Chapter 55: Chapter 55 : Jeff’s Lesson (Part 2)

“...this is Second Skin’s most basic form. From here, you’ll apply the various filtering and attributes. This will allow you to move at high speed without disaster.”

Ralf rubbed his chin. “I see, but how come I don’t see those lines when you’re doing your Blinking.”

“Well, that’s because I’m using a more advanced Blinking technique.”

“Advanced,” Ralf repeated, wonder swirled in his eyes.

“Yes, advanced,” Jeff smiled. “This technique is more for those who have an ample amount of Conceptual Memory space or those who are willing to spend a large chunk of their Conceptual Memory on their Blinking technique. Essentially, the basic form has a lot of waste to it. This is of course, by design, the Society of Learning wants to lessen injuries and so they overcompensate. As such, there’s a lot of fat to cut.”

Ralf couldn’t help but nod.

“Instead of applying force absorption on the surface of my skin like normal, my Second Skin technique creates an internal network, providing Psi protection against things that need protecting, the soft organs, the blood vessels, the brain nodes, etc. Muscles and bones need a coat of Psi as well, but they can withstand a lot of stress. To do this, you have to save a number of different things into your Conceptual Memory, it’s a very complicated process. With a low pool of aura, you must try to make every iota of Psi do as much as they possibly can, in short, it’s a matter of efficiency. This Blinking technique is called Flicker.”

“Flicker, that’s pretty cool sounding. I hope to learn it as well.”

“We’ll get to that in a bit. Let’s move on.”

Jeff’s lecture went on for quite a while. There was much to explain, and he explained it all thoroughly, using verbal and visual examples.

“…the closer Psi is to your body, the better. One’s Personal Psi Domain is where their Psi control is most dominant and easiest to manipulate. Sending Psi avatars to fight for you as I did during the Adventurer tests isn’t feasible. Close quarter combat is best.”

“...let’s look at a basic punch. With the Second Skin’s guidance, one accelerates their arm to perform a punching motion. The fist and adjacent potions of the arm are coated in a hardened Psi exterior. This collides with the target. The force that is returned to one’s fist is then absorbed by the remaining Psi armour and the Second Skin’s force absorption Psi. Of course, this is just the standard setup. One could have pure force thrust along with the first for added impact, or coat one’s hand in rubbery Psi to disperse the impact.”

“The best low-level way though is to have a stream of swirling force just below the hardened section so that the counterforce can be redirected away. This is very hard to accomplish, but if you can, you can punch very hard without fearing the bite back.”

“...Psi battle is all about reading the flow of your opponent’s Psi. High Psi sensitivity will help, but even better is experience. Once you memorized enough Psi signatures, you’ll be able to predict actions like a fortune-teller, and things like feints and other erratic motions won’t be able to throw you off.”

“Psi Disruption is a technique where you essentially vibrate your Psi very quickly to disrupt your opponent’s Psi formations. Its most obvious use is in its dispelling of direct telekinesis. Unless there’s a massive Rank difference, direct telekinesis isn’t used in real combat precisely because of Psi Disruption techniques. Another use is to dispel others’ Psi constructions from either happening or shattering already existing ones. Of course, you can’t outright shatter them. But say, my goblin for instance. If you punctured it and then used Psi Disruption on its insides, you’d be able to forcefully dematerialize it.”

“...efficiency and balance. I’ve talked about the former a lot, but the latter is just as important. You need to know your limits and balance them. The speed-perception balance is the most common one, but the defence-offence balance is also important. Choose what type of fighter you want to be, and align your Psi abilities to it. There are plenty of people who don’t have a fixed idea in their head and end up paying the price for it.”

