Chapter 226: 220

Chapter 220 : Advance (1)
With that, the pair abandoned verbal communication. It was no longer needed, after all. Dora had spent so much time with the man that she could already anticipate what would happen. In all of their time “training” she’d never once managed to make the person opposite to her serious.

It was a testament to the power gap between the two. In fact, aside from displaying how to attune oneself to atma, Zero never used the power himself. She didn’t expect today to be any different. Nevertheless…

She cleared her thoughts, honing her focus to razor sharp levels.

*It’s not really in my nature to slack off.* She thought as she pushed off with her lead foot. Her intention was to leap towards Zero, but what actually happened was a bit more dramatic. Dora found herself sailing through the air, so quickly in fact that it surprised even her. She realized the power of ‘atma’ swirling through her body was the cause. A brief’s moment of surprise didn’t stop her from enacting her plan however.

Zero remained unbothered and unmoved as she glided towards him, swiping her palm towards his chin as she did so. As she expected, the man effortlessly dodged the opening attack and responded with one of his own -- a quick palm thrust towards her chest. Dora anticipated this and shifted her position so that the blow would land on her shoulder. This did little to stop the force of the blow however since Zero shifted his body weight into the strike at the last moment. This caused more of a push effect than a ‘hit’.

Being airborne worked against Dora in this instance as Zero managed to kill the force behind her leaping attack effortlessly with an effective counterforce. She gritted her teeth and allowed the force of his push to carry her body, causing Dora to spin in the air. At the same time she prepared a surprise -- a spinning kick towards Zero’s face.

The cloaked man smiled at her attempt, his eyes glowing faintly as he enjoyed the stimulation of the moment. He wasn’t entirely sure how Dora felt about it, he’d ceased reading her mind since she politely asked him not to. However, he was having a great deal of fun.

Spending years in solitude was something he’d long grown accustomed to, for many reasons. So much so that he’d almost forgotten the simple pleasures of interaction with others.

*I should get out more.* He thought as his eyes flared with golden energy. This was a technique on Zero’s part, he could clearly see the flow of atma shifting towards Dora’s foot. He couldn’t have been more happy at the technique she prepared to throw -- but he still had no plans to be caught by it either.

He smiled broadly, dropping his body downward as her kick sailed over his head. The blow caused some of the atma clinging to the woman’s body to extend. Had he stepped backwards he’d have been lashed with her attack. Dora gritted her teeth as her attack failed for the thousandth time, it wasn’t unexpected to her -- just less gratifying.

*Maybe I should reward her hard work and let her hit me once or twice..* Zero thought inwardly as he continued to dance around Dora’s strikes. All things considered she seemed to be doing well with her control of atma.

*Passing grade. With this she should easily be able to contend with at least a low third rank. That’s probably pushing it though.* Zero thought as he shifted his weight towards Dora and prepared to invade her space.

He was currently only using a single hand and thus he thrust outward without particular care for where it would hit. His goal was simple, to disrupt her rhythm and it was easily done. Dora paused for the briefest moment to raise her arms in a cross block, Zero used this moment to push his blow upwards. This caused Dora’s balance to waver ever so briefly. He next stepped forward, moving so close that he could see the surprise in Dora’s eyes as he sharply thrusted at her abdomen.

The blow wasn’t meant to hurt, but rather to disperse the growing force within Zero’s palm. Dora could feel the pressure from Zero’s one-inch punch and also sense the rippling mana which flowed along with it. She immediately pulled the latent atma surrounding her body inwards to protect from the blow. Though she managed to avoid any internal jarring she was still forced backwards through the air by several meters.

All in all the brief skirmish lasted only a few seconds.

“Good. Keep in mind, I’ve only taught you one application of atma. You can use it for so many other things it’s scary.” Zero said as he relaxed his stance. That’s when Dora chose to strike. In a flash the golem came from Zero’s blindspot, fist raised and ready to strike.

“Oop. Almost.” Zero commented as an after-image of himself faded away, the golem’s fist nearly smashing the ground from it’s momentum.

