Chapter 258 Obvious?
After Vicente said he was Cesar, Benson was silent momentarily, seeing that it all made sense.
'Indeed. Their skills are identical! But while Vice uses his forging skill, Cesar does it by killing his opponents! I hadn't thought about the possibilities of his skills in combat!' He pondered, realizing he had neglected to look closely at what had happened in Millfall.
He had been so busy at the forge, thinking of ways to outdo himself, especially his great rival, that he hadn't noticed something so simple.
'Come to think of it, with one exception, whenever Vice was "traveling," Cesar was in town! Only the last few weeks have neither of them been in Millfall!' Benson clenched his fists, determined to leave his forge for a while to interact with the local powers.
"I see. So you're him." He murmured after a minute's thought. "What should I call you then?"
"Call me Vicente, master. That's my real name. I only use the identity of Cesar to protect my real family. My little sister is all I have, and I don't want to endanger her with what I do." He was sincere. "However, to achieve my goals, I have to take risks in things that could affect her. So I act like Cesar when I have to work."
"I see..." Benson walked around Vicente and looked at the young man with a different eye.
Vicente was no longer the young prodigy of the forge. Now, he was much more than that, someone capable of killing people in unimaginable ways.
Not only that, he was now a person with a much more robust past than Vicente Fuller, someone with several enemies and problems to solve.
Before saying what he thought of the situation, Benson asked. "Why did you decide to tell me this now? You could have done it before but didn't for obvious reasons. But what's changed now?"
"My second pentagram," Vicente answered directly, his eyes following his master as he saw Benson circling him. "When you see it, master, you'll understand me. There's no way I could keep hiding the truth about myself from you, so I've decided to tell you once and for all.
But don't get me wrong. I didn't tell you about my identity before because of my sister. I wouldn't have bothered to hide it from you if it weren't for her."
'I'm willing to risk it, but I can't do it casually with Nina.' He thought silently.
"Oh? Then, show me the pentagram. I want to see what you've come up with." Benson said with great curiosity.
Vicente did not hesitate any longer and quickly showed his master his second essence, which was connected to the first Magic Gem.
As he moved his mana through the gem, causing it to glow brightly, Vicente suddenly made a holographic figure appear from inside his body, gradually increasing in size.
When that characteristic figure appeared, with inscriptions on its sides and a perfect three-dimensional body the size of a circular maintenance hole cover emitting a yellow glow, Benson almost felt his soul leave his body.
Seeing and feeling a 3rd class pentagram, yellow, on a young 2nd-stage Acolyte, he almost put aside the fact that Vice was already close to level 3 and couldn't help but be shocked by the quality of his disciple's second essence.
"That..." He choked.
"But... But that should be impossible! How did you manage that? How is it possible? Vicente, you... You should be dead!" He said in disbelief, seeing and feeling reality but feeling like it was all a dream.
"I don't know. In fact, it wasn't my choice to absorb this pentagram, master. But it connected with me before I had a chance to escape, so I was forced to do my best and absorb it... Fortunately, I succeeded." He said in a light mood, showing Benson that he himself didn't understand what had happened.
"But I passed through Ironcrest and met Professor Newton. He asked me to observe him from time to time and made himself available to answer my questions. Maybe he'll discover something in the future."
"Newton?" Benson knew that name because the professor was a talented theorist in the field of forging.
Newton could learn anything, as long as it wasn't a pentagram skill or a Magic Gem characteristic. But his skills would never be enough for him to be an engineer, blacksmith, alchemist, doctor, enchanter, tamer, etc., at the same time. To actually practice these professions, one would have to have natural abilities that he did not have.
As such, Newton was not active in most of his professions. He merely learned and mastered the fields of knowledge by being a theorist or even a scholar of those fields.
But even though he didn't work as a blacksmith, Newton was an outstanding theorist, someone Benson respected for his talents and thoughts.
Hearing Newton's name from Vice's mouth pleased Benson. It meant that his student had a good supporter, someone who could help Vicente go further!
As Vicente's master, Benson only wanted him to grow up, so the fact that the young man had other teachers along the way didn't bother the old Millfall blacksmith.
Then he put aside his shock for a moment and said. "Vicente, show me the skill of this pentagram and how it affects your first skill when used together."
Vicente smiled and said. "My second ability has to do with field lines. It gives me the ability to see and manipulate electromagnetic field lines around me."
As he spoke, he used his ability and subtly caused distortions to appear in his surroundings, with some metallic objects in this forge shaking and bluish rays appearing here and there.
"When I let this pentagram influence my first ability, I can form electromagnetic barriers, manipulate metals more easily, and even 'give' electromagnetic properties to things I manipulate or touch." He said as he demonstrated for his master.
Benson watched as Vicente quickly extracted the metals from an ore before it took the form of a shield capable of repelling things.
At the same time, he noticed that the space around Vicente was distorting, and Benson easily understood how it worked.
'Oh? If I try to get close to you, my speed will get slower and slower, which could make the distance between us infinite.' He wasn't that shocked, but he liked it.
Such a thing wouldn't stop someone of his level from catching up with Vicente, but it could make a big difference against weaker people!
Seeing all it, Benson naturally loved his student's new pentagram and was already theorizing about what this young man could do with these new abilities!
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