Ben led Leo to a large tree that stood out in the training area. With the sun high, casting a deep, well-defined shadow beneath the tree, it seemed like the perfect spot for their next lesson.
As Leo watched, Ben stepped into the shadow. Almost instantly, his silhouette became much harder to see as his form faded significantly, becoming 90% less visible.
Leo could just barely make out Ben's location, but only because he was standing so close.
"Now, pay attention," Ben began, his voice steady and clear. "Blending into the shadow isn't just about physical presence. It's about minimizing the perception others have of you while you're within it." He moved slightly within the shadow, his movements slow and deliberate, showing Leo that by adjusting his stance and minimizing his movements, his visibility decreased even further.
"It's about controlling your breath, minimizing your movements, and becoming a part of the shadow itself. Your goal is to reduce your presence, to limit any sign that you're there."
After ensuring Leo grasped the concept, Ben continued, "Now, let's add a layer of complexity—mana." Focusing intently, Ben then channeled a subtle flow of mana around himself. "By manipulating your mana, you can further distort how light interacts with your body, effectively bending the perception others have of you." As he did this, Ben became completely invisible to Leo.
Although Leo knew Ben stood right in front of him, there was no visual evidence of his presence. "This," Ben's voice floated from the empty space, "is the result of finely controlling your mana to distort vision, making yourself completely unseen, even to those who are looking directly at you."
Ben's demonstration provided a vivid, step-by-step guide on blending into shadows and enhancing this with mana manipulation.
" The basic principle behind blending with the shadows is simple.
We perceive in the light, and it's hard for us to perceive in the dark.
Only objects that reflect light to any degree can be perceived. So if you hide your presence such that you reflect little or no light, it will always be hard to see you.
Since you cannot physically make your body not reflect any light, the first step of achieving 60-80% shadow blending is just understanding the angle from which your enemy is perceiving you and not reflecting any light to that area.
The remaining 20-40% is mana distortion which will be the stage two of this mastery" Ben explained as he stepped out of the shadows and encouraged Leo to try himself.
" Go, try doing what I just did, I'll help you adjust your posture from the outside" Ben said as he walked out of the shadow and switched places with Leo.
Leo, although having many doubts about how to achieve shadow blending, tried to follow Ben's instructions as he tried to emulate Ben's earlier demonstration, adjusting his stance and attempting to make his body as inconspicuous as possible.
Ben observed Leo's efforts from outside the shadow, offering guidance. "Relax your shoulders," he advised. "And tilt your head slightly. Good. Now, hold your breath for a moment. Feel how stillness enhances your ability to blend."
Leo focused intently on Ben's advice, trying to understand the subtlety of manipulating his presence within the shadow to reflect the least amount of light possible towards where an enemy might stand.
He adjusted his position, experimenting with angles and postures that minimized his visibility.
"Think about where the light is coming from," Ben instructed from the edge of the shadow. "Now, position yourself in a way that you cast the smallest shadow possible towards where your enemy might be. It's like becoming a part of the shadow itself, minimizing the contrast between you and the background."
Leo shifted his weight, slightly turning his body. He noticed that certain positions made him feel as if he was almost merging with the shadow, his outline blurring with the surrounding darkness.
"Good, that's it," Ben said, noting Leo's adjustments. "By understanding how light and shadow interact, you can control how much of you is seen. It's not just about hiding; it's about deceiving the eye, making it harder for someone to focus on you, or even better, to overlook you entirely."
Leo continued to practice, moving slowly within the shadow, each subtle adjustment helping him grasp the concept of minimizing his visibility by controlling how he reflected light. It was a delicate balance, requiring awareness of his surroundings, his body, and the source of light.
Ben watched closely, offering occasional pointers to refine Leo's technique. "Remember, the goal is to make it difficult for your enemy to perceive you as a distinct entity. You're learning to manipulate perception, using the shadow and your understanding of light to your advantage."
As the lesson progressed, Leo felt a growing sense of achievement. With each adjustment and movement, he was learning to control his visibility in a way he hadn't thought possible, laying the foundational skill of blending into the shadows without relying on mana, purely through physical positioning and understanding of light.
Ofcourse, unlike Ben he was only successful in reducing his presence by 30-40%. He still needed to pick up on a lot of the basics such as covering all of his body with dark cloth like assassin's did and refining his technique, however, he was at least understanding the concept behind it.
The road between this and skill mastery could only be traversed by consistent practise and according to Ben's estimates, he expected Leo to learn the non mana part in 3 days and the complete mana distortion in darkness in four more days.
***********
( Meanwhile Luke )
[ 06:44:00 ]
Luke looked at his score on the weighted armor training and smiled. He had finally managed to surpass the training record of the assistant that helped him the very first day.
" I did it!" He told the assistant excitedly, who just like everyone else in the room, stared at Luke's running score with mouths agape.
" What sort of a beast are you? I've been performing weighted west training for 2 years now! Two years, you've thrashed my record in one and a half months, what rate of growth is this?" The assistant questioned as he checked if Luke was indeed wearing the 50 kg Armor, which he was.
"Oh god no, this makes no sense" said the assistant as he categorized Luke as a beast that he could not fathom.
Luke's growth rate was absurd to the point that everyone in his batch already viewed him as a different sort of beast.
Being a player, he was already improving much faster compared to the NPC, however, his own natural talent in fighting and situational awareness was also nothing to scoff about.
There was not a single subject that Luke did not improve dramatically in as a month later he was already as good as the best in the class for each subject, cementing his place as the student acknowledged by a master knight.
Because of his shining talent, Jerome faced less bullying as well as nobody wished to mess with Luke who was most likely going to overshadow everyone in the coming months, giving Jerome much needed peace of mind as his bond with Luke strengthened.
—-------
/// A/N - Bonus chapter for hitting the GT Target, good job everyone! ///