Such an opportunity to gather a lot of SP meant that I could exploit Sir System more and more.

I understand that there are no free meals in this world and the System isn't something that was given to me out of goodwill. It wants things from me and in return, I want things from it.

Until one day a Quest arrives to tell me to do something crazy, I should make the most out of Sir System's abilities.

The problem here is that I am 19 years old so learning Aura or Magic isn't something that will be achievable easily. Some people learn these supernatural arts at the age of 8 while others at 6 or 5.

I am not just late to learn Magic or Aura, I am super late and I will have to go through many hurdles to achieve something those of my age have achieved ages ago. (Or that's what I thought back then, we'll return to that topic later.)

If Sir System, which is the only power akin to magic I have at my disposal, needs an upgrade, who am I to say no and for all its worth, I must seek more clues about the upgrade process.

But in the meantime, I had to find out more ways to get Sir System to give me SP.

I tried to trigger the challenge quest against Logan once again but no matter what I did, the quest never showed.

This means that I can't repeat the same challenge, but for how long? And what are the other restrictions?

After that, I waited till the evening as Jane and Voros dropped for a visit. I invited them to the gun range and lit the place up to try our guns in a friendly challenge.

And what do you know, the quest worked on both. I got 150 SP from beating Jane and 180 from beating Voros, while the quest still never activated with Logan.

I'll try again with Logan after 24 hours to see if it is a time-based restriction.

As for now, I got this sweet sweet reward.

« Trait Level Up: Novice Gunslinger? → Apprentice Gunslinger? »

Leveling up this trait was a real lot of work but I understood the learning curve and why it took so much time to level up compared to a different trait like, for example, The Pianist.

Unlike the Pianist, the Gunslinger trait is combat-based, which I believe is more difficult overall, even though there are more gunslingers in the world than there are pianists and the piano is one hell of an instrument to learn. Still, many can actually come forward and claim to be piano experts or masters, but Guns on the other hand aren't the same.

One can't simply master death and firearms are death incarnate, so among gunslingers, only those who have shot various types of guns and have a high record of kills can be called the masters of the gun, one can't just run into those since many die before that point.

So aside from the rarity of the skill, what I think to be the practical factor of trait learning speed is the versatility of the skill.

When I dusted off my Pianist trait in one hour, that's because the instrument I was using was an authentic classical piano just like the ones I played on many times before as Nadia, there was barely any difference.

Guns on the other hand, I had none of what I had before. Away from the Glocks and the Barettas and MP5s and AK-47s, I fired dozens of guns in my career and I had no particular favorite so I was good with many guns.

In other words, in order to dust off the trait Gunslinger back to its full potential, I'll need some rifles, revolvers, shotguns, and submachine guns. Pistols weren't the only guns I slinged after all.

This left me with a new predicament: how will I level up my self-defense traits since I may one day need them very much?

Seeing me looking at the gun and sinking in thoughts, it was Voros who showed interest.

"Thinking?" He asked.

"Say, Mr. Voros, have you participated in combat before?" I asked.

"Been long. Voros crushed many skulls… all in the past."

"I see. Since you don't seem to know Aura, how do you fight back then?"

"Hey, Duergar strong!" Voros said pointing fingers at my face as if he felt offended, "Voros knows Aura."

"You do?" I asked, I remember his level wasn't anything interesting the last I saw it in the reading.

"Well… used to… no combat for fourteen years."

"So skills like these disappear if you don't use them much?"

"Hum!" Voros nodded with a grunt.

"I see."

Of course they should disappear, try hitting the gym for years then stopping for fourteen years with no physical labor whatsoever. It's only fair for those who don't sharpen themselves to lose their edge, such is the way of life.

"So, what do you think is the best way for someone like me to…"

"Sword!"

"I was asking…"

"Sword!"

"Do you even…"

"Sword!"

"…"

Why is he so adamant on that answer? I stared at him for a few seconds trying to get a chance to talk before he interrupted me again.

"Why?" I asked quickly.

"Hmph!" He snorted, "Slender legs, quick body, thin arms, strong shoulders, good for guns, good for swords."

"Good for guns, good for swords, huh?" I repeated the phrase he said and I liked the sound of it.

It seemed this crafty Duergar had me all figured out. I wanted to ask about how to further protect myself and it seems those fourteen years may have dulled his combat prowess but not his customer service.

