[Frost Direshard is activating an attribute: Weapon summon.]
Frost remembered the man on the bridge that had done this very thing. The Void whispered to him – shshshshsh – and he reached inside a hole of impossible blackness that dripped like tears. From it he produced a longsword of ordinary design, its edges frosted over from the cold of the Void. It was exactly like his memory, only now he was the one with the dangerous weapon.
"To think you'd get it this fast," Clay said. "Really. I'm incredibly impressed, and I can't remember the last time I was impressed."
It had been two hours since their 'discovery'. With the new method, Frost was almost immediately able to channel Void energy into his body. He learned the different types of enhancements and how to control the energy within himself. Strength, agility, cognitive, activated depending on the focus of the energy in the muscles and the head. Enhancements came in three tiers, but he could only access the first one willingly. The second tier – wherein the user's innate element could be seen – was accessed briefly in the life-or-death scenario against the Wyvern. He assumed that it would take either a lot of practice or another scenario of that sort to access it again, let alone the third stage.
From there, with the energy inside of himself and outside available for use, Frost was surprised to find out that attributes were activated with ease. It took nothing more than a thought, and the Void Attribute Network basically did the rest. He'd conquered the hardest part, and only in half an hour.
Or so he thought. It turned out that the main attributes were not the only ones in existence. Main attributes were those granted to a person immediately. Secondary attributes were acquired mainly by clearing distortions. Skill attributes were learned, and usually performed by nothing more than skillful manipulation of Void energy. It was the true measure of someone's skills, quite literally, as opposed to a main attribute, which could be picked up and used by anyone almost immediately.
Clay had figured that learning summoning would be a priority. This was the art of turning an item into pure Void energy and storing it, almost like an inventory. Apparently those with more skill could store multiple items or even very large ones, this included anything but organic material. Frost, of course, started small. A single item. The most essential item. A weapon.
He smiled widely. This was his first time managing to do it. It was a strange feeling when the item was stored, like a constant nagging at the back of his head. He'd been enhancing himself on and off, and his whole body was starting to feel weighed down and tired. Even so, he managed to feel happiness at this accomplishment. He was nowhere near someone like Lex, but his combat capabilities had multiplied hundreds of times in just the last two hours.
[MasterOfTheFlute: Your calling is that of a warrior. The growth potential is simply unnatural.]
[GreatGadfly30: You heard it here. He's the son of someone pretty strong. It wouldn't make sense for him to be a powerless bum.]
"You're making me jealous," Lana said. "It took me forever to figure that out. Still, it tracks that a guy like you would be talented in the art of war." She was standing at the opposite side of the dueling ring, which was nothing more than fence posts working to create a "circle".
"You don't know the start of it," Frost said, taking up a stance with his sword. And indeed he'd been in more combat scenarios than even a Voidhunter like her had been. In hindsight, it felt like he'd been spending a lot of his life preparing for these powers. Most of this stuff was already ingrained in his muscle memory, such as general combat sense and movement skills. Now he was ready to put it into practice.
"You both ought to be exhausted," Clay said, leaning on the fencepost at the side of the ring. "But let's finish off strong, alright!?"
"Yeah!" Frost and Lana both boomed.
For Frost, this was a test of his true skills. He'd shot Lana that day, but it was likely he'd just gotten lucky. He needed to know where he truly stood, and if he escaped the bottom of the totem pole. For Lana, it was a matter of revenge. This was her chance to prove that he'd just gotten lucky. Even so, she remained calm while Frost channelled anger he didn't even know existed within him.
"Oh! The fun's about to start, is it?" Lex came walking out looking aloof. He stepped up next to Clay and passed him a mug. "I figured you'd appreciate it."
"After dealing with these two mouths for two hours? Eternity, yes!"
"Right," Lex said. "Best of luck to you both."
"You're ready? Then on 'go'." Clay sipped his mug, and then tried to catch them off guard. "Go!" He yelled with the mug pressed to his lips.
