19 Shroud

Nes flew upwards to the front of Sen and placed her forehead against him. He found that the veins inside him are boiling and Sen felt something opened. "I helped you to open the first gate of magic. The system boosted your body with the potential of magic but it remained dormant. "

"Learners of magic usually need to pass through a number of ordeals to get their first gate to open. With my help, Master, you will be a grandmaster in no time!" Sen nodded his head and patted Nes on her head upon hearing her explanation.

She then open an interface for Sen and a clear highly defined video was played in it. While they may have televisions in the village, Only the richer citizens were able to afford it. Sen was not surprised that the system have something even more powerful than their current technology.

The video showed a darkness mage performing a particular spell. It answers many of the basic questions. How to cast it, what was the range, the power level of the spell and gave some examples with demonstrations. It was clearly an instructive video for the spell Shroud.

It had multiple uses making it one of the top tier beginner spells that a first gate mage can learn about. Shroud causes a dark mist to surround the user and becomes a sensory net for the user. Every movement in Shroud can be felt and predicted.

As long there is a change in the particles, the user will learn about it. The next thing Shroud can change its form from mist to either offensive form like magical arrows or defensive form as a shield.

The adaptability of Shroud depends on the situation and the spell will prove extremely useful in future fights.

As Sen watched the video, he fell into a trance. The room that he was in disappeared and Sen suddenly stood at the top of a still ocean in a night with a full moon. He accidentally took a step back but his step did not descent beneath the surface of the ocean.

Nes became the same size as him and walked towards him. "This is a plane created by me and the System. The System named it the Moon Barren Lands so I just adapt the name because it does not matter as long as my master can train in this area." Nes stretched a little and the maxi dress that she was wearing turned into a cloak with a black battle suit.

The suit portrays her body even more that Sen got a little aroused. However, he quickly snapped out and back into reality as Nes charged straight forward. Sen panics but a small black shield with mist still forming around it blocked the attack.

The half formed shield was not enough to absorb the whole attack which causes Sen to take the impact. He flew quite a considerable amount of distance before being able to break the knockback.

"The Shroud spell should be ingrained into you when you watch that particular video. Therefore, you can summon Shroud now with unconscious competence. "

"Master, your objective is to cause a flesh wound on me with only the Shroud spell for you to complete this particular training. The system will not allow you to use any other items."

Nes got serious as she materialise the Saviour bowie knife that Sen bought recently. "Just a warning though, I will make full use of your Axolotl ability." Nes smiled and she rushed towards Sen.

This time round, Sen managed to cast the complete shroud shield form but receiving the blow directly caused the whole shield to shatter right in front of him. He staggered backwards a little before maintaining his balance.

Unlike the previous attack, Nes did not gave Sen a moment to breath. After the first blow, she quickly connect it with a kick from the side when Sen was staggering and the kick caused him to be knock backwards again.

He felt that a few bones were broken and but the ability he had started to mend itself. The pain made him alert and realised Nes was not joking around.

"Do not assume your enemies will give you chance to recover!" Nes shouted before she rushed towards Sen.

--------

Feng woke up early too and after his breakfast, he decided to check on an abandoned house at the edge of town, which also act as a forge and home of his Master Santos Fonsi.

He hoped to find clues with regards to the profession Battlesmith after being awaken as one. There might be a chance Master Santos kept a few records or two about it. Even if there was nothing left in there, Feng wished to revisit some of previous memories of him and Master Santos.

The lock at the courtyard rusted a little but the key that Feng kept still works. Memories of the tough training in the courtyard started to flow back. The consistent practice to cut a certain type of firewood which Master Santos used for the forge and carrying them to the forge.

The main door creaked a little as he went into the house. Cobwebs and dust accumulated on the equipment and the forge. He knew it was a little futile to clear this place up since Hongshan village might get invaded and taken by the Black Monarch.

If he leave the house as it is, the Black Monarch might not even take notice of this abandoned abode of his Master. As he was browsing the equipment, Feng saw a room at the corner of the house and walked towards it. Feng finally took the courage to step into his Master's personal room as he had never done it before in his life or even after his Master had already left the village.

He was mildly shocked by the tidiness of the room despite the dust. He knew Master Santos was extremely messy when he comes to forging items. In that chaotic mess of equipment lying all around the area, there was a intrinsic reason putting the equipment at that particular order.

It allowed Master Santos to have a quick reach of his tools and surprisingly, he always put them back in the same spot. Once, Feng tried to tidy the equipment in forge, he was scolded and Master Santos told him to cut ten thousand firewood.

There was a cupboard full of manuals and Feng casually took one that caught his interest. He remembered he was forced to recite the entire particular manual he was holding. As he flip the pages, he remembered the main contents of the manual. All he could do was sigh a little. However, as he flips the manual, the words and sentences started to scramble and slowly the manual turned azure in colour.

It was a instructive manual hidden within a manual. The battlesmith powers he unlocked reacted to the manual and now it became an entirely new book. It was about the basics of Battlesmith and how they can harness the external energy in order to reduce the strain on themselves.

Feng quickly reached out to another book and the same occurrence happened. The book described how knowing the properties of the weapon allowed the battlesmith to take advantage of the strengthening ability. He then realised the teachings and training he underwent was not of naught.

Within this cupboard, there were roughly a collection of nearly a hundred odd manuals and books. "Was he really teaching me to be a Battlesmith or did he do all this teaching as a whim?" Feng could never figure his Master's capricious behaviour.

--------

A metallic object was felt leaving his beating heart to bleed wildy. Sen looked and laughed a little, was he that weak? Nes swinged the Saviour bowie knife away from Sen and some of the the blood splattered around the still ocean surface.

Nes squatted and carass Sen's face a little while he was gasping for air. The gaping hole on his heart slowly but surely started to close and heal. It was healing faster than before.

"That was a good attempt, to blast a shroud cloud at me while you throw a shroud spear with your other hand."

"However, the spear was poorly formed. My cloak can even deflect such a weak spear. Not to mention, your aim was way off, there was little strength in your throw. You too should have created a shroud shield once you blasted a shrout mist from your right hand to prevent this stab through your heart. I will be kind this time and give you 45 seconds break." Nes giggled a little.

Sen could not help to wonder is the system trying to kill him via his manifestation or was his manifestation was just clearly sadistic.

"How much time has passed? Will I not be late to report to Major Raizan?" Sen barely got his words out.

"User, in this plane, the time ratio is a thousand to one. Spending a thousand minutes here equate to one minute in the real world. " The System spoke out for the first time ever since Sen entered the Moon Barren Lands.

"Nes, can you give me some mercy? " Hearing the system's explanation was not aiding the pain that he incurred.

"I wonder if you ever listen to what I ever said." Nes slowly stood up and raised her hands to perform a simple back stretch.

"10 seconds more Master!" Nes walked a few steps away while Sen went to a kneeling stance. He knew his Axolotl regeneration was working to the max but there was no rest in between. The pain was enough to push him in and out of consciousness. He knew what was at stake. Nes was not doing this for fun or whether it was a punishment by the system.

"Five seconds!" Nes shouted from a distance but Sen was unperturbed. Right now, all Sen can think was to put his all into this next attack.