Lessened Skill Issues

'It's been 10 long years since my training. Or at least that is what it feels like. Honestly, I wouldn't be surprised if only a day had passed and I've just gone a bit nutty.'

Kumi thought as she rested on the floor after witnessing the destruction of every single wooden doll in the room, all by her own hands.

Quite some time had undoubtedly passed, Kumi had been training for longer than she could have guessed. The results of training had paid off in earnest. Ayaka had become easier to predict and Kumi's knife-wielding abilities were quite a bit better as well. Kumi now started preparing for another sparring session with Ayaka. As Ayaka had told her, this should be the final one considering Kumi's growth speed.

Kumi sat down next to the splinters and broken wood.

'I can't just make something out of broken wood to help. All I can do is prepare mentally. Ugh. And here I was, hoping to at least land a hit or something. Ayaka is so broken.'

Kumi used Preparation as she sat there thinking, almost in a meditative state.

'...'

"Ready?"

Ayaka asked as she lightly stretched.

'... Eh. Fuck it. I'll try that thing.'

Kumi thought as she sighed in her head and stood up before stretching.

'Let's hope I don't screw this up, as far as I've seen, it is a stupidly delicate process.'

Kumi got in position as she closely observed Ayaka.

'My knife skills don't add up to even a threat right now so I have to build up to a threat with good use of my other skills. Ayaka uses her time manipulation sparsely and efficiently as she dashes around with her stupid amount of knives so I'll have to kick old brain-o-nator into high gear if I want to parry effectively.'

Ayaka got in position, flipping and spinning two knives in her hands as she waited for Kumi to make the first move.

'Showoff.'

Kumi moved closer to Ayaka while making her footwork as hard to read as possible. Her Skills and Properties weren't the only things that had been strengthened by the training but her skill in movement and strategy had increased as well.

Swinging her knife, Kumi took a step forward as her attack was blocked and spun around, delivering a roundhouse kick that Ayaka swiftly dodged.

Continuing her spin, she used the velocity of the missed kick to backflip and land a small distance away from Ayaka as she waited for the obvious counterattack to start.

And so it started. Ayaka threw dull knives at Kumi as she started to run forward.

Jumping back, Kumi parried the knives either with her own knife or using her free hand to redirect them away from her body.

As soon as she was about to parry the last knife, she changed her movements and attacked just as Ayaka had appeared above the thrown knife, ready to use it as a temporary platform.

Although Kumi knew that Ayaka had not seen it coming, she also knew that she would react, fast. And react fast she did as Ayaka bent down and met Kumi's attack with her own before her knife could scratch her boot.

The knife she had used as a platform fell towards the ground but right before making contact with the ground and getting left behind, Kumi used her leg to hit the knife by its handle and kick it upwards.

The knife came as a surprise as Ayaka had her face lightly scratched and backed off from the exchange.

Appearing a few metres away from Kumi, she widened her eyes as Kumi appeared before her half a moment later.

Ayaka received a blur of calculated attacks with her own as the two forces temporarily collided.

Kumi had taken the knife that scratched Ayakas face which accounted for the half moment before appearing in front of Ayaka but how she did that action stayed unknown for now as the 'spar' continued.

Though it didn't continue for long as after Kumi had shown her hidden card, Ayaka started to hold back a lot less and Kumi was soon overwhelmed.

Sitting there taking deep breaths but sustaining no injuries, Kumi was pleased with herself.

'Haah~! Scratched her! Gotcha! Now! How predictable!'

She thought, reminiscing about the thoughts she couldn't really have during the spar due to having fully concentrated on the fight and on not taking any damage.

Ayaka was near her, taking a few breaths herself, not really due to being tired but due to the surprise of Kumi's sudden teleportation-like ability.

Ayaka turned towards Kumi and asked.

"You have Time magic?"

Kumi shook her head.

"Then how did you do that?"

"Copy. You."

She said in between breaths.

'Not that hard to imitate. Your movements were just hard to read so imitating it became a time-based game. No skill out of doing it though.'

If Ayaka or anyone else had heard her thoughts at the moment, the clear difference in innate talent would have made them shed quite the number of tears.

"Copy? Just by watching me do it?"

Ayaka continued with her questions as Kumi wrote down the results of the battle.

"Mhm."

"Is that a Skill you have?"

"No."

'What a devil...'

Ayaka thought as she looked at Kumi just sitting there.

Ayaka sighed as she told Kumi to check if she gained any Skills.

'Oh, yeah.' Kumi remembered as she opened her status and was quite surprised by the results.

'Looking back on it I did dismiss quite a few bubbles when I was fighting.'

