Spar

"Amazing…"

Arthur muttered as he looked at Zen who was improving with every swing of his sword.

[Fire Weapon Art, Second Style: Burning Ring]

Zen chanted as he slashed one of his swords in a 360 degree angle.

Woosh—

A burning ring of flames surrounded him.

[Ding!]

[Mythical Skill Acquisition Progress: 70%]

His expression showed no emotion as he continuously performed the technique.

'I think I can do it now…' Zen thought emotionlessly as the circulation of mana in his body suddenly changed.

So far, he was only able to execute the first and second styles of the skill.

However, as Zen sensed his ever deepening of understanding towards it, he slowly opened his lips. 

[Fire Weapon Art]

Knowing what he's planning, Arthur's pupils constricted, "Don't tell me… he's really trying to comprehend the skill in a single session!?"

Nevertheless, Zen's words soon echoed in the area.

[Third Style]

His eyes locked onto the training dummy about 30 meters away from him.

[Flash Fire]

Zoom— WOOV!!!

[Ding!]

Zen instantly arrived a few meters behind the training dummy, leaving behind a burning trail.

The training dummy was also completely destroyed as it combusted instantly earlier.

"Huff… huff… huff…"

Emotion returned in Zen's eyes as he slightly gasped for breath.

'Finally…!' 

He thought as he stared at the floating windows in front of him.

[Mythical Skill Acquisition Progress: 100%]

[Ding!]

[The player has successfully learned the Mythical Skill, [Fire Weapon Art]!]

[Congratulations to the player for being able to successfully learn a Mythical Skill through hard work and practice!]

[Now presenting the skill…]

However, before Zen could see the description of the skill, he heard Arthur's voice behind him.

"Hey, Deadman. My precious apprentice~"

"Ehhh? Teacher?" Zen responded, feeling nervous for some reason.

"That skill you used earlier…"

"What about it, Teacher?"

"Can you use that as we spar?"

"Ehhh?" Zen didn't know why his teacher was acting strange. Well no matter the reason was, he didn't want to be subject to torture.

Seeing his hesitant expression, Arthur thought for a while before saying, "How about this, I'll only use the first three styles of [Fire Weapon Art] so you can improve your understanding of it."

"Urm… I'm not quite sure about that." Zen felt as if a lion was staring at him.

Wung!

Hearing a strange sound, he turned his head towards his teacher and found a glowing book on the latter's hand.

Arthur waved the book and said, "I'll take back what I said earlier."

"What do you mean…" 

Zen asked, his eyes still on the glowing book.

"I said earlier that I will teach you about magic after you reach Adept Proficiency in [Fire Weapon Art], right?"

"Yes, Teacher."

"I changed my mind. If you spar with me, I'll give you this book." 

Curiosity sparked in Zen's eyes as he looked at the book closer, its information appearing in his eyes afterwards.

[Mana Assembly

Grade: Epic

Tier: Top

Beginner Proficiency: 0.00% 

Description:

Allows the user to…]

"Okay that's enough." 

Arthur put the book inside his storage space again, not allowing Zen to read the information of the skill book any further.

Seeing Zen's dissatisfied expression, he smiled, "I'm not even saying that you should win. Just spar with me with that peculiar skill activated."

"Can you at least tell me why?" Zen asked in confusion.

He didn't know why his teacher was interested with the sub skill of his [Heart of Stone] skill.

Seeing his confusion, Arthur shook his head and spoke, "I don't have a particular reason. Just that I want to check something."

"What do you think of my offer?"

"Umm…"

'I might get beaten up but… I want to learn magic!!' Regis thought with a determined look in his eyes.

***

Two people stood a few meters from each other.

One was wearing a black training attire, his red eyes sparkling with desire. He was also holding two swords in his hands.

The other wore what looked to be a priest's robe that was adorned with red engravings that looked like flames. However, he was only holding a longsword.

It was Zen and Arthur.

"Then we'll begin the fight after this rock landed, okay?" The former said as he showed the small rock in his hand.

Arthur nodded in agreement, "Make it fast. Don't you want to learn magic?"

'Here goes nothing…' Zen thought as he threw the rock.

As the rock was falling, he closed his eyes.

