Essence Stalker swung his halberd around with swift and menacing motions. He was in the midst of specialized training in the Training Hall of the Guild Hall in Cario City.
He had been thrown there by Riveting Night to develop upon his skills and techniques, as she had noticed that he had some talent with long, bladed weapons.
As such, he had spent the past few days after his bloodline had been tested improving nonstop. What he found most shocking was the sheer efficiency of this Rank 7 Training Hall.
He was presented with a wealth of methods and ways to assist himself in increasing his proficiency. The Training Hall had its own library of techniques which players of Umbra could access freely, and it covered every fighting style and weapon type.
Even more stunning was the fact that one could also learn various Sword Techniques from Draco as he had added them into the system before he left. Essence Stalker wasn't a swordsman, but he had discovered that he could learn a lot just by watching Draco's movements.
Umbra's newest core member had made frequent use of the Training Hall's trainer system, which basically recreated any foe that Essence wanted and turned into a virtual sparring partner. He could even program his opponent's array of skills, techniques, level, and the general difficulty.
Of course, as a combat freak Essence loved physical challenges. It was something that helped him feel alive and excited him to no end, especially after the general bleakness of his youthful life.
As such, he set the difficulty to the highest and chose the craziest possible foe for himself… Draco!
He had heard the legends of the 'Strongest Player' in the game world, and even on the internet outside. Draco and Eva might not care much, but they were mega-celebrities now that Boundless had achieved worldwide fame due to the ongoing controversy.
Despite the player count still not having breached 200 million yet, it was bound to shoot up to billions after the pods come out. Right now, public opinion of the game was too far into the negative for any apart from those adventurous types to enter.
Thanks to his infamy, Essence Stalker looked up to Draco, especially after the shocking revelations his Clan Aunt had hit him with. That he was a member of a Lineage that descended from 'the Devil' Lucifer himself.
That he was the descendant of a side branch which broke off from the main family a few centuries ago due to unknown reasons. This meant that his bloodline was pure enough that the percentage was quite high.
Essence still remembered the weird look Loving Aunt had given him when she tested his bloodline concentration and told him that his concentration should be around 35%.
According to Loving Aunt, the bloodline purities of the Lineage members were usually in the single digits. Those that formed the elders and co were in the range of 10-19% bloodline purity while rare talents were like Loving Aunt, between 20-29%.
Above 30% was regarded as a generational prodigy fit to become Clan Head!
If Essence had been part of the main lineage and Draco had never been born, he would likely be in the midst of training to become the Clan Head. Unfortunately, a monster like Draco had been born, so there was no competition.
Not only that, but Loving Aunt claimed that she would be joining him in training soon. After all, she had a guess that he was a bloodline genius, with double Inheritances.
She had explained to him that there existed three Inheritances for the Lucifer Lineage, the Serpent God, the Horned Demon, and the Dark Angel. Based on the characteristics and abilities Essence had displayed in the past, he had the Serpent God and Dark Angel Inheritances active.
It should be noted that the combination of above prodigy level purity and double Inheritances were extremely rare ever since the Progenitors had left the world. As such, Essence was truly a special case in this situation.
Currently, he was caught in an intense battle with the Draco clone, which was set to the highest level and the closest to the original. Draco had registered himself with his Divine class at Rank 1, level 13, right before he left to start his Unique Quest.
Meanwhile, Essence himself was at Rank 1, level 50, which was the level cap. In theory, he had a strong stat suppression on Draco's clone, but it meant dogshit since Draco's stats were so high.
Therefore, Essence was the one barely surviving. After all, this was ultimately a form of training, so Clone Draco was not trying to outright destroy him, otherwise it would have entered one of his forms and decimated the fellow within seconds.
At that point it would longer be 'training', but a masochist party. Clone Draco was only using his swordsmanship to effortlessly overwhelm Essence. It did not use subjective magic, skills, or anything else except the 360 sword techniques Draco had created.
Still, Essence was shocked and pleased with himself. With what he had heard about Draco, no player apart from Riveting Night was his match in any way, even if he was playing around.
The fellow could likely easily destroy enemies above his Rank, much less ones within it. The fact that Essence Stalker had survived so long was a testimony to his own talent.
However, he still had quite a way to go before he could turn that talent into skill. Even though he was alive due to the efforts of his class's good stats and his own bloodline which manifested itself passively, it was asking too much for him to do the impossible.
Soon, Essence was blasted away as he collided with the wall of the private room he was in. Clone Draco swiftly sheathed its blade and disappeared; its task complete.
Essence stood up and flexed his muscles while cracking his joints. "Well, that was intense."
He felt like a lump of iron that had been brutally forged by an amateur blacksmith. Different parts of his body rang with differing levels of pain, and there was not a single place on his body which did not sting like a bitch.
However, he simply ignored it and pondered on the battle which had just concluded. Essence Stalker had been stunned by Clone Draco's speed, and it was impossible to follow him with his eyes alone.
