John had invited us to the Viking guild. He was kind enough to allow us to use his training arena for the week. It was just yesterday when we had the council meeting. You would think I would be here teaching Lily and Rose on how to use Concentration, but John had other ideas and decided that he wanted to spar with me before I trained them. Guess he wanted to know who was stronger between the both of us after four years of training. Sounds good and all, but I doubt his sparring is using wooden swords. We agreed to stop ourselves if we are certain that we might hurt one another. Since when did that ever worked out.
I stood opposite John in the arena zone. It was only the four of us here. John made it specifically so that only the four of us are allowed here for this sparring. He had his trusted members guarding the entrances in case of any prying eyes. John held his colossal axe while I readied myself for unarmed combat. I didn't really mind sparring with him as I wanted to test my strength against a strong opponent. How much stronger did I improve myself over the past four years? That question had always been stuck in my mind ever since I came back here.
I stared at John with my head looking upwards. I felt like a hobbit in front of him. He had gained weight and muscles over the years. He's possibly around 185 centimetres in height while I was still stuck at about 155 centimetres. I couldn't grow any taller no matter how hard I tried, which means I'm the shortest in the group. What a shame I have to live with. How did I even ended up attracting the attention of two females is beyond me.
"Before we begin, none of you heard of any news about Pietro?" I asked all of them.
They shook their heads. It was like he had vanished into thin air. Or perhaps he was slain by his guild after exposing my name. Whatever happened to him, we will never know. I do hope that he's still alive for us to hear his side of the story.
"Hey, let's wager something to make it more fun, shall we?" asked John.
"Huh? What can we even wager?" I raised my eyebrow.
"How about— whoever wins will get to date those two beautiful ladies?" John laughed as he pointed at where Rose and Lily was sitting.
"I don't think that's up to us to decide. You might have better luck asking both of them directly," I shrugged.
"What do you think ladies?!" asked John loudly as both of them were seated some distance away.
"I'm fine with it, just don't kill each other, please. Zen will have to train us later," sighed Lily.
"A tall muscular man asking me out? Sure, why not?" shrugged Rose.
Both of them sure are lax. I'm gonna torture both of them later during their training.
"You hear that? The stakes are in, Zen. Hahaha!" laughed John. Why's he having so much fun when we are just sparring?
I just shrugged in return and prepared my unarmed stance towards John. I performed my breathing routine subconsciously but held back in using Concentration. Let's start things slowly. John also prepared himself while he re-sheathed his axe behind him. Seems like he wishes to start off with unarmed combat too. Suits me, I suppose.
"Lily, mind being the judge for this so we don't end up killing each other?" asked John.
"Alright. When I shout stop, both of you must stop. I don't wish to see either of you dead because of this sparring test. Now, get ready the both of you," announced Lily as she lifted her hand.
The arena was completely quiet as we waited for the signal from Lily. In front of me is a muscular man twice my size in weight and height. While Peter had taught me unarmed combat to handle larger opponent, this will be the first time I can test it out directly. Now, show me how strong you are as the Viking Lord, John. I'm certainly getting pumped now.
John immediately rushed towards me with a punch the moment Lily swung her arm down and shouted "BEGIN!". I countered his punch by guiding it away and slammed my palm below his chin. But I was not strong enough to push him away despite using both hands. All that muscle of his is resisting all my strength to push him away.
I quickly leapt back as I noticed he was going for a bone crushing hug. Doubt he was kind enough to give a brotherly hug in the middle of sparring.
"Aww, I was just giving you a hug, brother," he chuckled.
"Uh huh," I replied nonchalantly.
John rushed towards me once again with a shoulder charge instead. I easily side-stepped him and prepared for a counter. He swung his arm behind him expecting me to be there but he was dead wrong. I predicted his move and went all the way to his right which was now his back. I summoned my gauntlets with a flick of my wrist. I placed my right palm on his back and got my stance ready. I pulled my right hand back and slammed my left palm against his back. My proper stance gave me more knock-back power and I managed to push him forward. He rolled himself and stood back up.
"To be able to push me that far, that's some crazy unarmed technique you have there. I guess Peter taught you well, huh?" asked John.
"Nah, if it was him, you would be flying towards to the wall by now," I replied.
