20 Combat Body

I looked out my room's window in melancholy as my mind digested what had just happened. Leaving aside mother's hatred for Devas... I think focus more on how I should proceed to upgrade my techniques and not allow all the knowledge I've accumulated about modern science to go to waste.

Let's go through everything step by step. First things first: I need to find the limit of my current Aura Clad and search for a new way to use my Aura.

I don't feel tired right now so I shouldn't waste any opportunity to train, especially when the task I'm supposed to complete is near impossible for a Universal Specialist.

I released my Aura and mimicked the five elements I knew of one by one.

The diamond-like glow of my Aura Manifestation turned into the colour of rubies as I used my Fire Aura to increase the strength of my muscles.

Then the Fire Aura enchanted onto my body switched to all other elemental attributes until I reached the point of unleashing my Lightning Aura.

I shadow-boxed the air in front of me as my mind raced with countless ideas on how to improve my multiple body techniques. I couldn't help but curse myself for thinking I was the only special person to have ever existed on Sphera. The Sword God of the past was rumoured to have been an F Rank Magical Talent who could slay Gods using only his Sharpened Aura alone.

He was madman who trained to the pinnacle of swordsmanship with great hardship... All to reach one day the summit where only Gods could stand!

Why is it that I became so lazy after arriving in this magical world? Forget it. I should be focusing on creating a new Aura technique instead of uselessly asking the air for answers...

I need to reevaluate my strengths and weaknesses on a much deeper level.

My strengths are my martial arts and scientific knowledge from Earth.

Contrarily, my greatest weakness is my low yet extremely pure Magical Talent.

If I was to pick the weakest strength among what I have, it would be my scientific knowledge. I probably shouldn't rely on it too much to defeat enemies that are way stronger than me.

My biggest strength is the martial arts I've honed on the battlefield so I should be using that quality as a base. My abilities need to be close-combat ones.

I actually used a lot of knowledge regarding anatomy when I created the abilities of different Nature Transformations using Aura Clad.

My Water Aura mixed with my Immune System in order to increase my body's rate of regeneration. This allowed me to create my first technique: Regenerative Blood.

My Earth Aura mixed with the skin all over my physical body in order to increase physical resistance. This allowed me to create my second technique: Skin Reinforcement.

My Fire Aura mixed with my muscles and tendons in order to increase its power physically up by folds. This allowed me to create my third technique: Muscle Enhancement.

My Wind Aura melted into the breath circulating through my organs before enchanting in order to decrease my weight. This allowed me to create my fourth technique: Weightless Breath.

And lastly, my Lightning Aura mixed with my nervous system to increase my mind's overall cognitive capacity. This allowed me to create my final Aura Manifestation Art: Cognitive Drive.

Simultaneously using these five unique Arts wasn't feasible due to their sheer complexity but mixing them together to create a new technique should work...

Cognitive Drive was most useful when fighting stronger opponents due to it giving more time to plan. That why I'm going to use that as the foundation of my new technique. Therefore, I decided to use my Cognitive Drive before adding Water Aura to enhance it.

I stopped punching air and closed my eyes in order to feel the Lightning Aura I integrated into my nervous system before trying to connect it with my Water Aura. The result I was looking for was to create a magical 'Battery'.

I didn't really understand how particles of ice can gather electrical charge but I did try to recreate than phenomenon using my bloodstream. I didn't need to smash anything together to create the electricity in my veins but instead used kinetic energy as the ignition switch.

It's dangerous to experiment abilities in such a way but I have my Water Aura technique: Regenerative Blood, to help me heal if I was to injure myself.

The Lightning Aura within my nervous system successfully connected to immune system, but I wasn't done. My Aura headed towards my skin as well.

I connected every part of my body one by one using every one of my Nature Transformations. Once I was done, all four of my Secret Arts: Regenerative Blood, Skin Reinforcements, Muscle Enhancement and Weightless Skeleton were super-charged by Cognitive Drive.

The foundation was the nervous system that was enhanced using my Lightning Aura and the branches that extended out was every other part of my physique. The effect of the new Secret Art also increased the amount of enhancement on my whole body.

Each of the four Secret Arts were granted an additional physical effect.

Firstly. the immune system that was enhanced by my Water Aura gained the ability to store the purest Dark Mana.

When thinking about this first extra ability, I couldn't help but feel a little stunned. Unlike the other three abilities I obtained through creating a new Secret Art, this one was definitely unique to only myself! The reason I was able to guess such an obvious fact is because Dark Mana belonged to the Beast Race. There were many people on Sphera who could transform their Light Mana to imitate Dark Mana called Dark Specialists, but even they were unable to control true Dark Mana like myself. What was most surprising about this revelation was that my Secret Art actually connected to the Dark Flame within my Mana 'Flame'.

I already knew that the Colourless Attribute within my body was a mixture of the Human Race's Light Attribute and the Beast Race's true Dark Attribute, but I've never been able to control the small amount Dark Mana within my Mana Flame until today...

The connection between my Regenerative Blood Secret Art and my Dark Mana made it so I was unable to completely deactivate this new Secret Art due to the Mana Flame giving it with a constant supply of Dark Mana that circulated through this new Art.

