The Path of Ascension 4: A LitRPG Adventure

26

Kurt nodded, and his pen rapidly wrote out, “A true blade mage is more than a melee fighter who uses skills or spells. A blade mage uses a variety of spells that a mage would usually use, while also using normal melee skills. We usually have an equal essence allocation, or a slight preference one way. Anyone see any problems with that?”

Mathew nodded. “Yeah, you’ll be a lesser version of a floater. You can be a front liner but won’t take a hit as well. You can be a mage but won’t have the mana to do it as long or as effectively.” After a second of hesitation, he added, “Without taking Talents into consideration.”

Kurt pointed at Mathew and gave him a thumbs-up. “Correct, and well explained. Now, what are our advantages?”

Liz was the first to answer after a long moment of silence. “You don’t have the traditional weaknesses of either group and can solo a lot easier as well.”

Kurt waved his hand, encouraging her to continue. “You also have a lot of versatility. I think I’ve heard blade mages called mage killers as well.”

When it was clear that no one else would speak, Kurt wrote, “That’s all correct, but you are forgetting one thing. Blade mages are very hard to kill for more specialized roles. We also are able to use our mana control and practice to get more out of our more melee-oriented skills. Kyle wasn’t wrong when he said that a lot of melee fighters look like blade mages at the higher Tiers. Skills become more and more useful as you advance, so the difference between mage, melee, and blade mage becomes less noticeable, except in our essence allocation. We are also the best for solo missions when the parameters are unknown. If you have a Talent that lets you cover one of our weaknesses, then a blade mage is a dozen times scarier than a normal team of melee fighters and mages.”

He nodded to Matt and Kyle. “The two of you are good candidates. Especially you, Matt. Kyle, it’s not too late for you to consider it either. Your strength stacking means you won’t suffer from a lack of physical essence allocation either. But let us get to training.”

The mana copies raised their weapons, which were a match of each of their own. With their cultivation, Matt didn’t expect to get abused in the fight.

He expected to lose. That was never in doubt. Kurt was at least Tier 35 and was chosen as a trainer for The Path.

Kurt’s clone was slower and weaker than him, but he was unable to even so much as touch the man. He was repeatedly smacked around despite the openings Kurt left open. He was never cut deeply, but Kurt sliced through [Cracked Phantom Armor] as if it wasn’t there. If he wasn’t so controlled with his blows, Matt was sure that he would need Melinda to heal severed limbs.

What was more humiliating was that Kurt was also fighting everyone else at the same time. The man’s attention was split nine ways, and he was able to batter Matt around while being in a weaker and slower state.

Even Aster wasn’t left alone. She too was forced to fight Kurt, who used a variety of weapons that monsters and humans might use. She mostly dodged, but it was still good for her, with her limited arsenal. She did keep a small blizzard around her and shot out blades of ice every time she had an opening, but it was still futile with the man’s skill.

After the melee training, Kurt brought Matt away from the others and told him to only use [Fireball] on him while he fought.

Kurt would then start thirty feet back and rush Matt. He left openings. Matt couldn’t argue that he didn’t. It was just that even with unlimited mana, Matt was unable to actually hit the man before Kurt was upon him and tapping him with his blade.

Matt started to try and anticipate the attacks, but it left him relying more on luck than any planning or skill. Kurt stopped every five charges to explain what Matt was doing wrong. It helped, but Matt was still struggling to hit his trainer.

What helped him the most was when Kurt told him to change locations and had Matt charge at him. Then, using only [Mana Bolt], he was able to hit Matt three out of three times in the time it took Matt to cover the distance.

That helped Matt get into the right mindset. First, he needed to predict how Kurt would act as a melee fighter trying to close the distance. Then, he needed to predict how someone with thousands of years of real combat experience would react.

All without his AI.

In the two hours of training and lessons, Matt managed three hits on the man when he forced him into hard to escape positions, using a few carefully placed [Fireball]s. When Matt managed to hit the clone, the difficulty ramped up until he was once again struggling.

That early morning training was only a highlight as to why the training with Kurt and fighting in the Tier 2 and 3 rifts with their cultivation restrictions was so practical.

Fighting against monsters that were faster and stronger than them was a valuable lesson to learn. The Tier 3 rifts were where they started taking wounds. Or at least, their mages did.

When they stalled out, Kurt gave the mages Tier 1 levels of mana so they could cast a few spells, which let everyone complete the rifts.

The next training he had them do was delving at full strength with random teams of three. They were only Tier 7 rifts, so they had fewer issues. But the team combinations could lead to them having an easy time, or to them being punished against the random rifts that Matt was directed to make.

Any team consisting of Matt and any of the mages meant an easy clear. Even easier if he was lucky enough to get Melinda on his team, as they could crush any same Tier monster with no risk. When it was him, Kyle, and Mathew, they struggled to deal with ranged opponents, whom they only could strike with Matt’s [Mana s***h], [Fireball], and crossbows. That was not enough to kill the birds that were attacking them with wind magic.

They got put together once again, in a rift based with massive wind type bees. They were nearly invisible and had an armor piercing effect on their stingers. They flatly refused to enter the rift after talking it over.

Contrary to their expectations, Kurt just patted their shoulders and wrote, “Good. Knowing when you can’t win a fight is a good lesson. Wait for the others to finish their rifts.”

With the new formation plates he and Erwin made, Matt and the older man made a lot of progress in their understanding of how rift creation actually worked. Through their experimentation, they found that complementary mana types increased the chance of a rift successfully keeping its aspect.