Lord of Annihilation

Chapter 285: Improvements and Change.

Eight months later. 

Sitting within the Common Room, Lucius was leaning against his chair while propping his legs up on the central table. 

His eyes were closed in quiet disregard, with one of his hands used to prop up his languid head while the other hanged lazily at the side. Wearing the same black-colored armor, Lucius' breathing was unusually slow as he silently rested, seemingly in sleep.

Seated upright on another chair directly opposite to him was Olivia. Holding a fork and knife within her hands, she quietly dug into the boxed meal in front of her and mechanically ate it. 

Wearing a pair of hot-pants and a sports bra, Olivia was exposing a great amount of her smooth, pale-white skin. Her long shapely legs, toned midriff, and slender arms, beautifully complemented her attire giving her a risqu, athlete-like look. 

However, the most obvious feature to notice when looking at Olivia wasn't her racy choice of clothing, but the black blindfold around her head. Olivia's sight was completely blinded, making her solely rely on her soul's sensory perception.

Hundreds of imperceptible stands of violet-colored soul power filled this entire room and accurately observed every single change. From the movement of a dust particle to the quiet breathing of Lucius, an extremely large amount of information and sensory data entered her mind with each passing second.

This data was then efficiently sorted by her mind, keeping what was required while discarding the rest.

With both parties lost in quiet considerations of their own, no conversation flowed within the room. The only noticeable sounds were the clinking of the cutlery against the box container.

A few seconds later, Olivia finished consuming her tasteless meal and rose from her seat. Carrying the empty meal-set in her hands, she started to make her way to the kitchen, while being blindfolded.

Walking up to the pressurized door, leading out of the Common Room, Olivia paused for a moment and waited for the door to open.

Zwoop!

Opening vertically, the door granted passage into the main corridor which circled around the Common Room and led towards the other rooms and facilities on the ship.

Stepping into the corridor, Olivia walked with practiced ease while mentally controlling the numerous strands of soul power to sweep her surroundings. 

While her sense of sight was blinded, her soul power allowed her to 'see' the world through another perspective. One that was more detailed than sight.

This technique that she currently used was called [Perception Check]. It was an application of one's soul power, allowing one to constantly perceive a fixed range around them.

For Stage 2 beings, this range varied from 5m to 30m, depending on quantity and control over soul power.

For Stage 3 beings, this range was fixed at 10km.

Being able to use [Perception Check] meant that one was not far from mastering a Field, as [Perception Check] required one to cast Boundary around them and maintain it at all times.

Tutored by Lucius for the last eight months, Olivia learned a lot of things and improved at a tremendous rate. Her mentality had also undergone a slight change after having the 'talk' with Lucius.

Right now, she was able to stably deploy a Stationary Field with a fixed range of 30m. This, however, stapled her to the area within the Field and did not provide much in terms of mobility. After all, she was still in the process of mastering the Moving Field technique.

While being nailed to a certain area might be detrimental to other Stage 2 beings making them an easy target for attack, this was not of concern to Olivia, for she had been learning the greatest movement technique to ever grace this Universe.

Learning [Absolute Evasion] had solved the single-most urgent problem plaguing Olivia; lack of varied movement. After starting practicing this peerless technique, Olivia was like a tiger that had been given wings.

The complex footwork and movement pattern of [Absolute Evasion] opened a brand new door for her, raising her combat ability by almost two-fold!

This meant that the current Olivia had no problem dueling against threefourfivesix Forgotten Warriors at the same time!

Not only was she able to fight six of them at the same time, but Olivia also had a fixed chance at defeating them, granted that she went all out. 

Her progress had truly been phenomenal.

It had to be mentioned, the [Absolute Evasion] which Olivia was currently in the process of learning was but the basic, rudimentary of the technique and not its actual essence. 

While it granted her phenomenal evasion and dodging ability, it did not yet allow her to superpose and ignore the enemy's attacks. 

She would have to reach Stage 3 and construct her Domain, before being able to learn that.

The key requirement of [Absolute Evasion] was 'total observation', or the ability to perceive a lot of information from one's surroundings. This was the reason behind her blindfold training.

Shortly after Lucius' had decided to teach Olivia [Absolute Evasion], he had her blind her senses one by one. Sight, sound, smell, taste, and touch, each of the five essential senses were blinded forcing her to rely on her soul power's ability to perceive.

During this period, Lucius did not lessen Olivia's usual round of training and lessons but instead increased it further. Trapped in a body that could not perceive anything, the first two months of her training had been a nightmare for Olivia. 

The human mind required  continuous stimulation in order to keep it healthy and in check. Artificially removing these sensory stimulations would cause many problems such as; mental instability, forced hallucinations, paranoia, etc.

There were a few times when Olivia's mind was pushed dangerously close to its limits and almost collapsed. 

