After going along with Narumi and playing some games with her, I’ve come to realize that she’s not exactly a fan of games in the same way I am, but instead more of a fan of not being bored. It doesn’t really matter since we ended up having fun. I was surprised to learn that they had a console in the dorm. It had been sitting there the whole time near the television where the couch was, but since that area is quite cluttered, I never actually noticed it.

 

Now I’m home, and I have some preparations to make for my next training session with Katja. She told me that I needed to surprise her to get an advantage and that I had to be persistent. Both of those things will naturally come with experience, but I think I have a way to speed up the process. It isn’t just my skill with a sword that’s been improving with these practice lessons. I’ve actually been preparing a little surprise…

 

[Iroha Shinohara: Lv.5]

[HP: 466/466]

[MP: 233/233]

[Strength: 24; Defense: 20]

[Magic: 8; Agility: 66]

 

Tada~! I got two more levels from the training the last few days! Combat training is the real deal. Sure, it’s not real combat, but the experience it gives me is much higher than the experience running or anything else I’ve done gives. That, combined with the fact that I’m still low level, means I’m going to be gaining levels like crazy! If you consider almost half a week of grinding for two early levels to be crazy… Yeah, when I put it like that… I think VISS Driver may be getting stingy.

 

But that’s not all. There’s a certain thing I also get whenever I level up. Skill points! That’s the part that really gets me excited. Which means it’s time for me to get some new skills! But not just any skills. I had some interesting skills ready to be bought, but I don’t think any of them would really come in handy if I’m sparring with Katja. Luckily, I’ve been practicing with a sword, which means…

 

[Swordsmanship – Sword Mastery (Cost: 10 Skill Points)]

 

I have a sword-related skill available now! I gotta get this one. This skill is pretty basic. It just increases my proficiency with swords, but much like Nimble, it’s going to give me access to a lot of other skills. It’s a new skill tree, so it makes me a little scared that I might be locking in too many trees early on. But this is the sword tree we’re talking about, so I guess it’s fine since it’s one of the largest ones. There are so many sword skills, so there’s no way I can go wrong with it. It just makes me feel a little anxious.

 

[Skill – Sword Mastery acquired.]

 

Right now, Sword Mastery is only level 1, so it’s not going to instantly turn me into a genius with sword, but I’m looking forward to when it does at a higher level.

 

[New skills available.]

[Swordsmanship – Crushing Blade (Cost: 10 Skill Points)]

[Swordsmanship – Slash Flurry (Cost: 10 Skill Points)]

 

More skills! Didn’t I say so? And what’s better is that these two actually do something. Crushing Blade is a simple skill that, when activated, greatly increases the power of the next attack, while Slash Flurry starts a number of quick attacks in short succession when activated. I think it only goes up to 3 attacks at level one, but it’s possible to reach an endless number of attacks with the right skill combination. Each attack uses up MP individually, so MP ends up being the biggest limiting factor.

 

I’m the kind of girl that can never decide what build I want to use, so whenever I have to pick between slow but strong attacks or fast but weak ones, I end up picking both and just try to go for a hybrid build. This isn’t a game, so I have to be even more careful since I don’t think I can do another playthrough of life. The skills aren’t mutually exclusive, and since I want to try out as many skills as possible, I wanna get both. I started with 20 skills points, and after getting Sword Mastery I’m down to 10, so I can only afford one of them for now.

 

[Skill – Slash Flurry acquired.]

 

This decision isn’t actually that hard to make. I do lean more towards builds that use fast but weak attacks, and since I don’t have to give up on anything just yet, the choice is easy to make. I’ll get the other one later.

 

Now that that’s out of the way, I wanna try Slash Flurry out! Do I have anything around my apartment I could use? I looked around a little until I got the wonderful idea of grabbing a kitchen knife. It’s not exactly a sword, but it’s the closest thing I’ve got, so it will have to do. Just like planned, I activated the skill, and I was able to swing the knife three times in a row faster than I thought possible.

