightly arced upwards, while Hong Li-Wei also felt a bit happy.
However, their happiness didn't last much longer.
"Now, time to rain down hell on you." Hai commented offhandedly while taking two crystal balls off his storage ring.
"This phase of the training is rather simple: you will start to try to feel the mana around you. Then, I will guide you in being able to absorb mana and then forming a core. Any questions?" He put one crystal ball near each one and then went behind them.
Looking at Hai going behind them, Kryn and Hong Li-Wei just shook their heads and waited for further instructions.
"Well then, I will touch your backs and inject a bit of mana inside your bodies before sucking it back into mine, with this you two need to pay attention to the sensation of absorbing mana into one's body, okay?" Seeing them both nodding, Hai started the process.
*BOOOM*
A loud explosion occurred a few hundred meters away from them.
"Just ignore it and focus on your task for now." Hai said while he kept doing the process of injecting mana and then absorbing it back repeatedly.
Meanwhile, near where the explosion occurred.
"Are y'all really putting in effort in this?" Chang Hua asked while looking at a battered Bing Qing, a bloodied Stella and Elena who was constantly healing her broken bones.
"F*cking madwoman." Stella cussed while getting up, but her hair suddenly stood on end.
*BAM*
Chang Hua kicked Stella in the face and send her flying a few hundred meters away before she crashed against the ground.
"Who are you calling madwoman, you leech?" Chang Hua whispered with an annoyed look in her eyes.
*SWISH*
Chang Hua suddenly spun her body and swung her right arm in a clockwise manner.
*CLANG*
Chang Hua calmly stopped Bing Qing's sword with her right hand.
Looking at the sword, Chang Hua noticed some engravings in it and quickly threw the sword away.
*FOOOSSSHH*
Not even a second after throwing the sword away, Chang Hua witnessed the sword catching fire and small sparks of electricity coursing through its blade.
"Quite the dangerous artifact you have there, little girl." She said while sidestepping Elena's purple miasma's blade.
Elena maintained a stoic face even after missing her target and spun her body while slashing horizontally at Chang Hua.
Chang Hua smiled and used a bit of her aura to coat her fist before punching Elena's blade.
*CLANG*
*CRACK*
*CRACK*
*SHATTER*
Elena saw her blade breaking apart and swiftly kicked Chang Hua in her stomach to make some distance.
*THUD*
However, Elena felt as if she had kicked a wall as Chang Hua didn't move back even an inch.
Looking at it, Elena used her mana and concentrated her purple miasma at the sole of her foot.
*BAM*
She used her miasma to do a small explosion and threw Chang Hua a few meters back.
"Oh? Smart move-" As she was complementing Elena, Chang Hua suddenly saw a fist zooming in towards her face.
She raised her left arm and blocked the attack without any problems.
*BOOM*
The strength behind the attack was enough to crack the ground in a cobweb manner, but Chang Hua stood there while looking at Stella.
Stella smiled and suddenly, some parts of her right arm opened and propulsors appeared.
The propulsors activated and Stella coated her fist with mana.
Chang Hua belatedly realized that and tried to move away from Stella's punch line, but she was a bit too late.
*BOOM*
With a straight punch in her face, Chang Hua was hurled away with a loud air explosion.
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A/N: So, what do you guys think about this chapter?
Comment what you thought about this chapter. If you liked it or not, I want to read your opinions and interact more with you guys.
Another thing: Please give your feedbacks. I want to know what you guys think, if there are things that could be better or if I could have done something in a simpler manner. If you could also leave a review, that would help me to understand what you think about the novel in general, so it would be really helpful.
Also, join our Discord community, there you can interact with other readers or with me in case you have questions or ideas about/ for the novel.
Discord server: https://discord.gg/NZV2EtdJY8
(The link is also on the novel's synopsis).
...….
Power Stones' rewards:
100 Power Stones = 1 bonus chapter;
200 power stones = 2 bonus chapters;
500 power stones = 3 bonus chapters.
...….
That is all for today, thank you all for reading! 🍷😎