My day started with me getting my face planted into the ground.
Again.
I forced myself to my feet, lungs burning, but I didn't wait. If I hesitated even a second, she'd put me right back on the floor.
I sprinted toward her.
As soon as I closed the distance, I detonated the heel of my foot- an abrupt burst that launched me upward. The force jolted through my leg, giving me enough lift to swing my body over her guard. I raised my leg high, lining up an axe kick aimed straight at her head.
As I fell, I detonated my toes, accelerating the downward strike even further like a hammer crashing toward steel.
But the girl simply stepped aside.
Effortless.
Clean.
Almost bored.
My heel slammed into the ground hard enough to have a small crack, a shockwave kicking up dust, but she wasn't there. She was already circling behind me.
"Inefficient," she said flatly.
I whipped around, bracing for a counter, but she didn't attack. She just watched me with those unreadable eyes, analyzing everything I did wrong.
"A big kick like that," she continued, "is only useful as a feint or when chained into a finishing strike."
She paced lightly, almost weightless on her feet. Her voice carried no annoyance or pride, it was just a merciless assessment.
"It is the heaviest force the human body can generate without the enhancement of thrum," she said, lifting a finger as if lecturing a student.
"But that strength needs momentum. You require misdirection, angle manipulation, and footwork progression."
She tapped her own shin lightly.
"A frontal assault tells your opponent everything you intend to do. Your approach was telegraphed and predictable."
As she said those words, she gave me a small nod, and I gave a hesitant one in return. The moment I did, her figure blurred.
The only reason I am able to keep up with her movement right now is that I learned enhancement on the second day of this beatdown.
During the process, I learned things that I absolutely did not want to know.
For example, how fragile human joints actually are and how easily they can be reattached.
I also discovered that blood can apparently come in several colors depending on how hard you are hit. It can go from blue to violet and sometimes even turn black, which is never a good sign.
A blur of platinum hair crossed my vision as I rolled away just in time to avoid another crushing kick.
The girl in front of me stepped forward with calm and mechanical precision with her platinum hair swaying gracefully behind. Unlike Kaye's vivid blue streaks, hers were faint, almost hidden among strands of deep black that curled near the ends.
If Kaye's hair looked like 70% platinum and 30% blue, this girl's hair was 80% platinum, 15% blue, and 5% black. Unfortunately, I did not inherit those genes and now have pitch-black hair with blue strands, a result of my awakening.
That girl was Kimberly Kalinin. Kaye's younger sister. Her mother had a weird hobby of naming her kids that started with the letter "K". If she had another child, it'd probably be nicknamed in the novel as "the KKK siste-"
Twack! Thud....
She was my second cousin who cared for me and the one currently beating the life out of me.
I grumbled under my breath as I forced myself up, wiping dirt off my cheek.
"Is the Kalinin family secretly some kind of powerhouse? A double-elemental Arch Bishop ranked sister, and she still claims she's inferior to Kaye? Absolutely ridiculous, the next thing you're gonna say is that his father is a Monarch ranked weaver."
Kim blinked at me, her expression frozen in that same unreadable, stoic look she'd worn since training started, like she couldn't even comprehend why I was still dodging instead of blocking.
Too bad for her, I had no intention of getting flattened by accident just because I mistimed a block.
Then she lunged again.
Her punch whistled past my ear, followed by her knee slamming into my ribs. I staggered back, breath knocked out of me, vision blurring for a second.
Kim didn't give me time to recover.
She was merciless in teaching, in training, and in every punishment she delivered the moment I slipped up.
Kaye might scold me, make fun of me, and occasionally beat me over the head, but Kim… Kim trained like an army officer, except the words she gave were not insults but the cold reality of my own weaknesses.
And to make matters worse, every time I asked her to slow down, she simply tilted her head and said, with the straightest face imaginable.
"You're weak, I'll be fast, so you'll also be fast."
She is frank, detached, cold, in other words, "Best teacher ever," I muttered under my breath.
