Advent of the Three Calamities-Chapter 575: Six months [2]

Time passes before you know it.

What seemed like just a few hours quickly stretched into days, and before anyone realized it, half a year had gone by.

Half a year wasn't much, but it was enough time for a lot of change to occur.

Swoosh—!

Dozens of threads materialized from my right arm, weaving their way across every corner of the vast training ground before me. In the distance, four figures stood, gazing at the invisible threads with seemingly effortless focus.

"For your information, you're not supposed to fight back."

The figures were none other than Leon, Caius, Amell, and Kaelion.

I was trying to test something.

"...So we're just supposed to take it?"

Leon's lips twitched in the distance as he brought his sword forward. The other three also got into defensive stances.

"Yes, pretty much."

I smiled and pressed my hands together.

As soon as I moved, the threads shot up into the air, and I could see the expressions of all four of them tighten. In normal circumstances, where they could fight back properly, they wouldn't have looked so worried. But I had asked them a favor

...A simple favour.

'That is...'

To be my testing dummies for a new skill I had developed over the past six months. It was still a work in progress, but I was getting there.

"Ready?"

I stopped and looked at the four of them as several dozen threads stood straight in the air.

Leon looked around him and then looked back at me.

"You're going to pay us for this, right?"

"Eh?"

I blinked my eyes in confusion.

Pay?

Did this guy lose his mind or something?

"Wait, you're not?"

"Of course not!"

I pointed at Kaelion, Caius, and Amell.

"These three right here probably have way more money than I have. Why would I even pay them?"

Updated from freewёbnoνel.com.

This was ridiculous.

"And it's not like this is a bad chance for you guys to test yourselves against my new skill. It's not perfect, but I'm sure you guys will learn a few things from it."

"Yes, but... what about me?"

Leon said while pointing at himself.

I raised my brow.

"What about you?"

"I'm not rich like them. I would like to get pa—"

"You already get paid by my family."

"Bu—"

"You should be glad that I haven't fired you yet. How many times has it been since you've actually done your job? I can hardly count any."

"Hey, should you be really talking to him like that?"

With Amell suddenly cutting in, I turned to look at him as my eyes narrowed. 'Ah, shit. I forgot these two are related.'

What disgusting genetics.

"For your information, he likes it when I talk to him like this."

Amell suddenly looked at Leon with a shocked look as he covered his mouth. He had a face that seemed to say, 'I didn't know you were like that. That's...'

"What? I don—"

"Anyway, get ready. I'm about to get started."

I pressed my hands together before the two could clear up the misunderstanding. In that instant, their expressions shifted, and they all suddenly dropped into a defensive stance.

A change occurred to the threads shortly after that.

At the same moment, a sharp pain coursed through my head, as if it were being split open, and beads of sweat began to drip down the side of my face.

Clenching my fist, each thread began to split into several smaller ones, each thinner than the last.

".....!?"

The pain grew sharper with each thinning, and my body unconsciously started to tremble.

I took several deep breaths, pushing through the pain while maintaining focus on the splitting threads. It was only when each individual thread had split five times that I stopped, letting out a heavy gulp of air.

"Huak!"

I let go of my grip, and the thread suddenly twisted together before shooting into the air.

"It's coming!"

The expressions of the four shifted suddenly at the sight, just as the threads shot upward—and that's when it happened.

Xiu!

Small, needle-shaped threads shot down from above.

At first, it was just one or two, but soon enough...

Xiu, xiu, xiu—

It started to rain.

"...!?"

Caius was the first to move, extending his hand forward. However, his expression quickly shifted as several thin streaks of red appeared on his exposed hand.

He quickly lifted his hand shortly after that, and all the threads around him paused in the air.

It was only once he did so that everyone was able to witness just how many threads were surrounding them as Kaelion and the rest all did their best to defend themselves against the needle-like threads.

Staring at them from where I stood, I took several deep breaths as I sat down on the ground.

'...That took a lot more stamina and mana than I expected.'

And looking at the four of them in the distance, I could see that while they were all wary of the threads, none of them looked particularly concerned.

At least... not yet.

"What the!?"

That was until they suddenly realized something.

"You... you cursed the threads?!"

I smiled then as I watched the faces of the four pale.

These were no ordinary threads. Infused with curse magic, the moment they made contact with them—or even so much as grazed them—they would get cursed.