I sat on the nearby table in the gun range as Voros joined me. He seemed to be ready to converse about what sword I should use but I preferred action over words.

On the table, I put my pieces of equipment on display. This attracted both Jane and Logan who were still shooting nearby and they joined us midway.

What I took out were…

Titania, the Mouse Pistol.

Romeo & Juliet, which are the names I give for my right and left guns respectively, and the current Romeo & Juliet are two break-action pistols rather than the old flintlocks which I still have.

After that, I took out my push dagger which, following this tradition, I will, from now on, call it Macbeth.

Lastly, I took out the Tactical Umbrella which I received as a quest reward once. It has a short steel blade inside its cane. I haven't thought of a name for the umbrella yet but I am leaning towards calling it Dr. Jekyll and calling the blade within Mr. Hyde.

If you encounter this narrative on Amazon, note that it's taken without the author's consent. Report it.

"That's my whole arsenal for the time being." I said.

"What's that? A toothpick?" Logan held the push dagger up, wondering its strange design.

I snatched it back immediately and held it the right way in my hand before showing how it is used to stab and then be hidden away.

"Your love for concealed weapons isn't healthy." He said.

"Saved my life twice so far." I replied and played with Macbeth between my fingers, "This little toothpick had taken a life once even."

As I said that, Logan seemed to be disturbed by my kill record. Well, as long as it keeps my pretty head on my pretty shoulders, no one can complain.

On the other hand, Voros took out the blade of the tactical umbrella and gave an approving nod.

"Any ideas then?" I asked.

"Will make something." Voros replied and took out a small journal and a piece of charcoal before starting to doodle something.

He hates pencils for some reason even though I keep telling him how effective they can be as weapons.

"You want to use a sword?" Logan asked me.

"I see no qualms against using one." I replied.

"Well… my job is to hold a sword instead of you so…"

"So?"

"You don't trust me protecting you?"

"You're cute."

"Come on."

"I want no one else to protect me aside from you, Logan, but I am picking up a bunch of new hobbies. Swordsmanship is just something I want to try."

"Well, I quite trust you with a firearm since you shoot better than most people but as it is a ranged weapon, it means you don't have to get too close to danger. Swords are different."

"Shouldn't I have a sword in case my guns couldn't be reloaded on time?"

"Believe me, anyone who can avoid your shooting will have no problem dealing with you in melee."

What Logan said actually makes sense. I don't want to fight in close-quarter combat against knights and aura users either.

"But what if I have to?"

"Do as you must."

Logan dropped it but then Jane said something that almost made me jump off my seat.

"Shouldn't one train in melee weapons in order to awaken Aura?"

As Jane asked the innocent question, both Voros and Logan, who were busy writing in a journal and reading a pistol respectively, nodded as if it was something natural and commonly known.

"Excuse me?!"

They all looked at me as I seemed a little bit upset and taken.

"What's wrong?"

"To train your aura, you need to have melee weapon training?" I asked.

"Naturally." Logan replied.

"Why hasn't anyone told me that before?"

"Errm… you didn't ask?" Logan said.

"It is… known." Voros spoke without much interest even.

"I've always seen the wannabe soldiers in the third academy say they would train with swords until they awaken their Auras and become officers." Jane also said with a smile.

I… I never heard of that.

It wasn't mentioned once in the Moore Manual even though I read it from cover to cover.

The System didn't even mention it once. Sir System, how could you?

« … »

Betrayed! I feel so betrayed!

I've been running around myself like a stupid donkey pushing a mill.

This original Vivian! How can she be so not interested in the powers of her own world?

Nadia's world was rather too mundane compared to this one. People from such a mundane world romanticized about Aura and Magic for a long time. However, for growing up in a world with such qualities, old Vivian just decided to not be interested. Holy fuck!

The first action of Nadia in this world, aside from killing the little piggy, is asking Father for an Aura Manual. That's the start of the whole thing.

"Ugh! I was doing all that training for nothing."

I can't handle this anymore. I just want to crawl in some hole and get depressed.

"Not for nothing. You need years of training to awaken the aura, it is not something easy with someone your age but…" Logan tried to explain but…

"Someone my age?" I stood off my chair and faced him with all the fury in the world, "What's wrong with my age, old man?"

"Nothing." Logan backed away immediately, "It is just people start training at a very early age."

"And?"

"Usually results are difficult to achieve with age, especially after 18."

