After a light breakfast, Aerith, who had woken up a bit late, and I headed out of the house and after a bit of scouting, made our way towards a certain location. Putting Aerith down after jumping in between a few houses, I took my sniper and after a few shots led Aerith down to the pack of Husks I’d just shot. Most were dead, except for a Crawler.

“Alright, Aerith, magic time. Kill the Crawler with your magic, I’ll be taking this.” Taking the handgun from her as she looked at me in shock, I took a few steps back and nodded at her.

The Crawler saw us at that moment and with a roar its eyes locked onto Aerith, who in turn froze up for a moment, seemingly not knowing what to do. As the Crawler approached several metres in front of her, she finally raised a hand and shot out a Frozen Orb that slammed into the Crawler’s chest, but it didn't take effect immediately. The Crawler reaches her and half frozen swipes its long claws down as I step in, grab Aerith’s waist and pull her away.

The Crawler looks up but it’s too late, the Frozen Orb has done its job and frozen its entire midsection, legs and arms. As we watch, its head is encased in a layer of ice as a sigh of relief comes from Aerith.

“It’s dead…”

“And you would’ve been if you didn’t hesitate. Aerith, why did you freeze up like that?”

Seeing her look down, I pat her back and lead her over to sit on a nearby bench. After a few minutes of silence, Aerith looked at me. “S-sorry…”

Sighing, I sat next to her. “What did I say about being sorry? I know you’re not used to fighting. I’m not asking you why you froze up out of anger, but because I genuinely want to know why, so I can help you more.”

As silence surrounded us, Aerith scratched the back of her neck before responding. “I-I think it’s because of how unexpectedly it happened, I didn’t think you’d take my handgun and throw me right into a fight. When the Husk charged me I just…froze up cause I didn’t know what to do.”

Seeing her on the verge of tears, I pulled her into half a hug. “Sorry, the aim of the training I’m doing is to teach you certain things quickly since we don’t have much time. I may have rushed it a bit too much here.”

“Mm, no, I know why you did it. It’s to show me that anything unexpected could happen, right?”

“Ah, not exactly. I wanted to show you how it feels to face a Husk by yourself.” Pursing my lips, I ruffle her hair and let her go.

“Oh, is that why?”

“Remember the feeling, cause that’s how it’s always going to be.” Getting up, Aerith follows suit and handing her handgun back, I smile at her. “Actually, the unexpected lesson is that.” Pointing in a direction, she looks and tilts her head at the pile of Husks just as a Runner crawls out of the pile. I had purposefully left it alive after the Heavy of the group had fallen on it.

The Runner roars and charges, far faster than the Crawler, but this time Aerith is faster than earlier, using her wand and firing a Frozen Orb at the Husk. At the same time, she raised her handgun, but again there wouldn’t be time.

“Aerith, you can move in combat.” Quickly whispering to her, she quickly leapt backwards as I did the same, and with two more leaps backwards Aerith raised the handgun once more and fired at the nearly frozen Husk, its forehead splitting into two.

“Mm, good work. Remember, keep an eye on your surroundings as well. Make sure the path behind you is clear before leaping backwards like that, take everything into account. For example, you could’ve leapt once if you jumped over the railing here…” Pointing out several things to watch out for, I noticed Aerith paying attention to each of my words, as if straining to remember every letter.

From there, we kept hunting packs while she dealt with one or two. Giving her advice each time, I saw her improve at a very fast pace, to the point where it started to feel unnatural. Eventually, I watched as she faced two Crawlers and a Runner. Without hesitation, she killed the Runner with a headshot before using two frozen orbs at the same time on the Crawlers. Leaping backwards and kiting the Crawlers while keeping her feet steady, I watched as the Crawlers completely froze, dead.

“Alright, time for a break.” Grabbing her around the waist after she unloaded the handgun, we jumped onto a roof as she sat down, panting for breath. “Aerith? Were you athletic in our world?”

“Huh? Um, yes. Mum and Dad have pushed me for track and field since I was young.”

“Were you good at it?” After scanning the surroundings and seeing no threats, I sat next to her while pulling out a bag of lollies. Putting the bag between us, I leaned forward, gazing towards the town.

“I wasn’t a natural, but I usually did okay.”

“How does your body compare from your old body? Is it hindering you when you move like you did in our world?”

Aerith took a moment while she looked at her arms and legs before responding. “It’s bigger than my old body, my breasts are bigger and so is my height. Strangely I’ve never had any problems getting used to it…”

“The same goes for all of us it seems. You’ve improved way too quickly so far today, which isn’t a bad thing at all, but it’s certainly faster than I had thought.”

“Perhaps these bodies were made for combat?” Aerith mutters thoughtfully.

“Made?”

“Mm, how else were there bodies just here in the town for us to use? Everything else is dead, no skeletons of the previous residents and from the flora trying to retake the town it’s been like that for a long time.”

“I hadn’t really thought of it like that.” Leaning back with a bit of a frown, I look at my hand while thinking from Aerith’s perspective. Bodies made by the System for us, built for combat? However, I frown as memories of when I woke up came to mind. “That can’t be right. When I woke up, it seemed like whoever owned this body before I did had committed suicide.” Explaining my state when I had awoken, Aerith tilted her head thoughtfully.