 

“Wow…” This is cool! I can’t believe it actually worked! My first combat skill. I could hardly contain my excitement, so I used the skill a couple more times. Ahahahaha! Finally! Finally, I have a skill that makes the VISS Driver worth it! Finally, I-

 

*Swoosh!* Suddenly, the knife slipped out of my hand mid-swing and shot out towards a wall. That scared the crap out me. It didn’t break anything, nor did it get stuck on the wall. Everything went fine, but it took me this long to realize what a stupid idea using a kitchen knife for this was. The grip is way too slippery.

 

I carefully picked up the knife and put it back in its place. That could have gone much worse… I’m not really the best person for this. I’m not careful enough to handle these sensitive situations. I’m just gonna do what I do best and watch some anime. Phew… My heart is still pounding.

 

I put aside any more dumbass thoughts related to the skill for the day and focused on enjoying my free time. It wasn’t long until the next day arrived, and I was back at the dojo with Katja. And Narumi. Who was once again bored and decided to make another appearance. Hecate and Carol were in the dorms this time, but I guess everything goes with her.

 

“You want to spar now?” Katja looked at me with a confused look. The two of us were standing in the middle of the dojo, ready to begin our training. Both our hairs were tied up so they wouldn’t get in the way. Katja’s ponytail is aligned with the center of her face, while I’ve been shifting mine more to the right since I’m used to wearing a right sidetail, and I like it more that way.

 

“Yeah, that’s right. I was thinking it’d be nice to spar in the beginning for once… It’s hard for me to be able to do anything when we spar at the end since I’m too tired…” I don’t want to be losing one-sidedly all the time, and now that I have my new skills, I’d like to spar with my full strength! Maybe I can surprise Katja.

 

“Sparring is important, but it’s not our main priority. The important part right now is for you to learn how to properly swing a sword and to build up your strength. Sparring is just the cherry on top.” Katja explained the reasoning behind why we’ve been sparring at the end, but she wasn’t really saying no to my request, and instead her face seemed a little apologetic. “You’re also going to fight many fights where you’re tired and exhausted, so sparring at the end just prepares you for that.”

 

“Uhmm… I get that, but… I’m not saying it has to be at the beginning every day… But it would be nice every once in a while…” I don’t make direct requests often, and Katja’s initial reaction caused me to become a little nervous. I don’t think I’m being unreasonable. Katja doesn’t know about the VISS Driver, so this is a little sneaky of me, but I really want to win a round against her at least once!

 

“You know what? You’re right. We don’t have to always spar before wrapping up for the day.” Katja’s apologetic face turned into a slight smile. “If you want to spar right now, I don’t have a problem with that. Let’s do it. Just promise me you’ll still do your best with the rest of the training.” I nodded enthusiastically, and Katja went to grab a pair of wooden swords for us.

 

The two of us got into our usual positions, and we were ready to begin. “You know the drill, Iroha. Come at me whenever you’re ready.”

 

After hearing Katja’s signal, I rushed at her, and the match began. I’m much more confident now, and my blows are a lot more powerful. There’s no doubt in my mind that I’ve been growing stronger, but the real reason behind the increase in power is that I now know how to use a sword better, so it’s easier to put more power into my attacks. This was already the case yesterday, but with Sword Mastery and the fact that I still have all my stamina, I’m on a completely different level today.

 

“You’re doing pretty well.” Katja was still able to block all of my blows, despite the praise. She gave me the initiative, so I’ve been following her advice to stay on the offense while waiting for an opportunity to appear. My sudden increase in strength has indeed surprised Katja, and I’ve managed to land some hits that leave Katja momentarily stunned after blocking them. I can’t exactly go anywhere from there, since she always manages to take a step back, so I can’t reach her even if she can’t block. It’s a very subtle and efficient move, and it just goes to show how much better at this she is than me.

 

I think Katja is still taking it easy, since she could turn things around rather quickly if she went on the offense. She started to mix in some attacks of her own when she deflected some of my swings, but those ended up being rushed, so I could easily block them and continue to pressure her. I’m happy to know that she can’t just walk all over me anymore when she’s not taking things seriously.

