Training

From what he could see, Alfred was still in Banat. However, he didn't have any idea about how he teleported into that room from Banat. Although Jarla had disappeared, he was almost sure that Jarla was still alive. He also didn't have any idea how to undo the Allmighty Ivory.

"We were very lucky that you managed to win that fight. Using Allmighty Ivory was a gamble, I didn't know if you could synchronize with it. Also, Piercing Blood came in handy. I didn't realize you didn't have a combat skill except Void style."

"Yeah, it was very dangerous for me to confront Hannibal without combat abilities. I was arrogant. Cecilion played with me like I am a child, he didn't even show me the third flaw in Extend. I would just die there if Omina didn't save me."

"Well, I hope you learned from your mistakes."

Alfred entered a marketplace to conceal himself in the crowd. He felt like somebody was following him, although it may have just been him being paranoid.

Alfred noticed someone stalking him. He entered an alleyway and used Dark Cloak. The figure approached him and searched the alleyway, but couldn't find Alfred. Alfred noticed that he was from Banat's Thieves Guild. 'Are they onto me? Shit, Jarla must have told them something about me.' Alfred approached the human stealthily and started choking him. He tried to stab Alfred, but Alfred caught his knife.

"I'll kill you in 3 seconds if you don't tell me your intentions. One, Two..." Alfred's counting was interrupted when an arrow came behind him. He quickly turned around and used the thief he had caught as a human shield. The arrow penetrated the thief's head and grazed Alfred's cheek.

Alfred threw the body away and looked at the figure who attacked him. It was a girl, around the age of sixteen.

"Careful, girlie. That thing is not a toy, nor a makeup tool."

"Shut up Alfred. You are a disgrace to the Thieves Guild. You killed Mr. Zeglis and tried to blame Jarla. In the name of Thieves Guild, I will kill you!" The girl was preparing to shoot another arrow.

Alfred closed his eyes and dodged the arrow. And then another one, and more of them. He didn't even use Misty Step to do this.

"Listen girlie. I am levels above you, I don't want to kill you. If you just be a good girl and tell me your intentions, I will let you go."

The girl was angered further by this. She threw his bow away and charged towards Alfred, drawing his knife. 'No can do' said Alfred to himself, and threw the girl to a wall. It was very easy to do so because she was so light compared to him.

"Blood Soul, Piercing-" Alfred suddenly stopped. The word 'Blood' didn't come from his mouth. Alfred stopped and thought for a second. What was this ruthlessness he was doing? He killed a man in cold blood and was about to do the same to this girl.

The girl was shivering, but she wasn't showing any signs of weakness. Alfred spit on the ground and left the alleyway. He didn't know what he was supposed to do in that situation. 'I have to find Jarla, he is my only way of getting more information about Hannibal' he thought to himself, but how was he going to do this? Jarla disappeared when they were in the basement. Checking the Thieves Guild was too dangerous, he couldn't fight with that many thieves and survive.

Alfred spent the rest of the day looking for Jarla, but he couldn't find anything. Not even any clues.

"Alfred, maybe you should rest. You are exhausted, I can see it."

"I don't have any time to rest. I should find them."

"And what are you planning to do once you find them? You can't even put a scratch on Cecilion as you are right now!"

"Then I will get stronger damn it! I don't want to rest while my target is alive and well!"

Helena became quiet for a while. Alfred was searching taverns, looking for details about Cecilion and Hannibal.

"How about I train you to be stronger? I can teach you how to use the Void style."

"No way. That's too dangerous. Didn't you say I would kill myself before I did something to my opponent?"

"Well, that would be the case if you were an ordinary person, but you aren't. You have insane combat intelligence. In your battle with Omina before, the moment you learned Piercing Blood you managed to turn the tides. That's special."

Alfred stood in silence. He may have been able to beat Omina, but they were almost equal in terms of power. But, if he wanted to beat Hannibal as soon as possible, he couldn't chase the regular way. He needed the strength, whether it was dangerous or safe.

"Okay, I accept the offer. Just, stop me if It gets dangerous."

"Haha, coward."

They decided to go to the forest, so no one could find them. They argued a bit on the road. Helena was making fun of Alfred for being worried.

After an hour, they arrived at the forest. It was dead silent. Alfred noticed some human corpses. From their clothes, it wouldn't be wrong to assume that they were adventurers.

"It isn't fresh. Whatever killed them must have left the corpses lying in here." Alfred approached and sniffed the corpses. Aside from the obvious rot and blood smell, there was also a strange kind of sweat and body odor smell on them.

"Shit, it's the goblins." Goblins were a small tribe scattered across the world. They were several times smaller and weaker than humans, however, they always hunted together. With their pack tactics, a well-trained goblin group could even hunt a dragon. However, they weren't very bright when it came to intelligence. Multiple Scholars state that among all the races in the world, goblins have the least intelligence.

"Well, they are probably asleep anyway, so let's begin."

A purple spirit appeared inside Alfred, and it went through the corpse. The corpse was reanimated by Helena somehow.

"Interesting, huh? Because these corpses have no souls, I can enter their bodies."

"Yeah, it sure is interesting how you can talk even though that corpse doesn't have his head."

There was an awkward silence for a minute.

"A-Anyway! Let's begin the training. What I want you to do is go and take that big stone over there."

Alfred went and picked up the stone. It easily weighed more than a hundred kilograms.

"Holy... this thing is so heavy! I can barely hold it."

"Good, now dodge this." Helena threw something like an energy ball toward Alfred. Alfred barely dodged it using Misty Step.

"You will learn to dodge these attacks while holding that rock, it will increase your sense of balance. Balance is the most essential thing for the Void style.

Helena threw another energy ball toward Alfred. He dodged this as well, but the ball touched the near edge of the rock and demolished the place it touched.

"Oh, also these energy balls are made from Void. Void style, Void Orb."

"Are you trying to kill-" Alfred's sentence was cut in half when Helena launched another Void Orb toward him. Alfred dodged this one as well.

"Don't get distracted Alfred, you may die."

Grimoire:

'Dark style, Soldier tier:

Dark Cloak

Void style, General Tier:

Eclipse Spear

Eclipse Spear, Short Version

Heaven Shattering Umbral Flash

Nature style, Soldier tier:

Misty Step

Blood Soul, Soldier Tier:

Piercing Blood'