“Hmmph.” Dora grunted.

*He keeps saying that..like it’s some sort of hint. ‘Atma can do anything, blah blah blah.’ I don’t know what I don’t know.* Dora complained internally.

*But still…* After their brief skirmish Dora felt a bit more comfortable loosening the floodgates. She allowed more of the atma power to flow into her, by her estimate more than double the amount she’d previously been using. Almost immediately she could tell the difference as her perception of all things seemed to slow. That is everything but Zero himself. He wore the same smile he always had as he flash-stepped towards her to engage.

Dora could feel the atma in her body reacting to his incoming blow, she shifted at the last moment and raised her arm, using her wrist to push Zero’s jab to the side. At the same time she stepped inwards and allowed the atma to burst from her body. The result was an elbow to Zero’s chest, she’d managed to force the man to use both hands but she wasn’t done.

*Try this then!* She cried internally as the flow of atma exploded from the point of impact. The literal explosion of light was instant and forced Zero backwards several meters.

“Ha! That’s what I like to see.” He said as he shook his right hand. His palm was smoking from where he’d smothered the full extent of her blast.

For Dora she was somewhat surprised. She’d never used that application of atma before, nor was it anything Zero taught her. The extent of Zero’s teachings focused on what he called the basics. Essentially she was told this broke down into three main parts. The ability to properly contain atma within one’s body, the ability to move the atma freely and the ability to expel atma at will in a controlled manner.

According to Zero, she’d displayed proficiency in all three of the aspects of his training. Yet this moment was the first time that Dora actually felt that was true. The atma at her disposal often felt like a foreign substance, a second entity that clung to her every movement. Yet in that brief exchange she felt, for the first time, that she and this strange energy were one.

Instantly the atma she expended was replaced by a constant flow of energy on tap. Yet this barely registered to Dora. She was so captivated by the new sensation of unity that she dropped her battle stance entirely and stared down at her hand. She could clearly feel the energy pooled in her palm shifting at the slightest of thoughts.

She never experienced any of this during the training.

Zero stood across from her smiling as if the fruits of his ‘special training’ were now ripe and ready to be consumed.

“I told you, that place was special. I trained you so that your ability to sense, gather and redistribute atma was dampened. I’m sure you realize it now but, while it was less taxing to activate an atma gate in the other place, here it’s actually the opposite. It’s harder to maintain your link and easier to actually utilize the atma at your disposal.” Zero explained.

“You felt it didn’t you? Your first true link? The oneness of it all. It’s pretty incredible right?” Zero asked. Dora could hardly contain her smile, she had to admit the sensation was addictive. It was as if she suddenly had a fifth limb, one that could be controlled with her thought or intent.

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“And that’s why I can’t just teach anyone this kind of stuff. I’d literally be putting down tyrants every five minutes. And that’s just a waste of my time.” Zero said with a shrug. It further served to illustrate his point -- that power like this was best worked for. Though Zero had also gone through great pains to drive home the fact that Dora herself was an anomaly.

He didn’t give her the full story, just that her presence was ‘very important’ in the grand scheme of things.

Dora waved her hand, willing the atma at her disposal to follow her movements in a glowing trail. She could scarcely believe her eyes as after-images of her own movements appeared. She focused a portion of the energy into her sight and the ‘lag’ disappeared, allowing her perception to catch up with her own movements.

It was as Zero explained at one point, atma had many applications. It was essentially like tapping into raw magic that could be molded or programmed on a whim.

“Well? Shall we continue?” Zero asked, this time he also sank into a martial arts stance, signaling his intention to take things a bit more seriously.

“Of course.” Dora responded, willing the atma within her to form a dense layer around her body, shrouding her entirely. Now that she had a better understanding of atma, she thought back to all of the ‘lessons’ Zero saw fit to drill into her brain.

