Divinity

--- [Shin’s perspective] a few weeks later

With each day that passes, I get closer and closer to being able to maintain the fire sword for extended periods of time.

For the first week or so, I mostly worked on my stamina.

Day after day, I kept pushing myself to the utmost limit…

And beyond.

I summoned ice sword after ice sword…

I’d maintain dozens of them for hours on end.

Other times I let them fade away instantly, and constantly produce new ones without stop.

It was incredibly hard work, and sooner or later, I’d always pass out from exhaustion.

There wasn’t a day where I didn’t.

But my hard work was rewarded.

Even if it wasn’t by much, I could feel my stamina growing.

I was getting closer to my goal!

But…

It wasn’t that simple.

Although it’s true that my stamina was improving, it was by too little.

If I kept that training up until the D-rank exam starts, I could probably use the fire sword once without passing out.

Any more than that though would not be possible…

What if I’m forced to use it multiple times?

I had to change my strategy.

Luna came up with two different ways to reach my goal of being able to use it more freely.

I could either build up my stamina to the point where I’m able to handle using it more, or I could try to reduce the output.

I already know now that building up my stamina isn’t going to cut it given the tight timeframe we’ve got.

So, I’ll have to go with the other option instead; I need to learn how to weaken my own ability!

That too is easier said than done though…

I’ve been going at it for a while now, but without much success.

It’s not something I’ve noticed before since weakening your own specialty isn’t something you’d normally want to do, but it seems like there is some sort of baseline…

A lower limit of how weak your ability can get, while still functioning.

The lower limit to my ice swords is significantly lower than my fire sword.

That’s why it’s so hard to maintain; the lower limit is simply too high for me.

I can’t just ‘use less Divinity’ or whatever.

If I do, it just won’t work.

The sword just fades away before even forming properly.

Counterintuitively, I’ll have to increase my control.

With even better control of my ability, I can go below that limit.

It’s effectively the exact same thing as training to make your ability stronger, just with the opposite effect.

After the exam however, I’ll have to get back to working on my stamina.

I can’t keep using a weakened ability, but it’ll do for now…

--- [Alex’s perspective]

Focus…

Focus…!

Just like when I first started learning BDM, I’m meditating.

When using a charged attack, you put all your concentration into it to make it as strong as possible.

The catch is that you can’t really move around while doing it.

If you do, your concentration will break, and you’ll essentially just go back to how you usually are.

Meditation is like that, just to an even higher degree.

I’m not focusing on an opponent.

I’m not focusing on throwing my fist.

I’m not even focusing on standing up.

Every bit of concentration is used on controlling Divinity.

While meditating, you are at your peak.

The highest high your current self can possibly reach.

It’s obviously not something I can do in combat, but that’s not the point of this training.

All I want is to get a better feel of how it is to control that much power.

The more I get used to it, the less I’ll have to focus to reach it.

Eventually, with enough training, I’ll be able to use it in a real fight.

Since I pick up on BDM faster than most other people, I’ll be able to do it in a much more reasonable amount of time.

Sure, by the time the D-rank exam starts, I probably won’t be at the same level of control in a casual scenario as I am when meditating now, but it might be close…

In fact, I can already feel myself getting stronger.

The physical gap between me and my friends is continually widening.

It doesn’t seem to stop…

I wonder if I’ll ever…

No…

No time for thoughts like that.

I need to focus again; I got sidetracked.

Focus…

Focus…!

--- [Illian’s perspective]

“Yes!” – Illian

While breathing heavily, I celebrate my small success.

“Good job!” – Luna

“Tha… Thanks…” – Illian

For the first time ever, I managed to make two shadow clones in a single day.

It disappeared after only a few seconds, but it was there…!

With this, I know that it’s possible to improve my ability.

It’s all a matter of time now.

Luna keeps moving between us.

We’re all training in different places after all.

I don’t know exactly what she’s doing with the others, but with me, she’s the one that attacks me to get rid of my first shadow.

Since the amount of SDM training I can do is very limited, it’s usually the first thing we do in the morning; the rest of the day I spend training BDM.

I’m usually very tired after my SDM training though, so I’m not improving that much in the BDM department.

It’s better than doing nothing though.

When we first started training together, she was a little hesitant to attack me seriously.

Logically, she knew that any amount damage would be transported over to my shadow…

But she didn’t really believe it.

After a day or two, however, it sank in.

No matter how hard she hit me, I didn’t take any damage.

Eventually she got comfortable enough to start busting out her big moves.

She’s extremely strong…

One hit is all it takes to ‘kill’ me when she gets serious.

After she hits me, and my shadow disappears, I spend the rest of my stamina trying to make another one.

Before today, I couldn’t do it; I was starting to worry that it simply wasn’t something my specialty was capable of.

All doubts are now gone!

I can get stronger too!