The gym floor of Knight Arms was filled with exercise equipment and rings for people to train and spar respectively. Semi-regular lessons were held weekly for aspiring martial artists who were gym members. Several instructors rotated in and out based on their specialty and availability. Since nearly half of the instructors were also active members of the Paladin Order or Traverser’s League, it was not too unusual for schedule changes to be made on the fly.
This was different from those cases.
“Block this!” A heavy strike was sent rushing toward Allen’s side, who barely managed to defend with his arm. It almost went numb from the impact.
“No, that’s not enough! You need to block with your Extract as well. Surround your entire body with aura, because you can’t expect to react to my attacks in time!” Helena instructed while continuing a barrage of blows that Allen was failing to keep up with. The rest of Virtuoso and other attendees of the lesson watched on until he was ultimately knocked clean out of the ring.
“C’mon Allen, everyone else was able to do it.” Nera berated while sitting on the ground with her head propped up by one hand. Everyone besides Allen had already gone and there were now nine people standing around the ring.
“Don’t want to hear that from you. You were left out of this training,” Allen stated as he wiped sweat from his brow. The current lesson was about the basic fundamentals of magic that dealt with defensive techniques. Particularly, how to refine and maintain a protective aura around one’s body during combat.
“She has a point through,” One of the regulars chimed in. The auburn-haired woman wore a partially unzipped jacket with a form-fitting shirt underneath and shorts. Her outfit was a blend of silver and gold, and she would not be out of place at a track and field event. “Spending so much time trying to learn such a basic technique as maintaining your aura defense isn’t a good sign.”
“Vanna, you only say that since you were okay with letting yours be subpar for years,” She was countered by another participant. He was a young man with blonde hair. He wore a black nylon t-shirt and shorts with white compression tights that covered his arms and legs.
“Hmph, only someone too slow to evade attacks would need to rely on it. You want to have a go to illustrate my point, Renzo?” Vanna propositioned, but before any words could come from her would-be opponent’s mouth. Helena interrupted.
“We’re in the middle of training! Shut up you two brats unless you want to be thrown in the pit for twelve hours.” Helena threatened with a booming voice. That was enough to silence the two immediately.
With that, Allen refocused his thoughts on training but even after several more minutes passed. He was still making no progress.
“Don’t lose heart after only another five minutes, give it another dozen hours and you’ll definitely succeed,” Iyo spoke reassuringly while giving such single-minded advice.
“Thanks, but everyone will have left and came back in that time.” Allen lowered his center of gravity and dug his soles into the floor. An inky aura enveloped his body. It was much denser in some places than others and barely there in some spots. “I’d much rather finish this right now!”
One kick to his shin and a blow to his abdomen and Allen was kneeling on the ring floor again.
‘Shit, I didn’t think it would be this hard to keep my entire body shielded evenly with energy for just a few seconds.’
Helena stood tall in front of him and was completely unfazed. She suffered no damage from the bout. The only signs that she could even be hurt were the long-since faded scars on her muscled frame.
“You’re not a Crafter nor Grendel, are you? I thought that shoddy aura of yours was some hair-brained trick to focus your energy where it was needed but that’s not it at all.” Helena asserted.
“Yeah, I had no connection to magic before I was attacked by a Wraith one week ago. Is that a problem?” Allen asked cautiously. He was worried that he would be immediately kicked out as an outsider to their world.
“No, like I said before, this place is for anyone who’s looking to hone their mind and body, But, with an aura like that, you’re gonna die before you become a Specter.”
A chill went down Allen’s spine. “How do you know that’s what I’m here for?”
“I’ve run into many with your situation before, and they all had similar issues,” Helena mentioned offhandedly.
“Really? And did they survive?” Allen gulped. He was not sure if he wanted to hear the answer or not.
Helena dug her fist into her sides.”Heh, if you can manage to make me budge from this spot, I’ll tell you.”
“So no chance in hell then.” Allen raised his fists up once more and rushed in again. Another exchange of blows followed with Allen never being able to get a hit in.
