By the time I got back, the sun was already starting to rise and my hatred of bureaucrats had started to extend to local law enforcement.
Sure, I may have demolished a portion of a pretty affluent neighbourhood. And sure, I may have subverted their authority by going over their heads and dealing with everything behind their backs. But did the Ganesha lot really need to drag their Captain out of bed to 'talk' with me for two straight hours?
And that was on top of Ais trying to her level best to 'not' interrogate me, while Athena snuck away at some point with her Vice-Captain's body, not having spoken a word to anyone but the Ganesha lot questioning her.
In short, it was a long night and I had been left torn between taking out my frustrations on an endless swarm of monsters, or heading back to talk with Hestia. Given that I'd somewhat ran off without telling her my plans, the latter was probably the better option here. Though I will admit that I had to sway myself a little with the idea of a potential Falna update.
So I made my way back to the strangely quiet church, devoid of the typical screams of children and walked downstairs to find Hestia sleeping beside a few long extinguished candles. So, after stripping off my armour and replacing my bloody clothes as quietly as I could, I made myself comfortable on what little furniture we had.
Resting… waiting however didn't really suit me, so I found myself playing around with my spells in the meanwhile, slowly stripping away useless components as I waited for Hestia to wake up. There were a lot of reasons as to why I'd normally spend all my nights in the dungeon, but one of them was certainly the sense of disconnection you feel being one of the few waking beings around.
It was… an hour later? When Hestia's groan as she greeted the morning snapped me out of my trance. "Hmmmm~!" Leaving me staring at her amusedly as her bright blue eyes blinked awake and blearily registered the body sitting opposite her. Predictably, she screamed and flailed back out of bed. "AIYAAHHH!"
Her pyjamas were cute.
"E-E-Elric!" She stuttered as popped back up from the floor, pointing at me accusingly.
"Morning."
"Don't morning me!" She screeched, before realisation seemed to dawn on her along with a blush. "Were you… w-were you watching me sleep!?"
"Yes." I lied.
"O-Oh…" She trailed off, seeming not to know how to process that. "-Wait! You're lying!"
"Am I? I did see you while you were sleeping."
"Yes- wait, I'm confused…" She trailed off and pouted at me as I started chuckling. "Mou… What are you even doing here? I thought-" Realisation dawned and I could almost see her recall the last moment we'd seen each other, where I -expertly- ran off without explaining anything. "You ran off! And you know Athena!?"
"Yes." I kept my answer brief, mostly to mess with her. Watching her puff up and straddle the bed to close the gap between us was pretty cute.
"Y-You!" She uttered as she got closer. Until finally she -in a move that surprised even me- hopped across the space between the bed and chair and latched onto me in a hug. "…I'm glad you're safe."
I froze in surprise for a brief moment before slowly returning the hug, an unbidden smile coming to my face. "You didn't need to worry, I went with backup."
"Baka…" She grumbled, making herself comfortable in my lap. And for once, I resisted the urge to call her a weeb.
"Sorry. For making you worry." I clarified as she blinked up at me like I was an alien lifeform. "I got a little caught up in the moment, ran off without really explaining anything."
"You did, but… I'll forgive you." She said, smiling sunnily up at me, eyes bright and carefree. "I'm a magnanimous Goddess after all!"
In response I gave her my now customary response to her smugness, though I had to clap behind her back since I was somewhat supporting her weight there. "Sasuga Hestia-sama." I even stooped so low as to speak the dreaded weeb tongue with a smile.
"Ehe~" She beamed. "Now, tell me everything- no wait, show me instead!"
"You want me to strip right now?"
She blinked, looked down at where she was sitting, and looked to the side in heavy contemplation. "Five- no ten minutes of cuddling! It's my condition for forgiving you!"
"I'm pretty sure you already forgave me, but…" I trailed off in the face of her pout and smiled. "Sure."
She made happy Hestia noises as I settled back in the chair, burrowing herself into my lap probably to try and use me as a replacement for her blanket. Idle small talk passed the time quickly, though notably I did find myself held at poke point at one point and extorted out of some of the breakfast I kept in my inventory.
Shortly enough though, I found myself lying on my front as Hestia sat on me, hands trailing over my body.
"No new scars…" She whispered. I was pretty sure that was just an excuse to feel me up given that my potions hadn't left any scars yet, but I was feeling generous so I let her have her fun.
