It felt odd having leveled up a swordart but i didn't mind it that much.
"So...I should probably try testing out Shining Starlight again"
I remembered only being able to do the first movement, but i never tested out the other movements.
From what I remembered, each level equaled to one available movement, so each swordart had 36 different movements.
I made this rule so it's impossible for someone to use a movement that wasn't at their level.
But....It was impossible for anyone to get to level 10 with how hard it was to even level a swordart up.
The proof was what Sora said about finally leveling "Shining Starlight" up.
"...S, try using the 2nd movement now! I bet it would be so cool!!"
I averted my eyes away awkwardly as Soraya spoke, excitement in her soft voice.
"Sure?"
I quickly decided to absorb the light mana in the air before activating the hologram again.
I didnt want to tire myself out again by defending while absorbing mana at the same time.
I could feel sweat drop down my forehead and cheeks as i kept absorbing mana.
Was simply absorbing too much mana in a single day this easy?
I expected myself to feel tired the first time I tried it, but surprisingly i only felt a bit tired the second time i did it in one day.
I slowly opened my mouth to speak.
"..Activate Training."
I already made the default hologram be the same Rank as me so I didnt have to do all that manual work again.
I pressed the "Yes" button again before seeing a hologram appear in front of me.
I sighed and tightened my grip on my knife as i got ready to activate the second movement of my swordart.
Swordart "Shining Starlight". Grade 3
Second movement: Glimmering Gleam
As I glanced at the mirrors again, my hair was shining even brighter as i noticed my knife was reflecting the light from my body onto the wall, the tips of my hair turning blue from the heat.
My eyes oddly got duller as my eyes were les saturated.
I could see some of the light coming out of my body getting even brighter, even i almost got blinded.
"...It didn't change that much though...."
It was...disapointing, to say the least.
Though i did feel more powerful, it was just barely, I didn't actually get physically stronger.
And it felt a bit harder to breath now as i felt my chest tighten.
All i did was get brighter, and it got slightly harder to breath, thats it.
Glancing at the hologram, their eyes immediately started watering, almost as if they couldnt blink.
The two souls also seemed to look out of it, almost like they couldnt see a thing.
'....I should test higher ranks than this...'
I quickly switched the hologram rank from E+ to C, just to see what would happen if a C rank got exposed to my swordart.
A new hologram appeared, and as they looked at me, they barely got bothered by the light as they immediately attacked me.
"GH-"
I managed to slide to the left just in time.
,---------------------------,
-WARNING!!-
Training dummy rank is higher than yours.
Stop training?
--> Yes
--> No
`--------------------------'
I quickly pressed the "Yes" button right before the hologram could attack me again.
"Fuck.....I don't think i could ever think of challenging a C rank..."
Feeling my mana deplet quickly, I turned off the swordart and i suddenly felt like I could breath much easier as my chest lightened up.
Beads of sweat dropped down my cheeks, trying to catch my breath when i felt a few drops of an odd red liquid drop to the ground under me.
...Wait...R..Red...
...Was I bleeding?
As I put my hand up to my nose, i could feel a warm liquid fall down my nose
"...Damn lt....."
"S! Are you okay?!"
Soraya quickly flew to me, seemingly having recovered quicker than Sora as she tried to see what was going on.
I felt my vision blur as I got a bit dizzy.
"Uh.....I'm..Fine.."
I quickly pretended everything was alright as i stood up straight, leaving the training room so I could head to the bathroom.
"....How..."
***
Disappointment.
That's what Sora felt at that moment.
'An unknown stranger possessed my body...pretended to be me...is using my house freely...'
She felt her chest tighten as her hands were shaking slightly.
'...That same stranger....used the swordarts i worked so hard on leveling up for years....So easily....'
Disappointment in her abilities crashed down at her.
'Why...Why am i so fucking useless'
Although she wanted to cry, no tears came out.
This was the consequence of being a soul with no physical body.
The inability of being able to cry or show deep emotions no matter how much they want to.
'I hate being born this way...the fact a stupid stranger got better at my swordarts and skills than I ever could just means one thing...'
'....i'm cursed with being weak, I can't even blame my physical health for this now.'
She didn't even notice "S" having blood fall down her nose as she kept looking at the ground.
'..S...What type of name is that? I may be stupid but it's clear as day that she's hiding something from me and Soraya, the fact all of our names start with the exact same letter is even more suspicious'
She felt as cold as she always did when she suddenly turned into a soul back then
'...What ls she hiding from us?'
As "S" left the training grounds, Sora was forced to be forcefully thrown to the strangers shoulder.
She finally noticed the blood...but all she felt was disgust towards this person.
