As Nobina stared at her feather, Eric got back her attention by coughing.

“Anyway, I think the plan for now is to continue to train and get stronger. At the same time, keep looking into your Gaze bag and your Path. I’m still trying to find out more about the demon but…”

A loud knock came from the door, prompting a sigh from Eric.

“Eric! Are you done yet!” yelled Mimiki’s voice from behind the door.

“Mimiki… Come in,” Eric said with a bit of reluctance in her voice.

“Sorry,” said Mimiki, coming inside the room. “I’m just so excited to train with you. It’s been more than a month.”

Nobina turned to Eric, who merely shrugged.

“My work as a guild master has kept me busy unfortunately. You understand, right.”

Seeing Eric giving an innocent smile seemed to sour Mimiki’s mood, resulting in her shaking her head.

“I’ve heard that excuse too often master. Anyway, let’s get going.”

Before either of them could say anything, Mimiki was out of the room. Both Eric and Nobina gave a sigh as they shook their heads.

“She’s pretty excited for this, huh,” said Nobina, smiling at the sight of Mimiki’s excitement.

“Oh you don’t know the half of it,” replied Eric, who was giving her own small smile. “She once tried to come to my house and wake me up early to have a longer day of training. However, I trained her to the bone that day and told her not to disturb me like that. Now she… mostly holds back in trying to rush me. Patience is a virtue after all.”

“Yeah… As with writing, better to not rush things and show patience,” nodded Nobina.

After a bit, the two headed downstairs and out to the back of the guild. Standing there was Mimiki, doing swings with a wooden sword. She looked significantly more focused than while she was training with Nobina, making Nobina wonder how much more serious this training would be.

“Now then,” clapped Eric, drawing their attention. “Despite being busy due to the goblin incident, I’d be a horrible teacher to delay your training any longer. Let’s start with the classic. Ten laps around the town.”

“Yes sir,” saluted Mimiki, beginning her sprint away from the training grounds towards the town. As she did that, Eric chuckled as he grabbed his own training sword.

“Is it… fine that you asked her to do that?” asked Nobina.

“Hm? Oh. You think I’m having her waste time doing the running,” said Eric. “Well… it’s a bit of a way to gauge her willingness to train, but as well as how well she’s pacing herself. See, the faster she’s done with the running, the sooner we get to the portion of training she loves. However, if she wears herself out, it will mean the training is less effective. If she kept up with the running assignment I gave her to do outside of our training sessions, it won’t take her too long to come back. Not to mention she should be in a good enough condition to do the training.”

Nobina was fascinated by how Eric handled her training. It was far different compared to the training the two did together, making Nobina realize that she still had a long way to go herself.

“Don’t worry about doing something similar,” said Eric. “Everyone is different, and I’d probably find something more effective than having you sprint out your emotions.”

“Understood,” said Nobina.

Nobina and Eric merely chatted casually about how each was doing as Mimiki passed by them with each lap she was doing. It was a nice break, considering she never really had such a casual talk with Eric. She even ended up talking to him about the foods between their worlds, making Eric more interested in learning about Nobina’s old-world food. In the meantime, Nobina noticed that Mimiki seemed to be keeping a good pace instead of running as fast as possible.

An hour later, Mimiki arrived back. She looked a bit tired, but not enough to prevent her from training. She had the biggest grin as she faced Eric.

“And that’s how you do it,” she said proudly.

Eric couldn’t help but chuckle seeing her expression.

“Good job Mimiki,” said Eric, finishing a one-handed swing.

Seeing that swing finish, Nobina could see the power behind it as she saw the dust flying at the tip of where the sword was pointed. Her face was in awe, and Mimiki was the same. Her excitement rose even further as she was ready to continue her training.

“What’s next master,” she said, basically drooling at the thought of training.

“Well… Hm… Let’s go over your swings. I expected you trained them as I asked?”

She gave a nod, taking a stance. Nobina and Eric watched intently as Mimiki displayed a set of swings. From Nobina’s perspective, it looked like a dance, as none of those swings were a single motion. Rather, they were a chain of attacks and follow up strikes that seemed to highlight how skilled Mimiki was. Nobina wasn’t skilled enough to understand Mimiki’s combination attacks, but she did know all her swings were deliberate.

