The Strategy

His plan started with making a Trucki Blade. He didn't worry about people asking him how he did that, as he had designed something to help him disguise it. He had made some special gloves that were glowing the same color as his Trucki and looked like they powered the blade, as the blade was still connected to it like it was an extension of it.

He had used it a few times in public, but only when he trained by himself, as it was still a weapon. But he didn't plan to kill Rubes, so he made the blade cubic, making it impossible to cut someone with it. As a result, it was more like a flat bat than a blade in the end.

Since its design was much more accessible, it didn't take him long to create it, and he needed less focus on keeping its shape. But even before his new weapon was completed, he started his charge towards Rubes, as it would be finished by the time he had reached him.

Mark did a horizontal swing towards the same point that he damaged Rubes before, but the latter was ready and easily avoided the attack with another of his side-step move. Mark didn't stop as he continued his swings, and all of them missed Rubes, with the majority to be at the last moment.

Mark continued his attacks non-stop, even if it was apparent to anyone that he wouldn't be able to do it for much longer if he continued like that.

But then something strange happened, as Rubes' movement started becoming slower. It didn't take long for one of Mark's attacks to make contact because of that, another hit at the same point at his side.

Rubes started making some distance between himself and Mark as he carefully kept his eyes on Mark.

"What…what are you doing to me? "Rubes asked with clear signs he had lost his breath.

Even if the two had fought for some time and Mark was getting dangerously low in SP, that didn't mean it would be the same with Rubes. Under normal circumstances, Mark was sure that Rubes could continue to fight ten times more than they were currently fighting.

But Mark had found a trick helpful for opponents like that, which clearly could outlast him in a battle. When he swung his Trucki weapon, he could release some of the Trucki towards his target, and since he used a tiny amount, it wasn't visible to the average person and much easier for Mark to manipulate.

But that small amount couldn't be used to damage someone, but Mark used it in another way. He attached Trucki to Rubes and kept feeding it with more Trucki with each attack, and instead of trying to penetrate his defense to damage his body, he used his Trucki as a receiver.

In these past days, he had found out that even if his <Minor Energy Manipulation> didn't work on manipulating his Trucki, there was another way that the two could cooperate.

Since Trucki was partially him, he could use it to feed things that needed to be empowered by his energy, like the 'commands' to machineries he had hacked. Of course, it was more costly to do it that way, but Trucki lasted longer when used like that.

He also noticed that he could use his Trucki at a point of reference or receiver to send his normal energy to as far as that point wasn't too far. But how much energy he could send depended on how much Trucki powered that 'receiver. '

Sending his usual energy like that had an effect on others, as the energy of his target would try to fight the unknown energy, which could cost the target's stamina. He had used this tactic a few times in his battle with Sam and the others, and he knew that the rate of how much energy used and the stamina the opponent's body had to spend to dismiss it varied, but he could tell that in this case, the cost wasn't small.

But using that tactic wasn't that easy for him either, as using his energy like that meant using his SP faster than usual. But still, he didn't need too much of an advantage to be built on this tactic.

Mark continued his attacks with no breaks, and even if Rubes tried to keep his distance or make some counters, Mark didn't let it happen. He still had three <Stats Points> left from his last level up from the past month's training, and he decided to finally assign them. He put them all on his <Agility>, giving him a boost at his speed and reflexes, which surprised Rubes, and caused Mark to get a few hits.

Fortunately, Mark had reached the point of using his [Status] with just his mind and had no need to press on what Stats he wanted to assign his points. He could have used some at his <Endurance> to increase his SP, but he knew that every 5 increments had an additional development, and he needed all three to make his <Agility> to be 20.

The damage he dealt on Rubes wasn't that much and never reached more than one digit, but Mark never thought he could win by bringing his HP to zero. From what he had learned this past month, winning a battle didn't mean he had reached his opponent's HP to reach zero, which made sense as he had beaten many people with one shot but didn't deal ridiculous damage.

It seemed that individuals also had a threshold of the amount of damage they could handle in a short time, and passing that point could lead them to pass out. Pretty much it was the same as one passing out of pain.

But the point depended on each person, and Mark didn't think he could reach Rubes'.

But there was another way to end the battle, which Mark currently went with. For one, to pass out because of exhaustion.

Because of his special attack, Mark made Rubes tired much faster than usual. However, even if the attack was costly, it had another benefit. As Mark's and Rubes' energy fought, some 'dead energy 'was released in the air, which Mark could gather and use to restore some of his SP.

The regeneration rate wasn't close to what he was using, but it still slowed the pace that he would get exhausted, making it a race.

But Mark had an advantage that Rubes didn't have. Unlike Rubes, who was becoming slower the more tired he became, Mark, didn't have that disadvantage. He was still breathing heavily, which affected his move, but that was more like a reflex of his body, which wasn't out of breath.

His body's movement was affected only when he got to the dangerously low level on his SP. He had trained himself to get rid of that unnecessary change of breathing, but it was a slow process, as it was like he tried to reprogram how his body worked or, more precisely, was thinking it worked.

It didn't take long to be clear to most that Mark had the upper hand in the battle, as Rubes did nothing but avoid, and the majority of the attacks hit him, and the number kept increasing.

But then something changed, which made Mark make some distance between himself and Rubes. The reason was that Rubes' aura increased in volume. Of course, it was still far from reaching Ava's size, but still, it was the second large Energy Aura he had encountered.

It was enough to reach any point within two meters or so of Rubes, but it didn't keep a spherical shape but looked more like flames. More and more yellow started appearing on his aura, messing with its balance with the blue aura, and soon more than half of his aura was bright yellow.

The green percentage, by default, didn't seem to get affected, and only the green areas, because of the mix with the blue part of his aura, turned yellow. Mark had noticed in past battles that there were some slight alterations to one's aura, but he hadn't encountered one at that point.

If his understanding of the auras were correct, this meant that Rubes boosted his Agility while lowering his Mind or changed the priority his body gave to what the two of them affected. Mark wasn't sure if he could do something like that. He kept it as a note to test it in the future.

But now he had a new challenge, as Rubes seemed to have finished adjusting his aura and releasing more than he had when he started the battle. The latter was something that he had seen only Ava and some of the Dungeon Monsters doing, but from what he knew, Rubes was at the level of being a Trancented Candidate, so it made sense that he could do at least that.

And so Rubes made his move as he stepped forward and then disappeared. Or, in reality, he didn't disappear. He just moved faster for others to see.

He appeared behind Makr and made a karate chop attack at the back of his neck, but something unexpected happened. His hand moved through Mark like he wasn't there, to begin with.

Then Mark also disappeared and appeared some distance away, panting and being clear that he was barely holding himself from passing out.

He wouldn't be able to avoid this attack without the help of his <Beginner Tracker> and <Feline Ears> Skill, which allowed him to know where Rubes was at any point as long as he was within a couple of meters. Combined with his <Beginner Hacker> Skill which made him think as fast as a computer, he could react at a much faster rate and, with his increased Agility, moved at a much faster speed than usual. Still, his body wasn't used to that speed which had its toll on him.

At that point, Mark raised his hands to the best of his abilities as a sign of giving up.

He was clearly outmatched in this time.