38. THIS MOTHERFUCKER WANTS TO CURB STOMP ME

To Luz's surprise, Nighty didn't let go of his ax. 'Is he trying to test me!?' shot through Luz's head as he didn't stop his swing.

But before his blade could touch the latter's skin, a stone skin wrapped around his whole arm in a mere second, and Luz falcata bounced on it.

Nighty, on the other hand, didn't remain idle. Instead, Nighty fully enveloped both of his arms with stone skin before punching Luz's cheek, sending his sparring partner flying.

Luz crashed a few meters away and groaned immediately in pain, "Fuck you, man."

But the latter merely laughed it off while casually strolling towards Luz, kicking his weapons into the distance. "Well, you got me with your last attack. Even if some of your moves are janky and that of an amateur, I must admit that you are quite a clever bastard."

"Thanks," Luz groaned while pressing against his cheek, assuming that the sparring finally came to an end.

"But let's see how good you are without any weapon," Nighty commented in amusement while raising his foot.

'THIS MOTHERFUCKER WANTS TO CURB STOMP ME," shot through Luz's head as he immediately rolled to the side before jumping back onto his feet.

However, Nighty didn't give him any room to breathe, and he immediately continued punching in Luz's direction, while the latter evaded all his attacks without losing his composure.

What Nighty didn't realize was that Luz's calm was a mere facade and that in truth, Luz was searching frantically for a plan B. 'I'm quite inexperienced at hand-to-hand combat, but if I want to beat him, I have to create an opening and surprise him with my strongest spell.'

A grin arose on Luz's face after coming up with his brilliant idea, and he immediately opened his arms wide while calmly muttering, "spatial.-"

But before he could finish his spell, Nighty punched him right into the liver, stopping him midway from finishing.

Luz crashed to the ground, groaning loudly in pain, the rest of his spell. "Destruction."

To no one's surprise, the magic spell never materialized since Luz got interrupted halfway through. Nonetheless, Luz still drained half of his mana reserves.

Nighty, who by now realized Luz's initial plan, immediately began to laugh while offering his hand to Luz. "Well, that was disappointing."

Luz immediately accepted the latter's hand and got raised up before the two slowly walked back to Lewis, who was still flirting with Erena.

As Luz limped along while pressing his abdomen, Nighty began berating him. "First, you should get some experience in hand-to-hand combat. Also, did you unironically try to finish your fucking spell halfway through while getting attacked!? How stupid are you!? You only wasted your mana with such a moronic attack. You are clearly lacking experience."

But Luz's head was somewhere else, and he cursed Lewis for not paying any attention to his fight. "Yeah, I know," he sighed while still feeling the pain. Not long after, the two reached the other duo who had been enjoying their time, and Luz immediately leaned against the railing.

"Oh, you two took a long time," Erena remarked with a chuckle before noting something down on her writing board.

"Yeah, of course. After all, I wanted to see how far Luz could go and where he was lacking," Nighty laughed with his raised chest.

"I see, I see," Erena repeated before putting on her reading glasses. "What do you think is Luz's rank, Nighty? I would place Luz at G-rank since one could compare him to a trained human."

But Nighty merely shook his head in disagreement before refuting her. "Nah, I don't think so. I would rather say he fits more into mid to high F-rank. After all, he forced me to use a spell. I would even put him in low E-tier if it weren't for his lack of hand-to-hand combat experience. Also, that boy couldn't even use his spells because I never gave him a chance. Hehe."

Erena nodded before stating, "You two, please follow me."

And with this, Luz's ranking finally got determined.

But before Luz could go upstairs with Lewis, Nighty placed his hand on Luz's shoulder, noting, "You came to the right place to gain some experience. Hopefully, you won't try anything stupid, and it would be better if you hunt with more experience guild members at the beginning. We don't need more casualties."

Luz thanked him for his advice before following Lewis and the female guild servant into a room upstairs.

"Take a seat, and please keep yourself busy. I still need a few more minutes to forge Luz's guild membership card," Erena stated with a warm smile before leaving the two alone.

The room immediately turned quiet, but not too long since Luz grabbed Lewis's collar after a few minutes and shook him. "You bastard! While I was fighting for my ranking, you, on the other hand, were more focussed on flirting with a beautiful girl. Have you never heard of bros before hoes?"

Lewis gently grabbed Luz's hand before telling him the truth. "Well, that was originally my plan, bro. But what can I do in the presence of such a cute girl that makes my heart melt? Shouldn't you be wishing me luck with shooting my shots!?"

But Luz laughed at his confession before remarking in amusement, "Bro, I think you need a reality check. That girl is definitely over your league."

Lewis sighed in agreement before leaning back on his chair, "Yeah, you might be right, and I'm filling myself with dreams."

Lewis's mood immediately went downhill after stating that.

'Damn, that kid took my words way too seriously what I just said to him,' Luz thought while gently putting his hand on Lewis's shoulder.

"But you see, as an older brother, I cannot let my younger brother wallow in self-pity. Therefore I will help you in becoming a man worthy of her hand," Luz laughed proudly with his hand on his heart.

"Wait? How!? If you can help me, I will consider you as my best brother," Lewis commented while his eyes sparkled.

"Well, you need more experience," Luz commented before continuing his motivational speech. "Therefore, I propose that you and I will hunt and train on a daily basis from now on."

"Hehe, how does that sound?" Luz giggled, but Lewis remained silent before slowly gripping his collar this time.

"Wait, you aren't supposed to do that," Luz hastily stammered as the latter shook him this time while spewing all sorts of curses at Luz for the hopes Lewis had for a mere moment. "YOU FUCKING BASTARD. I HAD HOPES FOR A MOMENT, BUT YOU ARE USING THE CRISIS THAT I GOT DUE TO MY LOW SELF-ESTEEM TO WIN ME OVER AS YOUR HUNTING AND TRAINING BUDDY."