The sparring session taught Reisen Riou and Anko Kanno one thing.
Reisen Riou's archery was stellar, and his physique was robust.
But his reflexes? Sluggish. In close-quarters combat requiring snap reactions, he was a mess.
He could bully basic Hilichurls or Mitachurls, but facing a seasoned high-tier samurai in melee? That was asking too much.
His reaction speed couldn't keep up.
Pull the distance to a hundred meters—fifty for most high-tier samurai—and his archery ruled. A rapid-fire, calculating marksman, he could kite any samurai to death.
In their follow-up spar, Anko, a titled martial senior miko, charged from a hundred meters. At seventy, she was "killed" by Reisen Riou's cloth-wrapped training arrows peppering her head and chest.
Those arrows, crafted post-Ei spar to minimize impact on trajectory and speed, worked perfectly here.
Post-spar, they traded compliments and reviewed.
Reisen Riou spotted another flaw: his abysmal melee skills.
He couldn't fix that directly.
Instead, he'd boost his mobility.
Run fast enough, and he could disengage, leveraging his archer's advantage.
Lacking a quick mobility method, he dove into his memory palace, combining fragments.
Soon, he devised an Electro-based aerial mobility skill, inspired by Inazuma's Thunder Spheres and Thunderbolts. At the Grand Narukami Shrine, mikos taught Thunder Sphere and Thunderbolt navigation.
It was flashy and clashed with his need for combat readiness.
No matter—he'd split it.
One for long-distance travel, another for short bursts.
He wove energy and stamina conservation into the long-distance mode, blending pre-combat archery prep and light scouting into the short-burst mode.
Electro Long-Distance Surge Theory LV2 (82/100)
Electro Short-Burst Evasive Step Theory LV2 (71/100)
The system's practice tab updated:
Electro Long-Distance Surge LV1 (1/100)
Electro Short-Burst Evasive Step LV1 (1/100)
The names were clunky. Reisen Riou simplified them: Thunder Surge and Thunder Step.
Thunder Surge mimicked Thunderbolts, fully Electro-elementalizing for movement. Pulled by Electro interactions, it consumed minimal stamina and Electro—none for Reisen Riou, a Geo-Electro humanoid elemental being.
It worked by sensing Ley Lines and crafting a one-use pseudo-Thunderbolt far off, then elementalizing to surge toward it.
While elementalized, he could build more Thunderbolts, enabling continuous travel.
But it wasn't combat-friendly—too easy to knock him out of elemental form.
Thunder Step differed. Instead of elementalizing, it used Electro to stimulate and propel his body for rapid movement.
It was fast, boosting physical resilience and resistance to avoid interruptions.
Downsides? High Electro and stamina costs, usable only once in quick succession.
Practicing, Reisen Riou learned theory and reality diverged.
Thunder Surge's pseudo-Thunderbolt was easy to craft, but building one mid-elementalized dash was tough. Failure meant getting caught fleeing or rushing.
Thunder Step was worse. One try left him floored, a "dead dog" for ages.
He'd zapped himself. Misjudging Electro output, the stimulating charge linked with his innate Electro, nearly frying him.
Thank his Geo mastery, or he'd have exploded.
Thunder Surge was practice-worthy, but Thunder Step needed theory tweaks—starting with preventing internal Electro linkage.
A year blinked by. Neither mobility skill was complete. Anko, true to her martial miko title, soared. Her heart power deepened, letting her unleash blade aura.
In their next spar, she closed to forty meters before Reisen Riou's arrow barrage "knocked" her out.
She'd honed her footwork, dodging his arrows with ease.
In melee, Reisen Riou resisted briefly with Electro-boosted speed before falling. Against Anko's heart-enhanced speed, he was still too slow.
"Sigh…" Reisen Riou groaned, rising. "You're incredible. Your martial arts are master-level—you could found a school in Inazuma."
"But you seem restless lately, heart unsettled," he added, rubbing his arm where her blade aura gashed him.
With Anko's control, that shouldn't have happened.
Her heart was troubled.
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