Chapter 58 Steal And Copy
"I always wonder what this place actually is… how strange..." (Rio)
Rio is sitting and meditating, while the place around him is all empty, a clear and dark void. This place is like you are in space but there are no stars, planets, or any other celestial objects to look at, everything and everywhere is just dark without any end in sight.
"Even though it's so dark here in this place, how am I still able to see myself clearly, I can see myself as clear as a day…this place is extraordinary…" (Rio)
Strangely Rio can't feel any kind of emotion in this place, nor fear, nor anxiety anything, he can just feel indescribable calmness. Everything seems calm and steady to him.
Ring~ Ring~ (Sound of an alarm)
"hmm, it's time to wake up it seems…(Rio)
Suddenly the place was covered in light and that dream-like state broke up and Rio found himself sleeping in the same bed, he had slept in yesterday.
This may seem strange to those who don't know, but for Rio strange things like these have become as common as breathing since he came into this strange world.
After Rio got up from his bed he clicked a button on his wrist watch the 3d printer started to print a cup of tea, taking the cup of tea Rio walked towards the window and stood there looking at the beautiful scenery outside the window.
'It's been nearly a year since I came to this world, time sure flies fast...' (Rio)
While sipping the hot tea, Rio started to think about the strange dream he had:
'why am I seeing that Same dream every day? I can't understand... But ever since I have got that skill 'true immunity' i seem to have lost the ability to see dreams...' (Rio)
True immunity blocks any type of mental or spiritual attack magic that could harm Rio in any way, but as a side-effect of this Rio seems to have lost the ability to see dreams like a normal human.
Instead of dreams all Rio sees while sleeping is pure emptiness, a never-ending void with basically nothing in it.
'It's not like I am complaining though...' (Rio)
After all, inside that void Rio only feels indescribable calmness as if all his emotions don't exist anymore, it should have been terrifying for any normal human but since Rio can't even feel terror in that dream, he can't actually get terrified, indeed this is too strange from any angle you look at it.
But for Rio now this has become a regular thing, after all, he hasn't seen a single dream other than this ever since he got true immunity.
Thus this skill could be considered good and bad both. But given any number of chances Rio would still take that skill even if he knew beforehand that he will lose his ability to dream.
'Not to mention that, I am still losing my emotions slowly with each passing day, this is a real problem. I fear that I might even lose the feelings I have for Lia, that could be a really huge problem, I hope such a thing doesn't happen...' (Rio)
'Tomorrow is the start of the written exams, I should revise all the things that I have learned so far from the books' (Rio)
Even though Rio said that he still walked towards his private training room to practice his combat skills more, he really has become a battle junkie at this point.
After coming to the training room, Rio sat down and started to meditate, gathering the mana and then using it to sense the mana fluctuations in the surroundings to better understand the surrounding area.
[Passive skill: Mana sensing has been learned successfully]
[Mana Sensing: Use the mana fluctuations in the surroundings to sense the changes in the area]
[Current sensing limit: 500m] (can be increased with training and the improvement in the rank of the individual)
Hearing the remark from the status window, a rare smile appeared on Rio's expressionless face.
'Finally, I was able to steal a skill, although it took some effort it was worth it...' (Rio)
Since Rio saw Jin avoiding and blocking his attack easily, he suspected that Jin was using some passive skill for that.
So, while training with Jin, Rio started to observe everything Jin did very closely during those spars, and he found that Jin was using the smell of his opponents to detect them through the air, by just breathing naturally.
This may seem like a very inefficient method, but for someone who is already an S rank and has gone through hundreds of battles, this is nothing.
Originally Rio was also thinking of stealing this method by just observing Jin but when he tried to apply it he found that he was lacking something.
A thought ran through his mind:
'could it be because of the sword arts that he is able to do that?'
And Guess what, Rio was correct, Jin was indeed using his sword arts but passively, just like normal breathing.
Rio knew that Jin used 'Predator king sword arts' which is heavily based on the attack patterns of a tiger and since smell catching is easy for tigers Jin could achieve that with his sword arts.
Thus Rio knew he couldn't copy it, but just when he was about to give up a sudden idea came to his mind while he was in that void-like dream.
'Since Jin could use 'smell' as a base for detection because it is his sword arts, I should be able to use mana and elemental energy in the surroundings as the base of my detection because my sword art also depends on them' (Rio)
To confirm this Rio decides to train and finally just before the exam starts he has achieved his goal. Everything in this world contains mana in it, even a small particle of sand to have mana, so you could detect mana fluctuations without much of a worry.
Now, this has proved one more thing to Rio:
'Even skills can be stolen or copied if you have the ability to do so...' (Rio)
Although, of course, it can't be done so easily, it is possible to do so.
'Now I can easily sense every minute detail in this room easily, I can even tell the number of bricks in the walls of this room, actually, I can even sense what the person in the next room is doing' (Rio)
'But I shouldn't violate someone's privacy, that would make me a degenerate' (Rio)
After trying the newly gained skill Rio trained in his room again and again, of course, he has already learned enough for the written exams too, otherwise, why would he be so nonchalant about it.
'Mana sensing has drastically improved my combat ability and all other aspects, indeed having more senses during a fight could be very good...' (Rio)
'Using this skill in combat may actually prove to be very useful, I wonder what face Jin would make if he knew that I have copied his skill without him even knowing this.' (Rio)
.
In a certain small cafe:
"Achoo!" (Jin)
"I wonder which of my cute students is talking about me, behind my back..." (Jin)
"You really think those students are cute and all, you know they might be more devilish than you could ever imagine..." (Anna)
"Eh, you are such a boring person, Anna, perhaps the students might actually hate you or something that's why you are saying that..." (Jin)
"Are you trying to pick a fight with me!?" (Anna)
"Hey, keep your voice down, otherwise people around us will recognize us, after all, everyone has already seen our faces when we debuted as S-ranker on the internet. Be sure to not catch attention as much as possible..." (Jin)
"Last time someone recognized me, they created a huge crowd and it became really difficult to get rid of all those clingy women..." (Jin)
"Oh, is that so? Then why not bring those women with you to eat, why even bother with me?" (Anna)
"Ah! are you perhaps jealous? Here eat this ice cream and don't get pouty, haha... of course, I would only bring my wife to date why bother with anyone else~" (Jin)
"Hmph, idiot, who said I am your wife... but this ice cream is great... I wouldn't mind coming here every once in a while...." (Anna)
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Author's Note
Question of the day
What would you do if you had a skill that could detect surroundings like a sixth sense?
1. Cheat in exams
2. Learn martial arts, and treat this skill as ultra instinct
3. Go further on the road of cultured men.
4. other (Write them in the comment section.)
By the way, don't forget to use those power stones and golden tickets if you like this book. Comment your opinions about the book and write your reviews about the book, these are good manners. Every professional otaku should follow these good manners. (Just kidding)
Lastly, Thank you all for your support.