January 28th, 767th year of the Terran calendar.
Stormy day.
The clouds are like the endlessly churning Black Sea, gathering above the coast of Nanling. The icy sea breeze brings heavy rain quickly, and the rain floating in the sky is like a shaken curtain in the sky, spreading along with the wind and changing its shape.
Rain washes the coast.
Due to the topography, the rainwater in the woods along the coast gathered into temporary streams, which converged into a trickle and merged into the sandy tidal flats. The temperature on rainy days that fluctuated around zero degrees made even the most industrious Terrans prefer to stay at home.
Lighting the brazier in a daze.
But there are two figures training on the deserted beach.
"You can only hit five out of ten times, and you're still one short of passing the test. Come again!"
In the rain, Hilliard's gray-brown eyes stared at the blindfolded child in front of him. The white-haired boy had a serious expression, his eyes were covered by a black cloth, and there were many traces of sand impact on his body.
"Let's start, teacher." Ian, who could not see anything, faced Hilliard head-on. He held a wooden stick in his hand and said in a calm voice: "I feel like I have mastered the trick."
Holding a clenched ball of sand in his hand, the old knight said nothing, then suddenly raised his hand and threw it out.
The sand ball should have dispersed in the middle, but a force made it condense... It could even make it rotate in a non-linear direction and fly towards Ian in a spiral trajectory!
Snapped!
But Ian seemed to sense something. He waved the wooden stick in his hand and hit the sand ball, causing it to scatter.
Hilliard did not pause, he threw the sand balls one after another, sometimes fast, sometimes slowly, sometimes the sand balls would hit from behind in an arc, and sometimes the sand balls would continue to rotate at a spiral angle like just now.
Each sand ball was silent without any warning, and the noisy waves caused by the downpour of rain hitting the rocks and the sea blocked all sounds.
But Ian kept swinging the stick.
He couldn't see or hear, but he could really sense every throw of Hilliard and respond accordingly.
Although because of the old knight's tricky throwing skills, he couldn't block it with a wooden stick every time, but even if he missed it, it was just because the angle was slightly wrong, so he didn't notice it.
"good!"
After the throw was completed, Hilliard's expression perked up and he praised: "I hit seven out of ten times. Your talent for sensing the essence is indeed quite sharp. Keep up the good work!"
"Um."
Ian also breathed a sigh of relief.
In the past month, he could not catch it even once at first, and gradually reached the point where he could catch most of it.
The sand-throwing training took place on a rainy day at the beach, when the world only had water and soil. Hilliard threw sand balls, and then Ian, who covered his eyes and his hearing was affected by the sound of rain, only sensed the presence of sand.
Training to intercept sand balls thrown at you.
Through this training, Ian can develop his ability to sense the earth and control his own body. If this training is successful, then even if Ian loses his vision and hearing, he can still fight with pure 'seismic sensing'.
Of course, it would be too shameful for Ian not to use his psychic powers, and it would have no training effect on him. What's more, as long as this kind of induction ability is trained, it will be beneficial to Ian to control his own psychic induction in the future.
It sounds difficult.
But in fact, this is just one of the simpler exercises that Ian has carried out in the past month or so.
"Rest for three minutes, and then we start the next training!"
Hilliard looked up at the rain clouds and made sure that the rain would last for a long time. He nodded with satisfaction: "Controlling the sediment covering your body and not being washed away by the rain for five minutes is the passing mark!"
"yes!"
Responding forcefully, after a short rest, Ian began to manipulate the gravel in the surrounding beaches, or in other words, manipulate the 'silica' to cover his body.
The sand armor apprentice's induction of soil and gravel is essentially the induction of silica, or in other words, the 'silicon element'.
The silica content in the soil is about 60%, and other alumina, calcium oxide, iron oxide are also important components, plus water, microorganisms and various organic components. Overall, the control is far inferior to purity.
Bigger beaches have easier gravel.
But even so, it is difficult to control the gravel clinging to the body without being washed away by the rain. This tests Ian's quality control, endurance and mental concentration.
It should be noted that even the mud shield of Swamp Crocodile cannot stop the erosion of rainwater and will still be taken away.
It's just that the amount it controls is too large, and the mud is continuously replenished and repaired, and it doesn't matter if it's hit for a day, so it doesn't seem to have any impact.
But coincidentally, these are Ian's strengths.
It was obviously a more difficult training than the previous blindfolded sand balls, but Ian was able to easily control the gravel from being washed away by the rain, and it was more than enough to pass the test in five minutes.
After Hilliard's test, Ian's ultimate concentration time exceeded half an hour, which was difficult for many adult sublimators to achieve.
After all, to put it another way, if Ian had enough source material and a powerful body, he could continue to fight at full strength for more than half an hour without any rest or respiration.
In addition, there is swimming.
It sounds very simple, but swimming is not a piece of cake. As long as you master the skills, it is not difficult at all. How can it be regarded as the training of a sublime person?
