Chapter 740
Bottleneck and Transformation
Chapter 740 Bottleneck and Transformation
Because the Hearth Palace needed to be expanded, a group of craftsmen from the Hephaestus Familia came early in the morning to demolish the houses in the surrounding area that had been sold to their family after they had been compensated enough.
The rumbling and clanging sounds were a bit jarring, and even with enough open space, it wasn't really suitable as a place for morning exercise. When the tavern elf came looking for him, Broly led her to the new training ground they had agreed on the night before.
"Mr. Broly, are you here to see Miss Ais and the others?"
At the entrance to the Twilight Mansion, a member of the Loki Familia on duty asked the Saiyan boy why he had come.
"Yes, Miss Ais and I made an appointment to use your clan's training grounds this morning for our morning training."
Broly nodded in response, and the Loki Familia members guarding the gate didn't suspect anything. Everyone in the Familia knew that Miss Ais and the boy in front of her had a good relationship.
According to rumors, it was because of the other party's swordsmanship instruction that Miss Ais's strength was able to improve so much in a short period of time.
"Then who is this?"
However, letting Broly, a familiar face, in was not a problem, but the Saiyan boy was accompanied by a female elf carrying a wooden sword, so the Loki Familia members guarding the gate still needed to inquire about her identity.
"This is the lady who works at the Abundant Mistress Tavern. She often exercises with Miss Ais and me in the morning, and we arranged to come over together last night."
Broly explained.
"Since you put it that way, Mr. Broly, then let them pass."
The Loki family members guarding the gate did not make things difficult for him upon hearing this.
Good morning, Mr. Broly.
As Broly led Ryu toward the Loki Familia training grounds, they encountered some familiar faces along the way. These were Loki members who had gone to the dungeon to farm gold with him before. Upon seeing him, they all greeted him warmly.
"Are you that popular with the Loki Familia?"
A look of surprise appeared on Liu's face, and she couldn't help but ask.
"Is that so? It's probably related to the questions they asked me about combat techniques when I was in the dungeon."
Broly is strong and willing to guide his own combat skills. Although he is not as dedicated as he was to guiding Miss Ais and others, the fact that a few words of advice can significantly improve one's strength still makes Broly, who is not a member of the Loki Familia, extremely respected by the other members of the Loki Familia.
Yes, in any world, people who are capable and generous to others are generally more popular.
"Oh, is that so? You've got quite a few people you're mentoring, and most of them are beautiful women..."
Liu narrowed her eyes and said meaningfully.
Among those she recognized just now was Anastasia, a core member of the Loki Familia's Second Army, known as the "Noble Cat." She was a cat-woman with long, straight black hair and looked incredibly beautiful.
Besides the other party, there was also an elven woman with the title of "Garden of Purity," who was blonde, had large breasts, and had the appearance of a very tolerant older sister.
Ryu remembered that the other person's name was Alicia. She was also a core member of the Loki Familia's Second Army, and she was a rather powerful Lv.4 mage.
As an elf, the other party shouldn't be so close to people of other races, but clearly that person was also very friendly to Broly.
"Well, that's because there are relatively few men in the Loki Familia who come to me for advice on combat techniques, but there are still some."
Broly said, and greeted Raul Nord, a seemingly ordinary but actually Lv.5 superhuman who often served as the leader of the Loki Familia's Second Army but whose role was more like that of a logistics officer: "Good morning, Mr. Raul."
"Good morning, Mr. Broly. Ais and the others are training at the training ground around the corner. By the way, have you had breakfast yet? If not, you can eat at our cafeteria after training. I heard that today's breakfast is seafood porridge."
"Okay, I'll go over after training."
"Then I'll go and tell the cafeteria chef to make a little more."
"Thanks, Mr. Raul."
After thanking them, Broly headed toward the training grounds they had pointed out.
Before they even got close, Broly and Ryu could hear faint shouts coming from the other side.
After turning the corner, you can see the Amazon sisters, Tiona and Tione, fighting together against Ais in the training ground not far away.
Although Ais's stats are higher than the other two at the same level, the Amazon sisters are not at a disadvantage in a two-on-one fight.
No, it should be said that the Fiora who can hold her own against two opponents is the abnormal one.
"Ah, I'm not fighting anymore, I'm not fighting anymore. Fighting with you, Ais, is just getting more and more painful."
Upon seeing Broly approaching, Tiona immediately raised her double-headed greatsword.
"The person who will truly train and take the beatings with you has arrived."
