Hello guys, no I am not dead yet but I took a little break from writing. This chapter is shorter than the previous one but I hope you'll still enjoy it !
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I have been wandering in this world for many years now; I stopped counting after a few hundred thousand. I explored the many continents this world possess, the many island and what lies within the sea.
I traveled in many different realms and saw many things, experienced many things, met many people... Although they were all scared of me or tried to rob me.
Today as I was exploring one of those humans city, I noticed a lone demi-human young girl sitting near a fountain taking a glance here and there as she was drawing.
She was looking for a source of interest, trying to learn something new as she was drawing. While she was doing this she seemed to be happy. And as I was looking at her a kid bumped into me.
Normally people don’t notice my existence as I am constantly hiding it, now already unconsciously, but after bumping into him I naturally attracted the attention.
As I turned myself toward the girl, she too was looking at me with curiosity in her eyes.
Noticing too much attention was attracted to me I walked away; normally my existence should have been concealed once everyone stopped looking at me, but I felt four stares directed at me.
One was the girl’s, she was following me, trying hard to not lose me; the other were three bandits like looking men, probably thugs.
I saw them swiftly walking toward me as their eyes showed that they intended to do something. As they approached me, one of them lightly charged into me and dropped on the ground, making it look like he was hurt and menaced me to come with them.
Those idiots picked on the wrong opponent and even went as far as take me deep within the district to make sure there would be no witness. How laughable they were.
“Hand over your money and we’ll let you live!” Were the foolish words which came out of the ‘injured’s’ mouth after he made sure nobody would witness their act, I had to restrain myself from laughing.
They didn’t even realize that the girl from earlier was watching us, I could tell them but… Why would I bother speaking with men who would soon die anyhow?
I was going to kill them, it wasn’t even going to take a single second, but something unexpected happened.
The girl who was watching the situation suddenly left her corner and rushed toward one of the thugs.
Is she one of those brats who wish to live for justice and become one of those pitiful heroes? How disappointing… I’ll probably have to save her before they finish her.
But my expectation were false, a quick attack in the back followed by a round kick she skillfully managed to get rid of one of those thugs like he was nothing.
Seeing my past self in her, I felt sick of the situation and decided to terminate the two remaining thieves and then leave. Making chains appear from below them before finishing them with a sword.
Seeing them dead, I once again examined the girl in front of me who was making me remember my past self; maybe I should give her an advice, even though I feel that she won’t listen to me.
“You should stop playing the role of a hero or one day you will regret it,” I said before walking past her, hoping she would at least think about those words.
“I am not playing at being a hero, nor do I want to become one.” Was her reply.
After speaking with her for a bit, she told me that she didn’t want to become anything important; she wasn’t after money or glory; freedom is what she seeks. Like me.
I somehow felt myself opening to her.… I still don’t know why, but I felt that I had to speak with her at this moment.
Unlike kids of her age, no, even normal adults weren’t as sharp as her; she was able to read through me and understand my feelings even better than I did.
Under the influence of my emotions, I even menaced her, but she didn’t budge; she was totally reading my emotions! This kid's insight is terrifying.
When she asked for my story I was quite surprised… Isn’t she being a little too cheeky right now? Moreover calling me Ojii-san… But I didn’t object to her demand as I felt like I could understand something now thanks to her.
I told her everything about myself, about my past and my feelings toward her; I told her how I murdered the king of my kind and left my people being erased from this world even though I was the only one with the power to save them, I told them how I left them to die.
But even with all this, even as I tried to describe myself as a despicable man…
“Then stop thinking about the past and enjoy your current life instead of being depressed, you idiot!” She said.
All those years, everything I was doing was remembering my past while traveling. Did I ever really try to enjoy myself? All I did was merely think about how despicable I found my kind to be while watch the ever changing decor.
Never did I even try to enjoy my life…
“Hmph, I’ll try to remember your advice ‘Yuki’.” I said as I called the girl by her name for the first time.
I wonder how her parents raised her to become like this, maybe I should ask her the next time I see her… After all, I decided to start living here what little time I still have before me. With this girl, maybe I will be able to finally learn how to enjoy myself, my life.
