Chapter 29 - Training Again
I woke up with the same routine which was stretching in the bed and then eating the food that was given by Rory.
Rory was still the same practicing his Blade Arts and Fire skills at the right corner after I was done eating my breakfast.
I then summoned Nixie so that I can start my training too.
"Good morning, Ave. Shall we continue our training for today?"
Nixie said while moving towards the left corner of the room. I followed her while replying:
"Yes, Nixie. What technique will you teach me today?"
"Will do one of my favorite techniques which I called the Rain of Ice Needles. It is a technique that needs to have a good control of water and ice."
We then arrived after Nixie was done saying that.
"I already used this technique before when we fought. I will first explain how I do this trick.
First, you need to make a huge amount of water by using Water Magic and then I want you to manipulate the water to make smaller pieces of it, like rain drops.
Afterwards, you will freeze the rain drops into ice needles and dropping it towards your enemy.
This technique is a bit harder than last time because you have to freeze many water at the same time.
I'll show you a demonstration."
Nixie then made an ice statue. She then started by using her Water Magic and making a big sphere of water. She divided it into smaller parts that was a bit hard to see. Then she made all the small pieces of water into ice needles and throwing it into the ice statue. The ice statue did not crumbled but I can see that it has many ice needles impaled to it.
Nixie then smiled to me and said:
"Now it's your turn."
I nodded and Nixie took at step back. She did not made a new ice statue since it was not really destroyed. I then tried to imagine how Nixie has done the technique earlier.
I made a water sphere from my Water Magic and manipulated it to break it into smaller pieces. It was hard to do so I took more time than Nixie. A minute had past before I completely did it. I immediately frozen the small pieces of water to make it into ice needles but I was not successful in making all the water pieces into ice needles. I took a few more tries before I made all of it into ice needles. The next part was controlling all the ice needles towards the ice statue. It was hard since there are many ice needles making some of my attack miss the ice statue.
"Your performance for the first try was good but you still can't use this in a battle.
Your first task for today, Ave, is to make your control of water faster. Will focus on this first and proceed with the next step once you mastered it." said Nixie.
"Alright! I'll work hard on it!" I replied with motivation.
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Nixie's Point of View
I was happy to see that Ave is training hard to master his control of ice and water. He is actually improving fast. I can still remember how he forced me to sign a contract with him. I hated him that day but I can see that he was unlike others that are greedy like the humans. I can still remember the first human who wants to make me have a contract with.
It was a woman who was arrogant and full of herself. She wanted me to sign a contract to be her slave and not her contracted Spirit. She even orders me to accept it and even saying that it will be a pleasure to serve her. She have tons of contracted Spirit, and even summoned one in front of me. It was a Wood Elemental Spirit and the spirit's eyes were dead. I can see that she was sad and has no more will to live.
It was like a puppet and not a spirit. I was furious when I saw that, I made an attack towards the woman and eventually killed her but it also killed the spirits she has a contract with.
I then took the appearance of that woman. I transformed myself to look exactly like her. We spirits come with different forms that we choose. The Wood Spirit earlier actually looks like a butterfly while I only looked like a slime.
I took the appearance of the woman to help me remember that many people out there are unpleasant in nature. I even vowed that day to be a free spirit and not making a contract with another being.
But to think that someday, I will be a contracted Spirit. I was sad at first and even angry at Ave but when I started to see how Ave treats Rory, I was amazed how different he was compared to that woman. He treats his servant as if his own companion. He even treats me great, I even thought that he will only lock me up in his Mana Galaxy once he took my powers but he didn't.
Now, I'm happy to help Ave. I even consider Ave as a friend now.
"Hey, look Nixie! I can now manipulate the water faster than before!"
I was awoken from my thoughts by Ave. I then looked towards his work and smiled.
"That's good, Ave. Keep practicing this step more and then we'll continue with the next. I can see that your speed is much faster now but it is still not enough."
I said at Ave with a giggle at the end. Actually he was already as fast as I am when it comes to manipulating the water but I want him to do better.
Ave then gave me a thumbs up without saying anything. He then continued practicing.
"Thank you Ave, for being a great friend and owner."
I whispered at his back when he started training. I know he might not have heard it but I was shy to say it in front of him.
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Ave's Point of View
I trained for the whole day that I didn't notice that it was already almost dark. I only noticed it when Rory came back from his usual hunts. He asked for permission earlier when I was training. This time he is bringing two lizards that has the size of a rabbit.
Me and Nixie stopped our training for today because it was almost dark already. I managed to level up my Ice Manipulation to level 5 while my Water Manipulation has managed to level up to 4. I can now do efficiently the simple technique that Nixie taught me yesterday but the Rain of Ice Needles was still hard for me. I can only do the first and second step but when it comes to the point where I need to control it to attack the ice statue, I fail to make all the needles hit the ice statue. I then said goodbye to Nixie after our training.
"Have a good rest Nixie and thank you for teaching me. We won't be training for tommorow because I plan to attack the last cave." I said to Nixie
"Okay but let me handle most of the magic attacks tommorow since I don't want our mana to be depleted. Remember that your mana is what I'm using to cast my magic."
Nixie reminded which I nodded since I still can't use my magic efficiently like Nixie. The use of my mana by Nixie will be great but if it's me, it will only be subpar.
Nixie was then swallowed by light after seeing me nod and the light entered my forehead.
I then walked towards Rory and waited for him to finish cooking the lizards. While I was waiting, I think about what I should do for the next few days.
For tommorow, I need to finish the cave and hopefully I can manage to level up to 100. The constant hunt of Rory made me level up into 90 and this helped my Ring of Khione have an upgrade. This is what it looks like.
Ring of Khione (Level 90):
A ring that was blessed by the god of snow.
+50% INT
+30% WIS
+30% DEX
+30% STR
+30% VIT
Bonus skills:
• Will gain knowledge of any language.
• Can easily learn skills mostly related to ice.
• For every ten levels your Ice related skills will level up by 1.
• For every fifty levels your Ice Domain skill will level up by 1.
Level is based on the owner and will upgrade based by the owner's level. Will unlock more skills as the owner's level rises.
Nothing changed from it but it still helped my Frost Magic and Frost Resistance to level up. I was even shocked to see that my Ice Manipulation leveled up because of the ring.
Next was Rory's Fire Soul Sword.
Fire Soul Sword (Level 90):
+30% STR
+30% DEX
Bonus skills:
• Will level up your fire skills into 1 level per 10 levels.
Nothing also changed from the sword but it still helped to level up his Fire skills and Blade Arts.
Afterwards, I go back towards my planning. I need to hasten in clearing the ogre's cave and make sure to go back immediately to the orc's cave and kill Orcred. I need to do this fast because Orcred must be almost done exterminating the human village. So much work to do!
"Master Ave, your dinner is ready."
I was then awoken from my thoughts by Rory so I ate the food that Rory was serving me. I then walked towards my ice bed after I was done eating. I then made myself sleep immediately so that I have the perfect condition to attack the ogre's cave.