I propelled myself off the ground and landed against the wall. I concentrated my strength and attempted to only use a fraction of it. Then I leaped off again to the other side of the room. I kept my mind focused and tried to just only apply that fraction of power. This seemed perfect, it was just enough to not damage the walls, while also launching me around. However, I definitely lacked in the speed department. I added a bit more strength and launched myself.
"So what exactly made you want to practice mobility!?" Jack called out.
I went to stop myself, but I accidentally added too much strength to my right leg. When I landed my leg just went through the wall, and I face-planted against it. Leaving me dangling.
Jack and I made eye contact, and he was silent for a moment. Then he cracked a smirk and just started laughing.
"What happened spiderman!?" Jack laughed.
"Shut up! I'm working on it!"
I yanked my leg out and immediately dropped. I spun around and managed to land on my feet just in time. My heart was pounding, and I just flopped back on my butt.
"I'd give you a... four out of ten for that landing," Jack called out as he walked over. "No style at all."
"Yeah, it's kind of hard to care about style when you're plummeting to your death."
"Ppffft, don't be so dramatic. Don't forget those witches built you like a video game character. You definitely don't take much fall damage."
I sighed.
"Fair point."
I scooted back to the wall and took a moment to catch my breath.
"I'm guessing you think your strength enhancement is what you're keeping?"
I took a hard breath and closed my eyes.
"Not exactly, I'm trying to mimic what Rushon does."
"Hhmm? What do you mean?"
"Well, he's very aware of what he can and can't do. He's pushed his body to the limit and has complete control over his gift. It kind of just hit me one day while watching one of his old videos, that I have no idea what I'm fully capable of."
"Wait, aren't all the videos of Rushon him getting scrapped at this point?" Jack asked.
"Technically, I just wanted to see what I was missing from my fight with him. Maybe a weakness I didn't notice."
"Yeah, considering he's held back in most of those fights. I don't think you're going to learn a whole lot."
I opened my eyes, and Jack immediately tossed me a water bottle. I just barely caught it.
"That's not true actually. Well, it's true I didn't learn a weakness. But I did learn something while watching his videos."
I opened up the bottle and started to drink.
"Oh? Well, I'm curious now." Jack hummed and fell backwards, then just sat in the air.
I set the bottle down and took a happy sigh of relief.
"Well, since I know how his ability works. I know what to look for while he fights, and I noticed how layered his fights are. His winds are constantly doing stuff. Slowing the opponent down, pushing him forward. Sometimes he doesn't even move, the wind does it for him."
"So what exactly did that teach you? Your abilities are pretty different."
"Well, I usually only use my strength throughout my entire body. Maybe sometimes I focus it on my limbs. But to be honest, I'm just gushing power out. I don't know how fast I can go, if I even can control how fast I can go. I'm not good at small-scale focusing. Like giving my right arm a lot and the other arm a small amount. Even just enhancing my fingers is tough. I also noticed my body flexes hard when I'm using it, like intensely."
I summoned a knife and enhanced my strength at least halfway. Then I slowly pushed the blade into my arm. Noticing how my muscles practically pushed the blade back.
"It's like my muscles are so tight it's repelling the blade. Which explains why I seem to be more durable while I'm practicing full Lancelot mode."
Jack raised a brow.
"Lancelot?" He snickered. "Is that what you're calling it?"
"What? Not you two, I thought it was a cool gift title."
"Why not just call it Kratos? Or like Gauntlet? Call your weapon summoning Lancelot."
Huh, full Gauntlet sounds pretty cool...
"Whatever! I'll work on it later. The point I'm making is I need to understand all of my abilities fully. So I'm starting with this, then I'll move to my weapon summoning, I need to go to the library and research every weapon imaginable. But before that, I need you to shoot me."
Jack blinked a couple of times.
"Well, alright then. Might I ask why I'm shooting you?"
"My eyes, I'm sure they just help my reaction time. But dodging bullets is like dodging dodgeballs."
"Ummm."
"Like, it's not that everything stops moving. It's just slowed down, I think if I practice I might be able to make it grow. While simultaneously using my strength."
Jack nodded.
"Nice! I like this game plan! Making sure all your bases are covered. Except one that is."
I raised my brow.
"What?"
"Ascalon, your new non-summoning sword. What does the book say about it?" Jack asked.
I sighed and looked over to the sheathed sword that laid on the floor.
"It just says the blade was used by Saint George to slay dragons. Nothing about what it's even capable of. Well, it does say it has its own magic reserves."
"And let me ask you, have you used it till it was out of magic yet?"
I looked away and the heat rose to my cheeks.
"Well umm, not exactly."
Jack sighed.
"I get that you want to rely on the abilities you know. But you don't get the choice to decide what you use, remember?"
"Right.."
Jack smiled and ruffled my head.
"I'm glad to see Basketball has calmed you down a little bit. You're a lot more focused than you were a week ago."
I smiled.
"Yeah, I almost forgot what we talked about. Things got a little crazy, but I'm ready now."
