Chapter 53: Pendant

Battle scenes are so difficult to describe… but on with it anyways!

---

After using Meteor Shower, Fang had depleted all of his possible energy, and the room grew dim.

Likewise, Yume withdrew her energy and then enthusiastically turned towards him. “Fang, you’ve improved quite a lot since I’ve last seen you, did Valeria frequently spar against you to practice?”

Fang replied modestly, “Yes, Valeria had given me lots of help. Thank you for this opportunity too.”

“It’s nothing at all, after all, the relationship between you and Valeria is quite close. Having to hear the entire title is really a bore, just refer to me by name.”

He hesitated, as Yume wasn’t anyone he could call by name, being the prominent figure that she was.

However, she gave him no chance to answer. “Since you didn’t oppose it, you wouldn’t mind if I treated you as a brother, right?”

Fang could only helplessly agree with a nod.

She smiled. “As your elder sister, I shouldn’t be visiting without any gifts.”

Promptly, she shook out her palm and a pendant appeared, passing directly to his hand. “This artifact will help attract energy, and naturally, it’ll be pretty useful to your practice.”

On first sight, he recognized the gem adorning the pendant. The distinct shade of purple showed that it was a type of jade, extremely high in value, like any material that would assist in gathering energy. It’d have to be at least ten thousand gold coins in value, he estimated. “It’s too precious, I can’t accept it.”

“I don’t have any use for it, the artifact is only useful for absorbing energy without a property, so it’ll be better off with you… unless you don’t think it’s good enough?”

His face lightly grew red with shame. “No, it’s more than good.”

“Since there’s no complaints then, you can have it!” Her aggressive manner left no room for replies or rebuttals, and Fang could only feel grateful.

“Thanks, Yume.”

She smiled. “Don’t be so free with your thanks, after all, I’ll be coming back next week.”

Stunned, Fang gradually asked, “Next week?”

“For now, the country headquarters isn’t very busy, and without an assignment, I don’t have much to do for the break I have, so I don’t mind visiting here for the weekends… or am I not welcome?”

Fang replied hastily, “You’re more than welcome to come.”

“Then, I’ll see you next week!” She waved her hand, and left the room.

---

Soon after Valeria had accompanied Yume out, she entered back into the living room, and questioned Fang. “So, what do you think?”

“Yume’s very strong, and the spatial element’s really different from the dark element.”

As he spoke, Valeria interrupted him. “Yume?”

“Yes, she told me to call her without any titles, and gave me this as well.” Fang pulled out the pendant. “I wasn’t willing to accept, but she kept putting pressure on me, saying that it was useless to her, and as a gift, passed this to me.”

Taking a close look at the pendant, Valeria was taken with surprise. Yume hadn’t lied, this pendant was indeed useless to her, but it was a keepsake that she had worn ever since Valeria met her. Passing this on to Fang was definitely not because she took a liking to him – Valeria understood Yume immediately.

Although Yume wanted to help, her strength was lacking as well to trample that pirate group. Even if she had the power, she was tied down to the country, and there was no possibility that they’d be willing to risk one of the country’s assets on such a foolish task.

However, Yume knew that Valeria placed all her hopes on Fang, and giving away her precious heirloom was her way of expressing support.

---

The weekend came by, and as promised, Yume arrived again. Yet, this time, she briefly talked with Valeria before heading off to the practice room. “Well, Fang, I’ll be your trainer tonight!”

This time around, he wasn’t very surprised. “Thank you.”

“Really, there’s no need to be polite. It seems you might need a small reminder…”

Instantly, an array of cubes flew out densely towards Fang. There wasn’t a chance for Fang to dodge everything as the cubes spun at him, and with a dense crunch, some of the cubes struck his body.

A flare of energy accompanied every single point of impact. Unlike the energy from those with the fire element which would burn, or from the metal element which would lacerate the body, the spatial energy’s redeeming feature was its tenacity, not its offensive properties.

Hence, when the cubes hit Fang, he felt like he was being pounded by a brick, and though it hurt, it wasn’t that bad due to the defenses he put up.

Instant parry?

Last week, Yume didn’t bother counter attacking as she wanted a grasp of his abilities, but seeing that he had mastered his, a happy expression appeared on her face.

Since he could use that, there wasn’t any harm in going all out for once!

---

Although she said she would be training him, she was merciless in her assault against him, and eventually stopped once Fang’s energy was completely exhausted.

The intensity of the spatial element attacks wasn’t high enough to cause internal injuries, however, physical harm was unavoidable. This entire evening consisted of him getting battered around, but by numbing his senses, he didn’t feel much at all.

Yume stared astonished; usually, no matter how talented a person was, they wouldn’t be able to withstand this much pain. She never expected him to be able even remain conscious after that poor semblance of a training session, though, it turned out just as well for her purposes.

Yet, it wasn’t her style to comfort, so with a single wave, she walked out the door.

When Valeria looked at Fang after seeing her out, her face paled in fright.

Even if the level of energy was low, the constant barrage of attacks must have worn him out – Fang appeared to be covered entirely by a bluish-purple. His pitiful figure couldn’t help but elicit a sharp question. “Yume was being quite ruthless, don’t you blame her?”

His mouth tiredly moved to form a composed smile. “I don’t, I know that this type of training is especially useful. Once I can manage to adapt to this intensive fighting and build up my stamina, it’ll definitely be a huge help to me.”

A small grin graced her face for a second. “If you understand that much, then there’s no need to ask further. There’s already a bath prepared for your wounds, so come quick!”