Nobina then turned to Eric, his face showing no signs of how he was feeling. It was as neutral as possible and didn’t show whether he approved or disapproved of her set.

After about twenty minutes, Mimiki was done. She was panting a bit, but it didn’t stop her from looking towards Eric for his judgment.

“Seven out of ten. Work on set four, five and ten again.”

“Damn it,” said Mimiki, her mood souring a bit.

Nobina couldn’t tell what was wrong with any of those sets, so she merely nodded and smiled.

“I won’t have you spend an hour practicing each since it’d be a waste of Nobina’s time but…”

Hearing that, Nobina was surprised to see Mimiki do a fist pump in excitement. It was surprising enough that even Eric began to laugh.

“Maybe I shouldn’t be too harsh on you normally,” smiled Eric.

Hearing that, Mimiki shook her head.

“Not necessary master. I should always aim for success and not take the easy route. That being said… I am thankful for this one exception.”

“Good,” nodded Eric. “It’s about lunch, so we’ll eat, both warm up, then have that match.”

Upon hearing that last word, Nobina noticed Mimiki’s eyes lit up.

“Oh… I’m totally going to land five hits this time master.”

“I look forward to it, student who thinks they can defeat me in general,” he grinned.

Those words made Mimiki give a nervous chuckle, realizing that Eric wasn’t going to forget her saying that to him.

The three of them headed to Eric’s house, where he prepared a meal for them. This time around, it was a stew like the one Mimiki made. However, upon tasting it, it was far superior in every way. The flavors melded beautifully together, making Nobina excited to eat multiple bowls of it.

“Be careful of eating too much Nobina,” said Eric as he got her a second bowl. “These are really high in nutrients so eating too much would be bad for you. Limit it to that second bowl.”

“I’ll cherish it,” she nodded, continuing to eat her food.

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Eric chuckled, shaking his head.

“If only I can bring you two to some of the master chef’s I’ve met… You’d experience a whole new world of flavor. Then again… I’m sure this is especially true for you Nobina.”

All of them laughed, enjoying what Eric said.

The lunch was relatively quiet after that, outside of the food talk between Nobina and Eric. Mimiki was focused on refilling her nutrients, while Eric was merely savoring the food. Nobina was the same, but she was dealing with the full feeling she had as she finished up her second bowl.

Once all of them were done, they headed back to the training grounds. Nobina didn’t miss both of them exerting their aura more and more as they got closer. They were clearly trying to pressure each other for the match. Feeling their aura, Nobina could tell it would be intense, even if they ended up using wooden swords.

At the training grounds, Eric surprised Nobina by taking out two small metal rods from his shirt.

“Expand,” he said, causing the metal rods to suddenly form solid metal swords. They were both dull, but Nobina could tell they would hurt a lot if someone was hit with it.

“Remember,” said Eric. “We go until you are unable to continue. Feel free to use all your skills, but I shall use none at the start. Each hit you do land on me will result in me being able to use another skill until I start using all of them. Got it?”

“Yes master,” nodded Mimiki, taking a deep breath.

The tension between the two grew as Eric stood at the ready. Mimiki, in the meantime, was slowly advancing on Eric, looking for a chance to strike. Nobina could only stare intensely as she waited for the sword clash to happen.

Bang.

A loud clash of metal swords could be heard as their swords collided. Mimiki was going for a low swing, but Eric easily intercepted it with her sword. Seeing that, Mimiki backed off a bit, with Eric not following. She took a deep breath and began using one of the combos she had shown earlier. It seemed like it was going to be a simple matter of blocking for Eric, but as she did the combo, Mimiki yelled out an ability she hadn’t heard before.

“Combo.”

The moment she did that, the combo she was doing was far faster than it was before. Eric, who was simply defending against it, was having difficulty guarding against it now. After the third combo, Mimiki grinned as she stepped back, satisfied with her results.

“One,” she smiled.

