—

Blood ejected from Kieran’s mouth as it felt like Scar’s heavy blow shattered most of the bones in his ribcage. Breathing became difficult as Scar continued pressing his palm into Kieran’s chest.

“Boy, I know you’re not too great of a fool, right? Why would you ever dash toward an enemy without first gauging the disparity in your strength? I’d commend your bravery if it were any other matter, but unfortunately, we’re training you for the Gladiator’s Coliseum.”

Scar retracted his palm, allowing Kieran to take a deep breath before gesturing for him to stand. “Heal yourself.”

“Heal myself?” Kieran grimaced while stumbling to his feet. Although it was difficult to discern on the surface, Kieran’s body was nearly broken by Scar’s attack. In fact, his current Health was 10.

“I didn’t stutter, brat. Heal yourself. This bit of damage should be effortless. I controlled my strength. If you truly understand what Blood Mania is, heal yourself.”

Kieran groaned and winced while touching his chest. Even a soft tap caused significant discomfort. ‘At least five broken ribs and a cracked sternum.’

If it were any other class, they’d suffer heavily reduced Strength, Defense, Endurance, and Vitality while in this state. But…

〈System: The user’s passive «Torment’s Benefits: Dull» has ignored the effects of «Broken Bones». All attributes related to your body’s combat efficacy are unaffected.〉

“Vim Restoration!”

A burst of vitality surged through Kieran’s body, recovering his Health completely, but what it didn’t do was mend the broken bones he suffered, which made his brows furrow.

“I’ve used Blood Mania’s power, but my bones didn’t heal,” Kieran remarked.

Hearing Kieran’s comment, Scar let out a peal of boisterous laughter. “You damned fool, you thought it would be easy to mend broken bones? It requires conscious manipulation of where the energy is going. All you’ve done is healed the bruised viscera and battered muscles.”

Kieran’s eye twitched while listening to Scar’s laughter. Just what was so funny in his eyes? Wasn’t this supposed to be training? So why did Scar laugh at him instead of guiding him?

“Oh?! Did my little brat get angry? I like that look in your eye,” Scar taunted. “It doesn’t feel too nice to be teased, now does it? Let this be a lesson to you.”

Scar smiled menacingly with a dramatic pause. “Anything you can do, I can do better.”

Kieran scoffed but kept his hand bracing his ribs. The effects of his broken ribs may have been ignored, but the sensation wasn’t. Applying Torment’s Beliefs: Dull’s on a deeper level required a truly ruthless mind and abnormal pain threshold.

The only way Kieran could achieve that was to lose reason and simultaneously activate Derganged Spirit and Abhorrent Paroxysm. But it held no value against an opponent of Scar’s caliber.

The disparity in their abilities wasn’t something the activation of a few skills could fix.

“It’s all about control. Do you think the basis of our path is unbridled power? No. It’s the ability to contain and control unbridled power. You mustn’t let it run rampant. You are its conductor, so you direct it,” Scar said, finally adopting a more serious stance.

Against his upcoming opponents, Kieran would need to understand how to best apply Blood Mania outside of what existed in the skill description. The skill description wasn’t a concrete limit; it only revealed what the skill could achieve through default actions.

The rest was up to the player to explore.

“Until you learn how to heal yourself, work through the pain. Come,” Scar beckoned.

Kieran limped forward, but his steps grew sturdy, soon evolving into a full-blown sprint.

Bang! Bang!

Scar waved his arms, deflecting Crimson Ashrune with the back of his hand while moving large distances with a light tap of his foot. What Scar covered with a tap of his foot, Kieran had to Surge Step to keep up.

Still, those Surge Steps caught Scar’s attention. ‘He has achieved such explosive bursts of speed by manipulating his inner energy. I guess my runt isn’t as hopeless as I believed. He learned a useful tactic on his own.’

Despite the inward praise, Scar’s expression remained placid while defending against Kieran’s attack that slowed down quickly.

“What’s the matter, boy? Are you running out of fuel already? That’s unfortunate. Us True Berserkers are supposed to be fuel-efficient vessels,” Scar quipped. He shook his head and tauntingly clicked his tongue. “What a shame that you have blasphemed us.”