“Odd, I just woke up in a bed…Perhaps my body's previous owner died in another way?”

“What a strange topic, talking about these bodies.” Giggling slightly to myself, I brought up another topic to get Aerith’s thoughts. “We adapted to these bodies far too quickly, don’t you think?”

Another moment of silence as Aerith thought over my words, she responded slowly. “I agree…I didn’t need any time to adapt at all. It’d been strange at first but within a day it had been like I had always been in this body. Even if this was a simulation, it would’ve taken days if not weeks for our perspectives to change, especially to adjust to the new height. Perhaps whatever the System is adjusted our mindset for these bodies?”

“Considering the System’s ability to give us knowledge on spells, our Jobs and make us stronger when we advance I could see it adjusting our mindsets slightly. My old body had been of similar height to this body, though my breasts are bigger I’ve never had an issue with them either. As a sniper they are certainly a factor since it affects arm movement, yet I’ve never encountered a problem with them.” Showing what I meant, I frown as I put my hands down. “For some odd reason I don’t miss my old body either. I’ve spoken to Winter about this at length and neither of us miss our bodies, in fact we have completely accepted our new bodies and it hasn’t affected our relationship in the slightest.

“At first we accepted this because we were used to our avatars in full dive changing and since we spent days or weeks in there we had gotten used to seeing each other as different people. For us, what our bodies look like won’t affect our relationship in any way since what we love is each other for us, not our bodies, but at this point I’d have thought I would yearn to have my body back, but I haven’t…”

This content has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

Aerith stayed silent for a moment before speaking quietly. “It’s kinda creepy to think that our minds might have been played with like that…Have your feelings for Winter changed at all?”

“Nope. Not in the slightest. If she dies I won’t hesitate to take my life.”

“Then only our mindsets towards our bodies have changed. Stewing it over like this won’t change anything though.”

“A rather mature approach, Kate. You’re right, we can ponder and wonder all we want, but at the end of the day this is just how it’s going to be. Alright, let’s get back to it. Next target for you is a Heavy.” Seeing Aerith's smile falter as she paled, I giggled and scouted another pack for us.

Of course, I wasn’t going to leave her alone against a Heavy, so after blowing off one of its arms and keeping it scoped the entire time, I watched as Aerith took it down with a bit of a struggle, but after a few more Heavies she beautifully manoeuvred herself. In total she needed three frozen orbs at specific spots to completely freeze it and as long as it froze over it died. Seeing the sun, I estimated we had about two hours left so ending the training for her today we cleared another house and settled down at the kitchen table.

“Right, you’ve improved much faster than I had planned for. Whether it’s because you’re some hidden genius only ever seen in anime or because these bodies are built for combat, it doesn’t matter now, we’ll be moving onto the next lot of training I have planned.” Taking out six gummy bears from the pack of lollies, I placed two down, another two a bit away from them and one at the very front.

“This is our, Unity’s, formation that is generally our go to for player versus player situations. I won’t include Lost Heralds here for simplicity's sake. The one in the very front is Ghost, who is our scout. His job is to relay information about what is ahead or is coming towards us. Next is our frontline, Winter and Lemon, our Gunner and Heavy Gunner. Their job is to mow down anything that is coming towards them while Ghost picks off anything that is considered a threat.

“At the back here, as you may have guessed, is myself and Sheep. I act as the sniper while Sheep is the spotter, his job is to watch my back while also relaying orders to everyone else. In combat, Sheep is the leader so you need to ensure you’re listening to his orders while outside of combat I lead the team. Now, this line up, while small, works perfectly for player versus player, do you know why?”

Aerith looks at the gummy bears while thinking before pointing to the back pair. “Is it because you guys dictate the battlefield?”

“No, but good guess. Normally you’d be right, but not for player versus player. It’s because other humans are predictable. Tell me, how would you deal with this lineup?”

Aerith didn’t hesitate to answer this time. “A sniper, I’d take out the heavy gunner first then the gunner. A sniper can’t keep up with a zerg.”

“Nice answer, you’re correct. Our biggest vulnerability is a sniper, which is why Sheep is trained to counter snipe. You may have noticed…no, you were asleep. He took the sniper that Winter had made because he’s trained with it and while not as good as I am he knows how to use it. Now, this isn’t about PvP, I just wanted to see if you could see vulnerabilities at a glance. When it comes to fighting against Husks, what do you think our biggest vulnerability is this time?”

Aerith crossed her arms while looking at the gummy bears before slowly responding. “Is it the Husks having different capabilities?”

“I like that answer. You are right, but it’s not the answer I’m looking for. In PvP, players have different weapons and strategies, so capability is similar when we’re facing Husks. Our biggest problem is the unpredictability of the Husks. They’re mindless, unthinking monsters who just roar and charge at us. This makes them rather simple to deal with, but because we can’t predict what they’ll do our formation is at risk.

