Varian waited as the murlocs jumped at him. Their claws encircled him and he dodged them with least movement. Except one.
That one attack aimed at his shoulder and would tear it apart should it hit.
This time, Varian controlled his mind and channeled his space power to his shoulder.
Space Binding — Solidifies space around anything in direct contact by using space power. That implied he could solidify space around his body.
Just as Varian channeled his space power and solidified the space around his shoulder, the murloc's claw was about to tear his shoulder.
"Creaak"
The claw slowed down due to the solid space, but it would still injure him if he let it.
Varian slashed his sword at the murloc's neck and jumped away from the claw.
Even though it was a bit hard to cut the murloc's neck due to its scales, Varian was successful in his first kill.
The murloc collapsed. 8 Left.
"Screech"
"Screech"
The murlocs lashed their tails at him and Varian teleported out. He could only control the general direction of teleportation and not the distance. So he ended up teleporting a bit too far.
'I can take them down one by one.' He thought.
"Screech"
His position attracted a new group of murlocs in the distance. The 6 murlocs joined the 8 old.
'Oh boy.' Varian shook his head and waited in his position. It wasn't a wise decision to charge, being the slower one.
"Screech"
"Screech"
The murlocs banded as one and lunged at him.
'Fuck!' Varian cursed and dashed to the side.
At that moment, the murlocs whipped their tails at him. Only two were about to touch him. One aimed for his heart position and the other for his abdomen.
He could go offensive or defensive. He picked the former.
'I'll have to try.' Varian channeled his space power and bound the space around his heart position and abdomen.
"Grrr"
The tails slowed down due to the solid space but were about to pierce him nonetheless. Varian used the time delay and spun to the side and swirled his sword elegantly.
"Thud"
"Thud"
The two murlocs collapsed, and Varian created a distance from the rest.
Varian felt a bit more closer to space.
[+5 Xp]
[Space Path Level 1: 35/100]
"Screech"
The murlocs dashed at him and Varian slowly got comfortable with his space powers.
From using space binding to block just two locations to three, to four, five and… finally six.
[+5 Xp]
[+5 Xp]
[+5 Xp]
[Space Path Level 1: 50/100]
Varian grew more and more proficient at space binding. The only thing limiting him from space binding his whole body was his level. Plus, if he space bound his body, he'd have to break the solid space to move in case of abrupt danger.
"Thud"
"Thud"
The murlocs collapsed one by one, and soon, there were only three left.
'I can try that again.' Varian thought.
"Screech"
The murlocs clawed at him. He dodged with ease and swung his sword at a murloc's neck.
This time, however, he used Space Binding on the sword just before it was about to touch the murloc's neck.
"Greee"
"Screech"
The sword slowed down at a critical moment, causing the murloc to escape, and it swung its tail at him.
'Damn.' Varian knew it was likely to fail, but still felt it was a pity.
The usage of space binding in defense was obvious. But using it on offense was difficult.
Varian's idea was to space bind the sword and solidify the surrounding space just before it touched the murloc's neck.
The neck would clash with the solidified space, breaking it at the cost of the scales on the murloc's neck.
Thus, his sword would easily slice through the scaleless neck and harvest its life.
If he mastered this, it would help in mastering space power and also boost his attack to cut tougher surfaces.
Of course, the premise was the perfect timing of space binding.
Solidify space a moment before contact and Varian would have to swing the sword against the solidified space, thus weakening his own attack.
Solidify space a moment later, the sword was already slicing through the scales.
'A Body Awakener would have way easier time reacting in that small time period. I had no problem doing it as a Level 1 in the Abyss.' Varian thought, but decided to keep trying.
"Screech"
"Swish"
"Thud"
Varian's red sword danced in the air and continued to reap the lives of the murlocs.
He wasn't able to time the space binding during his attacks, but he was getting closer.
After finishing the last murloc, Varian moved through the island and found another group.
"Screech"
This time too, he followed the same tactics.
Dodge what he could. Block what he couldn't with Space Binding.
Take down a sizable portion without much risk and then try using Space binding during attacks.
He kept slaughtering.
He took breaks in between.
He kept practicing.
But he kept failing.
First day passed.
Varian stayed on the island for 16 hours the second day.
He pushed himself, but there was no progress.
To be able to time the space binding just before his sword made contact seemed beyond his current "human" limits.
On the third day, Varian got an idea. Instead of relying on his 'body sense', he'd rely on his space sense of sorts.
He didn't possess a complete space sense yet, but he developed something similar during his 'epiphany' in Abyss.
With this sense of space, he was able to roughly control his teleportation direction.
'What if I use it to sense the space accurately and time my space power with it? If I can feel the space of the sword just before it clashes with the murloc, I can space bind it at right time.'
Varian thus gave up combat training and meditated on his hover bike.
He channeled his space power and tried to 'feel' the space around. He could roughly sense himself and the directions relative to him, but distance was out of question.
He used the aura crystals to replenish his depleted space power and saved a lot of time for his practice.
Despite the lack of progress, he didn't give up. He turned off all disturbances and continued to meditate.
He now felt a closer connection to space. His sense of direction 'improved' and he could sit down and tell the distance of something closer to him if he sat down and meditated.
It wasn't useful for combat… yet.
But there was an irrefutable benefit.
[+10 Xp]
[Space Path level 1: 60/100]
"This feels good." Varian woke up from a deep meditation session and felt like he was forgetting something.
'Today's the fourth day, right?'
He checked his time and felt like killing himself.
'06:00 AM, 5th Octav, 520 YAB'
"There's only one hour before the opening ceremony."
Praying he wouldn't be late on the first day, he rushed to his academy at the highest speed, breaking all airway traffic rules.
'Can I make it in time?'