38 Chapter 38

He wouldn't want it very much.

If it wasn't for those who were not afraid of death continually provoking him, he wouldn't take action on his own.

Things should be a bit quieter now.

Another thing worth mentioning was that for some unknown reason, Abel and the other children were not on the bounty list.

"Abel, did your operation go smoothly this time? How many did you kill?"

Upon seeing Abel return, Law couldn't wait to ask, "Was the operation successful?"

"It went rather smoothly. Most of the powerful opponents were dealt with by the other executives. Baby-5, Buffalo, and I were mainly responsible for dealing with the lesser minions."

"But even those minions were formidable, each capable of taking on three, no, five Laws!" Buffalo quickly corrected Abel's words, proudly lifting his chin.

Law rolled his eyes in frustration, nearly grinding his teeth in anger. Although he knew his talent wasn't the best and his progress slow, he didn't believe he performed so poorly that he couldn't handle a few minions.

"It's all because of that jerk Corazon. If he hadn't been holding me back, I could have proved myself this time!" But for some reason, he didn't tell Abel and the others about his issues with Corazon.

Just like Abel wouldn't share all his secrets with Law, some things were best kept to oneself.

Under Law's envious gaze, Abel was forced to exaggerate his achievements and recount his victorious rampage. With Buffalo and Baby-5 adding details of their prowess from time to time, they successfully hoodwinked Law.

Law swore to be part of the action next time! To this, Abel could only chuckle.

As long as Corazon was around, Law could forget about it. Abel even had a good guess as to where the Marines got their intel. Corazon likely kept Law away to prevent accidental harm.

Abel wasn't bothered by this; after all, he wasn't a member of the 'Clan of D' that would make Corazon overly cautious. Instead, he preferred hanging out with real men like Senor Pink; at least it wasn't as pressurizing.

At dinner, Abel unabashedly feasted on a table full of food, most of which were calorie-packed meats. This time, even Jora's facial muscles twitched a few times, but she said nothing.

She had heard about Abel's performance in the operation. Such a young age and able to release flying slash attacks, possessing such formidable swordsmanship talent, as long as his illness could be cured, he would surpass her and become the right-hand man of the young master.

Under such circumstances, eating a bit more, having a larger appetite wasn't an issue. If she were to pick on such minor things, even Doflamingo might lose his temper.

So she chose to turn a blind eye, even contemplating making amends with Abel in the future, as there wasn't much conflict between them.

Clearly, she was a smart woman.

Even Diamante no longer sought to cause trouble for Abel and Law, clearly not wanting to put Doflamingo in a difficult position.

"After dinner, I'll be training on the back mountain. The recent battle has given me some new insights into swordsmanship," Abel explained his upcoming activities before departing, leaving many to exchange surprised glances.

"Hehehe, it appears our family is going to have a great swordsman in the future," Doflamingo laughed heartily, his voice filled with a hint of teasing but also hope.

Back on the mountain, Abel was busy converting playing cards into 'Magic Card: Blank' in his hands. When his mental energy was nearly exhausted, he would stop and light himself an N95 cigarette, taking the time to replenish his energy.

After some time and under the bonus effects of the 'Full' state, his skill 'Magic Card Alteration' finally leveled up to LV2.

He then created several LV2 'Magic Card: Blank' to confirm some of his theories.

Through long practice, he had discovered some patterns in the 'Magic Card Alteration' skill. Firstly, there was no limit to the number of 'Magic Card: Blank' he could create using 'Magic Card Alteration'. As long as he had enough mental power and enough playing cards to consume, he could continue indefinitely.

However, there was a limit when imprinting skills onto the 'Magic Card: Blank'. At LV1, a skill could only be imprinted once.

Take 'Asura Aurora Slash' for instance. When both it and 'Magic Card: Asura Aurora Slash' were at LV1, only one card could exist. If he tried imprinting a new 'Magic Card: Blank', the original 'Magic Card: Asura Aurora Slash' would shatter and disappear.

Upon reaching LV2, he could imprint the same skill twice, meaning he could have two 'Magic Card: Asura Aurora Slash' cards at the same time!

Moreover, Abel found that even the same skill could have varying power levels when imprinted onto the magic cards. For instance, he could manually adjust the charging state power of 'Asura Aurora Slash'.

The longer he charged, the more powerful the sealed magic card would become, rather than remaining constant. This provided Abel with an opportunity to strategize.

In normal times, he could record two maximum power 'Magic Card: Asura Aurora Slash' and carry them around, catching enemies off guard with an instant attack when in battle.

