Training with Kelly

[The first condition for unlocking the system has been met.]

The system's sudden message pleased me and I immediately opened it.

[ 1 Realizing your identity in this world.

 2 ??? ]

Although the second condition was still hidden, I was satisfied with the progress.

Since I was not alone, I mentally addressed the system.

'What's new in your functionality?'

[Status.]

Hearing the answer, I looked at the girl knight and said 'status' to myself.

A window materialized in front of me.

__________________________

[Name: Kelly Weinheart]

[Age:19] [Race: Human]

[Rank: 2 star]

[Agility: 140]

[Strength: 105]

[Stamina: 100]

[Mana: 120]

[Intelligence: 95]

[Charm: 15]

[Luck: 10]

[Talent(S):Radiant Burst(sealed)]

[Blessing:---]

[Affection score: 70]

__________________________

Seeing the large gap between characteristics, I inquired about this.

[Unlike the other characteristics, charm and luck are innate and cannot be increased through training.]

After listening to the system's answer, I returned to her status. What caught my eye was her talent, specifically its rank.

Judging from the novel, the number of people with S level talent and above was extremely small, and they all played some role in the story. However, neither her name nor her appearance was mentioned in the novel.

But seeing the status of her talent, I understood the reason why she was engaged in escort work and didn't take part in the main events.

Upon awakening, there was an extremely small chance that the talent wouldn't be able to fully merge with a person's body and soul, thus remaining in a sealed state forever.

It was indeed a cruel fate to have a talent but not be able to use it.

I looked at the panel in front of me once more, and noticed the high affection score, considering that other than distant childhood memories we had nothing to do with each other.

Could it have gotten that high from listening to a couple of her stories?

Or is it just my looks?

Determined to observe this in the future, I moved on to my status.

__________________________

[Name: Eden von Thunderheart]

[Age:19] [Race: Human]

[Rank: 1 star]

[Agility: 17]

[Strength: 12]

[Stamina: 15]

[Mana: 10]

[Intelligence: 15]

[Charm: 50]

[Luck: 0]

[Talent(SS): Perfect Affinity(sealed)]

[Blessing:---]

__________________________

Seeing these stats I couldn't help but curse to myself. Indeed, everything is known by comparison.

'System, are you sure this guy has 1 star? Compared to Kelly his characterizations are garbage'

[Yes, host. 10 points is the limit for people. Everyone who went beyond it gets a 1 star rank, it takes 50+ and 150+ to move to the next ranks respectively.]

When my eyes reached the talent and I saw the status 'sealed' my last hopes were dashed. Although because of Eden's drastic change from the original, I was prepared for this kind of thing, it was still painful to see.

He's complete garbage, if you don't count the damn high charm.

Okay, being able to use your strengths is a skill too.

I thought, trying to cheer myself up.

Finished processing the information I'd gotten, I shifted my gaze to Kelly.

She had been sitting silently for a couple minutes now, waiting to see what I was going to do next.

"Let's go practice."

Said I, getting up from my seat.

"You want to... practice?"

She looked at me like I told the most idiotic joke ever.

"Yes. Are you ready?"

Not fully believing my words, she replied .

"Yes, young– Eden von Thunderheart."

"You can just call me Eden."

Since I already knew my identity, there was no point in making her say it every time.

With a nod, she walked outside, leaving me alone.

Fifteen minutes later, we were both standing not far from our main camp.

"Bend your wrist a little more, Eden."

Kelly helped me learn the basic sword wielding stances, carefully controlling every detail.

At first I believed that this body must have muscle memory, allowing me to make faster progress. But other than a couple of pelvic movements and other 'tricks' related to the other sword, I didn't remember anything.

Therefore, I had no choice but to scrutinize what she was giving me. The good news was that Kelly did have a great talent for training people, which allowed me to progress faster.

After practically an hour of training, she nodded satisfied.

"Good, you've worked out the base."

I'll admit it felt good to hear those words.

"Now it's time for sparring."

My eyes narrowed slightly, but I also realized that the best way to solidify the practice was through combat.

"Don't worry, I'll control my strength."

She pronounced with a smile.

For some reason her confession that she had never defeated me as a child came to my mind.

She wouldn't take it out on me now, would she?

Taking our original positions, we looked at each other.

I couldn't help but think that she looked even more appetizing in the light of day. However, I didn't care about that right now, as I needed to focus on the fight.

I approached her sharply and with a swift, at least for me, movement, I struck her weak point.

Dodging my lunge, she smoothly swung her sword towards my side, which I managed to deflect at the very last moment.

Even though Kelly was holding back, I could feel the numbness in my arms. Quickly moving a decent distance away, I began to watch her actions.

This time she didn't let me attack first and lunged at me while I was still recovering from the last blow.

The hurricane of her lunges, forced me to go into a deafening defense, not having time to even think about counterattacking. Even so, I didn't manage to fend off all the blows, which cost me several cuts on my body.

Eventually, she stumbled on the uneven ground, giving me a moment in which I was able to counterattack her, getting out of my passive position.

We continued sparring, with short breaks, for a few more hours.

By the end of our training, I felt as if I had been put through a meat grinder several times and then given a good hammering. Numerous cuts and bruises were accompanied by a dull ache in muscles not used to such strain. If it weren't for the fact that I had 1 star, which provided superhuman capabilities, I would have been on the ground a long time ago.

And no, I wasn't a masochist who liked pain or beatings.

After reviewing my status, I realized that my only chance of survival in this world was to fully unlock my system.

While the second condition remained a mystery to me, I had a few guesses as to what it might be. It would have been nice if the second condition was as easy as the first, but I couldn't rely on that too much, especially considering my luck stat was 0.

So, today's training had two goals.

One, to increase Kelly's affection score towards me.

Two, to prepare for what's going to happen tonight.

During the fight, every time I kept on the offensive, despite the pain and fatigue, the meter kept increasing. So, I fought until my battered hands could no longer hold a sword.

And it was definitely paying off.

I glanced at the panel in front of me.

[Affection score: 79]

***

Thank you all for reading.