Lana was already moving. The sword came at the side of Frost's head with impressive speed. Frost ducked and felt the wind rustling his hair. There was a slight tug and the feeling of being lighter by a completely negligible amount as the blade shaved the top of his head. His eyes were wide open now. All of his tiredness was gone. More importantly, as Lana followed through, he was granted a free strike into her wide open midsection.
Frost stomped both of his feet firmly into the ground and posed the sword to thrust forward. He was certain he'd strike clean through Lana's exposed stomach. Instead, the inertia of the weapon was redirected into the ground. Lana firmly stomped on it and used it as leverage to flip backwards and and surprisingly high. She moved with the precision and grace of a ballerina, and with enough gravitas to shock even Frost.
[Lana Whitehall is activating an attribute: Perfect eye.]
And she threw her sword. By the time Frost realized what was happening, it was about ten centimetres from drilling straight through his forehead and his brains by extension. His arm moved on its own, and a ching sent the thrown blade soaring up into the air as he deflected it with less grace and preparation than he'd ever admit. It spun around like a top but eventually embedded itself in the concrete directly in front of Lana.
"Not bad," Lana mused. "You're more experienced than I thought."
[Checkpointer20: She doesn't know the start of it! Make sure you show her who's boss.]
He could win. After all, without his new abilities he'd have died five times over. This strength and speed was new. The sword came at him slowly and his limbs moved faster than he realized most of the time.
Frost charged forward and swung wide. Lana drew the sword and blocked in reverse grip. The inefficiency of this grip caused her to stumble back. Still, it was better than losing her head in the transaction. She growled, wiped sweat from her forehead, flipped the sword into a proper grip, and then came at frost with a frenzied expression. I'm giving her a harder fight than she anticipated, Frost realized, and now she's looking to end it ASAP.
Rebels had now gathered around the ring to watch the two newbies fight it out.
Lana struck out. The blade whooshed past Frost's head as he redirected it. The metal scraped together, producing a shower of sparks as Frost's blade ran all the way down to the hilt. The hard collision jolted both of them, but Frost was the quickest to follow through with a knee to the stomach. Lana took this hit in stride, quickly countering by pushing through Frost's guard and slamming her pommel into the side of his head.
His vision wavered and swirled like a boiling stew. Fighting with a sword in extremely close quarters was never good. At this rate it would devolve into a series of shallow cuts and pommel strikes. Frost roared, clashed his sword against hers and shoved her back a few cautious steps.
His energy felt like it was going to run dry. At this rate he might just collapse. The only option was to end it immediately. On this, he agreed with Lana. They were both exhausted from training, and yet there was so much on the line. The consensus between the two of them was clear. End it in this next exchange.
Lana moved.
Frost moved.
They attacked from opposite sides, going directly for the other's throat. The seconds stretched beyond regular perception. Frost saw something beyond the calm in her eyes. A silent rage kept strictly under control to trick the Void itself. If Frost was not ready, her attack would remove his head. But the same could be said for Lana. They continued to follow through, intent on complete mutually assured destruction. Frost remained steadfast, as did Lana.
Both of their hands stopped. Frost's blade was centimetres away from Lana's throat, while Lana's was centimetres from his. Their wrists had been caught and stopped in motion by Lex and Clay.
"That's enough," Lex said. "Are you two trying to kill each other?"
"It's a draw," Clay added. "Stow your weapons away, now."
Lana looked disappointed, but drew her sword back and threw it over her shoulder where it exploded into a cloud of Void particles and puffed away. Frost did the same, willing it into his 'inventory' while he still held it against her neck.
Frost was blushing profusely and breathing heavily. Lana looked at him like he was some sort of freak.
"You're sick in the head," she said.
Frost smiled. "It was just getting interesting, that's all."
"You weren't going to stop."
"Neither were you."
[WebnovelGoon69: Enemies to lovers!?]
[Checkpointer20: Who the hell even are you? ^^^]
The duo stared daggers at each other even though they were now disarmed. A shocking amount of hostile intent had been revealed between them. The crowd held their breaths, hoping to see an escalation in the drama.
Clay laughed nervously. "Alright! How about we fetch you both a mug of ale, eh!?"