Asher nearly felt a wry smirk morph on his lips from Yuki's words. Though her words didn't sound the friendliest, he was at least satisfied that Yuki has somewhat of a curious interest in Elsa.

If Asher could get Yuki to like her, it could possibly even make things easier for all three of them to grow stronger.

But that thought was for another time.

Asher had pushed down his wry smile as Elsa nodded at him. There was genuine praise in her eyes and voice as she said,

"That was a good reaction time and speed. But be prepared now. Since we draw first blood, they will only come out with everything they have."

Asher nodded his head and turned even more serious. His body was still tensed at his maximum state, ready for any action.

For a brief moment, the whole surroundings became deathly silent.

Asher couldn't spot any slithering shadows jumping from the trees now. But in his Aura Sense, he for sure could pick up on several foul Killing Intents being directed his way.

Clenching his axe, Asher decided to stay still. These Mana monster snakes' speed was swift, making it better for them to come to him and capitalize on his reaction speed.

And right as Asher prepared himself, the trees rustled, and numerous long shadowy figures spranged from the trees. Like Elsa told him, the Mana monster snakes were all coming in crowds.

For a moment, Asher wonders how Elsa would quickly deal with the snake beasts jumping at her. Though with her prowess, he knew she would do it in a far faster and more efficient way than him.

That thought honestly motivated Asher to do better. A slight smirk curved his lips as he focused on the snake beasts jumping at him.

Asher was actually a bit surprised at how the snake beasts were moving. Instead of just dogpiling on him, each Mana monster snake went in a specific direction as if they had a formation.

Two were soaring to his right, two flew to his left, and two snakes were lunging right in front of him.

The snake's beast combined Magical Aura blared down on Asher, wrapping him up in their swift power.

Asher knitted his eyebrows a bit. He had to admit, these snakes' beast power, when combined together, wasn't bad at all. It was giving him a legitimate pressure on his body.

If Asher truly wanted to, he knew he could easily use his Spirit Aura to wipe off the pressure and kill the snake's beast easily.

But, Asher wanted to make improvements to his base form. Elsa did mention that the stronger he is while in his base form, the stronger he'll be if he were to activate his full power Spirit Aura state.

Though Elsa didn't say he couldn't use it, she highly advises not using it will provide him better results in training. And Asher intended to go down this route.

The snake's beasts were swift, and they arrived within three feet from Asher within seconds.

All of their jaws snapped open to reveal the same horrifying black fluids he had dodged previously.

'A pincer trap….alright.' Asher seemingly had no place to escape to or clear-cut options on who to attack first.

But with overwhelming speed, this wouldn't be an issue.

Right before the snake beast spat out their acid, Asher pushed his body to the absolute limits and pushed higher than what he did last time.

On instinct, his Ghost Lightning energy spewed out of his veins without any consciousness decision Asher part, like they had a mind on their own. Asher didn't even feel his Ghost Lightning energy moving from within his veins, but right then, his eyes blazed with surging Ghost Lightning!

Asher became a blue Lightning blur as he followed his battle instincts and swiped his axe in a full three-sixty degree motion.

Everything became even a blur for Asher's eyes as he was a bit shock at this sudden speed increase.

'Chi!

Six blood geysers sprayed high into the air, raining dark crimson droplets of blood.

In just one strike, Asher cleanly sliced off the six snake's beast heads! The snake's beast guts littered the ground, painting a chilling, gory sight.

None of the snake's beasts even saw how they died; all they had seen was a blue blur instantly approaching them.

Asher had immediately stopped once he had killed the six Mana monster snakes. He felt a slight bit dizzy as he stared down at his bloody handiwork.

"Fuuu…." Asher had to take just a slight breath after that.

He may have flowed so naturally for that motion, but moving that fast in just his base state was a bit taxing.

But, Asher could see the potential in this kind of training; it truly did give his senses an edge to react faster than usual. Thinking about Elsa got Asher to look over to her. And he wasn't surprised by what he saw.

She was standing over eight feet away from him, and there were also six Mana monster snake corpses littering around her feet.

But while Asher's kill was more graphic and savage, there barely was blood around Elsa's feet.

Each of her Mana monster snake corpses only had a single hole in their giant skull where their brains are located. And on Elsa's short sword, there still was only a bit of blood droplets at the tip.

