"Set up the board."
"Yes master."
Maria put down the chess board, and put two big pieces on each side. One was a 'Queen' piece, other being 'King', with both being designed with steel and clearly designed with elegant care.
"What's this? Chess?"
"Not quite. But similar." Victoria smiled. "You're injured right now, so we can't get into any intense training for now, so this will have to do."
Victoria instructed Mikel to put his hand on his piece and insert his mana into it after closing his eyes, and Mikel did just that. The eye that's been carved started glowing with blue, and just like that, Mikel fell into a trance.
Victoria smiled, and did the same, the eyes of her Queen piece glowing red. Maria stood there still, putting a barrier around them to make sure they're protected from any sort of distraction.
"The simulation starts now." She muttered.
***
When Mikel opened his eyes he was in a white, empty room with what looked like an infinite space, Victoria standing in front of him.
"You went in there first, yet you synchronised later than I did." She mocked.
"Where is this place?"
"You've never done these sort of simulations?"
"...No."
For beginning hunters, this simulation is used, where they're immersed in a virtual space with their stats to test and hone their skills without taking any physical harm. It's a great device to train utility and mental fortitude, only downside being that it's expensive, which, of course, was not at all a problem for Victoria.
"It's quite simple. Like you're hunting a Nether creature," Victoria folded her arms and cracked her neck as an exercise. "You kill me. Right here."
"W-what?"
"You heard me."
"I don't know what you're—"
A sudden pain was felt. It was Victoria's fist, that punched his cheeks, sending Mikel flying. It was hard to breath, and he coughed up blood and saliva, before getting back on his feet with all his might.
"I didn't put too much power, but it looks like it's too much." Victoria muttered as she stared at her fist to check if any blood or saliva was on it. It was clean. "I'll give you an extra handicap." Victoria declared.
Debuff has been applied to Victoria.
Victoria takes 30% more damage.
Victoria does 50% less damage.
Victoria can only use basic manaflow techniques.
Victoria cannot use her gift.
"...You sure?" Mikel asked.
"You know the answer, do you not?"
"...Yeah. I guess."
With that, Mikel immediately pounced at her.
He opened his hands, and a glowing blue orb was formed around them, and as he squeezed the light orb formed a cheap and rugged sword.
'Inventory magic.' Victoria recognised immediately. 'I suppose at the bar he didn't have enough mana to use it.'
It was common knowledge that not all hunters within the same grade have the same strength level, and this was especially the case amongst the C-grades.
The central government was a slave to appearances and formalities, so every hunter that has been awakened were at minimum given C-grades.
This means that you can be a C-grade hunter even if you can't control any mana and the gift that has been awakened isn't combative or even remotely useful. That also played a big factor on why C-grade hunters have such low survival rates, and why the hunters in C-grade were looked down upon as 'C-gradies' or 'Ceebees' and treated like peasants amongst the higher grade hunters.
Inventory magic was a basic magic, but being able to use it already put Mikel above many of the Ceebees. Victoria smiled, thinking maybe he did have a chance after all.
Mikel's blade almost reached Victoria's neck when it was stopped suddenly by a simple cane. He was surprised as it seemed like the block came out of nowhere, and therefore didn't anticipate the next attack towards his stomach, which sent him flying again.
"Inventory magic. Where did you learn it?" Victoria asked, as she spun the cane on one hand.
"I just…studied it during training."
"Not bad, but the summoning time is too slow. No idiot is going to wait for you to summon your weapons, you know—"
Clang! Clang! Clang!
Mikel attempted once more to strike, focusing mana towards his feet and pouncing once more to close distance, but all of his swings were blocked.
"Too slow. Your wind up time makes your next move too obvious, or perhaps I unlocked a special gift in slowing time?"
"Shut up!"
Clang! Clang! Clang!
Every nook and cranny, Mikel tried finding the opening, but every swing and attack was blocked, and what hurt his pride the most, is that all Victoria used to block them was a mere cane, which of course wasn't even her main weapon.
"Come on now, Mikel, you're losing to a stick used by people in retirement homes!"
Mikel, furious, immediately threw the sword at her, aiming for her neck, then this time summoned two shorter blades to attack right away. Right and left side of the neck as well as the center. Surely she cannot block three sides at once with a cane. He thought.
"I see." Victoria stated, analysing the situation at once. "Shorter blades have lower summoning time, so you used your sword as a distraction of sorts."
Victoria bent her back for her torso to be almost parallel with the floor to dodge the blades that aimed her neck, and immediately did a 360 turn with one foot still on the ground in that position to gain momentum before striking - with the same cane - Mikel's legs. She put too much power, because it immediately broke his one leg.
"Oops." She said sarcastically as she gracefully did a ballet spin to a normal stance. "Didn't mean to break your leg."
Yet, Mikel didn't give up, and took a step forward with his broken leg, kicking the floor with his healthy leg for an acceleration forward before summoning another blade - shorter than his previous summons - to pierce anywhere in her skin.
It did in fact manage to pierce her. To be more exact, she let his blade pierce her, on the palm of her right hand. She then gripped the hands that held the knife and just like that, his hands were locked.
'She could have dodged.' Mikel thought to himself. 'But she didn't. Why?'
He, of course, already knew the answer. To humiliate him, showing him that even if his plans worked, it won't lay a single blow that'd prove to do damage to her.
"You take feedback very well. You're summoning smaller weapons from your inventory to reduce the summoning time. But this is the problem."
Her grip got tighter, and Mikel started to feel pain in his hands that were locked by Victoria's.
"If you just use a cop-out like 'I'm going to summon smaller weapons then' as a solution to your summoning times being too long, then even if your attacks hit, it'll do no damage. It's a non-solution. A pathetic one at that."
Mikel grinded his teeth. There was not a single thing he could say back.
But despite it all, he didn't want to give up there. Although his hands were locked, he could still slightly move his knife. He twisted it, opening up the wound on Victoria's palms, as hard as possible to inflict pain in an attempt to break free.
Victoria, realising what he was trying to do, smiled at the attempt, and let his hands go. She wanted to see what he'll do next.
Mikel took a big step back with his healthy leg, and limped a little, trying to support his broken leg.
Then, after taking a deep breath, contemplated his next move.
Victoria, even with her debuffs that she put on herself as a handicap, didn't seem to be beatable and although her hand was pierced - an injury which he'd have thought would at least cause her to lose her grip - looked like a mere scratch to her. As she calmly wiped the blood with her handkerchief before throwing it away.
"What now then," Victoria looked at him with disappointment. She was starting to get bored. "Is that all you have to show?"
After yawning, she lifted her chin, the eyes fully looking down at Mikel with disgust before adding a remark:
"Should we stop here then? I'm starting to think perhaps I'm wasting time."
Sensing her nonchalant attitude, Mikel started to build up anger. He thought of his friend,he thought of his own weakness. He saw before him, not a hunter but a witch, a Nether creature he must defeat. He knew better than anyone that he was weaker, with one leg broken and unable to use properly, but still, he thought deep inside that if he gave up now, he'd regret it.
'Just one.' Mikel was determined. 'I'll land just one hit that'll wipe that smug face.'
Suddenly, everything connected together. Mikel knew the direction he needed to take.
Raising his opened hand towards Victoria, he creased his brow and for the first time, smiled.
He then made a move, which even Victoria was impressed with.