No Surprises Here

A few weeks passed with everyone in our group getting stronger and improving their Skills. I dedicated most of my time to improving my Alchemy and Spirit Cooking Skills. The only time I took any meaningful breaks from the grind of it all was to visit Demoire and either make money or spend it to ensure that everyone in the group had the best resources possible to progress as fast as possible.

We were still nowhere even remotely close to being strong enough to make a major move when, out of the blue, the peaceful routine that had been established crumbled before my very eyes to a very simple request.

"May I ask for some of your time to learn Wood Magic from you?" Aila asked one random morning when all I expected was for her to resupply some pills for the week.

"Sure," I thought nothing of her request when she first asked. "I can give you some tips, I guess."

I'd already progressed in the [Azure Regeneration Method] to the point of entering the Fourth Phase, which brought my Understanding of Wood, and Spirit Stat by proxy, to E- among other things. It was enough to develop the Skill [Healing Factor], raise my mastery of [Wood Flame] to Grade E, as well as elevate my "Wood Mage" Title from "Novice" to "Adept."

When the time came for us to meet, everything initially went as I imagined. We went outside and I explained what I learned from cultivating my [Wood Flame] and [Azure Regeneration Method]. But then…

"Could we move on to a more practical engagement?" She asked.

"What?" Her phrasing confused me.

"Would you entertain me in a Magic Duel?" I just then noticed that her expression had never changed… ever; like, since I'd first seen her months ago in Deanon's Slave Trade at this point.

"Ok… But, I've never fought with Magic before." I paused for a moment to consider, "I don't think I even had much experience fighting physically in my first life either. So, you're probably going to destroy me in any case."

I was sure of it because unlike Ily, Alex, and myself, everyone else in our group had preexisting combat Skills. Ridiculously overpowered I may be, I knew better than to think I could fight worth a damn against someone with actual experience.

"I understand," Aila said before quietly moving to take her leave.

"Wait! Where are you going? Do you have something against fighting newbies or something, because I don't plan on giving up on sparing with you or anyone else for that matter." When she stopped and turned around, I added, "I'm going to have to learn how to fight one way or another, so even if that means I'll be taking a few — many — losses at the start, I'm not going to be discouraged."

"Very well," she gave the faintest of smiles possible before growing serious. "But with your lack of experience, I believe it would be best for us to fight with all our Skills. We can move on to specialized sparing once we get a feel for each other's relative strength with all their Skills."

I couldn't argue with that, so we started my first fight.

I tried to burn her with a fireball made of [Wood Flames] and she blocked it with a translucent silver dome. The next thing I knew, something hit my liver and I was lying on the floor with the wind knocked out of me.

It took her less than five seconds to destroy— No. It took her less than three seconds to annihilate me…

"...I hit you with the [Earth Lance] Skill you gave me all those weeks ago. It was blunted of course, but you should still look out for those going forward," I could see that she was struggling to not laugh up a storm in my face. But, I couldn't really blame her.

A few seconds later my [Healing Factor] helped me recover back to full strength and I had to admit… I got taken out like a bitch. It was honestly pathetic, but at least now I knew better.

We went for another round and I got knocked down after ten seconds. Then I remembered I had [Land Surfing] as a movement Skill and that bought me fifteen seconds during the third round. Though, after that point, I had nothing else to combat the literal dozens of combat Skills Aila could conjure up in the blink of an eye.

I got better at dodging and blocking as the rounds continued to pass with me getting my ass handed to me, but I never so much as got close to even grazing her. By the time an hour passed and we were due to stop the fighting, I had at best only managed to last thirty seconds against her.

"...You don't have to do this," I said, feeling beyond embarrassed as she slung my arm over her shoulder and led me out of the field and into the farmhouse.

She really didn't have to help me as all I had was a very, "very" mild limp to my gait. But she insisted…

"I can't just leave you behind after you took some of your already limited time to help me with my request. I would be consumed with guilt if I didn't help you back, when it was all my fault that you were injured."

Yeah… That's great and all, but you've already beaten my body and bruised my ego. There's no need to humiliate me further by dragging me to the "bathhouse room" with you!

Of course, I wasn't confident, brave, or whatever else of a man enough to voice out any dissension and soon I found myself showering next to her.

With a sigh and look of defeat, I cursed Yyverian culture and its utilitarian pragmatism. Because of these assholes and their blind devotion to power and efficiency, it would be a while before I could find some privacy. Unless I went out of my way to spend a ridiculous amount of time, effort, and — most important of all… — money, I'd be left unable to find a moment of freedom from the chaos of the world without the risk of someone — literally anyone — barging in.

Oh well… At least the view was nice.