"Alright, are you ready Elric-kun?" She asked and I nodded, before the feeling of something dropping onto my very soul sent a familiar shiver down my body and I had to restrain myself from gripping the bedframe.
Even a light exertion would snap the wood given my strength.
Hestia didn't show such restraint as her fingers dug in but failed to find purchase in my back; a fairly normal reaction whenever she peered into my Excelia, my experiences. Which probably wasn't the best indicator of what she was seeing in there, but we were both used to it by now… probably.
It's not like I could stop or slow down at this point anyway.
Even without a potential apocalypse looming, I'd made too many waves in Orario at this point. The Gods were slow to act, but eventually one of them would get it in their heads that they could war game me and Hestia.
The best refuge now was in audacity, to outlevel any potential challenge.
"Huuu…" Hestia breathed out dramatically as she sagged against my back. "Answer me honestly; Athena told you where to find that guy right?"
"You mean the fucker I fought last night? Yeah."
She inhaled sharply at my words, pulling herself up to her full, miniscule height as her eyes burned with anger. "ThatBITCH! Mou, I'm gunna beat her up when I see her next! How dare she set you off on some dangerous quest!"
"I mean, it was more mutual than that." I clarified.
"Shaddup! I don't want to hear it." Hestia demanded with a pout. "Just let me be mad at her!"
I considered it for a moment before ultimately deciding to leave her to it, she'd run out of steam eventually. And, as expected, she eventually wound down from her ranting and shimmying. Though given that she did all this on my back, the temptation to throw her off was everpresent.
"Calm, I'm calm." She said, sounding rather uncalm. "…Now, you have one of those perk thingies; tell me where."
"Restoration." I shot back simply enough. If Judith did actually wind up joining the Familia, I'd have two bodies to practice on and another source of healing is never a bad thing, especially with the expedition coming up.
"More magic… healing…" Hestia mumbled to herself as I braced for the perk, feeling the mental construct almost unfold into existence in my mind, the first spells ready and waiting for me.
Healing, Lesser Ward and Restore Fatigue all appeared in my mind's eye, ready to be memorised and integrated, yet it was the deeper knowledge that gave me pause. Something about the spells further down the path felt off to me, like some part of me was recognising their importance.
Weird, but I'd trust my gut.
"Done!" The Goddess squatting on my back announced, apparently having recovered from her temper. "Now, bare witness!"
Despite the grandness of the proclamation, what came next was just the rather familiar sensation of a wet sheet being dragged over my soul, alongside the same old ass tingling that always came with it. And then, a strangely dry sheet was slapped down in front of me for my viewing convenience.
⋅☾ ☽⋅ •
Elric Carne
Lvl 2
Str - I 039
Vit - I 036
Dex - I 052
Agl - I 052
Mag - I 047
Developmental Abilities:
Mage I, Swordsman
Magic:
[Yol] The wielder's soul burns with Hearthflame, a connection is carried to the Flame of Heaven.
Skills:
[Qahnaarin] The bearer's existence in this world is a miracle, their steps an impossibility; they face this new world with the stars' guidance written into their soul. (0)
Alchemy – 65
Alchemist 4, Physician, Benefactor
Alteration – 37
Novice Alteration, Apprentice Alteration, Magic Resistance 1
Archery – 34
-
Block – 60
Shield Wall 3, Quick Reflexes
Destruction – 35
Novice Destruction
Enchanting – 15
Enchanter 1
Light Armour – 71
Agile Defender 3, Custom Fit, Unhindered, Wind Walker
Lockpicking – 43
-
One-Handed – 78
Armsman 4, Dual Flurry 2
Restoration – 15
Novice Restoration
Smithing – 64
Steel Smithing, Elven Smithing, Advanced Smithing, Arcane Blacksmith
Sneak – 57
-
Speech – 45
-
[Hungaar Heyv] While fighting in defense of others, agility increases significantly. Furthermore, the user can sense when others are in danger.
[Golahtuz] Grip strength and Dexterity increase greatly while wielding a sword, additionally the user is temporarily able to use the development ability Swordsman. The effects of this ability are dependent on the user's level.
• ⋅☾ ☽⋅ •
And just like that, I understood her need to grandstand; a brand new skill for swordsmanship? Hell, even the lingering feelings around that fight may as well have just vanished. Thank you Vice-Captain Dickhead, your sacrifice for the cause will be remembered by exactly no one, but you did get me the Swordsman DA and that's worth its weight in gold.
