CHAPTER:4 [Training With Shino]
After receiving the devastating body scan results, Kai sat on the edge of his weak bed, staring into nothingness. The shape he was in was no different from a dead man still standing.
(Can I even train this broken body?)
The sudden wave of helplessness crashed over him like a tidal wave. His mind went blank. He was in a complete slump… until a desperate idea sparked in the darkness.
(Nia, you can create authorities, right? So can you change my innate skill Absolute Defense to Shapeless Shield?)
Kai finally took a deep breath. There was finally something he could do.
(Great then—)
Before he could finish, Nia cut in.
Kai's expression turned blank.
(What is the price? As long as it can help me, I'm willing to pay any price.)
Nia's calm, robotic voice answered.
Kai's eyes burned with determination.
(Do it)
A painful sensation exploded through his existence — twisting, curdling, and physically breaking him. He fell forward onto his stomach as the agony intensified. Grunting through clenched teeth, he forced himself back up.
"Fuck… this is getting harder with each second."
When the pain finally subsided, Kai stood up and ripped his shirt off to check the source of the cracking feeling. A long, ugly crack ran from his chest all the way down to his bladder. A faint, illusory white light leaked from the wound like leaking chaos.
He put his shirt back on and immediately checked his status. A white glitchy screen appeared.
Str: 20
Agi: 10
Dex: 09
Int: 50
Mana: 30
Status:
perm debuff: erasure existence
Temp debuff: body deformation
Chaos poisoning: 4.0
Class:
Guardian A
Skill:
Shapeless Shield: the user can shape the shield however he wants.
Authority:
Authority of defiance.
Authority of observation.
Warning: The host is connected to the god system
Kai saw the poisoning had increased and thought grimly,
(So this is the punishment for using Chaos with a broken body…)
He finished inspecting his stats and immediately tested the new skill. A ball of mana appeared in his hand. He willed spikes onto it — the ball transformed instantly. He shaped it into a triangle, then a hexagon. After flexing the skill, he moved to its real purpose.
He conjured a ball of mana inside his dead right hand, slowly spreading it through the bones, then wrapped the outside as well. He connected the inner and outer layers, taking full control. For a brief moment, his right hand moved freely. Then the shield deactivated. His arm went limp again and a wave of dizziness slammed into him. He collapsed onto the creaking bed.
Suddenly, messages from the God System flooded his vision. His mana had increased.
Mana: 38
(It increased by eight… Guess there are still some uses left in this defective body.)
His stomach growled loudly. He searched for food but only found the same bland bread. He didn't want to eat it, but there was nothing else. He forced it down and collapsed back onto the creaking bed.
Day 1: Tuesday
Eren woke at the crack of dawn, washed his face, and left his room. Shino was already waiting exactly where he had said.
"You came at just the right time. Now then, how do we start your training?"
Kai stopped his racing thoughts and said,
"No, we won't be doing normal training for now. But I do need your help with this!"
He summoned a ball of mana and demonstrated different forms and sizes. Finally, he showed how he could control his dead right arm with it — though his mana ran out quickly and the arm went limp again.
Shino looked stunned and excited at the same time.
"Man, that's sick! How did you even come up with this? But seeing how it didn't last long, you have mana deficiency, don't you?"
Seeing how instantly Shino figured out the problem with his new power, even Kai was stunned for a moment. He said,
"Help me with this, Shino… or I won't be able to keep up with you and the others."
Shino looked at him, thought for a second, and nodded.
"Well, we can do a lot of things with this type of ability, but you are also a problem. So you have to train as well."
Kai took a deep breath. Shino sat him down and taught him a meditation technique and a cultivation technique. The moment Kai followed the steps and started cultivating, messages from the God System bombarded him, notifying him that his mana was increasing.
He cultivated for hours. Then they moved to sparring. Shino threw him a wooden sword and said with a deadly gaze,
"Awaken your hand and come at me with all your might."
Kai awakened his hand and lunged. He deflected the wooden sword and punched Shino in the face.
