The Last Dainv

Chapter 291

After talking for what felt like so long about the stories of tens of stars, Gale appreciated the view even more. Although the characters in those stories were real and are now gone, their tale lives on. Turning his head beside him, he looked at Erin's unwavering eyes that seemingly stared above with no emotion.

"Erin."

"Child."

"How do you remember so many stories?"

"Those who fought by your side," she said, "you will never forget."

That was true. He'd never be able to forget Ollie or Rachel or Lily or the twins or the former mundane trio. As he lived past them, he'd repeat their stories in his mind forever to come, even through the cycle of stars.

"I have a question," Gale said.

"Ask."

"Why is this rift not closed yet? You said the Origin has healed. So why does the rift still exist?"

"An unsolved requirement has not been met. The world may have healed its Origin, yet foreign entities still exist within the system that it cannot expel."

"Is it the Aurians?"

"It is not. A foreign entity is part of the other world that has invaded. In this case, remnants of the corruption."

"Should we go after it?"

"Tell me, child, does a tiny foreign entity harm a strong body?"

"It doesn't, but won't it still harm the world if it's there? It might become a bigger issue later."

"Then the answer which you seek has been answered by your own words."

Gale sat up to look at her. "I want to close the rift for the sake of this world."

"Even as others have told you of the impossibility, would your desire remain the same?"

"Even more so," he said.

A small smile appeared on Erin's face. "A barbaric Cev Dainv."

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"Do not pay attention to my comment." Erin floated to straighten up as well. "Do you have an idea of how to solve the rift?"

"Not really. Can't we just search around and see what's the issue?"

"Have you already allocated your grains to attributes?" she asked.

"What?"

"Your Origin Grains. Have you not allocated them yet?"

"Oh. Yeah." Gale nodded. "I followed what Guide said. Repaired my core first since it was damaged from the tomb. Then I attributed some to body and the rest to mind."

"Tell me your current attributes."

"Body is at 38, heart is at 32, mind is at 114, and spirit is at 12," Gale said. "Guide told me to do it before my epic battle with Witch Nyx..."

"The allocations are adequate," Erin said. "Once your body and heart reach 40, allocate everything to mind."

"Why?"

"Enough with your questions. Follow as I say to optimize your strength growth."

"Fine..."

"Now materialize Erebus and use your Phase on the blade. Like you usually would."

No point in arguing with Erin if she was going to teach him. Materializing Erebus, Gale activated Phase Touch along its edge. A blue light enveloped only the edge, staying where it was when he swished the sword around.

"Phase Touch is the skill's name," he muttered.

Erin leaned, drawing her head close to the blade's edge, causing Gale to flinch the sword away.

"That's dangerous!"

"Hold," she said.

"What if you get hurt?"

"Pain is just a signal that can be ignored."

Right. This here was a floating bluey that would take a needle to the chest if it could let them win against an abomination.

Raising one of her hands, ice formed at her fingertips. Transparent crystalline structures began to form until it created an ice pole. She brought it up to touch the part where the Phase Touch resided on Erebus, pushing the pole against the edge, cleanly splitting the pole in half as no resistance was felt during the slice.

"I understand now," she said.

"What was that?"

"The pole I've created was reinforced through nanoscale structures that would resist damage. Yet your 'Phase Touch' split it into two," Erin said, standing up. "Your ability is of similar origin to the Phase ability of Cev Dainvs, but holds a slightly different mechanism."

"Different how?"

Erin set the ice pole down and looked at him directly. "Do you understand how this ability works?"

"It makes things sharper," Gale said. At least that's what he thought it does, otherwise, why didn't it cut through the dark knight's armour? It's more of a buff rather than a physical change.

"You are correct, but your understanding is flawed," Erin said. "The Phase itself removes all imperfections of the edge, thereby making it sharper. No matter how roughly the blade is used, it will never dull."

"So it's basically infinite sharpness?"

"That is incorrect. It is a sharpness amplification. It is therefore wasted on Erebus."

Gale lifted up Erebus and hovered his finger just away from the edge. Moving his finger closer, he could already feel the edge slice the surface of his skin.

Testing it again, this time, he put Phase Touch on the edge. Moving his finger once more towards the edge, it felt the same as the edge dared to slice the skin.

Unlawfully taken from NovelBin, this story should be reported if seen on Amazon.

