Blade training

The theory behind making a blade through Trucki wasn't that different from the one he used for his fists and feet. However, it was much easier to shape it on paper, as there weren't many details on a blade compared to a fist.

But the difference was at the density that he had to keep the Trucki. So when he was creating the shells around his fist, he was boosting the effect of the impact that attack would do. It also provided some protection for his fists and feet, especially if he tried to hit something too hard that could cause damaging himself instead of his target.

But the blade he created wouldn't surround anything, so it had to be as solid as an actual blade. So even if his first reinforced by a Trucki shell could be the same as fists made of metal, the shell itself wasn't that strong.

To succeed in making the Trucki Blade as sharp or even sharper than an actual blade, not only would he use more Trucki, but his control had to be even more precise.

Of course, Mark didn't think he would master that technique soon, as he hadn't yet mastered the one for his punches and kicks. But if he could make decent progress in it, it would cause his control over Trucki to reach new heights, and pass his current bottlenecks over the two other techniques of Trucko.

That was, of course, a gamble, but all Mark would lose was his time. But now that his stats had improved since his last training session, he noticed that his control over Trucki also had improved. He was confident that the increase in his <Mind> had a significant role in that change, but he also felt that maybe <Endurance> also had some part in it.

<Endurance> affected how much HP or SP he had and the SP cost of his physical actions. It also increased his SP and HP regeneration when he rested, but the increase didn't look that much.

He understood that the SP costs decreased because he had better control over his body with each stat increase. He was still feeling some soreness over his body, but after increasing his <Endurance> that much, there wasn't any. He could handle even more his body in ways he couldn't before.

Of course, the differences weren't that considerable, but still, he could feel like having been going to the gym every couple of days or something similar. It wasn't like he wasn't a fit person, but since most of the day he was sitting and driving, he wasn't getting that much exercise, either.

In the end, since he had better control over his body and the <Martial Art> Skill also depended on it, it made sense that the <Endurance> affected it too. After all, Trucki was the essence of himself, somewhat merged with the universe's energy, but primarily based on his essence.

To tell the truth, Mark was still confused over Trucki, as even if he had many theories about it, that was all. It was the same as reading all the books that had to do about the ocean, but unless you visited yourself, you wouldn't really thoroughly understand what it was.

Mark started with simple steps as he focused on gathering as much Trucki as he considered he would need on his palm. He didn't give it a shape, but it mostly looked like a collection of spheres making a larger sphere.

As he finished gathering the needed amount, he combined those little spheres and changed the shape into a cube. Next step, he started to increase its length while keeping its width short and decreasing its height too.

He created what looked like a blade, but it didn't have a pointy end and was still too thick.

But Mark had reached his limit on how long he could control all that Trucki. But it wasn't with no benefits in the end, as his <Martial Art> Skill leveled up four times. He was just one level away from reaching its <Advanced State> too, which he knew would unlock some more knowledge over understanding the Skill.

And so, after testing to see how much his last effort had affected his timing on the other two techniques, he was ready for round two. Again, there were some very noticeable changes, as the time and focus needed to form his fist and feet shells had been almost half from before starting today's session.

But still, Mark hadn't reached the desired potency of the Skill, even if he hadn't tried it in the real world yet. His focus here and outside were completely different, meaning it should be much easier to use it out there. Still, Mark wanted to be perfect, or be as close to perfection as here, as that would mean that reaching perfection or surpassing it would be much quicker outside the 'Darkroom. '

Mark made three tries, including the first one, and he felt he needed to take a break after the last one. His second try leveled his Skill only once, making it reach its <Advanced State>, while the third try didn't cause it to level up. Still, he could feel that sizeable progress was made because of it.

Surprisingly his <Minor Energy Manipulation> also leveled up once because of his training, which Mark didn't expect. In the end, Trucki wasn't a type of Energy, at least not one that his Skill could affect, no matter how he tried to do it.

But the reason seemed to be that even if he wasn't using the Skill during his training shaping the Trucki blade, there were some similarities in the way to control Trucki with the way he handled other sources of energy with his Skill. The similarities weren't too much; otherwise, there wouldn't be a reason he couldn't use his <Minor Energy Manipulation> Skill on Trucki, but it was enough to cause him to have a small breakthrough, at least, which resulted in leveling up the Skill.

As Mark exited the 'Darkroom' and woke up, he noticed a few people near his truck. One of them he recognized as the owner of this motel.

Even if they were near his truck, it didn't seem that he was why they had gathered, as they were just speaking to each other. Of course, Mark could hear what they were talking about, but he needed to get out of his truck either way to stretch a bit.

As he got out, the motel's owner noticed it and started walking toward him.

"Well, if it isn't the little prince. I see you have upgraded your way of transportation, but still are too cheap to get one of my rooms. "

Mark smiled at the middle-aged woman, as he knew she didn't mean to hurt him physically or mentally. She didn't know the entire truth about his family and was part of the people who knew his surname and just considered it a coincidence or a long cousin that wasn't part of the prominent family.

"Sorry about it, Miss Ren, but I am still not paid for my last job. And this is a borrow, unfortunately. "

He didn't mind telling her the truth, as he had encountered enough times in those past years to know her character well enough. But, of course, he wasn't planning to tell her about Truck-kun and his new abilities. He wouldn't share that with anyone, as it sounded like something that would cause more problems than solving any.

"I see… well, you should be careful, though, as some policemen are looking for one truck of that size. Although from my understanding, it doesn't fit its description. "

"Did something happen? I noticed a few police cars moving around on my way here. "

Mark considered that it wouldn't be wise to make it look like he noticed nothing. Also, he could learn more details about the boy and what the police looked for. Even if he had trusted Truck-kun about covering their tracks, he still wanted to ensure they were safe.

Ren told him what she knew, as he didn't see any reason not to do it, and that was what she was talking about with the rest of the people out here. In the end, Mark learned nothing new other than that the boy had died. Ren was apparently familiar with the boy since his family lived nearby, and Ren had been around this area for most of hee life.

His heart was much weaker than it should be because of some problem when his mother was in labor on him. This solved a mystery in Mark's mind, but he didn't feel any better over what happened, but he hid it from appearing on his face.

As he finished speaking with Ren and stretching, he started his way back, as even if it was still quite early, it wasn't that early that nobody would be driving around.

But as he was ready to climb back to his driver's seat, a notification that reminded him of something he forgot to do appeared.

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In one hour, the time limit to receive the reward for completing the special task <The Die>.

Do you want to get your reward?

YES/NO

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