‘As it says, for now, it's useless to train in body refining, so I’ll focus on swordsmanship instead. It should help me cut through orcs more easily if I level up my swordsmanship skill.’
‘Now that I think about it, how does the “additional damage” work? I have two multipliers to my sword damage. The first is 10% from my swordsmanship, but I also get an additional 30% from the Sword Master Class. So, are these additive or multiplicative?’
“Records, do you have an answer?”
[The same type of bonus is additive, not multiplicative.]
‘Hmm, that makes sense. If they were multiplicative, you could stack several skills that boost the same thing, like eight skills giving a 100% increase each, and that would be of the same strength than someone with a single skill giving a 256x boost. It’s obvious which option would be easier to get.’
“System, I’d like to train with Kiara in swordsmanship, martials arts and footwork at the same time. Can I get a teacher at peak human ability, like last time?”
[Request possible for 40 LP per hour.]
"Okay, but is it possible to pay per hour while I’m in the training room instead of paying upfront?"
[Yes, it’s possible.]
"Records, set that as the default from now on."
[Preference modified.]
[Payment of 40LP/h for each hour Mikael remains in the training room until he leaves.]
Mikael then left his apartment and arrived at the training room. He saw Kiara sitting on the ground, seemingly doing nothing, just staring at the floor.
‘Don’t tell me she does this when I’m not around?’
"Hey Kiara, what are you doing?"
She seemed startled, turning in the direction of his voice. She looked 'oddly sad' at first, but upon seeing him, her face lit up. "Oh Mikael, you’re finally here! What was I doing? I was just thinking while waiting for you to return."
‘Wow, she really just waits for the time to pass but maybe it isn’t boring for her because she’s an AI? Or maybe she simply has nothing else to do.’
"Kiara, do you do this every time I leave?"
She seemed genuinely confused by his question and replied, "Of course. What else would I do?"
"Isn’t it boring? I mean, I would personally find it incredibly dull to do absolutely nothing for hours."
"Yeah, it is boring, but I stay happy by thinking about when you’ll come back," she said with conviction, smiling in a way that seemed slightly crazed.
Mikael found her smile oddly captivating and said, "If you want, I could get you some books to read when I’m not around."
"Really? You’d do that for me?"
"Yeah, let me check the system store for some books. I’ll be back in two minutes."
As Mikael browsed through the system store, Kiara was breathing deeply, her face flushed with excitement. 'Kyaaa, he’s going to buy me a gift! He’s going to buy me a gift! Ahhhh, this day is too perfect! My core might explode from joy. My Mikael, Mikael, Mikael, Mikael…'
Mikael decided to buy the entire Harry Potter series for 20 LP. The moment he confirmed the purchase, the books appeared in front of him and fell to the ground.
As he was about to call Kiara, he noticed she was lost in thought again, her face slightly flushed. Curious but sensing it was better not to ask, he simply said, “Kiara.” She snapped out of her reverie and looked at him as he continued. “These books are from a popular series called Harry Potter. You can read them when I’m not around.”
“Thank you!” she said.
“No problem. I think we can consider ourselves friends after all the time we’ve spent together,” Mikael added.
“YES!”
Cough
“I mean, yes, we can be considered friends,” she corrected herself, trying to sound calm.
Mikael gave her a look but decided not to press the issue further. “Are you ready to do my training?”
"Of course."
"Before we start, we need to upgrade your stats for the sparring session."
Kiara hesitated, remembering the pain from last time, but eventually responded, "Okay, I’m ready."
Mikael reassured her, "Don’t worry, this time it won’t hurt. The stats will be added gradually, which won’t cause you any discomfort."
Kiara gave him a grateful nod.
"System, increase all of Kiara’s physical stats to 120, but do it periodically from now on."
Enjoying this book? Seek out the original to ensure the author gets credit.
[Preference modified.]
[Request possible for 120 LP. Proceed?]
[Yes No]
Mikael confirmed, causing his LP to drop to 350.
‘With 120 in all her physical stats, she should be equal to or stronger than me, even with the buffs from my class and skills. That’s for the best—if I only train against weaker opponents, facing a stronger enemy in a real fight would be dangerous.’
Meanwhile, Kiara braced herself for the pain but was pleasantly surprised to feel nothing. She quickly spoke, "Mikael, let’s start our training with a sparring match."
They both grabbed wooden swords and took their positions in the sparring area.
The moment the fight began, the two of them stayed in their positions; neither rushed the other. Then they began to walk slowly, locking gazes so as not to lose sight of each other.
When they were close, Kiara initiated the fight with a vertical slash at Mikael, which he easily blocked. However, Kiara withdrew her sword the moment their blades clashed and sent a horizontal slash.
Mikael dodged due to his superior speed, before continuing to clash swords, but he was steadily improving. His progress was visibly fast, but Kiara was also growing stronger, so they remained in a stalemate.
‘This stalemate can't continue. I need to do something to break it, because the longer this goes on, the stronger Kiara will become, and I don’t think I can keep improving faster than she gains strength.’