"That's a lot of stats for a day…" I commented, mentally weighing all the encounters I'd had since yesterday. "And the skill, grip strength huh?" My mind immediately went to the Mass Sword and the potential ramifications on that technique. It almost made the nigh permanent boost to Dexterity an afterthought for me, and that was my favourite stat.
I'd need to experiment to see how far I could take these buffs, preferably without the increased mass I could handle yanking my arm out of its socket instead.
"Yeah, I wonder why…" Hestia said dryly, leaning down to side eye me while completely coincidentally pressing her cleavage into my bare back. "It's almost like you tried to get yourself killed again, Elric-kun."
"Well, since it got me a new skill I should probably keep doing that right?" That was apparently not the right response, as Hestia's side eye was starting to turn rather murderous. Thus, I decided to drop the distraction bomb I'd been keeping just for a moment like this. "Before you do anything, I probably stole you a new child."
"A new… Eeh?" As predictable as the sun, Hestia mildly freaked out. "W-Wait, stole? You stole them!?"
"Judith asked to join from Loki."
"That redheaded-" She cut herself off and whipped around in thought, her expression quickly turning intense. "-But it's our chance to get one over on… Loki. B-But…"
It was like taking candy from a toddler, though I probably should have waited until she got off me first.
Ah well.
-
After finally escaping Hestia's thighs, I stayed around the church for a few hours to get started on Restoration. And since the basic healing spell actually needed something to heal, that came with a touch of bloodletting once I managed to get things running. Honestly, pain that minute was kind of a distant afterthought at this point, to the point that the spell itself was substantially more annoying to me as it fought my attempts to get it to work.
Still, that meant that I was actually home when Judith spontaneously showed up at the church, looking both exhausted and nervous as she trooped in with all her worldly belongings slung over her shoulder. Which, given all the shit that happened with Lili and Haruhime in the source material, I wasn't exactly expecting.
What I was expecting was for Judith's transfer to come down to some kind of hostile negotiation. A tense standoff where we bartered over a human being in a way that probably would have soured my perception of the Loki Familia as a whole even further.
Also the meeting would have been in a strip club based on prior experiences.
Instead it was barely a fuss.
The only consequence as far as Judith explained it, was that she owed a fairly reasonable leaving fee to cover her training expenses under the Familia. Which was probably a bit inflated for the inconvenience, but it was still honestly peanuts in comparison to sniping a pretty talented Familia member, and…
"Take what you need." I grinned lazily into the look Judith was shooting back at me. It was a complicated look, but it mainly conveyed how insane she thought I was.
"Why? No wait, how?" Judith uttered, looking back and forth between me and my closet full of overpriced rocks.
Like I said, peanuts. I grinded around the clock, and I had better pick up efficiency compared to every other adventurer on account of my inventory. I also had basically no overhead on account of me making my own potions, weapons and armour.
In short, I was richer than I had any right to be at this point.
Honestly it was so simple that I had a sneaking suspicion that the Loki lot were either trying to butter me up, or they were expecting her to spy on me.
"With extreme skill and violence." I nodded proudly, yet she just continued to give me the thousand mile stare.
"Don't bother trying to understand it." Hestia spoke up sounding oddly commiserating, laying a hand on Judith's shoulder in support. Which was odd because up until this point she'd barely been able to keep herself from glaring territorially at the redhead. "He doesn't know what common sense is."
"Sure, believe what you like." I shook my head. "Judith, you're coming to our Familia, it's only right we pay for those costs. So again, take what you need. I'll be upstairs if you need me."
"A-Ah, sure…" Judith uttered, though her eyes were now flickering between the pile of magic stones, me, and my midget Goddess who suddenly looked a lot less reassuring, and a lot more threatening.
So I shot Hestia a thumbs up and she grinned back at me. We'd brainstormed some of the less obvious questions to ask people when they join earlier. And while I doubted it would keep her from asking Judith weird things, it would at least focus some of her energy away from that.
Plus we really did need to check for spies. It's only paranoia if they're not out to get you.
"Well, have fun you two." And with that, I winked at the still shellshocked Judith and got out of there before anything could happen. It would be pretty bad form as a new Captain to stay in the room while my new hire was stripping for a Falna update.
