Morning Training

Bright early the next day, at the break of dawn where the sun is just rising, this would be the time where even Spirit Tier residents would be in the process of waking up from their slumbers.

Not many are or would be willing to venture out of their houses at the dusk of the morning since they needed to prepare for their long working days ahead.

But for today, within the dreaded Decrypted Woods starting area, two figures could be seen there.

These two figures stood eighty feet away from each other as they held calm battle stances.

Of courses, these two figures were none other than Asher and Elsa.

Truth be told, the time now is actually far earlier than what either Asher or Elsa would wake up to.

However, no matter how early it was, it didn't matter at all for the duo. Considering the big mission happening tomorrow, Asher and Elsa wanted to spend their downtimes as effectively as possible.

Even during the night, both Asher and Elsa barely slept at all in favor of getting in extra cultivation for their various abilities.

Asher especially was far more eager to spend his time wisely.

Yuki's warning yesterday added an extra layer of tension, and Asher wanted to be sufficiently prepared for anything.

This is why when arriving here, Asher and Elsa didn't even exchange a proper greeting.

They both immediately entered a battle stance and calmly squared off against each other.

Reasonably, Elsa really had nothing to be overly worrying about since her own prowess significantly trumps Asher. Although, she was sure to keep an eye on his Ghostly abilities.

Even for her, it's still quite shocking to know Asher has such groundbreaking powers.

While for Asher, he wasn't putting up a calm front at all.

Despite knowing Elsa majorly outclasses him and firsthand witnessing her superior prowess yesterday, Asher felt no nerves for their upcoming spar. Asher knows that in the heat of battle, nerves and or anxiety could be anyone's downfall.

Then, after only a single tense second of silence, Asher and Elsa simultaneously unleashed their Magical Auras.

'Hua!'

Origin Tier and Spirit Tier aura violently clashed against each other, causing massive wind destruction throughout the entire area.

Asher remained entirely calm even as his Spirit Tier Magical Aura was easily toppled over by Elsa's unfathomable power.

Never losing his stride, Asher spewed out a bright light blue Ghost Aura to cover his body as he surged a massive sum of Ghost energy from his veins.

Because they were both releasing their Magical Auras, what should have happened was Asher getting tremendously pressured by just Elsa's minor release of power.

However, because of his powerful phasing abilities, Asher could simply phase through Elsa's indomitable pressure.

Although, the amount of Ghost Energy he needed to sustain his whole body was immense, and his reserves rapidly dropped by the second.

At the same time, Elsa was only releasing a small stream of her power. A faint, Ice Magical Aura shimmered around her body, causing the temperature to plummet to unbearable cold levels.

Then, without any words shared between them, before Asher could think about his first move, Elsa swiftly snapped her fingers.

Asher wrinkled his eyebrows, confused by her actions until he abruptly felt the temperature around him take another massive nosedive!

"What the…."

Asher couldn't contain his surprise as his vision was suddenly covered by a chilling blue glow.

Faster than Asher could have reacted to, Elsa released a freezing Ice atmosphere, specifically around Asher's entire body. For twenty feet around him, Asher could spot sudden frostbite quickly covering the ground and any surrounding trees.

If this was any other time, Asher assumed this Ice atmosphere was supposed to heavily affect him in some way. He guessed it most likely should've frozen his body or possibly slowed down his movement.

However, Asher would never know of the effects because of his Phasing abilities. At most, what Asher felt was another frill chill shiver down his spine.

"Hmm…." Elsa only watched Asher's phasing ability with great curiosity.

Instead of trying to attack again, Elsa took the time to analyze just how Asher's phasing ability actually works.

However, not even a second after she released her Ice atmosphere, Asher was already on the move.

Seeing that this kind of attack also couldn't affect him, Asher narrowed his eyes on Elsa and immediately made a mad dash right towards her.

Asher turned into a swift light blue light trail as his speed without even using his Spirit Aura was still amazingly fast.

In a split second, he already crossed fifteen feet of distance, phasing right through Elsa's Ice atmosphere. As he dashed towards Elsa, Asher also had his hands strutted out towards her.

In an instant, Asher surged forth even more Ghost energy, causing his palms to shine a harsher blue light than the rest of his body. Then, all in the same motion, Asher blasted out multiple telekinetic Links straight at Elsa.

'This is new….' Elsa was intrigued by this sudden attack as she never saw Asher perform this before.

His prowess remained the same, but those telekinetic Links soared through the air at a fast rate that caused Elsa to be a bit impressed.

However, as impressed as she was, Elsa wasn't going to remain passive. When Asher's telekinetic Links was just thirty feet away from her, Elsa moved her hand at lightning speeds, pointing one finger right at Asher.

An Ice glow immediately swirled at the tip of Elsa's finger, and she had then unhesitatingly released several glistening Icicles straight at Asher.

Elsa's Icicles were a mere blue blur in the air, casting vague afterimages from their sheer speeds.

But, no matter how fast the attack was, Asher didn't lose his momentum. Without losing focus, Asher accurately guided his telekinetic Links towards Elsa's speedy Icicle attack.

With how fast both of their attacks were going, Asher's telekinetic Links clashed with Elsa's Icicles in just a mere second!

Elsa didn't know what to exactly expect when seeing Asher's attack clash with hers, but what she had witnessed utterly stunned her.

No tremendous sound blared out, nor did a chaotic surge of Magical Powers swirled into the atmosphere. Instead, Asher's telekinetic Links had actually drilled into Elsa's Icicle attack and halted them completely!

"Wha-this is…." Elsa nearly couldn't believe her eyes.

Even though she's barely using any power, that attack would be enough to utterly crush any Late Stage Spirit Tier warrior!

