Seed of Titan

Time flew by as Drai busied himself with studying and training. Around a month had passed since Drai entered Soluna Academy. Theoretical classes still left him with headaches, but they weren't as severe as the ones he experienced during his first week here.

Ever since the trablite incident during Body Transformation 1 class, Darius had decided to let Drai do whatever he wanted. Whether he followed the training method that was currently being practiced or trained differently, nobody in the class ever complained. In the beginning, some students had tried to imitate Drai's personal training with the professor's permission, but quickly realized that it was a pointless endeavor. Eventually, Drai was left with almost total freedom except for the occasional questions from his professors regarding his unconventional training methods.

Meanwhile, Combat 1 class was a whole different story. Drai had never trained in martial arts nor the like before coming here, so he had to start from zero like many of his classmates. In fact, those who did train a lot in combat prior to entering the academy were mostly admitted into the Faculty of Combat.

However, Samara, the professor in charge of Combat 1, soon found out that it's impossible for Drai to spar with other students because of the stat difference between them. Not only was Drai practically invulnerable to his contemporaries' attacks, Drai's own strength was too devastating that most students were either too hurt to continue or knocked out cold after one clean hit from Drai.

Ever since the power gap between Drai and the others was revealed, Drai had only sparred with Samara or either of the assistant professors. But most of the time, Drai had been focusing on polishing his CQC skills, specifically his accuracy and fluidity. He also chose not to wield any weapon at the moment because he didn't want it to hinder his overall progress, especially since mastering a weapon required a certain degree of finesse that Drai was lacking at the moment.

However, during today's Combat 1 class, Drai stumbled upon a rather significant hurdle.

"So have you realized your main weakness, Drai?" said Kino, one of the assistant professors. He stood a few meters away from Drai, wiping the few drops of sweat from his forehead.

"Yes, Professor. I think I know," Drai replied. He was still holding his combat stance, covered in sweat and slightly panting.

During this spar, Kino focused on evading Drai's attacks, which proved to be a relatively easy task for him. Of course this couldn't be considered a fair fight as Kino was at the 2nd evolution stage already, meaning that he was at least nine levels above Drai. But the point was to make Drai aware of this weakness; it didn't matter how powerful his punches were if they couldn't land on the opponent.

"If one's combat instinct or analysis skills is high enough, the difference in agility can be easily overcome by predicting the opponent's movements and adjust one's tactics and attacks accordingly. However…" Kino paused as he looked at Drai closely, "…you don't posses that kind of capacity, at least not at your current stage. That's why you should look for another way to temporarily cover this flaw, Drai."

"I will. Thank you, Professor."

"Good. Use the remaining time to think about it. I'll go tend to the other students now. Don't hesitate to ask if you have a problem or require any guidance."

After Kino left, Drai stood still and contemplated about the matter. In his previous bouts with the other students, his flaw wasn't too obvious as only some of them had higher agility than Drai but never too significant. And perhaps their wariness of Drai's power affected the sharpness of their movement and their judgement, which was advantageous for Drai.

'The most straightforward solution is to wield a long weapon and hope that my swing speed can match their evasion. But I hate having to carry a long pole everywhere, and it may also hinder my own movements and combat effectiveness. Worst-case scenario, the opponent will exploit my shortcomings instead. I have a feeling that this will end up as putting the cart before the horse.'

Several minutes had passed and Drai was still struggling to find an answer to this problem. He was beginning to ponder whether to consult his professor when he heard someone shout.

"Stop playing around!"

Drai turned around to see that it was Lorin, the other assistant professor, who had shouted at several students that were doing some silly choreography instead of practicing. Drai couldn't help but smile as he was reminded of the scene where Maxwell admonished Jian and Auri when they made a ruckus after disagreeing on their party name.

Amidst his mirth, Drai suddenly froze as he was struck by an epiphany. He recalled the moment when a small piece of wood smashed into the floor between Jian and Auri after being flicked by Maxwell. Drai remembered that he could barely make out its trajectory due to its speed.

Drai's hand instinctively rose and curled, ready to unleash a flick with his middle finger. He paid close attention to the particular gesture he was making while putting a decent amount of strength into it. Finally, his thumb moved ever so slightly to unleash the contained force.

"BANG!"

A noise akin to a gun going off but not as loud could be heard throughout the training area. The other students looked around briefly to find the cause of the sudden noise but quickly retracted their curiosity when they realized it was Drai's doing as this wasn't the first time Drai had made a commotion during his personal training. Only the professors seemed to have noticed the peculiar gesture Drai's right hand was making.

'So he chose that route, huh? Interesting… I hope he can work out a suitable method for it to be practical,' Kino thought.

After the loud bang he made, Drai was left slightly baffled. He didn't know why his flicking had made such a loud sound. He wanted to test it again but was worried that it would disturb the other students.

'Although I don't know how it works, I'm sure that my finger speed was way faster than it would normally be when I move it by itself,' Drai thought as he rapidly wiggled his middle finger back and forth, attempting to verify his inference.

'Yeah… I'm pretty sure it moved faster when I was flicking. So, will the speed of my finger carry over to the object it flicks? I guess that's the next step I should test out. Maybe I should also move to the far corner in case I make a loud bang every time I flick.'

With that, Drai quietly moved away from the crowd, making his way toward a secluded corner. On his way there, Drai picked up a bunch of small pebbles to practice with.

'Okay, let's see if the pebble retains the speed,' Drai thought as he slotted a pebble between his thumb and middle finger. He then promptly flicked the pebble using a similar amount of force as he did for his previous flick.

This time, the flick didn't only produce a loud bang, but a subtle whoosh also followed as the rocketing pebble launched into the air before hitting the fence surrounding the training ground with a sharp metallic sound.