Eric, looking at his arm, smiled.

“Nicely done Mimiki. Executing the combo that you messed up earlier correctly is good to see.”

“Thank you, master. I will not let it go to my head,” she said as the comment seemed to start going to her head.

“Prepare for the first skill. Block.”

Nobina was curious how serious a simple skill like block would be, but that was answered immediately.

Mimiki approached Eric as fast as possible, yelling out one of her other moves.

“Strike.”

A massive cloud of dust flew towards Nobina, forcing her to look away. After it started to dissipate, she turned to see Mimiki flat on her butt as Eric shook her head.

“Wrong angle. Try again.”

Standing up, Mimiki nodded, charging at him again.

“Shield.”

“Strike.”

The two clashed again. This time, Nobina had mostly covered her eyes to avoid having to turn away. From what she saw though, Nobina realized this was a fight between two high ranked individuals. Eric’s sword glowed blue as Mimiki’s sword hit his. The moment of the collision showed a shockwave that highlighted how powerful Eric was despite performing a simple ability. Nobina had her Golden Pen Blade and Memory Pen Blade, but both had cost she didn’t want to pay merely for training.

The moment the clash happened, Mimiki was blown back again, but this time she kept her balance.

“Better, but I think you’ll need to give up on trying it with strike. Go with what you know.”

“Right,” said Mimiki.

She took a deep breath and rushed at Eric with all her speed.

“Shield.”

“Quick Cut.”

Unlike before, instead of blocking the blade, it seemed the blade just went directly through the block as it hit Eric’s chest. It sent him stumbling back, causing Nobina to worry a bit as he gave a cough.

“Are you alright?” asked Nobina.

“Yeah,” said Eric. “I knew it was coming, so I stepped back at the last second. Though, this is a good lesson for you to learn Nobina. The body of high-ranking adventurers is significantly different from that of lower ranks. An S-rank needs to be able to take a dragon swipe without armor, while a D-rank should be able to take a goblin sword slice at least once. However, a well-placed attack can injure even the most solid body, so you should avoid damage as much as possible.

Hearing that, Nobina began wondering how much potential was behind Paths. Did they really end up making you super-human in a sense?

As Nobina thought that, she noticed Mimiki was merely standing by, a serious look on her face.

“Anyway,” said Eric, getting up without issue. “The hit needs work. I wanted to feel out of breath with it, not slightly uncomfortable.”

“Sorry master,” said Mimiki. “I shall work to make it stronger.”

“Please,” he nodded. “Now… I shall add strike and attack. Got it?”

Mimiki nodded, tensing up as she prepared for Eric’s counterattack.

Within seconds, Eric was attacking Mimiki with attacks far faster than Nobina could ever do. It was similar to how fast Mimiki attacked the goblins. However, Nobina noticed how Eric seemed relaxed during his assault. Nobina wasn’t at the stage where she could watch them fighting easily, but she could notice things here and there.

For starters, she could notice a bit of the form that both were using. Eric’s form felt refined, while Mimiki’s felt like a lesser refined version of Eric’s. Both of them were concentrating on landing hits on each other, with hits by Mimiki resulting in the fight becoming harder. Mimiki barely kept pace with Eric, who was commenting during the fight.

“Watch your swings Mimiki,” he called, swinging his own sword in the meantime. “You should be reacting even faster than that.”

“I know,” she responded, countering a rather low hit and then striking back with a series of stabs. Eric easily avoided them, creating some distance.

Looking at the two, Nobina could tell that Mimiki was already fatigued. The run earlier had likely drained a lot of her energy and keeping up with a more skilled fighter was draining. Especially considering Eric was faster than Mimiki and was holding back, allowing him to conserve energy.

“Tiring my student? You wouldn’t be able to defend Nobina with such a lack of stamina.”

Mimiki didn’t say anything, merely taking a breath.

Eric’s expression changed as he stood at the ready. Without a word, Mimiki charged at Eric faster than Nobina had seen her act. It was like a flash, as each of Mimiki’s hits had barely any time between each strike. Sparks were flying with each collision of metal. Before she knew it, Mimiki landed a hit. Eric, in response, created distance as he congratulated Mimiki.

