by Virlyce
“When you reach the limits of the beast they came from.” Durandal poked through the pile of animal corpses and picked up a scavenger crow. “If someone’s speed is lower than this crow’s and they consumed the beast core, then that person’s speed would increase. The same goes for eyesight, hearing, smell. If their abilities are already above the crow’s, then nothing will happen. Impurities might build up, in fact.”
“Then someone can be as strong as a dragon?” How many dragon beast cores did the Godking consume to kill a dragon in a single strike?
“No.”
“Huh?”
“How many scavenger crows have you killed?”
A lot. “Over a hundred? Maybe two hundred?”
“And how many cores did you get from them.”
“Like … three?”
“How do you think you compare to the crows’ abilities?”
“I’m definitely caught up to them!”
Snow snorted. “You’re not even close in the intelligence department.”
Shut up, Snow! I’ll beat you up.
Durandal patted my head, causing my body to relax. “Snow’s right.”
Gah! Whose weapon spirit are you anyways!? “Don’t agree with him! I’m not stupid!”
“You’ll need to consume 30 cores to catch up to the abilities of the crow. How many would you have to kill to get that many cores?”
“Two thousand.” See. I can do math. Extrapolating’s easy when you put your mind to it. Oh! The wolf I caught earlier is almost ready to eat. Why do they taste so delicious? And why do panthers taste so sour? I don’t get it. Could it be their diets?
“So you’ll have to kill two thousand dragons to obtain enough cores to be as strong as a dragon. There were maybe 50 dragons living in the wild during Roland’s time.”
Right. Dragons. “So you’re telling me there’s a chance? If there’s 50 dragons, it’s possible for 30 of them to have cores.”
Durandal sighed and glanced at Snow while the rabbitkin put the cooked wolf on a plate.
Snow shrugged. “If you ever want to switch masters, I’m always free.”
“Durandal’s mine!” And that wolf is mine too. Haste!
***
What should Lucia’s next step of training be? She’s become proficient enough to draw out a battle with me when I’m limited to Breaking Blade and the Steady Mountain Footwork. Her physical attributes have also grown by leaps and bounds—I’m a bit jealous that I can’t grow like her, but an increase in her strength is also an increase in mine. Along with those improvements, she’s able to freely manipulate my weapon body to the most suitable weight for any situation. I suspect it has to do with her squirrely instincts and balance. Even Roland’s growth wasn’t as quick as Lucia’s, but to be fair, Roland didn’t have anyone to guide him.
“Hey, Durandal. I’ve been thinking. Shouldn’t you fight me with other types of footworks?” Lucia tilted her head, causing beads of sweat to drop to the ground. “Won’t I become too accustomed to your motions? What if someone who practices a more graceful footwork fought me, like Snow?”
There’s a simple way to show Lucia my splendor. Though the basis of the footwork I taught Lucia was the Steady Mountain, I’ve modified it to include the strongest points of various techniques. “Snow. Spar Lucia.”
“…I’ll die if she hits me with a full-powered Breaking Blade.” Snow shook his head. “When I first saw Lucia, I could beat her with my eyes closed. But now…, after these three months of following you two freaks around, I’m pretty sure I’ll die.”
“Your growth wasn’t slow either, Snow.” Bouncykins hopped off of Snow’s head. “Lucia’s at the peak of low-ranked martial artist. You’re a mid-ranked one.”
Lucia’s tail twitched. That only happened when she was excited or angry. “Wait, how is that decided? I’m stronger than Snow. I can lift more than him.”
“It’s not outer strength that matters for ranks. It’s inner strength,” Bouncykins said. “Snow has more qi than you. He’ll recover faster, strike harder, move quicker, and be stronger than 99% of low-ranked warriors. But there are some freaks whose constitutions allow them to fight a higher ranked opponent.”
“I don’t really like being called a freak. Can’t you use the term genius instead?”
“Someone as scatterbrained as you doesn’t deserve the term genius.” Bouncykins sighed. “Also, there’s a certain nuance. Geniuses have God-given talents that allow them to excel. Freaks have God-given bodies that provide advantages over other people. If I had to take a guess, you have a unique body that increases your strength.”
