Kingdom Building: Civilization Starts with Divinity-Chapter 80: ADHD-Ridden Gamers

"Separate movements?" Alchemy hummed.

"Oh." Her eyes widened.

"Just... I don’t know, start with that? Because it’s not like I can give you some grand answer. That’s just how my muscle memory is."

Up to this point, Alchemy treated fighting like she does walking.

Put one foot forward, lift the other, and push that one forward, repeat—one straightforward motion at a time.

Instead, what Gravana is telling her to do is treat it like running.

When you’re running, your second foot prepares its movement before the first finishes.

Even with that being clear, Alchemy didn’t think it was something she could do. Not unconsciously, at least.

Between dodging, watching for openings to attack, and moving her body the way she currently did, it was already a lot to ask. The problem they were trying to solve initially, her inability to properly utilize the information in front of her, was the same issue.

Her brain couldn’t keep up.

"Now that that’s cleared up, what do you propose I do? Is this where you teach me some secret technique to hasten the training?"

"Well, that depends. Are you willing to spend time outside of our meetings training?" Gravana chuckled.

Alchemy’s eyes lit up at the mention of Gravana giving her something more to do. When she realized that, however, she returned to a more neutral disposition.

Was her immediate boredom problem going to be solved?

"Sure. It’s a lower priority than managing my territory, but there are moments where I don’t have much to do."

"Great! Then, all you need to do is begin meditating! It’s a bit different for everyone, but the longer you do it in each sitting, the better, so make sure you finish everything else before you begin!"

Hearing Meditation, Alchemy frowned.

’But I already Meditate!’ She complained inwardly.

|<Notice: You are incorrect. What you do and what Gravana is talking about are two different techniques.>|

The message made her expression change again, much to Gravana’s amusement. Sometimes, her expression changes rapidly and seemingly randomly, causing Gravana to never truly know what’s going through that tiny head of hers.

’If I’m not meditating, then what am I doing?’ Alchemy asked.

|<Notice: We do not know.>|

Her frown returned.

’Then how do you know what Gravana is talking about?’

|<Notice: Gravana’s method of "meditation" is registered in the system as a method to obtain the Enlightenment Skill. On average, one must meditate for 87,600 hours before there is a chance to unlock the skill.>|

Thinking about it, Alchemy did recall such a skill existing. It was a powerful Growth-type skill that lowered everything. Cast times, skill costs, and even timers that skills like Ruinous Bloom had were shortened.

’Wait, you can get that skill organically? How come nobody managed it in A.O.A? At least that I’ve heard of.’ Alchemy mused.

|<A bunch of ADHD-ridden gamers would never sit down and do nothing for that long.>|

’Okay, fair, but screw you. Surely someone had set up a macro or something, though They must have accidentally gotten the skill, right?’

|<Notice: We specifically disabled gaining the skill if botting of some kind was detected.>|

That caused Alchemy to laugh. A.O.A. was known for managing bots in unorthodox ways. Because bots were rarely outright banned, botting in the community was more of an inside joke than an actual problem.

"Disciple?" Gravana flicked Alchemy.

"Yipe!" She yelped, the force behind Gravana’s large fingers sending her to the ground.

"Ah, yea!? I’m here! What’s up?"

"I can’t tell if you’re talking to one of your children or your imaginary friend."

Alchemy blinked rapidly a couple of times as she got up, looking at the system.

|<Notice: I am not your imaginary friend.>|

"The latter. Sorry." Alchemy sighed.

"Well, if you’re done talking to yourself, let’s get back to training." Gravana crossed his arms.

"Oh, uh, yeah. I’m all for meditating when I have free time." She nodded. 𝘧𝓇ℯℯ𝑤ℯ𝘣𝓃ℴ𝓋𝑒𝑙.𝑐𝘰𝑚

"That’s the spirit! I’ll show you at the end of this session!"

Cracking her knuckles and neck, Alchemy dashed at Gravana before he could prepare, causing him to smile.

’Dodge and attack in the same motion. Simple enough, surely.’

When she got in close, Alchemy instantly aimed for Gravana’s head; however, he accepted the challenge and aimed for her head, initiating a cross counter.

’There!’ She shouted inwardly, ducking as Gravana’s fist was about to collide with her. At the same time, she kicked upward, her leg didn’t quite reach Gravana’s head, but the secondary attack from Razor Surge allowed her to land an attack instantly.

Surprised, Alchemy jumped back.

"See? Was that so difficult?" Gravana chuckled.

"You let me hit you for free." She narrowed her eyes.

"No. Well, yes, but I’ve been doing that this whole time, disciple. You’ve just only realized how to capitalize on it now."

Stretching out his arm, Gravana took a few steps forward.

"Now that we know you’re capable of the basics of the basics, we’ll continue as usual. Are you ready for me to speed up?"

Alchemy looked at her hand while she repeatedly clenched her fist. When Gravana is open like that, it’s simple enough, but even from that instant, she feels that her control over her body has lessened.

It wasn’t noticeable since her initial attack missed anyway, but she could tell from feeling.

"Getting hit is the best way to improve, I suppose." She sighed

"Grahahaha! Now you’re starting to get it!"

As the young monarch prepared to go for another round, an interruption came.

{Mother Goddess, we might have a problem.} Nera said with a hurried tone.

She sounded... Excited, which gave Alchemy a great deal of worry.

"My god, Nera, what did you do?" Alchemy questioned as she looked in the direction of her settlement.

Gravana, surprisingly, did the same. He completely believed that Nera did something bad.

"That one wasn’t your imaginary friend, was it?"

But he decided to confirm it anyway.

"I wish it was. Can we go check what happened? If it’s nothing big, we can get right back to training."

"Sure! Lead the way! I wonder what kind of fun situation that little shapeshifter has found herself in."

Alchemy shuddered. Whatever Gravana found fun was sure to be full of danger, but what was worse was that he might be right.