183 Sea Ornament
Vushhh!
Ynosuke’s spinning kick caused a wind noise as it cut through the air, but it didn’t even come close to hitting Luke. “You’re much faster!” He praised the half-wolf.
“Shut up and keep trying to hit me!” Luke replied with a cheeky smile on his face.
To the two friends, it seemed like it had been decades since they had last been able to train together. So, the first chance he got, Ynosuke invited Luke to do it.
They were in a large clearing in a grove of trees whose leaves were already orange from autumn. Meredith and Alexis decided to stop there together so that everyone could have lunch, and shortly afterward, the two women went walking through the woods in search of herbs to cook and prepare the food.
The guys took this moment to test whether Luke was really that much stronger.
“Go, Luke! Hit Ynosuke with a blow straight away!” Matthew shouted, raising his one arm, from atop a large flat rock that gave a good view of the training battle.
“He was fast before, but he’s even faster…” analyzed John, paying attention to the half-wolf’s every move.
John was not wrong one bit; Luke’s speed at that moment was three times faster than when he was just a simple thief. To John, the explanation for Luke’s explosion of evolution seemed to be the politeness of his movements, which were evidently far less reckless than they used to be.
In the past, Luke acted more like an animal, and this left his movements unpredictable to his enemies. However, with the experience he gradually gained both in Dungeoneering and in training with Nathalia and Alexis, this made every move he now made unconsciously more precise and trained.
These facts became even more evident when Luke suddenly changed his leg game against Ynosuke, becoming more unpredictable and aggressive.
While backing away, Ynosuke used the leg game he learned from his grandfather as a child to dodge all of the half-wolf’s blows. This little technique consisted of always stepping only where he had already stepped, like a cat, to ensure a more smooth movement of his feet.
Unfortunately, Ynosuke soon discovered that this technique would not be enough to beat the half-wolf, because Luke’s blows were always too close to hitting.
Seeing that Ynosuke was still as strong as ever, the half-wolf slowly stopped holding back. Luke had always admired Ynosuke because of his skillful moves, and whenever they fought, Luke would try to learn something new from his friend.
After Ynosuke got tired of so much dodging, Luke stopped, took a towel from the <Normal Inventory>, and threw it to him to dry his sweat. This was just normal training; there was no reason for them to fight to exhaustion.
After drying the sweat from his face with a towel, Ynosuke looked at the yellow square and said:
“Hah… Those Genes Skills look very useful. I think I want to have one of those…”
“How about I buy a Gene Skill for you, and in return, you finally teach me your fighting style?” Luke tried to bargain. He had always wanted to learn Ynosuke’s fighting style, but the man never wanted to teach it.
Luke understood that the main difference between him and Nebezial in the grand finale was Martial Arts, so since then, he has wanted to start learning one. Martial art is not just cool moves, but pre-designed moves to use in specific situations, aiming for the best possible result, and anyone can tell when martial art is being used or not.
Ynosuke pondered the half-wolf’s request for a second and said:
“I don’t know… it will be very complicated, and it would take weeks for you to reach just the First Stage. Do we really have time for that?”
“Long breaks will be inevitable. We will have to refuel and let the horses rest a few times. I judge we have two weeks until we reach the Cardinal Kingdom.”
“Sigh… That’s fine, but you’ll have to give it you’re all! And I’ll want a very powerful Skill!” Ynosuke spoke after pondering again.
Over the days, the half-wolf woke Ynosuke up every day before breakfast to train. Since it was a technique that came straight from the oriental continent, Luke knew he needed to put in the effort to learn even the most basic fundamentals.
Luckily, Luke had the focus necessary to learn the flexible and powerful movements of the martial art that Ynosuke called Sea Ornament. For a few hours a day, Luke had to endlessly repeat the same movements, just like when he first trained swordplay with Yoelona, except that waving a sword a thousand times was nothing compared to the pain of feeling his nerves being strained to the limit.
The Sea Ornament has five stages. The first one, which was the one Luke was learning, served to transform the body, making it more flexible, and since Luke never had a foundation of any martial art, the evolution and learning should be even slower.
However, the half-wolf was very determined to learn the Sea Ornament, and so during his training with Luke, he sometimes used the Skill <Eye of Horus> to slow everything down and learn more precisely the moves Ynosuke was teaching him. Luke still couldn’t move even a finger within the world of the Legendary Skill, which was starting to annoy him.
One day Luke took advantage of the fact that Alexis was also practicing some moves with her light gauntlets and approached her to ask about the Legendary Skills. He had not yet revealed to anyone that he now had this legendary ability, because he did not know how to use it.
“Hey, can we talk for a minute?” Luke asked.
“Sure.” The half-dragon disabled the <Fist of Life> ability and approached. “Do you need something?”
“Sorry if I’m being invasive, but do you have a Legendary Skill?”
“Yes, it is called <Divine Radiance>. It’s the most flexible Skill I’ve ever had… If you’re interested in it, I can sell it to you for 50,000 gold coins.” She joked, as she placed both hands on her waist and leaned forward slightly.
Luke was embarrassed to look at her breasts and looked away. “N-not that. I could get a Legendary Skill for winning the tournament, but since I picked it up in the Cardinal Church, I don’t know how to use it properly.”
The half-dragon judged it would be discourteous to ask what the Skill does, being that even Luke probably didn’t know. So, she brought her right hand to her chin and answered:
“Sarah taught me once that when the mental picture is not accurate about how to use the Skill, it is because our discernment is wrong. It is quite common for people to think that Legendary Skills are mass destruction, and that is true to a certain extent, but try to calm down and think better about how your Skill can be useful. At some point, it will match your will.”
“I think… I’m finally starting to understand… thanks for the advice, you’re genius!” Luke spoke and stroked the half-dragon’s head. ‘So, you mean I might be trying to use it the wrong way all this time… this might not be an offensive skill.’
Alexis immediately looked away and blushed a little. ‘If you liked it so much, you should walk with me now. It’s been a while since we’ve had a chance to talk…” She spoke with a pout. Since they had reunited, Luke had been closer to Meredith than to her, so they rarely had time to spend time alone.
Luke was surprised by the S-Class’ cute reaction and accepted it immediately. ‘It’s just a walk… I don’t think Ayumi will be mad when she finds out.’