Fire Beam Evolution

"Persistence and determination alone are omnipotent. Failure will never overtake me if my determination to succeed is strong enough."

That is the quote Karsha left in his yearbook. He lives by that principle: determination above all. With enough determination, one can accomplish anything they set their mind to.

Karsha embodied this belief when he witnessed the incredible power of the Tier 8 form of the Fire Beam. The mastery of the skill displayed by the clone was rated as B, spurring Karsha's determination to reach greater heights.

After 72 hours of practice, Karsha began mastering the sword moves by mimicking the clone's techniques. The first twenty-four hours showed small growth, but not enough to make a significant difference.

Karsha was able to achieve the same damage output as the clone, but that wasn't all. He applied the same methods he was learning from the clone to his lightning strike technique as well.

It was a slow process, but once Karsha achieved his objective, he began focusing on the Fire Beam. He planned to return to the lightning strike once his mastery over the Fire Beam had reached a satisfactory level.

Once he focused on mastering the Fire Beam skill, Karsha began replicating the clone's moves. The near-perfect skills of the clone continually opened doors for Karsha, allowing him to advance his understanding and leading to a breakthrough faster than he had expected.

The skill evolved alongside Karsha's mastery. As his comprehension level increased, the skill grew more robust.

At a B rating, the arc created was only 3 meters in length—a significant figure but not enough to intimidate an Overlord. However, after twelve hours of non-stop practice, the skill became even more powerful. If the previous version could destroy a 30-meter-tall mountain, the new version, once Karsha achieved 'A' mastery, could obliterate a 100-meter-tall mountain.

With this breakthrough, the skill advanced further. The arc now extended three additional meters in length and became more stable, taking on a more solid form.

The arc grew razor-sharp, and the flame turned darker, with its heat multiplying. Lacking a target to practice on, Karsha decided to use the empty grassland as his opponent.

After just three strikes, Karsha managed to create a huge crater. The crater had a width of 12 meters and a depth of over 100 meters. The devastation was evident, and Karsha was thrilled.

Who wouldn't be happy? Creating such an enormous crater was a clear sign of how powerful the skill had become. Karsha was elated but knew he still had a long way to go. There were still the S, SS, SSS, SSS+, and SSE levels to achieve.

If the A rating was this powerful, who could say how formidable the skill would become once he advanced his understanding further?

Karsha was a man of focus, determination, and purpose. He was focused on one thing: becoming powerful. He was determined to master his skills to their utmost potential, and his ultimate purpose was to kill the ten Overlords and begin his journey toward world domination.

One skill alone wouldn't suffice, but a highly developed skill would certainly make a significant difference. The only downside was that he still wouldn't be able to master the skill before his self-imposed deadline—at least, that was the case until he discovered the subspace.

With the time difference, Karsha could master multiple skills and even advance his understanding of the elements.

He had a manual for the Yin-Yang Lightning. The Yin-Yang Lightning was designed for both offense and retreat, but Karsha aimed to add a defensive aspect to it. Additionally, he discovered that his understanding of the fire element started advancing as his mastery over the Fire Beam improved.

He could feel his grasp on fire energy growing stronger by the second. Great changes were occurring within him, and as he continued to practice the skill, these changes began to manifest.

Initially, it took him a little over ten seconds to gather enough fire essence into his sword. The process was relatively slow, and in an active battle, charging enough essence into the sword would be challenging.

No opponent would be foolish enough to stand by and let him charge up his skill. Those ten seconds were more than enough time for his opponents to swarm and kill him.

But that wouldn't be a problem for long since he seemed to have found a way to hasten the essence-gathering phase.

With his expanding knowledge and understanding, he discovered a method. Rudimentary but effective.

To solve his charging time issue, Karsha went back to the basics. He started with his swings and slashes. He began by channeling as much essence as he could in under two seconds and swinging his sword to release an arc. It was weak, but it was still an arc.