"Oh," he muttered. "Other than Reflection, my only offensive ability is Phase Touch, though. What else would I do with it?"

"I do not know the ability 'Reflection.' However, the ability Phase is usually used for defense, not offense."

"Defense?"

"Correct. For defense, it is simple to allocate Phase positions onto the self rather than on an object. Depending on the enemy, a Cev Dainv is nigh impossible to hit against those that have no countermeasure against it," Erin said. "Yet you managed to create an edge augmented by Phase. An offensive application that requires precise positional calculation. Do you understand the implication of that?"

Gale shook his head.

"Your core is calculating the position of the Phase as the blade moves. Every swing, the Phase needs to move along with the edge, and precise calculations must be made," Erin said. "You are doing this subconsciously. How curious."

"Is that... good?"

"It is curious," Erin said. "If your Phase resource can attach to objects or Phase 'Touch' has more capabilities than the standard, then it presents higher possibilities due to less load incurred. With Alter and Distort, attaching Phase has exceptional subtrees that can be explored, especially if you possess Mirror."

"I don't have anything called Mirror. Just Reflection," Gale said. "It looks like it creates a physical wave using the attribute of my weapon."

"Use the ability."

"Right now?"

"Yes."

Gale took a deep breath. Being stared at and researched on was not a good feeling, especially with her not showing any expression the whole time.

Swinging Erebus, Reflection activated. A wave of pure slashing force shot outward from the edge, travelling about 10 metres before it disappeared.

"Again," Erin said.

He swung another Reflection outwards.

"Again."

Swinging again, this time Gale followed the first movement of Dainv Combat Arts to flow with the Reflections sent outwards. A lunge, spin, and a diagonal slash sent multiple Reflections in different directions.

After the first movement, he transitioned to the 3rd movement, creating a spear with Erebus. The only way to send out a Reflection with a spear was through a stabbing force being sent outwards. As he moved through the 3rd movement, multiple Reflection points shot out like a porcupine.

Before he could turn Erebus into a Sabre for the 4th movement, he saw Erin raise her hand up.

"Enough," she said. "The meaning of what you call Reflection is now understood."

"What do you mean?"

"The skill functions similarly to Mirror, except Mirror is more of a spatial manipulation whereas Reflection elevates that concept by creating an attachment of space to a movement vector," Erin said. "Though your usage of it is barbaric as you do not understand the true meaning."

Rolling his eyes, Gale didn't bother responding to that last sentence.

"Tell me, child. Have you created illusions with Distort before?" Erin asked.

Gale nodded. "But it's too hard to use so I never really practiced it."

Plus, it wasn't really offensive. It was really only good for tricking opponents way stronger than him.

"The ability of Phase is the ability to cast material into a different planar space. However, that itself does not say whether you may not cast an object into the same planar space."

"What?" Gale was genuinely confused.

"You may cast the same object into the same physical space. The concept is simple."

"Ok, but what's the point of doing that?"

"Reflection is a combination of Alter and Distort, correct?" Erin talked faster.

"Right."

"Cast Phase Touch before Reflection, however, will the object into a different space. You will then observe the duplicate space in a different position, thereby projecting Erebus onto a different space yet it is the same object, just in a different position as space has been reflected."

Gale looked dumbfounded. Does she mean that he can duplicate Erebus into a different space but it's actually the same? What does it all mean? What does space even mean if the duplicate is actually the same, just mirrored in a different position? What happened to physics?! What is he going to class for? Why do Erin's words sound so correct?!

"Erin," he muttered.

She stared at him.

"I don't get it..."

"Enough!" Erin said. "Focus on this formula. Access, get Phase Touch, get Reflection, set Phase Touch position, apply Reflection as Erebus on Phase Touch. Make sure you set the Phase Touch reflection away from either of us."

Taking a deep breath once again, Gale didn't actually get what she meant. But her formula last time worked. Might as well try.

Closing his eyes, he accessed Reflection and Phase Touch at the same time. Then, he willed Phase Touch to be elsewhere. Then he applied the Reflection onto it.

A headache started to form at the crown of his head. But before it could form, it dissipated. Opening his eyes, nothing interesting happened, and then he looked back at Erin.

"Child, time is of the essence. Make haste. Apply the simple formula."