“I’m amazing?” Lucia asked, her ears perking up. The way they twitch make me want to rub them. Lucia won’t mind.
“Perverts…” Bouncykins turned away. “You got a body filled with strength and vitality, but at the same time, you’re unable to use mana. Not like that matters due to the existence of magic tools though.”
“I-is Snow special too?” Lucia’s eyes were closed. I admire her persistence. Normally she would’ve collapsed by now. Why is teasing her so much fun?
“Snow actually has a special body as well…” Bouncykins glanced at Snow. What was Snow hiding? I didn’t sense anything special about him. “He’s—”
“Do you have to, Lucifer?” Snow asked and sighed.
“Tell!” Oh, Lucia was reduced to one-syllable words now. Maybe I should stop. No. This is good for her endurance—yes, this is training. “T-tell now!”
“I have a succubus body. I ooze out charm. Usually it only affects people of the opposite sex, but if I change my appearance to a woman’s…”
That explains a lot. It also explains why his body didn’t affect me—weapon spirits don’t feel lust. Was Lucia under his influence? She shouldn’t be because he looks like a girl right now, right? …Maybe Cottontail had a succubus body as well which would explain Roland’s sudden infatuation. So he wasn’t just a pervert who liked bunnykin girls. Well, I can’t exclude that possibility.
“And you call me the pervert.” Lucia snorted. “So. Are we still sparring?” It seems like she slipped out of my grasp without me knowing. Impressive.
“Didn’t I say I’d die? I’m not going to spar you, Lucia.”
“You don’t get a choice!” Lucia brandished my weapon body and swung it at Snow. The bunnykin’s eyes widened as he dodged.
“Lucia! Stop!”
“I can’t hear you over the sound of my swings!”
“Then stop swinging!”
“What did you say!? I couldn’t hear you.”
Bouncykins came over to my side. “You chose a very energetic master. She’s nothing like Roland. Will you two even be compatible?”
“She’s already mastered my most useful function—weight control. I think we’re compatible.” She mastered me a lot faster than Roland did as well. But Roland didn’t know how to fight when he first started using me. It’s really not fair to compare the two. “You and Snow seem to get along well.”
“Is that what it seems like?” Bouncykins tilted his head. “You haven’t seen it yet, but Snow … can be a handful at times. In fact, I’ve never seen him so docile before. He’s usually the one in charge of everything. He’s bloodthirsty, cutthroat, conniving, and overall not a good person. Maybe he’s scared of you.”
“Bloodthirsty, conniving, and cutthroat…” Those are not words I would associate with Snow. He seems more like a startled rabbit walking on eggshells.
“Lucia, I’m begging you!”
At least they’re sparring seriously now. Like I thought, Lucia’s winning. I don’t think many people her age can defeat her in close combat. Her constitution isn’t fair to fight against. Abnormal levels of strength and the ability to recover herself completely by going to sleep is a bit ridiculous. It’s like she’s blessed by the earth, but hated by the sky. Qi comes from the earth, mana comes from the sky.
I wonder if any of my rivals have survived the years as well. If Bouncykins made it,
maybe others have also. Some of them would’ve made great teachers, but Bouncykins did say that martial arts as a whole has stagnated.
“Hey, Durandal. Why could I beat Snow so easily?” Lucia tilted her head and nudged Snow’s body with her toe.
You didn’t kill him, right? Let me check for a pulse. …Yeah, he’s fine. “The Steady Mountain Footwork I taught you would be more aptly named as Universal Footwork. It heavily emphasizes the Steady Mountain, but it incorporates everything into it. If you can beat me, you can beat every footwork in the world.”
“Unless the person is stronger than Durandal.” Bouncykins, once again, rains cold water on me in front of Lucia. I should cut off and take one of his legs for luck.
“Durandal’s the strongest. Stop being such a downer, stupid hare.” Lucia seemed to have similar thoughts. She did mention she wanted to stir fry him once.