Should I build a house in the forest near the city? The city is really noisy during the day and it would take me a few minutes to travel from one to another.
Little did I know that I would meet her only a few hours after this in the forest right after finishing building my little house…
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“Aralche…” Yuki said as she looked at the man who saved her life.
“I didn’t think I would meet you this soon… Yuki.” He replied with a slight smile.
“ Mouuuh….You left without saying a word !” She replied pouting.
“Uh… Do you know each other?” Shiki asked as she felt somewhat left out.
“My name is Aralche, can I ask you who you are?” Aralche politely asked Shiki.
“I am Yuki’s sister, Shiki. Nice to meet you.” Shiki presented herself as she made a slight bow.
“I see… You must have your own circumstances.” He said as he looked at the two girls in front of him.
Aralche was lost in his thoughts as he was wondered what kind of life Yuki had experienced to end up being the sister of a half-elf; after all Yuki’s race was the catgirl one.
“STOP IGNORING ME!!” Yuki yelled as she jumped toward him, her knee aiming at his face.
That yell made his conscious come back and as he saw her knee approaching, he within a single second got at her back and caught her by her neckband.
“What are you doing?” He asked as he looked at her annoyed face.
“If I don’t do something like that you just keep ignoring me; last time as well you did the same, right before disappearing!” She replied as she was struggling to break free.
“Last time? I don’t remember you hitting me like that.” Aralche said as he tried to recall their first meeting.
“Of course not you idiot! I just hurt myself when I tried to hit you!” She yelled back to him, but her attitude just made his smile at her widen.
“Seeing how close you two are, it looks like Yuki made a friend. Please take good care of her.” Shiki requested as she once again made a slight bow toward Aralche.
“Sure, I’ll take care of her. No need to worry.” Aralche said as he made a reassuring smile to Shiki.
“Onee-chan!! Why are you selling me to this guy!” She yelled as she looked at Shiki with teary eyes.
“Anyway, what are you doing here?” He asked as he suddenly dropped Yuki on the ground.
“Ugu… Don’t you know how to behave with ladies?!... We are here to train,” Yuki said as she rubbed her posterior on which she fell.
“Uhm… Training is it? I can train you if you want.” He casually replied.
“Sure.” Yuki simply replied
Her answer surprised Aralche, he thought that she would refuse him on the spot, yet surprisingly she had accepted his proposal almost immediately.
Unlike what he was thinking, even though Yuki is behaving like this with him, she actually quite liked him. Moreover, after hearing his story, she knew how strong he really was.
Being trained by the man who slayed God; how could she refuse?
“I-I see, then you can follow me to my new house, it’s not far from here.” He said still a little surprised.
“Thanks for your hospitality, and may I also ask you since when are you living here?” Shiki asked.
“You two sisters are really the exact opposites of each other… I started living here only a few hours ago actually.” He said as he picked Yuki and put her under his arm like she was some goods.
“It must have been hard to build a house in this forest, no?” She asked.
“It only took me a few seconds to build it, actually. I am already used to living here and there.” He replied which made Shiki think he was only joking.
While Shiki and Aralche were discussing as they walked, he suddenly felt that something strange.
“Are you fine with me carrying you like this? Earlier you were struggling to be free just because I was lifting you.” He asked curious to Yuki.
“Why should I be bothered by the fact that you are giving me a free ride?” She replied as she tilted her head.
“This girl… seriously…” He said as he sighed while Shiki was watching both of them with a smile.
After walking for a few minutes, the three of them arrived in front of a large open area with a wooden house at its center.
The house wasn’t really a large one, but it wasn’t so small either. It was more than enough for a small family to live in.
“Here we are.” Aralche said as he dropped Yuki who managed to this time drop on her legs.
“Come on and let’s start our training already!” Yuki said as she glared at him.
“Aren’t you a little too hasty ‘chibi’? Are you really that eager to bite the dust?” He replied with a grin.
Yuki indeed felt that whatever she did against him, he would surely win. But this helpless feeling made her want to fight against him even more.