Fortunately, the two ex-Stage 7 teachers of hers had known about this issue in advance and were in fact expecting it. With their quick intervention, coupled with the fact that Olivia's soul primarily specialized in the Mental-type attribute, the issues were quickly resolved.

As she improved, her senses were slowly restored, and currently, except for her sight, Olivia regained all of her other senses. 

The day she had regained her sense of touch, Olivia had latched herself onto Lucius for a good few hours, immersing herself in his scent and feel. The latter under Ka'lor'ah's incessant persuasion was forced to comply.

Moving on

While this type of training was torturous and inhumane, it forcibly brought out Olivia's potential causing her to quickly advance. Her control over her body and soul power was also steadily getting closer to reaching 'Perfection'. 

According to Lucius' estimates, if Olivia kept improving at this same rate, it would take her two more years to reach the 'Perfect Control' realm.

But of course, time was running out, and waiting two more years was not an option. A year had almost already passed and there were only four more years left before they had to participate in Alcana Empire's chaos.

And as such, that brings the party to their next training location.

Within the Kitchen, Olivia was neatly washing the utensils she had used for eating. Wiping the spoon, fork, and the box with a dry cloth, she deposited the items into a machine used for their storage and refilling.

"Food reserves are low. Please refill as soon as possible." 

The moment she inserted the items, the machine warned them of their dwindling food reserves. 

Originally, the ship had more than enough food reserves to last the trio for five years. Given Lucius rarely ate and Ka'lor'ah only went for the snacks, it should've realistically lasted longer.

But alas, Olivia's increased training had also increased her dietary consumption. While abundant at first, the reserves were now reaching red-line levels.

Hearing that warning, Olivia subconsciously touched her stomach. Upon feeling her extremely toned muscles, she sighed in relief and thought, 'Thank goodness. For a second, I thought I was becoming fat.'

She then continued to trail her fingers through her arms, legs, thighs, and other parts of her body and felt the muscles there. 

'I've got quite a few muscles, huh?' Olivia mused.

Overall, Olivia's figure still looked tall and slender. All of her muscles were compact and neatly contained within her lean, sylphlike frame. 

If she were wearing her armor, an ignorant spectator would find it hard to believe that this beautiful lady had such defined muscles underneath her attire.

'Soul power really is amazing. Not only does it allow one to exert strength greater than what one's body can exert, but it also refines and purifies the body, making the whole thing better.'

'If not for soul power compressing my muscle gain and improving their density instead of mass, I might instead have a large, hulking figure,' Imagining it, made Olivia chuckle out loud. 

At this moment, a thought suddenly occurred within her mind causing her to wonder, 'I wonder what Lucius' body looks like. It's been so long since I've seen him bare.'

The last time Olivia remembered seeing Lucius in his 'birthday suit' was when they were still children. There were a couple of times after that where she 'accidentally' sneaked a peak, but nothing major.

More recently, there were a few times when she had seen Lucius topless, but even those were before Lucius' ascended into Stage 3. 

Wriggling her fingers indecently, Olivia continued, 'When I felt him up during my 'Reward Hug' (that incident with the sensory restoration), I could vaguely feel his muscles lines. I wonder what it looks like beneath.'

Pausing her steps in serious contemplation, Olivia thought, 'Should I take a peek when he's in the bath or something? Wait actuallydoes Lucius even take a bath? I've never seen him do it.'

'Hmm, I've never seen him sweat or smell bad either. There's always this sweet, dark, blood-like smell surrounding him. Is that also from his soul power?'

'My interest has suddenly peaked on this matter. Maybe I should rope in Ka'lor'ah for help.'

'Lucius' bare body and assets,' a perverted smile surfaced on Olivia's face as she thought, 'I want to see it!'

The months of torturous training did not only have an impact on Olivia's strength but also on her mind. Not only was her power significantly boosted, but her confidence had also taken a strange turn.

Olivia had become more in-tune and honest with her inner desires. The dignity of the Arbiter only pushed her further down this route.

Just as she was about to contact Ka'lor'ah to discuss a plan, Olivia heard Lucius' voice resound within her head.

"Olivia," hearing his blas voice, Olivia suddenly stiffened. 

'Crap, did I accidently speak out loud? Did he hear my thoughts?' Panic, followed by regret set in as Olivia realized that her plans had failed even before they had taken shape.

"Suit up, we have almost arrived at our second destination," Lucius announced.

He then closed the connection with Olivia, leaving her free once again. Olivia stiffly stood for a few seconds, before relaxing her body.

Releasing a visible sigh, she placed a hand on her chest and thought, 'Fuu, thankfully my thoughts are still safe. There is still a chance.'

She then processed his announcement, before quickly heading towards her room. Her face had a serious expression and the previous look of playfulness had disappeared.

Chance or not, there was a separate time to act playful. First and foremost was her duty, which in this case was her training.

'I wonder what planet we're going to arrive in this time.' 

Entering her room, Olivia quickly started to ready herself.