We continue sparring following the same routine.
Ember calls out a level of mana control I need to hit, and I instantly change my strength output to match it.
During this whole process, I continuously have my All-Seeing Eye and natural perception released abnormally high.
Even if my perceived output is at level 100 mana control, I'm still scanning my surroundings and taking in as much data as I can from these matches at levels near my maximum output.
Over the next few hours as the sun rises overhead, I begin to see and feel a change in the invisible and unseeable barrier that resides around my body.
Each time I drastically switch levels of control, there is a minuscule ripple in the barrier. Every time I feel this ripple, the barrier gets closer and closer to my skin and I can feel it happen with far more intensity like it's connected to my central nervous system.
Almost like the instinctual senses I receive when I activate my swordsmanship skill, it's getting more and more intense the more I focus on it.
I can't consciously create the ripples that are occurring, but I can focus on them more and adapt the way I switch between mana control levels to make the rippling effect more intense and noticeable.
It feels almost like a bell is ringing in my ear when the ripples get intense enough, but there's no actual noise.
Ember doesn't tell me specifically to do this, but once he realizes I am, the jumps between mana controls get faster and further apart in power to help me stimulate this change and get into a flow-like state.
More hours pass, and we spar well into the afternoon.
The sensation of bells ringing throughout my body, and the invisible barrier rippling over and over, gets so intense to the point where it crosses a threshold and feels like one long continuous ringing vibration.
I don't even sense my own breathing; the only thing I can feel is the power level in my body rise and fall, until I see the barrier between my inner being and the world around me fade away in my mind's eye.
My true mana control seeps out, and flows strong like a river as the continuous feeling of infinitely fast vibrations ring through my ears and mind.
The full extent of my mana control pours out into the desert and a wave of natural intimidation and pure crimson aura expands to become kilometers wide.
The moment it does, my concentration completely breaks, and the bells stop ringing.
Reality floods back into my conscious mind and the vibration of this divine limiter ceases completely, my mana control is concealed and hidden from the outside world again, but for a moment, it was there.
I fall backward into the sand covered in sweat and hear Ember slowly clapping his hands.
"That was it. You managed to break through. The feeling is now ingrained in your mind, you'll be able to do it again."
Breathing heavily, I nod to myself and respond.
"You're right... about everything... This power isn't something I can directly control, but it is something that I can align myself with in moments of extreme focus. It's very possible."
We both grin as I get back up to my feet and place my hands back into the fighting position.
"Let's do it again."
While the sensation is fresh in my mind, we get back to sparring.
I don't even want to talk about it, I just want to focus on the ripples and bells while I can still feel them.
Another hour passes before the sensation builds up to the point where I release my entire mana control again just like I did before.
This time, we don't stop after my concentration breaks and I jump right back into it.
It takes less than 20 minutes for me to feel the rhythm of the barrier this time.
Then 10 minutes, and after the fifth attempt, I'm able to concentrate and release my mana control in less than 3 minutes.
We continue to spar.
Eventually, as the sun starts to set, every few seconds, spurts of my full unconcealed mana control are pouring out into the open air.
The desert turns dark again, and we don't stop sparring.
After another few hours pass, I'm able to keep my full unconcealed mana control aura pouring out from the barrier around me without breaking my concentration for what feels like indefinitely.
The ripples feel natural, and I can concentrate and align my output with them in fractions of a second.
At first, the only thing I can do is release my full power, but as the night goes on, and we continue sparring while changing the speed and power of the output of attacks, the perceived mana control becomes easier and easier to control.
Once I've synced myself with the barrier, it takes just a few more hours to master how to manipulate the actual energy that comes out and the amount that is perceived.
I've passed the point of mystery, and entered the stage of fine-tuning.
I'm able to show the speed and power of a level 600 hunter, and give off the mana control that matches it, while slipping in full-powered level 3000+ mana control rated attacks whenever I please without my perceived mana control rising at all.
The rate at which my perceived base switches between level 100, to 500, to 1000, to releasing everything I have has become almost instantaneous.
The barrier around me has melded with my mind, and the process has become almost second nature.
