37 Spar.
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A/N: [Shameless Promo]:
Hello everyone. I hope you can check out my other novel; the 280th WPC entry. You can vote for it with PS if you thought it was worth it.
-MunirSM.
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We walked into the huge estate. The guards at the entrance drew inquisitive eyebrow raises due to my presence.
The fact that the star of the Loki familia and their god herself are walking next to me only added to their apparent confusion.
The first thing that greeted me when the gates opened was a massive hall where multiple members were being trained by their higher-standing comrades.
It had actual teamwork and felt like— actual training. Unlike the death matches hidden under the guise of training the Freya Familia had.
They wanted her attention that badly.
''What ya think?'' implored the goddess near me. She opened her arms wide, gesturing at the yard.
''Pretty impressive. Although, I still think individual strength is more important.''
''Is that so?'' Loki hummed thoughtfully.
''Strong?'' Said the Loli on my right quietly with a head-tilt.
'Hmm, right. She's still on the path to her vengeance.' I mutter under my breath.
'' Strength is important, no one can tell you otherwise.'' She perked up slightly but stopped when I continued, ''But, it shouldn't be your first objective. Think of it as a means to an end, and not the end itself. Endlessly pursuing strength is but a fool's errand
— Expand your horizons.'' I concluded, rubbing her blond head.
''Yer talking like an old man, yer still a little kid yerself.'' chortled Loki.
'Well, fuck you too.'
I was slightly proud that she seemed to get something out of it, at least her eyes seemed more clear.
That was until she just pointed at me and simply muttered, ''Fight me.''
It came off her lips so naturally, like that was the only possible outcome after what I just told her.
''Excuse me?'' I was majorly confused. I looked at Loki, and she just shook her head.
''I said... fight me. You're strong?'' She nodded her head confused at my apparent confusion, I wasn't getting what she meant.
''Maybe I am, but how did you come to that conclusion?'' I patiently questioned her.
I got no answer for a while other than her trademark head-tilt ''You said strength is not the only important thing.''
'Is that how it is? Does she not agree with me?' I theorised in my head.
''So you want me to prove my point?'' I asked her and just nodded.
''I mean— I don't need to prove my point to you, do I? '' I looked at her, and she started panicking a bit.
''Just kidding. I'm not that opposed to a friendly match.'' I looked at Loki for an answer. We don't want a situation to happen.
''Ya sure ya wanna do this? I don't want Hephaestus on my door when ya get hurt.'' She asked attentively.
''Meh, don't worry about it,'' I answered off-handedly.
She didn't like that indefinite answer it seems.
A crowd was starting to form around us quite quickly, it seems the little golden-haired Loli is really well-liked around here.
''So how do you want to do this? Real swords or wooden?'' I asked Aiz in front of me.
''Wooden.'' Loki quipped in.
I shrugged '' Suits me just fine.''
They even had a wooden rapier for Aiz.
The cheers and claps majorly increased when she picked up her sword as opposed to me. 'Cuteness is justice.'
'Perhaps this will serve as a good debut platform to get my name up there.' I thought.
''How about I limit my stats to your level?'' I asked, putting the sword on my shoulder.
The crowd cheers briskly cooled down when I said that. Loki and some of the executives that were present focused on me a bit more.
I just indirectly announced to the world that I was a First-Class Adventurer. That ought to get them shaken a bit.
Even the Sword Princess seemed more focused. She nodded and put the rapier in front of her.
Her stance was not bad per se. But, I could feel it was tailored towards monster fighting and not killing at all.
''Ariel'' She chanted her magic.
The silence from before was replaced with cheers.
''Eh. Going strong from the beginning?'' I was slightly surprised by her choice.
We now had more or less the same stats, so I could notice the massive increase her spell gave her. It must have given her an equally massive advantage over anyone at her level.
I parried a thrust from her rapier, I ignored how it was directly aimed at my heart. ''You should mix in more authentic feints in your style. Look, here.''
I performed a double feint, my whole body language screamed a hit at her legs, but it switched at the last moment to her shoulders when her guard focused on protecting her legs.