That's pretty much exactly what HR was intended to prevent.
-
"You alright?" I stopped playing with my mentally constructed spell and opened my eyes as Judith staggered into the room, a sheet in her hand as she made her way over to me, looking done with life.
"…Your Goddess is fucking weird." She groaned, collapsing into a chair beside me.
"Yeah, there are no exceptions to that particular rule."
"Wha… oh that, yeah." She sighed.
Shaking my head, I asked. "She didn't ask you anything too invasive did she?"
Judith looked up at me with a long stare. "What do you think?"
"Shit, sorry that was a bit off script."
"It's fine." She waved me off lazily. "Trust is earned and all that. Just…"
She trailed off as Hestia skipped out of the same passageway, smirked an almost catlike smirk at Judith and then skipped away. "Going to go see the kids!" She announced as she left.
"Huh." Me and Judith glanced at each other, unsure of what to make of that, before I shook my head.
"Uh, just help me get stronger, yeah?" The redhead picked up where she left off.
"Sure." She smiled at that, and passed the sheet of paper she was holding over to me.
⋅☾ ☽⋅ •
Judith
Lvl 1
Str - H 179
Vit - H 153
Dex - H 118
Agl - H 134
Mag - I 000
Magic:
Skills:
• ⋅☾ ☽⋅ •
I raised my eye at the trust, but mostly turned my attention to the stats themselves. From what I recall, this is a bit above where I was at while running around the seventh floor? Though that isn't exactly comparable given the boosts I got even back then from my Skill.
No Skills, but that was to be expected, compared to me most people garnered Skills slowly throughout their multi-decade long careers. In comparison I was quite the nuclear case, which was a strong indicator that my strats were actually paying off. Which did make the attention grind all the more important.
Goliath my beloved, wait for me.
"Seventh or eighth floor?" I asked, trying to get a clearer picture of what I was working with.
"Seventh, still." She admitted, stopping herself from clenching her hand.
I hummed, recalling her brief fight in the warehouse, trying to narrow down what we could work on. Stats were obvious, as was gear and just tossing her into dangerous fights, but first I wanted to make sure she had a more solid foundation skill wise. To put it bluntly she was a rather rigid fighter who tried to throw the heaviest strike she could at every opportunity, two traits that made her pretty damn predictable.
"We'll start there." I declared suddenly, standing and grinning down at my new victim.
"Huh?"
But first, I'd have to stuff a stamina potion down her throat, she showed up looking exhausted and the interrogation clearly hadn't helped. I could probably get her to drink it without knowing exactly what it was right?
-
After Judith had 'recovered' we made our way to our new 'training field', which was really just the old road that used to cut through this area, but sometimes you have to make do with what you have. It's not like you fight on completely even terrain in the dungeon anyway.
To make things slightly more fair, I was repeatedly casting the strongest Burden I could on my body alone and wielding one of my older swords. The Burden to slow me down while not really putting much more mass behind my strikes, and the sword because I was pretty sure the mythril edge on my latest blade would cut through the steel Judith was using like butter.
Maybe I should start doing this in the dungeon to train Strength? Food for thought.
"You ready?"
"Uh yeah- wait what was in that potion you gave me, I feel…" Judith trailed off uncertainly, looking far more energetic than she did before.
"Drugs, now come on." I would have to explain later, but for now this was funnier.
"Wha-" Her words died in her throat as I took the opportunity to close the gap, limiting myself to just under her speed. A surprisingly reasonable feat given how much control over your body Dexterity offered you, and as it turns out, 'greatly increased Dexterity while holding a sword' was definitely not a misnomer.
The sheer precision with which I could suddenly move with was honestly a little unnerving, and would probably continue to be that way given that it was only active while I was holding a sword.
Do people get addicted to enhanced states like this?
As our blades locked, I pressed into the space between us, grinning down at her. "Do you really have time to be worrying about that right now?"
Her response was to try and overpower me -seemingly just out of instinct- but again, Burden and a level two here. Disengaging she made some distance and I let her have it, curious to see what her first actual move would be.
I probably shouldn't have been as it came in the form of an overhead slash -one of her favourites - the posture, footwork and blade arc nigh identical to every other time I'd seen it. So I sidestepped to see how she'd recover.
She stumbled slightly and couldn't quite stop the strike, but she pivoted into a low horizontal sweep cleanly enough.
