Chapter 738: Chapter 711: Training and Testing (2)

Initially, the control was far from ideal. Wanting to use three parts of force might instantly surge to five, causing the specially crafted alchemical target post to be deeply dented.

Attempting a gentle touch, yet possibly due to insufficient force control, shattering the target directly.

Undeterred, he repeated over and over, relying on the equally powerful spiritual power to provide rapid feedback and fine adjustments.

Gradually, the power output started to become obedient, shifting from the initial wild beast bursting forth to approaching the smoothness of an arm’s command.

Duke even began trying to finely tier the power changes within an extremely short time, simulating more complex force exertion techniques.

Flow Shadow Sky Step was the ultimate test of the surge in agility and body coordination; his figure transformed into elusive streams of light in the practice field, conducting high-frequency leaps, direction changes, and sudden stops.

In the beginning, the terrifying inertia from high-speed movement often made him unable to stop, or during complex changes in direction, different parts of his body lost coordination, almost tripping himself.

He constantly adjusted the construction speed and explosive strength of the energy circuits under his feet, allowing every part of his body to keep up with the pace of his conscious commands. 𝙛𝒓𝒆𝙚𝒘𝒆𝓫𝙣𝓸𝙫𝓮𝒍.𝒄𝒐𝓶

From awkwardness to fluency, from barely controlled to free and easy, he transformed the practice field into his domain, his figure darted left and right, leaving multiple afterimages, yet always able to control the landing with millimetric precision, perfectly converting speed to battlefield maneuvrability.

After achieving proficiency in single aspects, Duke commenced comprehensive training.

He simultaneously summoned multiple Sand Servants, commanding them to initiate attacks in different modes and from various angles.

While he restricted himself to using only physical strength and combat techniques for dodging and blocking.

This greatly tested his comprehensive application of power, agility, reaction, and preemptive judgment.

Under the tireless and incredibly defensive siege by the Sand Servants, he had to apply every ounce of strength precisely, making each dodge accurate to the extreme, applying the half-month’s honed control in combat simulation.

...

In half a month, time flew by in day-in and day-out arduous training.

The staleness and unfamiliarity in his body had largely disappeared; 88.3 in constitution, 89.8 in strength, 86.1 in agility, these astonishing figures representing capabilities had been preliminarily tamed, able to be stably, coordinatedly, and precisely executed.

Though he was still not at the level of innate, marrow-deep perfect control, it was enough to sustain him in high-intensity combat and complex spellcasting without unexpected mishaps due to poor control.

Half a month’s intense training not only didn’t leave him exhausted, but rather as power returned to its place fully, his spirit became more invigorated, his eyes calmer and sharper, his aura harmonious and introverted, no longer leaking pressure from when he first leveled up, the entire being seemed like a meticulously polished rough jade, light concealed, yet containing astonishing sharpness.

After completing the training on body control, the next stage was to test post-promotion control over elements and magic.

Duke’s true body appeared in a vast wasteland region deliberately demarcated within the Light God Court, far from the central life area where earth elements were relatively abundant, and the terrain was open.

He stood quietly, his aura solidified.

After advancing to Level 2, his understanding of his own power became clearer and more cautious.

The purpose of the test was familiarity rather than destruction, so he deliberately restrained most of the potency.

With a subtle heart thought, the familiar soothing pulse from the yellow sand crystal on his left arm, like another heartbeat.

"Sand Guardian."

There was no earth-shaking momentum, not even displaying the full scale.

Just with himself as the center, a thin, dark golden-hued metallic sand mist quietly emerged, hovering around him within a three-meter radius, as the closest veil.

The sand mist slowly rotated, appearing sparse yet carrying a weighty texture, with light subtly refracting on its surface.

Duke could clearly perceive, beneath this seemingly gentle exterior, what kind of turbulent potential and a new realm of control lay hidden.

His spiritual power was like the most precise detection net, silently immersing into the earth beneath with himself as the center extending to several kilometers around.

Every grain of soil, every piece of rock, even the dust floating in the air, seemed to extend his perception, conveying the minutest sense of existence to him.

He felt that if he wished, with a single thought, he could make all earth and stones within this range submit, forcibly peel off, crush, and assimilate into the most basic sand granules, obey commands.

It would no longer be summoning or gathering, but requisitioning and transforming the environment itself.

In a single thought, oasis becomes desert, fertile ground turns dead land.

He could become a walking, mobile desert source, but restrained this impulse, maintaining only the basic resonance connection, as if merely turning on a faucet’s trickle rather than opening the gate for a flood.

Duke raised his right hand, making a virtual grasp toward a nearby several dozen meters high mound.

A wisp of sand mist separated, shooting out like lightning.

After leaving the body, this wisp of sand flow expanded with the wind, instantly enlarging, forming a giant hand entirely composed of dark golden sand grains in the air, with clear contours, distinct five fingers, even simulated palm prints vividly.

The giant sand hand suddenly closed, firmly grasping the upper part of the mound.

Without intense explosions or sounds, just a low, tooth-aching grinding noise.

Where the giant hand’s fingers closed, the solid mound collapsed like a loose sandcastle, crushed, then absorbed and assimilated by the sand hand.

When the sand hand relaxed, the mound shortened dramatically, its section smooth as a mirror, while the scale of the sand hand seemed slightly solidified.

The microscopic control over sand grains achieved a new height, not only controlling the quantity and flow of sand but also finely controlling each sand grain’s position, arrangement, and cohesion strength for highly intense and refined operations.

Duke could feel that even under such relatively restrained usage, the Sand Guardian around him and the earth beneath sustained connection.

His Earth Spring trait became stronger, with magic recovery speed extremely fast, far exceeding before.

Previously, even with Earth Spring, it couldn’t support excessively intense spell bombardment consumption.

But now, even without treading on the earth, he could trigger the Earth Spring’s magic recovery trait, automatically absorbing energy from the surrounding environment to restore magic.

This was instinct.

Duke now could truly achieve nearly infinite Magic Power unless he was in an environment entirely devoid of earth elements; otherwise, it was almost impossible to exhaust his magic.

Having initially mastered the transformed potency of Sand Guardian, Duke did not stop.

He was genuinely curious and anticipating to test the core ability gained from advancing to Level 2—body elementalization, and what kind of chemical reaction it would produce when combined with this enhanced talent magic.

With a shift of heart thought, life form migration.

Without dazzling light, without violent energy waves.

Duke’s body, starting from his shadow, was swiftly sandified as if erased by an invisible rubber.

Skin, muscles, bones... all matter constituting Duke’s existence simultaneously decomposed and transformed beyond physical law.

The process wasn’t painful or grim, but rather carried an odd fluency and nature.

It felt as though he was meant to be a handful of sand, now merely returning to his true form.

In an instant, the standing silhouette vanished.

Replaced by a suddenly expanding, extremely pure sandstorm flickering with dark golden hues.

The scale of this sandstorm was far larger than the sand cloud summoned by Sand Guardian before, its diameter instantly extending to several dozen meters, and the resonance with the surrounding environment reached an unprecedented intensity.

He, is the sandstorm.