Over the next few days thanks to going to the dungeon and his continued training Nero's stats were growing at a steady but fast pace, all of them but his strength having reached rank G with it not being far off thanks to adding climbing to his nightly training
"Climbing like this is good training to improve the control of your body, plus we can improve the efficiency of your magic and increase the level of difficulty by having you emit cold air as you climb, this will increase your control over your magic and increase your grip strength at the same time" commented Yumi when Nero first started climbing
Thanks to his increase in control over his ice magic and the increase in his stats Nero became able to use 'Ice pillar fan' without difficulty, but he still was unable to access the ice queen form, the last thing that was preventing him from allowing Yumi into the real world, and due to him having already fufilled the request of owning a property with a bath Nero wanted to be able to experience it (although the fact that he also wanted to get a new teacher, which would give him a stat boost and new skill was another reason he wanted to hurry up and master all of Yumi's skills)
"I feel like you have the ability to access the ice queen mode" commented Yumi as she watched him fight against hoards of monsters "and you seem to have the stats to do so too" she said looking at a copy that he had made for her to see his progress
Nero
Human
Strength: 197 (H)
Endurance: 201 (G)
Dexterity: 214 (G)
Agility: 226 (G)
Magic: 209 (G)
Skill: System
"I don't know what the problem is, even when I asked Aura about the technique and explained how it worked all she said was that I was the type of person who leaned better through pressure and that learning the technique would be simpler if I fought against it directly" Nero explained as he defeated the last of the monsters
"Then it is decided" Yumi declared, taking a position opposite Nero and transforming into her ice queen state "I will fight you in this form until I am unable to maintain it, if you are not able to achieve the same form then you will be made to fight wave after wave of monsters until I have recovered to force out your potential while I recover, then we will go again until you get it right" a cold look appearing in her eyes that had nothing to do with her current form
"Any chance you can go easy on m...."
Yumi surged forward and Nero instinctively blocked
"If I went easy on you this method would be as effective" stated Yumi as she started to unleash strike after strike, aiming exactly where she could see that Nero's guard was the weakest, forcing him to be constantly in the back foot
"How am I supposed to focus on using the ice queen technique in a situation like this" complained Nero, Yumi's strikes only increasing in intensity
"That's what you need to figure out" she declared, finding a slight weakness in Nero's grip and using that weakness to disarm him "now you have no choice but to create aweapon in order to fight me with as I have no intention of letting you retrive your tessen" Yumi stated as she continued her assult
In the end Yumi ran out of strength to maintain her ice queen form, leading to Nero relaxing his guard slightly, only for an arrow to lodge itself in the back of his leg
"Just because I'm not fighting you anymore doesn't mean you get to relax" Yumi noted, turning his attention to the mob of monsters that had appeared behind him "and don't think about trying to retrieve your tessen, in a situation like this you won;t have the chance to" kicking the fans further away
Being forced to fight with his bare hands Nero had no other choice but to use the skills that he had developed while sparing against Aurathia, moves that while crude were able to be used in order to deal with the low level kobolds and goblins that had been summoned this time
After finishing the last monster Nero's sense of danger went off, diving out of the way Yumi's ice blade struck down where he had just been standing
"Better, you didn't let your guard down this time" Yumi complimented "but if all you do is run you won't be able to beat me" begining her assult again
Knowing that she was right Nero tried time and again to summon an ice sword but every time he managed to gather together enough ice it would instantly be shattered by Yumi's blade
"Your weapon needs to be able to be used properly" she demanded "chose something that feels right for you, I chose a blade like this because it was what my grandfather used, it is the weapon that allows me to feel the strongest even when my weapon of choice is a tessen, don't just copy what I am doing, come up with something that works for you, you are a guy so create an ice king form that suits you best"
With Yumi's words echoing though his mind something seemed to click within Nero, he had been so focused on the form that he had forgotten that not all techniques work for all people, and that when that happens the best method is to come up with a way to make it work in a way that suited them
Changing the weapon that he was trying to make Nero continued to dodge Yumi's attacks, getting grazed her and there due to her being more skilled than him and his leg wound, he knew that he wouldn't be able to last much longer against Yumi so he made a plan, outlast her form, defeat the monsters while focusing on creating his weapons and then defeat her during the next round against her, knowing that if he didn't he wouldn't be able to during this training session
"That's a good look in your eyes" smiled Yumi before becoming even more serious "but dragging things out like this is just you running away, if you have a plan do it now" slashing at his leg and injuring it further, making it so that he was unable to dodge
Being forced into a unwinnable situation, Nero looked at Yumi's blade coming down at him, being reminded of the situation he was in when he had been attacked by the killer, focusing everything he had into his hands he made one last desperate attempt
CLANG
Yumi's face was colored with impressed surprise as he blade was met by a pair of curved blades, Nero's hair having turned snow white, his eyes having turned red and a cold wind was coiling around him
Bringing back her sowrd and dispelling her ice queen state Yumi congradulated Nero "well done, you have made my ice queen technique your own and have now become an ice king"
"I did it?" Nero asked is surprise, looking down at the weapons in his hands "I DID IT!" he exlaimed, jumping into the air in happiness but coming down hard due to landing on his injured leg, collapsing to the ground in exhaustion and pain
"You did" Yumi smiled, walking over to him and kneeling next to him, allowing him to use her lap as a pillow "consider this a prize for completing your training" she smiled, letting him recover as she smiled as she remembered how far he had come, from an amatuer, to someone that was able to use all of her techniques.