"Are you sure this is our training ground?" Noa commented, being in a wide space of land with grass beneath them.
Dulio shrugged. "I trained here cause of my Sacred Gear." With possible mistakes one could make when using Zenith Tempest, the Church had decided to have Dulio train in a more open space of land, trying to prevent any damage to the buildings.
"This kind of looks more like a Pokemon stadium... has that even released yet?"
If they replaced the Pokeball with a cross, then that was the general vibe of the training ground.
"What's Pokemon?" Lavinia asked.
"Uh... hmm... It's a game that you capture familiars and have them fight each other. Or something like that." Noa tried to explain.
"Sounds fun." Dulio commented.
Noa nodded. "...It sure does. Anyways, does Cardinal Cristaldi always come late?" It was time for General Combat training, but Ewald was nowhere in sight.
Dulio seemed just as confused. That was strange. Normally Cardinal Cristaldi was here even before he arrived, but it seemed today was a little different.
The three waited for a few more minutes until an older man arrived along with a grown woman, both in training attire.
Dulio bowed to the older man, and Noa and Lavinia followed. While Noa may have shown disrespect towards Vasco, since Noa did indeed join the Vatican as an Exorcist Trainee, he would follow proper procedure. He wasn't that disrespectful.
"""Your Eminence."""
"My apologies for the delay. I came here to introduce Lavinia to her specific tutor."
"My own tutor?"
Ewald nodded. He gestured for the woman to introduce herself.
"You can call me Sister Daphne. I will tutor you on the usages of your Sacred Gear until you can effectively use it in combat scenarios, so this will last around a week." Sister Daphne gave a small bow and nodded towards the three.
"I was tardy due to escorting Sister Daphne. She's the owner of a similar Independent Avatar Type Sacred Gear Fimbulwinter Lepus, which allows her control over Ice though her avatar, a Rabbit. Due to the similarities, the Vatican has stationed her here for a week until you're able to decently use the Sacred Gear in combat." Ewald explained to Lavinia.
While Lavinia was able to manifest her Sacred Gear Absolute Demise, her control and power were all rather inconsistent, and she hadn't been able to properly use the Sacred Gear, having only been a week since she first manifested it.
Lavinia paused. She didn't really want to be separated from Noa and Dulio, mainly because it felt like she was the odd one out. But she admitted that her experience in battle was rather lacking, even nonexistent.
She was determined to catch up, and maybe even surpass Noa and Dulio. She wanted to be equals with Noa, not him protecting her all the time. Relationships where only one person always gives wasn't a healthy one. Her parents had taught her that.
Lavinia reluctantly nodded and followed Daphne to the other side of the wide plane of the training field.
Ewald now turned his attention to Noa and Dulio.
"Unfortunately, while I can not educate both of you much in terms of the usage of your own Sacred Gears, this class will be General Combat, so usage of your own Sacred Gears will be allowed."
Ewald Cristaldi, the current wielder of Excalibur Rapidly and Excalibur Blessing, didn't have much options in terms of large scale attacks, but his expertise was in close combat and general battle IQ.
"However, you will learn how to fight smart with me, and then Spar between yourselves during the remaining time."
Ewald plainly said, before looking at Noa.
"I have heard from Cardinal Priest Strada regarding your unnatural speed. While not using everything at your disposal isn't something I would recommend, using it often increases your dependency on that trait, so during the spars with me I would recommend trying to not use it as much as possible."
Noa nodded. Technically there was no way for Noa to lose the ability to use Furthest Earth unless his legs were chopped off, and at that point he was cooked no matter what he did, but trying to not use it would be good for trying to learn combat arts.
"I will be sparring with Dulio, so observe carefully."
Noa nodded.
Making his way to the sidelines, he glanced at Sister Daphne explaining the versatility of ice and how normally for Independent Avatar Type Sacred Gears, the weakest part was the actual user.
He looked back to Dulio and Ewald.
Ewald held a wooden sword relatively relaxed, while Dulio held his hands out with his own wooden sword, tense.
"Please countdown, Brother Noa."
Noa raised his hand, counting down from five. As he reached zero, Dulio immediately shot a gust of wind at Ewald, who evaded with ease, speeding towards Dulio.
Noa wondered what elixirs these Exorcists were fucking consuming cause how in the world do these old men move so fast? Weren't they supposed to be human?
Dulio used his Sacred Gear primarily to keep crowd control and prevent Ewald from approaching, which worked a few times, but after a few more attempts, his bursts of elements were getting more inaccurate, allowing for Ewald to close the distance.