But that wasn't the best part of it all.

No, the best part of it all was the fact that the effect stacked.

Meaning that the more they were touched by the needle-like threads, the stronger the curse would grow, becoming increasingly potent with each contact.

This new type of attack was something I had developed over the past six months, a period during which I could fully focus on honing my abilities and training without any distractions. It was safe to say that my training had been fruitful.

But, of course, things were still far from perfect.

"Ukh...!"

"Damn it!"

While the four of them were struggling, it was mainly due to the fact that they were completely unaware of the 'curse' placed within each thread. Otherwise, they wouldn't be struggling so much.

'It's good so far, but there's still a lot more to develop before I can fully use it.'

The rain of thread was lacking a few things.

One was speed, and the second was detectability. If one had sharp enough senses, they could detect the pin-like threads heading their way.

Thankfully, the solution to this problem was easy to fix.

'I just need to integrate the attack with [Lament of Lies].'

By doing this, I could make it difficult for my enemies to detect the threads. The only problem was that the attack already consumed a significant amount of mana and concentration. Adding [Lament of Lies] to the mix would drain me completely, leaving me with nothing.

Of course, I could limit the number of threads and all that as well...

"There's still so much to work on."

Shaking my head, I leaned back on the ground as the rain of threads eventually ceased, leaving behind four bodies on the ground as they all tried to suppress the effect of the curse.

"Don't worry, I didn't go too hard. I only injected the most basic curse into the threads. You'll feel fine in the next few minutes."

My words were met with a couple of looks.

I could only shrug and focus my attention on recuperating my mana.

In fact, there was something else that I wanted to try. It was just unfortunate that it wasn't ready just yet.

'Rather than not ready, it's more like I've still yet made much progress.'

I slowly turned my attention towards my arm.

Beyond just this attack, I had been practicing my Emotive Control quite a lot. As of right now, my 'speech' had become a lot stronger than it was in the past, reaching further than before.

However, it was still not enough.

Touch was still a lot more powerful and potent than speech was. So long as I touched someone, I could incapacitate them.

But that was easier said than done.

...Getting close to someone was extremely difficult, and even with [Lament of Lies], it was still hard.

It was during my training with my threads that I had a sudden thought.

'Is it possible for me to infuse my Emotive Magic in the threads just like Curse Magic?'

This wasn't a new concept to me. I'd thought of it before, but my control had been so poor back then that it had seemed impossible.

But the same couldn't be said for the current me.

...And it was true.

It was still a work in progress, but the progress was noticeable. I just needed a little more before I could finally reach my desired goal.

But once that happened...

"Hooo."

I took a deep breath, trying my best to calm my trembling heart.

Snapping out of my thoughts, I looked in the direction of the four of them, and seeing that they were all fine, I stood up and walked towards them.

"See? It wasn't that bad?"

"...."

The first one to catch my sight was Leon, who looked at me with a look of disgust.

I looked away from him and then the others.

I wasn't the only one who had grown over the past six months. The four of them had, too, and they were, in fact, catching up with me.

This was especially so for Leon.

'Well, it can't be helped. I'm not as talented as them.'

The only reason why I could grow so fast was because of the quest system that granted me the ability to grow faster. Otherwise, all four of them were far more talented than me.

'...Maybe not in Emotive Magic, but in the other aspects, yes.'

I wasn't all too bothered.

Their growth also helped fuel my growth.

Trrr—

Just then, I heard my communication vibrate, and my heart almost leaped out of my chest the moment I realized it was coming from the family head.

Immediately, I looked towards Leon, who raised his brow.

"Family Head..."

His expression showed similar changes as he quickly stood up from the floor and neared me.

I looked at the other three, who seemed to have understood, as they quietly left.

It was only when the three of them were gone that I answered.

Just what exactly could this man want from me?

"Hello?"

—Yes.

The Family Head's cold voice echoed from the communication device.

—I'll get straight to the point. You've received an invitation.

"Invitation?"

—Yes, it's a very important one, involving several major figures from the Empire and other Empires. Leon is also invited. You will be heading there as a delegate for the Evenus Household.

"Oh."

—I will send you the details soon. Make sure you attend.

The communication ended there.

I frowned and glanced at Leon, who was doing the same, his gaze meeting mine

What just happened?