25 The First Week Of Training (3)

Raikou didn't want to get out of bed. The classes were too boring for him to attend for that long.

"Ghost! I feel like you're close to breaking through to rank 3. Damn! Leeching off my talent really has been useful to you."

Ghost smiled. "I can't deny that. Ever since you contract me, I have been cultivating with so much ease that it is shocking."

"That is the Raikou effect." Raikou's tooth sparkled as he winked and gave Ghost a thumbs up.

He had enough of the training and decided to get to great perfection in the advanced footwork as soon as possible. He left his dorm early and to the longest route possible to the training grounds using the footwork to maximise the efficiency of his training. (A/N: If anyone has seen the Kenichi anime/manga, then you know what I am talking about. He walks to school using some steps early on in the story to train.)

His advanced footwork had broken through to great perfection, while he practised it on his route.

He saw Lilia and approached her. "Hey Lilia, I can't do this anymore. I feel like these classes are holding me back. Can you give me the month off till the battle assessment, so that I can do some self-training?"

Lilia frowned and replied. "Don't be arrogant. Without proper guidance, you won't get very far."

Instead of retorting, Raikou just displayed his footwork skill instead.

"H-how? You're footwork is already at great perfection!" Lilia stood there flabbergasted by his talent.

"Exactly! I am amazing. If you spend the next 4 hours showing me a sword and proper movement skill, then I will be able to practise it on my own."

Lilia sat down and pondered the decision for a while. After struggling with her thoughts, she finally came to a conclusion.

"Okay. Today I will teach you two skills. I am most proficient in the element, so both of my skills will be related to that. The wind element classes were used to allow the students to clearly sense the energies around them, due to element affinities being used in your skills and determining how much of it you can bring out. The higher your affinity is towards an element and weapon; the easier it will be for you to increase your mastery in a skill corresponding to it. Sorry for rambling." She paused and unsheathed her sword.

"These two skills are part of a set and complement each other greatly. The first skill I will show you is the Wind Steps skill. It gives you a 5% boost in speed when used at the initial level, but it is very draining of your energy. Improving the mastery will allow you to use it with more power and with less energy consumption." Lilia was quite proud of her skill, although she definitely had better ones.

"Wait... Is there a upgraded version of the wind steps skill called cloud steps?"

"Yeah. Why?"

Raikou activated the skill and began moving at rapid paces, which increased his speed by 10% at the initial level.

Lilia's eyes darkened. "What are you? You have never failed to surprise me since you entered my class. Even your movement skill is the same as my best one. I was showing you the simplified version, as I thought this would be too hard." She sighed before continuing. "Forget it. I will show you my insights in cloud steps and we will see what you can derive from it."

Lilia leaned forward and activated the skill. Raikou was impressed, as her version had less steps being used and more efficient overall.

"You see my version? This is mastery of cloud steps to great perfection. I am not wasting energy on taking more steps like you, and I pivot and cut corners at a quicker and smoother pace."

Raikou listened to her explanation and attempted the skill with his new insights. His eyes lit up. Cloud steps had broken through to small perfection!

Lilia had given up on being surprised at this moment and started her explanation of the other skill. "I was going to show you wind slash, but now I have to show you the cloud slashes instead. The difference is that the wind slash moves wind out of the way to increase the speed of the slash by 20% at absolution." She explained while demonstrating wind slash. "With cloud slash, your sword will cut through the air itself, as if it is as soft as a 'cloud'. This skill also includes 3 slashes instead of one and increases the speed of the sword by 50% at absolution."

She demonstrated cloud slashes and Raikou copied her movements.

Ding! New ability acquired.

Skill: Cloud Slashes

Rank: C

Ability: Increases the speed of your sword by 30%. +10% Strength when used.

Description: 3 fast slashes with increased speed, like cutting through 'clouds'

Mastery: Initial

The rank of the sword skill was lower than that of cloud steps. Raikou was disappointed at this revelation.

"I will leave you to practise these skills for today and you can start your 'self training' tomorrow. You still have to go to the wind element class for today."

Raikou felt like crying. He didn't want to suffer another day of that class.

He practised both of the skills up to small perfection within 4 hours, and was pleased with his progress. Of course, what happens next will be torture...

"Time for 4 hours of straight pain..." He walked towards the wind element class, while wiping the tears from his eyes.