What does it mean to be powerful? Was it raw power? Was it elegance? Was it political influence? Was it the ability to defeat all else? Possessing any of these attributes made you able to be called powerful.

However what if a weak person was strong? It was an old story at this point but a little girl had once gotten lost in a commoner district, her parents and guards nowhere to be seen. Obviously, the small child was scared.

Looking back on it, the issue was small, and if the girl was calm she could have found her frantic parents fairly easily. But it wasn’t easy at the time. In this stressful moment where her mind was racing to and fro it wasn’t a white knight that saved her but an elderly man who could hardly walk straight.

He was weak beyond belief, even the child could take his life with ease, and yet at that moment, he possessed a strength the other adults didn’t have. Such a simple act of kindness changed the young girl’s view of power forever.

Truthfully, the girl didn’t understand what power truly was. Was it the power to defeat everything that defies her as her family taught her or was it the willpower required to defend those who required protection? What made a human being powerful?

That’s why she tried to grow stronger. Objectively, she was a powerful warrior nearing the peak of mortality however she didn’t believe herself to be strong, no that's not quite right. She didn’t know what it meant to be strong.

That’s why her goal was to find somebody that was truly strong and study them. She had seen many people that were strong and yet she didn’t believe any of them to possess the same strength that old man held.

Her expectations were slowly dying. Nobody she met could instill that same feeling of strength into her very being. However, that had recently changed. She had entered a school and soon after she found somebody who had the same aura as that old man.

He was skilled in combat however he seemed detached from the rest of the class, a stark contrast to the kind old man who had assisted her all those years ago. She couldn’t understand him and that made her want to discover his secrets.

‘What makes him special?’ Afina Astros, the young girl who had gotten lost so many years ago, questioned herself seriously. The man across from her, Dion Aster, was a commoner who somehow had reached the level of the noble prodigies.

He defied all logic and managed to surpass their level, incurring their wrath in the process. What was it that made him special? What about him made him able to do the things that many deemed impossible?

“Are you ready?” He questioned her, his voice full of the elegance the nobility was known for and the extraordinary calm she had seen only in the most experienced adults. Perhaps it was his oddity that made him powerful.

“Mhm.” She hummed, preparing her bone like sword to react to any situation. While the crocodile hadn’t revealed much of her opponent’s strengths besides his immaculate mana control she knew instinctively that he was a dangerous opponent even without his rank being taken into consideration.

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Her opponent remained still, almost as though he was a statue, until he suddenly appeared right in front of her. She didn’t even see him move, he was merely directly before her with his spear poised to penetrate through her.

Hurrdily raising her weapon she deflected the spear, its tip narrowly passing her head. Yet before she could even prepare to counterattack the air in her lungs was forced out and her body was sent skidding backward.

Digging her feet into the ground she searched for her opponent while desperately trying to catch her breath. She couldn’t understand what had happened, she deflected his blow and yet she had still been hit.

Yet she didn’t have the time to think about it as her opponent was once more in front of her, his spear appearing in front of her as though it was a mirage. Coursing her mana through her body she enhanced her body to the extreme to the point where time seemed to slow down.

No, it had slowed down. Apart from her, time was moving at less than half the speed it normally would. It was a taxing process that reduced the possible time she could fight by a large portion but it was necessary.

However, her opponent’s movements were still extremely fast. Pushing the tip of the spear away from her using her sword she was struck in the side by the rear of the spear that she couldn’t dodge in time.

Ignoring the pain to the best of her ability she used the force of the blow to send her away from her opponent even if only a few feet. Usually increasing the distance from a spear bearer was foolish but in this case, she had the longer range.

Spreading mana through her weapon, the segments began detaching from one another, a thin wire connecting them all. Swinging her sword in a downward strike, the extended blade followed her movements, she attempted to force her opponent away while he was running.

Human beings innately had a difficult time changing direction let alone while moving at a high speed. He could either dodge and come to a stop where he would be in her range or he could risk injury to come closer.

The choice should have been between those two options yet he chose a third. A gust of wind suddenly blew above him, moving her weapon the smallest amount and causing it to harmlessly sail mere inches past him.

Forcefully changing the direction of her strike into that of a diagonal cut her blade stopped in place just before cutting her opponent, a wall of solidified wind stopping any progress she could possibly make.

Even in her slowed perception of time, she could move fast enough to stop him from striking her so she instead enhanced the part of her body the spear would strike with her mana. Even if it doesn’t save her from eventually losing it should allow her to continue for even a second more.

Yet the spear didn’t strike her, a palm did. She felt her ribs cracking as she was sent flying backward, a small gust of wind slowing her trip through the air until she touched the ground relatively lightly.

“I lose.” She declared in between gasps for air. It wasn’t even a contest though she didn’t have many expectations. Ultimately, they were an entire rank apart, there was little chance she could have won.

The difference between A and A+ was not small, it was impressive she even managed to last so long, especially since he appeared to be extremely skilled with his weapon. It was almost magical the way he moved without a shred of hesitation or doubt.

“Don’t look so dissatisfied, you were a powerful opponent.” Her opponent’s calm voice entered her ears, a callous hand no different than her own reached out to help her onto her feet. Grasping his hand she paused in place, shocked by his words.

‘I was dissatisfied?’ She questioned herself, shocked by the revelation. She understood after his battle against the mana beast that she would ultimately lose their battle so she instead wanted to learn as much as she could by it. Yet she was still dissatisfied with her defeat?

“Defeat is only a lesson, don’t take it too harshly.” He spoke calmly, lifting her to her feet before walking off the stage. His words were simple but they allowed something to click in her mind, for her to make a realization.

The old man was different than the young man before her, there was no doubting that, however, they shared a similarity all the same. It was their maturity. They understood something that she did not and that experience allowed them to be powerful in a nonphysical sense.

‘What is it that you’ve seen?’ She thought to herself, her eyes locked onto the back of the man who defeated her.