Annie wasn't going to work today. In the past two weeks they had sold almost everything they brought from their journey; everyone was packing for their trip to the Forsaken Lands so she there wasn't any work. Not that she had been going to work regularly for the past few days, she had been preoccupied by someone.
She was hiding from them before, but they were persistent and wouldn't leave her alone. And since their request wasn't in any way harmful towards her, she gave in and began visiting them every day. She was even going there now.
As she walked out of the Sleeping Angel, she saw three men sitting outside, they were part of her father's guards and were speaking loudly.
"…I just wanted her to like me, you know what I mean?" John was saying.
"So, you stalked her?" Peter rose an eyebrow.
"Okay, I wouldn't call it stalking – "
"You followed her to every place she went to and professed your love for her every time. That's stalking, and girls don't like that."
"No one does." Robert said.
"Well, it doesn't matter anymore, she left the city. I don't know where she is anymore." John sulked.
"You mean she actually escaped from you, good for her!" Robert joked.
"Shut up," John pushed him, "I was in love with that girl you know? It was love at first sight."
"So, you thought she'd reciprocate that love if you stalked her?"
"I didn't stalk!"
Peter shifted closer to John and grabbed his shoulder, "Don't worry Johnny, I'm still here. I won't abandon you."
"Whoa, whoa," John raised his arms up as he backed away from Peter, "I'm not into men, I only like women."
"Thank god you only like women," Peter scoffed, "You're already an annoyance to one gender, imagine if you also liked men, you'd be a fucking menace!"
Annie laughed as John processed to chase after Peter. Robert winked at her before running after them. Annie waited in front of the Sleeping Angel, it was almost time for her to be picked up and soon, she heard the neighs of horses and clanking of carriage wheels. A black carriage stopped in front of her.
"Good day, my lady." The coachman, Herman greeted her.
"Good day to you too, Herman." She opened the carriage door and climbed into it. As she sat in the swaying vehicle she began reminiscing. The day after she beat Victor he came back, and begged her to be his teacher. She could still remember how he bowed to her in front of her stall, and how Unique tried and failed to cover her laughs.
She had refused him, but he came back the next day, and the day after that, for five consecutive days until she finally agreed. She had reluctantly followed him to his house – with her parent's permission of course – where they trained. And so, every day since then, Herman would come to the market and take her to meet Victor and they would spar.
Annie watched the scenery pass by until they reached Victor's home. The carriage rolled to a stop in front of a big house.
"The young master is waiting in the courtyard, miss Annie." Herman said to her when she deboarded the carriage. He had become very respectful to her after she beat him easily that day.
Annie walked straight to the courtyard, the maids already knew who she was and Victor had ordered them not to bother her when she came. When she reached the courtyard she saw Victor was standing with training gear and a sword.
"You're here." He smiled.
"I'm here."
"Since this is the last day, I want to take this opportunity to thank you. You're teaching has benefited me a lot."
Annie rolled her eyes internally. What teaching? She had basically been beating him up. Although she had observed that his moves had become smoother, and his hits became stronger as the 'training' progressed. Also, another positive aspect was that the excess training had made her level up due to her proficiency points going up, but she couldn't unlock another skill because the points were high.
"Let's begin," She summoned her weapon, "since this is the final day, let's make it last longer, eh?"
Victor nodded then spread his legs, and raised his sword up, Annie stood with her sword hand leading. Then, as if they had prior agreement, they both lunged at each other at the same time. Victor came with huge momentum and slashed at her, Annie decided not to block the hit and hopped backwards, then she bent down thrusted twice in one dash. Victor blocked the hits on time, the vibrations only causing a slight tremor in his hands.
Annie was honestly impressed, before he would have either dropped the sword or at least be pushed backwards.
Annie kept one hand behind her back and used [Multiple Thrusts], targeting different parts of his body. Victor speedily blocked them before swiping at her head.
Annie smiled as she dodged, "You've gotten faster!"
"All thanks to you!" He smiled back before lunging forward in a thrust position, he actually managed to imitate a rapier's thrust with an arming sword. Annie twisted out of the way and was about to whack his shoulder when he suddenly speeded up, and effectively dodged the hit.
'He unlocked the First Aura so smoothly, it seems I need to get serious' Truth be told, Annie wasn't really using Warrior Energy when she fought him, because her stats where high. All the classes have their own energy to pull from, they all have mp that can be used to strengthen their attacks but unlike Warriors and Archers, Mages can't use their mp to strengthen their body. And thanks to the mp and skills, Warriors aren't limited to just melee combat. Even Swordsmen without the system have long ranged attacks.
But she wasn't about to use long range combat skills on Victor, that'd be bullying. He wouldn't be able to take it with just the first aura. But she can supply energy to her body to make her move faster.
She dashed forward and appeared in front of him. He was shocked but surprisingly didn't fluster and blocked her attack, his eyes widened when he felt the power within it and was blasted backwards. He stumbled but didn't fall, Annie was about to attack again when he raised his hand.
"Wait, wait." He shook his arms to get rid of the pain, "Wait just a minute."
Annie rolled her eyes, "If someone was trying to kill you would you ask them to stop?"
"No," He shrugged, "But this is just training." Then he stared straight at her without blinking.
"What?" Annie squirmed a little under his gaze.
He suddenly rushed towards her and held her shoulders, "Teach me that trick!"
"What trick?!" She shook him off.
"That burst of power!"
"Isn't it just like how you unlock the First Aura?"
"No!" Victor shook his head, "The Aura is like wearing an armor, except this armor doesn't slow you down. You would be faster and more durable, and as you unlock more Aura stages you would be able to create devastating attacks. But you seem to have concentrated you Aura inwards, and that's not possible. Even the strongest Swordsmen I know can only compress their Aura until it's just a thin film over the skin."
