Cleaver Of Sin

Chapter 481: Directional Gravity Shift

The next morning came like every other morning, quiet and breezy, the sun rising as usual, its gentle light spilling across the horizon without hurry or disturbance. Asher was already up for the day, long before most people had even stirred from their sleep, because today was the day he would resume his training in earnest, and there was no room for laziness or delay.

He floated towards the bathroom door with lazy ease, his body gliding a few inches above the ground, then became intangible as he phased through it, his form slipping through the solid surface as though it were nothing more than mist, and within minutes he was done with his usual morning routine.

Phasing into the hallway of the floor of his residential building, Asher began to head towards the Training Facility Building, today the plan was simple, training the Light and Space element affinities, then mastering whatever skills he would create from those sessions through repetition and refinement.

As for another cultivation session, he was done for now, he was already low on points and could not afford to spend recklessly. Besides, he still needed to save points for a training chamber that was suitable for weapons training,

Asher flew through the air, moving swiftly yet silently, and within minutes he was already floating before the talkative receptionist, on the way, people hadn’t seen him as he had made himself invisible in order not to draw attention, his presence erased from sight like a passing breeze.

"Back again, huh?" the receptionist stated as she stared at Asher as he floated before her, but she didn’t comment further nor was she surprised, after all, a few days ago, Asher had checked out the Training Facility Building by floating past her in much the same manner.

"I guess you will be giving me the silent treatment again today, huh?" she asked, her eyes still on him, a mixture of amusement and mild curiosity flickering across her face.

"Good morning," Asher greeted without replying to any of her words, he had already understood that even if he ignored or replied to her, she would still speak anyway, "I would be paying for the basic Space training chamber today," he immediately got straight to the point, his tone calm and businesslike.

"A thousand points per half an hour," the receptionist stated with a calm, slightly exasperated tone, as though she had repeated the same line a hundred times already that week.

Asher simply nodded without a word, the price difference between each element was staggering, and Asher couldn’t help but imagine how much the Time affinity would cost if they had a training chamber for that, the mere thought alone making his already limited points feel even more fragile.

"Another three hours today? Or are you paying for more time?" she asked as she took his card, already knowing the answer yet asking out of habit.

"The usual," Asher replied calmly.

After paying, he followed the receptionist as they headed towards the training chamber, their footsteps echoing faintly through the metallic corridor. Arriving, Asher stepped into the chamber without any ceremonial pause or waiting, as though it were nothing more than another room he owned.

Within the basic Space training chamber, space felt constricted, heavy, and pressing, just like how the basic Gravity training chamber was, but they were also different in their own ways, the pressure here feeling less like weight and more like the world itself folding inward, compressing reality from every direction.

Asher closed his eyes for a moment, his mind shifting through various applications for space that he could train for the day within three hours, calculating efficiency, practicality, and combat usefulness, and after a moment of thought, his mind settled on an application he could realistically achieve with a few hours of focused practice and steady repetition.

Previously, during one of his battles, he had flipped gravity on itself, shifting everything that was below to above, turning the battlefield upside down in an instant. Through this method, he had captured an enemy. And also during his advanced movement and balance training with Instructor Elowen, the entire space had flipped, shifting everything that was below to above again.

Asher wanted to do something like this, but in a different setting and with far greater control. The idea was simple, during battle, he would change the direction of space itself. Meaning if an attack tore in from the front, or behind, or basically any direction, he could just shift it to another direction with spatial manipulation without even having to take a single step, making every incoming strike meaningless by redirecting reality itself.

To Asher, this was an easy training application, after all, he could already manipulate the direction of gravity, so applying a bit of the same principle with a few twists, adjustments, and refinements, he would be able to create the ability he had just thought of without too much difficulty.

’I would call it Directional Gravity Shift’ he thought to himself. Although he wanted to name it, Spatial Shift, he had already named that for phasing through attacks and objects by manipulating space directly.

’Besides, my Spatial Shift, I can only achieve partial Spatial Shift, I should also work on that today and achieve a full-body Spatial Shift,’ he thought with a faint smile on his face, already envisioning the improvement.

Everything seemed perfect, with Lightning Intangibility, he could phase through physical attacks, but with Spatial Shift, he could phase through both physical and magical attacks, rendering most threats obsolete before they could even touch him.

With that thought, Asher began his training, but the first and most important part of this training was to shift an attack, meaning this training was useless without an actual attack to test against, and practicing against empty air would only create false confidence.

With a thought, the photons of light within the training chamber bent to his will, gathering and compressing as though obeying a silent command, and within a few seconds, a clone of himself appeared before him. Through Light manipulation, he could now create a tangible clone that wasn’t merely an illusion or mirage, but one of real matter and form, solid enough to strike and be struck.

But at the moment, the clone was just a weakling compared to the real Asher. It couldn’t use any of Asher’s elemental affinities or abilities aside from Light manipulation. But Asher didn’t care for any of that, his current clone was more than enough for the training he was about to do, all he needed was an attack, no matter how weak it might be... and in fact, it was the perfect beginner training partner.

’Although this Directional Gravity Shift application would obviously work based on the weight behind an incoming attack,’ he mused to himself, analyzing the physics and the limits carefully.

After all, Asher couldn’t just suddenly shift the direction of a massive attack on his first try, he was talented, yes, but his talent didn’t warp reality for him without effort or practice.

’Let’s begin,’ he thought to himself, the clone receiving his mental command and not hesitating to attack, it had no will of its own yet, it could only follow Asher’s directives like a puppet for now, if not... the efficiency of all his training in the future would double.

After all, two minds were better than one, and two minds of the same level were even more dangerous.