"So you're telling me it is useless, huh?"

"I don't know why you're angry but this is public knowledge even more than the weapon training thing."

Logan's reply made me shut up but I was still dissatisfied. I couldn't understand why.

"Hmph!" I sat back down pouting and crossing my arms in a bad mood, "I don't even understand why!"

Those who made the game surely wanted it to be a power fantasy for young teenage characters. Making the Heroine into a spell turret or a party healer was fun to do especially when her abilities get buffed up by the late game.

"Well, I have been paying attention while I was in the second academy for that part." Logan said and started explaining it to me, "You see, when young people grow, they develop their bodies and adapt to their nature better than grown-ups. The process of training to awaken the aura is similar to forging metal. During the early phase, the body is like hot metal and can be tempered and shaped much easier than when it is old…"

Yep, the same simple cliche explanation from every power fantasy there is.

"… But from what a professor told me once, it is more related to the healing factor of younger people. Training your body is actually a process of damaging it so that when it heals, it gets stronger by preparing itself for the coming training similar to how broken joints become thicker when they heal…"

Huh?! Alright, I take back that previous thought. That's actually very accurate and in line with how the body works.

"… In a way, when you exert your fullest in training, the body begs back for energy to heal. The better the healing, the more results you get. That's why it is advised to eat and sleep well after training."

I am actually liking what I am hearing and I have a question.

"So let's say, Logan, someone as rich as me gets healed after every training session, wouldn't that hasten the process?"

"Well, my lady, I'd love to say that the Heaven isn't blind. Even if you have all the money in the world and you hire the best healer, knowing how rare those are, you'd run into the issue many greedy people ran into before you. How healing magic works is that it reverses the damage done to your body, that is why it is called "Restorative" magic, not "Regenerative" magic."

"I see… so I guess an alchemy elixir like Panacea would actually do more harm than good?"

To my innocent and simple conclusion, Logan coughed and almost choked on his breath.

"Pan… Panacea?" He asked and as if the word is some sort of a thing I shouldn't say, "Well… I think the Panacea is an exception. Still, that's not something money can buy. I mean… one vial can only be produced every year at the Temple of St. Florence."

"Come again?!"

"The Panacea… you know… the Elixir of Saint Florence."

"… Aha…"

"Only one vial… per year."

"Not… per day?"

"No. Per year."

"You sure?"

"Pretty sure. It is the Panacea."

"Shit!"

Alright, Sir System. We need to talk. Hopefully, Sir System's Panacea and St. Florence's Panacea aren't the same thing. Like… mine is called Common Panacea for crying out loud, it can't be THE Panacea.

Can it?

Anyone?

"… rincess! Princess! You with us?"

"Oh, sorry! Lost in thoughts." I said and got all my marbles together, "So… let's say… hypothetically of course… if the damage dealt by training is regenerated by a pretty good elixir, how long does it take to… you know… awaken aura? Theoretically, of course."

"We're talking how many elixirs?"

"Let's say… one per day… for example, of course."

"Well, that will cut down a lot of time. Years actually."

"Regardless of age?"

"Not sure but the younger the better, of course!"

"Gulp!"

This is big… so biiiiiiiiiig!

"Logan, I want you to teach me swordsmanship." I said and got off my chair.

"You're one stubborn spoiled princess, you know that?" He said with a tired face.

"We're training, old man." I replied and stood in an empty space in the gun range.

"We don't even have training swords." Logan said as he followed me while shrugging.

"I can fix that." I said and turned to the System Shop menu.

Training Swords… here they are. 20 SP each, I'll get two, my dear Sir System.

« Cost: 40 SP »

But just as I was about to confirm the purchase, I remembered that I had to unbind one of them for Logan to use. If I don't do that, the moment I get some distance from him, the training sword will be absorbed back into my storage purse.

Alright, Sir System, would you please.

« Cost: 220 SP »

Come again?

A bound training sword costs 20 SP, and an unbound training sword costs 200?

You know what? Worth every point!

I took the two wooden swords out and tossed the unbound one to Logan. He caught it, swung it around a few times, and seemed to like it.

"Alright, Princess. Don't say I didn't try to stop you." Logan said.

"We'Re DoInG tHiS!" I replied with the voice of demons from the villainess within.

"Alright, alright… let's get you started with the basics. Stance, posture, footwork! Do what I do."

« New Daily Quest: Melee Training (Novice) »