Hopping over that -and landing with stone crushing force due to the Burden- I watched as again Judith struggled to recover. She seemed to overcommit to most strikes, so when someone dodges instead of meeting it, her guard opens.
"Only commit when you're certain about a strike." I spoke up, stepping back to avoid her follow-up and quite messy swipe. Her red eyes flickered up to me, annoyance shining in them, probably because outside of our first clash I hadn't raised my sword.
Sighing, I gestured for her to continue and when she overcommitted again, I punished her for it, stepping around the strike to flick her on the forehead.
"You're wasting stamina and leaving yourself wide open." I added helpfully.
She bit down a retort and came at me again.
And again, I wound up flicking her in the forehead.
-
"This movement is far too rigid." I commented, slapping her shoulder with the flat of my blade as I sidestepped another strike. "It's an overhead, you should be able to bring it down wherever and however you want."
"Oh yeah!? Then why don't you show me how it's done instead of just running away all the time!?" The moment the words left her mouth, I could see the realisation in her eyes, see her realise what she'd just invited.
Until this moment she'd mostly kept silent and focused on her sword as I critiqued her, and in return I'd kept my sword down as we worked through these basic issues.
But now… I grinned.
My sword raised in a one-handed mirror of her own overhead. And like the clever clogs she thought she was, she tried to mirror my own past actions and sidestep, only for my falling blade to arc around cleanly to chase her.
She barely managed to block, but the angle was awkward and her footwork was all over the place. Shifting the angle of my blade around hers from there was easy, the tip cutting a bloody line through her leather pants before I stepped back.
"It's too rigid." I repeated, flicking off the blood from my sword.
"That's how I was taught." She hissed.
"Then you were taught wrong."
"Of fucking course." She cursed, stepping back and relaxing her sword in her hand as she seemed torn between frustration and reflection. "I used to be more flexible, but that old fart told me I was doing everything wrong. Bastard made me drill until my hands bled; wouldn't let me leave until my strikes were 'perfect', and now you're telling me that's wrong?"
I took a step back myself and planted my sword in the ground. "Sorry, but if I had to guess, wherever you trained was probably designed to just teach the basics. That kind of thing is a movement for you to fall back on, not follow religiously."
"Shit." She looked off to the side before gathering herself. "Probably should've expected that, it was one of those shitty yards for taking in kids and getting them to the point that the Familias would actually give you the time of day. Old bastard probably got off on making kids suffer."
I could see it.
After all, when it comes to monsters you just need to swing fast and hard for the first six or so floors. Well, at least when it comes to individual combat, ambushes and the like are variables, but I suppose that's what training parties like what Judith was in when I met her were for.
The 'yards' as Judith called them just needed to get people to the starting line.
"Doesn't matter." She sighed. "I just need to break these habits right?"
"Right, and if it helps, then understand that there's not really such a thing as perfect when it comes to swinging a sword. It's more like rock, paper, scissors than anything."
"That kids game?"
I hummed. "Every style has its advantages and disadvantages, every type of sword too and hell even body types." I claimed, twirling my sword through a few motions from different styles I'd seen absently. "There is no such thing as perfection, just the right tool for the job."
"Here, I'll show you." I looked up at my contemplative student who quickly turned alarmed as she registered my words.
"Fuc-!" Her startled exclamation didn't stop her trying to bat away my blade with her own in a rather inelegant, but effective movement. She wasn't quite so lucky with the second having again overcommitted on that move, making it almost easy to withdraw and stab again, this time just barely splitting the skin of her neck.
"This is the style that bastard the other day copied." I informed her, backing away to stalk around her as she recovered and tried to shift awkwardly around to keep me in her line of sight. "It's a fairly refined thrusting style that's more about movement and analysis than actual swordplay."
"Slashing motions are only used after thrusts to take advantage of additional openings." I went on. "But more importantly for what we were talking about; there is no such thing as a perfect movement in this style."
"Every part of it is about openings, whether or not you can deliver a blow at the peak of your strength is irrelevant, because the goal isn't to contest strength but to slip by where your opponent's guard is weakest."
"Fuck, I get it!" She exclaimed, still almost waddling around to try and keep her blade between us. "But how is that relevant to me and my style? I'm not that kind of fighter."
Now that raised my brow.
It was also something I'd have to correct immediately.