***
Ah, it’s been half a year since we’ve arrived at the southern pass. Thankfully, winter doesn’t happen this far south or I’d have to hibernate for three months. Okay, winter does happen, but it doesn’t snow. I don’t think I ever knew the meaning of true happiness until this day. Not even the day I received Durandal can compare to today’s bliss. I beat him! I finally wiped that sadistic perverted look off of his face!
But on the other hand, I don’t think I’ve seen Durandal so … upset. Why’s he upset? Shouldn’t he be happy about his pupil surpassing him?
“…Rematch.”
“I refuse!” When you win, take the victory and run away!
“It was a fluke. Rematch.”
Even if you spew out ice-cold killing intent like a refrigerator powered by a frost magic array, I refuse! “No fluke! I won.”
“Wow, Durandal. You actually lost to Lucia. I didn’t think I’d see this day for another few years.” Way to go, Bouncykins. Keep rubbing salt into that wound. I’m totally not resentful over the daily beatings I’ve suffered for half a year.
“Lucia…” Wow, Durandal looks really, really mad. I thought weapon spirits’ purpose in life was to help their masters. “I…” He sighed and his face changed back to his normal, handsome one. “To congratulate you on your victory and recent success in breaking through to a mid-ranked warrior, I’ll teach you a new technique.”
New technique? “This is an excuse to beat me, isn’t it…?”
“What kind of person do you think I am?”
“A pervert.” …Did I say that out loud?
“Learn this strike with your body.” Durandal swung his spear, and something invisible smacked me in the face.
“Geh!?” What hit me? I touched my hopefully not ruined face, but there was nothing there. “What was that?”
“Qi projection. You couldn’t learn it before you reached your current rank. It allows you to expel qi from your body to be used in attacks.” Durandal put his spear away. I guess this wasn’t something that required sparring. “When you become a high-ranked warrior, it’ll be possible for you to manipulate your qi outside of your body, but for now, you can only expel it.”
“So … it’s like magic?” Long-ranged attacks with some invisible force of mine? That totally sounds like magic.
“…To a normal person, this might as well be magic in their eyes. But magic and qi are very different with qi losing to magic in strength and flexibility.”
“Does qi beat magic in anything?”
“Anything qi can do, magic can do better,” Bouncykins said. “Qi reinforces your body. So does the iron skin spell. Qi reinforces your speed. So does the fleet foot spell. Qi can perform long-ranged attacks and manipulate objects close by, but magic does it better with a simple magic missile or telekinesis.”
“…What about recovering injuries?”
“There’s magic to fully heal someone even if they’re on the brink of death.” Snow shook his head. “You’re at a huge disadvantage since you can’t use magic.”
Durandal swung his spear and blew Snow and Bouncykins away with the air pressure. “Don’t listen to them, Lucia. If you can transcend the wall, you’ll be just as strong as, if not stronger than, a magician.”
“The wall?” My head hurts. It feels like I’ve learned way too much today.
Durandal put on a solemn expression. “The barrier blocking high-ranked spirit warriors from progressing.”
“Even Roland couldn’t surpass it to become a divine warrior. Don’t get your hopes up.” Bouncykins had returned after being blown away with a bunch of bananas in his mouth. “Even then, in theory, you’ll be on par with a ninth-circle magician. Cain’s a tenth-circle magician. You’ll have to surpass the divine warrior stage as well. No one knows what’s beyond that. Saint? God? Well, if you pass it, you’ll get to name it.”
“If Roland was stuck as a spirit warrior or whatever, how do you know he could’ve became a divine warrior?”
Bouncykins nodded. “Extrapolation. You have wild beasts, ferocious beasts, spirit beasts, and divine beasts. There’s normal citizens, warriors, and spirit warriors. It only makes sense for there to be divine warriors, no?”
“And magicians are ranked by circles, right?” I know that much. There’s lots of complaining in the army about magicians and magic. I think it’s mostly jealousy though.
“Yes. Every three circles represents one stage. So—”
I covered Bouncykins mouth. “No. No more exposition. My head will hurt if I absorb too much knowledge.”
