Chapter 135: Defeat

No more flying around recklessly: I had to think up some strategy.

<Quick Pace>!

Tap, tap, tap, tap!

My feet brought me in front of the opened target, I stopped, then I jumped. Mid-air, soaring above the man's height, with two quick moves, I swung my sword twice at his face.

I was parried twice.

Without wings, I landed back down on the smooth parquet floor of the empty dojo. Slithering my way to the man's right flank, my arm targeted his leg, but I got parried again. It was fine, though. Jumping with enough haste again, I was sure I could take that stern-looking face off his shoulders, but no can do.

Coming up with a quick strategy right on the spot was easier said than done. I decided to work my way to victory with feinting. Using "Quick Pace," I could pretty much fly in and off the little battlefield quickly, and with "Chain Attack," I could try and behead my freaky human all I wanted.

"Hah!" A clang resounded. "Hyah!" Another did again. "Gah!" Yet another clang resounded. "Tsk!"

I knew it wasn't a good thing, but I was getting restless by now. I couldn't help it. It was as if the freaky swordsman was unattainable to me. Still, I could keep that up until the swordsman got tired, too... but all of a sudden, the freaky swordsman switched from a defensive stance to the offensive.

A huge wave of cold and freezing chilliness washed over me. I might have gotten paralyzed for a second. The bokken that faced me now grew sharp fangs of its own.

The next thing I knew, clashing against my sword, the bokken tore its way through the air and hit my sword of steel so hard. Following with my sword, I followed the impact of the blow as I was filled with shock. The backlash was terrible. I had to dart backward in a hurry to absorb it all.

When I landed on the ground, further away from the mysterious swordsman, one of my knees dropped down. A grunt of pain escaped me. The vibrations coming from the clash of swords practically rendered my right arm unusable. The shock was terrible.

Heavily frowning, my eyes darted back onto my target: he hadn't moved at all from his place and only entered an offensive stance against me, lowering his center of gravity and bringing his wooden sword forward.

Realizing what just happened, I clicked my tongue, and the swordsman smirked.

My arm was no longer numb, and I wasn't panting all that much. From experience, it means that I was still all good in terms of mana supply. Forcing my knee up, I got back to it.

And I realized something, now: Was I trembling due to my excitement or due to fear? Though I couldn't admit it, it was both. For the next ten minutes after that, I exchanged blows with the freaky swordsman.

Maybe that wasn't entirely true.

Maybe I was the only person giving blows here. All of which were parried. Over and over again. All alone. Dealing with the mocking, impenetrable wall that took them all on without the least difficulty or interest.

Clang, clang, clang, the wall said.

Time passed. Overusing my skills became harsher and harsher by the minute. My breathing became more laborious as I felt an aching tightness in my chest. This was supposed to be part of some "training program" according to the bigger fighter. Whatever happened to "learn one new skill - 0/1," though?

The bigger fighter mocked me so much that he was strong, and I was unable to give him back all the scratches, bruises, and superficial injuries he had given me. That wasn't polite! I didn't like it.

Unable to reciprocate, all I could give was my endless shower of blows from this and that side, sometimes coming from above, sometimes from below, from the right or from the left.

At some point, due to my overwhelming fatigue, the grip on my sword unintentionally loosened up. As it happened, my weapon went off my hand, so I tried my best to have it back before I—

Clang!

My trembling fingers ached and they no longer seized my sword. My eyes trembled, too, but they still seized my sword. I watched it fly away to my right and hit the wall with strength, where it dropped down to the ground, defeated.

I was soaked in sweat, and another sword was there. A wooden sword. Pressed against my throat. Hesitantly, I gazed up into the bigger fighter's eyes. Looking down on me from above, he coldly welcomed and greeted me back to the non-fighting world. I had lost.

"...Humph," he coldly laughed.

That man had said that there was a time for laughs and fun, and a time for work and discipline. Was "that" the discipline he talked about? For some reason, now, the cold man seemed angry.

With his shoulders going upon, he breathed in and deeply sighed. "The stories I've heard... they seemed to indicate you were... stronger than that... You have no technique. You are pathetic. But how about that: Can you still dance?"