"Being impulsive won't help you. Think about how you can reach the opponent with less movement. Brute strength won't work against someone who can dodge your sword."
Kai adjusted. He came up with quick, rash movements while fighting Shino, but the more he closed the gap, the farther Shino seemed to get. After hours of brutal practice, he dragged himself back to his room and collapsed on the bed, checking his status.
Str: 30
Agi: 18
Dex: 15
Int: 62
Mana: 50
Status:
perm debuff: erasure existence
Temp debuff: body deformation
Chaos poisoning: 4.0
Class:
Guardian A
Skill:
Shapeless Shield: the user can shape the shield however he wants.
Authority:
Authority of defiance.
Authority of observation.
Warning: The host is connected to the god system
(How much more do I have to endure to get strong…?)
Kai was tired, broke, and hungry, but the only thing he had to eat was the same bland bread he wouldn't wish on his worst enemy.
Days passed. Kai learned more about fighting, swords, and techniques.
Day 2: Wednesday
Shino explained the next part of the cultivation technique — minimizing mana usage to control and use mana efficiently. The mana cost was cut by 75%.
Day 3: Thursday
Kai's combat efficiency skyrocketed, but he was still lacking in strength and speed. He started using his shield as attachments for different moves.
Day 4: Friday
Shino explained and taught the final part of the cultivation technique, saying it held unimaginable power beyond comprehension — the same power that got his father killed. Kai quickly grasped the concept because it felt similar to chaos, yet different. The result was a massive increase in mana. After a few hours they finished training for the day. As Kai was returning to his room, Shino's deep voice stopped him.
"Practice the cultivation technique every night from now on. And tomorrow, be on time."
Kai looked at him with a blank but tired face.
"Can we delay it? Because I have to visit the library tomorrow."
"Why didn't you ask me? I'll take you to the library."
"Really?"
"Yeah. Tomorrow, 10 am. I'll meet you right here."
Kai entered his room and summoned Nia. A glitchy screen appeared.
(Nia, it's time to create the next authority.)
(Knowledge.)
(Send a wave of mana to suck nearby information of everything, from everything.)
(Yes.)
As she said that, Kai felt the familiar pain again. He had grown used to it by now, but he still felt the long crack stretching from his chest to his bladder expanding further.
Str: 37
Agi: 23
Dex: 21
Int: 70
Mana: 70
Status:
perm debuff: erasure existence
Temp debuff: body deformation
Chaos poisoning: 7.0
Class:
Guardian A
Skill:
Shapeless Shield: the user can shape the shield however he wants.
Authority:
Authority of defiance.
Authority of observation.
Authority of knowledge (10h till emergence)
Warning: The host is connected to the god system
(Nia, why is it taking less time this time?)
(Then why did the poisoning increase by 3 this time as well? Shouldn't it take less toll on my body since it's pretty useless?)
(What does it have to do with that?)
(Then what is this crack?)
Kai's blood froze at the words, but he took a deep breath and went to sleep.
He woke up early the next day, took a bath, had breakfast (which was just bread), and left his room. Shino was waiting on a rusty scooter. Kai looked at him with admiration — even on such a busted thing, Shino looked better than most people.
"Let's go. What are you waiting for?"
Kai snapped out of his thoughts and came down the stairs.
"Coming."
Shino drove the barely functioning scooter and they left the mountain area, descending into a more city-like district. They searched for a long time before finally finding the library. It was a massive square structure with a small dome at the top, visible even from a mile away.
Shino dropped Kai at the entrance.
Kai entered, knelt, and placed his left hand on the floor.
(Nia, activate the Authority of Knowledge.)
With a wave of mana, Eren began sucking in knowledge from every nook and cranny of the library.
(Collect everything about monsters and their weaknesses. Also check the DNA signature of the monster gene in my body, and look for the malleable species you were talking about.)
After a while, Nia spoke.
(Yeah, what is it?)
(Oh, you found it?)
