'Time to see if there are any changes to my stats, since I feel subtly stronger' Asher thought with a smile.
'Status' Asher commanded.
[Name: Asher Wargrave
Age: Seventeen
Bloodline: The Wargrave Lineage
Physique: Absolute Physique
Titles: [Youngest Heir] [Tenth Sun] [Disgrace of the Wargrave] [Unique Body Holder]
Life Rank: Faintstar
Sub Life Rank: Flare
Affinity: Lightning
Strength: 57 → 58
Agility: 57 → 59
Vitality: 58
Perception: 52 → 60]
Asher's eyes swept across the changes, analyzing each with growing interest. His strength had risen by a single point, expected, given his recent physical exertion.
Agility, however, had improved by two, a direct result of his intensive movement and balance training. Vitality hasn't increased which was understandable.
What truly stunned Asher, however, was his Perception stat. It hadn't just improved, it had soared, leaping from the lowest stat to the highest in a single bound, now standing at an impressive sixty points.
He could feel the difference, his senses had sharpened considerably, and his Omni Perception now extended to a six meter radius.
'Looks like having arrows constantly fired at me actually paid off,' he mused wryly.
Asher smiled. In just a few hours of training, his progress had been remarkable. His thoughts drifted to his Absolute Physique; the ability Limitless Physical Growth, an ability that allowed his body to grow endlessly through combat and training.
Even without formal cultivation, as long as he pushed himself to the edge, whether through battle or relentless drills, he would shatter that edge and grow stronger in response.
Truly broken.
But Asher understood the truth behind it. While the concept seemed straightforward, the reality was far more brutal. The stronger one became, the more punishing it was to break past the next threshold.
Each new limit was a wall steeper than the last.
But that was a concern for another time.
Why waste thought on hurdles that weren't yet in his path?
Asher immediately settled onto his bed in a lotus position, his eyes closing with practiced ease. Without delay, he began cultivating. Streams of Astra in the air stirred, flowing through his pores and coursing directly into his Astra veins with rhythmic precision.
Just because the First Training Ground didn't officially allocate time for cultivation didn't mean he would neglect it. He would carve out his own path, even in silence.
Hours slipped by unnoticed, and soon it was already 1 a.m.
'System, is it possible for you to tell me the time' Asher asked as he opened his eyes.
Throughout his cultivation, he had opened his eyes several times, checking the clock intermittently. He had set a strict boundary, cultivation would end at 1 a.m., at which point he would shift into the next phase of his training.
The system remained silent. Whether it was genuinely speechless at Asher's attempt to turn it into an alarm clock, or simply unwilling to respond, he couldn't tell.
Just as he was about to rise from his bed, the familiar chime finally echoed in his mind, like the reluctant sigh of an overworked assistant pushed into unpaid overtime.
[Ding]
[It is possible, Host]
Asher glanced at the message, a smile tugging at his lips. He gave a small nod of acknowledgment.
'I'm about to begin my lightning training. It'll only last an hour, end time is 2 a.m. sharp. Notify me.'
After a short pause, the system responded.
[.... Affirmative, Host]
Asher stared at the ellipses preceding the message, brows twitching slightly.
"This lazy system," he muttered with a shake of his head. "No time to waste."
Climbing down from his bed, Asher raised his hand, and crackling lightning surged to life around his fingers. With a focused breath, he willed the energy to flow downward, guiding it from his fingertips to his palm. The lightning arcs brightened, pulsing with a vibrant, sharpened hue as they followed his intent.
Drawing upon the fundamentals of his Astra control training, Asher attempted to compress the energy into a sphere, a lightning ball. Within seconds, the orb began to take shape, humming softly with unstable power.
He didn't pause to celebrate the minor success. Compared to the vast array of overwhelming abilities he had read about or witnessed, a mere lightning ball felt almost laughable.
Without hesitation, he moved on, trying to refine its form. He focused on condensing the sphere, willing it to solidify, then experimented with its size, enlarging it, then shrinking it, only to expand it again.
Then suddenly — BOOM.
The unstable lightning ball detonated in front of his face, sending a mild shockwave that instantly blasted his hair upward, transforming it into a wildly spiked mess.
In a flash, Virelass materialized beside him, as if asking what was wrong with his control.
'There's still progress to be made,' Asher mused, his eyes narrowing with determination.
He didn't relent. Instead, he pressed on, continuing his training with sharp focus.
Harnessing his control, Asher began shaping the lightning into rudimentary forms, spheres, lines, crude edges, though most wavered with instability. Still, within mere minutes, the raw potential began to settle.
The shapes grew more defined, less volatile. His rapid improvement was undeniable, a testament to both his talent and tenacity.
'I wonder how long it took others to reach this point,' he pondered briefly.
But the thought was fleeting. No matter. That has nothing to do with me.
"System, how much time remains? I've already completed the basics, and it still hasn't been an hour?"
[Ten minutes left, Host]
'Since I've wrapped up the fundamentals of lightning control. let's test something else.'
With purpose in his step, Asher turned and made his way toward the bathroom.
He had long since set his sights on walking on water. If walking on walls is possible, he reasoned, then why not water? The instructor may not have taught it, but that didn't mean it was impossible, or that Asher couldn't be the first to do it.
With that thought, he filled a wide, tub-like structure to the brim. Channeling Astra into his feet, he took a deliberate step toward the water's surface, only for his foot to plunge straight to the bottom.
'Just as I suspected,' he thought calmly, unbothered. The Astra control method for walking on walls clearly didn't translate to water, and he had intentionally used the same approach to confirm his theory.
A slow smile curved his lips as he withdrew his foot. The Astra beneath him shifted under his thought and control, with this new method, he took another step.
This time, his foot landed atop the water's surface, steady and undisturbed, not even a ripple.
Rising slightly, he placed his other foot beside the first. It, too, held firm.
The smile on his face widened into a grin. 'How many movie superheroes from my previous life could even dream of doing this?'
His first failure had sparked a revelation: walls were solid, water was liquid, their properties opposites. So why not reverse the control method as well?
It had worked, perfectly.
[Host. It's time]
The system's notification echoed in his mind.
Still grinning, Asher stepped off the water and made his way back to bed. Whether he would actually sleep, with excitement surging through every fiber of his being, was another matter entirely.