"Mom, can we train a little later? I mean, I should spend time with grandpa, shouldn't I?" No, no, no. He finally ran away from home and was living without going to bed in tatters every day from training.
"Hehe… it was not a request."
Zen could now only pray for his bones now.
Elizabeth forcefully dragged him into a room transformed into a training area. Zen and Anna had trained here before with Elizabeth, but today, everything looked different. Elizabeth fiddled with her phone, and the walls shifted.
"Woah! Just how much equipment is here?" Everyone stood in awe, surrounded by an array of weapons on shelves. Every weapon imaginable was present in the room – swords, spears, naginata, katana, bows, talwar, axes, and even guns.
"There are some of the best-created weapons, even in Prominda. Lizzy stole everything before leaving."
All eyes turned toward Elizabeth. "W–What? I bought them all for… m–my kids. Yes, they will need weapons, won't they?" She averted her eyes.
'She stole it for fun.' Everyone thought.
"Sigh. I can't even complain since I am benefiting." Zen shook his head and wandered to the polearms section, selecting spears one by one to find the one that suited him best. Spear techniques were his focus, making a spear his ideal weapon.
"Hmm… this feels heavy, but I guess I will be able to handle this as I increase my strength." The gray spear he hoisted weighed around 500 pounds, with a long head and two spikes at the junction of the head and pole.
Zen swung it, and the spear traced a beautiful arc while bending slightly. "Good spear! It has elasticity as well, which will help in maneuvering."
Meanwhile, Anna explored the ranged weapons section. With light and earth elements at her command, she was perfectly suited for ranged attacks, striking enemies from a distance while maintaining a strong defense.
"Spear, huh? Well, I guess that suits your talent." Elizabeth nodded and picked up daggers. "I have an affinity with wind and darkness elements, so my weapon of choice was always something light and fast."
They positioned themselves on the ground. The room no longer resembled its past. Extended with protective walls and a central portion transformed into a fighting arena, it had borders around.
"Umm… Mom, won't we attract attention if we make noise?" Anna questioned.
"Don't worry, girl. Remember there was a brief blackout before I appeared? We cut down all the networks surrounding this home and activated a soundproofing system. This house itself has pretty good defensive capabilities. It can maintain a protective shield even if a spaceship crashes onto it from space. It also has options to maintain any temperature and has almost infinite food supplies in the basement."
Halfway through the sentence, Anna's mind had already shut down. 'Why is it so unnecessarily advanced?'
"Let's start, Zen." Elizabeth readied her daggers, taking her stance. "Use your elemental powers and don't care much about anything."
Zen took a deep breath, gripping his spear as he began actively circulating the elemental energy within him.
Focusing the elemental energy on his legs, blue lightning sparked all over his body. It was a new experience, and the immense energy was challenging for him to control.
"Wind is fast but silent and deadly, but lightning is fastest but explosive and destructive." Zen aimed to use this principle, closing the distance as rapidly as possible.
"I am coming!" He shouted and vanished from his spot.
|BOOMMM| A thunderous noise echoed, drawing everyone's attention to where Elizabeth had been standing. Surprisingly, she stood in the same pose, and there were no signs of Zen.
They turned around, and Zen was found lying on the ground in a corner.
"What the hell was up with that speed?" Shreya was bewildered. She had faced many speed-focused enemies but had never witnessed anything like this.
"Urghh, just how did I end up here? I was sure that I was running towards mom." Zen stood up, dusting his clothes. He was not injured at all.
"Try again." Elizabeth said and Zen nodded assuming his position.
|BOOMMM|
|BOOMMM|
|BOOMMM|
"Is he stupid?" Anna asked Bennett, who observed everything. It was strange because everyone knew that basic skills came inherently with the bloodline as soon as one started cultivating.
Bennett didn't reply; instead, he walked towards Zen, who was rubbing his head.
"Zen, instead of directing the energy towards your legs, circulate it uniformly around your body." Bennett directed. When using a technique that focused on a specific body part, directing the energy toward that part was crucial for maximum effectiveness. This also ensured that the attack would be as capable as it was supposed to be.
"Hmm… alright, I will try." Zen circulated the energy uniformly.
"Here I go!" He ran towards Elizabeth, who was ready with a dagger.
|WHISHH| He disappeared again. But this time, he reappeared just beside Elizabeth. He smiled, jumped behind her, and swung his spear.
|CLANKKK|... Sparks flew as Elizabeth swiftly blocked the attack.
"I did it."
"Mr. Ashford, why was Zen able to execute the skills now? His speed was no less than before, but he still had better control." Shreya curiously asked.
"Don't you see, little girl? He has been using the energy for a while now, but he is not even tired because of the lack of it?" Shreya noticed that Bennett was correct.
"My conjecture was that he has way too much energy. To direct energy at one part, we cut off the connection from the other parts. Because Zen has so much energy, whether he directs it or not doesn't matter. When he uniformly distributed the energy, his eyes and senses also got strengthened proportionally to his feet, so he was able to control his movements." Bennett explained patiently.
Basically, the energy was so abundant that whether he concentrated it or uniformly distributed it, it was already going at the max capacity to his legs. Take money for example. Let's say you have $100 and you only need $5 max for food and $5 max for drink. Now, whether you cut down the drink or not, you always put the max amount on food easily. That's what was happening with Zen.
Now Evelyn asked, "Just how much energy does he have that his current senses don't even work?" As Evelyn had been cultivating for a while, she understood completely how absurd this was.
"Hmm, if my estimation is correct, currently he has energy equivalent to your average 9th outer ring cultivator. You know, the kind who's really good at convincing plants to grow faster and making the best tea in the galaxy."
"Just why isn't there a single normal thing about this guy?" Shreya said exasperatedly. Zen had perfect affinities. He then had a family filled with monsters from another galaxy. He also had the bloodline of a Blue Crown Phoenix, and now he had an absurd amount of energy. Shreya really wanted to curse Zen.
'Is he a four-leaf clover masquerading as a human?' Shreya thought of something ridiculous.
"Uuuooo" Zen's shout echoed everywhere.
While the sidelines were talking, the fight between Zen and Elizabeth continued.
"The only thing you got better at is running away, I guess." Hearing this, Zen squinted his eyes and started attacking Elizabeth.
He disappeared from his spot and thrust. Elizabeth bent right, but immediately Zen changed the attack and converted it to a slice. He was extremely fast, but Elizabeth parried his attack easily. He retreated a bit and then jumped in front for a cut. But this time, he used the Thunder God technique to change his direction mid-air and shifted to the side. However, it seemed that his attack didn't have power, as Elizabeth easily deflected it.
|WHEEZEEE| Zen was breathing heavily.
"You can't even touch me, brat. HAHAHA." She used her fist with the dagger to punch Zen's legs, and |BAMM| Zen fell down.
"Mom, you are too cruel!" Zen shouted.
"Hmph!" Elizabeth snorted.
"Stop!" Bennett came and supported Zen.
"Boy… I think you should change the weapon."
He then walked towards the polearms section and picked a weapon which was not even visible because it was kept at the back.
"Use this instead!" Bennett handed the weapon to Zen and snatched the spear away.
"A halberd? Why?" Zen asked, scratching his head.