REALISTIC OR MEDIOCRE THINKING?

"Hey, Yuma..."

"Yeah?"

This was the interaction of what appeared to be a young and tender couple. The boy, with an all-around average appearance, and the young girl who could charm anyone with a simple smile.

They were both in what appeared to be an ice cream parlor. They were sitting sharing a banana split.

The young man was none other than the surprisingly average Arayoshi Reiji, who was on his fourth life.

Reiji had managed to complete the 500 cuts of 10.000 and knew he had no chance of beating Yuma in a confrontation, he had resigned himself to die, but that did not prevent bad memories, pain, fear, and uncertainty from filling his head and heart.

He was determined, if he was going to die, then he would get some information out of Yuma. Reiji had gained an improvement in his intellectual abilities, but this did not mean that he was amazingly intelligent compared to before.

He was just better in some ways in which he wasn't before.

"Y-You know... You know what a 'Sacred Gear' is?"

*CLINK*

The spoon Yuma was holding fell to the ground.

"O-Oh dear, how clumsy of me." The girl bent her body to pick up the spoon under the table, but standing there, she threw out a question.

"Where did you hear that word, is it a new manga, anime, or game?" She ask dumbly as she continued to search for the spoon.

"I-It's not a game or anything like that."

Reiji takes a slow breath to calm down.

"Trying to p-pretend it is useless, I know you know..." He was starting to sweat again.

"Huh, I see."

*PLAF*

The table on which the banana split was sitting flew out in front of Reiji.

Alarmed, the boy covered his chest as if on reflex, and suddenly, a punch hit his stomach and made Reiji break through the glass behind him.

*COFF* *COFF*

"T-The heck..." Reiji coughed up some blood and was surprised.

'Shit, I didn't think she was crazy enough to try to kill me here.'

"Y-You're going to murder me in front of all these people?" Reiji shouted.

There were a lot of people around them.

'Did this bastard know that I was going to kill him?' wondered the fallen angel.

"Erasing the memory of humans is too easy, I don't care," Raynare said as she flew.

"Now tell me, where did you hear those words?"

"Tsk. I-I dreamed those words." He made up a simple excuse.

"Then your Sacred Gear is already trying to communicate with you. Eliminating you right now is my priority." Raynare said pointing.

'I'm going to die, but I should at least try this.'

*WOOSH*

The spear flew.

[DODGE 1/2]

Reiji's body glowed blue for an instant, imperceptibly except for him, and he moved at a speed that only a professional athlete would have.

That was enough to dodge.

'I thought it would be faster, but of course, the base amount of agility I have is only two points, no matter how much I increase it by thirteen hundred percent, it's pretty low.'

Raynare frowned at that.

"Yeah, it's definitely time for you to die." She declared and on her back three spears formed.

*WOOSH* *WOOSH* *WOOSH*

Although Reiji tried to cover his body with his hands, the three spears impaled him and left him pinned to a wall.

*CRACK*

'N-No matter how much I prepare for my death, it always hurts so much...'

The people around began to scream as soon as they saw the spurts of blood coming out of Reiji's pierced body.

And with the shouts of an alarmed crowd, his consciousness gradually faded.

[Do you want to try again?]

***

"AAHH!" Reiji exclaimed as he saw that he was in his room, and his hand, he held the alarm clock.

"... That was intense, as usual." The boy got up from his bed and went straight to his parent's room.

He reached into a box quickly and pulled out a pocket knife, went to the kitchen, and downed a can of energy drink in the blink of an eye.

[You have obtained the BUFF: Caffeine].

Suddenly, I throw the can into the air.

*SLASH*

[CURRENT PROGRESS: 501/10,000]

The empty can was abruptly cut off.

"I still have a long way to go, but even though the system doesn't qualify it, I can say that little by little I have a good handle on the pocket knife."

The pocket knife cut on the can have been quite good, but it was not a clean cut all the way through. There were still flaws in the technique.

...

[CURRENT PROGRESS: 903/10,000]

'Doing this is so time-consuming and boring. I think if it weren't for my life is at risk, I would have stopped practicing a long time ago...'

*SLASH*

[CURRENT PROGRESS: 904/10,000]

But even if I think about it, do I even have a chance? She can pull out those spears like it's something simple, something she's used to. She categorizes herself as a fallen angel, she's a magical being with physical capabilities even greater than mine.'

*SLASH*

[CURRENT PROGRESS: 905/10,000]

'Besides, she can use magic, it's a huge advantage against a mere human like me...'

*SLASH*

[CURRENT PROGRESS: 906/10,000]

'But if I cannot defend myself on my own merits, then could I seek help from another magical being?'

*SLASH*

[CURRENT PROGRESS: 907/10,000]

'If there are fallen angels, then there are normal angels, and therefore demons as well. I don't think someone like me can simply seek the help of an angel. It is commonly said they are always in heaven unless one of them has something to do here on earth.'

*SLASH*

[CURRENT PROGRESS: 908/10,000]

Maybe the help of a demon? In most religions, it says they're always at work on earth. No. Impossible. If a fallen angel is so cruel, what kind of terrible acts won't a demon be able to subdue me.'

*SLASH*

[CURRENT PROGRESS: 909/10,000]

'It's no use thinking about it. I must first become stronger.' Frowning, Reiji was filled with determination.

*SLASH*

[CURRENT PROGRESS: 910/10,000]

"I must stand firm."

...

[CURRENT PROGRESS: 1201/10,000]

"Phew." Reiji was lying on his floor as usual.

Exhausted from his training, the boy wiped the sweat from his forehead as he looked up at the roof.

'I feel that with every cut I make, my body gets more and more used to it, and I can increase my speed with the pocket knife.'

With that thought, like a flash, two words appeared in his mind.

'speed. Pocket Knife.'

Reiji suddenly stood up, in a fighting stance, and...

[DODGE 1/2]

*SLASH* *SLASH*

[CURRENT PROGRESS: 1203/10,000]

"SHIT!"

Reiji gave two slashes to the air in 0.5 seconds, but his shoulder now hurt more than before.

'T-The system didn't create a unique ability for that, but it seems that earmarking abilities for a different function than they were created for is also useful.' The boy touched his shoulder gingerly.

With another thought in mind, Reiji moved into a running stance.

[DODGE 0/2]

*WOOSH*

Reiji's body moved at about 20Mp/h almost instantaneously but did not advance much because of the short duration of the ability.

"Ah! That wore me out." He fell to the floor once more.

"But it was quite useful this that I just discovered."

'This skill is something you would normally use to avoid an attack, so usually, you would only move certain parts of your body to dodge, but if you move your whole body to run, and activate the skill, it's like a dash... Although it is not excessively useful.'

'But if we talk about the skill combined with an attack. That is more than useful.'

Reiji celebrated in his mind and fell asleep from exhaustion.