Proofreader: Yours Truly (I just finished the next mini arc's battle, and I'm happy since I was finally able to write Luke in a battle.

Spoiler

*cough* Chapter 25. *cough*

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I was in perfect condition upon reaching the professor with Serina.

“Tsk.” A click of the tongue came from Mark.

“Gnugnugnu,” The princess gnashed her teeth together.

I embraced their resentment in all its glory, giving them the smuggest smirk manageable. My pettiness was reaching the newest of highs.

“That last attack of yours Luke, how spectacular. And Serina, such an advanced barrier for your age is unprecedented! As expected of the Rosemary’s!” Clarisse exclaimed nothing but praises for our quick performance.

“It was nothing, professor,” I bowed politely.

“You shouldn’t be so humble!” She commented before looking at everyone else, “Are the rest of you ready?”

Fen looked especially fired up, while Uriel was shaking in fear. The sheer polarity of the two made me crack up in my mind. 

As Clarisse eyed up the class, sweat was becoming visible even from afar.

…

“Charles and Fen, you up! Let’s see it!” She cheered them on.

Fen fistbumped the brooding Charles, “Don’t you want everyone to see our strength!”

The receiving end had sighed, “That should be private-“

“This monster’s as good as dead!” Fen ignored his logic, grabbing him by the hand.

It was a battle in which everyone was willing to watch, a place in which they could observe the Empire’s finest. However, by this point, I tuned it all out.

Mental images of swinging my sword kept my attention instead. I especially recalled the sword style of Erin from training with perfect accuracy…

Did I have a photographic memory?

I rummaged through my mind, and everything from the past few days was almost blank…

Maybe not.

But being able to visualise her actions to this extent, from her every little breath, and change in flow of movement, my mind caught it. Even during spars, I could see all of her attacks but could do nothing back.

I lightly tapped my head, maybe it was a perk of the Outer Eyes. I’ll think about it after school when I spar with Erin.

“Luke,” Serina whispered, “I have to go.”

“Huh.”

Before I knew it, she disappeared leaving me with the class. It was just me and the rest of the day I guess.

-x-

Third Person POV

Bang!

“That fucking brat!” He spat out onto a desk, “Why is he acting fine? Is my position that meaningless to him!”

Shattered pieces of glass sprawled out across the floor. The private dorm was covered in scratches, marks from a sword, and writings of insanity.

Carlos had been absent from all activities for the past few days, enveloped by his collapsing ego.

“Who does he think he is?” 

A dark aura emanated around his body. Such a presence was accumulated all around the room, generating nothing but negative energy. 

“I- I… I’ll have to kill him myself.”

A drastic change unexplainable to the human eye took precedence. All of which was accompanied by the supposedly invisible cat in the air.

“Perfect,” A confirmation had made itself clear, “The stage has been set.”

“Consider this a warning… Abel.”

The cat vanished, leaving no trace but a manic child.

Crrreeaakkk!

A voice echoed from the front door, “C- Carlos…? The others haven’t heard from you today…”

The saint candidate cowered onto her knees. Her eyes trembling from the mouth-breathing abomination that replaced the paladin.

-x-

“Ummm…” I awkwardly stood before two familiar figures. “So, why is she here?”

“Is there a problem, commoner?” Julia had asked aggressively, “I simply thought it’d be best to support my future subordinate.”

“Since when did I agree to-“

“Silence,” Erin threw a sword at me. “Come.”

I had no choice but to obey and spar under the watchful eyes of Julia. I talked to her with the others during lunch as usual, so why was she here after school?

Agh, at this point it meant nothing.

“Whatever!” I screamed out my resentments. “As long as I win in the end!”

Whoosh!

I lunged forward unleashing a forward stab with both legs’ speed enhanced. Erin’s eyes widened seeing my newfound agility.

“I see this training wasn’t for nothing,” The corners of her lips turned upward.

She deftly redirected my stab, kicking at my abdomen. My arms moved to block the incoming attack, granting her space to escape the close entanglement. Even with all my improved skills and enhancement, she beat me to the punch faster than I could react.

“I really can’t break past you can I?” I mocked my weakness. “But… that won’t stop me regardless.”

I charged into the impenetrable wall using an overhead strike. Erin positioned herself to counterattack my clear intentions, however, this in itself was bait. 

‘[Enhancement]!’

My body fell at a slightly faster speed than expected, leaving her unable to fully grasp my movement. In a flash of speed, she regained her grip meeting my trick with an upward slash.

“Just wh- why are you so strong!” I grumbled out in a fit of frustration. Erin’s stat of sixty-four in strength was overpowering me by over four times.

She ducked to the right, letting my blade come down to the side of her. 

“Fuck-“

A roundhouse kick approached me from my blind spot, and I lost the confrontation. I forced the use [Enhancement] on both speed and gravity to duck under her assault. 

“Eugh-“ Blood had seeped into my saliva, but I pushed regardless.

As she regained her balance, she was faced with my upward circular strike.

Shiinnng!

“How’d you even get up from that position!” I was met with her sword once again despite her just crumbled defence.

“You did better than last time, especially with that ‘trick’ of yours,” Erin commended my ability, ignoring my remark.

“Who wouldn’t get better after being beaten for hours on end?” I answered with a sarcastic tone.

“Hmm…” Julia looked at me with judgemental eyes.

Erin drew her hands across the blade she held, a new gleam of violence filling her eyes.

“Your attack got better,” Erin let out a devilish voice, “But what about your defence?”

She charged headfirst, even faster than my initial approach. Instinctively, I raised my sword arm forward intending to deflect an attack. Yet, there was nothing.

Ah, I was a bit too slow.

“Got you.” Erin’s whisper came from the side, accompanied by a wooden sword aimed at my neck.

”And I’m dead,” I raised my hands in defeat, deciding to have a look at my skill while I drank water.

[Basic Swordsmanship (E) (15.9% -> 43.8% Proficiency - Evolution Possible)]

[Basic Magic Control (D) (0.6% -> 17.28% Proficiency - Evolution Possible)]

My current goal was to reach 50% proficiency by the end of tomorrow morning. Carlos was simply that much of a monster in comparison to me.

Proficiency in the game, in short, showed how skilful a character was at using the technique. It wasn’t just a decoration though, the higher the proficiency, the higher the potency of it. As a result, it could be said that a character with 0% proficiency in swordsmanship would easily lose to someone with 50%.

The issue was that Carlos had a year advantage with an upbringing as a church paladin, meaning he was trained since childhood. That’s where [Enhancement] and [Magic Missile] would come in handy. Unfortunately, he was a character that I’d never seen before in the game. So I didn’t know any of his tendencies that I could take advantage of.

“Luke, Erin’s waiting,” Julia approached me.

“And like I said, why are you still here?” I talked back rudely.

She scrunched up her face, “Hmph. I will do what I deem fit.”

“Yes almighty Julia of the De Gracias family, I shall now fight in your honour.”

“I know you’re mocking me!” She cried out in embarrassment.

“This knight must now go on, farewell.” I ignored her further rantings, cute as it was.

Erin's expression hinted at nothing but that I would suffer. The pain would be great, but at least so would the rewards.

Wait… rewards? 

Abel still owes me a favour…

Don’t tell me I’ve been scammed.

“FUUUUUUU-“

A sword quickly accelerated in my vision.

“Focus or you’ll die.”

At least let me complain!