''See. To truly trick your opponent, you must trick yourself first.'' I very casually plagiarised people's words from the old world.
''You're not always going to fight monsters, people are not always overwhelmed by better stats. This is what I meant by expanding your horizons'' I gestured for her to come at me again.
''That's better. But don't spend too much thought on how to trick your opponent.'' I blocked her strike this time, pushing her back a bit. ''Try to put yourself in their shoes, use any means necessary.''
I lightly tripped her feet and she fell on her butt.
—she got up the next moment after. Not at all discouraged.
''Good. You only truly lose the moment you give up on yourself.''
As the schooling disguised as a spar continued, none of the previous cheers and claps was present. All there was silence, only broken by my instructions or the occasional grunts coming from little Aiz.
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(Finn POV)
I stretched, looking at the massive finished stack of paperwork on my desk ' Sometimes, being the Familia Captain can be so daunting.'
'I will save the Pallum race no matter what.' I balled my hands until they turned white.
A lot of noises were entering my ears... I looked outside the window and saw a crowd surrounding a youth and Aiz. Loki and Riveria were there as well.
I don't know why, but my thumb started dangerously shaking when I laid my eyes on the youth. A silver haired, and ocean-blue eyed youth with symmetric proportions.
'My thumb never failed me.' I grimaced looking at it.
I got out of the office and quickly descended to see what was happening. When I reached the scene I heard the youth mutter ''How about I limit my stats to your level?''
I zoned out for a moment, 'Limit his stats? Is he a first-class Adventurer? How come we never heard about him?' I exclaimed in my mind.
''Loki-sama. Who is that youth? And why is he having a match with Aiz?'' I asked our god.
''He's the one we had the meeting about. As for why, they got into a disagreement, it seems. He told her strength is not the most important thing.'' Loki casually informed me.
''And you let them for that reason? What if there is a war?'' I facepalmed. ''How about him being a first-class adventurer?''
Loki just shook her head and looked at my thumb; it seemed to be shaking more than before.
We focused on the fight. Aiz decided to go all out from the beginning.
The youth was admittedly surprised by the boost Ariel gives to Aiz.
But, after that, it turned from a fight to a lecture. Almost as if he could see the future, the youth would give the perfect response to the attack Aiz would try to land.
Thrusts, slashes, feints, stabs. Nothing worked...
—his piercing blue eyes scanned every muscle of Aiz. Not a single detail escaped them.
''Are you seeing this?'' I looked at the quiet Riveria.
She nodded ''How come we never heard of someone this skilled?'' The pseudo-mother of the Familia looked at Loki for answers.
''Nobody knows how he came around. All we know that he has Ouranos on his side.'' She bitterly said.
''That's not his limit.'' Commented Gareth from the side. I nodded to his comment.
Aiz has pretty used up all her mind on spell usage, yet he doesn't even appear to be the least bit winded.
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[Akagi Ken]
Level:4
HP: 3300
MP: 1650
STR: 101-->102
VIT: 105
DEX: 103-->104
WIS: 105
Unallocated Stat points: 127
Valis: ~10mil
-Strength: I090-->H130
-Endurance: F320
-Dexterity: H160-->G210
-Agility: H160-->G210
-Magic: F380
Skills: Gamers Mind - Gamers Body - Instinct - Mind's Eye (True) - Mage - Mystery- MasterSmith- One-Handed Sword Mastery - Rejuvenation - Shapeshifting - Mixing- HeadPatting.
Magic: Ele magic - Non-Ele magic - Inventory- Space-Time magic.
[One-Handed-Sword Mastery: Lv100.]
[Elemental Magic: Lv100.]
[Non-Ele-Magic: Lv95.]
[Space-Time Magic: Lv100.]
[MasterSmithing: Lv10.]
[Alchemy: Lv1--->Lv49.]
[Headpatting: Lv36-->lv41]
If you have to help me out, have any ideas or want to read advanced chapters ahead: patron.com/MunirSM
