Intermediate Control Level

Only a day has passed since Asher's intense spar with Reese and Kylee. After their sparring session, Asher did as he promised and discussed Reese and Kylee's battle performance.

Just like he was in battle, Asher wasn't light-hearted at all in his critique. He made sure to give them fair criticism while also praising what they did right.

The main thing that impressed Asher was the duo's quick thinking.

Considering neither Reese nor Kylee fight nearly as much as Asher does, it was intriguing that they could come up with a reasonable strategy.

In fact, Asher was sure if they were to fight Devon and Mack together, Reese and Kylee would easily crush them.

Even with their current generic talent, Asher saw some excellent potential seedling in both of them. Furthermore, Reese and Kylee's attitudes towards him made it smooth to give them pointers.

Neither of them argued or got offended by Asher's sharp criticism, lapping every piece of advice he told them.

Reese and Kylee said it before, but they said it again; any guidance from Asher was a godsend.

Once Asher told them that everything needed to be said, he got both Reese and Kylee to sharpen their control over how they gather energy. He had then lightly sparred with them, allowing them to properly exercise their bodies.

All of it took several hours to get done, and at the end of their session, Asher told them he would be making a schedule on their training time.

Of course, Reese and Kylee readily agreed to Asher setting the time, and they went home with sore bodies.

All in all, Asher was sure he will be able to eventually convince Reese and Kylee to go on the talent mission. And by then, he was sure they both would be experienced enough in combat to brave the danger.

As of right now, Asher was currently cultivating inside his Mana Room.

A couple of hours passed, and at first, everything was standard in his cultivation. For today Asher was focusing on improving his Spirit Mana energy control.

The past two hours have been regular, and it seemed like Asher wouldn't make much progress. That is until he sensed and felt an abrupt shift in the stream of Spirit Mana energy surrounding him.

Without even Asher properly realizing it at first, the rate at which he can absorb Spirit Mana's energy started to rapidly increase.

In his veins and mental scape space, Spirit Mana's energy frantically flowed into him like he was a powerful black hole. Anyone on the outside would be able to see numerous blue lines of energy drilling into every inch of Asher's body.

Even though Asher appeared to be cultivating normally, he was actually doing a different process which had eventually caused this sudden change in Spirit Mana energy.

Because he had to precisely focus his prowess to not overly hurt Reese and Kylee, Asher was able to step up his control over energy to a whole other level.

Every move and power he put out was at the most accurate level of control, forcing himself to not waste any attack.

Compared to simply sitting still and practicing control, doing it in the midst of battle raised the challenge by a large margin.

And now, he applied the sensation he felt yesterday towards today's cultivation session. Then, without Asher being fully aware of it, he eventually reached a critical boundary in his Spirit Mana energy control!

Relying on the instinct sensation running through him, Asher opened his palm, causing a sum of Spirit Mana energy to form at the center.

In an instant, the Spirit Mana energy formed into a typical small blue ball, swirling at a calm and steady pace. Then, clenching his palm, Asher poured an additional layer of energy into the ball, causing it to grow slightly larger.

Once Asher deemed it large enough, he stopped and focused.

'Control the energy and then visualize it.' Asher recalled the lessons he was taught about Spirit Mana energy.

When he would reach a juncture where he felt like he couldn't improve his Spirit Mana energy control anymore. It would be the time for him to visualize it to whatever he desires.

Asher closed his eyes, and he imagined something simple. Then, without looking, he began to morph the Spirit Mana energy ball into a vague image manifestation.

Asher's prowess wasn't increasing at all, but his Spirit Mana energy control was quickly closing in on stepping into a new boundary.

Minutes slowly tricked by, and the Spirit Mana energy ball began to glow increasingly brighter.

And after taking only merely three minutes, a blinding blue glow sparked out of the Spirit Mana energy ball, covering the entire room!

'Chi!'

The blinding blue flash lasted for all of a second before quickly dying back down. When everything was cleared, the Spirit Mana energy ball on Asher's palm had taken a significant change.

Now there was a vague-looking blue, glowing hand at the center of his palm!

Right then, Asher felt an intense jolt of power rattle his entire being. It was like a tremendous boom went off simultaneously in his mind and body.

