Leonis looked at his master for a moment.
Seven Veils of Evernight.
It was a grand name, but what caught his attention more was Evangeline’s confidence when she introduced it.
"What is the skill rank, Master?"
"Ancient."
This time, his expression became more serious.
The skills of this world were divided into six ranks; Common, Rare, Grand, Divine, Ancient, and Mythic.
Even a Divine skill was considered a priceless inheritance for many great families, and Ancient skills were so rare that some great powers were willing to start wars to obtain them.
And now his master intended to teach such a skill to him.
In fact, the Habsburg Swordsmanship was also an Ancient skill.
"Master, do you really want to teach an Ancient skill to a disciple with an F-rank talent?" Leonis asked with a small smile.
"Did you regret it?"
"On the contrary, I was thinking about how I could convince you to give me a Mythic skill too."
Evangeline sighed.
"I really ended up with a greedy disciple."
"I think ambitious is a better word."
The woman smiled and moved closer to him.
"For now, I will only teach you the first three Veils, even with a direct transfer of knowledge, understanding an Ancient skill is not simple."
Leonis nodded.
Evangeline stood directly in front of him and raised her index finger.
"Don’t move."
They were so close that Leonis could feel the light scent of her black hair. The woman’s tight training clothes also caught his attention from this distance; especially the two impressive curves that seemed to be giving even the fabric of the clothes serious trouble trying to contain them.
"Little disciple, what are your eyes focused on?" she asked with a sweet smile.
Leonis raised his eyes.
"I was trying to prepare my focus for learning."
"Really?"
"Yes, Master, although you are making the situation a little difficult."
Evangeline’s smile became deeper.
"Then let me help you."
Her finger touched Leonis’s forehead, and in the next moment, a black light entered his mind.
The world around him disappeared.
He found himself in a destroyed battlefield, with the sky covered by thousands of huge shining spears.
In the center of the battlefield, Evangeline was standing.
All the spears were fired toward her, but the woman only took one step.
For a fraction of a moment, her presence disappeared from the point the spears were targeting, and thousands of attacks continued along their paths and hit the ground where she had been standing a moment ago.
First Veil — Lost Moon.
A huge amount of information entered Leonis’s mind.
Lost Moon was not simply about dodging.
This technique changed the user’s center of gravity, mana flow, battle position, and trace of presence at the same time, removing the target point of the attack at a critical moment.
At the early stages, it could confuse attacks and place the user in an unexpected position.
But with higher mastery, even skills that followed their targets would lose them because the user could practically hide themselves inside the hidden layers of the world.
The scene changed.
This time, Evangeline was standing in front of a huge structure made of golden energy.
Her sword moved only once, and a black line passed through the mana flows, and a moment later, the entire structure collapsed.
Second Veil — Silence of Stars.
This Veil was not made to deal with raw power.
Every skill that depended on mana had paths and points that kept energy inside its structure.
Silence of Stars allowed the user to identify those points and cut the flow of energy with a precise strike.
And then the third Veil appeared.
A huge creature brought its sword down toward Evangeline.
The woman used Lost Moon to move away from the attack’s path, but instead of stopping, she transferred all the force of the movement from her legs to her waist, then her shoulder, and finally to the tip of her sword.
One strike.
The blade passed through the creature’s armor.
Third Veil — Midnight Fang.
Leonis now understood the structure of the three Veils.
Lost Moon was for breaking the attack’s path and gaining position, Silence of Stars was for cutting the energy flow of the enemy’s skills, and Midnight Fang was for turning momentum and position into a sudden and deadly strike.
Each one was independent, but they could be combined with each other, and such a combination...was truly terrifying.
When he opened his eyes, his master’s finger was still on his forehead.
Apparently, only a few seconds had passed.
"Are you okay?" The woman pulled her hand back.
"Yes, Master."
"Good. You have the information about all three Veils, but for now, focus on the first Veil, even real geniuses need at least three months of training to bring it to the Professional level."
Leonis smiled.
"And for me?"
Evangeline looked at him.
"With that F-rank talent? I hope you can learn it before I become old."
Leonis looked at her young and beautiful face.
"Considering your age, I doubt the meaning of becoming old is really the same for you as it is for everyone else, I think I have plenty of time."
The woman’s smile disappeared.
"Three times the training."
Leonis wisely decided not to say anything else.
Evangeline activated several training formations with a movement of her hand.
Stone pillars rose from the ground, and several mana firing points appeared around the field.
"Lost Moon doesn’t rely only on speed." she stood in front of one of the firing points. "When an attack identifies your position, you have to move both your body and your mana trace out of its path at the right moment."
A projectile was fired.
The woman moved only slightly.
The mana orb lost its path just before hitting her and passed beside her.
"See? I didn’t run away from the attack, I was simply no longer at the point it had chosen to hit."
Leonis nodded carefully.
"Now you."
The first attempt failed.
He moved too early, and the projectile followed his new path.
The second time, his mana flow was not in sync and he had to use a quick step to create distance.
On the third attempt, he sent too much energy to his legs and lost his balance when changing direction.
Every time, Evangeline only said one sentence.
"Again."