Lucas wasn’t just messing around before. He really needed that time to acclimate to his new sword and familiarize himself with his opponent’s attacks. He didn’t have much experience fighting with the sword, so this time he took was necessary. It was clear to him that his opponent had the advantage in technique, but that wasn’t all there was to a fight with swords, and both of them knew that.
The reason Lucas had chosen the sword instead of the axe was due to his strengths. He specialized in agility, and the sword was better for that. Besides, the sword could strike as much as it could defend, while with the axe defending was very difficult. If he had chosen the axe, he would have to take an offensive stance the entire time, and this far into the game, he believed it would be hard for his opponent not to have at least some skill handling the sword, at which point it wouldn’t be so surprising if he was counter-attacked, forcing him to keep dodging over and over again.
That led him to his next reason: he didn’t want to give it away to soon that his speed was still higher than his opponent’s despite being three levels below him. What’s the fun in that?
The situation in the battle took a turn and changed completely, with Lucas now being in the offensive and Victor barely able to defend each time one of Lucas’s attacks arrived. Victor did indeed have the upper hand when talking about technique with the sword; however, his movements were limited and, after some time, predictable.
He had the technique, but he seemed to lack experience in life-and-death battles, of which Lucas had plenty already. Not only that, but dodging the attacks of his sparring partner while practicing boxing was way harder than dodging Victor’s attacks, if one was able to ignore the potential deadliness of them, that is, and Lucas surely was.
Nicholas watch it all play out in silence, his fists clenched. Had he been played? Had Lucas always known that he could defeat Victor? But how? He was pretty sure they had never met before, so why was he so confident?
Nicholas calmed himself before letting his thoughts run wild and analyzed the fight with a cool head. Lucas’ technique was clearly subpar compared to his own, to the point that it was even ridiculous, like a little kid competing with an adult. But even when comparing with Victor he should be inferior. Is he faster than him? He wondered befuddled.
Nicholas observed the fight play out for a few more seconds and realize that his assessment seemed to be correct. Not only that, but he seemed to be stronger too. That or Victor was too shaken by the turn of events to the point that it had affected his capabilities.
He knew that was a real possibility, and it often happened in professional competitions, the mindset was one of the most important factors going into a match, but it was hard to tell if that was the case. Whatever it was, he had to pray for Victor to win this fight, or else he would be screwed. He clenched his fists even tighter now, already regretting his arrogance to bet so much money on this, but it was already too late to turn back now.
Aysha shared the surprise of everyone around the two who were facing each other. She had seen Lucas fight before, so she knew he had some ability and didn’t hesitate in the face of danger. But that had been with a spear, and previously Lucas had told her that he used to fight with an axe, and now he was fighting with a sword, apparently for the first time. But only she knew about this. What has he been doing all this time in the Training Center? If he had been training with the sword this entire time, he should be better with it, no?
Lucas tried to hide how much time he spent at the Training Center on a daily basis, but Aysha always knew that he practically lived there. He wasn’t exactly subtle about it; every time she saw him at the city in the end of the day, he was sweating profusely and with a beaten-down appearance. If he wasn’t doing quests or hunting, what else could he be doing apart from training?
But if he isn’t training with the sword, then what? Aysha had the feeling that the more she knew about him, the more there was to find out. If Victor knew that a few months ago, the man he was facing had a disease called brittle bone—a concept Aysha wasn’t completely unfamiliar with, as the elves too had a similar disease amongst a few unlucky ones—he would probably bury his head in the ground in shame. Compared to him, her problems seemed too small, and that motivated her to keep pushing, but seeing him fight someone three levels above his own with a new weapon, she realized she was still behind him.
Unaware of everyone’s reactions around him, Lucas kept pressing, waiting for Victor to show him an opening, something he constantly did when boxing. But due to his lack of ability fighting with the sword, he had missed a lot of opportunities already, a more skilled swordsman would have finished this battle ages ago. But just then, when Lucas was beginning to tire himself, he attacked after a bad deflection from Victor, he slashed at the man's shoulder leaving a deep wound on him, who quickly retreated, grunting in pain.
Lucas thought about the sharpness of the blade; the first thing he noticed was that it was a lot less sharp than his bone-blade. If it was his bone blade, and assuming it didn’t break, it would have sliced his arm right off and probably continued towards his chest. That wasn’t a demerit to the sword but rather an abnormality of his bone blade, which was way sharper than usual, even if more fragile.
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The fight continued for a little while longer, but it soon became pretty clear that, with his new wound, Victor was even more scared than before. The cocky, yellowish smile now long gone from his face, replaced by a terrorized expression. Every time Lucas got near him, he tried to run away, leaving more openings than ever before, and pretty soon the man had two bloody gashes in his chest and was on the ground begging for mercy. Lucas sighed. That had been a pretty good workout.
