New abilities!

"Oh, you're already back? Welcome home."

Coming home to the apartment again, I was greeted by the voice of the man that had pretty much started living with us ever since last week. Sitting on the couch, reading yet another book while enjoying a cup of coffee, Daniel faced me with a smile.

Putting my bag away in the hallway, I took a second to make sure I was mentally prepared to interact with the human before approaching him. Though I was planning on using the rest of the day to train, it wouldn't hurt to sit down for a bit.

"Yeah. There was nothing else on my schedule except that exam."

"I see. So, what are your plans for the rest of the day? By the way, there is still some coffee left in the machine if you want some."

Before sitting down, I couldn't help but go to the kitchen and get myself a cup of coffee as he suggested. Thinking about it, he honestly was a person I could only think of as similar to one's uncle or something.

I didn't dislike it, but at the same time, I couldn't help but feel like it was a bit weird. How a foreign man, to me at least, had suddenly shown up, now living in the other guest room with us. Not that there was a lack of space, not with the massive apartment that Dona owned, but it was strange to get used to him just being... around?

At the same time, I also couldn't help but feel sort of relaxed around him. Mostly because it was a pretty good feeling to know that even if I lost control of myself, not only was he strong enough for it not to be an issue, but he would also still continue to face me with a smile.

Taking a sip of the hot beverage, I finally answered his question.

"I'm probably just going to train."

"Do you mind if I join you then? For an old man like me, it's important to move my body every now and then!"

'As if...'

There were multiple reasons why I knew that that wasn't the reason he wanted to join my training. First of all, though I wasn't sure, and even though higher-ranked individuals often looked younger than they were, I doubted that he was older than 40 years old. So he wasn't old by any means as [B]-ranked could easily live past a hundred.

Secondly, he had been moving his body every day for the last week during sparring with me, when I had been practicing controlling my urges. So I didn't buy it.

No, the real reason why he wanted to train with me was so that he could observe me. Because he was a researcher at heart, a researcher that happened to be completely engrossed in learning everything he could about demons.

"Sure."

But I didn't mind it. No, if anything it gave me the confidence to believe him and his motives for coming here. It would have been much more difficult to accept him being some sort of kindred spirit that was just exercising charity for the sake of doing charity.

"Great! Come to think of it, this is the first time we are talking without Dona being present."

"I guess?"

I wasn't quite sure where he was going to take this, but fortunate, or rather unfortunate, it didn't take long to find out. Because there was seemingly something that he had been wanting to talk to me about for some time now that he didn't find especially appropriate with Dona around.

"So, I heard from Dona that your situation is kind of... special. Though she didn't say much, she told me that if I wanted to know more, I should ask you directly. Something about it being none of her business."

And once again, the walls felt like they were closing in, as he successfully pushed my distracted mind back to the fact that there was no one by my side at the moment, that I was currently alone. Because Lucifer had still not returned, even after a week of slumbering.

"I...My..."

"No need to force yourself. It's alright, I'll just ask some other time instead."

Interrupting my stuttering attempt of simultaneously trying to figure out what I could and couldn't tell him, while simultaneously feeling the pure anxiety of knowing Lucifer was still gone, his face told the story of someone who had quickly noticed my inner distress.

Standing up and stretching, it was clear that even though he was obsessed with his research, he was pretty good at dealing with people and reading the room, as he quickly made the decision to help me distract myself.

"Shall we start?"

Despite me having not even taken a sip of my coffee, I just nodded, more than wanting to find something that could help distract me once again.

==========

Dressed in a white Gi, Daniel was waiting patiently while I was getting ready. A preparation that really only consisted of me getting my claws out while weighing myself to make sure I was increasing my gravity as precisely as possible.

After my blessing had increased to level 2, not only had my control gotten even better, but my output had also increased by quite a large margin. So now, I was trying to get used to increasing my weight by 50% as compared to the previous 20% while training.

"Are you ready?"

"I'm ready."

As the sensation of being pushed down descended on me, I was finally ready to spar with Daniel. This had been an idea of my own, to spar while increasing my gravity to put my body under as much pressure as possible, while at the same time continuing to practice actual fighting.

"Then, I'm coming."

Dashing forward, it didn't take long until Daniel was in front of me, launching his fist toward me. Naturally, he was holding back a lot, but it was still fast enough that it was hard to make my body move fast enough to dodge it when my weight was increased.

Somehow, I managed to redirect his fist with my right palm, following it up by attempting to stab him with the claws coming out from my left hand. Not surprisingly, he mimicked my move and pushed it away with his open hand, but in contrast to me, he pushed hard enough to make me stumble a bit.

"Nice try!"

A second later, I felt a light tap on my neck, signaling my loss of the first round.

Unlike Dona, the professor didn't seem to have the view that training had to be accompanied by extreme pain, as he was fine to just reset the match after landing what would have been a lethal strike in a real fight.

And so, we went at it again, and again, and again.

Over and over we sparred, with me trying anything and everything I could to land a hit on the man, but the difference in both rank and experience was just too much. Every time I felt like I found an opening I could use, he would just calmly dissect my approach and immediately make it so I was in a disadvantageous situation instead.

"Good effort, Aarick! Are you moving on to practicing your new ability now?"

At the same time, it also didn't take more than ten rounds before my body started feeling the effect of my increased gravity, now making it hard to stand without my legs trembling. So with that, it was time to move on to the next part of my training.

Even though I was somewhat low on mana, I still had some left in the tank as I hadn't activated and deactivated my ability over and over during the spars. What cost the most mana for me was always the activation of my [Inherent Gravity], increasing further the faster I wanted to activate it.

Sitting down on the floor, cross-legged, I just nodded in confirmation to Daniel, who in turn just waved and left me to my own devices.

My new ability was [Pull], and just like the name suggested, it made it possible for me to pull things toward a designated point. But even though the activation of the ability wasn't too hard, it was hard to accurately designate a destination for something to get pulled as it forced me to think of the world as more or less a 3d grid.

Adding on to that, because of the mana interference that occurred when trying it on Daniel, it was so far only feasible to use on inanimate objects or myself. But it was still a pretty incredible ability.

Standing up, having concentrated long enough for me to mark a point in the room in my mind, I was ready to give it a shot once again.

Jumping slightly, I lowered my gravity and activated my new ability.

And the result was that I was now able to redirect myself in mid-air, at a speed that would otherwise be absolutely impossible for me to move.

Sadly...

*BAM!*

Crashing into the wall, I had once again slightly missed the coordinates I wanted to get pulled against, instead having accidentally made the wall my designated point of attraction.

"Fuck..."

It was difficult, incredibly so, but as I could see the potential behind this ability, it wasn't like I was about to give up just because it was hard.

Just thinking of the possibility of changing my direction mid-dash, or in mid-air, or even pulling myself back to retreat. In terms of movement, there was no doubt that this ability was insanely potent.

So, I continued to practice, trying to get a feel for my new ability over and over. Not only to get better at using it, but because it forced my head to be fully focused. So there was no way my mind would drift back to darker thoughts.