Suddenly, Mikael bypassed her guard at his fastest speed while blocking her sword with his. Thanks to his still superior stats, he used the moment when their swords were locked to grab her and throw her onto her back!
Unfortunately for him, Kiara, with her peak human martial arts experience, grabbed Mikael and pulled him down with her.
During their fall, their swords slipped out of reach, prompting Mikael to attempt wrestling with her. However, with Kiara's superior wrestling skills, it only took her three seconds to reverse the position and put him in a strangling hold with her leg. Mikael tried to escape, but in this position, he had no leverage, and his strength wasn’t at a level where he could brute-force his way out.
After struggling for nearly two minutes, he finally tapped the ground to signal his surrender.
Kiara released him at his signal, and the two of them got up.
Mikael was moderately frustrated with the result. ‘I lost again, seriously. Every time we spar, I lose, and I'm not a masochist who enjoys taking a beating in a fight. It frustrates me, but this result makes sense; she is more skilled than I am in combat.’
‘And if this had been a real fight, I wouldn’t have grabbed her when I was near her; I would have aimed directly for her eyes. The damage would have been significant, and from there, the fight could have gone anyway.’
‘No, I shouldn’t think like that. The point is that I lost, and in a fight to the death, I would be dead! I’ll keep practicing these spars until I can win. No, it isn’t enough; I’ll continue until I can win easily.’
Kiara didn’t interrupt when she noticed Mikael deep in thought, but when he looked at her, she began, "Your swordplay was good, and your progress was faster than last time, so I have nothing to critique there. I understand the reasoning behind trying to wrestle with me—it was because I was getting stronger over time, right?"
"Yeah."
"It was a really bad idea. You shouldn't have tried grappling when you don’t have experience in it, especially against a more skilled opponent!" she explained.
Once she finished, Mikael asked, "What should I have done, in your opinion?"
"Hmm, in a situation like that, you should have retreated. You were facing an enemy who was becoming progressively stronger and is more skilled than you, so while you still had the speed advantage, you should have escaped."
"Yeah, but it was just a spar."
"I know, but I prefer to teach in a way that prepares you for real situations. If this scenario ever happens, I want you to choose to run and live! In the spar, you should have played to your strengths, not your weaknesses. That means you should have kept the sword fight going while trying some surprise sword attacks. By doing that, your chances of winning would have been much higher."
Mikael thought about her words for a moment before replying, "Alright, I’ll keep that in mind."
Kiara visibly brightened at his response, whether it was because he would be more cautious or simply because he had listened to her. She then asked, "Ready to continue your training?"
"Always," Mikael answered, his determination clear.
Over the next five hours, Mikael trained intensely, making what he considered significant progress. But that wasn’t all—he also kept his promise and shared a delicious meal with Kiara, chatting with her before resuming their training. By the end of the day, his skill progress looked like this:
[Your progress in the Unarmed Martial Arts Mastery skill has reached 67%]
[Your progress in the Footwork Mastery skill has reached 92%]
And the one with the most improvement:
[Swordsmanship Mastery - Tier 0, Level 3 Skill
Description: This skill encapsulates the user's knowledge, experience, and mastery of swordsmanship.
Benefits: Allows the user to learn and apply all swordsmanship-related knowledge more efficiently.
Attack speed with a sword: +20% → +30%
Attack damage with a sword: +10% → +15%]
[Swordsmanship Mastery - Tier 0, Level 3 Skill: This skill can level up once the following conditions are met.
Your knowledge and experience in swordsmanship must reach the required threshold. Current progress: 12%
Pay 60 LP]
Mikael was happy with his progress. As all of his skills improved, he was receiving better buffs and, more importantly, becoming a better fighter. Even against Kiara, it was noticeable; their sparring sessions lasted longer. However, that was only when Kiara wasn’t using her full strength. With 120 in all stats and being more skilled than him, he was still taking quite a beating when she got serious.
One thing he wasn’t as happy about, despite his progress, was his LP count. He was down to 130, but by now, he was used to being low on LP, so it didn’t bother him much.
"It was a productive day. Anyway, thanks for the training, Kiara."
"It was my pleasure, but don’t forget to come back soon," she said with a smile.
Mikael waved goodbye before exiting the training room and appeared into the Hub.
He then took a moment to check the time: [Earth Time (USA): June 19, 2025, 01:02:06]. A thought crossed his mind, prompting him to ask a question to the Records.
"Records, it’s been about 24 hours since I last slept, but I’m still energetic and not feeling tired at all. Is this because of my higher levels, or is it due to my stats?"
[This is caused by your vitality stats, which reduce your need for basic biological functions like sleep, food, oxygen, etc. If/when your vitality reaches 1K or its equivalent, you will no longer have these biological needs and won’t ever need to use the bathroom because the food you eat will be optimally digested.]
‘Hmm, so that’s why. Really nice! It means that when I reach 1K in my vitality stats, I could even survive in space! Now that I think about it, I’ve never really looked at the descriptions of what my stats do. I didn’t think it was necessary—I had, how should I say it? An instinctive understanding of their effects.’