Dyon was astonished. Inwardly, he had several grievances. For one, he had realized that his array had no effect on hiding the ring. Secondly, this girl he had never met before was trying to kill him for something that was obviously his. And lastly, her personality couldn"t be further from what she looked like! How could you be so quick to anger with such an innocent appearance! The only clue you might have to who she was, was her crop top armor and leather pants covered in her kilted short skirt, but even then, the gentle and pure eyes plus the light blue to silver hair overpowered whatever vibes you got from that."Hold on. You"re too beautiful to be caught up in anger so easily. Wouldn"t it be a simple matter to prove whether the ring was mine or not?"
The girl was aggrieved. She clearly had an ordinary appearance, but this handsome boy was calling her beautiful as though just that would be enough to calm her anger?
"f.u.c.k you! You think your cheap lines will work on me?!" The girl lunged forward at the flabbergasted Dyon.
Dyon leaped backwards and out of the cave, narrowly dodging her strike, "she"s strong…"
Dyon knew he had made a mistake in his words. He had been so entranced by her eyes and hair, he hadn"t even noticed her ordinary facial features. He could understand how his words could be misconstrued as sweet talk to distract her. But, that only added to his list of grievances because he really meant what he said.
Watching Dyon calmly dodge her strikes only fueled the blue haired girl"s fury, "are you a man?! Or had you long since lost your b.a.l.l.s! Keep dodging like a coward!"
Dyon couldn"t help but be startled again, "this girl has such a… fierce mouth."
Dyon realized that it didn"t seem like she had any cultivation either, but, her body was clearly stronger than normal and her sword will was sharp. She didn"t seem to be making any noise with her movements, it was almost as though the only noise she made came from her mouth. If Dyon didn"t have his aurora as a 6th sense, dodging her attacks would be much more difficult than usual.
"what ability is that? Is that a will? Or a technique?" Thought Dyon.
The girl was even more astonished than Dyon. She knew fully well how effective the methods she was using were. For Dyon to dodge as much as he had was astonishing. But, her anger hadn"t been alleviated.
Suddenly, her attacks increased in speed, a cold and harsh aura began to fill the area.
"ice will? Wind will? Something"s replenishing her stamina too…"
The girls light blue-silver hair raged behind her, flowing freely. Her steps were swift and silent as she lunged forward again and again.
Dyon was beginning to be unable to dodge by normal means anymore. He immediately began using his celestial movement technique. His foot lifted and slowly descended. His body flashed appearing behind the girl.
His eyes immediately flashed with a golden light, encasing the girl in layer after layer of defensive arrays.
BOOM!
The arrays began to shatter, but luckily, the sword stopped before it reached the last one.
Breathing a sigh of relief, Dyon tried talking again, "can we talk this out please? It really is my ring. a.s.suming you found it in the forest, I can even tell you which tree roots it was buried under… well, actually I can"t because I don"t know this forest well, but that knowledge should be enough! Right?"
The girl didn"t seem to be listening to Dyon anymore. Her eyes were trained on the spherical arrays that surrounded her. The ice cold aura had completely disappeared, instead a face filled with contemplation had appeared.
Dyon looked confused, but her voice finally broke the silence, "show me the array plate you made this with, it"s even better than the one I have! You must be related to that expert somehow!"
"array plate?"
Dyon waved his hands, removing the defensive arrays, "I made these myself, why would I need an array plate?"
The girl stumbled, looking at Dyon like she had just heard the most unbelievable thing, "don"t bulls.h.i.t me! I"ve forgiven you once, don"t raise my temper again! Now show me the plate!"
Dyon sighed. He had dealt with this before. So, instead of speaking, his eyes flashed in gold. 16 points of spirals began drawing complex symbols in the air, culminating in complex swirls and moving parts that looked like the gears to machinery.
The girl was silent… unable to find the words to speak.
"You… you"re… But…"
Suddenly the girl took out the array plate she had been studying, "did you make this?"
Although she couldn"t be sure, every array alchemist had a finger print that was impossible to replicate. When she thought about how she had just tried to fight an expert who was centuries old, her heart trembled a bit, but she maintained her normal appearance.
Dyon looked down at the plate and his face transformed into a surprised expression, "how did this get here…"
Dyon"s words were simple, but they made the girl tremble with agitation and excitement.
The girl immediately kneeled to the ground, "please! Take me as your disciple!"
Dyon was startled out of his thoughts, "what the h.e.l.l is going on…."
Dyon rushed forward to help the girl up, "please don"t do this. How could I take a girl my age as a disciple?"
The girl trembled again, "you"re… really my age?"
Dyon gave her an odd look, "of course I am. How could I not be?"
"But, your level of mastery… it"s too high."
Dyon finally understood, "she must have a.s.sumed my age from my understanding of arrays."
Dyon shook his head, "I have an innate aurora, so my affinity for array alchemy is quite high. I was just lucky."
The girl nearly fainted. Lucky? Even if you just considered having an innate aurora, that wasn"t something that had appeared for millennia. If you then considered his mastery, that wasn"t something an innate aurora could account for.
"Innate aurora… wow… I still insist that you teach me! I won"t take no for an answer," the blue haired girl"s fiery att.i.tude had all of a sudden appeared once again with her firm a.s.sertion.
Dyon could only shake his head helplessly, "how about we be friends first? My name is Dyon. What"s yours?"
"You can call me Ri," the girl said with a ma.s.sive grin, tugging on Dyon"s arm to pull him to the cave.
Dyon sighed, "alright, we can do this first. But! You have to take me to deeper areas of the forest so I can hone my skills against some of the creatures."
The girl was startled for a second, but then she nodded. She remembered how difficult it had been for her when she fought him earlier. Despite the fact he hadn"t begun energy cultivation either, he was definitely no weaker than her.
"deal."
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Well... this was an interesting meeting, lmao
I wanted to use these chapters and maybe a few others to establish the importance of array alchemy and, more importantly, how complex it is. It may seem simple because of how quickly Dyon picked it up, but, that"s really because of his background in the human world. Array Alchemy was split in two because of its complexity (allegedly, there"s more to the story I haven"t revealed yet ;)), so, instead of me constantly writing about how surprised people are about Dyon"s skill, I thought I"d show you all why they"re so surprised :)
hope you enjoyed!
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