Chapter 410: Gushing Spring

Montagu smiled as well and stepped into the center of the training room.

The moment Catherine moved, her invisible scale churned the ether throughout the training room.

She was far more adept at the Moon Nail Spell Formula than Richard.

The mirror barely caught her raising her hand before a Moon Nail was already in front of Montagu.

Montagu sidestepped, letting it pass.

For anyone else, the sheer breadth of the Solar Tradition meant being a jack of all trades and master of none.

But for Montagu, every single aspect was formidable.

Meeting Catherine's assault, he condensed a solar corona in his palm and shaped it into a wall of light, blocking her second Moon Nail.

The two continued like this, one attacking and the other defending.

Catherine's Moon Nails were fast and ruthless, targeting only the trickiest angles.

Montagu's walls of light blocked them one after another, and he occasionally slipped a counterattack through the gaps.

Richard watched silently from the sidelines, his water mirror's Reflection capturing their every movement with absolute clarity.

Catherine was undeniably powerful on the offensive.

The power lent by the Nemesis Mask allowed her to pinpoint and target her opponent's flaws.

She could spot the slack in an opponent's defense or the thin spots in their ether at a glance, focusing her attacks exactly there.

Montagu's strength lay in having no flaws. Rather than trying to match Catherine's speed, he steadily layered his defensive walls of light.

After fighting for about ten minutes, neither had gained the upper hand.

Richard called for them to stop.

Catherine withdrew her needles and took a half-step back. Her breathing was steady; she clearly hadn't gone all out.

Montagu, on the other hand, had worked up a bit of a sweat. He smiled and spread his hands.

"Fighting you is genuinely exhausting. You only target the most uncomfortable spots."

Catherine retrieved her Silver Needles and wrote a line in her notebook:

"You have very few flaws. I can only pick at the tiniest ones."

Fischer, sitting in the corner, clicked his tongue in amazement. He said to Edith, "Look at that, now that's a real fight. What you and I were doing earlier was just elementary school kids messing around."

Edith wasn't offended; instead, she nodded in agreement.

Montagu looked at Richard. "Your turn."

Judging by his expression, he was highly anticipating Richard's performance.

Richard stepped into the center of the training room and asked directly, "Who wants to fight me first?"

Catherine was the first to volunteer.

Though she had just finished fighting Montagu, she hadn't expended much energy.

The red-haired girl pulled out her Silver Needle case once more and stood opposite Richard.

"How are you going to reflect me?" she wrote curiously.

The moment she snapped the notebook shut, the Moon Nail in her other hand shot out in perfect sync, trying to catch him off guard.

This Moon Nail was both tricky and fast. Richard's water mirror had barely registered the twitch of her fingers before the cluster of needles was right in front of his eyes.

He didn't use [Stone Armor] to block as he normally would. Instead, he silently circulated his mirror Reflection.

The Mirror Second Stage was about seeking stillness within movement. He had anticipated her sudden strike long ago, and his water mirror was already spread wide.

The moment Catherine's ether condensed, her unformed intent had already landed in his mirror.

He shifted his body slightly, and the Moon Nail brushed past his ear, pinning itself into the inscribed wall behind him.

Catherine's eyebrows twitched in surprise.

Her next Moon Nail carried a variation. Halfway through its flight, the cluster of needles abruptly swerved to the side.

It was the prototype of the Moon Chain, an advanced version of the Moon Nail, piercing through one point to extend toward another.

Richard's mirror had already reflected that turning point.

Before Catherine even launched the attack, her ether leaned sideways; her intent landed in his water mirror before the physical action.

He matched her timing, leaning in the opposite direction, and the swerving Moon Nail pierced straight through the spot where he had just been standing.

Catherine stopped her attacks.

Under the combined effects of [Perception: Calm Observation] and the Sphinx Lamp's evolved illuminating ability, Richard's mirror had reached a level that other Mirror Tradition Practitioners at this stage couldn't possibly achieve.

While others' mirrors could only reflect physical strikes already in motion, his mirror could capture the flow of ether inside an opponent's body before a Spell Formula was even cast. It was remarkably close to precognition.

This time, Catherine stopped playing tricks.

She put away her Silver Needles, flooded her limbs with ether, and lunged at Richard like a wild beast.

She was incredibly fast; Fischer let out an impressed whistle from the corner.

Richard's water mirror still didn't disperse.

No matter how fast Catherine's fists and kicks were, they couldn't outpace her revealed intent.

When she wanted to punch left, the water mirror reflected the flow of ether beforehand.

When she changed tactics for a downward axe kick, Richard was already stepping out of the way before the attack arrived.

