Chapter 8: Time for monsters!

"Your dodging is on point, but your offensive needs more work." Alex said to the panting Nash. "We can go grind some monsters, but no dungeons yet. You'll die in-...you won't be able to fight them back."

"A-Alright..." Nash took a bunch of deep breaths after barely beating a Low-Tier Novice-rank puppet. Damn it! I'm still too weak!!

"Remember, boy. The most important thing in fighting is dodging. If you can dodge long enough, you'll find a chance to get a solid hit in." Alex explained. He then smiled, "You truly have talent, especially in battle. You can find a lot of holes in the puppet's defense. You've got great sight and great feet. Keep them moving, never stop until your enemy is down."

"G-Got it. Let me try it again. I'm sure I can kill it easier this time." Nash looked to the destroyed puppets.

"Alright, rest up." Alex smirked. He then whispered to the arena, "Rebuild puppet as Beginner-rank, nonlethal."

The puppet quickly healed up and stood in a battle form, ready to pounce on Nash. Nash merely rested as he leaned slightly on his sword that was stabbed into the ground. After a few minutes of resting, he stood up. "I'm ready, I'll kick its ass."

Alex sneered. "Start."

Boom!!

"What the hell?!" Nash quickly spun, slashing his sword at the rushing puppet as he retreated. "It's faster! What the hell did you do?!"

"If you can't survive this, you'd never survive a Boss rush!" Alex chuckled.

"Bastard!!" Nash retreated quickly then pushed Mana into his entire body and started directly rushing the puppet, clashing with the puppet. His entire body shook as he felt a sharp pain go through his arms. His grip loosened as he hit the puppet. He grit his teeth as he just pushed a lot of Mana into his body, he quickly used Heart Casting to cast a strengthening spell on his body, causing an unbelievable amount of pain to rush into his mind. He swung his longsword with bulging muscles.

Swish!!

Bam!

The puppet clashed with Nash's sword as it was sent flying.

Clang.

Nash's sword dropped to the ground as he lost his grip from the clash. The puppet quickly attacked Nash sending him flying as he groaned, pain riddling his numb arms.

"Stop." Alex ordered the puppet. He looked at Nash with a serious look. 'He's a damn monster!! He sent a Mid-Tier puppet an entire rank above himself flying! This bastard would be a top combatant in a Boss fight!! Did this brat really jump from Low-Tier to High-Tier in two days?!?'

'No...his skills are barely at Mid-Tier right now. Is he a Burst-type?' Alex fell into deep thought. His brows furrowed. 'I thought Mages were generally Domain-types. I could even understand if his master taught him as a Pulse-type, but what kind of Mage training results in a Burst-type?'

All creatures have a specific radiation they have, commonly known as Aura. Many people control their Aura during battle to exert a little extra pressure on enemies. They are mostly divided into three categories: Burst, Domain and Pulse. Burst-types use Auras during a crucial moment slam someone with all their Aura, hugely disorienting them and causing them to slip up, giving a perfect opportunity. Then came the Domain-types, the scariest type of Aura users. They constantly create an area around themselves where everything was pressured by their Auras. Their Auras are commonly agreed to be the strongest among the many users. Finally, the final major type was the Pulse-types. The Pulse-types were known as pests. They were like Burst-types, but less powerful and much more frequent. They'd constantly release then restrain their Auras in quick succession causing an effect akin to a beating heart. This effect would slowly irritate the opponent more and more, causing them to mess up and create an opening for the final blow.

"Hey, boy." Alex called out. "What kind of Aura training did you undergo?"

Nash simply glared at Alex. He then sighed with frustration. "I was trained in all three major types then created a type that combines the three and named it the Rising-type."

"A minor type of Aura?" Alex taken aback. While minor type users were not uncommon, their type was usually way weaker than the three major types.

"It's still in the theory part of it. I'll only use it when in dire situations. I need to find a way to have that exponential boost of the Burst-types, while using it as frequently as Pulse-types." Nash explained. He was truly still in the development of this Aura type. Many had tried to create the supreme type of Aura, one that stood above even the three major types, yet all had failed, even the Zenith-ranked Igris had failed. He could create a type that was only suitable for him. He wasn't able to create a supreme Aura type.

'This kid is an actual monster...' Alex looked at Nash with his jaw dropped. 'He should barely be able to control his Aura, let alone create an entire Aura type...'

"Alright...t-try to use Burst-type Aura when you fight." Alex thoughtlessly said. He then slowly smirked. "Let's move out."

"Where to?" Nash groaned in pain. That Beginner-rank doll hit him like a damn truck.

"I'll test you out in actual combat." Alex said as he created the exit.

"Really?" Nash asked in surprise. "You seriously think I'm ready?"

"No." Alex chuckled. "While I don't think you're ready, but I personally believe in learning on the job."

"I'm gonna fucking die, aren't I?" Nash asked as he weakly sheathed his longsword.

"I've got a party I've been training for a while. Although I don't know them very well personally, I've trained them for a bit and I trust both their personalities and capabilities." Alex smiled. "You can trust in them too."

"Would you trust them with Rose?" Nash sighed.

"You know you're a very unwanted exception, right?" Alex glared at Nash.

"Well...fair enough." Nash shut up as he followed behind Alex.

They both headed to the Adventurer's Association. Nash gulped, 'I have a bad feeling about this.'

"Master!" a Dark Human walked up to Alex with a bright smile on his face. He then looked at Nash with surprise, which quickly turned into a smirk. "Well, well, well. If it isn't the greatest Low-Tier Novice-rank Swordsman in existence."

'God fucking damn it.' Nash bit his lip as the rest of the Dark World party approached him and Alex.