NOVEL WEB Chapter 23 – Progress!
Chapter 23 - Progress!
"Hmm~"
Julis slowly woke up from her sleep. Perhaps because she had just woken up, she could not realize her current situation.
Ever since she came to Asterisk City, Julis hadn't slept as peacefully and comfortably as she did today for a long time.
Saving her country, having a painful reunion with her childhood best friend, being completely unable to handle her relationship with classmates, being challenged by others for no reason every day— all kinds of pressures were pressing hard on her every day.
Thinking about it carefully, it seems that she hasn't had a good sleep for about a year.
The long-lost good slumber made her want to stay in bed and not wake up.
Julis vigorously rubbed her cheek against her 'pillow,' hoping to drive away the sleepiness from her mind.
But as she rubbed it, she felt something was not right. Why was the touch of this 'pillow' different from her impression?
As her brain cleared up, Julis' consciousness slowly came back to its senses. After realizing what state she was in, she froze.
With the last glimmer of hope deep in her heart, Julis raised her head stiffly.
Then she saw Luke's face with a teasing smile.
Their eyes met for just a moment before Julis buried her head in Luke's arms again, pretending to be an ostrich.
Luke resisted, not letting himself laugh out loud and irritating the embarrassed girl in his arms. At the same time, he quickly turned off the video recorder and saved it carefully.
Then he put the cushion behind him into the 'portable pocket'.
After doing these things, he gently patted the girl's shoulder and let her go.
After all, he had begun to feel the rising temperature around him. If he continued to stimulate Julis any further, this shy girl would probably perform a big self-destruction for him on the spot.
"How's the recovery going? Can you continue today?"
After a brief moment of silence, seeing that Julis had already calmed down, Luke spoke, "If it's not possible, we can stop here for today. There's no need to force it."
In fact, Julis didn't sleep for very long, only less than an hour in total, about 40-50 minutes.
After she woke up, Luke checked the time. It was now around 9 o'clock in the evening. According to normal circumstances, they should continue training for more than an hour before ending.
However, today's situation is somewhat special. The recent outburst from Julis was on a larger scale than before. Since there has been a change, it implies there are gains. Ending the training early today is also a possibility.
There was still a hint of rosy color lingering on Julis's face, but she had mostly calmed down.
Upon hearing Luke's inquiry, she quickly suppressed the last few thoughts. After taking a moment to sense her own condition, she replied, "No problem. The rest this time had a better effect than I imagined. Let's continue."
Seeing that Julis had made her decision, Luke nodded and did not refute.
Subsequently, the two entered into a training mode.
"So, Julis, do you remember the recent outburst?" Luke was particularly concerned about Julis's recent rampage, which seemed different from the previous ones.
"Well, I seem to have some recollection. The Prana fluctuation during that time was somewhat different from the past," Julis replied.
Then she furrowed her brow, making an effort to recall the sensations from earlier.
"If there's indeed a change, then it's manageable. Let's try it again."
This time, Luke did not ask Julis to control her flames but tried her best to grasp the feeling from before.
The two once again come to the center of the training room. Luke first arranges some talisman around, taking necessary precautions to prevent another outburst that might occur.
After setting up, he takes a few steps back, not too far away. In case of any unforeseen events, Luke needs to be close enough to rush to Julis's side and assist her promptly, so he can't be too far away.
Julis, who stood in the center of the training room, closed her eyes, and flames gradually began to rise around her body.
As time goes by, the shape of the flame gradually begins to change.
When Strega and Dante in the Genestellar group release their ability, just like Seisenjutsu needs to be released through spells, hand seals, incantations, etc., they also need a medium.
The medium of their ability is a certain 'impression' in their mind. By fixing this impression, the Strega and Dante can develop and transform their abilities into moves.
As a Strega, Julis's ability is to control flames. She can freely control fire to attack enemies. However, directly using flames to attack the enemy is like directly releasing her Prana. It consumes a lot of energy, is inefficient, and is very wasteful.
Therefore, when Julis uses her ability, she needs to convert flames into efficient moves to reduce the Prana consumption while increasing the attack intensity.
The image she uses when using her Strega abilities is flowers, which is because of a childhood experience with Orphelia about them.
Julis's moves are all composed of the main theme being 'flowers,' supplemented by some other images. Therefore, the flames she released looked like blooming flowers, gorgeous and beautiful.
For example, 'Longiflorum' is a move whose essence is flame, whose primary image is 'flower' and supplemented by 'spear.'
As her Prana surges, more and more flowers are formed from the flames. When the number of flame flowers reaches a certain number, as if exceeding a certain critical value, all the flame flowers begin to riot at the same time.
It moved irregularly and its shape began to mutate. At the same time, the Prana in Julis's body also lost control and flowed outward quickly.
The power of Prana surged outward, forming more flaming flowers. More and more flame flowers caused greater riots.
Seeing that the situation was about to get out of control, Luke's words appeared in Julis's ears.
"Give up controlling the shape and scale of the flame, retain the minimum Prana reserve, release all the remaining energy in one go, and immediately cut off contact."
Unknowingly, Luke had arrived at Julis's side.
After hearing Luke's order, Julis immediately followed it without any hesitation.
Abandoning control over the flames, all the fire blossoms began to distort, and in an instant, a massive surge of Prana energy caused the number of flames to skyrocket.
The blazing flames once again swept through the entire training room, resembling the previous outburst.
What differs from before is that amidst those flames, there is no protective shield rising, nor the smiling figures of the man and woman.
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