Evan D. Sherden, Training the Core. (3)

As Evan busied himself with constructing the workshop in the basement of the Dungeon Knights headquarters, he added in an additional underground training center.

He had two choices: expand the training center or add a new one; he decided it’s best to add additional centers for what he had in mind for the future of the Dungeon Knights.

“Phew, it’s so nice and spacious.”

“Architectural engineering is really something. It makes it possible to secure such a large space underground.”

While Evan was satisfactorily muttering as he looked around the new training center, someone spoke out. It was Raihan, fully armed with armor (Invisible Shield) and shield (Eco Shield).

“Will you be okay, Master Evan?”

“Yes. Nobody wants the new training center to collapse from day one.”

Evan was getting anxious to practice his new skill, ‘Skin Blade’.

He hadn’t used it properly yet, so he was worried that it would harm others, so he decided to use the new training center. Raihan wanted to practice his own defense skills and decided to tag along.

“Hyeong, do you think our training center will collapse if I start training my new skill?”

“Well, we don’t have Aria to assist us anymore. Oh, are you even wearing your boots properly?”

“Yes, don’t worry!”

The boots, which were initially worn as Evan’s curse resistance training and for full-body protection, were now a means of protecting the surrounding environment from Evan’s terrible power.

Moreover, Evan’s curse resistant training was getting more advanced by the day; so, despite the fact that he had reinforced the curse of the boots by destroying all the demon statues he encountered while going down to Dungeon level 30, it gave the impression that the deterrence power was weaker than before.

“Let’s go to the Dungeon again soon, Master. Getting to level 50 of the Dungeon should be our next goal.”

“Yes, let us do that, Hyeong.”

Evan sighed at Raihan, who was on alert of Evan’s strength, and went into his stance. It was the basic stance of high-ranking martial arts, ChunJoong.

“Didn’t you say that this was a skill related to the handling of the blade?”

“Skin Blade is not a martial art that has a distinctive form, but it is a skill that supports fighting skills. Therefore, the stance remains the same as ChunJoong.”

The form of attack was also completely the same as martial arts. It was just that it created a Mana Sword on the skin and added a crushing-blow property to the attack.

It was said that if one were to practice Skin Blade enough, they would be able to implement a blade without mana, but it had never been verified.

“Then, where should we start? Let me fiddle with it first.”

“I’m also interested to see what happens… I will be watching.”

“Thank you.”

Evan first activated the Skin Blade on his left fist while clenching his fist. Then, black purplish energy arose, covered the entire fist, and lumped together to create a thick and sharp blade on the edge of the said fist.

“Wow.”

“You can stab-attack with that.”

“The blade should change its shape according to my will.”

As soon as he thought about dividing the blade into multiple blades, the blade dissipated. The energy that was covering his hand transformed into the shape that Evan imagined in his head.

The knuckle, the joint that connected the top of the hand to the fingers, had four long sharp blades sprouting out from them. It was very much similar to the claws of the Wolverine.

“Oh my, oh my!”

“…Master Evan?”

“This wasn’t possible in the game before because of copyrights!”

“Oh, you’re fine.”

Whenever Evan was talking about the game, copyrights or some other gibberish, it meant he was fine.

Raihan was relieved by it, but Evan, who swung around the knuckle blade, seemed a bit puzzled.

“It looks cool, but it’s not suitable for actual combat. Let me try the ice pick shape.”

Evan, who formed the blade back to the shape of an ice pick, then tried other motions other than stabbing, but when performing the cut motion, the blade was the longest and sharpest when the blade was in the form of a hand blade.

Probably, as the skill level rises, the length of the blade that can be formed will also increase.

“The shape of the blade changes according to the action of holding a fist or extending a hand. I like it.”

“The energy that forms as a blade extending from the fist… it’s like watching an aura.”

Aura means mana contained in weapons, including swords, moves outside and forms into a specific shape. It is very much similar to Geomgang in martial arts novels.

It eats up a ridiculous amount of mana, but its power is critical and therefore very difficult to control. As far as Evan knows, other than a person with a true talent like a leader of the Knights, no one will be able to use it.

Of course, Leo used it very skillfully, but he was the strongest of the human race and should be considered an exception.