"Haha— I can see that both of us are holding back. I want to see more of your strength, Zen. C'mon, lets bring it!" he shouted as he took out his shiny axe from behind him.
I will need to be cautious as I do not know what powers his legendary axe granted him. What will he do next? Rush towards me and swing his axe? Or perhaps he will leap towards me instead?
John threw his axe in my direction instead which definitely caught me off-guard. To think he actually tossed his only weapon towards me which I can easily dodge. What is he thinking?
I side-stepped the axe with minimal effort, all the while focusing my attention on John. But with an eye-blink, he completely vanished from my sight. W— what? John had never had such high agility before, how and where did he vanished to?
I turned my head backwards and saw John swinging his axe vertically above me. I quickly blocked his incoming attack with my gauntlets. One hand stopped the axe head from slicing me while my other held the wooden stock. What the hell just happened? Did John just teleported to where the axe went? That's some crazy legendary weapon he have there.
John pulled back his axe and went for another swing. As I thought of the perfect counter, I realised that his axe was getting bigger by the second as it was coming down at me. I quickly leapt to the side and it was only then I heard the words "Dodge it!!" from someone. The axe head was about half my size when it smashed onto the arena floor.
SMASH!!!
Teleportation and size adjustment on the fly. That is an overpowered legendary weapon he have there.
"Lily— Lily, no interfering with the sparring," John said as he swung his index finger and placed it to his lips.
"You're not supposed to be killing each other!" shouted Lily.
The two continued bickering as I regained my bearings. A teleporting muscle-head with an unpredictable axe size. If John decided to reduce the size instead of increasing it, he would had sliced my skull faster than I could react. What a surprised. To think that John had gotten this strong. I really wonder who will end up victorious if we really fought each other seriously.
"John, let's kick things up a notch, shall we?" I smirked and activated Concentration.
"Oh ho ho! Here it is!" John laughed with an open mouth.
I used the imperfect version to maximise my stats and spell intensity. It was then I casted Fear on him. I never knew what people actually see whenever I casted this spell. Lily told me she saw an image of her gruesome death while Rose said that she saw the end of the world. What would John see, I wonder.
John's eyes started glowing and steams were coming out of his mouth as he roared loudly. His eyes were bloodshot and he casted Taunt spell with another roar. I steered myself to resist both effects. To think you can counter Fear spell with Taunting.
Things are getting serious now. Here is an opponent that's using a State Of Mind higher than my own. I should be able to resist the effects of Taunt and frenzy but his stats buff will certainly be higher than mine. Perfect chance for me to test out on whether I stand a chance against an opponent stronger than me. My success rate fighting against Tom depends on this outcome.
I summoned Inazuma with my right hand. John made a whistle to show that he was impressed. I guess it's time for me to be on aggressive end. I rushed towards John as fast as my feet could bring me. My base agility currently had hit the hundred mark. Using Imperfect Concentration should buff it to around 110. John should not be able to react that quickly.
I swung Inazuma using the blunt side to John's ribs. He managed to block it perfectly with his axe. To think that he reacted in time to block it. No matter, I will push my speed to the limits then! I started attacking him from all angles. He blocked as much as he could but eventually my hits were getting in. I ended up behind him and aimed for his neck. John reacted and swung his axe towards me. I thought that my blade will reach him first but his axe was coming at me with ludicrous speed. He must have shrunk his axe to the size of a hand axe or something.
I had no choice but to block his attack instead. As I recovered from the attack, I saw his axe flying towards me. I dodged it as fast as I could and expecting him to appear behind me but, John was nowhere to be seen. I quickly turned my head to the front and saw that he was swinging a punch at me. That fist of his is looking awfully huge right now!
Guess I have no choice then. "Rend!" I shouted as I called upon my purple ethereal cloak from another dimension. John's punch had impacted on my cloak as I used it to block. To think I actually flew backwards from the impact. Bloody hell, my cloak could completely nullify Lily's punch but John absurd strength was stronger than hers? He's definitely not pulling his punches, damn it!
"That cloak of yours is worst than punching a steel beam. You might have fractured my fist, brother," chuckled John as we flicked his wrist.
"Well, you were supposed to be pulling your punches," I smirked at him. I need to finish this fight in the next nine minutes or so.