Tione also sheathed her short sword. It was quite frustrating that the Sword Maiden's strength had increased so much after just one week of farming gold in the Death Arena in the dungeon.
Ais stopped and looked at the two people who came over. After greeting Broly and Ryu, she didn't waste any words and the three of them drew their swords and started a chaotic morning training battle.
It was still a swordsmanship contest. However, after several days, Broly's updated stats began to seriously affect what should have been a morning training session focused on exchanging swordsmanship techniques.
Tiona had expected to see the three-way battle she had witnessed before, but instead, she saw her own swordswoman and the elven clerk from the Abundant Mistress Tavern struggling against the Saiyan boy's fierce sword light.
"No, it hasn't been that long, and Ais has grown so much. Is she already having trouble beating him?"
Tione gaped. While grinding for gold in the Death Arena of the 37th floor dungeon, Ais seemed to be the stronger one.
"As expected, my feeling was right. Broly's growth is indeed much faster than Ais's."
Tiona said from the side.
"Perhaps, he is already more powerful than the commander and the others."
Tione wanted to retort, but looking at the Saiyan boy who had just been fighting Ais, who was on par with the sisters, and who was now only able to defend, she was speechless for a moment.
Just when they thought the morning exercise would end with Broly putting pressure on Ais and the elf shop assistant from beginning to end, Broly suddenly stopped.
"Hey, what's wrong?"
Ais stopped her sword just in time, above and to the right of Broly's neck, while Ryu's sword stopped below and to the left of his waist.
One is a downward slash from left to right aimed at the neck, and the other is an upward slash from right to left aimed at the kidneys.
Broly put too much pressure on the two of them, causing Ais and Ryu, both of whom were skilled swordsmen, to instinctively aim for their vitals.
"I've discovered a problem."
Broly answered Ais's question.
"what is the problem?"
Liu was somewhat puzzled.
"Is there anything about my swordsmanship that needs correction?"
The swordswoman girl, realizing something, quickly asked.
"No, there's nothing wrong with your swordsmanship, and you're practicing in the right direction. It's just that I've noticed you seem to have hit a bottleneck."
Upon hearing this, Ais was taken aback.
"But I didn't feel like I hit a bottleneck. On the contrary, I felt that my condition was getting better and better, and my consciousness gradually synchronized with my body, which had greatly improved its ability value."
She answered.
"Should I say that I'm the one who's truly hit a bottleneck?"
Liu was speechless. She was now the weakest of the three, far surpassed by the other two.
"Ryu, your bottleneck is not in technique, but in the fact that your ability values have not improved. Your swordsmanship has almost reached the maximum limit that your current ability values can exert. If you want to improve, you can only consider improving your basic ability values."
Broly explained for a moment before looking at the swordswoman. "On the contrary, Miss Ais, your strength has increased because of your ability stats, but your swordsmanship, which you could perform almost perfectly with your previous ability stats, is now somewhat lagging behind due to the increase in your physical stats."
I've been continuously increasing the pressure on you in the fight, but you haven't been able to unleash the full potential your body is capable of. Therefore, I suspect your swordsmanship has hit a bottleneck.
In the Six-Sided World, the bottleneck for those who reach the peak of the King level in this kind of swordsmanship is generally called the Emperor level threshold. Those who cannot break through it will probably remain the strongest King level, or Emperor level gatekeeper, for their entire lives.
Broly has faced many Emperor-level goalkeepers in the Six Worlds, and Ais is in a similar state to him now.
"Then what should I do to break through the bottleneck in my skills?"
Ais asked the question, but she trusted Broly's assessment of her current swordsmanship, since the Saiyan boy was far superior to her.
"Well, to be honest, I've never encountered a bottleneck in my combat skills, so I personally don't have much experience on how to break through it."
Broly could basically imitate all the physical combat techniques after seeing them once and then practicing them once, and quickly master them, making them his own.
Ais's current situation is like a student without top-notch mathematical talent asking a genius with top-notch mathematical talent, "How did you solve this math problem?" But the genius with top-notch mathematical talent doesn't know how to answer the question.
This is why there are many god-level masters in the Six Worlds, but it is very difficult for their disciples and students to become god-level masters as powerful as their masters simply through their careful teaching.
"Woo..."
As the swordswoman responded to the Saiyan boy's reply, a hint of distress gradually appeared on her face.
"Uh, let me think..."