But not to mention that the place where Hilliard took Ian to train was along the shores of Harrison Port, where storms were frequent and the waves were turbulent. The body density of the Ascendants was also very different from that of ordinary people.
Without the use of source matter, the fate of most sublimated people who fall into the water is not much better than that of stones. At most, they will have more bubbles.
As a sublimator majoring in the earth attribute, Ian advanced to the sand armor apprenticeship. After his spine gradually began to transform into 'crystal bone', his bone density increased greatly. This made it more difficult for him to swim and float.
.
It would be better to say that Ian can actually float in the water without sinking because of his extremely superb balance skills.
After floating in the water for almost more than an hour, Ian felt that he was indeed completely exhausted. After drinking enough sea water and no longer able to squeeze any more strength out of his body, Hilliard would pick him up.
The master and apprentice went to a small camp in the woods nearby to eat some grilled fish and drink some fruit pulp and milk.
Fruit pulp is one of several sweet and sour berries that are common in Nanling. They are red, yellow, blue, green, sweet, sour, and bitter. They are not expensive, but they are a little bit poisonous. Ordinary people will easily get upset if they eat too much, but for sublimators
It is equivalent to a snack, poison is also a substance and can be digested.
In particular, all the source organs in Ian's body have the ability to resist, absorb, and ignore toxins to a certain extent.
As for the milk, we have to thank the Empire for its assistance. Eight of the twelve Beisen giant cows they sent were female, and three of them were still pregnant. From this aspect, the aid from the Imperial Capital this time was really solid.
No more moisture.
If Feiyandi hadn't opened up the mountain road and confronted the western part of the empire, shifting the strategic focus of the empire, and Harrison Port had continued to receive assistance with this intensity, I'm afraid it would have become a large seaport city in less than seven or eight years.
Of course, everyone knows that on paper the aid caravan has a total of thirty-five giant bulls, but in fact there are only twelve.
After all, there are still twelve animals left in such a long distance from the Imperial Capital to Harrison Port, which is considered very clean.
There is no need to talk about the nutritional value of giant cow milk. When paired with fruit pulp, it can supplement a large amount of protein and vitamins and restore physical strength. Elder Puder used his own connections to obtain it for Ian, and Ian shared part of it with Ellan.
Others are used as nutritional supplements to aid exercise.
"Over the past month or so, my training has been quite effective."
In front of the camp fire, Hilliard slowly added firewood, and sparks flew around the campfire.
The old knight turned his head to look at Ian, who was eating fish silently, and commented seriously: "But don't be complacent. Training is different from actual combat. What's more, your training is not perfect. Even if I can't accompany you, you have to do it every day."
Keep up the exercise and make sure you don’t fall behind.”
This sentence is false.
In fact, Hilliard was secretly shocked by the progress of Ian's training, and even felt that it was unbelievable, "This is actually eight years old?!" But it was true, and the old knight was also surprised, but he could only accept it.
"...Well, I will."
After swallowing the food in his mouth, Ian answered equally seriously: "But teacher, didn't you say that the next time 'mutations' and 'big storms' appear, it will be at least five or six years later, and normally it will even take seven or eight years."
?”
"The big storm is just the result. The real cause of the change is actually the ruins of the previous era deep under the sea... I have been looking for a way to enter it recently, but I can't find a way."
Raising his head, Hilliard stared at the distant sea. After Ian became an Ascendant, he no longer concealed some information from Ian.
Staring at the depths of the distant blue sea, the old knight sighed: "Don't talk about this, Ian, Elder Puder called you over some time ago. In addition to teaching you some knowledge about sublime beings and psychic powers, what else did he say?
?”
With Ian's current knowledge, the knowledge taught by Elder Puder is naturally a bit backward and one-sided.
But for Ian, this is also a process of repeated review, not to mention that Elder Puder is proficient in inscriptions and is also very competent as a teacher.
In recent days, in order for Ian to learn about ether weapons, he equipped Ian with a small carving tool kit, which is quite expensive.
In Ian's mind, the elder is also a very good teacher.
"Lectures were given as normal, but Elder Puder also took me to the Elder's Hall to meet several elders."
After drinking up the pulp and milk in one gulp, Ian stared at the bonfire and said calmly: "Vice Captain Reid of the escort team, Mining the alchemist of the Viscount Mansion, and Elder Badan Lipud, the captain of the White Chamber Fleet, pay tribute to these seniors of the White People."
He introduced me and announced that I was his officially accepted apprentice."
Obviously, these are the important leaders of the White people in Harrison Port. They are involved in military and commercial technology, and they are very smart and no one wants to be an official.
Unlike other areas of the empire, in this frontier of the empire, when Viscount Grant's cronies were in sole control of the military, political and financial power of Port Harrison, it didn't matter whether someone was an official or not, as long as they stayed close to the interests of the imperial noble.
"oh?"
Hilliard didn't care how many teachers Ian had. He wanted Ian to learn as much as possible and have deeper connections.
The old knight was mainly interested in interpersonal relationships: "These older generation of white people, won't they be dissatisfied when they see you, the 'official disciple' who suddenly came in?"