17 Duel ( Part 2 )

Yasmin and Diether took their position.

The lady brought out her knife while Diether raised his shinai and took his aggressive stance.

Jodan-no-kamae!

Yasmin paused for a moment seeing his stance. The young man had suddenly changed his young and innocent aura to an intimidating presence...

The bamboo sword on his hands was no longer looking like a pathetic training sword but a sharp and heavy blade.

'It seems that I spent a lot of time serving at the restaurant... I'm already being intimidated by a ten-year-old kid? You got to be kidding!'

"Haa!"

Yasmin shouted and used her footwork to get to the kid's left side. However, Diether swiftly turned his body to follow her movements.

Yasmin was about to strike but she suddenly felt that danger was approaching her...

She felt threatened by his turn and unmoving raised hands. She quickly halted her steps and jump away from his reach.

'What was that?!'

Yasmin felt that if she took one more step, her head would similarly be hit by that sword held up high.

She didn't think that his stance full of openings, would pose a lot of problems to her.

'Fine! I'll use my speed!'

Yasmin decided to circle around Diether. Anyway, she had two knives with her so she started planning to use her right hand's knife to parry the sword and use the other to hit Diether on his body.

'Now!'

Yasmin swiftly approached Diether and sure enough, the young man was about to hit her by that bamboo sword.

Pah!

The wooden knife and bamboo sword collided and even though she was expecting his sword strike to be heavy due to his stance, she miscalculated the force hiding behind it.

'Guh! Spiritual energy?! I thought this is just a practice match?!'

It was normal not to waste such valuable energy in practices like these because every use of such energy would take time to be accumulated again.

Unless they were someone above 5th Class Arcanist who could easily gather their Spiritual Energy

'Fine!'

Yasmin had a common rank Arcana with her and she was always practicing her Spiritual Energy so she can utilize the Arcana effectively.

Although Yasmin couldn't call herself as someone proficient because she studied this alone, she was still confident that she can defeat a 10-year-old kid in terms of their energy level.

Yasmin jumps away and drops her thought to counterattack after learning that the kid was using the energy.

She took a deep breath as she slowly gathered her energy and concentrated it to her feet and hands holding the knife.

"Again!"

This time, Yasmin engaged with Spiritual Energy behind her strikes.

Pah!

Their weapons collided and Yasmin realized that she was still lacking some momentum to launch another strike.

Bang!

Diether used his body to collide with the female's body to disrupt her stance after deflecting his overhead strike.

It was Taiatari!

He perfectly executed a kendo movement. He had only seen this movement once and he perfectly copied it because of the situation.

He only learned the stance and the overhead strike so Diether has to use whatever he can to win his first duel. Luckily, his Taiatari went well!

Yasmin was unbalanced and Diether took the chance to hit her head for a Men strike but because she put up her defense, she was hit on her left wrist.

A Hidari-Kote!

But because she was lightly covered by her energy, she only felt a little about his strike.

Aside from that, he probably held back on that particular strike considering that this was just a practice match.

Yasmin jumps away as she dropped the knife on her left hand and throws the other knife to Diether's head on a reflex.

The young man was almost unable to dodge the attack but he made it by tilting his head a little bit.

It was thanks to his 'hanging woods' training! That almost hit his forehead. Her precision was truly scary.

However, now that she doesn't have a weapon and if the young man was using a real blade, then there's only one result waiting for her...

"I lost..."

As soon as the lady said this. Reiji received several notifications from the guide.

[ Congratulations! You have completed the Duel Victory Mission! ]

[ You have received 20 Skill Points. ]

[ New Mission Created. ]

[ Beast Duel Victory ]

[ Fight against a beast opponent and win together with your wielder.

Only someone considered capable by the Guide can be called as an opponent.

You are prohibited to use Take Over during the duel.

Reward: 20 SP ]

[ Congratulations! You have completed the Teacher Mission! ]

[ You have received 25 Skill Points. ]

[ Creating a New Mission. ]

[ Unable to create a new mission. Please complete all the remaining missions. ]

"Really?"

Reiji was a bit disappointed now that he can only have 2 missions at this time, the "Beast Duel Victory" and "Wait, Hold On" mission.

As for his SP, he decided to store it in the meantime to avoid repeating the same mistake.

"I didn't think that you have great skills with swords."

"I just got lucky since it was your first time seeing me fight, I have seen you practicing your knife skills before..."

"Haha! Is that so? Then, can we spar again?"

"Err... I don't mind..."

They fought a total of ten times and it lasted until six in the evening. Diether only won three times including his first victory.

It seems that the lady's speed was still too much for him.

"Master, should I continue with my daily training? Uhmm... I'm sorry about agreeing to train with Yasmin without your permission. I was caught up--"

"Don't worry about that..."

Reiji interrupted as he set another plan for their training. They already returned to the inn and the kid already ate his dinner.

"Tomorrow, you'll join the hunters deeper in the forest..."

"Master, I can't just join them..."

"I know, you have to register first... They will accept any non-Arcanist so you can register there... Although you have the talent to become an Arcanist with your Spiritual Energy, you haven't completed your Arcana Bestowal Ceremony yet, so you are not a member of the Arcanist Association... There shouldn't be any problem..."

"I understand..." The young man nodded as he followed his master's instructions.

On the next day, Diether visited a simple and old building at the village that has a sign of Hunter's Association.