During his own fight, Asher didn't even hear any movements from her.

Really….the more Asher sees Elsa truly show off, the more he wonders just what are the limits of her power. And just how wide their gaps are.

Although, even with these thoughts running in his mind, Asher knew he would be able to cross a bit of their gap today. Pushing these ideas down, Asher began walking up to Elsa while asking her,

"So? How would you rate that performance?"

Elsa peered her eyes down at the beheaded snake beast corpses and then at Asher. Her critical eyes gave him a whole look over before saying,

"It was sufficient enough. But, you need to let go of any hesitations when you attack. Don't think of what would be the best move, only go for the kill."

Asher furrowed his eyebrows as he began thinking over Elsa's word of advice. Recalling his previous battles, he can admit that he does have a tendency to briefly think over his plan of action.

And he could definitely see how letting go of any and all hesitation can improve and refine his battle instincts.

While Asher contemplated the advice, Yuki suddenly spoke, deciding to throw in her own words of wisdom.

'Now, now, what the little girl said is mostly true, but even she lacks some key fighting experience. The perfect way of battles is to find a way to balance instant reaction times and planning a course of action. That way, you would have no wasted moves. And I don't need to tell you the most obvious way to achieve this fighting state, hm?'

This was the first time Yuki had actually given Asher some fighting advice which mildly surprised him. He had thought she would be content with letting him figure out fights all by himself to sharpen his experience.

Though he guesses having Elsa give him fighting advice must've ignited her will to do the same.

Nevertheless, Asher took Yuki's words to heart and told her, 'No, you don't, it's pretty obvious what I need to do. Just continue to do what I always do, more and more training.'

Yuki gave a slight hum of agreement to Asher's words, and he nodded towards Elsa. He began telling Elsa, "Thanks for the advice Elsa, I already noted it. Now then….are we going to go deeper?"

"Mn. I will show you another place where the snakes are even faster, and you may need to ignite your Spirit Aura. I will take the slight lead this time as these beasts could possibly get the drop on us." Elsa explained to him.

She then began to slowly walk slightly ahead as a more serious expression encompassed her face. This first area was a simple warm-up, and now even Elsa had to heighten herself to be wary of danger.

From behind, Asher had, of course, picked up on her slight mood shift. He could already feel his body tensing up for more dangerous action.

Clenching down on his axe, Asher felt newly invigorated to complete Elsa's training.

….

Time quickly breezed by in the Decrypted Woods.

Before Asher knew it, he was all alone in the woods starting area. An eerie silence permeated the air. Only a slight gust of wind caused a slight rustle of bushes or trees which only further added to the wood's creepy atmosphere.

Asher, however, was engrossed in the eerie atmosphere. He took calm, slow steps as he mentally prepared himself for his ensuing battles.

While he walked, Asher thought over his training with Elsa.

And like he expected, everything went smooth. They've been at it for a couple of hours with little breaks in between. Asher didn't mind it, as the results were already starting to show themselves.

Now with just base state, Asher felt decently faster than before. He could reach top speeds that would surprise himself just a few days ago.

Moreover, Asher did also feel his Aura Sense become more precise.

To track those Mana monster snakes was no easy task. If he even was a second off in sensing them, he could lose them altogether with their swift speeds. It indeed was genuinely good practice for him.

But, they couldn't keep up the training for long as Elsa told him she had to leave.

Asher, for one, showed more visible regret over their day having to be over so soon. While Elsa tried to keep her reluctance under wraps, but Asher could still spot a dimmer glow within her eyes.

No matter their feelings, there wasn't anything they could do about it.

Although, one good thing did come out of Elsa needing to leave early. She had expressed immense concern over Asher, warning him to not do anything overly reckless while she's gone.

Asher had to do some light coaxing on his part to quell some of Elsa's nerves about him doing extra training.

Elsa eventually had to relent, but immediately after, she gave him another swift peck on the cheek!

And this time, Asher was able to see her beautiful blushing face as she stayed around to tell him that it was for good luck and he has to text her at a specific time. She had promptly escaped after that without even giving him a chance to respond.

Truly, Asher counted himself lucky for having such a cute girlfriend. And now, he all fired up and ready to take on his deadly mission!