"Aiming for where your opponent is weakest isn't subject to style, it's the whole point of swordplay." To crystalise the point, I moved with her own style, dragging my sword into a wide, heavy sweep. But as she went to block, I shifted focus to the top end of her sword, using the moment advantage to overleverage my momentum and drive her guard up.
She didn't even see the punch until it slammed into her diaphragm.
Following that a simple overhead met her weakened guard and drove it aside before my sword twisted up into a faux thrust that left it resting on her neck.
"You get it?" I asked, withdrawing my sword. And well, she nodded at least.
"We'll expand on this, but really it's something that comes with experience." I clarified. And honestly, despite her words, I'd definitely seen her move with consideration for her opponent's weaknesses before. I think she just didn't realise she was doing so, which suggested a pretty good instinct. "I mostly just want to break your bad habits and get you thinking about this more."
"Haven't you only been at this for like a month?" She sniped back, holding her stomach.
"I have extenuating circumstances." I said, much to her confused interest. "But also, the same amount of time invested can equal completely different things to different people."
"Because you're talented." She cursed. "You ever been told how unfair that shit is?"
"No, but life in general isn't fair; you should know that better than anyone right?" I commented, referencing her childhood on the streets, before raising my sword again. "The question always is… what are you going to do about it?"
-
Judith grunted under the strain of my blow, but still stopped it with a pretty textbook block.
"I know you prefer to be on the offensive, but you won't always get your way." To drive the point home, I pressed her harder, forcing her onto the backfoot under the weight of a casual chain of strikes.
To her credit, she held on well, stubbornly enduring with gritted teeth and red eyes blazing with determination. Right up until I stepped in and hooked my foot around hers as our blades locked. The flash of realisation in her eyes right before she wound up forced off her feet was pretty amusing.
"So you need to know how to handle yourself on the defense as well." I finished, offering her a hand up. In response, she slapped it aside and dragged herself out of the dirt once more.
"Fuck you, again!" She grit out as she leveled her sword at me.
I smiled in the face of that determination, there was just something deeply attractive about a woman with this kind of fire.
-
"H-Holy shit!" Judith cursed, collapsing to the ground and gasping for breath. It wasn't the first time she'd gone down and it probably wouldn't be the last. The fire in her eyes was still going strong, she just literally couldn't stand.
The cuts absolutely littering her body healed almost without a trace after she managed to drag herself over to the pile of healing potions I left beside our makeshift ring. And as they did, she groaned in relief, flopping onto her back. "You're a damn sadist…"
"You said you wanted to get stronger." I laughed, taking my own dirt seat and taking the time to spam out more Alteration spells. I was fucking determined to break level fifty in that skill and use that to snowball to one hundred before the expedition.
"I… didn't think it would be like this."
"It won't all be." I commented idly, most of my attention focused on casting properly. In the heat of things, my focus tended to slip while casting. And for this kind of spellwork, that generally meant inefficiencies and that meant I was building poor habits. Habits that I had to counter by casting properly, repeatedly.
"Like what?" She uttered, turning her head over to stare at me, before clarifying. "What's the rest going to be like?"
"Dungeon work mainly; with some additions you should be fine for me to toss you at the deep end."
"I… don't even want to know what that means." She flopped back onto her back, chest still rising and falling deeply, shirt straining with the motion as she recovered. "Fuu… anything else?"
"I mean, I can try to teach you anything you want really, but I'm not sure we have the time for any of my other skills."
"What… what about that thing?" She asked strangely. "The thing you did to cut that big-ass house in half?"
I hummed ponderingly. "I can teach you the steps but you're probably too early on that front." At her disappointed look, I shook my head and explained. "It's not you, I'm just fairly sure you need a certain amount of stats and experience to pull it off. If anything, your fighting style and personality should give you a leg up over most others."
"If you can… could you teach me those steps, even if it's early?"
"Sure, though I think it just comes to most people naturally." I commented idly. "Have you ever cut a monster and realised the cut was deeper than what your motion probably should have allowed?"
Confusion, then surprised realisation flashed across her face, then more confusion. "Is that…?"
"A bit." I clarified "It seems to come in stages: first you start cutting things more easily than you probably should be able to and then you start extending those cuts, like this."
Withdrawing my knife, I demonstrated on a piece of rubble as Judith leaned up from the ground to watch me casually split it in two. Fortunately the ruined district had plenty of rubble to demonstrate with.