“This is not quite an aura. If you hit it in front, it will probably break at once.”

“But what if you use it together with the ChunJoong energy?”

“ChunJoong energy embedded into Skin Blades?”

“That’s right.”

“Well… … If that’s possible, of course, it will be very strong.”

Of course, it wasn’t that Evan hadn’t thought about it, but it wasn’t that easy to mix the two skills. Both Heaven Press and Heaven Throw were possible because it was a blessing of God.

‘The step… It is true that I did it on my own, but…’

Evan’s unique “step” had been created through a combination of the Lion’s Glide and ChunJoong, during the duel with Leo. He couldn’t start depending on such miracles.

“But if there’s the slightest chance…I’ve got nothing to lose. If I could make it happen, I will certainly be able to overwhelm most of the other auras.”

“That’s the attitude, Master Evan.”

“Alright, let’s see…”

Raihan’s smile made him feel a bit weird. Evan took on a different stance to get this weird feeling over with. It was a kick motion.

“Are you trying to create a Skin Blade from your feet?”

“Yes, but I’m not sure if I can. I don’t feel it right now.”

Evan knew that strengthening the Skin Blade was possible by learning combat skills. But if one were to ask if the Skin Blade could be applied to kicks, he wasn’t quite sure.

Evan had only learned Skin Blade according to his character’s features right now, and he didn’t learn Skin Blade when he played the game in his previous life! Well, he did learn it once or twice, but never actually used it.

“But the principle is the same, so I wonder if it will work… I should focus more and give it a try.”

He took his stance again, looking towards Raihan after he finished talking. Raihan realized that it was his turn and took a defensive stance, pushing his shield forward.

“I am ready.”

“Alright, here I go.”

“Don’t use the skill that you used against Leo in the duel. I may die if you do.”

“Don’t sell yourself short.”

As soon as Evan finished talking, he sprinted off and rushed to Raihan.

When Raihan glared, Evan kicked the floor and bounced in the air, and performed a spin kick aiming for Raihan’s face.

‘It’s much faster than when he was dueling with the Knights! Maybe he was just focusing on defense?’

It was a splendid tornado-like movement, like a spinning top thrown into the air, speed like lightning with a sharp trajectory. The incredible pressure was coming onto him even before the actual attack.

Raihan overcame the pressure and clenched his teeth, holding out both the Drain Shield and the Enduring Shield, and activating every skill that supported shielding skills.

Boom!!!

There was an incredibly loud sound that nobody would believe was from a clash between a man’s foot and a shield.

Raihan clenched his teeth while trying to defend himself. His knees trembled, as if to laugh at its owner’s weakness.

“Oh, it didn’t work.”

“What? Really? It was not working? Then what was that sound?”

With such a blow, Evan would have killed a man and passed it off as a disappointing joke because he didn’t get the intended results.

He wasn’t sure if it was the lack of progress or just that it was not possible, but he wasn’t going to give up finding out.

“Then, let’s start dueling right now. There’s no specific training method for the Skin Blade, so it would be best to duel with another person.”

“So that blow wasn’t a part of the duel? Hmm…”

Raihan laughed and nodded at Evan’s words, and, as if it were a habit, he put an enhancement skill on himself. It was the most efficient holy defense enhancement reinforcement skill there was.

“Please do not overdo it, Master Evan… I’m too young to die. “

“Hyeong, I believe in your shield technique. Let’s begin!”

“No, I just need a little bit more time to embrace… Ahhh!”

With that, the one-on-one duel to practice Skin Blade began between Evan and Raihan.

As Evan was already at the top level right next to Leo, there was no opponent better than Evan for Raihan to practice his shielding skills with. One person’s skills would improve with every blow they faced that came from Evan!

“Argh! Haah!”

“Oh, urgh…”

‘The weight of the attack was a little less because of the boots but… Still, that doesn’t mean it’s bearable. It sure feels like I’m actually going against Lord Leo!’

Evan’s Skin Blade was incredibly strong even with the boots on, but Raihan was able to somehow manage it with the shield skills he had trained so far.

Boom! Boom! Boom!

Whenever Evan and Raihan clashed, terrible roaring sounds and vibrations echoed throughout the underground training center. Despite that, the damage was insignificant next to the integrity of the training center and the workshop’s architecture. It was a true testament to the builder’s skills.

