Chapter 148 Ice and Fire
Jason summoned a spiked wall that charged towards Milo who was proficient in dual-dagger, and the five-meter-tall spiked wall charging towards him, which was unexpected.
In Jason´s view, this wall was extremely crude as it was just a lump of almost 30% of his mana reserves forced together into a single attack.
Milo twisted his body and landed five meters apart from Jason, who looked at him, only to notice that the left and right sides were completely sealed off by ice walls giving Milo a single path left to attack.
Straight towards Jason!
What Milo didn't know was that the walls, Jason manifested after using the large lump of ice to distract him, were only thin walls one was barely unable to see through.
Nevertheless, through the pressure Milo gave himself, he didn't even consider trying to break out of the encasement as he charged straight at Jason with his movement technique still exerted to the limit.
Jason smiled lightly as the white tinge in his eyes was replaced by a black flame as he used another 30% of his mana to form six hand-sized fireballs he threw towards Milo one after another, slowing the shocked Milo down.
Suddenly Jason vanished from Milo´s view right as the last two black fireballs flew simultaneously at him.
Severing the two black fireballs, Milo was barely able to sense something rushing past him, as goosebumps spread all over his skin.
Milo only felt a slight cooling sensation on his neck, as cold steel pressed on it, when the AI announced the result.
[Victory, Jason Stella!]
Everyone was astonished as Jason´s control over his ice affinity suddenly increased by leaps and bounds, ignoring the normal struggle everyone had to go through.
But for Jason, he didn't think that it was something special, as his brain was refined, increasing his capabilities to an extreme high, while Artemis guided him with the sensation and memories she seemed to have inherited when she evolved.
Furthermore, looking closer, Jason´s ice affinity was still crude and not very detailed or refined, as the big, spiked ice wall was just a lump of mana pressed together by his ice affinity without a high resistance and at most capable to shock someone, while the other two walls that sealed of Milo´s path were almost thin enough to see through.
Using his fire ability, Jason knew he couldn't hide it anymore but this was only a small problem because he already showed his black origin flame at the Artisan practical exam.
As such revealing the black fire affinity wouldn't be considered so bad, even though Jason didn't have a hidden trump that nobody knew left.
This could be considered a minuscule issue but nothing really threatening, while his reputation in addition to his dominance was once again showcased.
He had to do that in order for other classmates to fear him at least slightly once rumors would begin to spread.
In order to not be challenged by every Tom and Jerry, Jason had to show his dominance and Milo was the best target for this, as he was the second strongest student at the 6th affiliated Vanguard school.
In the end, he only won because Milo underestimated his ice affinity while he didn't knew about his fire ability but that didn't really matter right now, because more than hundred pairs of eyes stared at him with admiration, jealousy, fear, and also anger, as they couldn't believe Milo lost once against Jason once again, indicating that the spar a day before wasn't luck.
Without the surprising aspect in his attack, Jason wouldn't have been able to beat Milo with his own speed, because of the gap between someone with a physique and mana core size of a 5th Adept in comparison to someone with a physique and mana core size of a 9th Adept.
The difference was vast but tactics and the perfect usage of affinities were apparently enough to overcome the difference to a certain degree.
In a head-on spar, Jason would definitely lose with his current capabilities and he knew that but it didn't change his crazy combat prowess to fight someone a few levels higher than himself.
Initially, Jason was only a 2nd Adept rank but after obtaining the baptism from the black origin flame in addition to Artemis' and Scorpio's amplification through the soulbond, Jason´s physique and mana core size were already halfway on their path towards the 6th Adept rank, which was an amplification of almost 4 levels.
Fighting someone four levels higher was already amazing but Jason was even able to fight Milo, who is initially only a 7th Adept rank, crossing a gap of 5 levels solely because of his soulbonds benefits as his black origin flame was also Jason's soulbond.
Seron hadn't seen Jason using the black fire ability and he was shocked, while Antalia the rank-4 alchemist already informed Till about his students' special fire affinity with the request to force him to enter the Artisan tower, which caused him to smile dryly.