Seeing this, Broly also began to rack his brains. He had just said yesterday that he would do his best to help the girl, so how could he be stuck by a bottleneck in the girl's life today?
Soon, some information surfaced in his mind, giving him a flash of inspiration.
"I've got it! Perhaps this method can help you break through your bottleneck."
"Eh?"
The swordswoman looked over in surprise.
My troubles had barely started for two minutes before they were about to be solved for me?
That's really efficient.
"What's the solution?"
Beside her, Liu asked out of curiosity.
"Isn't there a saying that the master leads you through the door, but the practice depends on yourself? Since it's a personal bottleneck in skill, why not let Miss Ais face her own swordsmanship directly? I think that if she faces her own swordsmanship from an objective perspective, she should be able to more intuitively perceive the problems in her own swordsmanship and thus achieve a breakthrough."
This is Broly's personal experience when he fought the fake version of himself in the Jade World, and his combat skills improved incredibly fast back then.
"Uh, so, Mr. Broly, are you planning to imitate Miss Ais's swordsmanship to give her some pointers?"
Liu understood what he meant.
"Yes, that's roughly the idea."
Broly nodded.
"However, in order to better replicate Miss Ais's current level of swordsmanship, I may need to balance the numerical gap between us now."
"But how do you do that? Are you suggesting that Broly strap sandbags to himself to limit his own strength?"
Tiona asked curiously.
"Actually, it's not difficult. I'm quite confident in controlling my strength and speed."
The real challenge lies in the difference in height and build between Miss Ais and me. Even if I use the same strength, speed, and swordsmanship as Miss Ais, the difference in size will still result in a difference in swordsmanship skills.
"Then we might have to consider the rarer transformation magic."
Riveria arrived at the side at some point, and after listening to Broly's struggle to help Ais break through her bottleneck, she chimed in with a comment.
"That kind of magic is too rare. Even if someone possesses it, they might not be able to use it on other people."
"Tione said."
"indeed……"
Riveria had just nodded in agreement when Broly raised his hand.
"Uh, I do know this kind of transformation magic, otherwise, I wouldn't have brought up the idea of imitating Miss Ais's swordsmanship to give her some pointers on breaking through her bottleneck."
"Eh?"
The girls around looked over in surprise, and Riveria asked directly, "Since you have your own way, why do you look so troubled?"
"Well, because the transformation magic I know can only transform me into an individual with a similar size to myself."
Broly said that he felt it was better to let people see for themselves than to talk about it.
"Your mark belongs to me, and my mark still belongs to me..."
He immediately began chanting the incantation for the transformation magic "Cookhouse Ashes" that he had shared with Lily, and as the magical light enveloped his body, a young version of Ais appeared on the spot.
That's how it is.
Broly glanced at himself, who indeed retained the size of a child after transforming, and shrugged at the others.
"Ah, so cute?!"
However, Broly's helpless expression after transforming caused the two Amazon girls to gasp in surprise.
It is rare to see a companion in the form of a child.
Tiona pounced on him, grabbed the Saiyan boy who had transformed into his Little Ais form around the neck, and rubbed her face against his cheek.
"Tiona, don't rub against me, no, don't rub against me when I was a child, no, don't rub against Mr. Broly's face when he becomes me when I was a child."
The swordswoman paused twice before reaching out to rescue Broly, who had transformed into his younger self, from the hands of the Amazonian tablet girl.
"Don't be so stingy. Besides, this isn't the real Ais!"
Little Ais was taken away by Big Ais, and Tiona immediately complained with some dissatisfaction.
"I know, but seeing you rubbing against me like that makes me feel uncomfortable, like ants are crawling on me."
Ais hugged her smaller version of herself tightly, as if she were protecting her own offspring.
"This must be what they call shame."
As Riveria said this, she naturally walked over and reached out to pinch the cheek of little Ais in the girl's arms.
Sword Maiden: "???"
He quickly grabbed the miniature version of himself that Broly had transformed into and turned to the other side, refusing to let Riveria pinch his cheeks.
"Ah, Miss Ais has two, no, one of them is the smaller one..."
Last night, Lefia was thinking about asking Philwiss about chanting in parallel, which caused her to get up late this morning. When she arrived at the training ground, she happened to see Miss Big Ais holding Little Ais. The quick-thinking elf girl immediately thought of many things.
"Could this be Miss Ais's daughter?!"
The elven girl seemed to have her soul ripped out, instantly losing all her strength, and lay on the ground in a dejected, forward-leaning posture.
(End of this chapter)