'Someone...Who is clearly hiding their identity, is somehow better at the skills i've been working on for my entire life in just a few weeks...'
Her throat tightened up as she felt utter hatred towards "S".
'.....Am i doing something wrong? How can i just get over the fact she basically stole my body without even asking me how i'm feeling..'
Her body felt completely cold, it was like this ever since she turned into a soul.
No matter how much she wanted to yell insults at this stranger, she couldn't.
She didnt know what this person could do, it was the main reason she acted like a dumb and arrogant brat infront of them.
As she glanced at the persons neck, she felt herself wanting to strangle it.
'If...if she dies, i might be able to possess my body and gain back control...'
This was her body. Her physical body that she was born with.
Having someone steal it and pretend like everything's fine while being better at everything than her was like pouring plenty of salt onto her wound.
It was painful.
And she couldn't do a thing.
She already tried using skills and swordarts while "S" was asleep, but she couldnt even touch the mana in the air.
This feeling felt suffocating.
***
Glancing at Sora, Soraya felt a bit confused and, honestly, a bit afraid.
'I was just doing my college homework...Then I woke up as a smaller and semi-transparent version of me, stuck to this person who's called "S"...'
She didn't know anything about the world, and her shy personality didn't help at all as she had to rely on Sora to know more about this world.
'The currency for this world, Dirham....Why are they using my countries currency in this new city? Although i'm glad that they are using morroco's, my country's, currency, it feels odd..'
Confusion was all she felt when she first appeared here, in a world where she didn't know anything.
It was weird enough that the currency used was Morrocan currency, seeing as Soraya herself was Morrocan.
Now this world had magic and powers? Advanced technology but with still a modern look to everything?
This was....uncomfortable.
A new place she didn't know anything about, around people she barely knew but was sure that they were hiding secrets.
All she could do was just observe as she learned any information from whenever "S" would ask questions about this world, trying to understand everything better.
Although Sora may not have noticed it, the black haired soul could quickly notice how "S" only seemed to ask questions she may have already knew the answer of.
The fact she keeps asking questions and never looked surprised nor did she question anything was...weird.
It was suspicious, especially the way she already knew how to absorb mana easily and how to use skills from the first try.
She never seemed to hesitate anytime she uses her skills, only seeming to struggle whenever she was training with the dummy.
It wasn't normal behavior, neither from someone who never used magic before nor from someone who often used magic their entire life.
'....I need to observe her a little more, she doesn't even seem to question how quiet i am and even looks at me like I remind her of someone from the past..'
'....She is extremely suspicious.'
...
'....I miss my friends....'
***
As I quickly bent over the sink, i took a quick glance at myself in the mirror.
My hair looked a bit messy, and maybe a bit burned too if i looked closely.
My eyes looked tired as blood kept running down my nose.
I quickly rinsing off the blood from my face, but it kept bleeding.
A clot of blood fell down, it looked a bit disgusting to be honest, and I tried not to show any fear as i kept trying to rince off the blood.
Truth is, i had a small fear of blood, but I never wanted to admit that to anyone.
I kept trying to calm myself down as I kept getting rid of the crimson liquid.
A few minutes later, my nose finally stopped bleeding.
"Hah....ugh...i'm guessing this was a side effect from being weak?"
I managed to mutter under my breath as I took deep breaths.
As I glanced at the two souls next to me, they didnt seem weird to me.
Sora kept looking like an arrogant brat while Soraya stayed as quiet as always.
I didn't find anything odd and...I didn't really care about them anyways.
I didn't need them that much, in fact, Sora is only useful as an info dumper while Soraya is just there for emotional support.
Although Soraya may be real as she's the past version of me, Sora might as well just be a background character of a bad novel I wrote.
She's not exactly pleasant to be around from what I could tell.
But alas, i'm forced to be around her since she's stuck to me, like Soraya.
This situation is really giving me a headache, i dont even want to be here and i really don't like either of these two souls.
Soraya, although she's more acceptable to be around, she's a bit...boring.
Was this why i didnt have that many friends back in college? I sort of understood them now that I grew up and could see myself from an outsiders perspective.
...Thinking about it, how weak was Sora anyways?
She did mention something about trying to get to level 2 of "Shining Starlight" for her entire life...but I managed to do it easily.
How weak can someone be for an unexperienced person like me to get to level 2 so easily?
She must not have been as rich as she claimed.
As expected of an arrogant brat, lying to sound better than how she actually is...
I decided to just head back to my room to rest as using the 2nd movement of the swordart did tire me out quite a lot, with the nose bleeding as proof of it.
As I walked towards my room, I could still feel something watching my every move.
It felt like a stalker was watching me...but I didn't sense anyone else in the house.
...Maybe it was just my imagination.