“Let’s see… If I use the same amount of strength and speed as you have, it should be a fair fight right?” He proposed to Yuki, eager of the upcoming fight.
“Let’s do this!” She replied excited.
“You don’t have to wait for me to get ready, you can start attacking.” He casually said without even taking a battle stance.
Training with the Godslayer Aralche
You accepted the proposal of the Godslayer to be trained by him.
Difficulty Level : SSS
Quest Rewards:
???
Quest Requirement :
High relationship with Aralche
After throwing a glance at the window, Yuki looked back at Aralche and it vanished like it never existed.
Yuki, as she unsheathed her sword, charged at Aralche who was still standing in a relaxed stance.
Five meters, three meters, when only one meter was left between the two of them, Yuki swung her sword aimed at his head, but at this very moment Aralche started to move his hand and placed it before Yuki.
A *CLUNG* was heard, it was the sound of Yuki sword colliding against a metal. In Aralche’s hand appeared a short black sword which was around half of the height of Yuki’s one.
Yuki’s sword which possessed the ability to freeze an enemy every time the sword touched its target didn’t even leave a single drop of ice or water on his sword.
Right after her sword was parried, Yuki had a bad feeling about her situation and quickly leaped backward. The very next instant a black blur line appeared where she was previously standing.
“Hoooh, you managed to dodge it. Did you learn how to fight before?” Aralche said as he was impressed by her dodging skills.
“I only started using it yesterday, but didn’t you say you would only fight using the same strength and speed as me ?!” Yuki yelled as she recalled his previous slash, it was a very quick one but she still managed to see it perfectly because of her agility.
“I didn’t lie, I am currently using the same amount as you.” He said with a giggle.
Yuki once again charged at him but was still careful of the short black sword in his hand. As she approached him she released a serie of quick slashes aimed at differents part of his body.
But all of her strikes were completely stopped by his speed, or so it seemed; but she realized that it wasn’t because he was fast that he blocked them, it was because he moved slightly before she attacked.
“You are reading all my attacks, right?” Yuki said as she continued to try to pressure him, unsuccessful.
“So you already realized it? I’ve fought for many years, of course I am experienced enough to predict your movements.” Aralche said while laughing.
Yuki understood that it would be hopeless for her to continue like this, she wouldn’t be able to pressure him as he already predicted all of her movements and when he would start to riposte, she would definitely lose.
Yet, Yuki was happy to have a powerful opponent. She truly loved challenges, and the one in front of her was one of the most difficult ones she ever got.
Once again as she thought of her next attack and the one after, she realized that by planning her attacks she wouldn’t be able to win as he predicted them all. But a sudden thought appeared, what if she simply fought without thinking.
Yuki suddenly retreated and glared at Aralche with a strange smile which made him feel doubtful, surprised by the sudden change of atmosphere around the girl.
Wanting to see how strong she was, he had let the girl attack as much as she wanted, but this sudden change made him curious; he was waiting for her to come at him.
Yuki suddenly charged at him even quicker than she was before as she did an amateurish swing possessing no strength or speed.
Aralche was surprised and disappointed by her attack and decided to finish the fight by using the opening her attack left. But as he started to move his sword, Yuki’s feet suddenly approached his head.
With a roll to the side, Aralche managed to dodge her attack but he was still surprised by what actually just happened. Using a poor swing, Yuki made him drop his guard and fake an opening, she then used the delay oh his attack to kick him from his dead angle.
If it wasn’t for his warrior's instinct which made him turn his head and see the kick, he would have definitely taken the hit.
‘I’ve seen many opponents using styles like this, but none were daring enough to risk taking a sword to lend a hit.’ Aralche thought as he looked at the young girl in front of him.
“It was an impressive combo, but your plan was pretty reckless brat.” He said.
“What plan?” She asked as she doubtfully looked at him.
Aralche was surprised by her question, it was because he somehow knew she was telling the truth. She actually didn’t even plan to lend the kick, she only did this by instinct.
‘What a scary girl… Let’s see how she reacts next,’ He thought as he opened his left hand’s palm and formed a pure white sword inside with the same height as the black one.