 

Everything happens very fast, and eventually I manage to land a very good hit. She still manages to block it, but the impact leaves her stunned for longer than usual. Even if she tries to take a step back now, she’s not going to be able to escape the reach of my sword in time. Finally, the opportunity I’ve been waiting for had shown up, and I had to take it!

 

But Katja’s troubled face quickly turned into a grin. “I got you…” Before I could even swing at the opening, Katja swiped at my sword with such strength that it almost flew out of my hand, and I barely managed to hold it with one hand. Was it a bait? Has she been playing with me the whole time? I’m losing my balance, and there’s no way for me to defend myself, but it’s not over.

 

It’s time for my trump card. I didn’t get just one skill. It’s time to use Slash Flurry. It’s fast enough that I should be able to hit her once before it’s all over. I activated my skill, and my arm moved faster than it had all day. Just as I had celebrated victory too early, so had Katja, and now my sword was quickly approaching her from the side.

 

Katja noticed the wooden blade just as it was about to hit her, and she smiled. “Huh?!” With inhuman speed, Katja jumped over the sword, and my trump card cut through nothing but air. The complete whiff only served to make me lose even more balance and accelerate my fall. “Ouch!” And I fell on my butt.

 

“And we’re done.” Katja stood over me while pointing her wooden sword at my face before quickly taking it back. “That was an incredible move! I really didn’t think you’d be able to do such a troublesome swing from that position with only one hand. You might have talent to use a sword with one hand.” All the weapons we’ve been using, and even Katja’s own personal weapon, are made to be used with both hands while also being possible to wield with just one. All the training I’ve been doing has been doing has been with two hands, and while I don’t mind that, using a sword with just one hand is much cooler, so I was happy to hear that.

 

“Thanks…” Katja helped me get up, and her praise brought a smile to my face. I’m a little sad that I wasn’t able to win, despite the fact that I was actually able to catch her by surprise. She’s not gonna take it this easy anymore, so I’ll have to practice a lot more until I have another shot at winning a round against her.

 

“Ahahahaha! That was great, Iroha!” I had forgotten Narumi was watching, so hearing her start clapping out of nowhere caused me to jump. “I was joking when I said I wanted you to kick Katja’s butt, Iroha. You didn’t have to actually do it.” Narumi got closer to us as she finished her sentence, and Katja seemed to take offense to her words.

 

“Were you actually watching? Iroha put up an incredible fight, but she didn’t actually beat me.” She’s right. I didn’t beat Katja. I didn’t even come close.

 

“Don’t be a sore loser, Katja.” Narumi came over to me and put her hands over my shoulders. “She barely started learning how to use a sword, but she forced you to get serious. Can you still count that as a win for you?”

 

Katja contested Narumi’s claim, but Narumi was having too much fun to stop. I had obviously not won, but what Narumi said was definitely interesting. Now I’m only more frustrated over the fact that I couldn’t actually beat Katja. If Narumi was rooting for me, then I really would have liked to impress her. I wanna win and surprise all of them. I have no choice but to keep trying to find ways to get stronger.

 

Katja and Narumi’s little back and forth ended up with Katja driving Narumi away from the dojo and successfully restoring peace to the dojo.

 

“That girl… I told her to behave if she wanted to stay in the dojo, and she goes and makes a commotion like that. Unbelievable…” I gave Katja a little laugh. “Sorry, Iroha. Where were we? Right, you did well today. I was really surprised by how well you’ve fought. You’re improving really fast. I can’t really wrap my head around it.”

 

“Thank you.” I guess my plan to surprise her went well. Combining my new skills with what she taught me yesterday worked out pretty well. I’m glad.

 

“Now then, that’s enough sparring for now. Let’s continue with the rest of the training, but before that, I need to teach you something else.” Katja’s positive demeanor suddenly became more serious, and the sudden change looked really frightening. “There’s one rule I forgot to tell you. You’re only allowed to fight using what we teach you. Do you understand what I mean?”

 

Ehh? Have I been busted?