| 5 | Quick Spar

Lenna was elated; there weren't many better feelings than getting stronger or honing one's skills!

Making her way over to the small clearing, she faced Krom with excitement in her eyes and asked, "So, how is the training going to work?"

Seeing her eagerness made Krom chuckle inwardly. He answered, "I thought that we would spar. After all, there is no better teacher than combat."

Lenna hesitated, "Doesn't that seem a little... Unfair? You're going to limit yourself, right?"

From what Lenna had seen so far, Krom would probably be able to defeat her by sneezing.

"What do you take me for? I'll suppress my rank to match yours." Krom said.

Lenna exhaled in relief.

After they both stretched briefly, Krom casually placed his hands in his coat pockets while Lenna got into a fighting stance.

She manifested her relic, "Wolf Cloak!"

A black hooded cloak with edges glowing a vibrant blue appeared around Lenna's shoulder.

Relics were manifestations of the object. Attacks could hit them, and if they received a certain amount of damage they would disappear, but their power was the real deal.

Krom could tell from a glance that it was Frost attributed.

Lenna stared at Krom as if waiting for something. She asked, "Aren't you going to manifest your relic?"

Krom laughed in response, "I won't need it."

A tick mark appeared on Lenna's forehead.

He continued, "And, in regards to that, you just gave me an interesting idea to make up for earlier. How about If you manage to make me use my relic, then I'll grant you three requests to ask of me."

Krom felt that if he gave Lenna a clear goal, she would be able to progress much smoother and develop her skills faster.

Lenna immediately agreed, "You better not go back on your word."

She was definitely going to get payback.

Krom smiled, "I'm ready when you are."

With a slight grin, Lenna dashed towards Krom while performing a jumping roundhouse kick.

Krom parried it with his arm, but to his surprise, Lenna had used the rebound to kick with her other leg!

"Good! Nice follow-up!" Exclaimed Krom while ducking.

Not wanting to give up yet, she jabbed at Krom's abdomen.

He quickly sidestepped before forcing her back with a palm strike.

She knew that Krom heavily outclassed her in combat experience from just this first exchange. In fact, she could tell Krom was still holding back. Lenna did not doubt that she would have lost by now if he were serious.

Krom started to walk closer, "Targeting my vitals was a good choice, but you left yourself open to a counter-attack."

"Let's see how you are on defense," said Krom.

He planted a step forward before sending out a punch.

Lenna leaned to the side, barely avoiding Krom's attack that seemed to pass in slow motion.

Unfortunately, her footing was off, and Krom wouldn't miss the opportunity. He quickly turned and hooked a kick around to Lenna's side.

She quickly realized she couldn't avoid Krom's follow-up attack and shouted, "Snow Barrier!"

Snow appeared from Lenna's hand and moved into the path of Krom's kick.

Krom's leg collided with the snow, canceling out his momentum and causing him to be stationary for a second due to the cushiony nature of the snow.

Lenna quickly took advantage of Krom's immobility and tensed her muscles.

"Flash Freeze!"

Lenna dashed forward with a sudden burst of speed and icy-cold wind.

She spun and swung her leg around towards' Krom's side as particles of white ice swirled around her attack.

Lenna's kick was mere moments away from connecting, but right as Krom's leg broke free from the snow barrier, a slight smile formed on his face.

Krom twisted his body slightly causing her attack to only graze him. However, that was enough to cause a layer of ice to encase Krom's shoulder.

Unperturbed, Krom let himself fall while planting his hand on the ground before using the momentum from the slight fall to swing his other leg through the air and arc it back up.

Lenna quickly realized Krom's intent and tried to jump away, but Krom had accounted for this and shifted his kick to sweep her out from mid-air.

Lenna fell to the ground, landing on her back while letting out a small grunt of pain and becoming slightly dazed.

Krom leaped up before walking over to Lenna. He held out his hand and laughed in a friendly manner, "Are you okay?"

Lenna grabbed Krom's hand as he pulled her up from the ground. She said, "I'm fine, but what about your shoulder?"

"Don't worry about it." Krom tensed his muscles, causing the ice around it to shatter and fall off and leaving Lenna with a look of disbelief.

They continued to spar for around an hour and a half before Krom decided to end it.

He said, "Why don't we stop here for today. You're probably hungry."

Lenna nodded in agreement and unsummoned her relic before taking off her sweater and tying it to her waist to cool down.

Krom hadn't noticed it before, but Lenna was actually relatively muscular. It wasn't to the point of being clear-cut, but it was definitely there.

He couldn't help but think that she was stunning.

