An Assassin's Adventure: The Great Conjunction

Chapter 21: Obstruction

*Flutter*

Hit snuffled his nose.

*Flutter*

"Grrr." He waved his head.

*Flutter* *Flutter*

Hit's meditative state broke as he surveyed what was bothering him. The boy blinked at a curious moth, fluttering around his head. It landed right on his nose. The bug's wings danced as it careened into the sky, under Hit's breath. 'Guess that's my meditation finalised for the day.'

The boy was not alone as he stared over at a peculiarly positioned girl. She was upside down, holding herself up with nothing but her pinkie. Her other arm was folded behind her back, and golden eyes were closed; thankfully, she wore shorts. Ais Wallenstein peeked an eye open. Seeing that her teacher had woken up, she pushed herself into the air and flipped onto her feet; the crisp air did her tired body good.

The quiet girl stretched herself in the moonlight, contentedly. Ais' new training methods had improved her dexterity, muscle movements, and mental clarity greatly. It wasn't a staggering difference, but it was still impressive just how much of her potential was still locked away. As a result, she had found that targeting monster weak points, and evading their attacks, came more fluidly to her. She also tired less quickly, due to her improved efficiency. Ais was deeply grateful for Hit's training, something that she viewed as instrumental to defeating Udaeus, the monster rex of the 37th floor, singlehandedly. Even when the demonic titan reared out a gargantuan onyx blade, an event that had never occurred before, her mental state did not falter in the slightest. Finally, she was a little closer to reaching her goal, after such a prolonged time. Ais Wallenstein was now the Loki familia's fourth level 6.

Image training was still slightly beyond her, only recently managing to connect with Hit's mindscape. However, her focus was still lacking, leading to the projection of a child-like Ais in the plane. Her teacher had been quite shocked that she even managed such a feat, mumbling about 'ki' not being a requirement here.

The blond girl walked up to her teacher, who had pulled out a gold-engraved book and begun reading it. "...How is your magic research progressing?"

Hit closed the book and pulled out a golden valis coin. "See for yourself"

*Clink*

He flicked the coin into the air, creating a shimmering effect in the starlight.

Hit positioned his hands to form an isosceles triangle: thumbs formed the base, and two fingers formed each equal side; his body glowed in a wispy purple light. The coin glimmered above, right at the centre of the formation.

"Hmph" A grunt of effort from Hit transferred the glow onto the now plummeting coin. The odd lighting caused its rotations and descent to slow to a snail's pace.

Hit smirked at the object, proof that he was now capable of magic. "Take that, you old bag. Easy-peasy."

This was Hit's first magic: [Time Lag]. [Time lag] was the magic version of the ki technique he had used to slow Jiren down, during the tournament of power. The target's time is slowed, making them much easier to dodge and attack. However, the greater the object's momentum, the harder it was to slow. It was a weaker version of Hit's more advanced technique, used later in the tournament.

Ais stared at the object in wonderment: it appeared to be floating down to Earth, like a faraway comet. Rather than a plasma tail, magic particles danced around it. "...Amazing... Did you really teach yourself this in three weeks?"

Hit rolled his eyes, not understanding how momentous the achievement was. "It was relatively easy. Using the various magic Tomes within your library, I could meditate and focus at the exact frequency and wavelength required to match the energy. The rest was a cake walk."