He shot a large burst of lightning all around him, and Ewald again somehow 'dodged' lightning. Is this guy really just a human with no Sacred Gear? The stuff the man's able to do looks pretty unnatural to Noa.
...Hmm.
Not being able to use Furthest Earth meant that Noa would have to rely on his Low Servant Stats, which was still pretty fucking fast. But he was still pretty nervous, watching Dulio lose eventually because he wasn't able to damage Ewald.
With how Ewald's mouth was moving, it seemed that he was giving Dulio advice while sparring, as after he spoke, Dulio changed tactics, forming mist on the ground, reducing visibility.
[Protection of the Faith generates [Increased Visibility]]
What the hell? The skill works when I'm not even fighting?
[Yes.]
Oh damn...
As the spar continued, Noa kept generating more and more blessings that he didn't even know would be useful, and eventually, it got even more specific and detailed the more he watched.
[Protection of the Faith generates [Increased Adaptability against [Older] Entities]]
[Protection of the Faith generates [Increased Focus against [Older] Entities]]
[Protection of the Faith generates [Increased Reaction Time against [Older] Entities]]
[Protection of the Faith generates [Decreased Effectiveness of any attacks from [Older] Entities]]
[Protection of the Faith generates [Decreased Effectiveness of any attacks from Cold Weapons]]
[Protection of the Faith generates [Increased Adaptability against [Taller] Entities]]
[Protection of the Faith generates [Increased Focus against [Taller] Entities]]
[Protection of the Faith generates [Increased Reaction Time against [Taller] Entities]]
[Protection of the Faith generates [Decreased Effectiveness of any attacks from [Taller] Entities]]
[Protection of the Faith...]
[Protection of the...]
[Protection of...]
[Protection...]
[...]
The moment a Blessing came that worked against people who's first name started with an 'E' Noa became even more flabbergasted.
Brother why is this skill fucking working overdrive?!
[The skill works faster because you know of it's existence, unconsciously wanting Blessings against Human [Ewald Cristaldi] because you 'know' that Protection of the Faith can generate Blessings. Also, the skill is boosted due to the host being tense.]
"...Hmm."
[However, there is a limit to the amount of strength a more specific Blessing gives.]
That was good. While it would have been funny for Noa to only be good against Ewald and no one else, having to get used to different amounts of strength against different people would have been inconvenient.
Noa watched as Dulio eventually tired out and surrendered, trudging over to Noa, collapsing onto the ground next to him.
"I... am... so... tired..."
Noa chuckled at the tired expression on Dulio's face, and looked at Ewald, who looked just as he did before the spar, albeit more soaked.
"Brother did you even make him tired?"
"Huh?" Dulio looked at Noa confused. Noa nodded toward Ewald.
"Look, Cardinal Cristaldi doesn't even look half tired."
Dulio went silent. He thought he was pretty unique with creating that mist, but other than making Ewald tired, it just made his garb damp. He put in effort to look up and saw Ewald looking at the two with no change in expression.
He slumped once more. Dang it.
But at least Noa would have to experience that.
"Brother Noa, it's your turn."
Noa walked up with his own wooden sword.
He had an agility stat of 50 cause of Protection of the Faith, and that was 10 times as strong as a normal human, and with the increase in affinity for Flames, maybe it wouldn't be like yesterday where his flames were somehow cut.
Or maybe that was just Durandal.
Noa stood across from Ewald.
If Ewald was similar to Vasco, then his first move would probably be bumrushing him, so shooting an attack immediately as the spar started would be good. While Noa didn't have much variation compared to Dulio, in some cases it was better, because there didn't need to be much thoughts for which element was optimal.
After all, his Holy Flames already had high fire power.
As the count reached zero, Noa instantly let out a large burst of purple flames similar to a breath of fire, almost instantly covering half of the field, getting Lavinia and Daphne's attention along with Dulio's astonishment.
Ewald created a barrier consisted of Holy Energy, which was able to resist the flames for a while before cracking. However, he wasn't still during this time, running to the edge of the flame blast.
Because Sacred Gears were limited by imagination and visualization, Noa imagined the strongest thing he could think of that expelled flames.
A Dragon.
Noa reminisced back to when he had first read Overgeared and when Dragons were first introduced.
The way the author showed how absolute they were in that world had a large impact on Noa when he had read the webnovel. The power of the Refracting Dragon and the Fire Dragon Trauka gave him goosebumps.