John teleported to his axe to retrieve it. His right fist is looking pretty swollen right now. He's definitely gonna need some cooling gel later. Uh oh— why is he looking at me like that? He's looking really pissed off right now.
I readied myself for more of his tricks. John roared with fury. He must be using his Combat Fury spell as his body was starting to get redder. Blood circulation must be on full pump throughout his body right now. He is going to be tougher and stronger and not to mention Bloodlust must had strengthen that spell further. I hope I don't need to use my gauntlet or Inazuma's spells to beat John. I want to avoid hurting John any further if I can help it.
He charged at me enraged like a bull, delivering strikes that were extremely heavy. I had to use both hands to block all of his stuff out incoming strikes. I also need to take notice when he tosses his axe or enlarges it. This fight can end rather quickly when either of us slipped up. Among the interval of his strikes, I managed to get in some of my own on his body with Inazuma's blunt side. Even though it felt like I was doing no damage to him, I had to continuously make some form of contact on him.
In a sudden rage, John enlarged his axe to a ridiculous size and swung it towards my face. I prepared to block it with my gauntlets but his axe stopped short just before it reaches me.
I breath a sigh of relief. Inazuma's passive effect had finally taken place. After Kirin finally agreed to lend me some of his powers, one of it was to continuously shock the opponent whenever the blade touches any part of their body or weapon. John should be fighting against the electrical currents that are running throughout his body right now. This effect does not last long so I better take advantage of this moment. I placed Inazuma's blade on his neck and smirked at him while asking him to yield.
"STOP! We have a winner! Pii pii pii!!" shouted Lily as she simulated a whistle being blown.
I sat down on the ground panting as I waited for John to recover from the electrical shock. He too dropped to the ground after the effect was over.
"Ahh dammit. You're still stronger than all of us. And here I thought I'll be on par with you at the very least after training my ass off for four years," he sighed.
"What are you talking about? You nearly whooped my ass there. If you weren't holding back I will definitely be sliced by your axe. Damn thing is so unpredictable," I told him.
"Ah, well. There's a reason why I chose this axe in the first place. It helps me combat my low agility and being able to move around quickly helps me a lot in battle," he explained.
"True that. I might have won due to Inazuma's passive but if you were to shrink your axe during your first swing, I would had been dead," I laughed.
"Result is result, brother. Enjoy your date. Haha!" laughed John.
"Ohh— I'll enjoy alright. I will enjoy torturing those two ladies sitting there enjoying themselves with my harsh training later," I grinned with an evil laughter.
"Uh, brother? The look on your face is— terrifying," whispered John.
"Ladies, get down here so we can start your hellish training," I shouted at them.
"You can continue using the arena. It's been reserved for the week. I'll swing by once a while but I gotta go back to being a guildmaster. Lots of things to prepare for the war," he explained and took off.
***
"Alright. Seeing that Lily knows how to use Concentration, I'll start with Rose first. You need to grasp the basics to achieve Focused State of Mind," I said to Rose.
"Come on then, teach me bro," she grinned.
"Stop that. I'm being serious here. Now, I need you to focus on one thing and only one thing. Show me," I asked.
She closed her eyes and opened it a few seconds later. So far, her pupils looked good. No movement so far. Wait, scratch that. She moved her pupils.
"Rose. Focus yourself and don't think or look at something else," I explained.
"I— I'm trying. It's not easy," she sighed.
Hmm— guess I need to help her. I walked closer and placed my index finger on her temple.
"Focus on here then," I told her.
She closed her eyes again. Few seconds later, hang on, why is she protruding her mouth? I slammed my fist onto her head albeit not too hard.
"Geez, Rose! Be serious!" I shouted at her.
"Ok ok, I'm really trying my best here," she explained.
"Then show me. This is just the basics, Rose. You can grasp this, I'm sure you can," I told her.
At this point, Lily walked up to my side to see her training. Rose lifted my index finger and pressed it on her temple. She could had used her own but that's fine. Anything to get her to focus herself. She closed her eyes once again and opened them soon after. So far so good.
Wait, there's a slight movement in her eyes. I made a sigh without even realising it. Who knew that Rose would have difficulty focusing herself. And the Paladin Lord called her a prodigy. I guess even prodigies still need to learn from scratch.
"Rose, raise your index finger in front of your face and focus on it. I will move on to teach Lily. Continue to force yourself to focus, alright?" I said to Rose.