One strike, two strikes, three strikes—Catherine's assault grew increasingly frantic, yet Richard just barely managed to dodge every single one.

On the seventh exchange, Catherine's straight punch hit thin air.

In the brief gap as she retracted her stance, Richard tentatively tried to counterattack. He condensed his Moon Nail halfway.

But in that very instant, his water mirror shattered into chaos.

This was the greatest hurdle of the Mirror Second Stage.

Right at that moment, Catherine's next attack arrived.

He hastily formed his [Stone Armor], but Catherine's hand had already stopped dead in front of his chest.

The center of the room fell quiet. Catherine pulled her hand back, scribbled in her little notebook, and then showed it to Richard:

"You truly can reflect my intent every single time, but the moment you try to cast a Spell Formula, your mirror ceases to exist."

Richard didn't try to cover it up; there was really nothing to hide. "I haven't reached that step yet."

Fischer stood up from the corner, his face full of disbelief.

He said, "I was staring right at you guys, and Catherine was moving so fast my eyes blurred. How did you manage to dodge all of that?"

Catherine answered for him on her notepad: "He can reflect a person's intent."

Fischer marveled, "That's way too wicked."

Edith, who had been silent the whole time, finally spoke up. "No wonder you dared to choose the Mirror."

Richard looked at her.

Edith continued, "I never understood why there are so few followers of the Mirror Tradition in the entire Empire. It is notoriously difficult to progress in, yet you insisted on choosing it.

Now I understand. It is indeed exceptionally suited to you."

Montagu walked over just then. He had been standing on the sidelines watching, his eyes full of contemplation.

"I'll fight you next."

Montagu's fighting style was entirely different from Catherine's.

He seemed to have absorbed the lessons of Catherine's bout. He didn't rush to act, instead choosing to first rein in all of his ether.

The very first principle of the Solar Tradition was order.

He spread his ether across his body, laying it out perfectly flat and solid.

Richard expanded his mirror to reflect him.

Although he could still catch reflections, it was far more strenuous than observing Catherine.

Catherine's offensive intentions were extremely obvious, pointing straight at her target like a spear.

Montagu's intentions were mixed into his solar corona, radiating in all directions so that no one could pinpoint them with certainty.

While Richard was still analyzing the situation, Montagu struck first.

He pushed out a wall of light, pressing it straight toward Richard and driving him into a corner.

Richard took a few quick steps to evade, but Montagu's second wall of light was already moving in, sealing off his escape.

Step by step, unhurried and steady, he forced Richard into a blind corner.

Richard could indeed reflect the exact landing point of every single one of Montagu's walls of light.

But against this kind of overwhelming frontal pressure, he truly had no counter.

The two constantly maneuvered and shifted around the training room, surprisingly resulting in a stalemate.

Although Montagu's walls of light covered a wide area, their reach was ultimately limited. He was, after all, only a Practitioner; maintaining the walls and constantly pushing them forward drained a massive amount of ether.

Richard seized every tiny opening. Whenever his opponent swapped out a wall of light to push forward, he would dart into a blind spot.

As the bout wore on, Montagu was the first to stop.

"This mirror of yours is truly impeccable on the defensive front."

Fischer chimed in from the side, "Isn't this just a turtle shell? You hide inside and no one can bite you, but you can't bite anyone else either."

Richard remained silent.

Catherine suggested, writing on her pad, "Let's try a free-for-all. All four of us together, and see if he can still reflect us."

The moment this proposal was made, Fischer immediately perked up.

Edith cautioned him from the side, "Don't get too excited. The two of us combined aren't even enough for Catherine to bother with."

Fischer was entirely unbothered. "Four people is still four people. The two of us will be in charge of annoying him, while Catherine and Montagu take the main offense."

This division of labor was unanimously approved.

Richard stood in the center of the room, surrounded by the four of them.

"Begin," Montagu said.

Four distinct streams of ether bore down on him from four different directions simultaneously.

It was only at this moment that the true eeriness of Richard's water surface revealed itself.

The lines of intent from four different opponents fell into his pool of water all at once.

Catherine's sharp edge, Montagu's continuous density.

Fischer's rock-hard book pages, and the deviations Edith calculated using her Star Map—all of it was reflected crystal clear in his mirror at the exact same instant.

If it were any other Mirror Tradition Practitioner, trying to reflect two people from different directions at this stage would leave them entirely flustered.

But relying on the synchronous Inspiration expansion provided by [Perception: Calm Observation] when perfectly still, coupled with the wide-area reflection from the Sphinx Lamp's evolution, Richard's water surface remained undisturbed even against four people at once.