Clone Draco should've defeated him on the first strike, but Essence had felt his bloodline energy begin to burn slowly, and his perception had increased. It felt like his mind had expanded outside his body and he had grasped the ephemeral movements of Clone Draco when he was close by, allowing the Dragon Knight to respond in time.
This was not Control of course. Such a thing was not something that could be easily accessed, and required years of training. Even Eva had required more than 3 years of dedicated practice with her high bloodline purity, Celestial Maiden Inheritance, and rebuilt body.
This was a specialization of the psychic element belonging to the Dark Angel Inheritance, which was Telesthesia. This was something Eva's Celestial Maiden Inheritances psychic specializations lacked.
Essence was trying to grasp the feeling of using this ability. Essence had fewer Inheritances than Draco, making it easier to use them passively because his bloodline energy needed to be split to fewer Inheritances and he also did not need as much focus to control it.
After ruminating on this feeling, Essence felt himself ready to go for another round. He had been fighting Clone Draco for the past 3 days, and his progress had been exemplary.
His senses and reaction time had greatly improved. Nothing had changed about his stats and skills, but his techniques... they were being refined so rapidly that it was almost as if Essence Stalker had an Innate Technique Generator of his own.
Hahaha, but that was impossible right? So far, only Draco had displayed such a trait, so no one could possibly do the same, right? Even Eva did not have this ability, and she was the other half of the universal equation.
Over the 24 hours, Essence Stalker spent the early parts of the day going through the library of techniques available to him. Every single spear, naginata, and halberd technique was played out before him as he slowly and carefully comprehended them.
After spending a few more hours digesting what he learned and understood, he would then challenge Clone Draco. Each time he fought the clone, he lasted almost double the amount of time he did before.
All this time, Loving Aunt had been monitoring his progress with Riveting Night as well. Both of them were stupefied by this fellow's rate of growth as well as his talent.
Riveting Night was shocked to her core, because it was like she was seeing the early Draco from the previous timeline. With his bloodline sealed, he had been just like the current Essence, improving so rapidly that everyone who knew him was left flabbergasted.
Even Local Lord had coughed blood at Draco's rate of growth, while Sublime had pulled out her hair in frustration. Riveting Night herself had just found herself interested in him, which was how everything began…
Going through those sweet memories made Eva smile gently beneath her hood. Those were the best times of her life, only slightly worse than her life in this timeline after she reconciled with Draco.
Now that she bore his child, their blood, body, and souls were connected. She could ask for nothing better in this world.
After 3 more days of his grueling training, Essence Stalker was finally able to deal a hit on Clone Draco, which made Loving Aunt gasp and Riveting Night wave her hand for his training to stop.
Essence Stalker immediately ended the training and came over to his Clan Aunt and the Lady Boss. He greeted them both with respect. After all, one was his distant aunt and the other was the reincarnation of a progenitor, specifically the soulmate of his own progenitor.
This also highlighted the complicated relationship between Essence and Draco. There were either distant cousins, or progenitor and descendant, the lines were blurred.
Even Loving Aunt suffered from this generational crisis, but she didn't care and neither did Draco. To them, their current relationship was pre-ordained by the heavens and nothing would change it.
"Right now, you're making good progress in terms of combat adaptiveness and growth, but you have no clue about how to efficiently manage your power. That is what Loving Aunt will be teaching you." Riveting Night stated without any hint of emotion in her voice.
Essence Stalker nodded. "Please. I want to understand more about myself and my heritage."
Loving Aunt placed her arms on her waist and smiled naughtily. "And why, dear boy, do you want to do so?"
Essence Stalker looked at his Clan Aunt right in the eye and said coldly. "Because the more I understand about myself, the more power I will be able to acquire, and the more clues I can obtain as to what exactly happened to my family."
Essence Stalker scoffed darkly. "If my bloodline is so good, then my parents must have been just as potent. I find it hard to believe that they could be killed in a mere car accident. It's too convenient."
Loving Aunt and Riveting Night shared a look. Loving Aunt clapped the fellow on the shoulder and said. "Smart boy. We can easily point fingers and say it was someone from the Pangu Lineage or one of their cronies from their stupid Alliance, but I doubt it."
"Even though that Lineage and their kin are full of dogs, they wouldn't bother chasing after your side branch and risk another conflict after the grand war during Draco's birth. Both sides took so much damage that neither can afford to start yet another conflict."
Loving Aunt poked a finger at Essence Stalkers' chest, speaking with an amused tone. "This means that some power or group grew the balls after finding out about our collective weakness to start striking at side branches. I say this because you are not the first in these past 21 years since our grand war, and I doubt you will be the last."
"If you want to avenge your family, I fully support you. But first, we have to turn you from a piece of carbon into the firmest diamond. I only hope you can survive the ordeal." Loving Aunt said with an eerie grin that chilled Essence Stalker's heart.