He then repeated the process over 500 times. Mastery requires continuous practice—this is the rule of muscle memory.

Using this method, Karsha was able to subconsciously train his body so that within two seconds, the amount of essence gathered in his sword began to increase. But he didn't stop there; he aimed to reduce the time to just over a second and repeated the process all over again.

The longer he maintained this state, the faster he could feel his essence movement expanding beyond its usual pace.

But that wasn't the only remarkable development. Although hastening the rate at which his essence was channeled seemed like a significant achievement, the truly extraordinary event occurred when the Fire Beam skill began to change.

Karsha intended to use a crude and tedious method to speed up his essence channeling. However, in the process, he unknowingly pushed his mastery to the S stage and triggered an evolution of the skill.

The Fire Beam evolved, adding a significant enhancement. Initially, he could only charge his sword and unleash a devastating blow. However, after two days of relentless swinging and slashing, the skill incorporated a new technique.

[Rapid Slash]: Rapidly slash your sword to release fire arcs using the little fire essence channeled into it and the fire essence in the air.

The description might seem cryptic, but the process is straightforward. It means Karsha can slash his sword multiple times within a second, and the little essence gathered in the sword will release a razor-sharp fire arc capable of inflicting damage.

But while using fire essence from the air might seem like a waste, the skill doesn't stop there. Besides his own essence, which can run out, there's the ambient fire essence in the air, similar to the surrounding Mana.

Karsha could replenish his essence thanks to the fire energy in the air and the crystal he had absorbed.

His attacks would not only harness the power of his own essence but also incorporate the essence in the air. This meant that if he managed to release a 10% fire essence attack within a second, the ambient essence could further boost it to 15% or even 20%, depending on how dense the essence around him was at that moment.

It's a valuable addition that buys time for stronger attacks, making it especially advantageous for him. As a dual swordsman, he can utilize one sword for Rapid Slash while charging the other with fire essence to unleash a devastating attack.

He wouldn't have to pause and charge his sword before attacking. With his dual swordsman nature, he can unleash two different attacks simultaneously, provided his body can handle it.

Certainly, there is the matter of energy consumption, such as Mana and Fire Essence. As long as he has enough energy, he will be able to unleash different forms of attacks simultaneously.

However, there's also the issue of focus. For him to accomplish this, he must concentrate on both attacks he is forming. His mind must control both processes simultaneously, as any mistake could result in a backfire, potentially injuring him.

Karsha's mental capacity is strong but not sufficient to handle complex calculations every microsecond. Concentration is key when forming an attack. He must determine how much energy to pour into the attacks while ensuring the process aligns perfectly with the intended outcome.

Within a second, his mind must run complex calculations involved in forming an attack. He has to determine energy input and output, the flow of energy within the sword, the formation of the attack, and the unleashing process.

All these activities require intense focus and concentration. A slight mistake could result in a catastrophic backlash, leaving him vulnerable. If that happens, he could find himself in a dangerous situation that might lead to his death if he's not careful.

Karsha wasn't initially aware of the mental strain required, but thanks to the system, he found out. For the last 24 hours, he focused on training his mental strength to handle complex computations.

It was a painful process, but he started making progress, albeit slowly. Within 24 hours, he managed to achieve a dual attack, though it was a pitiful attempt.

While using the Rapid Slash ability of the Fire Beam with one sword, he managed to charge the other sword with essence. However, he could only maintain this process for a little over three seconds before a mind-splitting pain surged into the core of his brain.

"Damn it," Karsha gritted his teeth but let out a small smile. "No pain, no gain, I guess."

He deactivated the domain, and, as before, the shadow guards appeared behind him.

"I guess we're all done here. Time to visit the Fangtongue Forest," Karsha said, jumping into the floating boat.

With Alida at the helm, they started moving toward the Fangtongue Forest, also known as Venom Forest, the domain of the Fangtongue Vampire Serpent..