"Good work, you two, that was quite exhilarating to watch. Let's review it, shall we? To start with, Kai, do you think this is worth persisting with? Is there any chance you'd be able to control yourself while in that state?" Charlotte asked me.
"Yeah, I think I might be able to if keep using it and get more used to it...I was a bit less aggressive this time, but more notably, I was actually able to think this time.
Or rather, I was forced to...even in that aggressive state, I realized that just attacking wildly would be a waste of effort," I recalled thoughtfully, before adding, "I think the fact that I knew what to expect this time and braced myself helped too."
Huh, so that's why I was able to gather my thoughts, at least more so than I was able to last time.
I see, having a stronger opponent to push me to my limits was the key, it forced me to adapt even in my hyper-aggressive state.
Yeah, I'm definitely going to keep working at it...because frankly, the sheer intensity of my aggression is embarrassing, I feel mortified just thinking back on it.
"Hm, then getting you a sparring partner was definitely the right call," Remarked Charlotte with a nod.
"Mhm, I'd say so. I was getting really pissed off and frustrated that my attacks were not landing, which led me to start wracking my brain to come up with something to change that.
And then, I thought maybe Drain would work...if I could absorb his Mana while he was intangible, maybe the part that I absorbed from would turn tangible.
But, of course, he could just turn that spot intangible again, so I'd need to land a hit immediately. And I got the idea to combine Drain with Devour and went with it without a second thought...and it ended up working way better than I expected.
Not only could I inflict both effects simultaneously, but they were also a lot faster when combined than either were separately. Then, I thought maybe they'd get even faster if I combined them more thoroughly, which resulted in that black hole."
Hm, I should come up with names for those abilities. What would work for the first one? Maybe I could combine the names of Devour and Drain to get...Dravour? Devain?
No, that's stupid.
Oh, I know...yeah, I think I'll go with...Ravage. Yup, that works.
Alright, what about the black hole? I could simply just call it Black Hole, but that feels too basic...oh, how about...Void? Yeah, I like it, I'll go with that.
Ravage and Void...Ai, you know what to do!
"I see...well, then, I'd say this turned out to be even more productive that we could've hoped for," Smiled Charlotte in response.
"More like scary...you didn't tell me he could use debuffs, I felt myself getting weaker when he yelled Lethargy and Spite, I feel kinda sleepy. And I felt weirdly scared too," Muttered Rex dryly.
"Yeah, Lethargy adds fatigue, and Spite weakens you while also bringing out any fear and cowardice you have. You attacked me right after though, so you managed to resist the latter effect of Spite," I informed him with a wry smile.
Also, since he's got the passive High Status Effect Resistance Skill, my debuffs are only half as effective on him.
"So that's what that was...but I don't think I fully resisted it. When those jaws of energy faded, I saw an opening and lashed out...it's a good thing you managed to dodge it, because that probably would've done some serious damage," He replied, averting his gaze as he scratched the back of his head.
"Oh, yeah, you tried to stab me in the face. I doubt it would have killed me since it's a wooden sword, but it definitely would've hurt like hell," I laughed wryly.
"This sucks...I can't believe I agreed to do this twice a week. That felt way longer than ten minutes..."
"I mean, you don't have to do it again if you don't want to. I was a tiny bit more in control this time, but I was also definitely trying to kill you for real," I admitted sheepishly.
"No...I already agreed to it, it wouldn't be cool to back out now," He responded with a reluctant sigh.
I can definitely respect that, he seems like a good guy.
"How often do you think you'll be doing this training? You're free to use this space whenever you want," Charlotte informed me.
"Well, since Enrage only lasts ten minutes, I can definitely take time to swing by pretty often...right after I activated Enrage, it did feel like I was close to tempering my aggression and rage.
But that disappeared as soon as Rex spoke. I was so focused on resisting my aggression that he kinda startled me, which resulted in my rage surging.
And also, if I'm being honest, I don't really like being told what to do even in my normal state, so that seriously triggers me in that enraged state," I admitted sheepishly.
"Huh, guess I should've kept my mouth shut and just waited for you to attack on your own," Mused Rex thoughtfully.
"No, in a real fight against an intelligent opponent, like another Hunter or a Demon, I'm bound to get taunted, so it'd be a good idea to get some practice with trying to keep my cool when provoked," I pointed out objectively.
Another thing this sparring bout made me realize is that I still need a lot more MP...it may have increased significantly, but it's still not enough.
Ravage and Void use up a lot of Mana, the former 3 MP per second and the latter 5 MP per second. Plus, there's the 150 MP activation cost of Enrage.
To run out of Mana in less than ten minutes is far from ideal, and while I'm a lot more conservative with the use of my Skills in my normal state, having more of a cushion with my MP would definitely help greatly.