"O— okay," she stuttered.
I moved to another part of the arena with Lily so as to not disturb Rose. As we were walking towards the other section, we whispered softly to each other.
"What do you think? Something's not right," I whispered to Lily.
"I fear the worst. She seems to have difficulty in focusing her mind. It's like she keeps thinking of something and can't seems to focus herself," she explained.
"Well, let's hope that she can at least do that by the end of the day. Never thought someone would have such difficulty just to focus themselves," I sighed.
"Not everyone is a genius like you, Zen." she chuckled.
"H— hey, it didn't took you long to learn the basics either. Don't say it like I am the only one who could learn the basics so easily," I stuttered.
"Sure thing, Mister Genius~" she whispered directly into my ears.
Under normal circumstances, I would had grabbed and kissed her but I refrained myself. Now is not the time for romance.
"Alright Lily, learning the perfect version isn't gonna be easy. I won't hold back to make sure you learn it by this week," I said as I readied myself.
"Bring it on, Genius Boy," she smirked with a fu fu.
"Stop calling me that," I retaliated.
***
I lost track of time. It wasn't easy but Lily actually managed to learn the perfect version within the day. And they call me a genius. It took me three days to learn it even with Peter's guidance. Lily said my teaching method was really easy to grasp but it was exact same method as what Peter had taught me. Never think too highly of yourself is what I always reminded myself.
Now, let's check up on Rose. Hopefully she is able to grasp the basics by now so I can teach her more tomorrow as it was late evening now. As I approach closer to her, I can see that she was sweating massively from her forehead. Alright, she really is serious now. Hopefully she figured out how to focus herself.
"Alright Rose, show me the fruits of your training," I gestured her.
And she did. Few seconds passed and it's starting to look good. No, wait, her pupil moved ever so slightly.
"Rose, you're still not focusing," I stared at her with a concerned look.
"I— I know! I am trying my hardest just to concentrate on one thing. But— my brain just doesn't seems to work that way!" shouted Rose as she looked like she's on the verge of tears.
I can tell that she was not lying. There is no way you can fool around and cause yourself to sweat this much. And she was certainly taking it seriously.
"Rose, what do you really think when you're in combat? Do you focus on your opponent or do you take notice of your surroundings?" I asked her.
"In combat? I focus on many things, honestly. Like what advantage I can use, what are the condition of my surroundings that can benefit me, what's the opponent's next move, what is my counter if my opponent does this or that, what spell can I use that would benefit me at which moment, what is my opponent's weak point and my chance of winning the fight if I managed to injure my opponent. Just to name a few, I guess," said Rose.
Both Lily and I opened our jaws. There is something that I need to clarify with Rose first.
"Rose, what you just explained, is that over the course of the battle or?" I asked her with genuine curiosity.
"Huh? Just in the moment, I guess. My brain is always thinking about unexpected things," she said as she put on a thinking face.
"Oh dear— Umm, Rose? I hate to break it to you but— you might be one of the few adventurers that may not be able to learn Concentration," I sighed.
"W— what are you saying? I can focus myself. Just give me a few more hours and I'll grasp it," she said.
"Rose, it shouldn't take someone this long to learn the first step. I'm sure even you realised it by now," I explained.
"I— I can do it. Just give me more time," she shivered in her tone.
"Rose—" I tried to stop her.
"I can do it! Please!" she shouted.
I placed my middle and index finger on her forehead. I needed her to focus as we do not have much time to learn on things that doesn't bear fruit. She needed to learn something else instead of something she couldn't. After she calmed herself, I petted her head as I tried to explain to her.
"I can be useful, Onii-chan. Please, don't push me away," she started to sob.
"Rose, I am not pushing you away. Your talent lies somewhere else. I don't want you to waste time learning something that you have such difficulty in," I explained to her.
"What else can I improve myself? Who else can teach me something that even I don't know what I can improve on? My growth is stunted right now. Prodigy my fucking arse. I can't even grasp the basic of Concentration," she started crying.
"No, Rose. You are a prodigy to me. You're the only person I know that was able to learn dual casting on their own. I truly believe your talent lies elsewhere. That i9 quadruple core of yours can definitely do things that neither Lily nor I can do. On that, I have my utmost faith," I petted her head.
