Chapter 93: Sparring Partner (2)
"Bring out your soul relics, and we can fight now," Karz Walt said, his eyes showing fervour as if he were waiting for a fight.
"Soul relic?" Warden raised an eyebrow.
"Your cloak, which you can turn into a force field of defence," Karz Walt said. He waited for a couple of seconds to add, "Are you open now, or should I go to the virtual world to train?"
"Wait a couple of minutes. I will join you."
Warden draped on the legendary Cloak of Void Radiance as his sparring partner had requested above his usual training attire and went on with it.
"Do you want to do this in the virtual realm?" Karz asked. "Or somewhere else, like the Gravity Chamber or other training facilities?"
Warden thought for a second and decided it would be the gravity chamber for now. Apparently, it costs 20 credits for an hour no matter which level you use. Since the two of them would be using it, they split the cost between them and set the gravity to ten times that of the normal gravity force and began practising.
Warden felt a terrible force over his being. It was similar to the weight, but different in a way. The weight on him was completely even this way, causing his blood to surge up to adjust to it. Sparring here would give twice the benefit of outside, with the gravity pushing them hard.
...
An hour later, Warden and the blond-haired youth lay on the ground of the gravity chamber, completely drained of their energy and stamina.
Warden had a face of fulfilment after finally displaying his spearmanship against the fellow. He had to offer nothing but his best to beat the guy.
Throughout the hour, they fought over a dozen times, and Karz only managed to defeat him twice, though the victories never came easily for him, on the benefit of Karz\'s swift movement skill, which even under so much stress he could pull off effortlessly. It was almost impossible for someone with the same skill set to fight him on equal terms.
Thankfully, the more Warden fought, the better he became with the spear. The funny thing was how he didn\'t even need to use his legendary equipment to defeat him.
The guy was so prideful in the beginning, asking him to turn it on immediately. Unfortunately, after an initial fight with the [Void shroud] on, Warden found the guy to be no contest. So after that, they simply fought with their weapons.
"Why were you hiding your spear mastery for so long?" Karz asked after they were done with the sparring. "I feel like you\'re one step away from awakening Spear Intent."
"Nah, I just did not have a good sphere with me," Warden said. "Anyway, our time is up now."
"There are special facilities to train your intent on," Karz said. "you might want to check that."
"Next time," Warde said as he was about to leave to meet with June.
As he was about to leave, he heard the guy say, "Tomorrow, same time again?"
"Sure," Warden said. "Just don\'t hold back too much, and we\'ll be good."
He had to bathe again to meet up with June, a minor inconvenience since he wanted to feel the cold water on him once more with all the stress his body was put through. Warden wished there was an old-style stone bath here for him to immerse himself completely to relax. The shower was good and all, but sometimes he longed to lie freely in the water.
Changing into a common tunic and something more elegant, he set out towards June\'s quarters. It was already evening, and she had finished most of her school-related business. When he knocked on her door, she opened it quickly, as if expecting him.
"Thanks again," Warden said as she welcomed him in.
"Did you bring the contract with you?" she asked suspiciously, noting he carried nothing.
"Of course," Warden said, steering his second aperture to access the subspace. In his mind, images of various things inside appeared as he intended to retrieve the contract. A black hole appeared above his palm, as he pulled the exact thing he wanted with his mind. Soon, the contract fell into his palm as he held it to her. "Here you go."
June raised an eyebrow, observing him use such an ability for the first time. "That wasn\'t a dimension cube, was it?"
"My second aperture ability," Warden said. "So far, it\'s just a glorified version of a dimension cube."
"You\'ve already integrated an ability into your second aperture?" June said, her voice tinged with surprise, as she didn\'t think he\'d have the time or resources to do that so quickly. "I was thinking when you\'d ask me to help you with that."
Warden shrugged. "It happened immediately when I opened the second aperture," Warden said. "Even the fate marks extended on my palms with the integrated ability."
June looked at him suspiciously. "You\'re probably the luckiest man alive to not go through all the mess you have to pull to integrate an ability into your aperture. Besides, you did it in what Copper and Iron rank?"
"What kind of mess?" Warden asked curiously.
"There are various types of rituals, requiring particular essences for it to be successful. Not to mention, it was terminally painful and could even cause death or crippling."
"Oh, it was painful," Warden said, remembering how he acquired the ability.
"Most rankers wait for Gold ranker to even try," June added, which was another news to him.