Chapter 228 : The Rules Of Power Acquisition, (According to Oliver Pagnal)
Oliver then proceeded to outline several rules to stepping towards the “realm of monsters” (in his own words).

The first of which was to keep things simple. Don’t add complexity to your movements, thoughts or ability usage. If one had to do so, limit it to two or three steps ahead.

Agni had to admit, she had somewhat of an issue with keeping things simple herself. She had a habit of making things grandiose, a consequence of possessing a fanciful mind. If she wasn’t careful her thoughts would lead her to larger pastures, it was something that happened quite often in her past life from what she could remember.

The second rule was something Oliver shortened to a phrase, “Like breathing, like a limb.”. The thought behind this principle was also simple. Through diligent practice, near bordering on self abuse, one needed to persistently surpass their natural limits. In this case, it meant constantly and actively acquainting oneself with the ability one desired to master. In other words, to perform an action so much that it became second nature.

For some it meant constantly manifesting elemental magic until they could sustain it for long periods. For others it meant constant repetition of a skill using the total amount of their mana infused into a spell. For Agni, she focused on using her only official active skill -- “Whisper” repeatedly on herself. This was Oliver’s suggestion, his reasoning was thus--

Upon being shown her newest ability, “???”, Oliver promptly rapted her aside the head.

“I have no idea how you acquired access to a skill above your current rank but, you can’t even use this in battle. More importantly, stop doing weird things to my internal energy. I swear. All of you Succubus are abnormal. Little freak.” These were the words Oliver said before delivering a stinging overhead strike to the crown of Agni’s head. Ironically enough his “freak” comment hurt more than the actual blow.

He then asked if she had any other skills. Agni thought of mentioning her Fusion ability, but she’d promised Vivian Lex to conceal it from everyone, except in life or death situations. In fact, she’d not even used it since then. This only left Whisper.

Oliver eyed her suspiciously and then requested to see her list of abilities.

“It says here you have two other abilities. Those seem more suited to combat, so for now we will focus on ‘Whisper’.” The two other abilities Oliver spoke of referred to Iron Fangs, Iron Claws and Extend. Taken together these two abilities could be used to both extend Agni’s digits or tail while hardening them. As Oliver surmised, this would allow Agni a new realm of piercing or cleaving attacks if mastered properly.

“Use “Whisper” on yourself repeatedly.” He said.

“Why? It doesn’t work on me.” Agni commented.

“Exactly. Because it doesn’t have an effect on you, you can most likely raise your proficiency at the skill more quickly. Think about it, how would you get better at bending someone’s will to your own unless you face resistance? There are limits to this, for example someone’s willpower could act as a resistance to your attempts but-- for the most part you should get better with this method. In theory.”

Oliver’s explanation made perfect sense. Agni had to admit as much when she considered her use of “Whisper” so far. At times she could feel a sort of resistance to the effects of her technique. She also observed that some targets seemed to break free from it’s effects more quickly. At one point she even took to thinking of her skill as “sexual poison”. This stemmed from the incident in which she caused the snatcher known as Glint to ‘die for her’.

She vividly remembered the sensation, even as a near manic rage gripped her heart, the fearsome resistance Glint opposed to her directions. She also remembered how lost in rage she was at the moment, having witnessed Katrin sacrifice herself to ward off the ambush.

Oliver’s third and final rule was made clear after half an hour of ‘primer’ training.

“The absolute fastest way to acquire mastery of anything is to fully invest yourself. This means you need to really feel it, without tension your efforts are much slower.” Oliver said this as he walked over towards the previously split tree stump and took a seat.

Moments later the far door to the training space opened and several dozen creatures began to roll towards the group of adventurers.

“Which is why I invited some Grimlock to the party.” He said as two dozen Slimes rolled towards the confused group of adventurers.

“Since you’re in a training space these Grimlock won’t die. Did you know? It’s a weird quirk of the system I suppose. You’ll be safe from any true harm they can inflict, but the reverse is true as well. Hone your skills on them, you’re not permitted to use anything but the skills at your disposal. No weapons.

