Chapter 71: Elaine's Learning Technique's

Standing in the middle of the court while holding a sheathed Hokori, I swiftly titled my body to the left and protected my right side with Hokori just in time to divert the blade of a long scythe from piercing my side, however, before I could counterattack; the scythe was quickly retracted along with the attacker.

With a smile, I held Hokori while waiting for the next attack, which came promptly as the attacker attacked me horizontally from behind with their scythe. When the scythe was about a centimeter away from touching my back, I tapped my foot on the ground, causing me to get propelled a few meters in the air, and watched how the scythe sliced right through the spot where I was previously standing.

Using Qi to quickly push myself back down before the attacker could escape again, I landed on the shaft of the scythe while resting Hokori directly beside the attacker's neck, causing them to instantly stop moving, leaving the two of us in a weird position of me standing on the scythe that was being held by the attacker's arm—quite the comical scene considering the difference in size between the two of us.

"You lose." Said Elif with a teasing smile as he retracted Hokori and stored it in his dimension ring.

"I know. Hmph, you don't need to rub it in." Replied the attacker, sounding slightly dejected as she shook the scythe, flinging Elif off in the process before storing it in her silver dimension ring.

"Still, Elaine, your fighting capabilities have been vastly improved over the last month. Before, you could hardly even fight me, but now I'm starting to have trouble keeping up with your agility, and let's not even mention your ability to conceal yourself; without using my divine sense, you're almost invisible to me." Said Elif with a warm smile as he gracefully landed on the ground beside Elaine.

"You say that, but it doesn't really feel like I've improved; I still can't even touch you, let alone Maxim." Remarked Elaine, sounding quite frustrated, though her words only earned a small chuckle from Elif.

"There is no point in ever thinking you can touch Maxim or Illumia, dear Elaine; their cultivation base is vastly superior to either yours or mine; even if we were thousands of times stronger, we still wouldn't be capable of touching their afterimage, let alone their actual bodies. Also, do you think I haven't been training? I can't have my little sister, who just started cultivating, beat me; that would be very unbecoming as your elder brother." Said Elif as he fanned himself with his quạt tay while walking through the training grounds beside Elaine while Maxim and Illumia followed slightly further behind.

It's been about a month since Elaine first started her training sessions, and she's progressed exceptionally fast while her cultivation base followed along with her; Elaine is currently an early Half-step Saint in merely a month since she first started cultivation, decently quicker than me, but to be fair, I did have to absorb significantly more Qi than Elaine.

Today, I have been training with Elaine for a couple of hours, and not only is it good training for her, but it's also good for me as I'm forced to fight someone not only faster than me but also capable of easily hiding from my senses; However, this is all under the condition, that I suppress my cultivation base. While I'm currently capable of keeping up with her speed, Elaine hasn't learned any movement techniques yet, and that truly worries me as even though I can keep up with her without using my movement technique, it's not that easy, I have to really focus on countering her impressive agility.

'However, once she learns a movement technique, I don't think I'll be capable of keeping up with her anymore. Since we have nothing going on right now, it wouldn't be a bad time to bring her to the Royal Library.' Pondered Elif as he grabbed Elaine's hand and teleported just before the Erdtree with the help of the medallion hanging on his waist.

"Hmm, why did you bring us here, brother?" Asked Elaine, slightly confused at his sudden action.

"So you can learn some techniques that'll greatly improve your strength; with it, you'll gain a much better chance at touching me during our spars." Said Elif as he walked towards the giant double doors embedded in the Erdtree and knocked.

"Care to open the door, great-grandfather?" Asked Elif after knocking, to which the doors rubbled before slowly opening.

"Let us go."

After walking through the unnecessary long hallway, we arrived inside the giant library. Still, we continued walking past all the incredibly large bookshelves, and while doing so, great-grandfather silently appeared beside us, slightly startling Elaine in the process.

"So what have my great-grandchildren come looking for now?" Asked Charles curiously while slightly chuckling at Elaine's reaction.

"Elaine hasn't learned any techniques yet, and I figured it would be better if she learned techniques sooner rather than later." Said Elif, causing Charles to nod in understanding.

