After utilizing the Berserk ability Greg inherited from the Lesser Minotaur, his physique was stronger than Jason's by a large margin, and only by using multiple affinities, Jason was able to fight Greg head-on.
However, due to Greg's low proficiency with his Berserk ability, Jason was at an advantage as he noticed that Greg was forced to stay motionless within the mist in order to release his mana.
Thanks to that he figured out that Greg's control over his ability was still unstable, even if it was much better compared to before.
Appearing in front of Greg with his body leaned forward, as they stared at each other with a serious expression.
Jason released all dozen, fist-sized black fireballs at once in order to attack Greg's vital spots, without aiming at his head.
In the worst case, his friend would receive a few burns, and shooting a peak-evolved ranked fireball at his friend's head would be considered overkill because they only sparred with each other.
Not even bothering if the fight was over or not, Jason pushed himself from the ground with his weightless steps technique fully utilized, as he switched from Greg's front to his backside, when the fireballs exploded, creating a large smoke screen which covered his disappearance.
Unable to see each other under normal circumstances gave Jason many benefits thanks to his mana eyes and his seemingly perfect vision.
As such, he even perceived how light Greg's injuries were thanks to his disrupted mana in the areas his fireball hit as he pierced with both daggers into Greg's calves, without thinking about dulling them at all.
If Greg wanted to learn how to control his Berserk ability, he had to remain level-headed even after sustaining light and severe injuries, which Jason wanted to force right now.
window.pubfuturetag = window.pubfuturetag || [];window.pubfuturetag.push({unit: "64ce79d606107d003c23ea27", id: "pf-5140-1"})Being able to finish off Greg, Jason decided to back off after inflicting two rather light injuries, as he released thick mist once again fully guarded against possible counterattacks.
However, this time, he also concealed his mana fluctuations to a certain degree, with the help of his concealment technique.
Monitoring how Greg behaved and desperately tried to control his own body while being in the Berserk state was not something Jason liked to see, but if he wanted to help his friend, this was necessary.
Yet, after seeing that his friend was unable to control himself after Jason injured him, he could only sigh, as he actively supported his passive mana gathering technique, while his sub-area in his mind did the same.
With this, he could replenish his mana faster than it was used up in order to manifest the thick mist surrounding him.
Their spar ended after barely five minutes when Greg's berserk state began to recede, releasing him from his suffering, as he slumped on the ground, taking deep breaths.
Jason meanwhile stopped utilizing his ice affinity, before he walked towards Greg when the mist began to dissipate.
Looking at each other, Greg gnashed his teeth as he frustratingly acknowledged.
"I'm still unable to control my berserk state!..F*ck!!"
However, Jason perceived the whole situation differently, as he said reassuringly.
window.pubfuturetag = window.pubfuturetag || [];window.pubfuturetag.push({unit: "64cc9e79c7059f003e4ad4b0", id: "pf-5109-1"})"Don't be so frustrated! It has only been a few hours since you received the enhanced version of your Berserk ability from Taurus, and it's already quite good that you could control yourself to such a high degree!
If you think back to the time when you used your Berserk ability for the first time against me, you'll notice that your proficiency increased by a lot!
If you work hard, a few weeks will be more than enough to further improve your control, and then you'll be extremely powerful and maybe even the strongest first-year on Astrix? Who knows?"
Reassuring and motivating Greg was what he needed right now in order to stay motivated and the two talked to each other while Jason supported Greg to walk inside towards Gabriella who looked shocked at her son, whose calves were pierced by a sharp object, while his skin was partially burned.
Staring daggers at Jason, he didn't know what to say, when Greg came to his rescue, as he explained how this helped him out in order to control his Berserk state.
Thinking about this, Gabriella could only sight and think that it was better if Jason attacked her son without killing him in order to improve his control over his abilities, which might save his life in the future when something dangerous might happen, instead of someone else torturing him, even if she hated to see her son being injured more than anything.
It hurt her heart deeply, but she knew that it was important to become stronger in a world that was reigned by the strong.
After bringing Greg to Gabriella, Jason took a shower and changed into a clean set of clothes before he returned to his room, where he took out the messenger crystal he hasn't used for over a month, where he told Dalia everything about Old Drake and the Drake patriarch.
Injecting mana into the messenger crystal, he called his masters once again, because he had to figure out if they had any instructions for him, or that he should just hold back during the tournament in order to stay low profile.
After the runes brightened up, they manifested and Jason had to wait for several minutes before he finally heard Shane's voice
window.pubfuturetag = window.pubfuturetag || [];window.pubfuturetag.push({unit: "663633fa8ebf7442f0652b33", id: "pf-8817-1"})"Hello, Jason? What's going on? How are you doing?"
Being able to hear Shane who sounded healthy without pain in his voice, Jason sighed in relief, as he began to talk with his master about the main issue he noticed for the
"Hello Master, I'm doing fine. I hope your reattached arm is completely healed and that you're back at your top form! However, I called today for a different reason…As you two may know, I'll enter the Big-Three tournament which will start tomorrow, but to be honest I'm not sure how much strength I should use!
I'm already aware of the fact that the established fortified soul conjunctions with my soulbonds shouldn't be revealed, but other than that I'm not sure! My physique is currently comparable to an average 3rd Expert rank, while my affinities reached the mid/late evolved rank…
I know that this is not really something special on Canir, if I were to compare myself to prodigies there, but it's still relatively uncommon for someone without any backing.
If there was not the issue with Old Drake, I wouldn't really bother about this, but because I feel so uncomfortable, I decided to call you two!"
Hearing the urgency, worry, and slight frustration In Jason's voice, Shane couldn't help but smile drily through the messenger crystal, while Dalia approached him from behind.
She also listened to what Jason said and they already discussed multiple scenarios with each other, as Shane said reassuringly.
"Just do whatever you want to do! You don't even have to hold back if you find an opponent you genuinely want to beat! Just ignore the older generation and the others who bother you! We thought of multiple ways to get you out of Astrix, if Old Drake tries to scheme against us!"
After Shane finished, Dalia from behind shouted
"In the worst case, you can just fake your death! We are proficient in doing something like this…hehe! Otherwise, Shane will use force to get you out of there! His spatial affinity never betrayed us! Don't worry little one! Shane is healthy, even though he still didn't recuperate completely.
We already prepared something large for the Drake family patriarch, if he were to come for you…hehe...It might be cruel, but everyone will receive what they sowed."
Hearing his masters speak, Jason was once again taken aback as he noticed that the two seemed to have several personalities because they were sometimes extremely serious, and then suddenly childish, when it came to forging or Beasto-creator's.
However, in his opinion, Dalia only wanted to ease his tension because she noticed his anxiety.
In the end, it was only obvious for him to feel nervous, considering that there might be a Sovereign rank after him, who was said to have a full-fledged dragon as his soulbond.
Worse was, however, that the Drake family patriarch was stronger than Shane according to the mana core size and number of solidified prismarine-crystals within their mana core.
This didn't necessarily mean that Shane was weaker, but it was definitely a disadvantage, as his soulbonds were also weaker than a sovereign-ranked dragon.
Additionally, the Drake family patriarch had high-quality transmuted.
Smiling through the messenger crystal, Jason was thankful that his masters allowed him to go all out if he wanted to, as he suddenly remembered something he wanted to tell them!
'I almost forgot it!?' He said to himself, slapping his forehead.
