"All right, focus, Billion."
I took a deep breath and prepared to use the generated Essence.
I shifted my stance, keeping my eyes locked on the puppet. My muscles ached from the earlier hits, but I ignored the pain. The generated Essence pulsed inside , responding to my will, waiting to be shaped.
The goal was clear, form the technique mid-fight. If I couldn't pull it off under pressure, then what was the point? But the puppet wasn't about to stand still and let figure it out.
It moved.
Within three lunges it was in front of my face.
A blur of motion, its fist tearing through the air toward .
My eyes narrowed and I tracked its punch. The puppet's punch streaked toward my ribs like a bullet. I twisted my body at the last second, letting the punch skim past .
There was a different kind of thrill in allowing pain-inducing punches to pass this close to my body.
I gritted my teeth and focused. My right palm opened, and I channeled the generated Essence outward. A faint glow flickered to life, purple Essence swirling in the space just above my palm. I could feel it beginning to take shape—
A knee crashed into my gut.
The impact sent staggering back, knocking the air from my lungs. The barely ford sphere in my hand collapsed instantly, dispersing into nothing.
"Fucking hell."
Before I could recover, Arkas's voice rang out, sharp and unforgiving.
"Dumb mistake."
I looked up, still gasping.
"You don't admire the technique while your enemy's still breathing. Focus on the fight. Always."
There was no ti to recover. The puppet lunged forward, its next punch streaking toward my face. Ducking low, I twisted to the side, narrowly avoiding a follow-up elbow strike that whistled past my head.
Space, I needed space.
A sharp, Essence-infused kick lashed out, slamming into the puppet's chest. The impact forced it back just enough, buying a fraction of a second. Exhaling sharply, I gathered the Essence again, forcing it to form the sphere once more.
Focus.
Control the rotation.
Let it stabilize.
The Essence swirled in my palm, tighter this ti, more controlled—
A silver foot cut through the air toward my chest. I saw it coming.
Teeth clenched, I dug my heels in and braced for impact. The puppet's kick slamd into like a hamr, forcing backward, my feet skidding across the ground.
The Essence still swirled over my palm but so of it started dispersing as well.
Digging deeper into my control, I focused everything on solidifying the sphere while keeping my stance firm. The puppet wasn't going to wait. It charged again.
This was harder than I thought.
The problem wasn't just forming the technique, it was maintaining it while fighting. Every ti I built up the Essence, the puppet landed a hit and shattered my concentration.
But that was the whole point, wasn't it?
If I wanted to use this in real combat, I couldn't afford to stop moving just to charge up an attack. I had to find a way to shape the sphere while dodging, blocking, and striking back.
I exhaled, shaking out my limbs.
"Fine. Let's do this again."
The puppet lunged, throwing a brutal hook aid at my temple. I ducked under it and retaliated with a sharp elbow to its ribs. The hit barely made it budge.
I ignored that and kept moving. The next punch ca, but this ti I sidestepped, twisting just enough to let it pass inches from my face. I could feel the force of the wind as it whooshed past .
I opened my right palm, channeling the Essence again.
This ti, I didn't just channel it out.
I fucking forced it.
And it ca out like a flood.
My focus zood and started molding the Essence.
The swirling mass of Essence ford once more, flickering but holding steady. I jumped back from the puppet, dodging with long lunges instead of keeping the distance too tight.
The puppet's next move was a spinning back kick, aid straight at my torso. I had no choice but to block, one of my arms ca up just in ti to absorb the impact, but the sheer force still sent sliding back across the floor.
The Essence sphere wavered.
I tightened my focus, gritting my teeth as I fought to keep it stable.
'Not this ti.'
I dashed forward before the puppet could recover, weaving through its defenses, getting close enough to strike.
It reacted instantly, throwing a straight punch toward my chest.
I twisted, dodging just enough.
And then I struck.
My palm slamd into its torso, the sowhat compressed sphere of generated Essence detonating on contact. The explosion of force sent the puppet skidding backward, tal creaking from the impact.
I exhaled heavily, wiping sweat from my brow.
Arkas stepped forward, eyes narrowed, analyzing the puppet. He crouched, ran his hand over the dented torso, then stood back up.
"Decent force," he muttered. "You've got the right idea with compression. But the output's still below what I expected. Your Seismic Fist packed more punch than that."
My eyes locked onto the spot where my attack had landed.
Unfortunately, I was certain [Seismic Burst] would have done more damage than the condensed sphere. There was so impact, but nothing compared to what I had achieved against the level 30 puppet.
Extending my will, I tried to connect with the purple Essence, but none of it had passed through the puppet's frawork. The sphere had been too loosely concentrated, and there wasn't enough Essence in it to begin with.
I spent the next few hours sparring with the puppet, weaving between its strikes while repeatedly trying to form the condensed sphere mid-fight. Each attempt pushed my control further, forcing to maintain focus under pressure.
The entire ti, Arkas kept giving feedback and input on the skill itself, but he didn't say a word about the Essence.
Sotis, I barely managed to shape the Essence before a punch slamd into , breaking my concentration.
Other tis, I held it together long enough to counter with a half-ford attack. The progress was slow, but each failure sharpened my technique, bringing closer to mastering it in combat.
"Pause."
The puppet whirled down and stood motionless.
Exhaling heavily, I sat down on the floor.
"That was a shit show."
Before I could get lost in my frustration, Arkas spoke from behind .
"Try the normal Essence next."
I looked up at him, blinking.
"Now?"
"Yes, go on."
I nodded slowly and extended my palm, focusing on the Essence around . Green wisps drifted in, weaving through the air before they began to gather above my hand.
Seconds passed.
Arkas and I watched in silence as the normally invisible Essence gradually took shape. I kept pulling, smoothing, compressing, careful not to let the structure collapse midway.
Finally, after what felt like forever, the sphere stabilized in my palm.
Arkas clicked his tongue.
"Thirty-three seconds. That's not good. Way too long. Even if you used it as a signature move, that much startup ti would be a death sentence in real combat."
I stared at the dull green glow in my palm, chewing the inside of my cheek. Two paths imdiately ca to mind—sharpening [Psynapse Boost] to enhance control or leveling up [Essence Shaping] to process the Essence faster.
I nodded slightly, setting the ntal note.
Before Arkas sends to the nest, I was going to cut that ti in half.
The swirling green Essence spun steadily in my palm, srizing in its motion.
Arkas stepped forward, eyes fixed on the sphere. Then, without a word, he sat down cross-legged in front of .
He studied it for a mont before speaking.
"Now try it with fire. Let's see how it reacts."
The suggestion clicked imdiately. I closed my eyes for a mont, tuning in to the faint fire elent in the air, the hidden traces of heat scattered all around .
Instead of pulling Essence, I began gathering those particles, guiding them carefully toward the sphere.
A soft flicker ran through the spinning mass.
Thin red streaks bled into the green, faint but unmistakable.
I pulled more, feeding the fire elents into the Essence, urging it to rge. The streaks deepened, spreading like veins through the sphere. A pulse ran through it, the temperature rising against my palm.
Then, with a quiet whoosh, flas sparked to life.
A controlled fireball spun in my hand. The green of Essence was gone now replaced with the crimson of fire. The heat was intense, but not wild. It didn't lash out or burn uncontrollably, it spun with purpose, shaped by the Essence that held it together.
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