I barely had time to dodge the next blow.
...
.....
.....
I collapsed onto my back, wheezing like a dammed accordion.
Kim's last kick landed a little too hard. There was a brief moment where she completely froze. Her shoulders tightened just slightly, as if her body realized she might have gone a bit overboard. It was the tiniest flinch, almost cute in its own accidental way.
Then her expression returned to the familiar cold and neutral mask she always wore.
She spoke one short sentence.
"Thirty minute break."
After that, she turned away and walked off to continue her own, leaving me sprawled on the ground like a discarded rug.
Which was fine. Taking the much-desired functioning of my lungs, I was currently missing those.
This had been going on for five straight days...
Five days of Kim beating me so thoroughly that I was starting to believe she was being paid per bruise.
Meanwhile, Kaye was nowhere around. As much as she would have loved to see me suffer, she was a high-ranking officer at the Salem Armed Weaver Force (SAWF), which meant she was too busy to enjoy the show.
She then passed the responsibility to her most trusted person, that being Kim.
I lay on the dirt for a few moments, staring up at the bright ceiling of lights. Then, when I finally regained enough strength to lift my arm, I called out a system command.
"Status window."
A chime rang softly. A shimmering panel appeared in front of me. Only I could see it unless I switched it to public mode, which I absolutely never intended to do.
I could blur specific content if I chose, but one rule remained absolute.
Status windows could never be edited.
The status always told the truth, which was, in this case, quite hurtful.
_________________________________
〈 STATUS PANEL 〉
Name: Matthew Pier Salinin
Weaver: Conceptual Astute Weaver
Race: Human (Stabilized)
Core: BluePotential: SS
_________________________________
〈 STATS 〉
Strength: H- to H+
Endurance: F+ to E+
Agility: G-to G
ThrumCapacity: A
ThrumRecovery: G-
ThrumCircuit: D
Mind: C-
_________________________________
〈 EXTRA STATS 〉
Charm: D
Luck: ####
_________________________________
〈UNIQUE SKILLS〉
Growth Factor — Rank A
Origin: Verde
Status: Passive
Effect: A conceptual fragment granted by Verde. Accelerates all forms of growth—physical, mental, conceptual, adaptive.
_________________________________
I stared at it with a tired groan.
"Still unranked. Five days of beating and I still cannot reach Pawn rank. Four of my main stats are still below D. Wonderful. Truly inspiring."
The only compelling thought within me was that, compared to the protagonist of this world, I was probably stronger in simple statistical value.
My circuit and capacity are better, and my improvement rate was not terrible. The difference was that the protagonist had a unique bloodline cheat that allowed him to skip a few steps.
It truly was the correct choice to awaken that way. Being stabbed by Verde was totally worth it, considering I now had a Bishop ranked capacity and an SS potential. However, when I saw the new update in my authority tab...
I could not help but let out a nervous laugh.
_________________________________
〈 AUTHORITY SLOT 〉
Authority: Flourish(Limited)
Origin: Verde
Status: Active
Effect: The user can flourish their thrum until it reaches instability, at which point it condenses into a concentrated energy burst and detonates.
Authority: Verde's Curse.
Origin: Verde
Status: Passive
Effect: Reduces Mind Stat by 5 stages unless the user consumes the required nourishment.
Required Nourishment:[Polaris's Blood]
_________________________________
Consuming blood was already insane. Consuming the blood of Polaris was even worse.
Who is Polaris, you ask?
She is the third princess of this kingdom. Polaris Apparecio Celestice. I am completely and absolutely screwed. Royally screwed, both figuratively and literally.
In the novel, by this point in the timeline, she should already be at Excellia Academy. She is the student representative this year, so she must arrive early.
Today is May 21, which means I have eight days left before the entrance exam.
Naturally, I already planned to attend Excellia since that is where Finster, the main protagonist, spends most of his time and causes most of his problems.
I guess this confirms my plans for the week.