Steps
Footwork could be divided into two branches, the first branch would be normal footwork that emphasized on the body's agility and dexterity to avoid attacks and obstacles, sometimes enhancing the body's speed slightly by using the correct strategy of moving, but in the end it was something limited by the user's abilities and gaining further advantages by relying on having higher body stats would be a pipe dream as the footwork itself also had its limits.
The second branch, was of course, the advanced footwork, which is basically footwork which can tap into elemental powers or weapon energy to enhance speed and evasion, footwork that isn't theoretically limited in itself, its only limit would be how high can the user's elemental or weapon path can reach.
The problem was that advanced footwork is something that is even more scarce than weapon arts and could be put on the same rarity value as elemental arts, while normal footwork could only be described as fancy tricks, which could only be used in nobility duels and such showy fight, having no actual use in real battles.
As such, I was only slightly surprised when I first discovered the 'Storm steps' book, thinking it was just a normal footwork, only to find quite useful and ending up maxing out the first chapter's 'Swift steps' as it increased my battle efficiency by one notch.
It was only after I gained the 'Body of Elements' ability, that I realized that 'Storm steps' actually contained three advanced footworks, and unexpectedly, it wasn't aligned to one element only but two elements!
'Swift steps' which I already mastered its beginner levels was a footwork that tapped into the wind elements to increase the user's mobility, however, it would only show its true might if the user was a wind practitioner, being capable of multiplying one's speed if used by the right person.
It simply meant that it would remain stuck at the beginner rank, unless I gained the ability to use wind elements…
Thankfully, the next advanced footwork in the book was one that I could use to its full potential, just as the name 'Lightning steps' can describe, it was footwork that needed lightning elemental practitioners to show its abnormal ability!
As for the third chapter's content, it was strangely enough a foot work that needed both wind elements and lightning elements to display its full abilities… 'Hurricane steps'!
It was actually a peak footwork that not only could multiply the user's speed several times but it also possessed the ability to augment the user's damage!
However, why would a dual-element footwork exist in that small training home in that small village, it practically made no sense, after all, any skill created on the basis of more than one elements were stuff that could only be tailor made by the dual-element user itself…
I had countless speculations about this, but there wasn't really a need to think too much about it, the whole tutorial period in itself had more surprising and strange matters popping up one after another.
In any case, I decided to try and at least master the normal footwork without the use of elements at least for the skill to be created before the end of the week, and if possible try the fusion with the 'Body of Elements' if there was still time left.
Unlike the failure I faced with 'Precise Throw', I was quite optimistic about 'Lightning steps' as it wasn't a technique that relied on accumulations, but emphasized more on comprehension which could be easily considered as one of my strong points.
As for stat requirement? I had already reached them as 100+ Dexterity and 200+ Agility (normal points) were already overkill at this point, I would have tried 'Lightning steps' as soon as I reached its requirements back then if only it didn't need to be backed up by the footwork of a normal mastery level 'Swift steps' as its foundation...
And thus, starting from today, my training routine changed to be the following, 2 hours of elemental absorption, 6 hours of 'Lightning steps' training, and finally 2 hours of basic 5-weapon training sets.
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5 days later…
Even though forests weren't really that frequent to find, I was able to find one after searching for two hours at top speed, after all, forests were a perfect place to practice footwork as there are lots of obstacles everywhere.
I ran forward randomly as the complex footwork of 'Lightning steps' started to take shape supported by the initial foundation left by 'Swift steps'.
[ You have learned 'Lightning Steps' lv.1! ]
I didn't stop there as the footwork solidified and the process became more familiar in my mind…
"Body of Elements!"
Though I found calling out the name of the ability before using it to be totally stupid in actual battles, I still wanted to try doing this once…
Lightning started to envelop my legs as they suddenly felt several times more light, I even felt as if I could instantly teleport away to any place within the fragments of a second…
[ 'Lightning steps' has leveled up! ]
Of course, it was a mere illusion, however, the reality wasn't disappointing as well, my speed roughly increased by two times when I was moving at half my top speed, while it was limited to a x1.4 speed amplification when I used my maximum speed, but even then it was terrifying!
[ 'Lightning steps' has leveled up! ]
[ 'Lightning Steps' has reached lv.3! ]
Merely the infusion of lightning at the beginner level caused my control to level up two times! Of course, repeating this won't have the same effect though...
At this point, I had high hopes about the probability of advancing my speed to the level of Mach 2 if I were to push 'Lightning steps' to the intermediate rank… but that was something to be done at a later time.
For now, I decided to turn early today as a celebration for realizing the second advanced footwork, and since my training goal was realized earlier than expected, I decide to take the last day as a break as well!