“Two swords? Seems kinda fun.” She thought as she looked at the two swords in his hands.
This time, unlike before, it was Aralche who attacked as he charged at her with quick steps. In just a moment he appeared in front of her and slashed at her body, but with a small backstep she had dodged the white short sword, making it cut only a little through her clothes but without damaging her.
The current attack surprised Yuki, making her grow even more concentrated on the fight as she observed all of Aralche’s movements.
A second hit came, then a third one, but all of them just cut through her clothes not damaging her.
‘How can a girl possess such instinct? Even animals one’s aren’t nearly as good as hers!’ He yelled in his mind as he continued to attack Yuki who was dodging them one after another with a paper margin.
After dodging the fifth hit, Yuki blocked Aralche’s black sword with her Ice Moon Sword as she dodged the white sword by crouching.
As she had dodged his attack, Yuki by using her left hand grabbed Aralche’s hand carrying the white sword, making both of his hands unusable.
As Aralche was totally open for an attack, Yuki launched herself in his torso, trying to headbutt him.
~BANG~
~Critical Strike 180 damage
Yuki fell on the ground just in front of Aralche who was looking at her with a large grin.
“You really thought you could defeat me so easily?” He said as he looked at Yuki standing up.
When Yuki was about to collide with Aralche, he with an inhuman speed made his black sword vanish and used his hand to grab Yuki’s head.
By making his sword vanish he had to dodge her own sword which he did with it grazing his hair while dodging it and by using his knee he kicked her in the stomach, making her fall on the ground with a critical strike. All this within not even one second.
“I lost...“ Yuki said while smiling, even though she had lost, she really had a lot of fun during the fight.
“Heh, of course you did, you really think you would be able to beat me who fought against the most powerful creatures in different worlds?” He said as he smiled.
But the truth was that he was really shocked by Yuki in the fight, her movements were totally unpredictable and really dangerous.
She was also dodging all his attack like it was nothing, he had even secretly started to use more speed than she possessed, but she still managed to dodge them.
By using the same amount of power as her, he was able to win only thanks to his experience which was far superior to hers, but that’s all. If she were to train, her skills would quickly surpass his, but of course only when he is using the same amount of power as her.
Taking a glance at her side, Yuki noticed a small window saying that she had gained one of strength.
Name:
Yuki
Race:
Catgirl
Class:
None
Level:
6
Points:
0
Titles:
None
Health:
265
Mana:
225
Damage:
43-45
Defense:
14
Strength:
26
Agility:
27 (+2)
Intelligence:
10
Wisdom:
10
Charisma:
10
Endurance:
11
Luck:
15
Fame:
0
As she opened her Character Screen, she noticed that she didn’t only gain one point of strength during the fight, but two in strength and agility.
The windows appeared while she was fighting, but being too focused on the fight Yuki didn’t notice them.
‘I almost gained the equivalent of one level with only one fight… Is it because he is stronger than me that my stats grow faster?’
“Let’s fight again!” Yuki asked as she hoped to gain more stats by fighting him once again.
“We need to go back Yuki, I have to work tonight.” Shiki interrupted her.
The tale has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation.
Unlike Yuki who was only working a few hours in the morning, Shiki worked in the morning and night; those are the hours where the tavern is the busiest.
“Right… Let’s fight once again tomorrow Aralche.” She said.
“Heh, tomorrow I won’t go as easy as I did today brat!” He answered with a smirk.
“That’s what I hope! See ya tomorrow.” Yuki said before walking out of the forest accompanied by Shiki, slowly returning to the town.
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“Hey Aralche!! We are here!“ Yuki yelled as she slowly approached the house accompanied by Shiki.
“I heard you brat! Do you always have to yell?” Aralche replied as he got out of his wooden house.
Right after completing their jobs, Shiki and Yuki traveled toward Aralche’s house while making sure to avoid wolves.
At first Shiki didn’t understand why Yuki wanted to continue to train, but after being told that her skills and stats grew really quickly, how could she not agree?
Leveling up in a game is not really very hard, it is possible to do so only by killing a few monsters or doing some quests. But what is truly difficult is to gain stats and level up skills.
