Glia’s point of view:
I dodge several attacks as best as possible, trying to position myself to counterattack with every movement, or at least not leave myself exposed for the next one.
I learned this fighting style from watching Maki for so many years. I couldn’t have had a better teacher. Watching his movements up close has always been impressive. Seeing him repeatedly is like entering a trance—minimal movements, always optimizing his body to the maximum.
Sharing senses has also been a great help. I can follow his body naturally. I’ve had to adapt his movements to myself, our structure is completely different. It took me quite some time to find these patterns. My style is somewhat unusual and my own, but it comes from him.
I can see him fixing his broken arm after overusing gravity mana. He must have several broken bones from such an exaggerated movement. That damage is nothing to him. Just as I thought, he’s already back to normal.
Has his healing speed become that powerful and fast? I can feel the change, and it’s even more noticeable seeing it directly. Well, it’s the least I should expect. He’s now ruby rank—he can’t be weaker, that’s impossible.
I deliver the final blows to the golem in front of me. I had been keeping it alive to wait for Maki, but now it’s no longer necessary. I infuse my claws with much more death mana, and with a single strike I destroy part of its body, leaving it motionless on the ground. Before leaving, I treat myself to a small snack by eating its core.
“It took me longer than expected to get decently used to some abilities. It’ll take me more time to feel comfortable.” Maki speaks beside me.
“If you take too long, you’ll fall behind.” I joke with him.
Maki doesn’t understand how monstrous he is. People usually need several weeks to adapt to a ruby-rank body. I’ve always admired his enormous adaptability. No matter the situation, he always adapts.
I don’t remember a single scenario where my older brother performed below expectations. He always surpasses himself and leaves everyone amazed. I feel fortunate to be close to him. I’ve also changed a lot by following his example.
“I already told you, I’ll never let you be above me. I’d feel like a useless older brother if that happens.” Maki’s smile is as bright as always. That’s the reason why, wherever he goes, many women fall at his feet.
“Maybe you should let me this time, so you’ll know how Sers and Ritmo felt at the beginning.” I stick out my tongue, showing my discontent.
“They never felt useless. They were always proud of me.” He replies quickly, though I can see a hint of doubt in his eyes.
“Of course they were always proud and happy to see their brother getting stronger every day, but they must have felt frustrated at some point.” I wouldn’t have noticed if I wasn’t always close to him.
“You’re right… maybe I should bring several gifts when I return to the territory.” Maki starts thinking about a good present. He has always had such a kind and warm heart. It’s one of the reasons why mother chose him to raise me.
We walk a few dozen meters before several golems approach us again—this time there are five.
“Leave three to me, I need more pressure if I want to see any improvement.” Maki shouts.
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I don’t even have time to respond before he rushes straight at them. I give him a mental nod before engaging the other two.
Hours pass. I no longer feel out of sync with my body. I’m happy I can adapt so easily—this is a great advantage for monsters like us, it’s a special ability.
I turn to look at Maki fighting five golems at once as if they were children. I feel a bit embarrassed watching him—his adaptation is extraordinary. This little monster always breaking limits.
My distraction costs me. I shouldn’t have looked at him while facing three opponents. A massive fist comes straight toward my chest. I reinforce the area with mana and Imra to endure it as best as possible.
My efforts are useless. A massive wall of reinforced ice stops the blow just long enough for me to move.
“I know I’m amazing, but don’t get distracted.” Maki jokes mentally. It’s strange how he can be so playful and egotistical with me—he almost never acts like this in front of others. With me, it’s different.
“Thanks.” I roll my eyes in response, though my gratitude is genuine.
He always keeps an eye on everything around him in battle. He’s always aware of everything happening. That limits his options a lot. He can fight efficiently while surrounded by people, but he could be even more lethal if he were alone.
I’m truly astonished by his progress. He has adapted so naturally to his new body—it’s something unheard of according to the knowledge my mother left me.
He still makes mistakes often. Sometimes he doesn’t use enough mana, other times he uses too much and causes himself more harm than benefit. Even his use of Imra is still somewhat crude—I can see his frustration.
The biggest change in his Imra is obvious even without looking. It’s now very aggressive and oppressive. The golems can’t contain it at all. With enough willpower, you can resist certain abilities, Maki hasn’t reached that point yet, but he can already immobilize one with his gravity prison.
I almost laugh when I see him break his arm again from overusing mana. I was just praising him and he makes an amethyst-rank mistake.
I feel truly happy to have met this person. I must thank my mother deeply when I see her. She chose the right person—I couldn’t ask for anyone better.
Maki’s point of view:
Shit! I shout mentally as my leg flies off to the side from overusing gravity mana. That huge mistake doesn’t go unnoticed. The golem’s blow hits me directly, I manage to block it with my arms at the last moment.
I’m sent flying several meters. Several bones are completely broken. I used multiple defenses to endure as much as possible, but even with all of them, the result would have been similar. It doesn’t matter if I’m ruby rank—these golems are grade 4. I should be grateful it’s only broken bones.
I try something I haven’t used in these more than fourteen hours of training—my movement ability.
What is this ridiculous mana consumption? It’s still small compared to my current mana pool, but it’s noticeably higher than when I was sapphire rank. I dodge the golem’s stomp—it was trying to crush me.
This feeling… something felt different when I used the ability. Something I had never noticed before. Before being hit again, I teleport behind another golem. It can’t react in time, and due to excessive mana use, I cut straight through its body.
I keep using my movement ability to confirm my thoughts. After several uses, I’m more certain—something has changed. Or maybe my ability hasn’t changed at all.
Thinking about it clearly, I’ve been looking for this from the very beginning.
Maybe I wasn’t strong enough before to notice it, or maybe now at this rank I’m finally seeing the results. It could be both. I won’t know until I experiment more or talk to Susan.
My movement ability now consumes much more mana, but in exchange I’ve gained something incredible. I can teleport within my Personal World naturally. It feels like disappearing and reappearing instantly—perfect and fluid.
I don’t feel any restriction. Before, I had to think carefully about location and timing. Now I can teleport without obstacles. It might even be impossible to interrupt unless the opponent is extremely powerful.
Glia is about to finish her golems. I told her not to hold back—I’ll adapt to her pace. We don’t have much time left to train. I want to check on Brendu’s progress. She was there for me, now I want to be there for her.
When we’re about to leave, I stop her. “Give me a few minutes, I want to try something.” In an open area, outside the range of my Personal World, I try something different.
I channel mana to teleport beyond my sensory range. It takes a bit more mana at first, but it activates without much trouble.
“It feels a bit strange…” It doesn’t feel natural. I can do it, but it feels much more fragile than usual.
I explain it to Glia. She looks at me like I’m some kind of weirdo again. “Let’s go back. We can keep practicing tomorrow.” She returns to my cube to rest. It’s time to go back.