“…You’re not serious.”
“Teach me the qi projectile technique, Durandal!”
Durandal sighed. “It’s qi projection, not projectile.”
“Same thing.” A few letters difference, that doesn’t mean anything. “How do I use it?”
“Hold your arms straight out in front of you. Good. Now circulate your qi. Close your eyes and pretend your arms are longer than they actually are. Can you visualize your long arms?”
“I’m like an orangutan.”
“…Close enough. Now circulate your qi to your new hands, the ones further away from your body.”
“Whoa, this feels funny. Like my fingers are breaking and turning into jelly.” It tingles.
“She actually did it in one try…” That was Snow’s voice. Can I open my eyes now?
“Do you remember that feeling of extending your qi beyond your body?” Durandal’s voice is much better than Snow’s. Definitely. Maybe if Snow had a deeper voice and looked less girly and more like Durandal and…. Focus, Lucia!
“Yes!”
“That’s the foundation of the qi projection technique. Now this step is equally as important. Visualize the normal length of your arms while keeping the projected one alive. Can you see it?”
“There’s hands extending from my hands. I feel like a centipede.”
“Now imagine a sword swinging down, cutting off the extra hands.”
“…Is it going to hurt?”
“No.”
Phew. Okay. I can do it then. “Now?”
“Now you’ve managed to disconnect your qi from your body. You can open your eyes. Try reaching forward and see if you can touch the qi you left in the air before it disperses.”
“The air’s fuzzy?” This is qi? It almost feels like I’m washing my hands. Ah, it’s gone.
“To shoot out qi like I did, you have to extend your qi outside of your body, swing whatever part it’s attached to to build up momentum, and cut it off at the right moment. It’s like throwing a ball attached to a string.”
Like a ball on a string…. “Like this?”
“Gah! Don’t shoot your qi at me, Lucia!” Snow wiped at his face.
Hey, it worked. But it doesn’t seem very strong?
“To deal damage, you have to change the shape of your qi to that of a sword and pour in the same amount of qi as a Breaking Blade. Like so.” Durandal swung his spear, and a nearby tree split into two pieces, bisected vertically. “You have to do two hundred of these a day. There will be punishment for any you miss.”
***
Two hundred qi blades in a day…, all before dinner. I think I may have underestimated Lucia. …Or she cheated and reduced the weight of my weapon body. “Lucia.”
Lucia stopped staring at the simmering pot and turned to face me. “Hmm?” Drool leaked from the corner of her mouth.
“How heavy was my weapon body?”
Lucia puffed her nonexistent chest out. “Three tons.”
Okay. Maybe she didn’t cheat.
Snow tilted his head. “Is it always at three tons?”
Lucia nodded. “Usually. Sometimes I bring it to four, but I get tired really fast. Three is a good balance.”
“…Even when you eat?”
“Especially when I eat! It helps me digest faster so I can eat more.”
Your priorities are a bit skewed, Lucia. Use my weapon body for training, please, not for a digestive aid. Disregarding the incorrect usage of my weapon body, it’s impressive how much Lucia can carry despite her thin frame. Even Roland didn’t have as much raw strength as her and he was at the peak of high-ranked spirit warrior. He could lift a ton at most. I wanted Lucia to get close to a ton, but I never thought she’d reach it or surpass it. It’s amazing how head pats and ear rubs can cause her to reach past her limits. I really chose a good master—it’s a shame about the lack of mana though.
“Don’t you ever want to relax? Cool down and enjoy your meal? You already finished your daily quota of qi blades, right?” Snow’s voice was doing something funny. Slowing down and slurring. Was he trying to hypnotize Lucia? “How long has it been since you last relaxed? Carrying around a three-ton sword all the time must take a toll on your back.”
“Shut up! Why are you talking so weirdly?” Lucia threatened to smack Snow with my weapon body. “I’ll hit you if you don’t focus on cooking. I promised Durandal I wouldn’t slack off. So I can’t relax. Ever!”
