Half an hour later, Flora generated more balls of light than she could count, getting knocked down over and over again in the process. Since her body absorbed and emitted sunlight, she was like a pipe that constantly received and released flowing water. The routine was tiring.
But it was still worth it, since Flora could now maintain that ball for nine seconds.
"You're really a fast learner. Take a break, then we'll move on to combat."
Flora was only allowed five minutes of rest before they started their next section: combat training.
"The amount of light you can release, and the amount you can control, are different. You may think that the rate at which you emit light from your body is the most damage you'll be able to do, but there are methods to get around this. I want you to summon your ball of light, increase its size until you feel it's about to explode, then control its discharge and create a beam."
They had tried this before, but Flora was unable to do much because of her lack of control.
She repeated the same thing as before, creating a ball of light, but didn't stop increasing it. As her control over it rapidly decreased, the ball kept expanding until it was the size of a tire.
Boom!
At the last second, Flora aimed the explosion at Ashley. A concentrated beam of light was released at unreal speeds. Once it reached Ashley, she summoned her own ball of flame and quickly diffused Flora's attack.
'That was stronger than anything I've created before! Since I expanded the ball further than before, I was only able to maintain it for five seconds, but that isn't a terrible thing. In real combat, taking too long will give the enemy a chance to attack.'
Flora immediately critiqued the attack in her head.
'Ashley was right, this can increase the total power I let out. It's like a dam in a flowing river. The rate at which water flows is my normal attack power, but by gathering a lot of it and delaying its release, I can break the dam to reach new levels.'
Ashley observed Flora, amazed by her progress. The fact that she was able to grasp this so quickly was outstanding.
"Good, but you still lost control too early, and your body language gives away where you're aiming. Well, do it a couple more times today."
Flora tried a few more attacks, but ended up too exhausted to continue. She returned to her apartment after reviewing with Ashley.
'It's too bad there's nowhere in the City to train, it's a pain to travel all the way to the training grounds. Still, I should go there on my own and practice...'
***
After hiding through the night and recovering most of his injuries, Cullen set out to test out his new toy. While he wasn't in a good enough state to fight a strong Abomination, a weaker one would be fine.
With the ring on his finger, Cullen casually approached the Wolf, making sure his presence was known. Once it caught sight of him, it growled and lowered its head.
'It doesn't seem to be affected by any mental attacks. This is just its normal behavior! So what the hell does this ring do?'
The Wolf was about to jump, causing Cullen to prematurely dodge due to instinct. However, that never happened. Instead, the Wolf collapsed to the ground, whimpering and violently shaking its head.
'It must be active now!'
After this, Cullen was positive about the ring's abilities. Mental attacks would stop any Abomination with the intent of attacking him! But there were still a few things he couldn't figure out.
The first question Cullen had was whether it worked on just Abominations or humans as well. He could confirm this the next time he encountered one. The second one was what type of attack would trigger the effect? Obviously, anyone attempting to physically hurt him would fall victim. But would it also work if someone cast a different mental attack on him? What if they just hurt his feelings?
While the last question seemed a little ridiculous, since Cullen was not awake when this object was created, he had to test out every little thing.
'It probably wouldn't be too useful to fight against a non-sentient Abomination, but something like the Jade Titan would certainly be affected by it! The only thing stopping me is the power difference between them. The Jade Titan is an apex predator, while the Mindcradle is only a Grade-A.'
For obvious reasons, Cullen wouldn't fight the Jade Titan while expecting the ring to protect him completely.
While Cullen stood there in thought, the Wolf seemed to be fighting a battle inside its own head. Eventually, to Cullen's surprise, it lowered its head and slowly retreated into the woods.
'Since when can it walk away from me? I thought its only purpose was to kill humans, no matter the cost! I guess I don't know that much about them after all…'
Crack!
Cullen instantly turned around, startled by the sound of a branch breaking.
'Another one, huh?'
What came out of the brush was a Ghost Monkey, staring right at Cullen with its hands clenched.
Grrrr.
'Shit.'
He looked back to where the Wolf had left, only to find it standing right there with some sort of new resolve. Not that Abominations had resolve…
'I'd be fine with fighting one of them, but I've never fought two enemies at once. On top of that, my arm still isn't fully healed.'
Cullen pulled out his dagger since he felt the Spiralblade would be too hard to use with his injury.
"So, which one of you wants to go first?"
The answer he got was in the form of a flying monkey barreling straight towards Cullen's head.
Raising his right arm to block the kick, he prepared to counterattack with his dagger right after the contact. The Ghost Monkey phased through him. Standing in shock, Cullen felt a shiver of fear.
'No way…'
Behind him, the Wolf was already taking advantage of the situation. It ignored the pain from the ring to the best of its ability and opened its jaw, planning to bite Cullen in half.
'They can work together!'
Cullen managed to sidestep the attack just in time to avoid its mouth snapping.
'I should've known the Ghost Monkey was faking its attack since it didn't show any signs from the ring. And what is with their crazy coordination? It's like they share the same mind.'
Without waiting for their next trick, Cullen took charge and attacked the Wolf. His speed easily overwhelmed the Abomination as it had no time to react.
Whoosh!
While Cullen's goal was to sever its antenna, it was bent at an angle running down its back, making it hard to reach. Still, he would have cut it if it weren't for the Ghost Monkey.
It was already coiled low to the ground, ready to jump at Cullen in order to protect the Wolf.
'As far as I know, the Lower Grade Abominations are not part of a hive-mind. Once they are created, they should think for themselves, but something about this tells me otherwise. It's like they know their best chance of beating me is together.'
At the last second, Cullen backed away from the attack and aimed for the Ghost Monkey instead. Since it was stronger than the Wolf, it would have an easier time battling the ring's mental effects. This meant that it would be advantageous for Cullen to fight it head-on rather than the Wolf.
Instead of backing away, the Ghost Monkey let out a quiet cry of pain, signaling its next attack. Right before it jumped, Cullen heard another whimper from behind.
'This is too much!'
The Ghost Monkey aimed to pierce its claws into Cullen's face while the Wolf tried to bite his leg, yet they were too late.
BOOM!
Cullen had already used his Mini Kamikaze to escape! The explosion engulfed him along with the two Abominations, causing his vision to blur.
However, Cullen didn't pass out this time. One second he was on the ground, and then the next he fell from midair.
The first time he was transported by the Kamikaze, Cullen had been unconscious for an unknown amount of time. But seeing how Lucas was immediately aware, he suspected that his strength was the key.
Sure enough, he was awake this time.
Managing to land on his feet, Cullen didn't relax and immediately pulled out his compass.
'Those Abominations should have been teleported near me—I can't let my guard down.'
Cullen checked the needle and started running in the opposite direction it pointed.
'This is a warning. I can't stay on this Abomination any longer or my life will be in danger!'
After his near-death experience, Cullen was convinced his battle with the Jade Titan would come much sooner.