Destroyer of Ice and Fire

At night, under the starry skies, in Holy Dawn Academy's secret training ground.

Ayrin looked at a Moss propped on crutches, one foot bundled tightly, and said, "Even a lame-foot like you can come here and train? Teacher Carter actually let you come too, it's really strange."

"Ayrin, you actually called me a lame-foot, do you want to die!" Moss almost fainted from anger.

Ayrin guffawed. "What, didn't you use to call me a shorty before?"

"I didn't think you were one to hold grudges for so long!"

"Stop thinking so much, I'm just curious how you can train with a lame foot. Teacher Carter said you're very powerful though, you have the giants' bloodline's Multi-Sizing, and a hidden bloodline power that even many barbarians don't have. You're also a special snowflake."

"Ayrin, you actually insult me, what special snowflake!"

"Ah? Is special snowflake an insult? Back then in Cororin, they all used to called me a special snowflake."

"…" Moss was thoroughly speechless. "Ayrin, you're really a special snowflake."

"Haha, little brave warriors, you must be impatient right?"

A wild laughter came just at this moment. An arcane master with a full beard suddenly jumped out from the shadows of the trees, falling with a bang in front of Moss and Ayrin.

"Teacher Minlur?" Ayrin widened his eyes in astonishment. "Why are you here and not teacher Carter?"

"According to the training plan Carter drew up for you guys, I'm the one in charge of your training before the next match against Iron Forest Academy begins." Minlur laughed out loud. He clenched his fist excitedly: "Carter gave me many restrictions, told me what to teach you, and doesn't let me freely use my power, but even so, I'm still a little impatient."

"Alright then!" Ayrin immediately clapped his hands and shouted, "Teacher Minlur, you look a lot older than teacher Carter and the others, you must definitely be stronger than them and be more experienced, right?"

"…" Minlur's face turned weird all of a sudden. He rubbed his beard and said, depressed, "I know my beard looks good, but I'm actually around the same age as Liszt and Carter."

"Ah?" Moss and Ayrin were both struck a little dumb.

"It's true, could you guys not look like this!"

Ayrin obediently nodded, and excitedly said, "Alright, teacher Minlur, what are you planning on teaching us? Moss is a lame-foot already, can he still train?"

Moss' vision went black. He roared, "Ayrin, can you please stop saying lame-foot!"

"Alright!"

Minlur laughed loudly again. He brandished his fist: "Now, Ayrin, use your Evil Flaming Eye and attack me!"

"Use Evil Flaming Eye and attack you?" Ayrin blinked. Moss also stopped snarling all of a sudden.

"Yes, my favorite way to teach is to demonstrate what I'm talking about. This way of teaching is more intuitive." Minlur said in a loud voice, "Attack me with Evil Flaming Eye as if I were a real enemy!"

"Oh no! My belly hurts!"

Ayrin suddenly bent down and hugged his belly, but just at this instant, he erupted all of a sudden, abruptly lifting his right hand.

An Evil Flaming Eye shot toward Minlur straight on.

"I really admire you, you're faking a bellyache even at a time like this."

With an explosive "boom," Minlur sent a punch flying and directly exploded the Evil Flaming Eye to pieces. Wind waves visible with the naked eye rippled out in the air, as if a small transparent pond suddenly appeared around his fist.

"He actually scattered the mighty Evil Flaming Eye in just one punch! What's his fist made of!" Moss gulped down his saliva in stupefaction.

"I'm still too slow, you actually coped with my sneak attack so effortlessly." Ayrin seemed very dispirited.

Minlur heard something within his words, and asked, "It seems you're being a little emotional, is it because you're thinking back to the scene of that arcane master who wanted to kill Ivan?"

"It is. Compared to an arcane master of that level, I don't even have time to launch my arcane skills. Oh right, teacher Minlur, I heard they haven't caught that arcane master yet? Where on earth does he come from, could he be a whatever Evil Dragon follower like many people are saying?"

"Indeed, your information is correct, he already made his escape to the mountain woods outside of St. Lauren. We're not yet sure about his origins and his goals. That's really something worthy of you being proud though. He managed to act right in the middle of Divine Shield Academy, and sill ran out of St. Lauren after being discovered… In the entirety of St. Lauren, maybe only Liszt and a couple others could do that. It's really amazing that you managed to escape from that guy. My hands are still sweating for your sake just thinking about it." Minlur really made a sweat-wiping gesture. "Also, what you just said earlier is one of the crucial points I want you guys to understand."

"An existence at the same level as teacher Liszt, then isn't he above an elite master, near or maybe already at the level of a taboo-level arcane master? All the people like that have resounding fame across the entire continent, what on earth is his identity, why would he run here to assassinate Ivan?" Moss' body shook lightly, such an astounded thought running across his mind.

"A crucial point?" Ayrin was clearly already thinking about matters of training now.

"Right." Minlur nodded at Ayrin and said, unrestrained, "What Carter wants me to teach you guys is the road to ultimate strength!"

"Road to ultimate strength?" Moss and Ayrin repeated both at the same time.

"For an arcane master, the body's strength and the outer world's arcane energy are both sides of the same coin. It's only because all sorts of arcane masters have their own respective innate talents that they put special emphasis on one or the other!" Minlur nodded firmly and stretched out his fist. "I didn't use arcane power at all earlier. You guys look at my fist though."