How could he force Jason into entering the Artisan tower, if he was Shane´s student?? A being with prismarine crystal formed into his mana pool, indicating that he already solidified some of his mana within it.
In the end, this meant that Jason was the disciple of one of the most terrifying powerhouses of humanity, which was also called Sovereign rank, one rank above the Lord rank.
TIll wasn't sure how many human Sovereigns existed but there hasn't been a single being that crossed this realm and entered the rank above, otherwise, this one being would most likely reign whole humanity, uniting, suppressing, or dominating it.
Nevertheless, Till couldn´t force Jason into doing anything if he wanted to survive and live a peaceful life.
As such he ignored the rank-4 alchemist´s request, while he read the message a few times.
'He can even cleanse the impurities within herbs and plants?.... Jason..who the hell are you?' Till wasn't sure what to think of Jason anymore, as he shocked him one time after another, while the most shocking was when he refined his brain and created a sub-area while being at the novice rank, even though he helped out a lot.
It was extremely easy for Jason to control his fire ability as it worked perfectly fine with a single thought to his origin flame, while he had to instruct his ice affinity one step at a time, which slowed down the response to his wish by a small margin.
While his black origin flame responded immediately, the ice affinity took roughly 2 seconds, which was way too long, considering that it could decide if someone lived or died, including his own life
Jason was confident in increasing his proficiency with both his fire affinity and the ice affinity, while his ice affinity would need most of his focus.
Taking away his dagger from Milo´s neck, he went outside, while the crowd of students looked after him.
Jason went towards TIll, while Artemis landed on his shoulder.
It was already late and it wouldn't be long before the special combat class ended and Jason notified Till that he would leave before he walked out of the gym.
Right now, Jason thought that he had too many things to do and not enough time for everything.
He pondered what he should focus on the most, while other aspects had to be less prioritized.
Jason had to practice his affinities to a certain extent, hone his newly obtained martial skills in addition to his old ones, and workout in order to stay fit.
If that was everything, he would have already much to do but not only had he also the responsibility to read all the books about herbs, plants, ores, runes, forging, alchemy, and so on, for the time being.
Furthermore, Jason also had to increase his soul energy in order for Artemis to enter his soul world which was the most comfortable place for every soulbond beast.
Even without sleep, he would have a fully packed schedule and he could only frown displeased by how short a day was.
Practicing the Heaven's Hell skill three times a day, was a must which would already take more than 4 hours of his day, while honing his martial art techniques could be done in his afternoon class while sparring with all kinds of stronger special combat class students.
Practicing with his affinity in the morning and reading books in the evening would most likely work out, while he could workout in the morning and before sleeping.
With this tough timetable in his mind, Jason happily entered the shuttle in front of him with a pleased smile.
Having a rough schedule was definitely better than not knowing what to do and Jason would start using this schedule for the future if nothing important came into his way.
Inside the shuttle, he practiced the Heaven's Hell technique with his immense amount of soul energy, increasing his braiding and injecting time to increase to slightly more than 90 minutes.
The shuttle had long arrived in front of the Fler´s house and Jason left it immediately after he finished up his practice.
Fortunately, the shuttle service wouldn't throw him out of the shuttle and it would only be paid more per minute he wasted.
Credits weren't a problem for him anymore and he entered the Fler´s mansion with Artemis on his shoulders, attracting everyone´s attention.
Not only was it important for them that Artemis finished her evolution but also that Jason seemed fine, even though he looked a little bit dirty right now.
Happily caressing Artemis, who transmitted her overjoyed emotions towards Jason, everyone looked at him with shock, as they sensed his mana core at the 2nd Adept rank.
Gritting his teeth, Greg felt extremely jealous, while even Malia could only look at Jason with shock in her eyes.
The whole Fler family had one thought in common as they saw Artemis' evolution into an unknown race in addition to Jason´s extremely fast breakthrough rate.
[Monsters]