Broken Tower Saga: The First Swordsman

"Armament Reinforcement can be said as the essentials of a mahasayer. Without this you can't be a proper mahasayer," Sophia said. "It's actually a sub ability of maha mana applications. Those with mana discharge at Rank-D or above can try learning it now, while others pay close attention to it."

Kevin clenched his fist harder. Other than Lan, Lillian, Jacob, and Kevin, everyone advanced to rank D in mana discharge.

"Essentially, Armament Reinforcement is a must-have ability for close-quarter combatant, but there is no harm in learning if you're a mage or archer," Sophia continued with her explanation. "Before going further into the explanation, let me show you some examples, but to do that I need a volunteer."

Before even Sophia asked for anyone else, Anton raised his arm, volunteering himself.

"Now I have one," Sophia mused. "Come here," she said to Anton, who instantly stood up from his mat and almost lunged before Sophia. Sophia continued. "Pick up a weapon and attack me with your best shot."

"Eh?" Anton dumbfounded. He was hesitant when he heard their instructor say:

"Don't make me repeat myself, do as I say."

Anton did not hesitate anymore, picked up a knife and slashed at the blonde woman in front. The move was not Anton's best, no it's hardly enough to call it a slash. The point of the Knife was about to reach the shoulder of Sophia, yet she did not make any moves.

Anton was bewildered, his knife just stopped before touching the shoulder of the blonde woman.

"Is this your best shot?" Sophia sighed. "Come at me with your full force, I doubt you could even hurt a hair of mine."

"As you wish, lady," Anton said as he infused the body of the knife with the shadow element, and lunged at Sophia with the knife.

Anton did not stop this time, but Sophia did not move this time either. The knife at the reverse grip was pinned at the shoulder of Sophia, yet there was no response like the first time.

Anton's expression showed the colour of confusion. He pulled himself with more strength, but the result was the same. The knife could not even make a dent in her clothes, much less break her defence.

"Didn't I say you could not even harm a hair of mine," Sophia cracked a smile. "You can go now, the exhibition is over."

Anton's cheeks were red, maybe out of embarrassment or out of pulling all his strength. "Lady Sophia, are you made of steel or something?"

"No, I'm a human like any of you," Sophia smiled. "But I have about 9 years more experience in it than any of you."

"Nine years? When you first climbed the tower, how old were you?" Anton asked, sitting back on his mat.

"Enough old to understand the world," Sophia muttered. "Enough of small talk. Do any of you see anything unusual during our exhibition? Wrik, I noticed you're examining the process with your ability. What did you see?"

"I have noticed a thin layer of barrier on your body, on your clothes too, it's as if you are protected by mana." Wrik continued. "When Anton's attack struck your body, I noticed the amount of mana rise on the spot of the knife-point."

"You saw more than I assumed," Sophia nodded. "The mana coating you saw was the armament reinforcement I was talking about."

"Is it like the infusion we do with the weapon?" Wrik asked.

"You can say that, but just infusion is a barbaric way of applying. It wastes too much mana," Sophia continued. "Most of you only have around twenty points in mana. Wasting it only makes it harder in any difficult situation. So Learning Armament reinforcement is the way to go. You can use it on anything physical, your body, weapons, even clothes.

"It's pretty easy to learn, but a hard thing to master. For the next two days, I'll only teach you these. Any questions before I go to teaching?"

"Yes," Anton said, raising his arm. "If I learn the armament reinforcement, will I be able to penetrate your defences?"

"No," Sophia smiled. "But you could hurt one of my hair, probably."

Anton was dissatisfied by her words. He sounded out again. "How strong are you, Lady Sophia?"

"Should I tell you the truth?"

"Yes," Anton said, and everyone in the room seemed eager to answer the question.

''Well, I don't know the actual number, but I am probably a couple of hundred times stronger than any of you," the blonde lady added. "And it's me being generous."

"Holy cow!" swore Anton. And all the others were speechless.

"There's no need to be stunned like that. Some of you can get there after a decade or two," Sophia said. "Now Armament Reinforcement."

Then Sophia started to explain the science behind the sub ability of mana applications. It turned out quite simple in listening. You just have to create or relocate a couple of hundreds or more of maha points all around the body. Maha points are the spot in the body where the most amount of the mana was distributed.

"Maha Points are the easiest way to deliver any skills or abilities before you create your Maha core," Sophia said. "A well-versed mahasayer could create or relocate a maha point in seconds, while it's still quite difficult for any of you. Distributing the bare minimum of mana armament throughout the body would require at least two hundred Maha Point. Those maha points could supply maha mana with faster than usual, and it not just helps armament reinforcement, but also broaden the perception and senses of the body."

"Maha Core? I heard it's super useful for mages, or any mahasayer," Michelle sounded out. "Sis, have you created yours?"

"I have created one, though its still a few important steps away from completion. Apparently it's not that easy to create a Maha Core."

"How difficult is it?" the redhead asked again.

"Still quite difficult for me," Sophia said. "Well, no need to worry about that, you all need to advance all the way to Rank-A in your Omega origin before you can even qualify to think about Maha Core.

"Put your entire attention on the Maha points for now."

"So how should we create those Maha points?" Wrik asked, comprehending some of Sophia's teaching.

"I'll not teach you that. You'll learn it yourself; actually all f you already created a few maha points in your body unknowingly. You have to locate the existing Maha points in your body," Sophia said. "I'll help you with that. After that, you have to relocate it with your preference before you have at least two hundred maha points."

"So how are you going to help us locate the maha point?" Wrik asked.

"Like this," Sophia said as mana surged from her body.

Even though those tiny particles of mana were invisible, they could sense it. They all noticed the surge of mana rushed from Sophia towards the ten of them. Sophia left Byul as she still needs to rest.

"Don't resist, close your eyes and sense the mana where it moves," Sophia said as a little line appeared between her brows. "Usually novices unknowingly created a few maha points in their most-used organ. For example, the arms. Sense my mana inside your body, sense where it goes and you will find the mana points."

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A bonus chapter for today.