Chapter 56: Chapter 56 : Sparring Match 2

‘Ah?’

Slipping back into consciousness, Jeff was immediately struck with a sense of deja vu as he registered his current position. Stomach pressed against the floor, Ralf was once again seated above, with his two hands wrapped around his ankle.

The deja vu was pushed aside as fear of what would come next surged in his heart. But this fear went unrealized as instead of twisting, Ralf spoke out, “And that’s three minutes, I win,” before Flickering away.

Jeff breathed a sigh of relief at the announcement, but not a second later, he broke out into a jittery cold sweat as he processed the last three minutes.

‘What…what happened here? Am I dreaming- no, this is a nightmare,’ he couldn’t help but remark.

Still, on his stomach, his neck creaked hesitantly towards Ralf’s location and found the youth nonchalantly seated on his Psi chair. The look he directed Ralf’s way was drastically different from before.

‘It’s impossible, how did he get this strong…’

In truth, Jeff had already conceived an answer, and it was this answer that made him so fearful.

“Ralf, y-you aren’t a vessel of Dimitri are you,” he asked the question with a tremor in his voice.

Faced with an impossibility, Jeff’s mind naturally moved to find an explanation.

It’d be one thing if Ralf’s psionic awakening was up in the air or unclear, but it wasn’t; Jeff knew for certain that Ralf had only exited his Consolidation Phase just recently.

So how could he get so adept at Psi battle in this short period?

Jeff thought of two possibilities. The first was telepathic inheritance through the aid of a Mental Master, and the second was, being a vessel of the ‘World’s Shadow’ Dimitri Drazan.

Of the two possibilities, the latter was way more likely. Less than a hundred Telepaths held the title of Mental Master in the world, and of those almost hundred, most weren’t able to perform telepathic inheritance to the point that they could insert adept Psi proficiency into the mind of another in only a few days…at least, Jeff didn’t believe this to be the case. And thus, the latter possibility remained.

The number of vessels Dimitri possessed at any given time was unknown, though most considered it to be somewhere around a few thousand. These vessels existed all around the world, linked by a nigh undetectable network of soul threads. Psionic, non-psionics, male, female, old, young, strong, weak, rich, poor; the vessels varied greatly, with every spectrum of humanity holding a place in Dimitri’s collection.

Right now, Jeff believed that the youth not too far from him, was one of them. Once that idea surfaced, he realized that the other oddities he picked up from the youth further solidified the idea.

The talks of split personalities taking over his body sounded identical to Dimitri’s possession; the combat skill Ralf and Ralf’s black personality had shown was clearly unusual to possess at such a young age, however, if Dimitri, one who mastered all paths, was in control, it wouldn’t be strange at all.

And the thing that sunk the scales in favour of him being Dimitri was the chess match with Moriya. Dimitri was said to have dozens of Naturals working in unison at all times, allowing him to do calculations beyond any single individual. With this fact and his undetectable nature, Ralf’s crushing win over Moriya made perfect sense.

The more Jeff thought about it, the quicker his heart rate became and the more his sweat began to flood out.

What should one do in this situation?

Jeff was asking himself as he lay on the floor.

“Relax relax, I’m not Dimitri,” Ralf spoke to reassure the shaking Jeff. He had initially wanted to pretend to be Dimitri for a bit, but seeing the other already on the verge of a mental breakdown, he decided to abandon the idea.

At the words, the boulder on Jeff’s heart eased up, but only a tad. His expression remained sceptical, with anxiety still present in his eyes.

Ralf’s heart clenched up at the sighting. ‘Ah, sorry I had to put you through this Jeff.’

The conclusion Jeff reached wasn’t a surprise to Ralf, in fact, it was Ralf’s intention that the other reach it. He knew how the dominoes would fall and set it off anyway.

Ralf wanted to use Dimitri’s feared reputation for his own ends. This was of course, very dangerous. Many had pretended to be a Dimitri vessel or part of the Shadow Ravens, only to die miserable deaths.

Ralf wanted to avoid such a fate. Usually, he wouldn’t do something so risky, but his situation was such that he would sooner or later be thought of as a Dimitri vessel, in fact, he believed that the idea was already making its rounds in people’s heads.

His incredible combat prowess, supposed Natural-level ability, speedy Psi proficiency were things that would naturally lead people to think he was a Dimitri vessel.

And it wasn’t something he could stop now, the chess match and the sparring match against Jeff were already out in the public sphere, so him being labelled a Dimitri vessel was inevitable.

If it was inevitable, Ralf would use the identity to his advantage. Of course, he wouldn’t declare himself as a Dimitri vessel, that would be stupid. Instead, he had to do a balancing act.