Gaining stats was maybe the most difficult thing to do, it could make a large difference in a fight between two people of the same level. Unlike Yuki’s damage which mostly depended on her strength and agility stats, Shiki’s damage depended on her intelligence and skills level.
“What are we going to do today?” Yuki asked excitedly.
“What do you mean by ‘What’? We are going to spar, isn’t it obvious?” He answered surprised.
“Aren’t we going to do things like running around the forest while lifting weights?” She asked as she recalled a certain manga where an old man made two children do manual labor with a heavy turtle shell on their back.
“Heh… Don’t compare me with those idiots,” he said as he made a face saying ‘Are you stupid?’.
Yuki tilted her head from curiosity, making it seem that there were question mark hanging at the top of her head.
“Sparing with weight isn’t a bad idea, but what is the use of running around if you don’t know how to dodge? What is the use of lifting things if you can’t use your strength in a fight? Fight again and again until you master your body, once it’s done then add weight and fight once again! All other training regiments are worthless!” He explained with an assurance
“Oooooohhh! As expected of Shijou!” Yuki said as she clapped her hands.
“What do you mean by ‘Shijou’?!” He responded.
“Shijou is going to be my Shijou, right? So Shijou is Shijou from now on!” She argued with a smile.
“I don’t feel like understanding anyway… Call me however you want.” He sighed.
While they were talking Shiki was, with her hand on her chin, in a deep thought.
“Sparing? His method is really simple but for Yuki who still doesn’t have battle experience it’s good, moreover the stats growth will be very balanced and we’ll also develop our battle skills at the same time…” She mumbled as she was analyzing his training method.
“.ne...cha… Onee-chan! ” Shiki was surprised as she felt a weight appear on her shoulder, it was Yuki who jumped on her and was seated on her shoulder.
“What is it?” Shiki asked as she realized Yuki had been calling for her.
“We are going to start, you wanted to join us, right?” She told her.
“Oh, Shiki is going to join?” Aralche asked surprised.
“Yes please, if I don’t train as well I won’t be able to support my sister later on.” She said as she bowed for acceptance.
“Hmph, one or two…where is the difference? Bring it on, I won’t go too easy on you girls!” He said as he made his two swords appear.
The moments he made his swords appear, Yuki unsheathed her sword and Shiki started making her orbs but none of them moved.
Aralche was surprised by Yuki’s behavior as she was normally aggressive and would rush in first. During this time Shiki continued to create more orbs one after another, it was at the third one that he understood the reason.
‘She is waiting for her to make her preparation!’ He realized, but a little smirk appeared on his face as he looked at Shiki.
‘But their plan has some flaws. She won’t be able to control more than this.’ He thought as he watched Shiki make her fifth orb.
Suddenly four out of the five orbs flew around Yuki while Shiki was making more of them, this action shocked Aralche.
‘She can control them?!’ He thought as he saw four orbs traveling in circle around Yuki.
It was at this time that Yuki finally decided to engage in the fight and ran toward him making what seemed to be a reckless vertical slash.
Aralche was surprised at Yuki’s attack because she was full of openings; with a quick movement of both his hand he tried to block her sword with his left one and strike at her body with his right one.
But the moment before each sword collided, two blue sphere repelled both of his swords; making him defenseless against Yuki’s sword.
‘Shiki’s ability to control her spells is impressive, but...’
With a quick sidestep, Aralche dodged the incoming sword and dash in the direction of Shiki.
‘If I can take her out then it’ll be my win.’ he thought as he charged.
“Heh, don’t forget about me!”
The moment Aralche started to charge at Shiki he was interrupted by Yuki who was anticipated his reaction and thrusted her sword at his back while Shiki’s orb flew toward him, giving him no place to escape.
However even though he was about to lose, Aralche was smiling.
“I told ya that I won’t go easy, remember?!”
The moment Yuki’s attack was about to connect she saw a blurry black thing touch the orbs and her sword.
“Huh?!” She unintentionally left out as she saw the sudden change of scenery.