An invisible chain had broken off from Asher, causing various powerful changes within him. His overall perception rapidly increased, and his Spirit Mana energy reserve became bigger and far more powerful.

This vague phantom hand image showed that Asher is now at the intermediate stage of his Spirit Mana control!

Being able to create detailed phantom images is the following process Asher has to work on. And the final step would be solidifying these phantom images into physical entities.

These phantom images show a cultivator's control over bending Spirit Mana's energy to their very whims.

One would learn a far deeper, more profound understanding of the complex properties within Spirit Mana. With complete and total mastery over Spirit Mana, a cultivator's prowess would dramatically increase.

There were various augmentations one can apply with stronger Spirit Mana energy, and Asher is about to attempt one of those augmentations now.

Asher dispersed the Spirit Mana hand from his palm and began recalling his Battle Skill.

Out of everything in his arsenal, this was his strongest attack, and now with his intermediate control over Spirit Mana, Asher could go even higher with it.

In a snap, Asher surged his Battle Skill energy, discharging a single Omni Striker Voltage Bolt at the center of his palm.

Right then, Asher started to carefully merge his new and improved Spirit Mana energy within the Battle Skill. If Asher were to do it quickly, he would risk the Battle Skill blowing up in his face because he would be unprepared for the new level of strength.

However, once the first small stream of Spirit Mana energy flowed into his Battle Skill, his prowess almost immediately explosively increased!

'Zzzt!!'

Ghost Lightning arcs frantically sprayed out of the Omni Striker Bolt, wreaking havoc across his entire Mana Room.

Immediately, Asher brought his complete focus, tightly clenching his palm and fiercely gritting his teeth. Then, before his own prowess escaped his grasp, Asher cut off the stream of Spirit Mana energy inside himself.

Upon doing so, his prowess remained stagnant, allowing Asher to take back complete control. He issued a low sigh as he gradually adjusted to this new level of power.

Even though Asher was initially taken off guard, he didn't need long to properly grasp this prowess.

And after only a few seconds, Asher's Omni Striker Bolt ceased spewing Ghost Lighting arcs, returning back to its initial calm state.

'Already, I can feel this skill grew by leaps and bounds. I wonder just how much stronger it can become….' Then, suddenly, a vibration from his pocket interrupted Asher from his train of thoughts.

With a thought, Asher dispersed the Omni Striker Bolt, reached into his pocket, and took out his phone.

Gazing over the current notification, Asher blinked his eyes for a moment. 'Oh, yea….totally forgot that I did this….'

Asher had received a text, and the sender was from none other than his fellow Ranking Genius Student Daisy.

'Hmph. Look at how casual you're sounding. You know, I'm surprised you're still so nonchalant. That day, that little girl came up to us with such pleading eyes. And no normal man could resist such a cute, gorgeous face without any temptations!'

Yuki had suddenly decided to give her opinions.

And it prompted Asher to roll his eyes in slight exasperation. 'Yuki….sure she's a beauty, but that's about it. That personality of hers is quite troubling.'

'Hmmm….well, I can't deny you on this point. But this isn't anything we can't fix up. In any case, that text sure does look interesting.'

Taking his mind off from Yuki for a moment, Asher paid full attention to the text. It read as follows,

'Hello, Asher. If you have the time, would you like to meet with another fellow Ranking Genius for lunch today? She's eighth in the whole Academy! And she has an apparent interest in you."

Asher contemplated Daisy's offer. Reese and Kylee would be studying around this time, and he couldn't meet with Elsa yet. So basically, his schedule is cleared up.

Furthermore, Asher was genuinely curious to see what these other high-class geniuses are like. So he replied back with, 'Sure. Where do you want to meet?'

Daisy's reply was almost immediate as she told him, 'Come to the cafe we first went to. We can't wait to see you!'

Ending the conversation with a simple, 'Ok. I'm curious to see the both of you too.' Asher stood up and felt his joints cracked with pure power.

After reaching intermediate control for Spirit Mana, Asher could already feel the difference in his strength. A rise for battle swells in Asher's chest as he wants to test out where his prowess now lies.

However, Asher focused on this upcoming meeting and strolled out of his Mana Room with a pep to his step.