He wanted people to strongly consider the possibility that he was a vessel while also believing that he wasn’t. This would usually be impossible, but Ralf’s Fawkes lineage made it possible.

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The extraordinary feats he performed could be explained by him being a Dimitri vessel and the fact that he was a super genius from a known exceptional bloodline.

This would do much in tipping the scales, but Ralf had something much more substantial in mind, though that would come later.

The main point was that as long as other possibilities existed, Ralf had a bit of wiggle room. A little was enough. Very few would knowingly oppose, let alone attack a vessel of Dimitri’s.

Still, while few, they existed.

The one that naturally came to mind was Micheal; he had a reputation for killing Dimitri’s vessels indiscriminately. Ralf wasn’t worried though.

Micheal was known to be able to sense Dimitri’s existence. When they met, he would be able to confirm that Ralf wasn’t a vessel, and everything would be good.

But before that, he needed someone to spread his tales, and that’s why he sought out Jeff and initiated the sparring match.

“Don’t believe me? I guess I can’t blame you,” Ralf nodded. “The rate of mastery is beyond something natural talent can account for, the Dimitri vessel theory does make sense.”

Jeff’s tense body began easing up as Ralf spoke. He couldn’t quite pin it, but the other’s voice had a soothing effect to it.

“While it makes sense, it’s not true,” Ralf denied with a firm tone. “I can’t prove to you I’m not Dimitri…but can anyone, can you? For all I know, you’re Dimitri, and so is Genise, and Greg, and all the people I passed to get here. I don’t know for sure. Still,” Ralf’s voice filled with dignity and power, “I won’t live my life scared of shadows, and neither should anyone else. A flame burns in every soul. When fully lit, it’s capable of pushing back against any encroaching darkness.”

Jeff’s eyes lit up at these words. The fear and apprehension from seconds earlier were nowhere to be seen as feelings of pride and resolve surfaced on his person. Ralf’s next words only furthered these feelings.

“My flame burns brightly. What about yours, Jeff? Is the fire that burns in your chest, a candle or a blaze?”

Jeff shut his eyes, took a breath, and pushed off against the floor with his palms. Getting to his feet, he stood upright and declared with a fierce expression, “Ablaze.”

Ralf smirked. “That’s good to know. Now, about our sparring match, I believe I won.”

“Yeah, you really cleaned my clock. As agreed on, I owe you a favour, use it whenever.”

Delight passed through Ralf’s eyes.

“Ah, that was super exciting stuff. Your budding legend has another tale worth adding. I’ll spread it well.”

With the Dimitri stuff pushed to the back of his mind, Jeff moved to appreciate the sparring match for what it was, a spectacular showing. The memory of Ralf’s calm gaze as he executed each motion played through his head; it was a mesmerizing sight.

Jeff didn’t consider him a skilled fighter, but even so, he had many tricks up his sleeve thanks to his massive Conceptual Memory. However, even in the face of his arsenal of tricks, Ralf remained unfazed, dealing with it all nonchalantly, as though having experienced it thousands of times before.

Now that Dimitri was excluded from the equation in his mind, Jeff’s admiration for Ralf’s exceptional ability skyrocketed to absurd heights. The look he now directed Ralf’s way was no different from that of a rabid fan taking in their idol.

“Go ahead,” Ralf gave his approval with a smile before standing up. “Thank you for the lesson, Jeff. I’ll definitely swing around for a few more, I’m sure I’ll need your assistance for a few things.”

“Of course, this is my job, book as many lessons as you want. It’s always an interesting experience. Also, don’t hesitate to use that favour of yours.”

“Will do,” Ralf said with a nod.

“So, what you’re going to do now?”

“Mmm, is the C-Rank Adventurer test examiner present?”

Jeff’s eyes lit up then dimmed in rapid succession. “Unfortunately not. Lady Martel will be back tomorrow. Till she returns, we have no one qualified to do the test. Ah, what a shame. That would be another great addition to the story. As you are, you’d definitely be able to clear the C-Rank bar,” the C-Rank Adventurer couldn’t help but sigh in disappointment.

Recovering a few seconds later, he made an inquiry through the telepathic network. His question was answered a few seconds later. “The neighbouring branches aren’t up for it either. If you want to do it today, you’d have to go to our Lysium branch, seventy kilometres northeast of here.”

“Forget it then, those C-Rank Adventurer perks are nice, but I’m not in any rush. I’ll just wait a few days.“ Ralf’s glanced at the tiles, then tapped it with his foot while saying, “Till then, I’ll muddy up these boots with the dirt of adventure.’

After this declaring this, Ralf had Jeff go over all Psi barriers he knew, making sure to record and memorize everything.

Ten minutes later, they two exited the training hall.

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