“Good, it looks like you’re not giving up anyway. You’re still using your mystic energy all wrong though.” The instructor was able to chat casually even in the midst of deflecting every strike that came her way.
“What’s that?” Allen questioned with some irritation.
“You keep your energy in a constant flowing state. That means you have to concentrate on every spot on your body to keep your Extract from flowing back into the crystal you keep on you.”
“Huh?” Allen stopped in his tracks.”Isn’t that how Extract normally works? It flows back into mana crystals unless you will it out of them.”
“That’s close, but what about other crystals? You never noticed them drawing the mana out of each other, have you?” Helena pointed at the spot underneath his bandages where he kept his crystal, and he remembered using multiple crystals at the same time without any interference from each other the night before. “You think there’s only one state to Extract, but there’s two. One where it flows and one where it’s static. Static is how it naturally is inside the crystals. We just force it into a different state.”
‘So, I just need to reverse that while it’s already surrounding my body…” The conclusion Helena had been leading Allen to finally dawned on him. His aura enveloped him once more until it became a completely uniform coating of invisible armor
“Oh, you’re a quick learner. At least you have that going for you.” She raised her fists in preparation and Allen followed in kind. In his next step, he bounded straight to her in a blur. The distance between them was closed immediately. Allen reeled his fist back.
With a loud smack, a strong high kick from Helena collided with Allen’s temple without any sign beforehand. The young man did not even flinch and his fist continued to fly through the air. Helena’s eyes widened and she opened her mouth. An incomprehensible, rapid stream of words ushered forth.
Allen’s stroke hit its mark at Helena’s midsection but it felt like he was hitting an impenetrable wall. A glowing Sigil now covered Helena’s body as a network of intricate lines. In surprise, Allen quickly backed away to the edge of the ring.
Allen had lost all hope of getting her to talk. Meanwhile, she simply stood there with a sour expression on her face. The glowing lines slowly faded.
“I can’t believe I had to use Pulse on my vocal cords just because you, instead of faltering, were reckless enough to trust that I wouldn’t knock your head clean off.”
“That’s the kind of trick that wouldn’t work if you had time to gauge how strong my improved aura was. I figured you wouldn’t go all out from the beginning at least.” Allen let a weak smile show on his face.”Forget that though, what was that thing you did to speak so fast, a Skill?”
The giantess instructor shook her head. “That was Pulse. I used it to hasten my Skill chanting. It’s one of the four fundamental techniques of Extract. Didn’t Nera tell you about those?” From the confused look on Allen’s face, she got her answer and turned to Nera.
“Hey, don’t blame me. I barely paid attention to that crap while you were teaching me.” Nera shrugged defensively. “I can’t use magic, remember?”
Helena sighed while facepalming. “You were trained to fight against magic users. Even a shallow-thinking wild girl like you should know that it’s essential to be aware of what your enemies can do.”
“Enemies? Just what kind did the upstanding Paladin Order have in mind to train a young woman with no magic to fight against?” Xalia inquired from the sidelines with a tangible hint of derision.
“Hmph, Xalia, was it? From how you performed during our training session, I could tell you should already know the Paladin Order’s motives.” Helena spoke calmly.
“You make it sound so secretive. I don’t mind having a nice little chat about our skeletons,” Xalia waved a hand dismissively in the air and Nera seemed to eye her cautiously. Allen felt an unsettling tension spawn between the three women.
“It looks like Allen’s completed his session. How many rotations of this are up next?” Iyo was standing up now with a blank expression on his face.
“Rotations? You expect us to go through all of that again?” Allen asked in bewilderment.
“Then what is next then? We came for training, right?” Iyo reminded.
“The newbie with the goggles is right. Let’s move on to the sparring matches. You can learn about the fundamental techniques at the same time.” Helena stepped off the raised platform and Xalia huffed in disappointment.
The instructor then pointed out two attendees.”Vanna and Renzo, you two are up.
“Looks like I’ll be able to prove my point after all,” Vanna said.