Gale rolled his eyes. Once again, he tried. Accessing the two skills, and then willing Phase Touch to be set in front of him, he imagined the Erebus in his hand appearing where he cast Phase Touch. Opening his eyes, he saw a hazy outline of Erebus.

Erin floated up to it and then touched the flat of the blade.

Although she was over a couple of meters away, Gale felt the weight of her finger tapping onto the flat of the blade.

A headache took hold of the crown of his head as his left eye felt like it was about to burst. Bile started to crawl up, and he vomited yellow onto the blue flowers on the ground. The hazy figure of the failed activation disappeared.

"Child, try again."

Gale nodded, furrowing his brows. Access, get both skills individually, Phase Touch first, and then Reflection. He applied the Phase entity to a position a couple of meters away from him. Clenching his fist, he willed Erebus to Reflect onto the placement where he set the Phase.

Suddenly, Erebus materialized in full at where he set the Phase entity. Slowly moving Erebus, he saw it mirror his motion immediately. Moving forward a bit, he moved the edge of the blade against itself in the reflection. However, just like a mirror, it disappeared when they met.

"Holy shit," Gale said. What if he could move where this Phase entity was? The possibilities were endless.

"There is nothing holy about defecation," Erin said.

"That's not what I mean. I didn't know this was possible."

"Open your eyes, child. There is a lot more possible than words written in books."

Nodding slowly, Gale asked, "Is there always a formula?"

"There is always a code. Watch closely." Erin raised one hand. Ice crystallized at her fingertips, forming into a spear about two metres long with a sharp tip. Her essence flowed through the spear and onto the tip, where the similar signature of Phase Touch was applied.

Gale pulled her spear from the shaft to look closer at the tip. It really was Phase Touch, except slightly different. Hovering his finger over it, he felt it was a bit duller than his own. When she moved the spear, there was a slight delay in where the phase was compared to the actual position of the tip.

"It's different, though."

"I replicated the external effect through brute force calculation. Your ability does it innately as it's an embedded function within your core." Erin dismissed the spear, the ice shattering into particles that dropped onto the ground, melting against the blue flowers. "the Origin System, is the fundamental rules, laws, and gears of the universe. Your Phase Touch uses what we call Void resource to be accessed."

"If you can do everything I can do through calculation, then why can't you be stronger than me?"

"An imitation by creating code that forces the effect. My core itself is not innately optimized for the usage of the Void property." Erin turned her eyes down to Erebus. "If one could access all resource properties without restriction, the system could be exploited and altered to break itself."

"Why would it break itself if it's something like physics? Like no one breaks physics."

"What you call physics is a primitive designation. However, the explanation of access restriction is just a theory. No one truly knows why the Origin System has created innates within its living entities," Erin said, then floating up a blue flower to her fingers. "My telekinesis is not innate. The short one's telekinesis is innate. When he reaches the 6th step, his innate will be stronger than my mere imitation."

"Can we start lessons now, then?" Gale looked up at her eyes, eagerly anticipating the next lesson.

She smiled at him, then said, "We shall cover the material slowly over time. Our time together is infinite."

"You're not ever going to leave?"

"In Dainv culture, the relationship of a teacher and student is one constant that will never fade. The teacher will always be older, more wise than the student, as our kind is never aging," Erin said, as she floated down to his eye level. "You are my responsibility. There is no chance I will leave."

Gale turned his head slightly away from her eyes. "I get it." For a while, he paused, and then the story of the watching stars came back to him. "Won't the Cesnv find us if you keep teaching me the ways of the Dainv?"

"Fear not." Erin turned to face him fully. "The fear mongers want you to believe that the Cesnv are omniscient. They are not. They are preoccupied with keeping the tide at bay."

"I don't get it. Then what's the point in hiding all the time? It just feels so frustrating to have to keep my own abilities from my friends and all."

"They are but one force hunting Dainvs like you and I," Erin said sternly. "But by the time they notice you, child, you will be strong enough that their notice will no longer matter."

Vianne did say something about there being more than one invader. The Mohrusy might just be one of them. Hiding within the dark forest of the universe will always be a valuable skill.

Thanks dad.

"The night is young, child. Take a rest. Your training on Defensive Phase maneuvers will start tomorrow. You will also be in charge of hunting for sustenance. Is that clear?"

Gale saluted with a smile. "Clear as water!"