155 State of Enlightenmen

.... It looks like Vega is about to execute a powerful skill to finish off the swordsman in front of him. But with his actions, he gave up an opening for Shin because casting a skill slight delayed his movements. 'Now!' And as if waiting for this moment, Shin leaned his body a little forward while trying to pull the [Yamato] out from its sheath. But Vega seems to be anticipated that already, so he immediately canceled the skill that he is about to execute without even thinking twice. Then he raised his right foot and immediately kicked Shin's right wrist with it. And with that, Shin's counterattack, the 'Quick Draw' skill, was canceled just like that. But instead of getting frustrated, Shin smiled under his mask instead. He absorbs the force form Vega's kick before borrowing it to leap backwards. Now, he has enough space for himself. And with that, he is now in his ideal range to attack. First, he created a brilliant barrier with white color around him as assurance. 'Equipment Skill (Upper Armor): Life Forcefield' "As if I'm going to let you!" shouted by Vega as he leaped forward while swinging his left-hand dagger in a reverse-grip manner and cutting the barrier into two. 'Master Twilight Skill (Tier 2): Armor Breaker' When the barrier was split into two, Shin, who is currently in his sword-drawing stance, was immediately revealed at Vega's view. Shin raised his head and looked straight to Vega's eyes before saying. "Adiós!" After that, he pulled the [Yamato] from its sheath as he unconsciously absorbed the fire elemental Mana from the air and gathering it towards the sword. And when enough elemental Mana was gathered, it suddenly transformed into the power of the Black Sun. 'Class Fighting Style: Solar Flare' At the same time, he converted all of his VIT to AGI to maximize the damage of the skill and hastened its execution. 'Extra Skill: Conversion: VIT to AGI' Shing! Vega tried his best to get near Shin to prevent him from pulling out the sword. But since Shin converted his VIT to AGI, his attack speed suddenly skyrockets, hastening the activation of the skill. And since it is already too late to dodge, Vega has no choice but to just use all of his strength trying to block the incoming sword. Now, he suddenly regretted toying with this guy earlier, most of his movement and escaping skills are currently on cooldown because he already exhausts all of them while chasing after Shin earlier, and that is why he is currently in this predicament. The other skills available on his arsenal, on the other hand, need some slight delay to be executed so he really doesn't have any other choice but to block. Bang!!! The blade of the [Yamato] landed at the crossed daggers in front of Vega's chest. Shin gritted his teeth and put more force on his right arm to further push the [Yamato] forward. "Hrr–Ahh!!!!" Then the [Yamato] suddenly set ablaze by some black flames before creating a combustion that pushes the sword further forward! Bang!!! Vega put more force on his arms trying his best to block the sword, but when the combination exploded, he felt that his body lost all of its strength as the [Yamato] slice through his body. After that, the [Yamato] leaves a trail of black flame behind as it continue moving forward. Then–.... Boom!!! Another explosion was created as the trail of black flame left behind by the [Yamato] connects each of its ends. And it created a black blazing ring of fire around Shin, that is rapidly extending until it reach the 5-meter radius away from him. And that is also when a Titled Ranker falls at the hands of a so-called player that is much weaker than him. *Ding!* There is a system notification that sounded on Shin's ears after he killed Vega, but he doesn't have a time to look at it as he stay still on his current spot and just stood there while maintaining his posture with his eyes closed. He doesn't care if there are still some enemies hiding in the vicinity and are waiting for the right time to attack. All he knows for now is to savor this moment and absorb all the knowledge and experience that he just got from earlier fight. Inside his head, the scenes of his previous battle with a Vega were kept flashing in his mind. His desperate movements, the control on elemental Mana, and many other things. Faker who is hiding few distance away from Shin felt that this guy that he is keeping an eye on suddenly gotten some sort of enlightenment. Then he smiled bitterly before muttering to himself. "Are Battle Geniuses really this scary? The more they struggle, the stronger they become." And after making sure that there are no other players in the vicinity, Faker decided to leave Shin for the time being, before rushing towards the direction of another battle to give some helping hand to Lawless and the others. "Let's let him finished this process for now." Shin's state lasted for at