“Well, I guess that settles it then,” Lucas said, turning his eyes towards Nicholas, who wore a very gloomy expression. “I’ll take the payment upfront if you don’t mind,” he said, extending his hand towards the miserable-looking man.
Nicholas, who had no option but to pay, being under the gaze of Aysha, did so without looking at Lucas in the eyes, afraid that if he saw that arrogant expression on his face, he might kill him before he could stop himself.
“You’ve won this time because Victor was stupid and too much of a coward.” He couldn’t help but say a few words. “But I would be careful if I were you; if you faced a more skilled swordsman today, you’d have no chance at all.”
“I’ll take up on your advice and train harder,” Lucas said in reply. “And the next time I meet another swordsman bold enough to face me, I’ll make sure to give them another good beating.” Lucas said, smiling, turned around, and left with Aysha, leaving behind one pretty pissed-off man standing with his followers unusually quiet behind him.
After they were out of sight, Nicholas turned to Victor on the ground and kicked him, making the man, who was already pretty injured, groan some more. “What the hell were you doing? You lost to an amateur.”
“Boss, I swear, there’s something wrong with that guy; he’s too fast,” Victor blurted out, afraid of receiving another kick if he didn’t reply.
Nicholas thought about what Victor said; he really seemed to be faster than Victor. But he had thought that was because Victor was afraid, but now… It doesn’t matter what secrets he has, I have to kill him. Nicholas hadn’t been so humiliated ever since his father passed away, and when he arrived in Ponos, he had promised himself he would never be in this situation again. But this guy, the way he talked to him towards the end… did he believe he could win against him? No, the difference in their levels were too high, it was impossible.
He hadn’t attack him earlier because that might be seen by Aysha as him bullying the weak, a level twenty beating up a level ten, the disparity was just too big. But Lucas didn’t seem afraid. What is he relying on? Nicholas thought, looking at the horizon where Lucas and Aysha had been a few minutes ago.
…
“HAHAHAHA,” Aysha was holding back tears from laughter after they left Nicholas’ sight. “His face…” she said before bursting into laughter again. Lucas had never seen her laugh like this before, but he was glad he was the reason behind it.
“Oh, yes, that was quite the sight,” Lucas said, smiling. He had profited a lot from that encounter, and he was in a pretty good mood, it was just what he needed to prepare for the challenge that was to come. “Here, your share,” he said, taking Aysha’s hand and placing a bunch of coins there.
“What, why?” she said, finally stopping laughing. She had never laughed like this before, but the scene she had witnessed was just too much to bear, and afterward she was even a little embarrassed by her reaction. However, the coins in her hands took her mind off these things.
“It’s your share. If it weren’t for you, I would never be able to take so much money from him,” he said with a grin.
Aysha accepted the coins, as Lucas wouldn’t take no for an answer. “Now I know how your lucky encounters play out,” she said. “You even managed to take advantage of a situation like this,” she sighed. She still had a lot to learn about the world outside the castle.
“That was just a little side hustle, nothing to brag about,” Lucas said dismissively.
“Were you serious back then?” she asked suddenly.
“What do you mean?”
“That you would stop talking to me if you lose.” Her face blushed when she said that, but Lucas shook his head.
“There was no way I would lose to him; it was just the bait I used to take more of his money. Now come, we’ve already delayed it enough, let’s go get your arrows done,” he said, pulling her arm.
They arrived at the place where Aysha said she got her arrows and her new bow. It was a blacksmith shop, and it had pretty much everything there. Without further ado, they presented the smith, a very sturdy man, with the metal frame, and he seemed very interested in it.
“That’s pretty good material, where did you get it?” he asked, looking at them.
Lucas told him the story of how he found that metal frame in the bottom of a river, and the man nodded, placing his eyes again over the metal.
“I guessed that much. That is probably from one of those intercontinental ships, but how did it end up in the bottom of a river I have no idea.”
Lucas was only a little surprised to hear that. He had guessed the first time he saw that metal frame that it had come from a ship, but he had no idea that intercontinental ships really existed, so that was new information. They inquired to him to see if he knew anything about them, but apparently he only knew they existed, so they dropped the subject.
Afterward, the man told them that the arrows would be ready on the following day, and that they could come pick them up then, also providing Aysha with a big discount in exchange for him keeping a piece of it for himself.
Aysha was pretty satisfied with the deal, and with her fresh Nicholas money, she wasn’t so concerned about her financial situation anymore. Meals and housing were guaranteed for the next few weeks, and she wouldn’t need to worry about getting new arrows for the foreseeable future with her new batch that would be ready the next day. Like that, they split up, agreeing to meet each other the next day and head straight for the Tower.
Lucas had another destination in mind before he called it a day, however. Thanks to Nicholas generosity, he had the money to do one last luxurious training before he went to the challenge, and this time, he would be using his glass blades.