Mahaansh said: " Good. But you must collect information as soon as possible." Malcen replied: "Commander, my clearance is extremely low to get that information. Also, I doubt it is stored in the main server. Most likely there will be an alternative storage, not connected to the network and the department server. But to access that I need more information and official power." Hearing this Mahaansh was deep in thought. After a few seconds he said " No you cannot promote yourself now. If you get promoted to the rank of inspector, it will lead to more stringent background checks. Not only government, but there will be checks from the mafia and the influential people as well. They will find the discrepancies in your service history. That cannot happen. Your family is also in this city. So for now, sit tight." Malcen was not that much satisfied. He said "Commander, I have been a private in the army. With that rank I could not do much there because of my lower rank. I also had to remain in that rank due to my recruitment to the agency. Now I can't get promoted to Inspector rank also? Not only is it beneficial to the agency, it is good for me as well." Mahaansh was not having any of it and he said " HAWK, this is a direct order. For now sit tight!!" Malcen was not satisfied, but he did not tell any thing further.
Ben woke up after about 45 minutes. He felt fresh after healing. His aura reserves was still at half its capacity. Mahaansh was sitting and meditating nearby. He had sensed Ben waking up.
After Ben gained his bearing Mahaansh asked him : "How was the spar?"
Ben answered : " It was good. I got to understand my limitations."
Mahaansh asked : "So what are your limitations? What did you find out."
Ben thought for a second and answered : "One problem I could understand is I lack experience. I can't time the various techniques. Its utilization is also limited. I also have low aura reserves. I don't know how I will raise it. Then comes the various techniques itself. I don't know many techniques myself. All I have are the techniques I got from the basic classes and some books. "
Mahaansh was stunned. That was almost 90% of what he was going to say. ' This guy is he an overthinker or what. That was almost what I was going to tell. Not bad, not bad at all' : Mahaansh thought. Then he said : "Good. That was most of the problems. You have analyzed your strengths and weaknesses well to a certain extent. We will do some more sparring lessons. It will happen 3 times a week for the next 6 weeks including this week. You have 2 more sparring matches this week. It will be day after tomorrow and on the weekend."
Ben was nodded. Mahaansh further said " With each spar, you will learn to integrate techniques more and also to conserve your aura reserves more. This skill is something which comes with experience. After 2 weeks of spar we will have a talk about your strengths and weaknesses." Mahaansh then thought for some time and then continued, "You need to get some techniques that are right for you. They have to be bought from the martial department. It needs money. The school will not coddle you. Earning resources is also a skill. You will have to look into that."
Mahaansh further explained : "Look, the martial seed is connected to the growth of shamanic script in your case. Only when you work on shamanic script will the meridian seed grow. But the shamanic script is connected to your energy absorption capability which is connected to the development of your meridians. So it forms a vicious cycle. That is where martial techniques come. When you use suitable martial techniques meridians on that part of the body develop more. For example, the claw technique you used, when you use it continuously, you will understand more about it and learn to use it more effectively by guiding your aura only through your hands, or to be exact your forearms including wrist, palm and fingers. When you properly utilize it, the meridians in those parts will grow to be more strong and more conductive of energy than other parts. So in that way you would have developed your meridian helping in the formation of shamanic script and thus your power levels will advance. This is the importance of martial techniques." Ben was enlightened. Now he understood why he needed to find martial techniques.
With the information he got from Mahaansh, Ben worked on improving his basic techniques and foundation. He tried to combine the various techniques he knew. He tried to unearth the various techniques associated with the Shamanic seed from the genetic memory of the aether wolf. The sparring match with Malcen continued and Mahaansh did have a talk with Ben. In that Mahaansh said the two glaring weakness that Ben had. One was with defense and the other one was with foot work. Maneuvering technique which he derived from aether lupis was not effective. This was because these depended on the spatial powers of the beast and hence it was difficult to replicate it at this stage. The same went for defense. He did not have any choice but to look for these himself. But he did not have the resources right now. So he had to wait.
The sparring matches with Malcen continued. Ben slowly understood that Malcen was actually hiding most of his powers and was slowly unleashing it as Ben improved. He did not defeat Malcen one time till now. He would end up unconscious always. But the duration of their spar was increasing. On the first day the spar lasted only for about 4 minutes. After 2 weeks, it lasted for about 15 minutes. After 4 weeks it was about 30 minutes.
Ben's aura reserves increased and so did his integration of techniques. He was also able to integrate the 'Airavata Stanam' to a certain extent. This also played a crucial role in improvement. Malcen and Mahaansh were stunned when Ben was able to mitigate and redirect the physical attacks of Malcen. He did not have a way to defend against the lightning other than the using the claw to defend against it.
The formation of claw was also getting more pronounced. At first it was like a thin film but was oversized, extending quite a bit from Ben's hand. But as Ben became more proficient. It became like a gauntlet, covering the entire palm and fingers and also a part of the forearm. It became more solidified and became dark blue in colour. It also showed the signs of having some speckled stars here and there. Overall it was becoming quite beautiful to see.
On the last week however, Ben 5 sparring matches. Each one was with different people. One was Malcen himself. Other one was one with wind powers. Another one was a sword cultivator. Another one was a yogi. Yet another one was a sensory meridian seed user. Out of all these, Ben had a draw with the sensory meridian seed user He was defeated in all other matches. But it was to be expected. He only had so much experience in combat. All the others had years of experience in combat and the usage of their meridian seed. Their aura reserves were also higher than that of Ben. One of the regrets he had was the fact that he could not fight any shamanic knights or beast master knights. This would have helped him to understand many things about his powers. But alas, it was very difficult. He had to be satisfied with this. In another 2 days he was going to Aatva and he had to prepare. Ben was both nervous and excited.