He wove through the gaps between their four intents. Navigating around Moon Nails, walls of light, pages, and stardust, he ironically caused his four opponents to hold back out of fear of friendly fire.

The four of them surrounded him and launched a chaotic barrage of attacks for several minutes, but not a single one managed to touch him.

"Stop, stop, stop." Fischer couldn't take it anymore. He braced his hands on his hips, gasping for breath. "You're simply not human."

Montagu also halted, his forehead beaded with sweat.

He had just used ninety percent of his strength, yet he hadn't even managed to brush the hem of Richard's clothes.

He looked at Richard, genuine admiration in his voice.

"This mirror of yours truly grows stronger when facing strong opponents.

The more people attack, and the fiercer the assault, the more that water of yours reflects, and the more accurately you can dodge.

Facing you one-on-one, fighting steadily and slowly wearing you down, is actually the only chance of winning."

Catherine retracted her Silver Needles as well and wrote in her little notebook, "You really chose the right path with the Mirror Tradition."

Richard leaned against the wall and started to pant.

After all, he had fought three consecutive bouts, with the final one being a multi-person free-for-all. It hadn't been easy for him either.

According to the information his aunt had given him, other Mirror Practitioners at his stage were probably only slightly stronger than those from traditions completely unsuited for frontal combat, like Fischer and Edith—but likely not by much.

Montagu pointed out, "Your only flaw right now is figuring out how to counterattack while maintaining your mirror's Reflection."

Richard nodded. "I know, which is exactly why I need your help with sparring."

After resting for a moment, he said, "We'll do another free-for-all in a bit."

Fischer groaned, slumping onto the floor. "Again? I can't even lift my arms."

Catherine shot him a look and wrote in her notebook:

"You barely exerted any effort just now. You were just slacking off in the back the whole time."

Fischer stiffened his neck and retorted, "Just making up the numbers is exhausting too!"

Beside them, Edith covered her mouth and laughed.

The subsequent chaotic bouts continued until dusk. In the end, Fischer had to be carried out of the training room by Montagu.

Once everyone else had left, Richard remained in the training room alone. He expanded his Still Water once again; the various intents of the four from earlier were still lingering in his mind.

He began to review the battles.

During those several chaotic skirmishes, he had fought smoother and smoother the longer they went on.

The Mirror Tradition, combined with his [Erudition] storing the data, meant that later on he might develop a terrifying evolutionary ability to grow stronger over the course of a battle of attrition.

His aunt was right. The more complex the reflections in the mirror, the better he could train himself.

He stood up and performed one final round of breathing method exercises.

The pool of water within his chest rose and fell with each breath. Right at that moment, a row on his interface moved.

[Breathing Lv.4, Progress 100%.]

Richard paused.

Ever since he switched to the mirror condensation method, this bar had been slowly creeping forward.

Tide-Shifting Breathing combined with the mirror condensation method—he had gone through the process from the transitional phase to complete adaptation for both of these advanced breathing methods.

Today's multiple free-for-alls, spending an entire afternoon intensely maintaining the water and reflecting people, had pushed that last sliver of progress all the way to the top.

He had been saving up points just for this exact moment.

[Available Points: 2.11.]

He invested two points into it.

[Breathing Lv.4 → Lv.5.]

The instant the points were injected into his body, it felt entirely different from previous times.

At Lv.3, he had seen the inverted tree in the Seat of the Sun at his chest for the first time, and watched how it slowly healed his body with every breath.

At Lv.4, the precision of the tree's restoration had leveled up again, slowly dissolving even the tiniest blockages deep within his old wounds bit by bit.

But this time, at Lv.5, that inverted tree began to seep ether outward.

Richard looked at his tree of light. The edge of every single leaf began to secrete infinitesimally fine beads of light.

The beads gathered along the veins of the leaves, dripping down into the roots one by one, pooling in the very center of the Seat of the Sun.

[Gushing Spring]

[Healing Enhancement; life essence can be stored during Breathing, self-recovery speed upon sustaining damage is vastly accelerated, or essence can be channeled to heal others.]

Richard sat on the floor of the training room and opened his eyes.

As usual, he tested it on himself first.

He tried to channel that small bit of accumulated life essence into the palm of his right hand.

It was different from [Healing].

[Healing] was like a passing breeze, gently caressing every place it touched.

Injured areas were smoothed out a little, while uninjured areas relaxed a fraction in turn.

[Gushing Spring] was a well.

The well water slowly brimmed up from the utmost depths, continuously seeping out.

When struck by Moon Nail: Reflection, the effects came fast and faded fast, like a basin of cold water poured from head to toe.

Gushing Spring... felt like nothing at all.