“How much have you learned about your skill, Aleen?”

Aleen thought for a moment hearing D’vina questions. “I have understood some things, and I’m able to use it more freely.”

Aleen then explained to her about how he used his skill during the battle inside the nest, and the things he learned when using it.

When D’vina heard him, she fell deep in thoughts while Aleen remained silent waiting for her words. A few seconds later, she spoke.

“You probably have a misunderstanding about your skill, Aleen. If I’m not wrong, the correct use of your skill is different than you think.”

“What do you mean?”

“You think that the most important part of your skill is its speed, but as I see it, it’s better if you focus more on the accelerated perception that the skills grants you.”

Aleen put a thoughtful expression when he heard it.

“I don't understand. Is it not better if I'm able to move faster?” He asked.

“That is where you are wrong, speed without control is almost useless. It would be different if your skill is a simple rush, but if you want to control your movements freely while using your skill, then it's better if you focus on your heightened perception. Think about it, if you can stay always in the state of heightened perception, then you can perceive faster the attacks and movements of any enemies and activate the skill only in the instant when it's necessary.”

“!!!”

“It looks like you understand.” D’vina said when she saw Aleen’s surprised expression.

“I think so… In other words, I must work towards keeping my heightened perception always active, and then make use of it to control my movements.”

“Yeah, something like that. To be honest, I think that the name ‘Lightning Rush’ is not suitable for your skill; instead, it’s more appropriate to call it ‘Lightning Acceleration’ or ‘Lightning Speed’... 'Lightning Steps' also is fine.”

Aleen nodded briefly to D’vina’s words.

“Very well, now that we know in what direction we are going to develop your skill, now is time to speak about how we are going to attain this goal.” D’vina continued while Aleen listened attentively to her words.

“I will begin speaking a bit about how to strengthen skills. Skills are divided into two kinds; active and passive. Most skills are of the active kind, and can only be activated for a limited duration before having to wait to use it again.

“Passive skills, on the other hand, are always active. They didn’t need the consent of the user to work. Skills like this are very rare, but they generally tend to be very powerful. All my skills, like yours, are of the active kind; so we’ll not speak about the passive ones for now.

“I told you before that for an ‘Enlightened’, the focus of his training must be the understanding of his skills, right? Well, that is not completely right. Actually, there are another three things that you must train. They are; mana input, mana output, and mana-body synchronization.

“Mana input refers to how much mana you can absorb from the surroundings every second; a higher mana input means a faster mana regeneration and a higher speed of recovery when you are injured.

“Mana output is the amount of mana that you can release at the same time. If your mana output is higher, then your skills will be stronger and last longer. With a low mana output, even someone with 100 mana will only be able to release an attack with a power of three.

“Lastly, mana-body synchronization… As you know, mana is a kind of energy but with gentle properties; making it easy for a living organism to absorb it. But, though mana is relatively gentle, it is at the end, a kind of energy; because of this, the body is unable to endure easily when great amounts of mana circulate through it. Mana-body synchronization is the capacity of your body to endure mana without hurting your body; it helps to reduce the cooldown of skills and increases your capacity to release stronger attacks in a shorter amount of time.”

“Do you understand?” D’vina paused waiting for Aleen's answer.

Aleen did his best to follow D’vina’ words and was able to get a general meaning of what she wanted to say; so he indicated that he understood.

D’vina nodded slightly. “Very well, I will teach you now a method of circulation that will help you to train those three points.”

D’vina spent an hour teaching Aleen a new method to circulate his mana.

Aleen didn’t know, but D’vina’s method was something very hard to get under normal circumstances. In terms of money, it would have been worth at least thirty thousand USP coins to get a method of circulation of this level.

Once Aleen finished learning it, D’vina continued speaking. “From now, you must train with this method at least five hours each day; besides, you must train the sword moves I taught you for at least three hours and the ‘Sharp Blade’ for at least two hours. Don’t forget to train your skill for another three hours at least, focusing on your perception.”

Aleen's mouth fell open when he heard it.

“B-But that are thirteen hours. If I sleep for another seven hours, I will only have four hours to do anything else.”

“Seven hours of sleep? That is too much. Reduce it to three hours.” D’vina said without changing her expression.

Aleen didn’t know what else to say at this moment.

D’vina only shook her head when she saw Aleen's doubt. “Circulating helps to restore your stamina, so three hours of sleep each day are more than enough. I only sleep eight hours each week and I do not have any problem.”

Aleen could only smile wryly when he heard it.

After it, D’vina explained a few more things that Aleen didn't understand and finished the call. Aleen sighed and began to train.

For the next few hours, Aleen did his best to memorize completely everything that D'vina taught him.