BXBX NOVEL Chapter 123 The Birth Of Devouring
"A lot has happened since I taught you how to, roughly, use the Fox aura." Keng's body shimmered and a white and gold film covered his humanoid body. White and gold wisps started to appear around him and Lee Seng found himself on his feet, doing the same thing. "I guess it's become a habit for you." Keng pointed. Lee Seng looked at his arms and noticed he had turned the White Fox Cloak on. The new golden shimmers and white accents were more apparent in his aura than Keng's.
"Why's my aura more golden than yours?" Lee Seng looked up. Keng's Cloak had white as its primary color and gold as its secondary.
"You're the host. You chose the orb, so I think it would influence your aura more than mine. I still have gold, but my color is still white." Keng pointed out.
'I wonder what else the golden orb will do as time passes.' Lee Seng thought. The excitement was building up in his body.
"That does remind me of what happened right before I got out of the Ruined City." Lee Seng could see the golden wisps billowing out of his hands. He had never felt the Dark Matter Eater technique become that strong. He had little time to practice it, so he didn't think it would be that big of a deal. "My wisps all turned golden. They even blinded and killed off some of the zombies."
"Mmm, the properties of the golden orb are a mystery but I think it's helping you get used to your abilities as a Fox. The Dark Matter Eater technique I showed you is the basic one. An extension based on your classification as a Glass."
"That was a ranged technique? Are there any close combat techniques I could learn?"
"Mmm, it's just a manipulation of what you do with the wisps." Keng flexed his fingers on his right hand into a fist and Lee Seng watched as energy condensed into the fist. "The closer you are to your opponent, the easier it is to manipulate the wisps to do what you want." Keng swung his fist at Lee Seng, who threw up his arms to block. Keng's fist made contact and Lee Seng felt Keng's energy rip away at him.
Lee Seng moved backwards out of habit. Keng's hand pulsed brightly and in mere seconds, the sting of energy disappeared from Lee Seng.
"What the hell was that?" Lee Seng asked, looking up. He could remember the feeling of the first technique Keng had taught him, but the melee technique seemed to pack more of a punch in power.
"Your strength and the power of the Dark Matter Eater technique will allow you to make more an impact, right? I think this would suit your needs. Honestly, the Dark Matter Eater technique is just a manipulation of the wisps. I'm more suited to ranged attacks as I had to fight as a fox, but I think this would suit you and your monstrous strength." Keng pointed.
Lee Seng nodded, not budging from his spot. He was secretly scared of Keng pulling the punch on him, again and didn't want to feel the weird feeling of energy take him. Keng shook his head and motioned Lee Seng to come forward.
"I'm not gonna punch you. If it feels too weird to be punched, we do have the sparring bot. If you can somehow perfect the Dark Matter Eater techniques to suit your close combat needs, I don't see why you can't just use the bot."
"The bot wouldn't react the same way to a normal person or monster, though... but the thought of getting hit by that..." Lee Seng shudders. "I'm not sure if I would ever want anyone I know to be punched by that."
"You'll most likely be fighting monsters, right? I wouldn't get too worried about using it against someone. Practice and refine the Dark Matter Eater technique and you might have an answer against human opponents." Keng added. "For now, just focus on trying to get the hang of the technique close combat with the bot."
"Ugh, fine." Lee Seng groaned. "AI, sparring bot, but could you tell me the difficulties?"
"One moment, please." The AI whirred to life. The empty room shimmered and a sparring bot came out of the floor. "Sparring bot difficulties are as follows: Novice, Intermediate, Expert, Master, and Professional."
"Could you keep the bot on idle for now?"
"I can do that. Do you need to change the stats of the bot?"
"You should probably do something that'll make it tanky." Keng suggested. "Just in case you accidentally punch a hole in it."
"The other one I fought was already tough to punch through." Lee Seng remarked. "Just make it tanky, AI."
"Tanky settings will be added. Please let me know if I can assist you in your training." The room's pulse of color died and Lee Seng turned to look at the bot.
"All I have to do is successfully punch the bot. Once I get he handle of the feeling, I'll figure out ways to charge the Dark Matter Eater technique..." Lee Seng mumble.d He turned to look back at Keng, but found Keng standing next to him. "Why do you call it Dark Matter Eater technique? That's kinda long for a name."
"I don't know," Keng shrugged. "I didn't name it. I let you name everything. Call it what you want."
'Dark Matter Eater technique's whole point is to eat the Dark Matter...' Lee Seng's lips curled into a smile. He let out a small chuckle and Keng turned at him and shook his head.
"You're not gonna name it after a form of eating, are you?" Keng asked. Lee Seng looked up and his smile grew larger.
"Wouldn't it be funny if I just yelled 'YUM YUM YUM!' Hahahaha, that would be funny in a battle. It might even throw my opponents off." Lee Seng burst into laughter. Keng shook his head and rolled his eyes. He was merely mimicking the things he saw Lee Seng do, but he felt like he would do this action a lot.
"Like I said, you're the one naming it. If you want it to be something like that then just name it that."
"No, I couldn't." Lee Seng chuckled. He gathered himself and continued to think. "I can't name it something stupid or else I won't be taken seriously in a fight. My own teammates actually think I'm stupid... The eater technique eats away at the Dark Matter... A gluttonous frenzy of wisps going at the Dark Matter and ripping it away... Ripper? No. Gluttony? Nah, I don't wanna name something after a deadly sin..."
Lee Seng continued to think for awhile. None of the names he brought up fit what the eater technique was doing. Keng moved to practice the technique on the bot. He could feel each charge in his fist and slammed them into the bot. He didn't feel the response of the hits which made him feel awkward about it.
"Ah ha! Devour! It just destroys the Dark Matter with a snap of my fingers, so it devours." Lee Seng shouted. Keng slammed his tail into the bot and nodded.
"That isn't so childish like 'yum yum yum.' Devour works." Keng answered moving away from the bot. "Now that you've figured out a name for it, why don't you practice against the bot?"
"Oh okay. Did you try it on the bot? How'd it go?" Lee Seng switched places with Keng. Keng crossed his arms and shrugged.
"You won't get an DM response when you punch, so success lies in the wisps going into the bot."
"What response?" Lee Seng readied himself and imagined the wisps in his hands growing.
"The feeling of sapping something away. I don't feel it on the bot. Its a inanimate object, so it wouldn't have Dark Matter to sap. It's like that time I taught you how to make a wisp hand and grab my Dark Matter."
"Ahh, like that." Lee Seng nodded. He swung his punch and connected with the bot. He pulled away and noticed the wisps didn't really move much. "This should be easier to handle... In terms of gravity... It's like releasing the burst at the last second so the weight doesn't pull me down."
Lee Seng started to replay scenarios where he did punch with gravity-infused hits. He did normal punches and altered them at the last second. The weight of his punches increased at the last split second and he could force out the gravity if he chose to do so. Lee Seng readied himself again and nodded.
"It's like a gravity punch but the difference is it's always there. The punch will act like I'm actually sending out gravity at the end." Lee Seng swung, again and connected with the bot. The wisps shimmered and started to rush out and quickly pulled back. Just like that? I'll repeat it a bunch of times until I get used to the wisp response. I'll refine based on what Keng see's then..." Lee Seng found Keng jogging towards him.
"Keep going. I'll keep an eye on you as I jog." Keng breezed past Lee Seng. Lee seng nodded and continued his training.