In regards to the first step though, I hadn't really been able to notice myself doing it on account of my sharpness skills; I only later pieced it together after watching some Adventurers handle Hard Armours on the eleventh floor. Seemingly at random they would just start cutting through monsters they previously couldn't even put a dent in, with seemingly the only difference being how loud they were screaming.
How that worked I could only really guess, with my best being that it was tied to intent. Y'know, on account of all the screaming and this being an anime world.
In regards to performing a full blown projectile cut, you definitely have to… try harder -focus harder- on achieving it. There was a kind of mentality to it that I didn't even notice myself slipping into until I faced it from the other end. The fucker -when we traded thrusts- almost broadcasted his intent to reach me, his belief that his sword would close the gap. It was something that I immediately recognised because I'd been doing it myself, albeit subconsciously.
I mean, I don't think I'm that obnoxious about metaphorically screaming my intent to stab people from a distance, but it's definitely in a similar vein.
"Isn't that the same as what you did yesterday?" Judith asked, bringing me out of my thoughts as she stared almost longingly at the perfectly split rock.
"If it was, it would have split the tree behind it." I clarified, pointing with my knife. "This is more like extending the cut through the material itself, if that makes sense."
"Huh." She uttered. "And that isn't just a… you and that guy thing, right? I can do this too?"
"I've seen a fair few level ones bisect orcs with knives, and considering those things are a meter or more wide…"
"…Then I can do it too." She finished.
I nodded. "Just believe in yourself, in the idea that you can cut through. That seems to be half the battle here."
"And what about the rest?"
"Skill, strength, speed and experience if I had to summarise it." I said. "You just need the stats to get to the point that you can start to get a feel for it."
"And what about the whole big cut thing?"
"That's… a bit harder to explain." But explain I did, though I mainly just got confused looks in return as I started talking about intent and the specific feel I'd come to associate with throwing around far-slashes.
It really is just something that comes from accidentally experiencing it.
But it was while I was explaining it, I came to my own realisation; whoever said it had to be a 'big cut'? The thing that ended the fight with the bastard wasn't some grand move, it was a trick. So what if I could be more subtle, turn normal movements into cuts that could bisect someone standing metres away?
What if I could blend it into my style so fluidly that I could at any moment split someone in twain?
It was purely hypothetical right now, cutting like that requires that certain headspace, and with a certain tension that makes the movements obvious. And the whole blasting your own intent around, making it far from subtle.
But if I could refine it?
That could redefine my entire approach to combat, and maybe close the speed gap a little, let me punch even higher over my level.
Something to think on as I finished getting Judith up to a basic level. Why, she was looking ready for another beatin- lesson already!
-
"So what are we doing here exactly?" Judith asked, looking notably better in a fresh change of clothes after we'd covered the last set in blood and dirt.
"Gear." I answered. "I've got an understanding with the Captain here, so they let me use their forges."
"Huh." She uttered, mild surprise in her tone. "How many Familias do you know?"
"Not too many-" I cut myself off as a blonde dwarf shouted a greeting as we passed their forge, simply returning it before turning back to Judith.
"Who was that?"
"Never got their name, but I saved her friend on the… sixth floor?" I said, steadily recalling the details. "Do what you can, remember?"
"Huh, yeah…" Judith nodded falteringly, a complicated smile coming to her face, probably recalling everything else that I said about that.
I let things lapse into silence as we marched through the Familia. Only to blink as I sensed a spike of intent focused on me from the other side of a door, right before said door exploded and a blur tackled me to the floor.
"Elric!" Tsubaki shouted, desperation in her tone as her arms locked around my armoured midriff. "You've gotta save-"
"-Save you from what?" The stern voice of Hephaestus interrupted, my fellow Captain's God looking down on us with fire in her lone red eye.
Tsubaki paled as she slowly turned around.
"Wait- Wait- Waaaait…!" I almost saluted her sacrifice as she was dragged away, but ultimately decided discretion was the better part of valour here. So I dusted myself off and left with nothing but a respectful nod to Hepaestus, Judith hot on my heels as she shot increasingly confused looks at the back of my head.
"What-"
"Don't."
"But-"
"Don't ever question it." I said with finality, before going on.
"Judith, we're just about the two most normal people in this insane city." I claim, studiously ignoring Judith's incredulity at that statement. "Don't get wrapped up into their pace alright?"