I have no idea how I'm doing it, or what true powers are at work here, but at the end of the day, Ember created an item to do a purpose, and it is a success.
After a full hour of flawless switching and sparring, Ember finally speaks up and calls it.
"Perfect. There's no more training to be done. Anything more is just a waste of energy. Your Soul Energy is not visible at all unless you activate it, and your mana control suppression is flawless. With just a few hours to spare until morning, our training is complete."
I look over the desolate desert, and I slowly fly in the air toward Ember with a teleport crystal in hand.
"Good. Now we rest up before the B-Class Exams."
I place a hand on his shoulder and crush the gem to bring us back to the bunker in the Crimson City, then pull out our Hunter's IDs that Bri made a few weeks back.
"These are who we're going as. I'm Ray Anderson, lightning mage, and you're Emrie Carter, Fire Wielder."
He takes the card and nods, and I continue.
"Want me to make you a fire sword with the Minotaur stones or some kind of armor to play the part?"
Ember shakes his head.
"No, I'd rather not use a weapon. I'll just fight with my fists and pure fire magic. That's enough."
I nod while taking out the lightning and wind imbued dagger set from my item storage and holding the blades that crackle with static electricity in my hands.
"I'll get to try these out."
I spin the blades around my fingers, then place them on my waist while sharing my conceal skill with Ember.
We both shapeshift and edit our status to become level 600 hunters, but I think of a potential problem.
"What if for some reason you're out of range? My Domain stretches about 5km. There's a chance my concealment skill could deactivate."
We both think about this issue for a moment, and throw ideas at each other while I try to imbue my conceal skill into random B-Grade items. Most of them do a great job at creating illusions and allowing the user to change their form, but none of these items I'm creating can directly affect the user's status. I come to the conclusion that I need to upgrade this skill.
I use 250 PP to bring my special grade conceal up to legendary grade and turn to Ember.
"It's worth it. I've never seen another human with this skill, so it's about time I just give in and upgrade it. 250 PP isn't much of a setback considering my next Absorption skill upgrade that I'm saving up for is going to take 10,000 PP."
My eyes track over the new skill's info and I'm happy to see the new perks available. Now, anytime I see a person eye to eye and they come within the range of my mana control aura, this skill creates a perfect copy of them to replicate if need be.
Secondly, their voice and even status information converts over to the concealment replication. The actual skills and buffs themselves aren't converted to me if I don't own them, but if I watch the monster or person use this buff or skill, I can now recreate an illusion of it if I wish.
I'm able to pick and choose any voice, face, body, feature, or combination of any that I save to create any form I wish with far more accuracy than before. Figments of my imagination can become reality with far fewer limitations.
The strength of the concealment is dependent on the user's mana control base, so I'm confident no one can see through it, especially with an extra layer of protection now with a divine limiter on top of it.
I now imbue this legendary skill into one of the leftover cloaks and Wraith cores from the war that Fisher and Lydia defeated, then blood bond the item with a large amount of Ember's blood and over a quarter million MP as a catalyst to the craft.
It creates a magic cloak with over 200% stat buffs on every stat and a conceal attribute that allows the user to change their form, voice, and status at will just like the skill itself.
Ember accepts it, and puts it on as a backup measure.
We both adjust our perceived mana control to the average level 600 hunter, and switch our appearances to perfect replicas of the men in the pictures on our ID cards.
Over the next few hours, we relax and wait for the sun to rise.
I make sure to check on all of my body doubles one last time to make sure they're set up to take care of the city while I'm gone.
They're in charge of going to Vice City to pick up new materials to continue expansion, taking care of aid packages for new and current citizens, making sure local business runs smoothly, restocking the grocery stores, handing in raw materials to continue the production of orders, and watching over the elemental elites' continued training in the labyrinth.
Best of all, they continue farming in the Vice City labyrinth for stones to collapse dungeons and grow my own labyrinth while collecting more luminite.
I want to come back to an automated and growing system no matter how long I'm gone.
Once the sun starts to rise, I crush a transport crystal that brings me to Bri's workshop and climb the stairs to meet her in her office.
Today, we'll be heading off to the B-Class Exams.
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Author's Note:
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