If you have offensive capabilities, focus on using them to distract, interrupt or even cancel out your foes attacks. If you have passive abilities now is the time to use them to their fullest. Dive into this with zeal. Don’t slack off.” These were Oliver’s last words as the stampede of slimes collided with the group of adventurers.

“Ugh. If I knew this was going to happen I wouldn’t have worn my favorite shirt.” Agni groaned as a particularly large slime wibble wobbled towards her.

The next couple of hours were both chaotic and exhilarating. As Oliver mentioned, there was a certain tension when faced with an adversary. Agni could feel her sense for battle sharpening as she struggled to find a groove. When possible Agni favored using her halberd, it had a certain heft that made combat satisfying. Since coming to Mystic Tower she made an effort to focus on learning to use her skills which made her long for the feedback of live combat to an extent.

This exercise supplied it in spades. The slimes would normally have been light work for any adventurer worth their salt. Magic could easily dispose of such a threat, as long as the slimes didn’t manage to fuse together. The addition of a training environment caused the slimes to turn into real threats for many of those gathered.

Agni witnessed firsthand the creature’s vicious and long reaching attacks. Firing pellets of hardened slime, extending portions of their body at awkward timing and angles -- it seemed as if these slimes were used to battle on a much greater degree than ‘normal’ Slimes.

Agni was forced to stay mobile, side stepping, ducking and dodging nearly every moment of the training session. To make matters worse an occasional adventurer would run by, clothing nearly dissolved to ribbons. She was left dodging the slimes and other struggling people.

After a time Agni could feel it, she had begun to settle into her own mobility. Agility was, after all, one of Agni’s best stats. Only her Charm stat was higher, as was natural given her skillset. This allowed Agni to almost effortlessly anticipate ripples along the surface of the Slime’s body, a telltale sign that an extending blow was headed her way.

Conversely, anytime the slime prepared to shoot a pellet it would wiggle ominously. After seeing it so many times it became no trouble to deal with the attacks -- at least from range.

At the same time Agni occasionally activated her Whisper on the gelatinous beasts. She came to the conclusion that the slimes were resistant to Whisper entirely. As for why, she rightly had no clue but this served as further means of growth. As it turns out, Oliver’s assumption about Whisper’s growth held true. Not only did her mastery of it increase simply by using the skill, it seemed to grow much faster when she tried to “force” through resistance of the ability.

Once she felt confident enough to avoid the slime’s erratic attacks, Agni began to bridge the gap between her and the Grimlocks. This didn’t go so well initially. By moving closer she had much less time to react and therefore began to get hit consistently. Still, she refused to relent and inched closer and closer. Once her enemies began to make contact she took the time necessary to make adjustments, learning to move her body until she was once again untouchable.

After nearly an hour of constant battle she was finally within striking distance. Several times Agni tested the reach of her Extend ability. It allowed her to protrude her fingers , tail and toes. Admittedly Agni couldn’t think of a reason she would ever need to extend her toes, but it was something she’d also tested in a moment of boredom.

She could make her fingers shoot outwards roughly one meter (3 feet) before they were forced to retract with a somewhat painful snap. If she really tried she could shoot them further to two meters, but this would cause self harm.

By using Iron Fangs, Iron Claws, her nails grew visibly sharper like the point of a spear. The same happened to her teeth if she so willed it and, once again, her toenails. Activating this in conjunction with Extend caused Agni’s absolute reach to bottom out at slightly less than one meter.

After taking ample time to judge the best counter opportunity, Agni extended her pointer finger and pierced the nearest slime. The instant her attack pierced the creature she began to feel a dull, prickling pain against her flesh.

*Slimes have acid inside them. I totally forgot. Ugh.* She thought inwardly, immediately retracting her spear-like finger tip. As she observed, a thick layer of slime acid coated her finger and it was responsible for the burning sensation at present. What’s more she failed to notice the ominous wobble of an incoming attack.

Agni grimaced, her mistake realized a few moments too late. She tensed up as several rock hard masses pelted her body, their trajectory rising upwards along her chest -- smashing her in the cheek and forehead. The force caused her head to snap backwards, a thud resounding from her chest in the process.

Above the battlefield Shula chuckled, waving her tail to and fro in delight. The Imp seemed to be having a much easier time than the rest.All she needed to do was cast Sleep magic on her foes.