The Outergod's Avatar-Chapter 68: Training with Lyzah

Izikel followed Lyzah into the forest of trees behind the house.

They walked down the hill until they reached an open clearing.

Not much was said along the way, which surprised Izikel. Lyzah wasn’t usually this quiet.

’She’s taking this very seriously,’ he thought, glancing at her. Her eyes were locked ahead, focused, lips pressed into a firm line. He let out a quiet sigh. ’I guess I have to do so too.’

"So what do we do now?" Lyzah finally asked. 𝐟𝚛𝕖𝚎𝕨𝗲𝐛𝚗𝐨𝐯𝐞𝕝.𝐜𝗼𝗺

"Izikel blinked. "Huh? Aren’t you the one who said we should come out here?"

She shrugged, crossing her arms. "I figured since you had some kind of special powers or something, you might know a way to help me get stronger."

His eye twitched. "You’re joking, right? You dragged me all the way out here without a single plan?"

She looked away sheepishly, scratching her head. "I didn’t think it through..."

Izikel groaned, dragging his hand down his face. "Why would you say you wanted to train if you hadn’t even thought about how?!"

It was a fair question, but she didn’t answer right away. He watched her for a moment—despite her lack of preparation, he could see the genuine frustration in her. She wanted to improve. She just didn’t know how.

He let out a slow breath. "Look, your sword skills, physical strength, and stamina are already way beyond mine. If you want to get stronger, then you should probably focus on something you’re weaker at."

"Like what?"

"Like your Druidic abilities," he said simply. "The only miracle you’ve mastered so far is healing. But Druids are capable of more than that. Defense, for one... maybe even offense."

He hesitated at the word, offense. It didn’t sit comfortably on his tongue when speaking about Druids. Still, it needed to be said.

Lyzah nodded slowly, considering it.

"But first," Izikel continued, "I’ll need your help with something."

He handed her a stick, roughly the size of a short sword.

"Attack me. And don’t hold back."

"A-are you sure?" she asked, surprised.

"Yeah. Feel free to go crazy."

Unlike Lyzah, Izikel had actually thought of a way to make good use of this opportunity.

It wasn’t that he actively wanted to get stronger—he was just curious. Curious why the Invisible Armor he’d created hadn’t protected him when that heretic cut off his finger.

’I’m sure I activated the Lucid Guard before he attacked... yet nothing happened. Maybe this way, I can figure out something’

He stood a short distance away from her and nodded. "I’m ready whenever you are."

"Aren’t you going to pick up something to defend yourself?"

"No need for that. Just attack me."

"Okay," Lyzah said with a shrug, though still looking uncertain.

She took a stance.

Seeing her like that, firm and composed, Izikel started to rethink his decision.

’This is going to hurt really bad’

"Okay... here I come," Lyzah said, and dashed toward him.

She covered the distance in an instant, appearing in front of Izikel in a flash.

’She’s fast!’

He raised his arm to block the incoming strike. The stick connected—and the moment it did, a sharp pain rushed through his entire body.

He grunted, stumbling slightly.

The Lucid Guard didn’t activate.

"Are you okay?" Lyzah asked, lowering her weapon.

"Don’t worry about me," he muttered. "Just keep attacking."

’It hurts, but I’m prepared to suffer a little’

Lyzah hesitated, concern flashing in her eyes, but she eventually nodded. She resumed attacking—though Izikel could tell she was holding back, reducing the force of her blows.

Even so, each strike made him wince as he struggled to understand why his Lucid Guard wasn’t activating.

’The skill requires me to allow the essence of creation to flow from my dream... without actually creating anything’

He winced again as another hit landed on his side.

’If I’m not actually creating anything, then how can I use it to defend myself?’

He continued shielding himself as best he could, blocking with his arms or dodging where possible.

Then—without warning—Lyzah’s stick came straight for his face.

The blow landed with a loud crack, knocking him to the ground.

"Izikel!" she cried, running toward him. "Are you okay? I didn’t mean to—"

"Do it again," Izikel said firmly, wiping blood from the corner of his mouth.

Lyzah blinked. "W-what?"

"Yeah," he said, smirking through the pain. "Give it your best shot."

She hesitated. "Are you sure...or did I hit you a bit too hard on the head?"

He nodded. "Just trust me."

She stared at him for a moment longer before nodding again. "Okay..."

But this time, it wasn’t just blind confidence fueling him. In that last attack, Izikel had seen something—something new.

’Just before the hit connected, I saw it. The Lucid Guard was starting to solidify right at the point of impact. But I got scared—I closed my eyes. That’s when it hit me’

This time, as Lyzah came at him, Izikel didn’t raise his hands to defend. He didn’t flinch.

The stick swung toward his face again—

It struck but instead of hitting his face, it rebounded with a sharp crack, like hitting tempered glass.

Lyzah stepped back in surprise. "Wha... what was that?"

Izikel exhaled, his gaze fixed on the energy at the point of contact. He could see it—a dense cluster of glowing essence, hard like crystal but invisible to the naked eye.

To Lyzah, it was just an invisible force.

"How did you do that?" she asked, wide-eyed.

Izikel gave a small grin. "Remember—no questions about my abilities."

Then he pointed at the stick in her hand. "Now, let’s do it again."

They repeated the process several more times. With each blow, Izikel refined his understanding of the skill. He watched how the essence gathered and where, noticing how his focus influenced its effectiveness.

By the time they finally stopped, sweat covered both of them—Lyzah from swinging endlessly, and Izikel from the sheer effort of staying conscious through the pain.

But he had finally figured it out.

’The Lucid Guard... it’s a point-of-contact shield’

It only activates at the place where an attack is about to hit. That’s why it uses so little soul energy—because I’m not sustaining a full-body shield, just manifesting protection when and where it’s needed.

There were clear strengths—and weaknesses.

Advantage: The Lucid Guard was incredibly strong at the point it activated. It had completely blocked every one of Lyzah’s strikes, even when she went all out. As long as he saw the attack coming and focused his energy at the point of contact, it would hold.

Disadvantage: It could only defend against one attack at a time. He had to see the attack to activate the guard. If an enemy moved too fast—or struck from behind—it wouldn’t trigger at all.

’That means it’s useless against surprise attacks... and those faster than I can react to’

Still, despite its flaws, Izikel couldn’t help but smile.

’This will be very useful moving forward’