She launched herself at the man once more, this time her fist reached him. He used a mana coated palm to deal with the attack, prompting Dora to react with a second blow. This time Zero grabbed Dora by the wrist and effortlessly yanked her off of her feet. In one fluid motion Zero swung the woman in an arc, planting her firmly into the ground. The impact was so powerful, so ferocious that she had absolutely no time to respond.

Zero hopped backwards a few steps to admire his handiwork. A large impression, at least three meters deep and just as many in radius with Dora firmly planted at the center. He had very little time to revel in his own technique however as the golem sprung into action at Dora’s behest. The creature’s powerful blow managed to somehow connect. This even caught Zero off guard as it was completely unexpected.

At the last moment he lifted his arms, catching the brunt of the blow on his lower forearm. This only served to dampen the force however and Zero’s hands were blown upwards. The golem followed up with another attack, this time throwing it’s bodyweight at Zero. The weight difference made the blow extremely effective. Zero was knocked with amazing force through the air and into a nearby tree. The impact caused the bark to splinter and shoot in all directions.

“Heh. Daring. But...you’ll probably regret it.” Zero said as he focused on Dora’s golem. The creature also showed signs of deteriorating as clumps of dirt began to fall from its mass.

“It was worth it.” Dora said as she dusted herself off, standing from her place at the bottom of the small crater. She was unaffected by Zero’s earlier attack, using the shifting atma to create a thick barrier from the physical damage.

“Pfft. If you just wanted to hit me I would have let you.” Zero said with a shrug as he dusted wood chips from his own clothing.

“There’s a reason cores can’t handle atma.” He said as Dora’s golem lost it’s whitish glow and crumpled to the ground in a heap.

“And I suppose you won’t tell me what it is?” Dora asked. She could tell from Zero’s demeanor that their “sparring” was done and thus she dropped her own atma shroud.

“Mmm. I could but, it’s a pretty simple reason. I’m sure if you give it enough thought you’ll understand.” Zero responded.

“Well? What do you think?” Dora asked. Even though she’d barely suffered any serious damage she could now feel her body protesting from the flow of atma she’d allowed to circulate within. Her energy dipped dramatically, causing her to feel as if she’d just exhausted herself completely. This sort of backlash was something she wasn’t used to in her training, perhaps the strange ‘training room’ was responsible for sparing her that as well?

“Yep. You should be good against a third ranker. But I wouldn’t push my luck if I were you. Also your coordination with your doll needs work. Doll Mages are generally the type who let their constructs do all of the work. You’re a bit different, but you should still try to adhere to conventional stereotypes a bit. Think of it as your trump card. Most would attempt to get close and end you, only to be sorted out in a quick manner.” Zero offered his critiques for Dora freely. This was a process she’d grown accustomed to in her time with him, and she often took the man’s words to heart since his analysis was always helpful.

“Noted.” She replied as the remnants of her golem fell to the ground in a pile. She sighed, raising her open palm towards the rubble and in an instant the matter of the golem --rocks dirt and all -- glowed brightly before being sucked into the doll core. The crimson orb then floated towards her , sinking into her palm entirely.

*I’m going to have to recharge this with my mana before I can use it again, but that shouldn’t be too much of a problem.* She thought.

“Well, it’s time for me to go. I’ve got a few more problem children to check up on! I think you’ll be okay on your own for now, but feel free to call me if something irregular comes up.” Zero said.

“Mhm.” This was all the response Dora offered.

“Oh, by the way don’t forget-- you are one of the only adventurers in the world who can dual-class. Don’t forget about your responsibilities as Oracle and send me updates whenever you can.” Zero said.

“No problem.” Dora responded.

“Do you want me to take you to a town or something?” Zero asked.

“No. I think I’ll find my own way. Stretch my legs a bit.” Dora responded as she indeed stretched.

“Fair enough. Catch you later ‘Oracle’.” Zero said, offering a wave as he blinked away.

After a few more moments of stretching and a brief reprieve Dora took in her environs.

“Well. Time to go.” She said to herself as she took off in whatever direction pleased her.

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