I didn't expect the council would come by themselves to me, it turned out for the best that they provided me an opportunity to show off my skills, I was going to challenge one of them if they were to refuse me but it seemed they just handed me the rein. Although I was surprised when one of them challenged me out of the blue, I was hoping it would be on the selection day. I could clearly sense that the Reinner guy was way stronger than the big girl, Sen. His easy going personality and jolly attitude was just a facade, my instincts were wary of him. Yes, I wouldn't lie, I was hoping I could fight him instead but It turned out for the best that I atleast won against one of them. Sen was particularly inexperienced in real battles, I could tell. The very fact that she underestimated me was her downfall, if we fought head on with our full strength, there was no way I could overpower her in terms of raw strength, I borrowed the power of falcon breathing to confuse and surprise her and it worked for an opponent who was completely unaware of my skills but I have to praise her, she was able to block my hardest swing after using falcon breathing, her reflex was good too. I wonder how strong the other members are? Dan told me, their position is based on their strength, if Sen was the eight member then how strong is their leader? The thought excited me, It would be a fascinating challenge. Little did I know that my wish was soon going to be granted.
I think I could trust Reinner a little bit, he said he would guarantee my spot in the tournament but I was still skeptical about it, I kind of felt like something was going to come up, it shouldn't be this easy right? or maybe I was just overthinking I don't know. If the other three spots are Nyaka, Jeral and Werem then I must be prepared to go against them in any case, I don't need to win the tournament but just get into top seven as grandmaster Arilyne wanted. Of course, I should count Dan and Ellena too, I haven't seen their full potential at all but they should not be too bad either, who knows they could be as strong as the hunter class, I have been seeing Dan and Ellena sparring and training a lot relentlessly. I needed to up my training, with lots of schools and academies joining the tournament, there is bound to be competition. I wouldn't be surprised if there are students stronger than those of our hunter class students, that could be a problem for me. I have heard grandmaster Arilyne saying that a lot of other slayer institutions have totally different systems of training and culture, which means I will be unaware of their nature, I can't expect them to be like us. I did have some other skills which I haven't used before apart from falcon breathing and beast steps, I'll employ everything in my arsenal to get into top seven but there is one thing I wish I don't have to use.
When I used my falcon breathing, I realised that it was as powerful as their spells or maybe even stronger, I only used a few breaths of falcon breathing and I could overpower the mighty Sen Hampdher. I didn't even use the full limit of falcon breathing, I haven't told you about this before but I developed this breathing by myself before I even met Sloghk, I invented it myself and its one of the things I'm really proud of and of course there is the beast steps too but after meeting Sloghk he helped me improved my skills which I really had no idea the nature of skills, he introduced me into some mystic powers from his realm, with his knowledge I was able to develop my falcon breathing into three stages, the first stage is very simple anyone can pull of if they go through the same training I did and strengthen their lungs and heart. The first stage allows the intake of larger amount of air into our body, increasing blood circulation which leads to increase in muscle strength and contractions, simply it's just a boost in strength and speed, the second stage is more easier and it increases endurance, stamina and the breathing pattern also changes but it doesn't provide any more boost in strength but rather for long drawn out fight but the third stage is the most severe one, it's more like a double edged blade.
