Omni-Mastery

'Should I be thankful instead?'

Driven by my intent to remove the threat of demons so that I could spend the rest of my time in the 'Lost Realm' peacefully, I always ended up being given countless opportunities.

Of course, most of these opportunities were filled with danger or had special requirements in order to enjoy them. Nonetheless, they were still the catalyst to my growth most of the time.

To top it off, I even managed to find this special gate, which seemed to fit me even more!

'It's definitely doable.'

Thanks to my ever-increasing stats, I didn't usually suffer from a lack of strength. However, what I did suffer from was a lack of control.

Although I did try to mend my problem of getting used to my increased strength as well as exerting the proper level of it according to my opponent or the situation often, the time I spent doing that in the system space was very limited. Unfortunately, the system space was the only appropriate medium to do so, not to mention how tight my free time was getting thanks to the demons as well.

Even places that seemed to be created for the sake of training like the crystal tower had limited ability, being more focused on technique than strength or speed itself. However, my current location appeared to be the perfect place for my needs.

While 'Whac-A-Mole' (Lost Realm Version) seemed like a game of wits and timing, depending on perfect implementation of strategy to survive while destroying the enemy moles, these objectives were practically useless thanks to my speed and strength.

However, that was exactly why this was a perfect place for training control over strength and speed. Just trying to lower them to reach the level of the moles was a great learning opportunity.

'Let's start then.'

[ Activating 'Transformation'... ]

[ Activating 'Duplication'... ]

[ 'Lightning Cloud' has adopted the (Great Spear) form. ]

[ 'Duplication' has been activated. ]

If one were to take the original form of the arcade game into consideration, it would make more sense to use a hammer, but enjoying the game wasn't my objective, to begin with.

Considering my own training plan, a blunt weapon like a hammer would have bad efficiency. In comparison, the spear wasn't only a piercing weapon, but it also had the advantage of range, something that I needed if I wanted to restrain my speed.

While something like a long sword could also perform well, I had already trained with the sword for far too long in the Corruption Space, as one of my favorite weapons, the spear definitely earned its spot as my primary weapon for this training plan.

'Here we go.'

Marching into the 'mine field', I immediately swung one of my spears and pierced in the direction of one opening.

Zing!

[ You have absorbed the blood essence of a 'Whack Mole', purification in progress… ]

[ You have obtained 81,147 EP! ]

Although I couldn't sense the mole coming due to the 'Absolute Darkness' that followed the original game's rules of being unable to attack a mole in hiding, I had already memorized their pattern. All I needed to do was to reduce my output of strength and speed accordingly.

Zing! Zing! Zing!

[ You have absorbed… ]

[ You have absorbed… ]

[ You have absorbed… ]

While spears were mostly used two-handedly, that was the case in order to produce enough of both strength and accuracy. However, my Dexterity was more than high enough to allow me to use it one-handedly with precision. There was even less need to mention the strength that I was trying to 'reduce'.

Zing! Zing…

[ You have absorbed… ]

[ You… ]

Most importantly, even though I was using this gate as a training opportunity, I still didn't plan to waste that much time here considering my urgent situation. As such, dual-wielding spears was even more suitable for this gate thanks to its great efficiency.

Of course, there were better weapons when it came to achieving the sole purpose of efficiency, such as a crossbow or even any form of 'Elemental Armaments'. However, just like I didn't want to sacrifice my time and efficiency for the sake of training, I didn't want to do the opposite either.

Moreover, considering the coming battle that would ensue once I reached the demon base, I didn't have any plans of depleting my limited elemental pool, nor my weapon energy pool. So, in agreement with my training plan, I planned to go through all the mini-gates by relying solely on my physical abilities.

Zing!

[ You have absorbed… ]

As the number of moles dying under my spears increased, I kept lowering my strength and speed step after step. However…

Zing...

[ You have absorbed the blood essence of a 'Whack Mole', purification in progress… ]

[ You have obtained 80,257 EP! ]

Under my continuous dodging and piercing, the last mole vanished before I reached the optimal strength and speed to deal with the moles without excess.

'I can feel the difference!'

Despite that, I could tell that my control had been honed ever so slightly. I could tell that if I kept repressing and releasing my strength for long enough, the result wouldn't be less than satisfying.

'I have enough to make sure that happens.'

Luckily for me, I had counted no less than 108 mini-gates before I entered this particular mini-gate. With some effort and enough concentration, my target didn't feel that far.

'Hmm?'

After waiting to be ejected from the mini-gate after clearing it, I was surprised to see no such action being taken. Instead, I started seeing movement within the openings.

It wasn't that there was something moving 'in' them, it was the shape of the 90 even openings spread around the ground that was showing movement!

'Interesting…'

It was as if the openings were just circles drawn by ink, losing their purpose after their inhabitant died, and moving to join with the rest of the spread ink. The resulting shape was still a circular opening of the same size. However, there were no other openings left on the ground.

'Is that supposed to be my way out?'

As the mini-gate exhibited another irregular action dissimilar to how other gates functioned, I was curious to find out how it operated as I calmly stepped into the opening.

'Huh?'

I wasn't surprised to see myself falling once again, but seeing that I was falling into the main area of the gate that I fell into upon my first access, I wondered why such useless repetition was even needed.

'Again?'

However, it didn't take long for my attention to divert as I observed the changes happening in front of my eyes...