“You mean I’ll get to show you that aura defense isn’t as simple as you think it is.” Renzo quipped back.
The pair both ascended to the fighting stage. Allen noticed something particularly off about Vanna.
‘Huh, she’s wearing flip-flops. Is she actually gonna fight like that?’
Meanwhile, Allen spotted a familiar-looking case attached to Renzo’s waist. He could not quite put his finger on what it reminded him of.
“Alright.” Helena stood halfway between the two from outside the ring.”Activate your V.S. Gear, so we don’t have to clean any of your blood from the floor.”
Vanna and Renzo nodded and tapped the electronic headpieces they both wore. Digital pixels appeared to shimmer across their frames.
“You didn’t have to bother turning yours own. It’s not like you’ll even be able to land a hit on me.” Vanna’s voice was light and airy as she trash-talked her opponent. Renzo just rubbed his wrists indifferently.
“It doesn’t matter how fast you are if I can anticipate where you’re going, but keep talking. It’ll make my win all the more satisfying.” Renzo spoke nonchalantly with a self-assured attitude.
He pulled out what looked like a playing card from the case at his side and Vanna did the same. Allen looked on in confusion.
“What are those cards they have?” He asked to anyone who could answer.
Xalia was the one to speak up. “Those are Craft Cards. They’re basically storage receptacles for ethereal items when you can’t be bothered to carry them all the time.”
“That sounds metal. How do I get some?!” Allen prodded further but Nera chimed in.
“You can geek out over some cards later. You’re supposed to be paying attention to the match.” She stated sternly.
“Fine, I’ll at least be able to see them in action.” He consoled himself.
In accord, Renzo waved his card over his arm and bright amber pixels emerged from it and covered his wrist. When the shine dissipated, a blue and orange shield with a checkerboard pattern took the light’s place.
Vanna waved her card through the space in front of her and pixels gathered in front of her feet. Bizarrely, they constructed a bronze starting block like the ones used for a racing event. She slammed one foot right after the other on the block as she got into a starting position. The block then transformed into a pair of bronze greaves that went up to her knees.
“Those are similar to Nera’s…or I guess Helena’s gauntlets. Guess that’s a standard around here.” Allen commented right as Helena herself began to speak.
This fight will consist of three stages signaled by me. First just Extract techniques, next Mystic Skills, and then what goes further beyond that. Now, commence!”
Neither Vanna nor Renzo wasted any time in confronting their opponent. The blows instantly resounded across the gym, Strong gusts of wind ushered forth from the ring with their superhuman movements. It was clear that Vanna’s fighting revolved around a flurry of acrobatic kicks intermixed sparingly with punches. Renzo primarily relied on his fists and bladed shield with solid footing. He used quick jabs to attack and would respond in kind to low kicks with some of his own.
From an outsider’s perspective, Allen could tell Renzo was having trouble keeping up. For every one strike he threw out, Vanna countered with five times the amount. He had not even managed to land a single blow while being struck several times himself.
“It seems pretty one-sided. Maybe Lady Dreadnought should’ve picked another person to go against Roadrunner.” Nera assessed frankly.
“No, they’re pretty even.” The man with the multi-colored eyes from before interspersed. “Renzo and Vanna are the top two of this gym. They just have very different strengths.”
“Good observation, Declan. Vanna might have him beat in speed but each of her hits doesn’t do much in comparison due to his strong aura.” Helena added.
Another series of kicks and punches later, Vanna decided to go in for a more serious attack. She launched a kick that had multiple spins adding to its power. True to their words, even this did not get much reaction out of Renzo besides a small grunt. Instead, he used that instance to reach out and grab Vanna’s wrist and pull her in for a strike to the solar plexus. She got sent flying back but managed to keep herself from leaving the border of the ring.
While watching on in fascination at seeing two Crafters fight somewhat seriously for the first time, he felt a strong grip grasp his head. It was Helena’s hand, her way of getting his attention.
“Watch closely, the Extract technique they’re primarily using right now is called Flow. It’s the most natural of the four for people to learn and involves amplifying physical forces exerted by the user’s body.”