While serving them both, Krom explained what Lenna needed to improve on the most, "Morg did a good job teaching you the basics, but you need to increase the complexity of your attack and movement patterns."

"You also had excellent ability usage. Stopping my movement once I committed to an attack was smart, but making openings means nothing unless you can make a decisive move. Don't be afraid to experiment with your abilities either; this is just training after all." Krom said while encouraging Lenna.

"Ohh! I see what you mean!" said Lenna.

Krom handed Lenna a serving of the stew he had let cook from earlier.

Lenna was starving, so the food felt like a blessing from above. Thankfully, Krom was a good cook, so the food tasted well. It was pretty hard to mess up a stew, but that was beside the point.

They both ate in silence for a while until Krom said, "Now is an excellent time to a question you might have. I'm sure you have quite a few, but depending on what they are, I might only be able to answer one or two."

Lenna placed her dish to the side. After pondering for a little, she stated, "I think I only have three questions—two from earlier and one more personal."

Leaning back against a tree, he said, "Let's hear it."

"I'll start with the first one. What exactly is my disease?" She said while pointing to her forearm.

Krom nodded, "That's a good place to start. I called it a Myth-rank disease earlier, but it has a qualitative difference and is no longer a mere disease."

"It is now what is known as an 'Elemental blessing,' specifically of the Frost type." Explained Krom.

Lenna was intrigued, "I've never heard of an elemental blessing."

Krom lightly laughed, "Well, that's to be expected; it would be strange if you had. Of all the inhabitants of the Aquerima, only a few have ever even heard of it, let alone know what it is."

He sighed, "Blessings are strong, too strong. Unless you gain complete control over it, it will kill you in the same way its disease counterpart would. However, should you gain full control over an elemental blessing, you will get several boons."

Krom raised his hand, and green crystals began to swirl above his open palm.

The swirling crystals began to break down into a sand-like substance, "not only would your relic get stronger, your control over mana would be incomparable to before."

The green crystal sand formed a bunny and began to hop through the air around Lenna, causing a smile to come to her face.

Perhaps the floe corruption wasn't so much of a curse after all.

They spent the rest of their meal in silence again. It was still awkward because Krom and Lenna both saw each other as trustworthy strangers who would be traveling together for a long time.

After adding some more wood to the fire to last them for another hour, Krom said, "You can head on to sleep. I'm sure you must be tired."

Lenna yawned, "Sure, but what about keeping watch?"

Hearing Lenna's concerns, Krom smiled softly and assured her, "Don't worry. My perception is strong enough to notice anyone unless they are at my level and are stealth focused." He laughed, "S-ranks aren't exactly a copper a dozen."

After hearing Krom's confidence, Lenna proceeded to go into the tent and retire for the night. She trusted Krom not to do anything while she was asleep. If he wanted to do something, he would have done it already. It's not like she would be able to stop him.

Krom watched her disappear into the tent before turning his attention elsewhere while closing his eyes.

'It seems I have a few rats to take care of...'

Once the fire started to die down about an hour later, Krom silently stood up so as not to wake up Lenna before vanishing from camp, leaving only a tiny gust of wind behind.

***

One kilometer away, a group of about ten people huddled together while discussing something.

"Are you sure they are asleep now?" Said one man.

Another affirmed, "Yes, Sir. When I stopped observing them, they were both asleep." The man pointed to the smoke trail in the sky, "And look, their campfire is starting to go out!"

These men were bandits. They turned a profit from robbing any travelers and selling their goods.

The man who seemed to be the leader nodded as greed flashed across his eyes, "Good. You guys saw what happened near the general store earlier! That Asura has a storage ring!"

Another one of the men rubbed his hands together, "All we need to do is kill those two and take the ring, then we can spend the rest of our lives drinking booze and living in luxury!"

"But what about that woman, isn't she a Hero?" Asked a man.

The leader scoffed, "So what? She is just a C-rank. I'm also a C-rank! We also have eight more people than they do!"

The bandit leader didn't even bother to mention the Asura. He inwardly thought, 'The Asura should just be some rich boy or something. He is just asking to have his belongings stolen...'

Recalling the Hero's figure, the bandit leader had a lustful expression as he said, "The Hero is a real beauty too. Who knows, we might be able to have a little fun before we kill her."

As they were getting hyped up for their future good fortune, they suddenly felt an ice-cold, emotionless voice full of killing intent from behind them.

"You ten are truly the filth of the Aquerima..." The voice snarled.

A shadow loomed over the ten bandits, illuminated by the moon from behind. When they looked up, fear, immense fear, was apparent in their eyes.

The last thing they saw was a silhouette with two jade-green eyes staring down at them with scorn.