Chapter 290: Final Strike - 1
"FUCK!!!" Leon cursed, his voice raw. He had been a step away from defeating Leo, and now his soul gave out.
With whatever ti he had left, he tightened his grip around Leo’s neck. If he wanted to win, he couldn’t let Leo slip out of his clutches.
Crack!
A bone audibly snapped in Leo’s neck, but it was as if it made no difference. Leo continued to resist.
The audience went wild at the sight. After all the destruction, all the high-output attacks they had unleashed, it had co down to sothing as primal as strangulation.
The entire arena lay in ruins—cracked ground, chunks of land missing, uneven mounds and deep depressions. And at the very centre of it all, two n rolled on the ground, trying to kill each other.
Tarun couldn’t help but feel astonished at the sheer intensity of their battle. With their level of strength, both of them could easily be placed among the highest-ranking students of the 3th term of the previous generation.
"Both of them have a minimum of Pseudo 4-star strength... and I’m pretty sure that black-haired boy is even touching Low 4-star. Is this even possible?" he muttered, disbelief evident. "From what I’ve heard, only the other two imperial prince and princesses have that level of strength... and that too because the Emperor showered them with benefits. This kid built everything on his own—in 3 freaking months?"
Even he couldn’t believe the data he had gone through multiple tis.
"Damn..."
Back in the professor’s cabin, even Katherine was astonished.
"Never in my life did I think soone from the outskirts could be this talented... and I thought Lily was gifted."
She turned toward Brant.
"Dear, trust . That girl is a monster of talent. But this boy... he can be called an absolute beast. They truly are a match made in heaven."
"At first, I thought no one would be a match for Lily, and that she would have to settle for soone weaker. Turns out, I was wrong. Looks like I need to prepare Lily so that she is suitable for him. No wonder she has that crazy side of her."
Brant frowned slightly, confused.
"Crazy side? What are you talking about?"
Katherine laughed softly.
"Haha, you won’t understand. Just be careful—don’t try to harm that boy. Otherwise, even I can’t guarantee your safety in the future. Matter of fact, don’t even let that thought exist around her."
Brant raised a brow, amused.
"That crazy?"
The other professors around them murmured in hushed tones.
"Damn... can fresher students really be this strong?"
"I thought I was strong in my academy days..."
"That Leo boy—I want him as my student."
"Fuck you, I’m taking him."
"Huh? What did you say, motherfucker?"
"Why are you all fixated on Leo? Even though Leon is obviously better. Soul fusion under twenty? I want him as my student."
"Yeah, but Leo is actually on equal footing, if not stronger than Leon, even without soul fusion."
"Yeah! too. I didn’t achieve soul fusion until my final years as an Assistant Professor. Elts shares his tutelage!" Another said excitedly, ignoring the comnt of equal footing with soul fusion.
So select professors looked at the blabbering individuals, bewildered.
"Yeah, go ahead... and then die by that person’s hand."
"What?"
"Who’s going to tell him?" one professor said, glancing around with a mocking smile. But when his eyes t Katherine, cold sweat made him lower his gaze.
Whatever he said, he wasn’t supposed to be revealed. And this comnt made his value in holding secrets decrease. From the next mont, sensitive informations will not be conveyed to that particular professor.
The others simply shook their heads, as if they already knew sothing those eager professor didn’t.
"But what is his main elent?" one of them asked, drawing everyone’s attention.
"We’ve seen him use Wood, Earth... there was fire too—maybe heat. Then that purple fla... poison. And lastly, that weird stealth technique. I’m pretty sure there was so space elent involved."
"So many elents... and there’s even the physical aspect—his aura."
"Hasn’t he been taught that having beasts of varying abilities will ultimately make him weaker?"
"Yeah. He won’t be able to build a proper arsenal for any one elent. And having multiple skills of the sa elent gives you leeway—it basically lets you manipulate the elent freely with low mana cost. And he is doing the opposite, setting himself up for a downfall."
"With so many different skills, he must have at least 3 or even 4 beasts. How many can he even contract?"
"Even if we assu the best from the outskirts—a Super Rare soul—he could theoretically ta 13 beasts. But we all know that’s impossible. Even with the best soul enhancent techniques, he might reach 6... maybe 7 beasts by the ti he hits 7-star."
"That’s only 3 extra beasts. And with a Super Rare soul, you can copy 4 skills from each—but realistically, you only manage 2. So that’s 6 extra skills. That’s not viable if he wants to beco truly strong."
Another professor nodded.
"Exactly. Even if he focuses on one elent from now on—say, wood—he’ll barely gain 6 additional skills. That’s not enough to freely manipulate the elent. He’ll end up weak if he doesn’t get proper guidance soon."
Once a person tas beasts of a similar elent and copies their skills, they accumulate multiple abilities of the sa type. The more aligned the skills are, the easier it becos to manipulate that elent.
For example, if soone has multiple fire-elent beasts, they might copy skills like:
Fireball, Fire Tornado, Fla Thrower, Fla Burst, Fla Lance, Fla Cage...
Now, if they try to combine two skills—say, Fla Burst and Fla Lance—they can create a Fla Lance that explodes on impact: a Burst Lance. It’s easy to do so with slight concentration. And since these are copied skills rather than pure manipulation, the mana cost stays low.
If the sa effect were created purely through a single fire manipulation skill, the mana cost would be higher.
That’s not to say manipulation skills are always inefficient. The high cost cos from the need to construct mana pathways and channels in real ti during battle. It requires focus, and even the slightest variation in those pathways demands additional mana to stabilise and connect them.
But if soone masters this process—if shaping pathways becos second nature—the mana cost naturally decreases. But reaching that level takes ti, patience, and years of training.
Skills, on the other hand, co with built-in pathways—like water(mana) flowing through predetermined pipelines. They’re faster, easier, and don’t require years of refinent. Though rging two skills can still be tricky, as it requires overlapping and adjusting those pathways.
That’s where manipulation skills shine—they make such combinations smoother.
This is precisely why Professor Lu has been searching for a beast with a fire manipulation ability.
And this is also why having multiple beasts of the sa elent is considered optimal.
Be a master of one—and you can defeat a jack of all trades by overwhelming them.
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