"Not only it broke the Evil Flaming Eye in one punch, there isn't even the slightest trace of injury on it." Ayrin immediately understood. He eagerly shouted, "Teacher Minlur, how did you do that!"

"That's because my strength reaches a certain degree. When I punch, there's an extremely thin layer of air compressed between the fire and my fist. Added to the fact the impact lasts a short amount of time, flames with that kind of heat simply can't burn my skin." Minlur looked at Ayrin and said, "That's why for some arcane masters pursuing pure physical strength, their ways of fighting entirely revolve around scattering arcane power with strength. According to theory, punches can create blast waves as long as the strength reaches a certain level. It's entirely comparable to mighty arcane skills!"

"I understand now." Ayrin's eyes suddenly filled with little admirative stars when he looked at Minlur. "Teacher Minlur, you came teach us better training methods to purse strength, right?"

"Not only that, otherwise I wouldn't have said that you spoke of a crucial issue earlier." Teacher Minlur wagged a finger. "Even with the same body, there are methods and tricks to force out the greatest amount of strength when you punch. Even with the same arcane skill, you still can pursue the pinnacle of power. To make it as simple as I can, it's the same Evil Flaming Eye, but the might of your Evil Flaming Eye is certainly far from being a match for Ciaran's Evil Flaming Eye."

"Teacher Ciaran must be an existence with four open gates, I don't even know how many more arcane particles she has compared to me, that's why the might of the Evil Flaming Eye transformed from my arcane particles is certainly who knows how many times weaker than hers." Ayrin nodded.

"It's not only that. With the same arcane skill, you can still pursue a greater might even with your current arcane level." Minlur patted his chest and said in a loud voice, "That's what I came here to teach you, to pursue the ultimate strength, how to make your bodies erupt with a mightier strength, how to make your arcane skills stronger even when employing the same arcane skills!"

"With the same level, the same arcane particles, how can we increase the power of our arcane skills?" Moss and Ayrin couldn't resist sharing a look, both mumbling in confusion.

"Ayrin, you're being dumb right now." Minlur laughed loudly, "Haha, just earlier you said your execution speed is too slow. Think about it, if you can invoke your arcane skills a little faster, then your arcane skills will be a little more powerful for the opponent."

"That's right!" Ayrin immediately jumped. "Teacher teacher, how can I launch arcane skills a little faster!"

"When all's said and done, it comes down to circulating your arcane particles faster!" Minlur patted Ayrin's shoulder. He felt that this young hot-blooded Ayrin was more and more to his liking.

"Why does the vast majority of arcane skills launch from the hands and feet? Simply put, the energy channels in our hands and feet are the best channels to increase speed." Minlur looked at Ayrin's fervent eyes and continued, "Arcane gates are just like great gates filled with water behind them. As soon as the great gates open, water will immediately flow out and spill on the ground. What kind of speed will this water spreading on the ground have? Arcane particles will flow and erupt fast only when a great amount of them is instantly compressed into a small narrow channel. Also, there's no vital spot in the hands and feet, unlike the body's interior filled with important organs everywhere."

"That's why we have seven arcane gates inside our bodies, while our hands and feet are conducts for arcane particles gushing out of our arcane gates." Ayrin understood immediately.

"The stronger the spiritual strength, the greater the amount of arcane particles inside the body. You can invoke arcane particles faster only with a body strong enough to bear it. However, this has something to do with your arcane level. The higher your level, the higher your spiritual strength, and the more arcane gates you will open. Only then will your total amount of arcane particles increase." Minlur nodded in satisfaction.

"When all current conditions are the same, you can only make your own body produce a stronger effect on the circulation of arcane particles.

"For you two, your reserves of stamina both exceed the normal level. Especially Ayrin, the strength stored in every minute particles of your body is much stronger than ordinary people. Usually, the subconscious in the deepest reaches inside us controls and harmonizes our bodies. To avoid causing harm to ourselves, our bodies will coordinate and restrain on their own the amount of strength we output."

Minlur added, "But there are certain times when we can struggle free of our body's chains and dig deeper in the strength stored inside us. Rage, recklessness, pain, stimuli like these can often make our bodies erupt with strength surpassing its usual limits. With some bloodline powers like Furious Multi-Sizing, Berserk, and so on, in fact they precisely make the body more accepting of these signals and release more strength, while the strength stored in the bloodline is more or less enough to begin with."

Moss and Ayrin completely understood the underlying reasons already, but neither of them spoke, because they both clearly knew that the important thing was what kind of training was needed to reach such a point.

"In our bodies, on a conscious level, there's a state of mind that's most intense and violent. This state of mind is called 'Near Death!'" Minlur's voice became feverish. "When you feel yourself about to die, when you really feel on the edge of death, all the chains at our subconscious level will be entirely lifted, and release all the strength possible so that you can fight for survival! That's why you'll often see a man erupt with a potential never seen before the instant he faces death!"

"What I'm going to teach you is precisely a special method combining breathing and self-hypnosis, to make your body cross the boundary to such a state, thus pursuing the ultimate strength!"