Mirai stepped on the bridge and walked across, gazing at the moon and its reflection on the lake, and approached the island at the end of the bridge. The island was a small hill covered in grass, lightly shrouded in mist—a perfect place to meditate.

“Did you make this place, little seed? Where are we?”

The little seed pondered the question, trying to use simple thoughts.

I didn’t make this. Comes from you.

“Me? So we’re like in my soul or something? My inner sanctum?”

You could say that.

She looked up at the moon again, congratulating herself that her inner sanctum was so beautiful.

“What about the time essence? Does that play into it, too?”

Helps with new side effects and skills, not environment… Moon comes from you…

The seed pondered for a moment.

Recipe for ritual: Two parts moon, one part time, and small part water. Not precise. Moon itself is many parts.

Mirai nodded, wondering how she had a moon aspect inside her. Was it her moon metal blades, or maybe something her parents did? She hadn’t heard of people themselves having aspects before.

“So Tidal Slash comes from…”

Moon, water, and time all together… Those, plus your need…

It struggled to communicate the intention ‘ranged attack’, but after a rush of images and thoughts, Mirai got it.

“Thank you, little seed. I do need it.”

The seed hummed happily at her praise. She tried petting it with a single finger and it hummed louder.

At the end of the bridge, she stepped off onto the grassy island. The moon was large and close here. She could feel it overhead, almost as if it were pulling on her.

Looking around, there were no enemies to fight, so she unbuckled her sword and sat in the grass, meditating under the moon.

What do you want?

“Sigh… I want to go on more adventures and keep leveling. I want to find the cure for my father’s curse. I want to show my mom that I’m not just some kid—”

Ahem… The little seed interrupted. You’ve been hoping for something, a side effect…

Mirai sat up straight. “Oh! You can do that, really? I thought it was a pipe dream. Yes, please!”

The little seed pulsed, her core warming with its magic.

[Swordsmanship] has spawned the skill [Morning Mist].

Skill: [Morning Mist]

* A new day melts the dew, bringing a healing energy. Recover 10 health over 1 minute.

* Aspect: Time/Water

* Cost: 10 Mana

* Duration: 1 minute

* Cooldown: 2 minutes

“I can’t believe it! A healing skill!”

She felt a rush of communication from the little seed and the most important bit was clear enough.

Will not regenerate or repair bones, flesh, or organs. Only recovers health points.

Mirai nodded, petting the little seed. “This will be a big help in staying alive.”

The seed thrummed. You’re welcome. Now, plant me. Pretty please.

“Anywhere in particular?”

Right here.

Mirai dug a small hole and placed her seed into it. “See you soon, little friend. Thank you.”

Covering the hole up, she could feel herself being ejected from this space, her inner sanctum.

[Swordsmanship] has leveled up.

…

[Swordsmanship] has become [Way of the Blade].

..

Character [Mirai] has leveled up.

.

The Leveling Ritual is now complete.

Ability: [Way of the Blade]

* Damage with blade weapons is boosted.

* Side Effect: [Faces of the Moon].

* Level: 2

* Essence to next level: 0%

When she opened her eyes, she was sitting across from Raiden once more.

“I did it… I did it!” She jumped to her feet.

“Great! Let’s have some fun.” Raiden clapped his hands together, sending a shower of sparks bouncing around the arena.

Edgar’s voice appeared from one of the shadows. “Ouch! Hey!”

“Oh Mirai! You finished, congratulations!” Edgar ran towards her.

“You’re already finished? Of course.” She mock pouted, her competitive edge tempered by excitement; they were both at level two. “Congrats to you too.”

“Did you get some good skills? I got-”

Raiden held up a hand, smirking. “There’s only one way to celebrate a level properly. Blind sparring. We’ve got all the potions we need, and there’s Heather back in town for restoration magic, so don’t hold back. Why talk about your new skills when you could show them.”

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Edgar and Mirai glanced at each other.

“Let’s do it.” Mirai said.

The urge to test her new skills was strong. Kly and the others clustered nearby, whispering and pointing as coins were laid on the ground.

