After finding a suitable spot, Lina looked at Zhang Ye and asked, “Brother Ye, how are we going to do this practical combat?”
Zhang Ye smiled. “Since you can't cast traditional magic, this practical combat will be for practice purposes.”
“Let's have a race.”
“A race?” Lina was stunned for a moment, then she grew excited and nodded. “Okay! How do we do it?”
With a wave of Zhang Ye’s hand, many points of light appeared in the air, connected by lines.
“Do you see these points and lines?” Zhang Ye asked.
“Yes!”
“Starting from the first point, the next point it’s connected to is the second point.”
“Every time you use Blink, you need to touch one point before you can Blink toward the second one.”
“Let's see who can touch all the points first!”
“Okay!” Lina nodded, then asked curiously, “Brother Ye, you can use Blink too?”
“Earlier, I noticed your teleportation method was very similar to my Blink...”
Zhang Ye laughed. “It is your Blink.”
Lina was shocked. “How can you use Blink, Brother Ye?”
Zhang Ye gave a smug chuckle. “Your Brother Ye is a genius. I can learn any magic anyone casts just by seeing it once.”
Lina tilted her head. “Can you even learn innate magic?”
“Of course!” Zhang Ye smiled at her. “So remember, just like you, I can use Blink and Retrograde. And you can be just as amazing as I am!”
“Never give up on finding ways to become stronger. Hard work always pays off!”
Lina was slightly moved. “Brother Ye...”
Zhang Ye burst out laughing. “Well? Is this bowl of motivational chicken soup tasty or what?”
Lina was taken aback, then broke into a brilliant smile.
“Drink up this chicken soup, and let's get started!” Zhang Ye laughed.
“This training is mainly to practice your reaction speed and your mastery over your innate magic.”
“Got it!” Lina nodded.
Zhang Ye waved his hand, and points of light emerged. Two identical paths appeared before them, winding and connecting ten points of light.
“Let's start with an easy one.”
“Remember, ten points means you have to Blink ten times. You can't skip a single one, and your position can't deviate too much.”
“Okay!”
“Ready... Go!”
As soon as the words left his mouth, Lina and Zhang Ye disappeared from their spots simultaneously, both touching the first point of light.
However, before Lina could lock onto the second point, Zhang Ye’s figure had already vanished. Lina hurried to Blink to the second point, then the third.
But by the time she touched the third point, Zhang Ye had already reached the finish line and was smiling at her.
Seeing this, Lina’s eyes dimmed.
Brother Ye was incredible. He could learn her innate magic just by seeing it once, and... he used it better than she did, even though she had possessed it for over a decade.
I really am a usele—
“Don't stop!” Just as despondency began to set in, Zhang Ye’s voice suddenly rang out, interrupting her thoughts.
“Ah, yes!” Lina cried out. She threw those thoughts from her mind, gritted her teeth, and performed one Blink after another until she finally reached the finish line.
“Brother Ye, am I too slow?” Lina asked in a low voice.
Zhang Ye nodded and said firmly, “Slow. Extremely slow!”
“Blink allows you to move at the speed of light, so theoretically, you should have a speed second only to light itself!”
“Mm...” Lina nodded softly, her small hands clenching until her knuckles turned white.
Zhang Ye’s voice suddenly softened. “What did you think of me just now?”
Lina immediately replied, “Very amazing, very fast!”
Zhang Ye grinned. “Fast is right. Do you remember what I said?”
“I am just like you, and you can be just like me!”
“As fast as I am now is how fast you will be in the future—maybe even faster!”
“Never belittle yourself. Never think you can't do it!”
“Drink up this chicken soup, and let's continue!”
“I won't rest until I've made you the fastest woman alive!”
Lina looked at Zhang Ye, her gaze becoming slightly dazed.
The light radiating from Zhang Ye felt even warmer and more dazzling.
“Okay!”
Zhang Ye mapped out another Blink route and said, “The reason your Blink is slow is because your reactions haven't caught up yet. Your intuition hasn't caught up, which makes the frequency of your Blinks slow.”
“So, we need to focus on training your reactions.”
“You can use Divine Sense perception to lock onto the positions of the light points, allowing you to anticipate.”
“Anticipate your next landing point. At the moment you land, you need to already know which direction you're Blinking next. You must anticipate all of it!”
“On the battlefield, you even have to anticipate your opponent's anticipation. Multiple layers of anticipation, all-around anticipation!”
“Let's begin. Don't think about anything else. Clear your mind, give it your all, and Blink as fast as you possibly can!”
“This time, there are twenty points.”
“Ready, go!”
Lina and Zhang Ye’s figures immediately began Blinking frantically along the route.
Lina’s Blinking was already quite fast. The moment she landed, she left only an afterimage.
However, Zhang Ye was even faster. By the time Lina’s afterimage appeared, over a dozen afterimages had already appeared on Zhang Ye’s route. This meant that for every one of Lina’s Blinks, Zhang Ye had performed over a dozen.
This wasn't to say that Lina’s displacement speed during the Blink wasn't as fast as Zhang Ye’s; it was that the moment Lina landed, she needed a certain amount of time to lock onto the next landing point.
Even if that time was less than 0.3 seconds, those 0.3 seconds were enough for Zhang Ye to perform over a dozen Blinks.
Zhang Ye’s Blinks were almost seamless!
If he wanted to, he could be even faster!
When Lina reached the finish line again, Zhang Ye nodded and smiled. “Not bad. Much faster than last time.”
“Really?!”
That was a lie. She was faster, but it definitely wasn't 'much' faster. She still needed a lot more practice!
However, Zhang Ye knew that Lina needed encouragement right now.
Furthermore, Zhang Ye truly did see room for improvement in Lina.
Zhang Ye nodded. “Really. But there are a few problems you need to overcome. Once you do, the speed of your Blink will improve qualitatively.”
“First, every time you Blink, you subconsciously look at the next Blink point before you move.”
“This is habitual thinking. You think you need to look at it to lock on. In fact, you can completely discard meaningless visual locking and extra movements. When you Blink, your body undergoes elementization, so none of your physical movements will affect the outcome of the Blink.”
“What truly affects it is your judgment, your thoughts, your reactions, and your perceptual intuition.”
“Second, you're used to focusing your perception to lock onto the second point before Blinking. Since that's the case, why not just perceive and lock onto all the points at once, and then perform a series of Blinks?”
“Habitual thinking is very influential. Because of it, you subconsciously do things that don't actually help your Blink. You must learn to overcome this.”
“As I said before, you need to improve your reactions, intuition, and perception. Before you even start Blinking, you must plan and anticipate your route. At the same time, you must anticipate the attacks you might face upon landing, or anticipate your landing point amidst countless attacks. Only then can you Blink at maximum speed and ensure your own safety!”
“Again. Still twenty points, but this time, I want your speed to double!”
Lina listened intently, firmly memorizing everything Zhang Ye said: reactions, intuition, anticipation, and overcoming habitual thinking!
“Okay, I'll try!”
“Don't try. You must do it!”
“Ready, go!”
...
...
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