Mentally instability, that was commonality among the children of the Prathan family.
And from what she has seen from Luvi, it won't be too far to say that he isn't much different from his family.
Which is why she was here today, she was going to check whether Luvi was worth the hassle to recruit him.
Because no matter what happens or how talented Luvi might be, if he is incapable of working with others or shows some anti-social behavior, he might be more of a liability than help her in her plan.
It was why she was here even after being warned by Rose.
Putting her keycard in the door, she entered the room.
The room was registered for two hours for Andy as well as Miriam, and no one would disturb the two of them unless someone sounds the alarm that is in various parts of the training room.
Which in turn makes the two of them very isolated from the world. More so when considering that Luvi had turned off the cameras.
"I was free, so I thought that coming here for some light exercises would be appropriate."
Even though Luvi said these words, he had only started to practice just five minutes ago and he was not very tired. Not to mention, by giving out partial truth, the real one can be hidden and Miriam won't push for the real truth anymore.
"But didn't you arrive early as well? I thought it would take you a while?"
"I was meeting some friends and they chose to end the meeting early. So with not much to do, I came early as well… Also, why is your cheek swollen?"
"Well I had some free time, so I did something and got caught. All I wanted was some blackmailing material, SMH." The more absurd his lies are, the better it would be for a woman like Miriam.
Luvi hasn't forgotten the problems Seeker has faced before and how she struggled as well as felt ashamed to intrude on the privacy of others.
Which in turn made it so that she would rarely expose the fact that she had been using her ability. And even if she did and she learned something, her situation and habit makes it harder for her to ask about the real truth face to face with that person.
Though it didn't mean Luvi would give her time to think about his lie at all."And If you don't mind me saying it. But fuck your friends Lady, if they had changed the timing a bit, I won't have ot stay after the academy was over."
Luvi cursed and blamed himself as well as his other minions. Which was the natural way he acted.
"So hey… Yeah Miriam. Let's first showcase some of our skills through practice and when we are done, we should then start sparring."
"I can agree to that… but if you don't mind, please don't speak about my friends like that. Being more courteous won't be that harmful." And like Luvi expected, Miriam fell for it.
"Huh.. So you did mind me saying that. You should have said something before… I did ask you, 'If you don't mind it', before saying those words… SMH."
Luvi was disappointed in Miriam, or so he acted. But in truth, he was really thinking about how much of a gullible idiot she was in this case.
Though, this only happened because of the imbalance of information on both sides. For intelligence alone, Seeker might not be too far from Luvi.
On the other hand, Miriam was cursing Luvi while asking, "When did you even give me a chance to say that."
But no worries, she might know who Luvi was in reality, but it didn't mean she was totally ignorant about his true nature.
Which is why, she only treated this small exchange as nothing more than Luvi's persona taking control of him. Luvi might not have meant that.
And she can even feel through her ability, that he felt a bit embarrassed and sorry for cursing at them.
"Of course, my bad. Let's just proceed with the demonstration of our skills."
"My core is the fist techniques…"
There was no need to waste time anymore, Luvi started to showcase his abilities to give Miriam some ideas about his fighting style.
Which was not so special or flashy like a fireball. But considering each of his punches were leaving an indent on the soft metal wall, it went to show his lethality.
"That's it?..." But Miriam was a bit disappointed. She really thought Luvi might be hiding something, which gave him the confidence to win in the tournament.
"Of course not, I have an escape technique with snake steps. Sadly, I haven't succeeded in practicing it till now. But I believe I can still run away from danger, when the situation calls for it."
"...."
Miriam, who had not only mastered a lethal spell like fireball, but also various tricks like conjure water or throw earth. Along with many other utility based spells. She found Luvi to be a bit underwhelming.
But, it was not like she expected Luvi to win anyways. From her perspective, Luvi's action of joining the tournament was foolish.
Luvi was not like Andy, whose useless nails became legal weapons after his practice. Superimposing his ability with his claw techniques to increase his lethality as well has strength in the same rank.
Those people that can merge their ability with learned techniques would always exceed those that can't.
Just take herself for example, the simple trick of Analyze when boosted by her ability can find out a lot more things about a person than it was previously possible.
On the other hand, Luvi didn't appear much different. His ability as well as combat art was too disjointed, making him one level lower than those with greater ability power who are also following the training manuals.
And two levels lower than those who had merged their martial art with their ability.
Making it so, that Luvi is unlikely to even win.
She also doesn't believe that Luvi is that stupid to not be aware of this fact. One shouldn't forget that Luvi and Andy are good friends and Luvi might have some idea on how strong the high level students actually are.
"Now, it's your turn." Looking at the soft metal wall where the imprint of his fist was still fresh, Luvi requested Miriam to do the same with a smug face."
Which looked uglier with his swollen right cheek as well as the scars that grew on size due to increase in his cheek size.
Miriam started with something simple, conjured some water, which splashed on the ground.
"Huuu… huuu" Which made Luvi, who was on the other side watching this, smile like no tomorrow, doing his best to hold in his laugh.
But it would be a lie to say hat this didn't annoy Miriam.
"This was just a trick, I am showcasing the amount of magic I can do."
Then following her explanation, she proceeded to do some more simple magic, each more boring than before.
But this was not the end yet, after she has shown her collection of spells, Miriam than proceeded with the fireball. Which was what Luvi had been looking forward to.
"Fireball." She said, causing the small ball of fire to fly and hit the metal wall, which turned red on the area of impact.
Which made Miriam a bit smug for the first time. She had been humiliated by Luvi multiple times and it was time for Luvi to be humiliated.
And as she expected, Luvi was sweating hard after seeing this.
"So how was it?"
"Well… I might need some protective clothing while practicing with you."
"But before that, how many fireballs can you conjure up at a time?" Luvi asked in a serious tone, which was contrasted from the playful tone of Luvi from before.
And Miriam knew that seeing her strength, Luvi might be showing his true side finally.
"About 3 times and with every 10 minutes rest, I can cast another one."
Miriam said proudly, seeing that Luvi has finally started to treat her like an equal.
"If talking in technical terms alone, if my fist has the power of 40 points, then your fireball has the power of 100 along with burning capability."
"But that is it, you become completely useless after three fireballs, while I can go on and on."
Hearing this analysis, Miriam felt a bit absurd, doesn't it mean that she was being looked down on once again.
But Luvi was not over yet.
"The monster we are hunting is a relatively tamer monster, the Purple Horned monkey, and its eyesight is also not good. Hmm… the strategy might work here."
"What are you speaking about?... We still haven't practiced together once and you are already forming strategies?" Miriam didn't know whether Luvi was an overconfident fool or just a normal fool. But she knew one thing. The man was truly not as simple as he looked on the surface.
"Well Miriam, sorry for looking down on you before. I can see a chance of winning, but I still need to experience your power first hand."
"Let's spar."