least a few minutes before he opened his eyes. And the earlier raging flames in his eyes seems to calm down a little, but it is still lit up with a desire to grow. Then he took a deep breath before muttering to himself. "So that was it." Then he activates the 'Meteor Form' of the 'Mondi's Style' to transform the sheath of his sword into a semitransparent longsword while switching his grip on it into a forehand grip manner. And that is when he felt that his body is suddenly gotten some bonus strength and power coming from the longsword. But that feeling immediately disappeared after two seconds. Then he waited for another second to pass before he switched the form of the 'Mondi's Style' into 'Conviction Form'. And this time, he felt his body being warmed by the energy coming from the rapier while also making him clearheaded. That feeling also lasted for two seconds before disappearing completely. He can't feel these changes properly before, but now that he is using a breathing technique to control the Mana flow inside his body, he can now clearly feel the changes of the energy inside his body. After that, Shin switched back to 'Meteor Form' once again and felt that his body being strengthens for another time. Then he muttered to himself. "So this is the real strength of Mondi's Style. Not only it can change forms but also giving me some extra support that varies according to each of its forms." "Tsk! Now, this skill suddenly become even crazier. If I kept changing forms every three seconds, then that is the same as giving me a self-buff damage boost and a crowd-control removing skill. All I have to do is watch carefully for the timing when I'm doing it." After assessing the skill, Shin regulates his breathing this time and feel the floating Mana in his surroundings through his 'Sensing Circle'. He watched the movements of Mana for a few minutes before he can finally see the elements mixed on those Mana. *Ding!* A system notification sounded on Shin's ears while he is on that state, but he didn't look at it immediately as he is not done yet. He tried to navigate the elemental Mana that has more affinity with him. Then he tried to call them over. Humm!!! The Mana with sky-blue color responded with his call together with the Mana of fiery-red color. After that, he tried to control them as if they are his Mental Energy. Then those Mana moved according to his will. They dance in the air while following Shin's instructions. Unfortunately, he can't do anything with them aside controlling their movements. And he become helpless because of it. But since he can't help it, he just leave it as it is, and tried to do a swordsman's approach. He gathers the water/ice elemental Mana towards the [Snowstorm Edge], making that sword to release a bluish glow. But he didn't stop there, he continue to accumulate more sky-blue Mana all the way until the sword shines with a brilliant silver light. The water/ice elemental Mana transformed into the power of the Silver Moon! After that, Shin holds all of the Mana just like that before he started moving the sword in a slow and steady manner. And every time he moves, the sword is leaving a trail of silver light behind. And when he become used to containing the power of the Moon on his sword, he started moving faster. And when he gets a hold of moving without releasing the power of the Silver Moon from his sword, he became more bold on his movements and started swinging his sword properly. *Ding!* Another system notification sounded once again, but Shim still ignored it. He release the power of the Silver Moon with a powerful horizontal slash! Swoosh! A crescent-shaped sword Qi was released horizontally from the [Snowstorm Edge], and it extended up to ten meters from Shin's front. It is the same 'Half-Moon Slash' yet also somewhat different.The crescent shape of this sword Qi is like the crescent moon in the sky, but its crescentness is almost forming a full circle if you look at it with a bird-eye-view while Shin is being in the middle of the two endpoints of the sword wave. *Ding!* Shin ignored this system notification as well because he doesn't want to let this special state to be gone in waste! After releasing the power of the Silver Moon from the [Snowstorm Edge], Shin immediately gathers another bunch of elemental Mana. But this time, the one that he gathers is the fiery-red Mana and it is with the [Yamato]. And just like earlier, Shin collects more Mana on the sword before moving. The fiery-red Mana is accumulating with a great speed since he is more familiar with the process now. But unlike the submissive and gentle water/ice elemental Mana, this fire elemental Mana is quite stubborn and violent, making it hard for Shin to control. Fortunately, our swordsman here has a monstrous stong willpower that letting him to persevere more. The fiery-red elemental Mana continue to accumulate, making the shade-color of the sword to become even more deeper all the way until it turned into a black-colored flame and transformed into the power of the Black Sun. Boom! And a soft explosion was created when the elemental Mana reached this point, but Shin managed to hold it as he is suppressing the elemental energy from bursting out. And when the raging black flame calms down, Shin started swinging the blazing [Yamato] slowly. And when he is gotten used to the feeling, his movements started to speed up. If his movements earlier are fast, smooth, and gentle when he is using the power of the Silver Moon, then his movements now are strong, heavy, and violent. *Ding!