Allen’s eyes narrowed.”That’s what I’ve been using this whole time to amp myself? Even for aura?”
Helena nodded.”Even completely still, the surface of your skin exerts some minuscule force on its environment, and Flow allows you to amplify that enough for it to act as a barrier against harm.”
As Helena spoke, Renzo launched a barrage of attacks at Vanna while she was at the border of the ring with his blade-edged shield. She contorted her body almost parallel to the ground in a display of incredible flexibility. With the slimmest of space possible, she cartwheeled back toward the center of the ring.
Renzo sighed. “For some reason, getting you at the edge becomes as difficult as swatting a fly.”
“That’s because you’re as slow as a slug. You couldn’t hit a glacier with that speed.” Vanna taunted back.
“Was that Flow she used to be able to bend like that?” Allen questioned out of amazement.
“No, it can’t make you more flexible. That was Vanna’s natural athleticism, but physicality works well with Flow. How much Flow amplifies your strength exponentially increases with the more strength you use.” The instructor elaborated.
“That means just a small growth in physical ability can result in a colossal boost to the power of my Flow.” Allen reasoned correctly and looked over his arms.
‘I guess Nera did have a point about working out. Never gonna admit that to her. She’d run me into the ground.’
The spar began to ramp as the two Crafters exchanged more intense blows. Allen started to notice something odd. Renzo would move a half-second earlier to intercept attacks before Vanna executed them. There were also times he aimed for spaces she would move to an instant later. It was as if Vanna’s actions were being conducted by Renzo instead of her.
“That’s Scan. The second most natural fundamental. It allows one to analyze their surroundings with mystic energy.” Helena had noticed Allen’s attention turn away from Vanna’s flashy moves to Renzo’s precise counters.
“You’ve used it before, Allen.” Iyo declared next to him.”Scan is how you were able to see through Grimhildr’s facade. I’m also constantly using it, but I can’t predict movements like he can.”
“Future sight must be a much more advanced form of this Scan technique then if even you can’t do it,” Allen inferred but Helena voiced her disapproval.
“You shouldn’t get carried away by your own fairy tales. He’s not seeing the future, just predicting it based on his opponent’s preparatory motions. You’ve heard of them before, right?”
“Yeah, they’re the small actions one makes before doing something more impactful. It’s stuff like bending your knees for a jump or raising your arms for a punch.” Allen’s own explanation helped him realize the key to Renzo’s prediction.
“Correct, but there are many other signs as well. Where your feet are turned, your eye line, a twitch of the finger, and one’s very breath can all clue a person using Scan on what move they’ll take next. If Vanna’s Innate Skill is Agility then Cold Reading is Renzo’s.”
Amid the battle, Renzo shifted his foot at just the right moment to trap Vanna in a standing leg lock. With no way to escape, it was her turn to be pummeled by a barrage of attacks. Urgently., she nimbly bent out of the way and managed to leap into the air past Renzo.
Her breakthrough was cut short when Renzo’s hand grabbed her from behind without even looking. He took a deep breath and attempted to throw her out of the arena. Within that vice grip, there seemed to be no getting out before she was flung from the ring. Nevertheless, Allen caught a grin on the bronze-shoed woman’s face.
A snap echoed across the training hall. The bones in Vanna’s leg had been broken in half in order for her to backflip out of Renzo’s hand forcefully. She was a blur of silver and gold as she landed a spinning kick that struck her opponent in his face.
All the other attendees watched on in shock as she landed on one foot with her now shattered leg being held up off the ground. Her gruesome injury was in sharp contrast to her confident expression.
“I told you didn’t I, Renzo.” Vanna started while pointing at the blood that started to leak from the young man’s nose. “I wasn’t going to be the one to worry about staining the ring.”
“Wow, this gym is a lot more fun than I thought it’d be. Nera didn’t tell us there would be a circus act.” Xalia mocked coldly.
Meanwhile, Allen was worse at not showing how shaken up he was. Sweat beads collected on his forehead as his mouth hung agape.