“...secondary activation, I’ll just touch on this. This is pretty advanced stuff, and the closest you’ll get to Automatic Aura until you’re a Rank 6. Essentially, one can program certain triggers and embed them into techniques. For instance, this sphere. In it, I have another small sphere, that when receiving a certain amount of force will expand out like a balloon. This sounds good, but it’s not like you can program any command in. There are basically only two available, timer and impact commands. Still, secondary activation can be very tricky, you can hide techniques in other techniques and take your opponent by surprise. But as I said, they’re advanced stuff, that requires an in-depth understanding of Conceptual Memory. For me, I have enough Conceptual Memory that I could experiment until I was able to create something workable.”

After forty straight minutes of almost uninterrupted talking, Jeff came to an end. Now on a Psi chair, he took a breath. “That’s it for the theory. How did you find it? Anything you want me to go over again?”

“No, I’ve already absorbed your words. It was a good explanation, very thorough,” Ralf said.

Pretty much everything Jeff explained was things he had already known from the books and his own experiences, however, Ralf didn’t regret listening till the end, because while ninety-nine point nine percent was familiar, he had been treated to an unfamiliar 0.1%. Anything that would close up the gaps in his knowledge was welcomed.

“Thank you,” he said sincerely.

“No need. It’s my job. Now,“ Jeff stood up. “Let’s move on to the practical section. We’ll have a friendly sparring match. This is a Psi battle only, so no guns or other stuff. Don’t worry about embarrassing yourself, everyone does at the start. Oh, and try not to damage anything.” Jeff returned his chair to the corner of the room then walked over to the other side of the room before turning around. “What are you waiting for… need a few minutes?”

A still seated Ralf shook his head. “No, I was just thinking.”

“Thinking? About what?”

“The last sparring match. It was pretty exciting stuff. Since we’re having another, let’s make it interesting as well.”

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Jeff titled his head.

“Interesting, like how? Want the same conditions as last time? If you can land a scratch on me in three minutes, then you win, and if you can’t, I win. Those conditions?”

Ralf shook his head. “Nope, not that. You see, my black personality and I are always in competition, trying to one-up each other. If I’m going to spice things up, it’ll have to be at least hotter than his.”

“Oh, I see,” Jeff took the reasoning in stride, his interest was piqued. “I’m all ears, what do you have in mind then?”

“We’ll do the reverse. If you can land even a scratch on me in three minutes, you win, if not, I win.”

Jeff’s brows shot up high. “The restrictions?”

“None. Don’t hold back. In fact, go all out from the start.”

The C-Rank Adventurer’s face twisted with bafflement. Only after a few seconds did he manage to regain his voice. “You…serious?”

“Yeah. Now about the winner’s reward. You wouldn’t happen to have a grendo weapon, would you?”

“I don’t.”

Ralf sighed. “Oh well, then I guess I’ll go for a favour. If I win, you’ll owe me a favour that can be redeemed at any time, no questions asked. Don’t worry, I won’t ask for anything unreasonable or for you to anything despicable.”

“Mmm, and if I win?”

“What do you want? How about 10 Gold?”

Jeff’s eyes flashed with greed at the proposal. Still, while the money enticed him, another desire was greater.

“Instead of that,” Jeff’s tapped his temple with his finger. “Those secrets in your head, I want you to spill them all. Also, a meeting with the silver personality.”

Ralf smiled. “I accept,” he said before getting up. With a thought, his chair was sent to the corner it had come from.

Seeing this, Jeff’s smiled wryly. ‘So that earlier performance was an act, you’re a cheeky one, Ralf. But even if you were downplaying things, how good can you be a few days out of your Consolidation Phase? You got me last time, but this time will be different. I won’t hold back. Sorry, I’ll have to stain your perfect record.’

Psi Armour adorned, Jeff entered a combat stance. “Ready when you are.”

Ralf’s Psi flared up in response. His eyes moved to the clock. “At ten, we go.”

Jeff merely nodded, his eyes showing a never-before seriousness.

‘Not bad, not bad, he’s seen his fair share of battles,’ Ralf assessed as he took in the fighting spirit Jeff was radiating. Deep down, his own fighting spirit began stirring.

He entered a combat stance and counted down in his head.

‘3 2 1…’

The *toc* sounded and the sparring match began.

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