With one of the hypnotism art that Sloghk taught me, it transformed my falcon breathing into something which I would call a 'legendary tier technique'. Just kidding, it's just a silly naming system. I just mean it is a very powerful technique. Unlike the other two stages, this third stage of falcon breathing enhances my body to its utmost limit physically, it forces my body especially my heart, lungs and brain to unleash the untapped potential of my physical prowess. However, in one of the Sloghk trails, there was a test called ' Unjak Kle Woc ', it is a name in Sloghk's tongue. It translates to the ' Power of Mind '. In that trail, I learnt to reach a realm of mind that I have never reached before, he said when one reaches a certain state of concentration, everything in the surrounding disappears except for the target, time slows down or so it seems and this state of mind can execute all sort of skills in an unthinkable efficiency, everything disappears from the mind like doubts, fear, worry and it is replaced with an unshakeable confidence and will. The third stage of falcon breathing can only be executed in this state of mind, I have to reach this level of concentration first before I could use the third stage of falcon breathing. Fortunately, I have already passed the trail and have acquired this state of mind, for now I'll just called it the ' Kinec ', but I cannot just enter the Kinec willfully anytime I want, my body has to reach a certain stage of physical exertion and fatigue to able to enter the Kinec. And with the hypnotism technique that Slogkh taught me, it sends a command to my brain to exert all available energy overriding it's natural code of survivability. This hypnotism technique only works when I'm in the realm of Kinec, when all of these things stacked together, my body enters a state of unrestrained power output, basically I become a superhuman but it exerts huge pressure on my body especially my heart and hence it shortens my life span. Even after the rigorous training to strengthen my heart, it still couldn't protect me from the side effects of the final form of falcon breathing. I named all of these stages for convenience, the first stage is ofcourse called Falcon breathing, the second is Ovis breathing and third is Raven breathing. I termed it Raven breathing due to the contribution of Sloghk knowledge and I thought it was kind of cool to be symbolic of his Raven powers.
I hope no one would force me to use Raven breathing, I would rather use only in life and death situations. Don't worry these are not the only skills I have, There are few other hypnotism techniques that I can use in battle, there is life junctures skill too. I wonder how many can actually withstand this acupuncture technique? Sloghk mentioned there were few warriors in his world that can withstand life juncture stabs and I haven't told you much about the pact with Sloghk, right? Well, that's another interesting thing I have, a backup plan for everything but I think it's not the time yet for me to reveal it.
All that was left for me was to wait for the selection day, meanwhile I'll just refine my sword skills and moves and if possible increase my muscle strength. I wanted to visit grandmaster Arilyne to tell her about my plans but I wonder how I'll ever get into the eastern court, since no one summoned me I guess it would be impossible for me just to barge in to see a grandmaster.
I heard Dan and Ellena talking about mastering most of the offensive spells in lower tier, they seemed to have progressed a lot in magic mastery. Dan is physically strong, he is gifted I can tell, he learns fast and quick, if he puts twice the effort as Ellena does, he would become much stronger than he is, Ellena is a hard worker, she puts a lot of effort in mastering her moves, basic moves and fundamentals. Dan on the other hand avoids such training and lazes around with others, Zenorah mostly focuses on her magic training since she is a support class.
We went out for another hunt the next day, we went to the swamp area of the northern forest to hunt swamp varaes, all of them were lower division varaes, we mostly hunt Savrocs and Master Senx taught us how to hunt a Drasentra, with mostly of his body covered with hard scales it is nearly impossible for us to wound it, so we have to create an opening to strike its unprotected part, the lower abdomen. What's troublesome is its ability to become invisible in nature, so unless it's moving it's nearly impossible to detect with ordinary eyes. Luckily I could still detect with my enhanced senses but it was not easy, I have to pay attention to my surroundings, the first step was to lure out the varae from its hiding by flashing it with a lower tier spell called Quickflash, Drasentras are vulnerable to bright lights as their eyes are highly sensitive to bright lights and when they move their invisibility breaks and he taught us to trapped it with trap spells like the Roots trap the one Nyaka used earlier but Drasentras are stronger and can break the Roots trap easily so what we had to do was to cast it multiple times and keep on tangling it while others defeat it. We had to form a group of four just like before, it was necessary since we were not strong enough to slay a Drasentra in one hit like senior Najaki. However, I suspect if I use my falcon breathing, I may be able to pull it off, though I have never tried it before nor I have no idea how strong senior Najaki was that he can actually slay a varae like this in one hit but the tactics Master Senx taught us was very effective and it made easier when we work as a team. Zenorah was very good at supporting, she kept on casting Roots trap tangling the Drasentra while the three of us attacked it from all directions to its lower abdomen and managed to defeat one. Similarly, other groups also succeeded in slaying Drasentras, however some groups failed to and Master Senx had to intervene or else they could have lose their lives, even though Drasentra is a lower division varae, it's one of the strongest in the division and it was still a challenge for slayer students like us.
By the end of the hunt, the day was almost over and we headed back to the academy, Dan was overly happy about the victory. I went to the dorm and slept early for the first time so that I can wake up early tomorrow and somehow visit grandmaster Arilyne.