* This is the fifth system notification sound that Shin had heard but he is still ignoring it. Shin flicked his right wrist and right-hand fingers as he switched his grip on the [Yamato] from forehand into reverse-hand grip manner. After that, he swiftly thrust the sword on the earth as he kneeled on the ground with one knee while simultaneously releasing all of the power of the Black Sun. Then–.... Boom!!! An explosion was created as a pillar of black flame rose from the ground with a 7-meter height and 5-meter radius while having Shin as the center. *Ding!* Shin already did a lot with this but he is not done yet. It is as if some of the questions that he has before were answered just now. Shin immediately stood up and regulates his breathing while focusing his mind. Then he called the water/ice and fire elemental Mana before gathering them on each of his swords on his left and right hand respectively. Then, in the next instant, the swords on each of Shin's hands release an opposing energies. "Yeah, this was it. This is the same feeling when that Old Geezer transmitted the feeling of properly utilizing the 'Force of Nature' when using the 'Yin-Yang Swordsmanship', into my body." muttered Shin to himself while trying to properly feel the energies on each of his sword. Then he knitted his brows before contradicting himself. "No. It is similar but there is still some difference. But what is it? It felt as if I missed something very important." Shin thought for a moment before giving up entirely on that thought. It is because his 'State of Enlightenment' is coming to an end. "Tsk! I guess that was it for now. At least I progressed a little. Well, even though it is just inside the game." After that, Shin started swinging his swords based on the movements recorded in the 'Yin-Yang Swordsmanship' manual. The [Snowstorm Edge] on his left hand is moving fast and deadly in some tricky angles. The [Yamato], on the other hand, is moving in a more direct way with a strong power and heavy strikes. Shin can't do this in the Real World since his Internal Qi is not suited for them. He doesn't know why, but even with his 'Sacred Internal Qi', he can't properly utilize the skills even if he is just practicing one of the styles of this swordsmanship. He consulted Old Plum about this too, but the only reply that he got is –"It is not time yet."– Left with no choice, he can only settle with the entry-level techniques of this swordsmanship, which is not that choosy about Internal Qi. But now, inside this game, he can now use this Swordsmanship with the help of the power of the Black Sun and Silver Moon. He still can't fully understand why, but with this, he can at least practice and explore more about its mysteries. And when he got a hold of it and familiarized himself with the style, the seventh system notification sounded on his ears. *Ding!* And that is the time when he threw a cross slash in front of him while simultaneously releasing the power of the Black Sun and Silver Moon from his swords. Then a silver and black sword waves were release from each of Shin's swords. And in the next instant, those opposing sword waves intervene with each other before transforming into a rotating X-shaped sword wave with gray color, that is intending to destroy everything on its path. Boo—oM!!! *Ding!* Then the eight system notification sounded on Shin's ears while he simultaneously exited his 'Enlightened State'. Huu~ Shin took a deep breath while calming his mind. And after a few minutes, he tried to gather the water/ice and fire elemental Mana towards his body. Then–.... Bang!!! (-5 000) He received some backslash damage from the explosion of the opposing elements. Then he muttered to himself. "I knew it. Combining the two opposing elements is still not ideal with my technique. And if I tried to combine them towards my sword, then I'll just receive an even more damage from it." "Tsk! Too bad I don't have enough time to reanimate the Eclipse Slash, Eclipse Pulse, and Eclipse Counter." And while he is in that thought, his sight suddenly landed on the dropped items on the ground. "Ah! Yeah! Let's clean the battlefield first!" After that, he started picking up the loots on the ground. .....