As usual, Zeigel and Saliza were brought to the training grounds at the crack of dawn by Reizo. The two seated themselves on a rock they created as their trainer went over something they've recently unlocked, a skill slot.
"Now that the two of you are level 10, you two should have a skill slot available. Open up your stat screens and check."
The two did as they were told and saw the same thing.
SKILLS
[EMPTY]
"Now, to register a skill, select the skill slot and fire the spell you want to register it into."
Zeigel selected the empty skill slot and fired a fireball into the sky. He checked his stat screen and found that a skill has been registered.
SKILLS
[Fireball]
"Another thing to note about skill slots is that you can't register skills while in-combat." Reizo explained.
"In-combat?" Saliza asked.
"If you're in a fight then you won't be able to register skills."
Right after his explanation, a rock struck Reizo at the back of his head.
"That's weird, I can still register skills after attacking you." Zeigel said while suppressing a mischievous grin.
"It's a matter of perception." Reizo rubbed the back of his head as he explained. "If you don't consider yourself to be fighting at the moment, then it wouldn't consider you to be in-combat. Likewise, if you're in-combat and still consider yourself to be in a fight despite not being in one, you'll still be in-combat. Now go register a skill and we'll start with our daily spar."
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Before the spar commenced, Saliza stretched herself before taking up a stance. Once she was ready, she rushed towards Reizo with her axe ablaze. She leapt into the air and used her newly registered skill.
Upon landing, she slammed her axe into the ground. A large burst of flames exploded from the blade of her axe, launching her backwards. Her body flipped through the air and landed face first into the ground.
"I won!" She threw her arms up in her position.
"No you didn't." Her arms dropped when she heard Reizo's voice beside her. "I already told you not to use a skill with that much recoil since your ATK is much higher than your DEF."
"It nearly worked though."
"It did not."
"Ah well," Saliza pushed herself out of the ground and dusted herself off. "You're up Zeigel!" She called out.
After that fight with the gendion, I realized something. Despite all the torture Reizo puts me through, he doesn't want me to die.
Before the spar commenced, Zeigel went over his plan one last time in his head before executing it.
"Hey Reizo, I've been thinking about what you said about my future as a vanguard."
"Good to hear."
"Yeah, and I've decided, I don't want to live such a hellish life." Zeigel said as he pointed the blade of his sword towards him. "There's no way in hell I'll go through all that shit again! I'd rather end it all!" He cried out before thrusting his sword towards his chest.
Reizo's eyes widened in shock. "DON'T!" He shouted as he darted towards Zeigel. Almost instantly, Reizo had already reached Zeigel. He was too fast for Zeigel to even react, but it didn't matter. Zeigel could feel his trainer's tight grip on his arm pulling it away from his chest. A split second has passed, Zeigel activated his skill, and Reizo's hand was still on his arm. Victory was secured.
When he felt a small jolt on his hand, Reizo quickly pulled it away from Zeigel. It didn't hurt, but it made him realize what Zeigel's plan was, and the wide triumphant grin on his face confirmed it.
"YES! FINALLY! I WIN!" Zeigel maniacally laughed. He turned to Saliza who was already running towards him.
"I did it Saliza!"
"I don't care what you did! I thought you were about to kill yourself!" She yelled with worry in her voice as she shook his body. "Hey Reizo, tell him not to do that again!"
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Reizo shook his head. "No, there's nothing wrong with what he did."
The two trainees gave Reizo a look of surprise.
"Wait really? So there's no complaints about me using cheap tricks or anything?" Zeigel asked.
I was half expecting a scolding from him.
"No, you have to do everything you can to win, but I won't stop you the next time you try to stab yourself."
Whatever, this was a one time trick regardless if it worked or not. I'm just glad it turned out better than I expected.
"You heard him, don't try to kill yourself again!" Saliza scolded while violently shaking him.
"Alright, alright, let go already."
Maybe I can use this trick again if I make myself look more suicidal.
"As promised, I'll pay for your meals for an entire month." Said Reizo.
"Is it possible for us to get some other reward?" Saliza asked.
"Sure, what do you have in mind?"
"Our kitchen got destroyed due to... unforeseen circumstances."
"That's a weird way to say your name." Zeigel chimed in.
"Can you pay for the repairs instead?" Saliza asked.
Reizi nodded. "Okay."
"If it's possible, buy a sign that says 'No Saliza allowed inside'." Zeigel added.
With their daily sparring done, they went on to complete their missions for the day. There were only two missions today, both of which consisted of hunting three star monsters.
The first monster they had to hunt was a doruso, a bear-like monster with thick rubbery hide and spiked club-like arms. They had found one feasting on orange berries growing on a bush.
Roots bursted out of the ground beneath the doruso and wrapped around it.