Not even one second ago she was thrusting her sword at Aralche, and now all of a sudden she could see the large limitless blue sky with pure white marshmallow-like looking clouds.
“This scenery does kind of makes one sleepy, huh?... Wait wher-GAAAH !!”
~192 damage
“What is that... a tree?” She mumbled as she looked at a tree with a little-damaged round part which was caused by the impact against Yuki’s head.
As she looked in the direction she came from, she realized that she was sent flying from almost 30 meters away.
Yuki was in an awe. She was sent flying 30 meters in an instant when her attack was about to hit him.
‘I guess it’s our loss...’
When Yuki returned to the house, she saw Aralche in front of Shiki, surrounded by five of her magic orbs.
“It’s your loss you know?” Aralche said with a smirk.
“Indeed, it is.” She said before launching all of the orbs toward him.
Within an instant, a black blurry line traversed all the orbs, slicing them all in half.
“Mumumu~ you cheated and used too much strength because you were about to lose!” Yuki said as she pouted.
“I never said that I would use the same amount as yesterday, and I also said that I wouldn’t go easy on you didn’t I?” He tried to justify.
“Heh...In the end that’s just how adults are, right?” She said with an ironic expression as she looked away from him as if to say ‘You really are shameless, aren’t you?’
“That’s how adults are brat… That’s how they are…” He agreed while sighing.
“Aren’t you supposed to be denying it?!” She retorted, surprised at seeing him agree this freely.
“Kukuku, why should I deny adult’s strength, brat? One day you’ll become one of us.” Aralche said with a dark smile.
“As I thought… I don’t want to become an adult!” She said, reinforcing her resolve of not growing up.
While the two of them were going even further into political and social subjects, Shiki on her side was happily watching her stats and skills; not able to stop smiling as she looked at them.
With only one fight she had won 3 point of Intelligence and 1 of Wisdom, this amount was something really incredible for but a single fight.
Moreover, not only did her stats grow, but the level of her Magic Orb also leveled from 3 to 5 within this single fight; this growth speed was already nearing levels of cheating.
‘I can understand why she was so eager to spar once again yesterday,’ she thought as she saw her skills level increases.
Not only Shiki gained stats, but Yuki as well gained 1 strength, 2 agility and 2 points in endurance, giving her the equivalent of one level and making her Weaponship skill already reach level 6.
The reason why their stats grew so fast wasn’t because of the quest, but because of Aralche’s true strength.
The system considered their spar as a real fight even if he wasn’t fighting them seriously. The growth of a players' skills and stats depend on the difference in strength between the two opposing challengers fighting and also the amount of effort put into the fight by the player.
The difference between their and Aralche’s strength was like heaven and earth, making them gain the equivalence of one level in stats and their skill to instantly level up even though they didn’t manage to even touch him.
“Well then, shall we have another round?” Aralche said as he took a combat stance once again.
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Two weeks passed since the beginning of the girls training, within those two weeks their stats grew a little less than before, giving now only 1 stat point every two fights; but their actual status was the equivalent of a level 20.
The only thing that didn’t grow as quickly was their skills level which were stuck at Level 9 for a few days now already.
Passing from level 8 to 9 wasn’t that slow, but passing it from 9 to 10 actually took 3 time the previous amount.
But today, like every single day till now, they were sparing when a sudden message appeared in front of Yuki.
Skill Promotion : Weaponship
Skill Weaponship gained 5 subskills :
-Archery (Level 1)
-One-hand Weapons (Level 1)
-Heavy Weapons (Level 1)
-Spear Weapons (Level 1)
-Weaponless Style (Level 1)
Yuki was surprised by the change, not knowing anything about the game when she started playing, and she wasn’t expecting the skill to develop into its advanced version upon reaching level 10. Being curious about the effect of the subskills she touched the window.
Skill Name:Skill Rank:Skill Level:Skill Experience:WeaponshipNovice10%Weapons were made to kill other beings; knifes, swords, war hammers, axes and even fists; all of them serve for this same purpose.