Kieran’s frown deepened as he too felt something was strange. With his current Stamina, he could fight for at least one hour without tiring, and this included him Accel Shifting or Surge Stepping.

Eventually, he wondered if his body was alright on Earth. Even though he grew stronger daily, the dual activation of Deranged Spirit and Abhorrent Paroxysm was not a strain he could handle effortlessly.

Moreover, he didn’t know if the Seed of Vengeance’s awakening changed anything with his body on Earth.

However, this wasn’t the only possibility Kieran’s mind explored. There was also the unfamiliar and vague passive currently in effect.

It didn’t list it as one of the effects, but this skill might have led to extreme Stamina Consumption to uphold his unaffected stats while in a damaged state.

What further alarmed Kieran, however, was the possibility that if this was true, it wasn’t the only drawback of the passive.

Kieran panted while lowering his greatsword. He had been through many tough battles, yet somehow when training with Scar, he felt like an inexperienced noob. But that was understandable given Scar didn’t instruct him conventionally.

Scar delivered his first attack with intended results in mind. He wanted to rob Kieran of his strength and improve his will to continue in tricky conditions. It was the only way Kieran’s understanding of Blood Mania could be taken to the next level.

Without power, one would turn to their abilities to maximize their effects. Scar learned this training method from Lord Agrianos, who had once thrown him into one of the Wildes’ danger zones.

After weeks of nonstop fighting and clawing to survive, Scar’s understanding of Blood Mania reached new heights, enabling him to endure until Lord Agrianos came to reclaim him.

“There is no kneeling; get up,” Scar ordered.

Kieran staggered but ultimately rose to his feet.

“We’ll move on from basic attacks. I’ve realized since our early encounters that your battle knowledge is immense. Conversely, your skill knowledge is shallow. Begin with a Crimson Current.”

Kieran lifted Crimson Ashrune and slashed down, materializing a grand deluge of blood that rushed toward Scar. The momentum was fierce, but Scar stood unperturbed as he extended his left hand and swirled it around his body.

«Immune»

〈Battle Alert: Your connection with «Crimson Current» has been severed!〉

Kieran’s pupils constricted to the size of a needle while watching Scar’s following actions. While swirling his left hand around his body, Scar punched with his right.

BOOM!

Following a sonic boom, the Crimson Current returned toward Kieran and filled his gaze with a thick crimson sheen. ‘No… way.’

BANG!

Kieran was thrown into a thick column and spat blood while sliding down to his knees.

Scar’s light steps sounded not too far away as he analyzed Kieran’s previous action.

“Why do you use Crimson Ashrune as your medium? It has become your crutch leading to your vain understanding of each attack. Your Crimson Current lacks ferocity. It should clash like the tide of the Apocalyptic Sea, not the waves of a breezy beach.”

“It’s a low-level skill,” Kieran said with much difficulty. He wheezed through the pain while lifting his head.

“A low-level skill? That is beside the point when the essence of the skill is you.”

While listening to Scar speak, Kieran felt something was extremely odd. His Health had fallen to 1, but it wouldn’t drop any lower. ‘The system isn’t letting me die? Is it because Scar is controlling his power, or is it because this is training and not actual battle?’

No notification alerted Kieran to extraordinary circumstances, so his curiosity intensified. The situation was understandable if it was the former since the attack didn’t deal fatal damage.

But, if it were the latter, then the game’s system was even more refined than Stage One Combat Realism permitted.

“Additionally, you expend far too much vitality when you unleash your skills, and the vitality funneled through them leaks. Your application lacks refinement. Nothing should leak. It should all fall under your control,” Scar said.

As Kieran was about to retort, Scar continued. “It is not impossible for your current power. In fact, it is the perfect time to learn this. If you start now, you can perform fine adjustments as you begin wielding larger amounts of vitality.”

Kieran gnashed his teeth because he felt deepening his understanding of Blood Mania required too much mental power to achieve, which fell into the line of ‘impossible’ Scar mentioned.

The problem with Kieran’s approach was that he tried to achieve everything too quickly, which made improvement feel next to impossible. Scar chose Crimson Current precisely because it was a low-level skill with few facets to be mindful of.

Instead of complaining, Kieran absorbed Scar’s comment and analyzed how Scar wielded the returned Crimson Current.

What was the difference in their actions?