Heaven's Greatest Professor

Only one month remained for the promised fight. For the last couple of weeks, Ariha had been training him personally... Well, she was doing that from the beginning, but after the heart transplant, she had become more involved in teaching him.

Most of it related to how he wielded the Radiance essence. She was a master in it, and he wouldn't find anyone better to teach him all about it.

Honestly, half of it was intrinsic, and as his body adapted to the change, his recovery power went beyond absurd levels. She also taught him a few Radiance spells, which used ancient runes he hadn't known yet.

Ariha was reluctant to teach any healing-related skills. She demonstrated two common spells related to healing and rejuvenation and was done with it. He wanted to learn more of them, but considering the circumstances, he didn't blame her.

A week after adapting to the Radiant Heart, she instructed him to absorb the Radiant Aether once again, but this time, to empower the radiance essence instead of the void power. That was a whole different kind of experience compared to before. Instead of the tearing pain, he could now feel all the changes happening in his body as the matrix circulated the liquid aether throughout his body.

The transformation became even more evident with that. He had absorbed all of the elixir, and the radiant heart had recovered to a great extent, though according to Ariha, it was still a far cry from the original power. She hypothesised that he needed to consolidate his Way to have a chance of achieving that.

However, even without that, he had grown beyond the realm of a monster. His body might not yet be able to wield the true essence power of a transcendent, but it had already touched the realm. His physique already had a semi-transcendent nature with some detriments, but with the introduction of the Radiant Heart, most of the detriments had been resolved.

His original heart construct, which could barely pump out power enough to make him exceptional within iron ranks, had been transcended by the Radiance Heart.

He hadn't tried it yet, but he felt he could carry on heavy runesmithing work for a week before he would feel any signs of tiredness. In a fight, he didn't think he would lose to a Fiend... but if he had all three of his instruments... then there wouldn't be a contest at all.

However, he wasn't up against just some fiend...

"You have asked me how long you'll fare against her, a few weeks ago," Ariha said. "As you are now, I can proudly say you'll last at least a couple of minutes."

"With or without my soul relics?" he asked.

"What do you think?" she smiled ruefully, shaking her head.

"Damn it!" he cursed.

"A couple of minutes is still a lot against her, dear disciple," Ariha said. "Even I didn't think you'd grow this quickly."

"I only have you to thank," he said in gratitude.

Ariha smiled. "Flattery will get you many places with me, dear disciple."

She had been calling him "Dear disciple" or "poor disciple" for the last couple of months. He didn't think he hated it, but he would have liked something else. Unfortunately, he couldn't complain, as he didn't remember his own name.

"So what is your plan for the last month?" he asked as they walked towards the third checkpoint. The elder avatar hadn't been here for the remainder of the time.

"You have been adapting to your power after the surgery; what do you think you need at this moment to grow?" she smiled and walked a few paces away to stand across from him. "Equip your equipment; it is time you put all your abilities to the test."

"Against you?" he frowned.

"Are you looking down on me, my foolish disciple?" she glared at him—in all honesty, it looked nothing but cute instead of intimidating. "My existence might only be nine years old, and most of it spent in learning healing arts, but you're still a decade early to give me a challenge."

His frown deepened.

"Quit standing stupidly and prepare. I won't hold back just because I have taken a liking to you."

He sucked in a deep breath, brought out his soul relics, draped them on before taking a stance, the divider clasped tightly in his grip. A warm surge of power rose in his chest, flooding him with power as he set his eyes on the target.

***

"I have a question," he croaked through panting. His heart was already pumping rejuvenating essence to wash away his momentary tiredness where he exerted his power to the fullest. On top of that, he cast a rejuvenation spell on himself, making it doubly easier. It would have worked better if she had cast the spell, but he wanted to see the practical use of his power.

The battle lasted for half an hour, with both of them moving through the stormy cloud more than at the speed of sound. Of course, it was mostly her chasing him down. Even though Ariha mentioned she wouldn't hold back, she hadn't exerted her full speed in chasing him. And she could penetrate the defences of his [Void Shroud] and [Maya's Protection].

A transcendent was no joke. Honestly, without his heightened celestial regeneration ability, he didn't think he could last even a few minutes against her.

"I'm merely a transcendent," Ariha said, ignoring what he had said. "Barely stepped into the path... but your opponent is someone who has reached the very peak of transcendence. Anyway, it was only our first sparring... You mentioned you have a question?"

"Yes," he said, his exhaustion easing off. "Why is my radiance essence a tinge of goldish light, while yours is pure white?"

Ariha blinked at him, a bit surprised. She probably thought he would ask something more important.

"It's not really something important," she said. "But if you want, I can give you more than a couple of answers."