"Did you see it?" Old Ru smirked. "Once you master this technique, you are able to repel or even shift the direction of your opponent's attack to some extent. Cutting it is good, but I think redirecting it is not losing either in terms of its usage."
Noel and Anna nodded in agreement. Noel had always wanted to use the Everchanging Emotion Sword Style with his Spirit Weaponry. By turning it into a blunt weapon, he could hit it back. However, there was something fundamentally different in this ability.
The Spirit Weaponry was only allowed to control the opponent's ability to some extent and it was only limited to his weapon. On the other hand, this ability would allow him to do it with all parts of his body. He could kick, he could grab it and throw it back, or he could even slap it away.
Depending on his needs, he could choose whether to use the Spirit Weaponry or this circulation method.
"You are going to train to match each other's energy and element to a certain extent. In fact…" Old Ru grabbed two branches on the ground and tossed them.
Noel and Anna caught them with confused expressions.
"Try to sense the Spiritual Energy hidden in that branch and match it."
Noel and Anna immediately closed their eyes. It was a very subtle energy hidden deep inside the branch.
Before coming here, they wouldn't have noticed something like this. It seemed that their training so far had trained their sensitivity to Spiritual Energy as well.
Once they felt the faint sensation, they began to channel their Spiritual Energy, matching the amount of Spiritual Energy the branch had.
Surprisingly, the branch reacted to their Spiritual Energy as if it was alive. It felt like their energy was connected to each other.
"Then, pour more energy into the branch."
Noel and Anna did it. And to their surprise, the fusion energy was getting bigger.
"This is the difference between what you've been doing until now and this training. In the past, you could easily coat the branch with your energy, but that's only limited by wrapping your energy on top of the branch."
"The durability will only be limited to the strength of your Spiritual Energy. On the other hand, with this ability, you will be able to connect with the branch and strengthen the branch itself. This way, you have the durability of your Spiritual Energy and the improved strength of that branch, making it sturdier. This is why even I can stop Noel's sword with just a normal branch. If I'm not wrong, that sword of yours is special, right?"
"Yes." Noel nodded with a serious expression. It was surprising that a branch could stop a living spirit, but he finally understood the reason.
"Because the branch isn't connected to a spirit, it doesn't have an element. However, your living opponents might have elements, thus the reason for our current training."
Anna gasped. "But if this is the case, can't we just train with other objects instead of each other?"
"There are two reasons. If it's with an individual, the Spiritual Energy can easily be detected and with your competitiveness, the amount of energy can change easily depending on your mood and intention, making the training more effective. As for the second reason, I don't like destroying objects, especially trees or something. In the past, I trained like this with trees or any objects in my surroundings, only to know a harsh truth."
"A harsh truth?" Noel raised his eyebrows, getting interested in the topic.
"Yes. When I was traveling, I found a certain facility where I witnessed the record of the past civilization. The past civilization was flourishing, all people could go to school… making their ten years old child as smart as the current noble… The people could do everything, whether during the day or night, as the city would remain bright all time. It was a wonderful civilization."
Anna and Noel were amused. They had heard about the glory of the past civilization, but they had never witnessed the real thing. They couldn't help but wonder how amazing it was.
"However, it didn't come without a price." Old Ru shook his head helplessly. "The day of prosperity doesn't last very long. The population is booming, but there is only a portion of land that can be turned into farms. They cut forests and do all kinds of activities, causing floods and even increasing the temperature."
"The increase in temperature causes farming to become harder. As a result, the food supply decreases. People start dying, and the world has become a harsh world where only the strong survive. In the end, people fight for the remaining resources."
"Whether it's a blessing or a curse, that's also when the demons appeared in this world. They caused all destruction. The previous civilizations united in the name of common enemies and fought back, but the demons destroyed all important facilities and even infiltrated their military, destroying everything. The humans gradually lost their power to fight back and began to flee."
"It was then the Spirit made their appearance, trying to help the world. The humans began to have the strength to fight back, but because they were still experimenting with their new power, they got pushed back and gradually reached this stability. Out of ten billion people, only one percent was predicted to remain alive."
"!!!" They gasped. This was the first time they heard about such a detailed story. They never expected there to be such a story about the previous civilization.
However, Noel's focus was on another thing. "Still, it was impossible to wipe out all ten billion people altogether. Just like the humans or your kingdom, there might be survivors all over the world. And to host ten billion people, the world must be huge."
"Yeah. Though, I don't know how huge it is." Old Ru shook his head helplessly.
Noel clenched his fists. He somehow felt excited about it. Different people, different places, different cultures.
"But if they cut forests, does that mean the trees…" Anna furrowed her eyebrows.
"Yes. The appearance of Spiritual Energy has strengthened the land and sped up the recovery process, allowing us to have this kind of environment right now. Still, I have to say that if we end up destroying our environment like the past civilization, even with Spiritual Energy, we will only repeat the same mistake."
Anna looked down, understanding why Old Ru was very reserved in using trees or all objects in the environment for their training.
Seeing their serious expressions couldn't help but make him smile as he tried to change the topic. "In any case, you have to continue with your training. Once you get used to it, you two will fight each other with the concept. Understood?"