Shortly later, we arrived at the teleportation platform, and once we were all standing on it, it released a light that encased us in a dome for a split second before receding, allowing us to see the change in scenery.

"Great-grandfather, could you help Elaine find the Royal techniques while I search for other techniques she might like?" Asked Elif as he stepped off the platform while already walking away.

"I don't mind. Now, let us go and gather the Royal techniques for you." Said Charles as he began walking in a different direction while explaining what a technique is to Elaine.

While great-grandfather and Elaine were gathering the royal techniques, I was looking for accessory or support techniques for Elaine, which qualifies as anything that isn't explicitly meant for fighting.

'I really should learn one as well, but I'll only do so if I find one I like.' Thought Elif as he made his way between the aisles of bookshelves, which for reference, are somewhat small considering this is where all the God and Immortal-level techniques are stored.

Once I arrived at the bookshelf where techniques on hiding and concealment were stored, I began looking through the books while only picking the ones that would synergize the best with Elaine.

'Body of transparency, no; Camouflage of the Rainbow Chameleon, no; Voids Veil, hmm, this one is actually pretty good.' Thought Elif as he stored the Voids Veil in his dimension ring before continuing to browse through the remaining techniques.

"Unlucky, the only technique I could find suitable for Elaine was the Voids Veil; hopefully, she likes it." Muttered Elif, slightly disappointed as he left that specific bookshelf and continued searching for techniques.

Most of the techniques in this area are related to either alchemy, formations, and blacksmithing, so finding anything unrelated to those three subjects took a lot of work, especially when I was looking for techniques suitable for Elaine. However, even after searching for ten minutes, I couldn't find any other technique I think Elaine would like.

'Disappointing, but at least it wasn't a complete waste; I did manage to find one technique.' Thought Elif as he lightly sighed while heading to where Elaine and Charles are at.

While on my way to their location, I saw them walking towards me in the distance while Elaine was reading what looked to be like the technique on the Royal Elf's Palm.

"Find anything useful?" Asked Charles while walking towards Elif.

"Hardly; I only managed to find one technique suitable for Elaine: The Voids Veil." Complained Elif as he grabbed the technique from his dimension ring and handed it over to Charles as Elaine was still reading the book.

"Voids Veil, as a low-Immortal technique, is quite difficult to learn, especially since you must comprehend the void if you wish to use it to its full potential; however, given Elaine's physique, this technique couldn't be more perfect for her." Commented Charles as he lightly smacked Elaine's head with the book, only for her to respond annoyed.

"Ugh, I was reading great-grandfather." Muttered Elaine as she stored the Royal Elf's Palm in her dimension ring and grabbed the book Charles was handing to her.

"Voids Veil?"

"It's a technique meant for concealing yourself by manipulating the void for it to hide your presence, and combined with your already natural Void physique, I'd say it would be mighty powerful in your hands." Said Elif while Elaine examined the technique.

"This sounds great! With this, I'll be able to hide my presence better next time we spar, brother." Said Elaine, slightly excited at the technique in her hands.

"Glad you liked it. By the way, what techniques did you acquire with great-grandfather's help?" Asked Elif, curious as he didn't remember seeing that many techniques related to the scythe.

"Well, I got the Royal Elf's Palm and the Elven Body Flicker, the same as you, and an offensive technique called Reaper of Death, along with Voids Veil." Said Elaine as she handed Elif the technique Reaper of Death since that's the only one he doesn't know.

~Reaper of Death, a mid-Immortal tier technique. Created by the Lich King during the Flourishing Epoch after having bathed in dense and pure death Qi for eons before finally harnessing the power of death Qi into his scythe. With this technique, every single one of your attacks will carry a trace of death Qi, and the more people you've killed, the greater amount of death Qi you'll be able to harness.~

"Sounds quite powerful, and I remember reading about the Lich King somewhere; it said after a deadly battle that lasted nearly an entire year, he disappeared, and no one knew what came of him. Considering we have one of his techniques, figuring out what happened isn't too difficult." Said Elif as he handed the technique over to Charles since he needed it to create a copy since they weren't allowed to take the real thing out of the royal library while also mentally noting to find more detailed information regarding death Qi since his knowledge was relatively shallow regarding that subject.