16th of March, the Year 1202
13:11
Unknown Location, Highway

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It was dazzling. A torrent of light broke through Cordelia’s eyelids as they slowly opened up before automatically crinkling from the intense change of light exposure to the eyes. Raising her arm to block out the sun, she realised that she couldn’t. Rather, it wouldn’t. It was too stiff and ached too much to move properly, so she could only shut her eyes again and pretend to fall asleep as she assessed the situation. Although deeply satisfied with her success in creating her own skill, Cordelia didn’t allow herself to be overtaken by excitement as she properly analysed her surroundings using mana.

      “Miss, are you awake?”

Kuro’s toneless voice whispered in her ear, tinged with a sliver of worry and anxiety. Noticing this, Cordelia nodded with minimal movement to avoid straining her neck and her body which had tensed up, relaxed. Feeling like her throat was clogged, she opened her mouth to ask a question. 

“How long?”

Her hoarse voice made Kuro furrow her eyebrows before she sent for some water to be sent over as she raised Cordelia from her laying position. 

“Miss, I’ve closed the blinds. You can open your eyes now.”

Acquiescing, Cordelia felt her eyes adjust to the darkness of the carriage, though not so dark to the point where she couldn’t make out Kuro’s taut face. She brought a cup of water to her lips which Cordelia greatly sipped with little vigour as her body still didn’t want to listen o her commands. Sating her thirst, Cordelia frowned as she tried to circulate mana through her veins. It had the effect of stimulating her natural regeneration and refreshed your state of mind but this time, it was slow and laborious, evidence of the sheer volume of pressure placed on her body during training. I really pushed myself too hard. 

      Kuro remained silent as she waited for her mistress to finish, remaining so for several minutes before Cordelia rose to her feet, stretching her body in basic positions. Flexing her wrists that were especially sore, Cordelia took a look at her status again.

Name: Cordelia Auster
Age: 13
Race: Ḧ̴̻͓̘̯̺́̓͊̒̔͐̍!̷̢͎̼̥͇͓͖͛͗̂̈͐̃̒͘#̵̼̙̊̃̇͗#̶̛̬̜̭͛̈́͑͊̀́̇͝ ̴̟̭̭̬̤͖̩͈͕̝͒̔̍̅*̵̢̛̤̘̩̳̗̮̳̋̎̀̑̅̾͆͝͝ͅͅ@̴̡̛̛̼̩̥̝̦̾́́̾͐!̸̛͈̘̆͑̈́̇̏̈́̚͝?̶͉͈̻̀͐̊̎̌̐̐̕#̸̲̭̹͍̭̹̓͑̋̀̓̓̔͌̍
Class: Swordswoman

Health: 99/122
Mana: 210/210
Stamina: 90/86 > /90

Strength: 43 > 44
Defence: 0 (+5)
Vitality: 61 
Speed: 115 > 117
Dexterity: 138 > 141
Perception: 76 > 78
Intelligence: 99
Will: 432 > 433 (+100)

Equipment:

- Imperial Butterfly Kimono
   +5 Defence

- Locket
   +100 Will

Skills: 

- General Skills
   - Perfect Memory (LVL ∞)
   - Ancient Runic Language Proficiency (LVL 3)
   - Identify (LVL 5)
   - Survivalist (LVL 8)
   - Mana Perception (LVL 8)
   - Mana Manipulation (LVL 9)

- Combat Skills
   - Kumia Combat Arts (LVL 6)
   - Shift (LVL 4)
   - Precognition (LVL 1) > (LVL 2)
   - Meditation (LVL 3)
   - Parallel Thinking (LVL 5)
   - Combat Regeneration (LVL 2)
   - Flicker Sword Arts (LVL 1) [NEW]

Seeing the changes in her status, she was very much satisfied with her progress. Nowadays, it usually took several weeks of training for her just to increase stats by just one point but just from this alone, she gained 2 to 3 points for Speed, Dexterity and Perception each. Her eyes wandered to the bottom where her new Flicker Sword Arts lay emboldened, wanting to be noticed. 

      Creating your own unique skill should provide a reward bu-… Her thoughts stopped in its track when she saw her ‘Race’ section. ‘H’? Since birth, Cordelia had always been puzzling over her race. It wasn’t until a few years ago that the ERROR hiding it had been removed, only to be replaced with gibberish. It makes one want to tear their hair out. She had asked her family about it, but they responded with question marks over their heads, not knowing the answer. Thinking of this, her mood was uplifted again at the prospect of finding out her race.

      Turning towards Kuro, Cordelia had wordless questions and her maid answered faithfully without needing to hear it.

“Because we were running on a timeframe, we had to set off to the entrance exam while Young Miss was still unconscious, something that the Young Master acquiesced to. As of now, we should be arriving in approximately two days.”

      Pensive, Cordelia rubbed her chin at the news. Two days should be enough for her to shape up into peak condition if she rested a bit more. However, Cordelia wanted to test out the effects of her new skill. The difference between a trained movement and a skill was like the disparity between heaven and earth. You couldn’t compare them. Now, her Flicker Sword Arts should boost her finesse with the technique even further, propelling it into a new level. It should also serve the purpose of getting her used to the movements so she could apply it effectively in the entrance exam if need be. It wasn’t really a trump card as it was her main technique so it could be used in the open. But doing this wasn’t possible if she wanted her body to return to tip-top condition.

      Kuro had already guessed what her mistress was thinking as the Young Master had already informed her of the acquisition of the new skill. Smiling inwardly, she once again answered for her.

“When we arrive at the city of Alexandria, we should have around 3 days of free time. Young Miss can test her new skill then.”

      Thus, for the next two days of travel time, Cordelia rested in the carriage while occasionally taking strolls outside when they needed to make camp. She and Kuro were escorted by the Fourth Squad from the Special Division who had mounted gallant, muscular war horses with magnificent manes and strong legs. They had tamed magical beasts that were stronger but that would attract attention so horses were used instead.

      Time passed uneventfully. It was not long until the party could see the grand walls of the city, Alexandria, famous for its iron-clad defences capable of standing against all but the Demons. The tales surrounding it were famous and it was said that the Demon War was only won because the Demons expended too many resources on the siege of Alexandria, wiping out many armies and generals. 

      Cordelia had come to realise how weak she was. At first, she was reluctant to attend the Cheiss Academy as she found it unnecessary to her growth; the Auster House was good enough for her. However, that fight woke up her brain. She was too complacent. She was too satisfied with her current situation. Her previous train of thought was ‘I’ll train in the Auster House for years, get strong enough, and then take revenge’. Apparently, she was still too naive. The outside world was far more profound than she first thought… and Cheiss Academy was the perfect window for her to see through… to experience everything she couldn’t in the Auster House.

      “It’s time.”

She smiled grimly.

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vaexis

Sorry that I've been making lots of changes after I've posted chapters. This time, I gave the 'Race' section of Cordelia's status a bit more 'mystery' I guess.

Have a nice day.