Didn't know why the ending was so rushed though.
The moment he saw Ewald get out of the range of his initial blast, Noa was about to shoot another supercharged fire blast in Ewald's direction when his Instinct showed a magically enhanced wooden sword thrown toward him.
Noa raised his own blade to deflect it, raising his hand to shoot the fire blast once more but paused when Ewald raised his hand, with a resigned expression on his face.
"I concede."
When Ewald had heard of Vasco's descriptions of Incinerate Anthem, Ewald didn't think much of the Sacred Gear, but Sacred Gears always increased in strength the more compatible the user was with the Sacred Gear and the host's actual vitality.
Noa inhabiting the Vessel of Noah, the 10th Generation Descendent of Adam, the First Man, and the main Ancestor of every Human after the Great Flood, already had an unnatural compatibility with the Holy Cross, Incinerate Anthem.
Furthermore, adding the 'malfunctioning' EX Rank skill Protection of the Faith due to no one being able to regulate the effects, it only increased the compatibility even further, each Blessing making Noa a more 'Perfect Human'.
Now against someone who only had an above average Holy Element aptitude and a wooden sword in hand, it would have been even weirder if Noa had lost.
The only reason Noa had trouble with Durandal in the first place was the aspects of Indestructability and Sharpness.
[You have defeated the second strongest Exorcist and wielder of 2 Excalburs [Ewald Cristaldi]. You have obtained the Rare Achievement [So I can also wield Excalibur?] - +5 Free Pulls]
Well, at least he was one more step closer to Eternal Arms Mastery. But now knowing of the malfunctioning nature of Protection of the Faith, did he really need to have that skill...?
Hmm. Decisions, decisions.
Dulio's eyes widened in surprise when Ewald conceded. The man he couldn't even scratch was defeated by Noa immediately?
The reason was more because of Dulio's age and current stamina effecting how long he could use Zenith Tempest, but a loss was still a loss.
"I have to admit I did underestimate the firepower of Incinerate Anthem."
"Do I have to limit the usage of Incinerate Anthem as well?" At that point it would just be 'relying on Instinct' simulator instead of General Combat.
That made Ewald pause in thought.
"Did using Incinerate Anthem like that make you tired in any way?" If it did then Ewald could ask him to try and lower the range and try and increase the accuracy and power.
Noa shook his head. It felt very similar to the usage of Wind of Niflheim, but due to Protection of the Faith making the energy expenditure .
"...Hmm."
Being unfamiliar with such scenarios, even Ewald was kind of stumped.
"...Then we will only have to use swords. While there are no available Holy Swords as of now, judging by your affinity to the Holy Element, it would be beneficial to train in Swordsmanship now." Ewald compromised.
"What about my Swordsmanship Classes...?"
"...That will be self study to try and see if you can find variation in your abilities until we find a good tutor for the usage of Holy Energy."
Noa blinked. A free period? Score!
Dulio's face fell. That was possible?!
Noa looked smugly at Dulio, who looked at him with jealously.
"For now, for the remainder of the time, I'll watch as you two spar and give advice."
Dulio froze. He wanted him to go against that large scale flame...?
.
..
...
[You have defeated the future strongest Exorcist [Dulio Gesualdo]. You have obtained the Rare Achievement [Joker Camper] - +5 Free Pulls]
--+--
A/N: Another short exposition chapter. Lowkey wondering if im making these chapters so short recently, but its these that let me upload pretty often. Also, since we hit 500 PS earlier today, you'll get an extra chapter tomorrow. Rejoice! IDK why I'm getting so much fucking power stones for my first book tho, but thanks nonetheless.
Dulio may be more mature now, but he's only 9. So is Lavinia. Lavinia's supposed to be ignorant originally, but since Noa is influencing her I think it's fine for some personality changes. Cause and effect.
--+--
We have Powerstone Goals!!!
I don't have confidence for my first book so doing this for fun.
500 Power Stones in the beginning for an Extra Chapter and then every 300 Power Stones for another chapter after that!
So...
500 PS - Extra Chapter (Complete)
800 PS - Extra Chapter
1100 PS - Extra Chapter
And so on.
Extra chapters will be released the day after the goal is reached, from 2:00 PM to 6:00 PM KST cause that's when I'm free. They'll also be generally shorter than normal chapters.
Normal Chapters will be released every day during the times from 8:00 PM to 2:00 AM KST cause I normally get inspo throughout the day.
Also, comments, powerstones, and reviews are always appreciated.