"I've told you this before Victor, I'm not using Aura." Annie said.
"Yeah, right, obviously," he said, "But I want you to tell me how you do it to see if I can imitate it with the Aura."
Annie pondered a bit before explaining, "Well, I circulate the energy in my body, and it pretty much does what the Aura does for you. I can also use the energy on specific places, like loading energy into my legs to make me run faster or leap farther. I can also direct the energy into my weapon to make it stronger."
"Whoa, so it's basically internal Aura?"
"Yes," Annie shrugged, "The only difference I can think of is that the energy enables me to pull of some moves you would call magic, like how a Swords People are able to attack at a distance."
"Wait," Victor's eyes widened, "Are you able to use long distance attacks?"
"Um, yes." She decided to show him and example and used [Laser], she thrust her rapier forward and a light beam shot out of its tip and drilled into the ground. She looked back at Victor and saw that he was looking at the hole and standing as still as a statue.
'Did I stun him too much?' She thought.
"Wow," He said before she could get worried, "You really were holding back a lot all this time."
"I guess…" Annie sighed internally. Luckily, she didn't use [Rapier Thrust] or he might have actually fainted.
"Hmm." He hummed then created some distance from her, "Give me a minute, I'm going to try what you said and focus my Aura into one spot."
Annie gave him the go ahead and he closed his eyes and concentrated. He activated the First Aura and stood still. Annie stood at the side but didn't offer any pointers – not that she had been offering him any pointers before – because she didn't have Aura so she couldn't even begin to understand what he was doing. She just had to wait and see if he can utilize it the way he wants.
She waited for a few minutes then had started wandering around, when she heard a low sound. She quickly checked up on Victor to see his Aura was going haywire. The white smoke-like light was swaying like a bonfire lit on a windy day, Victor was frowning in concentration as he did something Annie assumed most Swordsman wouldn't be able to do, at least not at his stage. Most of his Aura slowly moved downwards and packed to his right leg. Annie rose an eyebrow, 'Did he seriously get it on the first try, I was right to think he was a genius.'
Suddenly, the Aura concentrated on his leg shook harshly and Victor was launched forward a few meters before rolling to a stop.
Annie walked to him, "Are you alright?" she asked.
"Yeah," Victor groaned, "thankfully I was wearing this training gear, or I'll have small cuts all over my body." He smiled. "Was I faster though?"
"Yes, "Annie nodded, "Since you concentrated your Aura on solely on your feet you did go faster than before, all you have to do is practice until you can control the input and you're good."
"Okay!" Victor jumped to his feet, "Let's keep sparing."
"Wait, really? Didn't you expend much of your Aura since you unlocked it for so long?"
"No, actually if you're not actively using it the Aura expends slowly. Now, come on," he ran back a few distance, "Let's continue!"
"Victor, I have to get going soon." Annie said.
"I know, I know. I just want to try something."
Annie sighed, "Alright, make your move."
Victor didn't waste a single second before lunging forward. He swung his sword but it went over head Annie as she dodged it, he didn't waste the momentum and spun around on the spot and tried to hit her again. Annie tilted backwards, the sword almost grazing her chest.
She went on the attack and aimed for his leg; Victor cartwheeled out of the way. He bent his leg as he landed and immediately rushed forward faster than before. Annie quickly supplied energy to her arm and rapier and block the hit, she simultaneously used [Split] to create three phantoms of her, one kept her rapier on his neck, the others on chest and stomach.
Victor stared wide-eyed at the phantoms as they slowly disappeared, then he laughed, "Your power is mysterious and powerful. I wish I could do the things you can."
For a second Annie wanted to tell him he could, she wanted to introduce him to her religion and let him experience the wonderful system, but in the end she didn't. She lightly punched his shoulder, "Instead of wanting my power, try to find a way around it. If you have the imagination, your Aura can do a lot of things."
"Imagination, huh?" he stared at the ground for a few seconds, then he bowed to her, "Thank you for your teachings Annie. I'll definitely be noticed by a master when I go back to school."
"Right, what school do you go to anyway? Its not the type where you come home every day right?"
"No, it's a boarding school, The Sword Peak."
"Sword Peak?!" Annie said astonishedly, "That's the most popular sword school in the kingdom! How did you get in? Your father is just a baron…"
"What's that supposed to mean? I got in with talent! Talent, okay?!"
Annie laughed. She followed Victor into his house and drank the water that was served to her by the maids. After a few minutes of idle chatter, Herman came to pick her up. On the ride home Annie's thoughts were on the earlier spar, the way Victor imitated her Warrior energy control inspired her, and made her think of the ways she could use her skills. Imagination itself was a powerful skill, she was sure that with more proficiency she would be able to take her skills another level.
If only she could combine her skills, like using [Multiple Thrusts] with [Rapier Thrust] …
[Ding! Would you like to combine the skill [Multiple Thrust] with [Rapier Thrust]?]
Annie sat in a daze for a few seconds before jolting, "You can do that?!"
"Is everything alright, miss Annie?" She heard Herman say.
"Yes, don't worry. I just remembered something!" She yelled back.
Then she stared back at the prompt in excitement, she seemed to have found a hidden usage of the system. She quickly thought yes.
[Ding! You have successfully created the skill [Multiple Rapier Thrust]!
For being the first person to mix a skill you get; (1) A certain amount of exp points.
(2) One lucky draw]
[Ding! Would you like to use lucky draw now?]
"Yes!" She almost screamed. Then there was a bright light in her vision, when it cleared she saw two light brown shoes with a green arrow pointing upwards drawn on the sides.
[Congratulations! You have won Super Sneakers!]