“Alright, I’m in.” Edgar smiled, bouncing back and forth on his feet.

Mirai’s attention snapped back to the boy.

“Excellent! Let’s have some fun with it. Give me a second and I’ll mark the arena to match the ones they use in the Primes.”

She noticed Edgar’s ears twitch at the mention of the Primes. Raiden walked into the middle of the training arena and pointed a finger at the ground. Where he pointed, the stone began glowing with heat until it melted, creating a small divot. Using this technique, he drew a four meter circle in the middle, then a much larger rectangle around it.

Edgar gaped at Raiden’s power, but Mirai just shook her head, knowing this was only a glimpse of what he could do.

“Here’s your arena. It’s not perfect, but it’s relatively close. Now, go stand at the circle in the middle. When I give the signal, the fight begins.” Raiden said, walking to the far side of the arena.

Mirai walked to the circle, eyeing Edgar. The boy had that absentminded look again as he gazed at the size of the arena, likely imagining what the Primes would be like.

Focus was critical in any fight, as her master had drilled into her. She took advantage of this distraction, thinking through her plan of attack. As an agility based fighter, she knew he’d be faster than her. More importantly, he knew he was faster. Maybe she could use his confidence in his speed against him.

“Ready?”

They both nodded. Edgar’s eyes finally locked onto her. He lowered into his stance and drew his claws, ears tucked back. Mirai drew her sword.

A bolt of lightning cracked against the arena, their signal.

[Tidal Slash] lanced across the arena and her mana dropped by half. She hoped he’d have a tough time getting around that, creating an opening. She watched for his reaction, but it wasn’t what she expected.

“Whoa!” He called. “A ranged attack! Nice, Mir!”

She groaned. He wasn’t taking this seriously.

He lowered into a crouch, preparing to run. Was he really going to sprint around the giant blade of water? As the arc traveled away from her, it grew larger, losing power as the water in it spread out more and more.

Interesting. If I shortened the arc, it might travel further.

She pushed those thoughts aside, sprinting in the direction Edgar was about to run, hoping to intercept him at the edge of the arc.

As her feet pounded the stone beneath her, she couldn’t help but notice that her body felt lighter. It wasn’t drastic, but it was noticeable. Even her sword felt lighter in her hands.

There was no doubt about it. Her body had changed. She was stronger and faster than she had been before. It was exhilarating.

Edgar exploded out of his crouch, his feet glowing like red coals as he ran. She had expected him to be fast, but this was ridiculous. He ran along the edge of [Tidal Slash], only just squeaking past the edge of the skill, forcing him to bend and spin past it.

This was the opening she had hoped for, but at this speed it was short-lived. She managed three quick strikes on his arm and leg. The wounds were shallow, but in her core she could feel [Faces of the Moon] come to life. Among the bars for health and mana, an image of the moon appeared with the text “First Quarter”.

Her blade synchronized with the skill, its pale blue core glowing with moonlight.

“You got me!” Edgar called as he dodged away, laughing with excitement, but his laughter was short-lived as he stumbled, tripping on himself as the magic making him faster ended suddenly.

“Oof! Damn, so I can only increase the mana I send to Hot Foot—decreasing it ends the skill. I’ll have to remember that.”

She charged, noticing the opening. He was only just recovering his posture, but as Mirai swung her sword, he smiled.

“Bye, bye.” He crooned.

The surrounding shadows surged, swallowing him whole in the blink of an eye. Behind her, she heard a sizzle of magic and felt a slash along her back, her health plummeting past half. She dove away, rolling quickly back to her feet and spinning around. Wisps of shadow trailed from Edgar’s claws as he advanced.

“What the hell was that? Some kind of teleport skill?”

Edgar smiled, excited. “These new skills are awesome!”

She knew better than to block a skilled attack with an unskilled defense, and began a dance of deflecting his claws and spinning away. He was about as fast as she had expected, but every time he lunged for her, he left openings and her blade bit his arms and legs. A notification flashed in her view, but she silenced with a practiced flick of her will. The slow, steady damage whittled down their health as they both scored minor hits, and just as her health entered critical, Edgar yielded.

