Chapter 58 - Combat Training
{The location for combat is the training room 2A6C. I'll check your status quo and plan your training.}
The comm notified him of Seth's message. There was an hour before the training.
'Everyone here informs things before an hour. Is that a tradition?' He thought.
'Space Path Status'
Varian said and glanced at the blue screen.
[Space Path Level 1: 100/100]
He was stuck in Space path earlier and was quite worried. But after a few hard battles and training, he reached the peak of Level 1.
'It took quite some time to reach the peak.'
[Host, please be considerate of what you say. It is barely 1 week since you awakened in Space path. It takes months, if not a year, for an average person to make the same progress.]
'Average persons don't face difficulties in everything they step in like me.' Varian rolled his eyes.
He recalled the one who changed his life dramatically.
He was almost forced to kneel. He was completely isolated.
Instead of having new friendships with roommates, he was living alone. Instead of finding friends and teaming with them for the missions, his tutor had to look for someone to team up with him.
Instead of being given a good tutor and nice stipend, he was avoided like a plague. Even the one who helped him suffered.
He was supposed to have plenty of merit points and use them for his training. But, he was wrecking his brains just to pay the monthly exam fee.
He was supposed to look forward to the future with hope and confidence, but he was giving his all just to not get expelled.
"Charles." Varian muttered and clenched his fist. What he did might be insignificant for him, but to Varian, it was equivalent to risking his stay at the academy and that meant risking the very purpose he came here. Sia.
'He's a Level 6 now. I'm barely Level 2. I still have a long, long way to go.' Varian gritted his teeth.
'I still need to breakthrough into Space Path Level 2. I hit a bottleneck. So I'll stay at Level 1 for some time.'
To become a Level 2 Space Awakener, Space sense must be thoroughly integrated with space power. Only by doing that one could truly apply space power beyond their own body.
Integration was not difficult, but generally took a few months. However, to Varian, it was too long.
'Integration... I need to train daily while searching for quick solutions.'
Varian thanked the Wendy, the nurse in charge, and left the infirmary. She asked him to inform her if there was anything wrong with Seth.
Soon, he reached the training location. It was a relatively small open top dome. The floor and walls were coated with a white alloy. It looked pristine and clear.
In that neat training hall, there was a pile of weapons in a corner.
"Cough." Varian coughed loudly.
"Cling. Ting"
"One second!"
Seth woke up from the pile of weapons and yelled.
He disappeared and, in less than a minute, returned. He was wearing a new combat suit and looked invigorated.
He gazed at Varian and raised an eyebrow.
"What's wrong?" Varian was a little nervous and asked.
He asked System to hide any trace of him being a Space Awakener. Even if someone deliberately probed his aura, they would not realize it. Especially Seth, since Varian knew his tutor would give up on him if he was a dual awakener.
"I just feel that you've become stronger. It's negligible for me...but it's a significant improvement for you." Seth rubbed his chin and thought before shaking his head.
"It must be my illusion."
'At least he didn't doubt space path.'
"Let's start." Seth asked Varian to make a move. "Try to kill me with everything you got."
Varian took a breath, and the next moment, dashed at Seth.
With a lethal punch at neck, backed by a kick to the crotch, he launched his first offensive.
"Boom!"
"Boom!"
Varian's fists were about to connect, but before he knew it, he was thrown off. Something invisible pushed him, but didn't injure him.
'His gravity powers, huh.'
"Again."
Varian dashed behind Seth and kicked at spine while aiming, also punching at the neck from behind.
"Boom!"
"Boom!"
Varian was once again thrown back just before his attack could connect.
"Come on!"
"Boom!"
Varian followed the same pattern and just when Seth's gravity push was about to push him away, he spun his body.
So when the pushing force hit him, it helped him rotate faster instead of pushing him away.
All of this happened in the blink of an eye and Varian's fist this time connected to Seth's neck.
"Cling"
"Ouch"
The sound of a metal clinging reverberated in the room.
Varian felt his fist turn red. When he finally punched Seth, he felt like he was hitting an iron plate as an unawakened.
"Again!"
"Boom!"
"Again!"
"Cling"
"Cling"
Varian quickly adjusted to the pushing gravitational force. He spun just before the push came every time and used it to increase his own momentum, thus increasing the impact of his attacks.
'This guy has good experience. There are no fundamentals I need to teach.' Seth smiled.
He was shocked at Varian's performance.
His goal was to let Varian try to hit him until he gave up, but unexpectedly, Varian found a way to turn his opponent's force to increase his own attack.
Seth could neutralize Varian's strategy by using equal gravity force on all parts of Varian at the same time and pushing him away.
However, a Level 2 Gravity Awakener would have a hard time facing Varian. Even peak Level 2s would lose.
A dozen minutes passed and Varian was sweating profusely.
"I'll only use the strength to Level 2 Physical Awakener." Seth announced and got into a battle stance.
He equipped himself with a grey full body armor. Since his body's defense was too high for Varian, he used an armor with a Level 2 Body Awakener defense.
He deliberately controlled his strength to a middle Level 2. It was impossible to weaken self. Not everyone had a magical system.
However, Seth achieved this by using his high reaction speed to control how he reacted. He'd only react as fast an average Level 2 would.
Varian went on an offensive strike.
Seth substituted himself into a mid-level 2 and the next moment, Varian aimed at his chest.
He tried to move, but it was already too late.
"Boom!"
"Cling"
Varian's fist punched through the armor and hit Seth's skin.
While on the other hand, Seth was shocked and overjoyed.
'Indeed. He defeated a peak Level 2 Fire Awakener.'
"Let's up the game." Seth had a cunning smile.
His strength increased to level 3.
'Level 3...' Varian took a deep breath. This would be his first battle with a level 3.