"W— what?" she stared at me with a confused face.
"N— never mind. Maybe you can seek for the Paladin Lord for guidance. Hopefully he can advise you on what you can improve yourself in. As of now, I don't think I'm the right teacher to guide you. I'm so sorry, Rose," I tried my best to comfort her.
Rose drooped her head and headed out of the training area. A big part of me wishes to run up and hug her but doing so might not push her to learn something new by herself. I am certainly not the right teacher to guide her as she is so different than Lily and I. She need to find her own path by herself.
***
There was a knock on my door when it was already close to midnight. Who could it be? Hopefully it's not some bad news related to the upcoming war. Better check who is it.
"Rose Starr, how can I help you? It's rare for you to be looking for me at this hour," I called out to her after I opening the door.
"Sorry for disturbing you so late, Ojii-sama. I'm hoping you can lend me your ears and a bit of your time, if you would allow me," she bowed to me. I sense distraught in her tone and a hint of sadness. Something must be going on.
Rose is the only one who calls me that. While to the other guildmasters it might sound disrespectful, I was the one who gave her permission to address me as such. She is my prized pupil of the Light Guild, giving her some leeway is nothing compared to what she had accomplished for the guild. Call me bias but sometimes you need to recognise people for the things they did for the guild, especially if it's vital.
"Of course, of course. I'm all ears. Come in, speak as you like," I gestured her to come in.
She began with her story about how she was having difficulty in focusing her mind on a single thing. There's always something distracting her from focusing on a specific object alone. She said that her brother doesn't know what else to teach her and told her that she needed to find someone more suitable to guide her instead. But she have no idea on what else she could even improving herself in.
I proceeded to ask her about what she had been training herself in for the past few years. She kept quiet but eventually confessed that she had secretly been learned how to dual cast spells by criss-crossing the words during chanting.
What an achievement was what I would like to tell her but I kept quiet until she finishes her story. She stopped her story after mentioning that she had honed all her techniques and skills to the best of her ability and that she had nothing more within her knowledge to improve on.
I gave some thoughts before speaking to her. I can see very well that she's deeply hurt and in an emotional state having learned that she's not able to use Focused State of Mind. She might not even be able to use any State of Mind for that matter. However, it is never the end of the world if one could not learn it. Especially if you're in the Light guild.
I clapped my hands to surprise her. Compliments are what she needed right now.
"First of all, congratulations in learning how to dual cast on your own. Not to mention, just within four years. I'm certainly not mistaken in calling you a prodigy," I told her.
"Um– Thank you? But I'm certain that there are other people who can perform dual casting. I'm fairly certain I'm not the only one in this world who can do this," she looked confused.
"On that, you're right. However, there was only two person in this world that I know who managed to learn dual casting. The first who discovered it was none other than Ivy Moonshine. She spent decades if not centuries until she was able to learn it herself," I spoke to her while I walked towards my special hidden chest.
"The second person that I knew was Jack Hawthorn. He was a legend, being able to learn dual casting as well as achieving Higher State of Mind before he perished at such a young age. But it was Ivy who taught him on how to dual cast. But you, on the other hand, achieved the impossible by yourself," I explained to her while searching for one of my prized possession in my chest.
Rose kept quiet as she listened to me. It looks like her mood is getting better after hearing what I explained. Time to wrap things up.
"The trouble about Jack, is that he didn't know what he needed to focus on. Whether it was in spell casting or using State of Mind, he was never able to perfect any of them. You, on the other hand, have only one option. Are you ready to take on the challenge, Rose Starr?" I asked as I handed her a book.
Her face lit up upon glimpsing at the title. She stared at me with a curious look.
"As the Paladin Lord, I am technically not allowed to let anyone to discover about the existence about this book. However, you are my prized pupil after all. Consider this an exception. I'm not able to teach you on what or which item you can learn inside here, but I have my utmost faith that you will be able to accomplish the impossible. Are you ready to become stronger than your brother and perhaps become a legend among the adventurers?" I asked her.
She stood up while hugging the book. She bowed and gave me her most sincere gratitude. I smiled and waved her good night. I am certainly curious as to what she can accomplish with that book. I am certain she will put it to good use. A special book that's been brought down by all the previous Paladin Lords. A book of forbidden spells.