He nodded and moved his hand.
"So, let's have a small sparing match."
I hoped up.
"Sure I can-"
"Only use Ascalon."
"Wait what?"
"I'll make ice clones for you to fight. The goal is to overwhelm you and see if we can unlock something with Ascalon."
I nodded.
"Right."
"Also we should practice your endurance. Unlike Zack, your abilities feed off of your stamina. Which means you can technically raise your mana pool by just raising your stamina."
"Right, so after this, I'll use my eyes. Then I'll run till I pass out."
"I saw this in Dragon ball once! I think you should train your body by using your eyes for an entire day. Let your body adjust to using them. Like how bodybuilders move up in weights because it gets too easy."
"That sounds exhausting.." I mumbled. "And what's Dragonball? A training technique?"
Jack looked at me in disgust.
"You sad poor little child.." He sighed. "Don't worry, I'll be your Roshi."
"What does that even mean..."
...
Jack decided to take us out to the abandoned island. He wasn't sure what would happen when we pushed the sword to its limits, so he wanted to make sure we didn't accidentally blow up anything important. Or give a reason for cops to look at us sideways.
I stood alone in the middle of the city, while Jack stood atop a building nearby.
"Now don't forget! No other powers! Just the sword! Not even those special eyes!" Jack yelled from atop.
Right, I have to focus on not using my eyes, that's practically instinct now. I unsheathed Ascalon and prepared myself. Jack flicked his hand and flurries sailed over above me.
A small grey cloud seemed to consume the flurries, soon resting above me as it grew in size. Soon engulfing the whole area. Hail and snow started to rain down around me like a storm. However, not a single snowflake touched me.
From the fallen ice and snow, I saw frozen creatures start to form. Rising up and taking shape. It got me anxious, it was like watching a horror movie. The frozen clones surrounded me, and each one was taller than me.
No super strength, speed, or enhanced reaction time. Man, Jack had a point. If I was stuck with this, I wouldn't know what to do.
"For Sparta!" Jack cheered.
Then all the clones dashed in. I charged up Ascalon, then sent an azure slash out. Cleaving a good ten in half. Then turned to slash at the ice clones behind me.
I focused on not using my strength, then slashed at the clones mid-section. I gasped as my blade only went halfway through the ice creature's body. What!? This ice clone should be easy, did Jack do something different?
I yanked my blade out but a clone kicked me in my back. I went flying and rolled on the ground. I quickly popped up and got to my feet. I was immediately met with another clone and I quickly slashed its throat. But to my dismay, my blade got stuck again!
"What!?"
Then I was clocked in the face and I dropped my blade. That's when it hit me, it's my technique. When I was fighting Weis, I did far better when I copied his sword style.
"Want me to stop!?" Jack called out.
"No! Just wait, I got this!"
All this time I've relied on my strength to get the job down. I'm holding back a lot more now, so not even my body enhancements are helping as much. My blade is getting stuck because I'm just swinging it like a bat!
Think Stryder, remember what Weis did. A clone came in and swung at me. I dodged and grabbed his arm, then spun him around and slammed him into another clone coming at me. Doing my best to not just throw them like baseballs.
I saw the clone with my sword come in for an overhead strike. I dodged and let him stab into the ground. Then I grabbed his wrist and swept him to the ground with a leg.
He let go of the blade and I snatched it back. Memories of fighting Weis came to mind, so I changed my hand position. Then my stance, and as one clone came in. I dashed and sliced clean through its waist.
I looked back and the clone shattered as it dropped to the ground. Good, I just need to keep this up. The clones all stood still, it was a brief moment of peace. Then, they all charged me!
I kept my mind on Weis, and as they came in, I attacked. I blasted away a horde with my blade, then sliced the clone limbs from their bodies like I was Weis. I kept slicing and blasting every clone insight. Over and over and over again.
My form suffered as they got more aggressive. So when it got stuck, I just used the sword's magic and blew them up with the blade. Jack's horde however proved to be an issue, they just kept coming! Soon my form was gone, and all I had was desperate strikes. I stopped blasting out the magic and just kept it in the blade. Which made it cut like a heated knife.
Sweat rained down on me, and I was drenched from head to toe. I even threw my hoodie off at one of them to relieve myself. The tiredness made it easier for me to not use my other gifts at least.
The light on my blade began to flicker as well, the strong azure blue seemed to fade. But I gripped it harder and just kept going. Come on! I want to win! I need to too! The want for victory consumed me, and my second wind kicked in. Even my form came back slightly. It was slowly becoming instinctual, not a thought was in my mind. I just slashed everything that came my way. And honestly, I couldn't help but smile. This was the type of thrill I needed!
Then, something happened. A clone went to attack my side, and I couldn't react fast enough. Something blue appeared over the right side of my body. It was shaped like armor. My arm was coated in it, and so was my torso. The ice clone's fist idled there in confusion, and I immediately turned and sliced through him.
Sweet! A breakthrough!