“No way. She went that far for a simple sparring match?!” Allen exclaimed.
“This is what a Crafter battle looks like,” Nera responded beside him. “They’ll use anything like a disposable tool to fight with. Their surroundings, their allies, and even their own bodies.”
“Not a complete lie, but keep on watching you two.” Helena commanded with a stern expression on her face.”The showboat should be done by now.”
As if on cue, Vanna thrust her injured leg out at full extension. Any sign of disrepair vanished without a trace. She had made a complete recovery in a matter of seconds and bounced on her tiptoes to prove it.
“That is the third technique, Pulse. The ability to increase one’s vitality through Extract. It can enhance the stamina and healing capabilities of the body.”
‘That’s the one you brought up earlier.” Allen mentioned while looking at his own damaged hand. “Learning to use that would come in handy right now.”
Helena ignored his pun and began to speak.”That’s enough of just the fundamentals. You two can use your Skills now. This should be obvious, but don’t use any more of your Craft Cards.”
Her disciples nodded solemnly and reset their positions at the center of the ring. They initiated the chants for their respective Skills.
“Sentry Craft, 3rd Page - Rook Castling.” A dark blue SIgil appeared on his shield in the shape of a rook chess piece.
“Cobbler Craft, 3rd Page - Stride Boost.” Two mystical symbols covered her metallic shoes.
In the next moment, they clashed at high speeds. Vanna rushed in like a comet multiple times to unleash a flurry of kicks before racing to the edge of the ring to repeat this blitz again and again. Meanwhile, Renzo countered by using his shield that would move in the way of her attacks before even he could react due to the <Rook Castling> Skil.
At this point, Allen could barely keep up with their movements. The continuous cacophony of metallic clangs was easier to register than what he could see with his eyes.
“Cobbler Craft, 5th Pag-” Vanna was cut short by Renzo attempting to tackle her with his shield.
She swiftly evaded and continued her routine of rushing in from multiple angles at Renzo. Any time she would attempt a chant, Renzo would charge toward her himself to interrupt it.
“Is she trying to get past Renzo’s rock-solid defense just by being faster? It doesn’t seem to be working though. She’s just tiring herself out and giving him a chance to counteract eventually.”
“It’s not as simple as that,” The other regular named Declan said. “Her Stride Boost propels her farther and faster in between her step the more of them she takes in a row. Eventually, not even Renzo’s predictions will be able to keep up.”
“That may be true, but it doesn’t seem like she can go on forever,” Iyo was practically leaning over the edge of the ring, trying to get a better view. He was most the engrossed of them all. “Her Pulse can renew her stamina, but she’s running low on Extract too.”
“Has this become just a battle of endurance then?” Allen could not help but wonder that. He had a tinge of worry that this would mean that future fights he would find himself in would also be decided like that with his limited supply of Extract from mana crystals.
“Listen up, this will be the last lesson I convey to you through words today, newcomers.” Helena proclaimed as if listening in on Allen’s thoughts. “Unlike a simple Extract Technique, a Mystic Skill has an automatic function that it fulfills when used and is precise enough to manipulate this world at the molecular level. Now, this fight will be decided by how they optimize their Skills, not how much energy they can waste.”
Simultaneously, Vanna bounded for Renzo once more but this time he raised his shield so that its back was parallel to the ground.
“Sentry Craft, 2nd Page - Bishop’s Corner.” His square shield’s shape transformed which was a feat impossible to perform with an Extract technique. Its corner stretched outward at a blinding speed while Vanna was moving much too fast herself to change directions in time to evade it. It seemed like he had been waiting for the perfect timing to land this finishing move.
Vanna then disappeared from view.
When she reappeared, she was crouched still behind Renzo. He wobbled as he stood with a noticeably dark bruise on his chin. Her decisive maneuver at this battle’s end had been ripped from their sights like missing frames in a film. With one last kick, Vanna twirled around and sent him off the edge of the ring.
The Cobbler Crafter had won this match.