Once it was restrained, Saliza leapt out of a bush and dashed towards the doruso with explosive speed.
The doruso broke free from the roots as if they were made of paper and slammed the ground with its powerful arms, causing a tremor that halted Saliza who nearly lost her balance.
Tch, it's way stronger than I expected. It definitely has more strength than the gendion.
Roots bursted out of the ground once again and wrapped around the doruso. Zeigel quickly registered the roots into his equipment and released electricity through them, but the doruso broke free, acting as if nothing had happened.
While his attack had failed, the few seconds that he bought gave Saliza enough time to get closer to the doruso. She leapt over the doruso as it swung its arm at her and slammed her axe onto its back.
Upon impact, she used her skill to create an explosion just big enough that it only blew her a several feet away from the doruso.
Her attack only caused a small wound on the doruso's thick rubbery hide. It shook off her attack and charged at her. Despite being a three star monster, it was quite slow, even slower than a ciraken.
Saliza rushed towards the doruso and ran circles around it, slashing it from all sides while avoiding its attacks. Despite having a high ATK stat for her level, her attacks were ineffective and only left scratches on the doruso.
Good, keep it there Saliza.
From underneath the doruso, sharp roots tipped with metal shot up and pierced through the doruso's soft underbelly.
Flames shot out from the tip of the roots, incinerating the doruso from the inside out.
Once the doruso was dead, Zeigel's bracer glowed, indicating that he had leveled up.
"Hey, I had it!" Saliza complained.
"No you didn't, you were barely doing any damage to it!"
"I was weakening it until you stole my kill!"
"Or maybe, you're becoming weaker than me. After all, you have yet to land a single hit on Reizo." He told her with a smug grin.
"That's because I didn't cheat like you did!" She growled.
"Are you sure it isn't because you're weak?" Zeigel laughed.
Reizo appeared before them looking rather annoyed. "Can you two get on with the next mission already."
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For their next mission, they had to slay a zinite that had made its way into the forest. They located it in an area filled with needlecaps and watched it from atop a tree as it feasted on a patch of the mushrooms.
"Hey Zeigel, since you stole my kill earlier, I should be the one to kill this zinite myself." Saliza told him. "It'll also be a perfect chance for me to get a rematch against one of those monsters."
"I don't mind letting you fight it yourself, but are you sure you can handle it?"
"Absolutely!" Saliza confidently replied.
"Alright, but here's some tips on fighting the zinite. First, it-"
Saliza impatiently leapt out of the tree and landed with a loud thud that alerted the zinite.
God damn it Saliza.
"Rematch time!" She roared. "Oh wait, you probably don't know what I'm talking about."
The zinite slammed down its left claw, smashing the ground below it and covering the area in dust. When the dust cleared, the zinite found Saliza sitting on its claw.
"So basically your friend, or maybe a relative, fought me when I was underleveled,"
As the zinite raised its left claw, Saliza ran up its arm while continuing to ramble.
"It wasn't really a fair fight for me since I was underleveled so the fight ended in a draw, and not my loss since it technically didn't beat me."
The zinite twisted its neck in an attempt to bite Saliza, but she hopped onto its head before it could snap its jaws at her.
"That zinite is dead by the way, sorry for your loss, so you'll be the one having a rematch in that zinite's place." She patted the zinite's head as she rambled on. "Anyways, I win."
She ignited her axe and slammed it onto the zinite's head, cleaving through its skull.
"It's kinda weird how a doruso is way tougher than you even though it's smaller, dontcha think?" She asked before hopping off the zinite as its large metallic body crashed to the ground.
"Not gonna say anything? Sheesh, what a sore loser."
"That went a lot better than I expected." Zeigel said while making his way down the tree.
"Well done." Reizo appeared behind Saliza.
"Thanks." She replied with a thumbs up. "Man, if three star monsters are this easy to defeat then I bet we'll be fighting four star monsters in no time. What level do we need to be to fight one?"
"The recommended level is 30."
"What!" The two trainees exclaimed.
"Ugh, it's gonna be a pain to reach that level." Zeigel groaned.
"After reaching level 10, it's recommended to get twenty levels before facing a monster with a higher star." Reizo explained.
"So that means we'll only be able to fight up to seven star monsters alone." Zeigel mumbled.
"It's possible to defeat monsters higher than seven stars."
"So eight stars then."
"About a year ago, an eight star monster was considered the strongest monster someone could defeat on their own. Now it's nine."
"Nine?" The trainees exclaimed.
"Who's the guy who defeated a nine star monster?" An awestruck Saliza asked. "They must be incredibly strong."
"Wait, are you the one you slayed a nine star monster?" Zeigel asked.
"I dunno." Reizo simply shrugged. "Let's go turn in your missions."
Answer the question damn it!