[Absolute Apathy]

Zen opened his eyes again, but the desire for magic earlier had disappeared.

It was replaced by stone cold emptiness as the world in his eyes drastically slowed down.

'That skill… it's really strange.' Arthur's eyes sharpened as he saw Zen's change.

Just as the rock was about to land…

Two simultaneous chants echoed in the area.

[Fire Weapon Art]

[Fire Weapon Art]

[Third Style]

[Third Style]

…

[[Flash Fire]]

ZOOM!!!

ZOOM!!!

Zen and Arthur's figure instantly clashed with each other, leaving a burning trail behind them.

Arthur followed with a powerful upward diagonal slash.

However, Zen seemed to have expected this as he easily dodged it and followed with a vertical downward strike.

Arthur's maroon hair danced along the wind as he twisted his body and delivered a kick.

Their rapid exchanges continued, but it could be seen that their attacks never landed on their opponent.

'To think that he has also reached a high proficiency in [Adaptive Combat Technique]...!' Arthur smiled as he sensed his student's fighting style.

A combat technique meant to adapt to your opponent's style of fighting.

It was the skill he taught to Zen.

'However, if you're planning on beating me with my own skill, then you'll have to spend another thousand years.'

[Fire Weapon Art, Third Style: Flash Fire]

ZOOM!!

Arthur's body disappeared, leaving a trail of flame in the process.

"Are you escaping, Teacher?"

Zen smiled provocatively as he also chanted.

[Fire Weapon Art, Third Style: Flash Fire]

ZOOM!!!

His body left burning trails as he rushed towards Arthur.

However, Arthur only smiled, "You really know how to piss me off, huh? Well, let's see who'll be escaping from who…"

[Ember]

'Wait, that chant…' Zen's emotionless eyes constricted as he heard his teacher's voice.

Roar!!!

Roaring flames covered Arthur's longsword as he performed numerous slashes.

Woov— Woov— Woov— Woov— Woov—

Woov— Woov— Woov— Woov— Woov—

Waves of flames rained upon Zen, making him immediately halt his charge as he tried his best to defend.

[Fire Weapon Art, Second Style: Burning Ring]

A ring made of flame encased Zen as the waves of flame ricocheted off of it.

However, before he could even try to think of his next move, he heard something.

[Flash Fire] [Fourfold]

ZOOM— ZOOM—

Arthur's figure appeared behind Zen, "You still don't know the true power of this skill."

ZOOM— 

Before Zen could reply, he saw his teacher's figure shooting up towards the sky.

He looked above and thought, 'So the third style can also be used that way, huh? Interesting…'

ZOOM—

Like a meteor, Arthur left burning trails mid air as he rushed towards Zen who was just below him.

Seeing Arthur's falling figure, Zen's emotionless eyes widened, "Teacher, I can't shorten my chant like you but…"

His focus reached its peak as the world moved even slower.

Flames covered both his twin swords.

[Fire Weapon Art, Second Style: Burning Ring]

A powerful chant left his lips as he performed a backflip while simultaneously slashing both of his swords in a 360 degree angle.

The two burning rings intersected, forming an X just above his head.

'To think that you will even think of applying the skill to both of your swords…' Arthur felt proud of Zen.

"But, do you think that's enough?" He smiled.

[Flash Fire] [Twofold]

ZOOM— 

Arthur's figure landed a few meters away from his student's back.

ZOOM—

His figure blurred instantly afterwards as he arrived behind Zen.

Arthur successfully bypassed Zen's defenses, placing his longsword over his student's shoulder.

"Ugh… I'll surely beat you next time." Zen's tired voice sounded as emotion filled his eyes.

He knew deep inside that as he was now, he didn't stand a chance.

After all, his teacher could have treated him as a punching bag but didn't choose to do so.

Besides, their spar didn't even last half a minute before he was defeated.

Still, Zen smiled and said, "Teacher, about the reward that you promised…"

He turned his head and saw Arthur's frown.

"Eh, what's the matter?"

However, Arthur only shook his head and replied, "Nothing."

A book emitting violet hue appeared on his hand again as he smiled, "Now, as I have promised… I'll teach you magic."