“I’m critical. I give. Bahhh… I give!” He raised his hands in defeat, panting heavily as he staggered back.

Mirai nodded, averting her eyes and trying not to look guilty. “I accept your surrender.”

Edgar laughed, pointing. “Hey! You’re at critical too, aren’t you? It’s a tie!”

“A lady never tells.” She panted, smirking at him.

Her passive [Faces of the Moon] skill had activated and deactivated twice during the fight and now, the glow of moonlight evaporated from her sword and the small image of the moon disappeared.

What a buff! Even minor cuts and scratches do decent damage while it’s active.

Edgar collapsed to the ground. Mirai fell to her knees.

Raiden clapped. “Well fought! How does it feel to be level two?”

Edgar rolled onto his back and crossed his arms behind his head, gazing up at the clouds. “Really, really good. These new skills… They’re strong.”

Mirai nodded, sheathing her sword. “It’s surreal. I’ve been imagining this day for a long time.”

She noticed a drop of blood on the back of her hand, dripping down from a cut on her cheek she hadn’t noticed. Her back hurt too, but the pain wasn’t as bad as she would have expected.

“Does leveling make things hurt less?” She asked Raiden, activating [Morning Mist] and a gentle fog swirled around her. The cut on her cheek and the slash on her back remained, but her health bar recovered to full immediately.

“A recovery skill, very handy!” Raiden remarked, tossing a potion to her and another to Edgar. “Slug that down too. It’ll fix up your wounds.”

He turned back to Mirai. “It does numb you. The lack of pain can be disorienting as you level, but your body becomes more and more robust as the essence in your core becomes able to sustain you. Eventually, it’ll compensate for broken bones and even damaged organs. That won’t be for a long time, but in a few levels, your cores will be able to create blood, to some extent.”

She had always known adventurers could survive wounds that would kill a regular person, but it hadn’t sunk in that she would have that sort of body at some point.

Mirai drank the potion and felt the slash on her back mend. The boy caught his and downed it, sighing with contentment and then disappearing in the shadow of a passing cloud. He proceeded to jump from shadow to shadow, yelping excitedly until his mana ran out. She smiled, shaking her head at his antics, until she remembered the notification that had appeared during the fight, and she called it up.

New Skill Acquired!

[Parry]

She smiled as the familiar skill settled into her core. Of all the sword skills she had combined, [Parry] was a good one to have back. She could always figure out how to forget a skill if she needed the space back, but for now, that wasn’t a problem.

“Edgar, come back here for a minute. Now that you’re both level two, there’s something I want to give you.”

Edgar ran back. Even without skills, the boy was pretty fast. A small letter appeared in Raiden’s hand, wrapped in brown paper and addressed to “Emil.”

“I think you should compete in the Primes, and I’d love to coach you more myself, but Black Mountain is too high a level for you to stay here. While you were in that last dungeon, we had a level twelve rift break.”

Raiden hesitated as he clutched the letter in his hands. “I would even go with you, but I just can’t leave the tavern. It was always Enya’s dream, after all.”

Mirai reached out gingerly and grabbed his hand instead.

“It’s alright, Uncle. I know.”

He sighed. “I never thought anything could make me want to leave this rock, but you two make an exciting pair. I’ll be watching the Primes and rooting for you.”

Mirai squeezed Raiden’s hand tighter. “I’m rooting for you too, uncle Ray. Do you think next time I see you, you’ll finally be seventy?”

Raiden laughed, smiling. “Crazier things have happened. How long has it been now?”

“At least as long as I’ve been alive!” She punched him in the arm, taking the letter.

She glanced at Edgar, who smiled at her knowingly. It was a look she didn’t expect from the boy and it caught her off guard.

He turned to Raiden. “Thank you, Raiden. For everything. My shirt, the lessons, the room at your tavern—”

Raiden ruffled his hair. “Don’t mention it. Just do me a favor and keep watching after Mir. She can be headstrong and doesn’t realize when she needs a hand sometimes.”

Edgar laughed. “You got it.”

Mirai pouted at them. “Hey! I’m standing right here!”

~~~~~~~~~~

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