Chapter 14 - Watcets (1/2)

Like his older brother Cynrik, it only took Brance around 30 minutes to learn the Tier 0 Basic Swordsmanship ability.

-Tier 0: Basic Swordsmanship-

-When using a single-handed bladed weapon such as a sword or machete -

- +5% Attack speed -

-+5% Attack Damage -

- Move: Slash- Attack your opponent with a downward verticle strike. Deal 105% Damage Cost: 10 Stamina -

- Move: Stab- Thrust the weapon with mild force at the target. Deal 115% Damage Cost: 5 Stamina. -

While the passive ability's basic boosts weren't incredible, the two techniques that came attached to the skill were quite valuable, even if Slash was a pretty big drain on stamina.

Brance was already fully aware of the skills information since Cynrik had already learned the skill, but that didn't curb his excitement one bit. Closing the book and putting it down, he looked over at Cynrik, who was sweating profusely as he tried to force his 51st mana cycle for the millionth time.

Even though they had already concluded that it was impossible to break through the 50th revolution lid that Tobs had placed on their bodies, Cynrik was never deterred from trying to pull one over on Tobs and break through the invisible bottle-neck.

Knowing just how stubborn his older brother was, Brance didn't even bother commenting on the scene in front of his eyes and instead opted to prove one of Cynrik's early theories.

Some years ago, Cynrik had concluded that using their Mana Manipulation passive ability could potentially utilize the ambient Mana around them that corresponded with the user's affinity.

While Cynrik had posed this theory, it was something they hadn't been able to pull off. But, unlike his stubborn brother, Brance was convinced that their lack of results had nothing to do with ineptitude, but instead had to be because of their underdeveloped Mana Codexes.

In his mind, since his Codex was only currently Tier 0, they wouldn't be able to manipulate the surrounding Mana freely. To date, this finding has been proven correct.

But this alone wasn't enough for Cynrik. He firmly believed that since they had the passive, it should be doable; to some extent, he was correct.

Unlike what Brance was sure of, they were perfectly able to use the Mana around them. But the issue lay instead in the simple fact that the two elements they had, Light and Dark, were notoriously difficult to take control over with a basic tier Mana Codex. They would need an absurd amount of willpower and control over the flow of Mana in their bodies to get the motor running since these Mana types essentially fell under the ”Special” category and not the ”Basic Elements” category. Generally, people weren't born with Special Elements, only Basic types, and they wouldn't start learning them until their Codex's and Circuits were in the Third or Fourth Tier.

Trying to pump Special Elements through a low Tiered Mana Codex and Circuits was equivalent to pulling an airplane with a motorcycle. While it was improbable, it wasn't necessarily impossible; it could be achieved given the right circumstances and, a certain amount of luck.

If the boys had posed this question to their parents, they would have already been informed of this well-known fact. But, due to both brothers' fear and hesitation of revealing that they already knew their affinities on top of them not knowing the rarity of their situation, they kept mum about it.

With this extreme difficulty they had experienced, both Cynrik and Brance misunderstood their inability to use their affinity with some bottle-neck caused by their age and the 50th revolution.