And this was just at LV2. As he leveled up, the number of skill-imprinted magic cards would certainly increase. Looking at it this way, the 'Magic Card Alteration' skill, although auxiliary, was very practical. He had indeed underestimated this skill at first.

The next day, after breakfast, Abel attended Diamante's small swordsmanship class again. However, it was a bit strange this time, as instead of teaching as usual, Diamante first looked at Abel with a mixed emotional gaze.

"Before we start the training, I'd like to experience our swordsmanship prodigy's flying slash attack," Diamante, still maintaining his sarcastic tone from time to time, stated. Fortunately, Abel was used to this, and easily filtered out the mockery in his words.

"Here?" Abel asked.

"What, is there a problem?"

Abel nodded seriously, "I'm afraid I might hurt you. You are a top executive, and if the 'Blood Law' comes into play, I would be in trouble."

"Hahaha, you, hurting me?"

"We haven't tried, who knows," Abel retorted.

This seemingly casual remark irritated Diamante, who then declared, "As an executive, I order you to attack me, and I will bear any consequences."

"Alright, everyone heard that. He asked me to attack him, remember to testify for me later," Abel asked his comrades. Law nodded immediately, "We all heard it, an executive will surely keep his word, won't he?"

Diamante's face darkened, but Abel decided not to push further, "I'm going to use my full power for the next attack. If you're not confident to block it, remember to dodge."

"Don't underestimate an executive, come on, kid!" Diamante yelled, pulling out his long sword.

Although he was confident in his own strength, he wouldn't make the same mistake as before, and prepared himself early on, abandoning his initial contempt.

At this time, Abel had already gripped his short sword, but he didn't rush to attack, instead, he started to charge.

If the opponent wanted to experience the power of 'Asura Aurora Slash', Abel would naturally respect his request. He prepared to charge at full power.

Just three seconds passed, and Abel felt his energy was nearly depleted, all concentrated into the blade of his sword. But this was still not enough. He converted his state of 'Fullness', initially prepared for training, entirely into energy to replenish his body, and then continued to charge.

Four seconds, five seconds, six seconds!

At this point, Abel had been charging for a full six seconds. Though he still had some energy converted by his gourmet cells, his mental power was nearly exhausted. Without any hesitation, he endured the slight headache, and drew his sword with a fierce slash.

"Asura Aurora Slash!"

Instantly, a massive sword aura radiating a seven-colored aurora swept forward. Not only Law, who was watching at the side, was stunned, but Diamante, who was preparing to parry, was also taken aback.

"How can this be?"

When the navy was chasing him, Diamante was certain the flying slashes he saw were only about two meters long. He had asked others later, and their answers were the same.

But what was happening now?

A 12-meter-long flying slash, and it was two sword auras stacked on each other, creating a deep, long crack in the ground. Diamante was stunned.

He instinctively wanted to dodge, but his pride didn't allow him to do so. After calming down, he realized that although the flying slash seemed powerful, it wasn't condensed enough, it was fine for intimidating amateurs, but not dangerous for real sword masters.

So, Diamante, who was originally prepared to defend, changed his move and slashed out fiercely.

"Crescent Moon Burial!"

The powerful wave of sword aura clashed with Abel's attack, creating a loud noise. The Asura Aurora Slash, being an orange-quality skill, was undoubtedly powerful. But Abel, as the user, was far less capable than Diamante.

Therefore, despite the 6-second charging, his attack was ultimately pierced by Diamante's Crescent Moon Burial. The surging wave of sword aura split the garbage dump behind Abel into two without losing its momentum, which frightened many people, thinking it was an enemy attack.

As for this result, Abel was not disappointed.

How many days had he been training?

And what was Diamante's strength?

If an orange-quality skill could let a rookie like him defeat seasoned powerhouses, it would be far too cheap!

Moreover, he had already accomplished his initial goal.

The shattered Aurora aura, due to its residual penetrative properties, gently grazed Diamante's left cheek, leaving a visible bloody mark.

Diamante raised a hand to lightly touch the wound on his face, his emotions complex. But he quickly calmed down and, as if nothing had happened, began today's swordsmanship lesson. Nobody knew what was going through his mind.

"Need my help?"

Senoir looked at the person in front of him, somewhat surprised.

"I need some deadly toxins for my research," Abel said seriously.

"Research? That stuff is too dangerous. Your reason isn't convincing enough," Senoir replied, unmoved and puffing out smoke.

"Okay, actually, I've read about using poison to fight poison in a book. So, I'm thinking, since 'Lead-Sickness' is a kind of stubborn toxin, could there be another virulent poison capable of suppressing it?"