"I can't have my cake and eat it too, I guess," Raiden thought. "The system is useful, but it handles a lot of things. It gave me the chance to survive, so I can't complain."
While Raiden was thinking about that and watching Javier and Ruth sparring in his backyard, he felt a presence, and when he turned to the side, he saw Iri spying on them. She tends to do that on her day off… her spying skills could use some work.
"I guess she wants to help, but she would feel embarrassed by suddenly jumping in," Raiden thought while acting as if he hadn't noticed her. "Still, she is definitely stronger than me… wouldn't help me train a lot, and I also would be able to see what the difference is between those who reached level four of the training and those who didn't."
That seemed like the best option, but Raiden didn't like the idea of getting something out of someone without offering something in exchange. Speaking of which, he felt that he was helping in the house enough by making the food and doing some cleaning, but Harth does most of that… he had to do something to feel less like a burden.
"... You guys are doing well now, but you will need to do some strength and resistance training in order to pass the next test," Raiden suddenly declared. "Instead of coming here in the morning and in the afternoon, we spar together for one hour after lunch. You can use that time in the morning to solve the other issue."
"Can't we just do that here?" Javier asked. "I don't think that I can be that diligent by myself."
"That is just another reason to do so," Raiden shrugged. "If you don't do it and fail the test, we will know that you can't blame anyone for that failure."
"Only strength training?" Ruth asked. "I don't particularly want to become as big as a guy."
"Work on your strengths and try to make sure that no one will be able to exploit your weakness," Raiden explained.
The following day, Raiden woke up as usual, and then, after checking his plants, he began to train by himself. It didn't take long for a sleepy Iri to show up, but she soon woke up when she realized that Raiden was alone and then approached in a hurry.
"Are you alone today? What happened? Are your friends sick or something?" Iri asked.
"We are doing separate training in order to improve their diligence," Raiden explained. "Can you help me train for a bit? The other kids aren't strong enough to make me drop my weapons."
"Hoh, do you think you can keep up with me?" Iri asked while showing a confident smile. "Modesty aside, I am one of the best students that graduated in the last five years."
"That mind of self-assuring attitude is probably why Harth is so against letting you go on some missions," Raiden scratched the back of his head.
"There is nothing wrong in being confident in one's training and skills!" Iri protested. "Anyway, I will grab my knife. Since it will be sheathed, it will be fine for even training."
Raiden nodded, but Iri left before she could see that running like the wind. Raiden didn't know how he could repay her for the help, but he could think about that later. Or he could get stronger faster and make sure that she will have a decent opponent to spar against it when she is at home. Harth was too busy even on his days off to help her with that, and the difference in strength was probably too great.
Raiden recalled that he heard that the difference in strength increased in the higher levels of the towers of mastery. He also heard that a single graduate could face five fifteen-year-old students without breaking a sweat. He could tell that he had a long path ahead of him before he could reach that level.
In any case, Iri soon returned, already wearing her Gi for training and with her sheathed knife. Knowing her, Raiden thought that she would shout all around that she could use magic and use a sword as well. Still, she knew better than trying to master a sword would be harder while learning magic, so she settled for a knife.
"You can attack me whatever you want," Iri said. "I will only counterattack once every ten strikes."
Iri was getting carried away again, or maybe Raiden was the one thinking that he was at her level… he could level up a few times and then try to make things even. Still, he decided to see what could happen as he was now.
Raiden stepped in and launched a barrage of thrust attacks toward Iri. He didn't put much weight behind them, but Iri still easily and quickly sidestepped them while parrying them at the same time.
While Raiden could tell that she was planning to make him finish all the motions of the attacks, he still pulled them fast enough to avoid her chances of counterattacking. Still, on the tenth thrust, she suddenly grabbed the spear with a single hand and prevented that before stepping on him and hitting his forehead with a flick.
"... If it were a real spear, you would have messed up your hands," Raiden said while ignoring his forehead getting a bit red.
"You are right, but it isn't," Iri shrugged.
Putting that aside, Iri was really fast. She moved with the speed of the wind and with the fluidity of a river's water. There was no wasted movement or lack of skill with her.
"All right, let's try again and see if you learned something out of this," Iri said and then stepped backward.
Raiden definitely did; he wasn't planning to make full by falling for the same trick. In any case, he resumed the sparring with a barrage of thrusts once again, and this time, he put all his strength behind it. Iri was surprised to sense that her parries weren't going the way she wanted because of the extra strength that Raiden put in. Still, she lowered her stance and made her position defense get firmer… she began to parry the thrusts just like before, but on the last bit, Raiden changed the thrust to a sweeping strike.
Iri reached in time to block the attack, but when she tried to step in to hit Raiden again, she ended up colliding her chin against his forehead. He had stepped in as well all of a sudden.
"I didn't think that there are headbutt attacks when one uses a spear," Iri said while checking her chin.
Although she was supposed to be the one to suffer the most damage, Raiden was the one who had his forehead throbbing, her chin causing more damage than her forehead flick.
"... You did something to make your chin harder," Raiden suddenly said after thinking for a while.
"I didn't; anyone from my age has this much defense," Iri shrugged. "In fact, I think that my defense is weaker than the others since I use magic. Anyway, this isn't something you need to worry about. You will learn in time if you follow this path."
As expected, there was something that the martial artists could learn after spending several years training hard… Raiden couldn't pinpoint what, though, since he couldn't feel anything around Iri. Maybe he should improve his Perception or Wisdom to get some hints.
Although Raiden tried really hard, he failed at knocking Iri. Actually, he failed to even land a clean hit on her. That was more than just a little bit unnerving, but at least Raiden had a good reason to train harder… he couldn't even win any aspect against a little fifteen-year-old girl.
At the same time, Raiden began to train with her every day for one hour, and it didn't take long for him to see some results. Before, he could overpower the other kids in his level, but now he could use the skill as well to stop their attacks and hit their hands, making them drop their weapons. As much fun as it was to hit their weapons and make them drop just like that, being more skilled was also pretty rewarding.
"You are getting better… it looks like we were holding you back," Javier said once Raiden finished sparring with another kid.