After a rather long time, a small head slowly emerged from the sea, looking at "Kevin," who was standing on a piece of broken ice, with a resentful gaze.
The ice Bianka had created on the sea had been shattered by Shu's attack, and was now just a collection of floating ice fragments.
Bianka soaked in the water for a while. The seawater was cold at night, but the parts of her exposed to the sea breeze were even colder, which created the illusion that the parts submerged in the water were warm.
Bianka's intuition told her that something was wrong.
It wasn't that she was being self-deprecating, but she had always been a fast learner. She had even learned the Taixuan Sword Qi after seeing it just once.
But now she had already failed twice, and she hadn't even grasped a single trick...
Was this right? This felt so unfamiliar!
But it was also possible that she just didn't understand it. After all, this ability was different from anything she had encountered before. It was so profound, almost like the "cultivation" in those novels.
"Am I really that untalented?" A small bit of frustration bloomed in her heart. Bianka once again flipped onto a piece of broken ice and, after steadying herself, scratched her head sheepishly at Shu.
Shu heard every word of Bianka's inner monologue. He was silent for a moment, and the thought that he might be misleading a student flashed through his mind.
But just thinking about it was useless. What he knew now was that there was definitely something wrong with his teaching method. As for whether the problem was big or small, or where it lay, he didn't know.
It seemed he had to go back to the most primitive method...
"Attack me, Bianka," Shu said, extending his hand to her.
Since directly piling on mass wasn't working, Shu would provide Bianka with enough quantity and let her grasp the true core of [Hope] herself.
Bianka nodded vigorously. She didn't charge up, but rushed directly at Shu, throwing another punch.
This time, Shu no longer used [Hope] to directly resist. Instead, he returned to his usual combat state, using [Hope] to assist him with more convenient methods.
The moment Shu made his move, Bianka focused her mind and began to observe his every action.
The small fist once again landed in Shu's palm. The familiar tremor spread across the sea surface, and Shu also launched his first active attack on Bianka.
A simple, unadorned straight punch, enhanced by [Hope]!
Because Shu had deliberately controlled its power, in Bianka's eyes, this punch was full of flaws, a punch that could be described as ugly.
Bianka had many ways to dodge it, or use it to launch a counterattack on Shu, but those were all clever tricks to get around the punch.
If she wanted to truly feel what this punch contained...
Bianka chose to meet Shu's punch with her own!
This time, it was a head-on collision! Bianka's figure was sent flying for the third time, but this time, she didn't lose control of her body and skip across the water like before. She flipped over and landed precisely on a piece of broken ice not far away.
A huge splash erupted from the sea surface. Bianka used the recoil from shattering the sea surface to return to the battlefield.
It was still a head-on collision without any tricks. The moment the physical power of a MANTIS and the power enhanced by [Hope] clashed, both of them felt the pressure from the other's system.
As expected of a MANTIS... this physical strength is truly exaggerated...
"Is this the effect of that power when used skillfully? As expected... I'm still too weak." Bianka's inner sigh was also transmitted through the [Hope] that she was unconsciously maintaining.
Shu was taken aback. Bianka's current strength was already in the top tier of Fire Moth, and even the entire human world.
In fact, that top tier might just consist of Bianka alone.
As the only current MANTIS, and one of the only two who could directly participate in Herrscher-level battles, for Bianka to say she was too weak...
Was this the mindset of a strong person who always saw room for improvement?
Shu was slightly dazed. In that brief moment of distraction, Bianka's leg had already reached his face.
He quickly raised his hand to block the side, stopping Bianka's devastating whip kick. Shu didn't move an inch. He grabbed Bianka's ankle and threw her out.
"Not just the strength, but this speed, and this reaction time, is that also the effect of that power?!" Bianka's shocked thought made Shu's eyebrows twitch slightly.
It seemed she had a slight misunderstanding...
Enhancing the body with [Hope] was just the most basic use. Its greatest use was...
Omnipotence!
Shu suddenly turned, raising his hand and aiming at Bianka, and clenched it from a distance.
Several waterspouts suddenly rose from the sea surface, circling and biting at Bianka, who had not yet regained her balance.
Struggling to quickly regain control of her body, Bianka was swallowed by a rising water dragon before she could even look down.
Almost choking on the water, Bianka's eyes widened as she held her breath.
This was completely out of character!
Shu's hand gradually tightened. The several water dragons completely merged into one, forming a high-speed sphere of water that locked Bianka tightly within the spherical water prison.
Not good...
After her initial surprise, Bianka immediately realized what Shu was doing.
The high-speed flow of water was squeezing the air out of her lungs. She had held her breath in a hurry and didn't have much oxygen to begin with. And with her momentary carelessness, the air in her lungs had been almost completely expelled.
To be able to do this...
Bianka tried to struggle, but her limbs couldn't find a foothold in the water. This water prison seemed to be specially prepared for people like her who liked to create miracles with brute force.
But... besides brute force, Bianka had other powers!
Clusters of ice crystals began to appear in the water prison, blocking the flow of water and rapidly spreading.
Shu's clenched fist relaxed a little. It was best if Bianka could break free on her own.
And this cold air... was it a MANTIS ability? It was very similar to Kevin's.
The flowing water prison quickly turned into a ferocious ice ball. The next moment, the ice ball shattered in front of Shu, and several large pieces of broken ice flew straight at him.
Shu opened his hands and caught the several pieces of broken ice with a very gentle motion. With a reverse of his hand, the broken ice in his hand turned into a blazing fire.
In Bianka's shocked gaze, this cluster of fire condensed into a scorching greatsword.
Almost identical to the Star of Judgment.