“That makes three. Let’s kick it up. I shall now use Elegant Strike.”

Upon hearing that, Mimiki spoke up.

“Master… I can’t handle Elegant Strike right now… I’m sorry.”

Mimiki relaxed her grip as she fell to one knee. Eric shook his head, walking over to Mimiki and patting her on the back.

“You must have been training hard before you learned that I was going to train you huh…”

She nodded, merely standing silently as Eric helped her up. As soon as she was up, she began relaxing, trying to catch her breath.

“Well… we still have plenty of time in the day. Let’s call it a rest and move on to the next part of the training.”

“Of course,” said Mimiki, giving a respectful nod.

As the three got together, Nobina finally began displaying her excitement seeing their training.

“That was amazing,” said Nobina, her eyes glistening as she spoke. “Seeing both of you fight was something else. The speed was out of this world and the impact… man, I could feel it from here. It felt a bit scary, but at the same time… I’m so glad I could finally see you fight Eric.”

Eric chuckle, shaking his head.

“I wish you could see me against monsters Nobina,” said Eric. “It’s far different from what you saw, as I’m more willing to use my more… lethal skills.”

Hearing that, Nobina began imagining Eric slaying hordes of goblins in a dance of combat that would be beautiful on one side but terrifying on the other.

“Anyways, this next part of training is more so teaching, so you can listen in if you want,” said Eric.

Upon him saying that Mimiki gave her biggest smile.

“This is an amazing chance to learn from the best Nobina. Listen carefully.”

The three of them stood in a circle, with Eric instructing Nobina to grab her own wooden sword. He began teaching both of them a sword technique that both of them could use. It was one that focused on speed, which made sense considering that was Eric’s specialty. He began explaining to Nobina how the sword’s strength was its ability to be effective even without the usage of abilities. Abilities like Strike and Elegant Strike both increase the strength of your strike, but using them by themselves is not using them to their full potential.

“See, if you perform a sword combo and end it with ‘Strike,’ the result will be a finisher that targets a good spot and has way more power. However, if you merely tried to swing at someone with Strike, then the result would be something more blockable or something targeting a rather tough spot to do damage. It might not matter as much against some monsters, but against targets that can defend themselves, it matters a lot.”

Nobina gave a nod. She always enjoyed listening to the details regarding swordplay, so it was great hearing from someone like Eric.

From there, Eric began going back to teaching them about the Speed Strike technique. It was a technique that would be hard to master, yet if they learned it, their swordsmanship would be ever so stronger. Mimiki was exuding excitement, while Nobina merely expressed her gratitude for being taught it.

The rest of the day was spent learning the technique. It was rather hard for not only Nobina but also Mimiki to learn as well. Mimiki told Nobina she had learned a lot of techniques from Eric, but this was the second speed-based technique she was being taught.

“Once we are done today, I want both of you to practice the forms of this technique. As it isn’t an ability, it’s something both of you can use without worrying about limits. However, you’ll have to keep working on using it until your body can do it purely by muscle memory.”

Both of them nodded, with Eric telling them to take a short break before they go into the last hour. As they were resting, Mimiki couldn’t help but talk about her future.

“I’m sure this puts me one step closer to S-rank, but I got a long ways to go,” said Mimiki. “Until I can slay a whole goblin nest by myself, I’m nowhere near ready.”

“That’s a crazy thought,” said Nobina. “I wonder how long it’d take me to reach S-rank.”

“I bet you can do it in a decade,” said Mimiki confidently.

Nobina chuckled, shaking her head.

“Maybe in my dreams Mimiki… but I’ll work at it. Perhaps one day I’ll become a legend.”

Mimiki nodded her head.

“Yeah. I’m sure you can become one as well.”

As the sun began to set, Nobina began wondering how long she’d have to continue to develop herself. She wanted to get stronger and continue her story, but she knew that this was only the calm before the storm. Something would eventually happen, and she’d have to deal with it. However, she felt more confident than ever in dealing with what was to come.