Out of everything she knows about the various Magical powers spanning across all System Souls, Elsa never saw anything about an ability being able to hold an attack in place.

'Wait….unless…..is that actually his telekinesis?!'

Elsa was suddenly hit with realization as she recalled the other ability Asher previously told her about.

Ghost telekinesis!

When Asher first showed her this ability, Elsa didn't regard it as that amazing as his phasing ability.

During their first time training, Asher had only shown he could lift some rocks in the air for a little bit of time. That little performance last time was a far cry to what's Asher demonstrating now.

As Elsa revel in near disbelief, she tossed her gaze on Asher and immediately furrowed her eyebrows.

Although Asher is performing this amazing feat, he did not look relaxed while using this move.

In fact, Asher looked tremendously pressured at this moment. Numerous stressed veins bulge on his arms as if Asher was lifting some kind of colossal force.

Constant sweat poured down his face, he kept his teeth tightly gnashed together, and his feet had sunk into the ground.

While to Elsa, it appeared to her that Asher had so easily stopped her attack with telekinesis. She only thought that Asher was pouring a massive sum of energy into his telekinesis.

But in reality, what Asher was doing was much more than simply gathering a lot of energy.

To take complete control of Elsa's icicles, Asher had to expertly control his telekinetic Links to invade the Origin Mana energy force within the icicles.

Asher was essentially doing the same process as he practiced with the floorboard in his Mana Room.

But now, the difficulty has skyrocketed by a hundredfold!

It wasn't simply about overpowering Origin Mana energy force; Asher also had to disrupt the circular flow of Origin Mana energy so his telekinetic Links can even invade inside it.

If Asher was in the heat of battle, this move would've been a double edge sword since he's completely vulnerable at this moment. But at the same time, he could also quickly work under the surprise he would inevitably cause to his opponent.

Thankfully for Asher, Elsa was content with letting Asher deal with his attack for two simple reasons.

One is because she genuinely wanted to see how he would use telekinesis. And two is because she guessed that he needs practice like this to rapidly advance.

Elsa believed that whatever Asher was doing would take at least dozens of seconds, considering this was an attack infused with Origin Mana energy.

But contrary to her belief, Asher started to move again within just several seconds!

A strained smirk crossed Asher's lips as he felt incredibly drained at this moment. However, he was immensely satisfied despite his tired state.

It was all because he had already taken full control of Elsa's Icicle attack!

Throughout this entire process, Asher had sensed his Ghost Powers rapidly improve to contend with the force of Origin Mana energy. And with Asher's insane adaptability, he had eventually gained control at the cost of nearly all of his Ghost Power reserves.

"Hah!!"

Bellowing out a mighty battle cry, Asher had then flung Elsa's Icicle attack right back at her!

This was Asher's first time using his Ghost telekinesis to send objects at high speed, and he wasn't disappointed with the results at all.

Even Elsa had to blink her eyes at the sheer speed of Asher's telekinesis Icicles; it neared within ten feet from her in just a second!

Right before the Icicle struck Elsa, she quickly raised her hand and spewed out a glistening Ice barrier.

'Bang!'

'Hm?' Once again, Elsa was surprised and impressed.

Despite her Ice barrier being infused with Origin Mana energy, Asher's telekinesis Icicles had actually managed to leave large cracks on her barrier!

Not even if Asher used the strongest version of his Battle Skill could he ever come close to leaving a dent on Elsa's ice barrier.

But with her own attack redirected right back at her could Asher go against all rules and logic.

Right then, an icy glint burst within Elsa's eyes. She decided it was now time to end this spar.

With a slight sway of her body, Elsa blurred from Asher's vision, moving at speeds he couldn't comprehend.

Asher could only dumbfoundedly blink as a gust of fierce wind blasted by him, nearly knocking him off his feet. And at the same time, Elsa had reappeared right beside Asher's right side.

Before Asher could even react to her presence, Elsa reached out her hand at lightning speeds and swiftly grasped Asher's wrist.

Even though Asher was using his Ghost Powers, Elsa could still touch him since he couldn't use telekinesis and phasing powers simultaneously.

Asher's pupils immediately dilated as he felt Elsa's soft hand gently grasped his wrist. A move that, under normal times, would excite Asher but was now only sending utter dread throughout his entire body.

In an instant, Asher started to uncontrollably shudder as a torrent of Elsa's Ice Magical energy began to freeze his arm, causing immediate frostbite to form upon it.

Before her Ice energy could spread to his entire body, Asher promptly surged the last remaining energy he had of his Ghost Powers.

And as expected, Asher was able to phase out from Elsa's gentle yet freezing grasp. However, immediately the next second, Asher went utterly rigid.

Just to phase out from Elsa's hand, Asher used every drop of his Ghost energy reserved, and now he could feel the full brunt of Elsa's immense Magical Aura.

Then, without giving Asher a chance to think, Elsa moved a single finger right towards Asher's chin, gently poking it.

In this position, it was evident who was the winner.

Asher could only lightly sigh as he felt Elsa's Magical Aura recede off from his body, allowing him to breathe normally again.

"As expected, I may be a monster in my own weight class, but you? Yea….you're a monster genius above monster geniuses."

It may not have been the smoothest words Asher had ever said to Elsa, but those were his honest feelings. He wasn't even feeling down about losing; instead, he had a small smile as he spoke.

"Fufu~." And though she just got compared to being a monster, Elsa couldn't help but sweetly giggle since it was Asher, of all people, saying it.

Her lips curved up into a light, playful smirk as she said back to him, "Don't put your result down too much. You still made a valiant effort indeed. An effort that nobody in your realm could ever achieve."