“Ah, Master is training with Raihan!”

“How sneaky of them to train by themselves… Ugh!?”

Soundproofing was perfectly done, but it couldn’t prevent the sound from spreading within the underground structures. The kids who were training in the other training center came to watch, but carefully stepped back.

They easily knew that if they were the ones dueling Evan and not Raihan, they would have met death in an instance.

“Oh my, he was strong before, but now he even has new skills.”

“But… Is that a combat skill? The way he moves his body is like a combat skill, but the attack itself is a blade attack with suppressing pressure coming from all directions.”

Shine, who came with Arisha to watch Evan, thought about Arisha’s fundamental question and answered.

“Let’s say I’m swinging a dagger, and as a result, it causes a hurricane. Would you call it a dagger skill, Ms. Arisha?”

“No, I’ll call it magic.”

“Then, that’s not a combat skill either, but would be more of a magic or a miracle, or a skill of the sort.”

“Shine, you’ve become quite smart.”

The dark purple mana sword clashing with the radiant magic emanating from the shield; the rumble and vibrations that seem to bring down the entire underground continued for about 3 hours.

Evan’s stamina stats were much higher thanks to his high existence level, and Raihan used all his holy power towards supporting his stamina, which helped him barely overcome it.

“Stop! I can’t take it anymore. I’m going to get killed.”

“Hmm… it was getting so much better.”

What finally stopped Evan was when Raihan declared that he was out of health and mana. Just so one knew, Evan’s HP and MP was still above 50%. Despite this fact, Raihan had continuously been draining Evan’s mana using Drain Shield!

“Ah, I think the enhanced dark cloud was more helpful than I thought. Now it continuously recovers HP, MP, and stamina simultaneously.”

“Is that so…”

“Hyeong, I tried aiming for other weak spots, but every attack was getting directed to your shield. It is really impressive.”

Not only did he focus his attacks on himself, but he could also decide the specific area to be attacked, which meant that he could divert all attacks to his shield. That was the terrifying part of the blessing Raihan received.

However, Raihan smiled bitterly at Evan, who was genuinely impressed. What Raihan felt during his duel with Evan over the past three hours was a barrier he could never overcome.

“Haha… If Master Evan focuses a bit, the skill would be dispelled. You and Lord Leo are the only two that could dispel my taunt skill.”

“Is that so?”

“It is.”

Raihan responded in all seriousness to Evan, who seemed uncertain. He had every reason to be serious because the moment his taunt skill was dispelled, Evan’s ice pick-like fist (not as a metaphor, because it really was an ice pick) was about to strike his face, and Raihan had begun preparing for his death!

If he were a bit slower to raise the shield, he would surely be dead!

Oh, the durability of the Eco Shield has become dangerously low.

“Master Evan’s attack with the crucial attack skill really does great damage in decreasing the equipment’s durability.”

“…Hyeong, isn’t it better to pick up a different shield than that one?”

On the other hand, Evan was also surprised. It was because the shield that Raihan used throughout the battle with Evan was the Echo Shield.

It was a garbage artifact that had no use except for shielding skill training because it would incur twice the damage it received on the user. Raihan was fussing about how he didn’t want to die all this time and yet felt determined to use it throughout the entire duel.

“Since the Invisible Shield is being activated, there is no real difference in terms of defense.”

“Just know that you are just as impressive as me, Hyeong.”

“I just value the effectiveness of shielding skills. I’m not like you, who is at a whole different level.”

Evan wanted to say something smart in return, but he decided against it since he thought it might seem silly to others.

“Then, let’s resume the duel in 10 minutes. Quickly restore the Eco Shield.”

“10 minutes are not enough for me to prepare my last rites. I need more time.”

“Then, 15 minutes; and quit speaking as if you’ll die.”

“You have no intention of letting me go, isn’t that right, Master Evan?”

It was true. After Leo left, Raihan was the most suitable candidate to be Evan’s sparring partner. His fate was decided the moment he stepped into the training center with Evan.

Since the moment he had the duel with Evan, Raihan’s shielding skills grew explosively, but with that, Evan’s combat skills and Skin Blade were also growing… It was not until a long time had passed did they realize just how strong they had become.