Two kids dressed in training clothes were looking at each other.
Suddenly a Gong started to resonate, and both children started moving rapidly.
The older kid, a boy approached the smaller kid, a girl. His plan was to make use of his physical size as an advantage and push her down to the ground.
A palm moved firmly and struck the girl's shoulder directly, although she wasn't dropped the heavy blow made her step back to regain her balance. But the boy didn't go unscathed.
When his palm struck her shoulder his hand felt as if he had just slapped a piece of concrete making a resounding *slap* sound echo in the vicinity.
The girl thought she could let him hit her and counter-attack but she wasn't expecting his blow to be as heavy as it was, she couldn't help but grit her teeth and endure the pain of having absorbed the attack purposely.
[A miscalculation on my part, Jyro is stronger than I thought. This is only a spar, I won't play dirty this time.] Janette mumbled under her breath.
Jyro saw that his tactic wasn't a complete failure and decided to try it once more, but the moment his palm went to strike Janette's shoulder again she dropped her stance lower and attacked his unprotected stomach fiercely.
*Pah!*
Jyro curled like a shrimp and grabbed his got with one of his hands. Janette didn't stop and punched the side of his face with a hook, now that it was lowered as he was clutching his gut.
Instead of connecting, Jyro closed their distance even more and headbutted Janette on the face, stopping her advance momentarily and making her flinch. A moment that Jyro took advantage of by creating distance between them once more.
After taking a big breath and pushing his pain away Jyro somewhat regained his composure and adopted a posture Janette hadn't seen before. His hands touched the ground in front of him, making him look like a tiger about to close on its prey.
Janette's eyebrows furrowed, she had no way to know if his stance was really something or if he was just messing around, in her eyes he looked ridiculous, but Jyro's expression was serious.
Her expression grew colder when she realized Jyro's breathing was similar to hers when she practiced using soul energy...
So she did the same, she lowered her center of gravity and adopted her horse stance once more, sparks started to fly and hair stood on its ends. She was ready.
Jyro approached at impressive speeds and jumped, Janette's fist moved like an arrow and shot at Jyro as a hunter does with their prey.
The strength behind both of their attacks was tremendous and the clash made a huge *Bang*
Only for both to realize that none of their attacks connected. As a small figure was standing between both of them.
Nana, who was watching the spar interceded at the last moment and redirected their attacks elsewhere...
"You kids are full of energy nowadays. Your official duel is still far enough, there's no point in getting hurt right now." "I will declare today's spar over, use this opportunity to learn and understand your shortcomings. This is enough for the day." Nana was looking pleased with herself, for the last week and a half she had taken the position of instructor and gives them advice here and there...
The days in Bellrain were mostly pacific and somewhat of a routine but their days were everything but boring. Tomorrow was Janette's first day as Richard's assistant, although she will only be working with him twice a week...
Either way, Janette has come up with an ingenious way to get 'Zs' and was eager to test it out.
Janette and Jyro stayed at the training ground a bit more and chatted about their experiences during the spar, although Jyro was adamant that without Nana's intervention he would have come on top...
Janette knew he was completely correct but decided to not dwell on it, she was sure that Jyro was stronger, at least physically. But that didn't mean she had no opportunity...
[It took it long enough... I think I will stop training for the day and check it out!]
Janette said her goodbyes and left for her room, Nana and Jyro will stay for a little longer so she planned to use her extra free time to explore what this 'Update' had to offer.
Janette lay on her bed and closed her eyes, the same way she did when entering the Virtual Space and called out.
[Open System...]
[Yes please.]
[I guess that's as much as I can expect... What's energy conversion tho?]
[This sounds crazy, It seems that for the next update I will have to get it with Zs so it could become problematic.]
[Well it seems like my connection with Janette works alright. Wait... Rain?]
Marcus joined the Virtual Space immediately and saw how the rain was pouring calmly from the sky.
Water started dripping from his face and splashing into the ground, it was such a refreshing feeling.
After a few seconds of enjoying the sweet embrace of rain, a notification popped up once more...
Thousands of kilometers away a storm was brewing...
A group of people in white and blue robes were kneeling in front of a woman with blond hair, she was sitting on what looked to be a throne with a cup of wine in her hand... She was furious.
"Repeat what you just said one more time..." The woman said and threw her cup at the kneeling elderly man in front of her
The man was shaking but dared not to cross his master and replied...
"We haven't been able to locate Lady Jhoan... We interrogated the village where we found The Sword Demon, he used to live with an unknown older woman and a child..." The old man said with red wine dripping from his previously immaculate robes.
The blond woman stood up and walked towards the old man, with each step she took the man shook more and more...
The blond woman touched the face of the kneeling man caringly and slowly said.
"You will tell me where they are won't you?" A devilish grin formed on her face as she seemed to look right through the man's soul...