Increase all physical damage by 20%
Subskills :
-Archery (Level 1) : +5% of damage when using a ranged weapon
-One-hand Weapons (Level 1) : +5% damage when using a one handed melee weapon
-Heavy Weapons (Level 1) : +5% damage when using a two handed heavy weapon
-Spearmanship (Level 1) : +5% damage when using a spear
-Weaponless Style (Level 1) : +5% damage when dealing physical damage with your bare body
Not only did the skill gain subskills, but it’s rank also passed from ‘Beginner’ to ‘Novice’ as well as returned to the level one.
‘When a skill reaches level 10 it is promoted into a stronger version of the previous one.’ She thought as she looked at the window.
“Onee-chan, it seems that when a skill reaches level 10 it simply evolves into a stronger one alone.” Yuki explained to her.
“I see, so you didn’t have a choice in yours?” She replied as she looked at the window which appeared in front of her.
But Yuki wasn’t the only one whose skill evolved, Shiki’s Mana Orb obtained an evolution, but it was slightly different from Yuki’s one.
Skill Evolution : Magic Orb
The skill Magic Orb can evolve into one of the following skill :
-Fireball
-Ice Bolt
-Earth Bolt
-Thunderbolt
-Dark Bolt
-Multiple Magic Orb
Unlike Yuki’s skill promotion, Shiki could choose to evolve her skill into a totally different one. This evolution would delete the previous skill and create a new one far stronger than the previous one.
However, while a skill is evolving the player can’t know beforehand what will be the effect of the future skill.
By relying on what she knew from the diverse of other existing games, Shiki started pondering on which skill would be the best for her role of support.
She had already decided not to take Earth bolt and Fireball, the reason being simple; she was sure that Fireball would strictly be used for dealing damage and even if Earth bolt may have been able to stun an enemy, it wouldn’t work on large enemy.
It left her Dark bolt, Thunderbolt, Ice Bolt and Multiple Magic Orb. Dark bolt being a skill using darkness may possess the ability to curse the enemy, making him weaker; Ice Bolt as it was using the ‘Ice’ property may freeze the enemy and Thunderbolt could possess the ‘Shock’ property which would paralyse an enemy.
And finally the Multiple Magic Orb would probably be the same thing as the skill she was using until now, but with the ability to create more of them with a single cast.
After hesitating a few minute, she finally decided the take Multiple Magic Orb. She found three reason for this choice.
The first one was that unlike this one, she wouldn’t be able to control their trajectory. Against a fast enemy which would dodge her projectile, she would be useless. However with this skill she would be able to instantly change her orbs trajectory to chase him, giving them an aiming property.
The second reason was because making multiple orbs would make her able to fight against multiple enemies at the same time and continue to act as a support with her balls.
And the final reason, also being the most important one for her, she was curious about the future evolution of this skill.
Fireball would probably evolve into a stronger kind of magic in the fire category and it would probably be the same with other skills. But what would Magic Orb evolve into?
One of the main reason why she chose to be a mage was because she was curious about magic. She truly was curious about what kind of spell Multiple Magic Orb would evolve into.
After selecting the skill and confirming, the Skill Window appeared in front of her.
Skill Name:Skill Rank:Skill Level:Skill Experience:Multiple Magic OrbBeginner10%Many mages chose to follow the path of destruction without finishing to learn the basics of magic and how to control it.
Every great mage learned to control their power before wielding great power.
Create 2 Magic Orbs (+1 per Skill Level)
Cost 45mp
Cooldown 1,5s
The skill was even better than what Shiki was expecting. Even if it consumes much more mana in the early levels compared to the previous skill, once it reaches level 4 she would be able to make five balls by using less mana than with the previous one.
Moreover the skill cooldown was still the same as before, the only weakness of her skill was that she had to wait a long moment during the fight to produce her Magic Orbs, but now she would be able to quickly produce a high number of them.
When the skill would reach level 9, she would be able to create 10 of them with a single cast every 1.5 seconds. This same amount previously took her 15s.
This skill was definitely something worth calling a ‘cheat’, but at this time no one knew that controlling 3 orbs at the same time was something incredible difficult even for someone who would have played this game for a few years. But Shiki wasn’t a human but an AI, control 10, 100 or even 1000 of them shouldn't pose a problem for her.