"...Who're you?"

Now that the freaky swordsman, who, I had to admit, was probably way stronger than me, had lost all interest in me, he showed no indications that he would answer me.

I became furious. Oh-so-furious. A wild blend of hatred, frustration, desperation and mad disappointment took hold of my heart. My fists were shaking and uttering dark, hurtful words, I wanted to yell that I had the right to live. If I was weak, it only meant one thing: I was going to die. Call me dramatic if you want, I needed this. I needed strength. Without it, I was nothing worth anything at all.

That's why I didn't stop that animalistic growl from my mouth as I was burning with hatred from within. And the wooden sword was still pressed on my sword, so I quickly grabbed it with renewed vigor, and I clenched my fist so hard that the wooden sword cracked under my grip. Quickly, the bokken broke, and I felt the urge to click my tongue again. So many times. "Tsk, tsk, tsk, tsk, tsk...!"

The bigger fighter sighed again, but this time, he whispered that this was the way to go. "Better," he said, repeating it many times. In a hurry, I then plunged my hands into my pockets, produced a handful of silver coins and others, dropped them all on the ground, and exited the dojo, pissed at everything.

When I flung the dojo's last remaining door open, I broke that one too. And there, outside, people gathered in front of our guild's place. Some people made some comments about "us" finally getting out of there, and some asked about whatever it was that happened in there.

It seemed we made quite the ruckus in there. Out of my face, humans. The door was no longer preventing me from going out, but would these people block me? The cluster of people gathered here because there seemed to be a problem, from what I quickly gathered.

Gloomily whispering "He just got lucky... He just got lucky... He just got lucky..." over and over again, I bumped into one of the big guys gathered here. Throwing him a look of absolute hatred, contempt, and disgust, biting my lower lip and twitching my brows, he quickly backed away, with all the rest of the crowd with him.

The bastards opened a way for me and I squeezed my way off the training grounds of the Guild Bureau.

"I'll kill him... I'll kill him... I'll kill him..."

Now that I thought about it, of these two things I was planning on getting done before the day ended, I didn't complete any.

"I'm not weak... I'm not weak... I'm not weak... He just got lucky... I'll kill him..."

That was how my day ended.

During my long stay at the Academy, and even before I could even enroll in it with Cetha, I had wondered, and wondered, and wondered. I thought a lot. I insist: a lot.

What would be the following of my life's journey?

The System I was granted with life.

I needed to figure it out.

Also, there was the main "mandatory" quest I received from playing the "game." I needed to figure that out, too. Today, after I ran from the tedious atmosphere the Academy of mana-wielders offered me, I was after these two objectives of mine.

The System, the main quest, my skills, how to get new ones, how to even get to know them, the "Skill Tab," and my status points...

❮ "What lies behind the story" Main Quest — Follow Princess Elina to her apartments and get all comfy with her. 0/1 ❯

And this,

❮ The Player has unused 'Stats Point(s)' stockpiled. It is recommended to use your 'Stats Point(s).' The statistics regarding the Player's vitality; strength; agility; intelligence; sense must be increased for the well-realization of a good progression whilst playing the Game. ❯

I sure didn't know anything about this second AR display yet, but I was going to. Soon. And with that alone, I was about to grow even more powerful. So it was an important point...

About the Main Quest, the instructions still hadn't changed since the day I set foot in the capital, so it sounded like quite the tricky quest, but I just had to buckle down to it...

Tomorrow.

Outside the Guild Bureau, I stretched and yawned. "Yawn~" My fatigued had piled up. Gotta sleep. But I was too tired to get back home. Where was my usual spot at, standing from here?

In front of the Guild Bureau, there was a large plaza. It extended around and linked to many streets, coming from far away to here where there was plenty of room for everyone.

Standing there, I leisurely strolled to the back of a building, looked around to ensure no one saw me and started to climb the structure up. Upon the flat roof of this bigger in, I scanned the area for my usual spot, spotted it, and jumped from one building to another to it.

There, I let myself lie down in between an old-looking chimney cap and some bricks placed over a metallic grid, in the dust.

I slept.