Eren asked curiously,
(What's the Great Cataclysm?)
(Yeah… control.)
Kai thought for a moment, then said,
(So I just have to kill a Celestial, right? Nothing too great. Easy peasy.)
When Nia heard that, she replied in her robotic voice,
Kai took a deep breath and left the library. Shino was waiting for him on the scooter.
"Oh, you got out pretty fast. Did you find what you were looking for? Well then, let's go get you ready."
Eren was confused.
"What?"
Shino smiled.
"Just come. We have to prepare you for the expedition."
Shino took him to a blacksmith. As they entered the shop, the owner greeted them with a ragged voice. The blacksmith was short but extremely muscular, with fierce eyes, messy hair and beard. What surprised Kai most was that Shino seemed to know him.
"Old man, I'm surprised to see you alive."
He said that with a smug face as he entered.
"I'm even more surprised to see you in this region. I thought you were looking for comrades or something."
"Oh, I found it."
Kai introduced himself.
"Hello, my name is Kai."
The blacksmith looked at him with a pitiful expression.
"My, my… what did those guys do to you? By the way, I am Roger, the blacksmith."
Eren said politely,
"Nice to meet you."
The blacksmith smirked.
"Quite the polite lad, aren't ya? So what are you here for?"
Shino answered,
"Weapons and armor for my guy."
The blacksmith asked Kai,
"So what kind of weapon do you want? Sword or spear?"
Kai replied,
"It doesn't have to be a sword. Just make an unbreakable rod with a sword handle. As for armor, make a leather armor, and especially for the hands make it so the tip of the bone-like knuckles are metal-plated. For my right arm, make it mana-responsive so I can control it with mana. I'll leave the design to you, but make it black."
The blacksmith was stunned at Kai's description.
"Why do you want an unbreakable rod with a sword handle, and why do you want to control your right hand?"
Kai said,
"The reason I asked for an unbreakable rod was because of my ability. As for my right arm… well, it's dead."
The blacksmith clicked his tongue.
"Sorry for your loss."
Kai replied,
"It's nothing. Can you create a white mask for me as well?"
Shino listened quietly as they discussed. The old man finally said,
"I'll do it. Don't worry about it."
"Old man, we need it before Wednesday. Make it quick — it's nothing too complex."
"Yeah, yeah. I'll do it in a jiffy. Now bugger off."
As they were leaving, Eren noticed a rusted, broken sword in the corner of the shop. He used his authority on it.
(Nia, scan that sword.)
Shino glanced at him.
"What are you waiting for? Let's go."
Eren asked the old man about the sword.
"Umm, Mr. Roger, what is that sword in the corner?"
The old man looked at the spot he was pointing at.
"Oh, that? It's trash. Some punk sold it to me, but I can neither fix it nor salvage the material it's made of."
Eren asked hesitantly,
"If you don't want it, can I take it?"
Roger said,
"Sure, take it. It's of no use to me anyway."
"Thank you."
Shino and Kai left the blacksmith shop and returned to the mountain. As Kai got off the scooter, he heard Shino.
"Don't be late tomorrow."
Kai nodded and went to his room, where he collapsed on the bed and went to sleep.
He woke up at the same time the next day and trained for hours with Shino for two more days. Then Shino spoke.
"There's nothing more I can teach you. Meet me on that mountain top tomorrow."
Shino pointed at a faraway mountain peak before he left. Kai entered his room, ate the bland bread, and went to bed.
Morning came. Kai woke up, took a bath, and left for the mountain peak they had agreed on. As he reached the top, he saw Shino already waiting for him with burning determination in his eyes. He stood up and said,
"Let's fight for real this time."
As he said that, both of them entered battle stances and went for each other's weak spots. They dragged their battle on for hours.
They fought until evening before they thought of finishing it with one last move. Kai lunged at him with every last bit of strength he had left, but Shino deflected it with sharp precision. Kai was about to pass out as he lay on the ground when he heard,
"You did great."
END OF CHAPTER:4