“What, you are already taking a break ?” Aralche said, bringing them out of their thought.
“Sorry, let’s continue.” Shiki replied to him, excited to level up her skill until it would evolve once again.
“Mhhhh, wait a second. It seems that you at least managed to learn the basics, it is time to make you wear weights.” He said after examining both of them.
When they heard this, both of them were happy. The speed at which they were gaining stats was actually quite slow compared to their first fights. When they talked about that to Aralche he told them that he would make them wear weight only once they would have mastered the basics.
Being able to wear weight meant that he considered that they were competent enough to begin the next step of their training.
“Do we have to wear bags full of stone or buy weight?” Yuki asked as she didn’t know what kind of weight she would be using.
“No need for things like this. Just come here.” He said as he waved his hand at her as if telling her to come closer to him.
When they were in front of him, with a single touch of his hand he made each part of their equipment suddenly feel heavier, a lot heavier. It was as if they were carrying a mountain of their backs.
“E-Enchantment ?... This is indeed s-simpler.” Yuki said as she saw a dark light emanating from her clothes.
When she inspected her equipment, they all had two common enchantment, the first one being a ‘Curse : Weight (Level 2)’ which made their clothes heavier. The second was ‘Restriction’, making them unable to remove their clothes by themselves.
The only way to remove the curse was to go to a church or using the appropriate skill. But as they knew it was for training they didn’t feel the need to remove them.
“You have to wear them everyday at every moment, it’ll make your Endurance grow even when you aren’t doing anything.” He said with a sneer as he watched the two girls in front of him trying to adapt to their new weight.
“Aralche?... How should I say it… Could you remove the ‘Restriction’ curse from me please ? I have to wear an uniform for my job.” Shiki somehow tried to explain.
“Heh, your customer will have to see you work in those clothes for a while then. You can still remove the curse at a church, but it would be pretty expensive.” He replied with an ironic smile.
“Kukuku, Shijou is really mean. You don’t have to worry Onee-chan, I am sure they’ll enjoy your current clothes; even in those clothes you are still beautiful.” Yuki said as she enjoyed her sister dilemma.
“I...I guess it’s fine then.” Shiki replied as she was embarrassed, yet happy, from her sister's comment.
“Fine then, shall we get started ?” Aralse said as he got ready for the battle.
When the battle ended, both Shiki and Yuki were exhausted. The curse on Yuki’s equipment made it harder for her to fight against Aralche, yet unlike the first day they started to train, she was making less unnecessary movement now. Thanks to that, and her instinct which were becoming sharper and sharper with each fight they engaged in she was still able to hold her own against Aralche for a few dozens of seconds.
Shiki on her side was much more active during the fight, being capable to summoning two magic balls instead of one made her able to somehow restrict Aralche’s movements. However being his main target, she was still forced to run away while controlling her orbs.
Thanks to the weight, they were able to gain as much stats as the first time they fought Aralche. Unlike what they thought, they didn’t gain any stats by only wearing the cursed clothes, it was only after a few days that they learned that the growth of stats when doing things like weight lifting or running was really slow.
The stats Yuki gained in her early days of playing the game were only obtained because of her continuos running all'round the city fot the whole day, and even after that she only gained a few stat points.
The best way to gain stats was fighting an opponent of the same level or stronger than oneself. But the reason why Aralche made them always wear those clothes was to make them get used to the feeling of being tired and having their body heavy so that they would be able to fight even when they were exhausted. It was to train their mental!
Just like this, they trained every single day without taking any breaks, and the one who grew the most during this training was Yuki who learned how to use a sword from Aralche.
She didn’t learn many things in swordsmanship from him; he only taught her basics like how to efficiently parry, reflect, counter, how to put strength behind an attack and to only make quick strike as they were the most effective type of attack.
After she learned that, he told her that she had to find her own style of using it. His skills were sharpened by fighting again and again years after years, yet he thought that within only a few years she should become better than him at using it, even if this wouldn't help her in beating him at his best.
It was only as two months passed that something unexpected happened.
“Your training is over.”