Drai was slightly startled by the result. He looked around warily before breathing a sigh of relief after seeing that he hadn't caused much of a ruckus—only attracting a few glances here and there.

'I think it does retain the speed, at least quite a lot of it,' Drai pondered as he recalled the pebble's velocity. 'I think it's a viable method of attack against agile opponents. Perhaps it won't cause a lot of damage by itself, but even stalling them for a few seconds will be enough.'

Drai then slotted another pebble and prepared to flick it. This time, he tried aiming at the trunk of a tree that wasn't too far. With a flick, the pebble cut through the air and once again hit the metal fence way beyond the intended target.

'I guess aiming isn't that easy with such a small projectile. Let's try again.'

With a flick, a pebble launched into the sky once more.

'It's not working… Maybe I should try different hand positions. I've been doing it intuitively, but maybe there's a more optimal form for accuracy.'

For the next few minutes, multiple clangs filled the area one after another as a series of pebbles smashed onto the fence. In between each hit, Drai could be seen changing his stance and the form of his arm and fingers. He even tried switching his flicking middle finger with each of his other fingers but quickly realized that they performed far worse. As a last ditch effort, he tried flicking simultaneously with both hands but somehow ended up launching the pebble straight above him into the open sky.

Although Maxwell had made it look easy, flicking accurately using a decent amount of force required a certain amount of dexterity that Drai obviously lacked. Furthermore, Drai wasn't used to handling things with finesse, which made the task much more difficult.

As Drai watched the last pebble fall vertically from above him, his frustration bubbled up and the sight of the pebble that seemed to be dropping from the sky in seemingly slow motion really annoyed him; he felt that it was mocking his dreadful aim and futile effort.

In his annoyance, Drai's body jolted as he leaped several meters into the air before punching the poor pebble with all his might. Unsurprisingly, the pebble was smashed into dozens of tiny pieces which immediately blasted into the sky in a conical shape before raining down the training ground shortly after Drai's descent.

At this moment, Drai was seemingly mesmerized by the outcome of his action. He stared at the barely discernible pieces of pebble laying on the ground around him. After a moment of silence, Drai suddenly bursted out laughing.

"Hahaha! I get it now! Why didn't I think of this before?"

Right away, Drai scurried around the surrounding area. Soon, he was back and was carrying a pile of rocks that were multiple times larger than the pebbles he previously used. They weren't too large though, averaging around half his upper torso in size.

Drai put the pile down, leaving himself with a single rock that he could easily lift with one hand. He raised the rock straight ahead with his left hand, facing the tree that he had previously failed to hit.

'To hell with accuracy. If I can't hit it with a single projectile, I'll just make it rain!'

With a renewed zest, Drai tried his best to aim at his target before punching the rock that he was lifting with quite a force. Following a loud crack, the rock was blasted into numerous pieces that swiftly flew toward the general direction of the tree.

A series of loud thuds and cracks ensued. Drai smilingly observed the destruction he was causing. And after the dust had settled, his smile turned into a wide grin because his target was now in tatters, along with the small area surrounding it.

"Success! Hahaha!" Drai gleefully exclaimed as he picked up another rock. After deciding on his next target, he quickly repeated the same course of action, which ended with a similar result just as he had expected.

"Awesome! F**k you, low int! I'm still a genius regardless! Hahaha!" Drai shouted excitedly as he picked up another rock, ready to unleash hell to the next group of poor innocent trees. But before he could punch the rock, he felt a slender but strong grip on his shoulders.

"Having fun, Drai?"

Drai felt a cold sweat trickling down as he turned around and saw that Samara was standing behind him, smiling quite menacingly as her eyes observed the ruined grounds and vegetation nearby.

"I can explain, Professor…" Drai meekly said.

"It's because of your training, right?" Samara questioned.

"Yes… I'm sorry if I went overboard…" Drai apologized as he glanced at the two fresh devastated patches of trees near them.

"Don't worry, it's not that big of a deal. Just refrain yourself from destroying our property any further, or else the Infrastructure Department staff will be having a field day with us. Damage incurrence during training is well within expectations, but not to this extent and certainly not after only one session," Samara explained.

"Phew! That's reassuring," Drai exclaimed as he heaved a sigh of relief.

"Speaking of which… That move of yours is for dealing with opponents that are otherwise too fast for you, right?"

"Yes, Professor. My lack of means against such opponents was made clear to me during my spar with Professor Kino."

"Hm. It's good that you're able to figure out a solution for one of your flaws early on and in a very short time too," Samara said, nodding in approval. "Maybe the System will even make it an obtainable skill if it thinks it's highly compatible with you, Drai."

"Ah… Yeah, maybe…" Drai doubtfully agreed as he was sure that the System wouldn't be that generous to him. Even if it really appeared in the skill page, Drai was sure that its cost would've probably been drastically inflated.

"I suggest that you get a durable sack to haul your rocks in the future. I know it's quite a hassle, but there's not much you can do about it," Samara said as she eyed the rock pile, feeling bad for Drai due to this unavoidable inconvenience. But immediately after she said this, the rock pile disappeared with a swipe of Drai's hand.

"I don't think I need it, Professor. Thank you for your advice. I'll make sure to pay attention to the outcome of my trainings in the future. I'm going to see Natalia now. Later, Professor," Drai said as he jogged excitedly toward the crowd of students.

Samara was left standing there with a dropping jaw, staring at Drai's departing figure. Her gaze was forcibly latched onto the bracelet on Drai's left wrist. It took her a short while before she was able to regain her composure.

"To hell with durable sacks, who am I kidding…" she weakly exclaimed. "The boy has a f**king dimensional storage!"

***