Gill gave Kyle some more feedback about his other weaknesses.
During these couple of minutes of talking, Kyle felt like he had learned more about fighting than from weeks of training with Nervon.
It was expected that an experienced Mid Fighter knew much more about combat, but Kyle hadn't expected the difference to be this significant.
'Nervon was a good hunter, but he was not a fighter. He was just a stronger regular human.'
'When Theodor said that I have no proper fighting education, I felt a bit bad for Nervon. I mean, he trained me for months.'
'But he's right,' he thought with a sigh. 'Nervon is a layman, not a soldier or instructor.'
Naturally, Kyle paid Gill since his course was more than worth the money.
When the course ended, Kyle went to the guild shop.
Gill had given him a couple of technique recommendations, and Kyle wanted to look at the prices.
When he looked at the prices, Kyle immediately noticed something.
'The good techniques all cost contribution points, while the average ones cost Ether Pebbles or even Ether Stones.'
Kyle only knew of two techniques, and he could use one of them.
Air Current and Earth Smash.
'Earth Smash is worth ten Ether Pebbles, while Air Current is worth 20.'
Ten Ether Pebbles was the cheapest price for any technique.
When Kyle saw the technique Gill recommended the most, he had to take a deep breath.
'An entire Ether Stone,' Kyle thought. 'That's half of what I own. Ten percent of one of the Tomes.'
"Is it worth buying?" Kyle quietly asked Theodor.
"Yes," Theodor answered. "You will remain a Peak Adept for an entire year to gather experience. Fix your more immediate issues before turning your gaze to distant problems."
Kyle nodded and put an Ether Stone on the counter.
"I want to purchase Fire Trail," Kyle said.
"That's a rare one," the seller said with a chuckle. "Not many buy that technique, but I can see why you have use for it."
Naturally, the seller was also a Fighter, and he was experienced with fighting other humans.
"How can you tell?" Kyle asked.
"Your big mace," the seller said, searching through a bookcase. "It's perfect for you."
Kyle couldn't be entirely sure why.
Gill had not told him why he should buy Fire Trail.
He just told him to buy it and thank him later.
Just based on the name and description of the technique, Kyle wouldn't have guessed that this technique would fit him.
It wouldn't even have entered his mind.
It seemed almost useless.
"Here it is," the seller said, putting a book on the counter. "You get 14 days to study it. After that, you have to give it back. You are not allowed to distribute any of the techniques you purchased here. Any illegal distribution will be heavily persecuted."
"I know," Kyle said as he took hold of the book.
Then, he left the city and stopped at the place where Bonk and him had trained for a while.
Kyle quietly studied the book.
'Quite simple,' he thought. 'It's similar to Air Current.'
Nevertheless, without one-to-one coaching, Kyle still needed several hours to find initial success with the technique.
Kyle held his hammer in front of him and infused it with Fire Ether.
The next moment, his hammer started to burn.
It looked intimidating but in truth…
Kyle moved his other hand forward and touched the fire.
'Sure, it's a bit hot, but I would need to touch it for a couple of seconds to get a burn.'
A normal human would get severe burns after coming into contact with the fire, but Fighters or beasts would only feel it slightly.
Fire Trail's destructive potential was low.
It also didn't increase Kyle's speed, and it also didn't hide his hammer or something similar.
The next moment, Kyle swung his hammer from side to side.
As he swung it, a trail of orange fire was left behind, which was a bit wider than the hammer.
The trail of fire needed about two seconds to disperse, but that was already quite long.
When Kyle's swing ended, the beginning of the trail hadn't even started to vanish yet.
It was like someone had painted the air with fire.
'Sure, it looks cool, but why would it be amazing for me?'
'I don't think Gill would scam me.'
'Maybe it will show a greater effect if I get better at it?'
For an entire day, Kyle just trained in Fire Trail, and by the end, he had gotten a lot better.
Fire Trail barely used any Ether, and its trail had also become a lot wider.
By now, it was three times as wide as his hammer's head.
When Kyle swung it in front of him, the swing left a meter-wide trail of fire behind.
Kyle could see the space behind the trail of fire without issues, but it looked quite orange.
He just scratched his head.
'I should just trust Gill and use it.'
'Speaking of, the next course should start soon.'
Kyle went back to the guild and met Gill a bit later, who asked him if he had purchased any techniques.
"Yes, I learned Fire Trail," Kyle said.
Gill smiled when he heard that.
"I'll give you a fitting opponent when the course starts. Just use it and watch," Gill said.
"Okay," Kyle said.
The others came a bit later, and the course started.
Kyle was the first one to fight someone, and his opponent was a man with long blue hair and a rapier.
"Start!" Gill said.
Kyle charged forward and used Air Current to strike.
His opponent saw Air Current and prepared himself accordingly.
But then, the Wind Ether vanished and was replaced with Fire Ether.
Kyle's opponent narrowed his eyes, but he wasn't panicked.
He knew that Kyle was slow, and after the attack ended, he would be open.
The hammer swung forward, and the opponent just took a step backward.
Kyle noticed that his opponent had avoided his attack, and he prepared for a counterattack.
Despite his Ice Affinity, the opponent was not chill.
He was the one who had beaten Kyle within five seconds last time.
But then, as Kyle watched his opponent, he saw annoyance appearing in his opponent's eyes.
Kyle's eyes widened when he saw his opponent jumping back five meters.
The trail dispersed, and the two opponents looked at each other from a distance.
"Wait a second," Kyle said. "Why didn't you attack me? I was open."
"How am I supposed to know that?" the guy asked with a bit of annoyance. "I can't see or sense you with all that Fire Ether between us."
"Wait, you can't sense me?" Kyle asked.
"No," the man said. "I don't have a Fire Affinity. How am I supposed to sense you with all that Fire Ether?"
At the side, Gill smirked.
There were two ways to make Fire Trail useless.
One of them was to have a Fire Affinity.
As long as someone had a Fire Affinity, their subconscious would make sense of the Fire Ether, and they could still tell where the opponent roughly was based on their Ether Sense.
The other way was to know how Fire Trail worked.
As long as someone knew how Fire Trail worked, their mind would subconsciously calculate the way the Fire Ether moved, and an image would appear behind the trail.
However, Kyle's opponent had neither of those.
Because of that, Kyle had essentially built a darkened but brittle shield in front of him.
The opponent had been calm against Kyle since he was fast and could easily avoid the wide and slow swings of the hammer.
But what if he couldn't see the hammer?
What if it suddenly broke past the Fire Trail?
If the opponent couldn't see the beginning of the strike, he wouldn't be able to evade in time.
This made Kyle's movements unpredictable, and as a Fighter focusing on speed, the opponent didn't like that one bit.
He needed control.
He couldn't afford to gamble.
He needed information to make the right decision.
Yet, this wall of fire hid almost all of Kyle's upper body.
This left the opponent only two choices.
Move back and strike before Fire Trail appears again, or blindly charge through the trail.
And the Fighter with the rapier did not like any of these options.
It brought unpredictability, which messed with his control.
His entire rhythm was stopped by this orange wall.
Kyle just blinked in surprise.
The effect was much greater than he had expected.
Then, he looked at Gill, who just smirked.
"Thanks," Kyle said.
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