“There are a lot more of them than us, meaning they can come from any direction and have no problems with third partying us if we were to already be fighting another enemy. Because they can come from anywhere, who, out of our line up, becomes redundant?”

“Ghost.” A statement comes from Aerith as I nod.

“Correct. While he can still perform normally, his information relaying skills become redundant fast because now we have more monsters swarming towards us. Who do you think will be overrun first?”

“Lemon and Winter.”

“Yup, and once they fall, Sheep and I will as well. This is where you come in, Aerith.” Placing the sixth gummy bear down in the middle of the pairs, I continue. “Your job will be to support Winter and Lemon by covering their flanks. With your Ice Magic you’ll be responsible for controlling anything that comes close, while either myself or whoever you’re supporting finishes it off. This is all planned off how the System presents your Class and how it says you’re about control and protecting.”

“So I’ll be moving between Winter and Lemon?”

“Correct. When you advance you’ll gain more strength making it easier, but we don’t expect you to hold up both sides, even assisting one of the two will relieve a lot of pressure. Now, if we take in Lost Heralds, our formation becomes a hell of a lot stronger.” Placing four more gummy bears down, I explain them. “Firstly, joining our frontline will be Dawn. Her Warrior Class is made to be a tank, like in MMOs and with the ability to draw enemies to herself it’ll be like moths to a flame.

“Then we have Melody who will be with you. She’ll be supporting with shields and barriers, working to ensure no one is without protection. I haven’t seen her spells in action yet, but from what she told me it’s very promising. Silver in the middle with you two will offer a form of protection for the two of you. Finally we have Jupiter, he’ll be with us on the backline, protecting my back while Sheep shifts from being my spotter and protector to being the commander on the field. Do you see any vulnerabilities with this line up?”

Aerith looks at it while frowning a bit before shaking her head. “I don’t.”

“It’s a very strong line up, isn’t it? There are indeed openings that our line up has. For example, Silver is reliant on melee, any threats like Acidmancers will be a vital weakness. There is also the issue of mana, prolonged fights aren’t good for us since we only have fifty mana, mea-”

“I have one hundred mana…” Aerith mutters as I raise an eyebrow and look at her.

“What potential did you have?”

“World Class, though I don’t know if it’s high or not…”

“Generally ‘World Class’ means your potential is among the best, or is the best.”

“O-Oh…”

“Keep in mind that’s only for mana, not magic. I got excellent and fifty mana, so did everyone else. While you have double our mana, it doesn’t change much, our fights have to be over with quickly. After not using magic for a minute you begin regenerating mana at a rate of one per secon-”

“T-two. Two per second…”

“Okay, look, if you wanted to make me jealous you’ve succeeded.” Giggling while poking the blushing Aerith’s cheek, I continued. “The point stands though, a minute wait is enormous in a battlefield where every second counts. To overcome this vulnerability we need both you and Melody well versed in firearms as well, that way you can switch depending on your mana levels.”

“I see, so that’s why you’ve been teaching me to shoot as well.”

“You were confused about that?”

“Mm, I thought knowing magic would be enough…”

“Perhaps it will one day, but right now we can not afford to put all of our eggs into one basket. So for the next few days while we’re hunting you’ll be alternating between magic and either the handgun or my sniper.” Picking up two of the gummy bears and throwing them into my mouth, I lean back. “You’ll also be keeping watch like last night, you need to get used to it since everyone will have the responsibility of watch.”

“Got it.” Seeing her a lot more determined, I patted her head before leaning forward. “For now, we’ll practise magic.”

“Practise?”

“I’m going to tell you how to use Hawkeye while you teach me how to use frozen orb. While getting knowledge on spells and blueprints is nice, we need to also not depend on the System for everything. If we can learn each other's spells, that may pave the way for us to develop our own spells. Jupiter and I have been practising each other's spells for some time now, though with little success. Perhaps you’ll stumble onto a hint for us with your world class potential.” Poking fun at Aerith again, who just stuck her tongue out at me, I started to teach her the knowledge about Hawkeye.

After Aerith told me how to use Frozen Orb, I compared it to Fireball that Jupiter had taught me and found them to be similar for the movement of mana, except the way the spell is cast is slightly different. Trying for a few hours, I kept looking at my hand as I spent mana to form the spell. Aerith heads off to keep watch first and after another hour, something in my mind clicks.

Mana movement is simply bringing mana to your palm and comparing the two spells to Hawkeye it’s almost the same, except one is to the eyes and the others are to a palm. It’s what happens when the mana reaches them, what you need to do differs. For Frozen Orb, Aerith said the mana needs to come out slowly whilst Jupiter said it needs to spin slightly. Neither of them had really explained anything beyond that, saying it just sorta formed at that point. What I’m missing however is the visualisation, I’m visualising it as the mana starts to move, what if I visualised it as the mana starts to move out of my palm?

Taking a steady breath, I wait as my mana regenerates again and move it towards my palm and just as it reaches the palm, I then visualise the movement out of my palm and a fireball, including the temperature and size. Seeing a small ball of fire slowly forming, I gasp and in my surprise the fireball dissipates.

You have learnt the Spell: Fireball.