This made it so the cycle within my body would continue to be activated even if I were to sleep. I don't know if I should be thankful for this though since true Dark Mana had the unique power of being able to drastically alter all of the user's physical qualities.

The Beast Race might not have the power to control elements like the Human Race but their powerful constitutions were envied by even the Vampires that were invading Sphera.

It's hard to tell what benefits having Dark Mana within my body would achieve but its best to move onto comprehend the rest of my new Secret Art before I start an in-depth analysis.

After studying the new Secret Art for a bit. The realisation that I gained the ability to store Dark Mana in my blood as my first insight into my technique:

My second insight into my new technique was that the skin reinforced by my Earth Aura gained the ability to store the purest forms of Ether.

My third insight was that the muscles that were enhanced by my Fire Aura gained the ability to store an ethereal and controllable form of kinetic energy.

The strangest ability among the four enhancements to my old Secret Art.

As for my last insight: I realised that the bones that had their weight altered by my Wind Aura actually gained the ability to stockpile and condense my Light Mana within their marrow.

The Lightning Aura was transformed after it was merged into all other four Nature Transformations and seeped into every fibre of my very being.

The new energy kept moving from my immune system, to my skin, to my muscles, to my bones and then back to my immune system again in a cycle that used my nervous system as a foundation. The new, abnormal energy I created didn't revert back into Lightning Aura after going through the revolutions in the cycle I created using every part of my body but fused with my nervous system instead and allowed it to gain more endurance to Aura.

This meant that as long as I used my new Secret Art more often, the limit to how much energy I could put into it also increased the longer I used it...

How unusual...

My iris turned purple once again, but that was the only external change in my appearance. It would be hard for others to figure out just what was happening inside my body. After stabilising my ability, I put on Warlock Hand that Mark gifted me then experimented by controlling the Mana stored within.

I didn't release a Spell but instead moved the four slots of stored Mana into my bones, allowing it to quickly process it and convert it in its cycle.

The four additional abilities were interconnected with each other and created a balance of energy within me that felt like a whirlpool of energy.

If I was to absorb too much Mana within my bones, my new Secret Art would convert that excess Mana into kinetic energy within my muscles before moving onto becoming Dark Mana within my bloodstream.

The cycle would continue by converting my blood's Dark Mana into Ether if the energy was beyond my blood's limit and back into my skeleton's stored Light Mana if even that was filled.

As a precaution, I also made it so I wouldn't overload by expelling energy I couldn't convert store anywhere within my body into either an attack or just wastefully release it into the air.

The more time passed, the more I familiarity I gained regarding this new ability of mine. The night passed and the sun had already risen, but I still trained my new Secret Art diligently.

Why was I so excited that I couldn't lay down and rest? The reason was extremely simple: The new Secret Art I created actually had the potential for growth! Perhaps right now my Secret Art could only give me the strength of a Second Tier Combat Art, but in future it might grow to the point I could wave one finger in order to level a mountain!

The amount of potential my new Secret Art showed was astounding to say the least... Perhaps only the Sword God's Aura Sharpening Art could rival it...!

"Simon, what are you doing?" My mother asked after entering the room.

It seems my previous promise to mother had brightened her mood.

She didn't seem to wanted to bring up yesterday's promise so I was sure not to mention it. My mind was calm as I stopped using my new Secret Art.

"I've almost created my own version of Aura Manifestation Art. I'm sure I won't ever have to release my Mana as an Aura around me ever again in my lifetime!" I replied proudly as this Art was my greatest achievement yet!

"Almost complete...? That quick?!" My mother was shocked by my answer.

"I just need to adjust it a little before it's actually ready for use in combat. I have now decided to name it 'Combat Body' temporarily." My mother's shock made me even more pleased about my achievements. Right, there's also a few things I need to experiment as well.

"Where's Merilin?" I suddenly remembered I hadn't seen my Magic Spell obsessed sister in a while and asked. I wonder what she's doing now that she's unable to use her new Spell?

"She's in our room. Is there some other Spell you wanted to teach her?" Mother replied before asking another question with an expression that said: 'Have you not taught her enough strange Spells?'.

"I just wanted to test something." I avoided her gaze since I felt ashamed of how I cause mother trouble all the time. I should probably stop letting Merilin join me when experimenting...

"Then it can wait. There's someone who wants to meet you." My mother smiled knowingly before tacitly deciding to change the subject.

"Hmmm? Who?" I couldn't think of anyone in particular who would want to meet me since I wasn't much of guy who liked to talk with kids my own age.

As someone with the memories of my previous life, it was awkward to socialise with children who weren't even thinking about their future...

"The Young Miss, that's who~!" I couldn't help but feel a little shocked after my mother replied but she didn't give me time to react and pulled me to the training grounds specifically made for the Young Miss to train her magic Spells which were unique to many.

I felt like I was thrown off my feet and casually pushed to enter the room of the person who would be the successor of the Unique Spell: Infinite Swords.

"I have work to do. Have fun~" After leaving behind those words, my mother quickly left. A mischievous smile etched across her face as she laughed.