{Name: Kumi

Gender: Female

Race: Angelic Devil

Rank: Mortal

Level: 1

-Titles: Dragon Slayer, Demon Slayer, Hero Slayer, Empress's Heir, Calamity Killer, Celestial Lotus Host, Potential Shatterer

Potential: Z±

-Properties:

Vigour: E- (100%)

Mana: F+ (100%)

Strength: F+

Agility: E+

Mind: F+

Endurance: E

Arcane: E-

-Elements: Lightning, Curse, Rot

-Passive Skills:

High Regeneration Level Max;

Free Footwork Level Max;

Brutal Strength Level Max;

Dragon Heart Level Max;

Growth Acceleration Level Max;

Highest Holy Blessing Level Max;

Highest Demonic Blessing Level Max;

Heavenly Demonic Pressure Level Max;

Unknown Level 2;

Caution Level 2;

Stamina Use Reduction Level 3;

Deep Sleep Level 2;

Training Level 3;

Art of War Level 1;

Perfect Fighter Level 1;

Battle Records Level 1;

Unnoticeable Concentration Level 1;

Cautious Intelligence Level 1

-Resistance Skills:

Time Magic Resistance Level 5;

Weakening Magic Resistance Level 4;

Space Magic Resistance Level 3;

Pain Resistance Level 4;

Heat Resistance Level 3;

Shock Resistance Level 4;

Water Magic Resistance Level 3;

Cold Resistance Level 3;

Bleeding Resistance Level 1;

Mana Loss Resistance Level 3;

Stamina Loss Resistance Level 2;

Health Loss Resistance Level 1

-Active Skills:

Empress's Soul Sword Level 1;

Slash Level 2;

Elemental Power Increase Level 1;

Unreadable Illusion Level 2;

Preparation Level 2;

Preparatory Item Creation Level 2

-Personality: <Implausibly Inscrutable> <Impossibly Cautious>}

{Art of War Level 1}

{Passive}

{Having read and experienced the teachings of War, you have learnt to appreciate the fine Art of a long and deadly battle.

For each enemy defeated, Increase Physical Abilities by 1% for 10 seconds up to 30%.

Time refreshes for every enemy killed.}

{Perfect Fighter Level 1}

{Passive}

{Having fought many a battle and retaining no physical damage, your abilities increase as your Vigour property is at 100%.

All Physical Abilities Increase by 5% when at 100% Vigour.}

{Secondary Effect: When not at 100% Vigour, regenerate at a slightly accelerated rate.}

{Battle Records Level 1}

{Passive}

{Having documented hundreds of battles you have taken part in and their victor, this Skill assists in raising the percentage of future battles won.

For every 100 enemies defeated, Permanently Increase All Damage Dealt by 1% up to 25%.}

{Unnoticeable Concentration Level 1}

{Passive}

{Your enemies do not know if you are taking the battle seriously or just playing around. Let's keep it that way.

For each Level in Unnoticeable Concentration, Increase the maximum amount of Concentration that can be reached.

The more Concentrated the user is the more Powerful, Fast and Efficient the user becomes.

Reduce Concentration when sustaining damage or running away.}

{Cautious Intelligence Level 1}

{Passive}

{Your Cautiousness has Increased your Intelligent Mind. Whether being more cautious at this point is beneficial or not, the decision is left to you.

Passively Increase Mind, Arcane and Intelligence Properties by 5%.}

'Quite the haul of Skills. Didn't think I'd get any Skills related to personality, guess that's why it has a whole special section to it. Who would've guessed?'

Kumi thought as she let out a sigh in her head.

'Should have picked Genius or Godly or something. The hard to read genius is a popular trope after all.'

She let out another sigh in her head as she closed the status and looked at Ayaka.

"Whatever." Ayaka muttered before asking. "You got the Skills?"

Receiving a nod, she asked another question.

"Anything we didn't expect show up too?"

Kumi thought for a second.

'I guess I can say I got the Skill related to being Inscrutable. They already know I have that sort of personality so nothing bad should go down, if it does I am prepared to escape at least.'

Kumi nodded and answered Ayakas question.

"Concentration Skill."

"A concentration Skill? Interesting, those can't be found often. Effect?"

'Shit. It' s Rare.'

She thought, not really able to retract the statement.

"More concentrated = stronger."

"Oh my, aren't you a lucky one?"

Ayaka pat Kumi on the head.

"Why don't we go tell Hilde? I bet she'll be happy to hear you've grown stronger."

'Christ with crocs and crutches.'

And so Kumi could finally leave the restraints of the Metal room.

'Can't I go to the bathroom first? Or at least a shower? The 'facilities' here are trashy.'