"Right…" She said slowly, clearly not believing me. But she still followed in my footsteps as we headed into the bowels of Hephaestus' workshop and far away from the Goddess herself.
Which was good, because making someone even a stripped down set of armour was going to be a massive pain already and I really didn't want to add on a fight between Tsubaki and her Goddess. I would do a lot for that woman, but she probably brought this on herself if I knew her half as well as I thought I did.
-
"Are you sure we should be on this floor?"
"Did you struggle with any of the groups we ran into?" I shot back, still unfalteringly leading us to where I remembered the pantry was.
"Well no, but…"
"You're not the same person you were even just yesterday Judith." I cut in. "You've got the gear and a better grounding, you can do this easily. So show me the same grit you had during training."
My words seemed to do the trick, as she paused and seemed to psyche herself up, her grip tightening around her new bastard sword. From what I could tell, she seemed a little traumatised by floor seven and the giant Killer Ants that inhabited it.
Naturally that meant that I had sneakily led her down to floor eight -which was also filled with Killer Ants, just more of them- and was currently leading her to the pantry where they congregated.
I was a firm believer in the sink or swim approach.
"…What the fuck is that?" Was Judith's first words upon us arriving at said room, as she stared at the giant pillar dominating the centre of the room, oozing a slimy substance that the ants around it lapped up.
Or at least they did, before our arrival was detected and they all turned towards us with murderous hunger. Dungeon monsters were fun like that, when it comes to mortals, they have no setting other than murder.
"It's a pantry, they gather here to feed." I answered. "Generally you're supposed to avoid them, but I've found they're pretty good grinding locations."
Judith just stared at me like I'd lost my mind, and since I thought that was quite rude, I grabbed her by the back of her armour and tossed her at the nearest ant.
"Wha-! DON'T-! WHAT THE FUUUCK-!?" She screamed as she sailed through the air, but she recovered admirably enough, whipping her sword around to bisect the ant's head as she almost landed right on top of it. Her blade punching right through the armour that had once stopped her dead.
Yeah, I made damn good steel.
Of course, that didn't really do much to deter the other dozen or so ants that turned on her as she cursed my name and got ready to fight for her life.
And truly, I was also an excellent teacher.
Despite my cavalier attitude, I was fully ready to step in at any moment, my eyes never leaving her form even as I casually cut down any monster that dared approach me. Adventurers need danger to grow, they need to fight with their lives on the line and overcome themselves, their limits.
And thus, through this, she would grow.
Her curses were definitely creative though.
-
"Hah…! Hah!" Judith's breath came out in short, steep pants, exhaustion and sweat clinging to her frame.
"You alright down there?" I asked, crouching beside her after I finished off the last of the monsters.
"…Fuck you!" She wheezed before a coughing fit overcame her.
"Yeah, yeah." I waved her off and produced two potions, one healing, one stamina.
I saw the moment of fear that passed through her eyes as glanced at the pair of vials, transparent as it was in her red eyes. She'd long worked out what the green vials do, and thus what they represent. Partially because I'd actually explained it to her, but also because we had been at it for almost two days before that point and she'd eventually cottoned on herself despite obvious distractions. Y'know, like fighting for your life.
But then she looked at me, and a cycle of emotions I'd seen dozens of times now took place.
Jealousy, anger, drive.
And then she grabbed the potions with shaking hands and slammed them back through her gasps for air. The effects were immediate, the shaking stopped, her eyes sharpened and her breath levelled out.
Slamming her fist into the ground, she used that to push herself up, and shakily grabbed her sword again.
Stamina potions didn't seem to affect her the way they did me, but between her sheer grit and their reduced effects, I was guesstimating that she could probably go for three days without rest. A limit we were swiftly closing in on.
But well, worst case I'd just carry her out of the dungeon.
"H-How long…?" Judith suddenly asked through gritted teeth.
"How long what?"
"How long do we- do you do this for?"
"Oh, every moment I get free normally." I answered, though weirdly enough that caused Judith's face to twist with horrified realisation. "Wait, how did you think I levelled up so fast?"
She didn't quite have an answer for that one.
-
It's probably not a good idea to ask Elric for training, he doesn't really understand the meaning of small things, like stopping, or a regular human mindset.
Thanks for reading! Hope you have a great day and also the next three chapters are up on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/c/OneFallLeaf.