章 18: Level Up <1>
As another night passed, Zephyr felt stronger than ever, his body was lighter and each movement carried with it a great amount of strength.
The update in status seemed to make him a lot stronger, this time, Zephyr did 5 times his original routine, the other members of the familia looked at him like he was crazy for running 50Km across the mansion.
As he finished his exercises, he moved on to sword training. He enveloped his wooden sword with his Aura, his aura seemed to have a qualitive change as he felt it was sharper than before, more refined and controlled.
It seemed his hypothesis was correct, his Aura scaled with his Mana stat, meaning as long as he grew his Mana stat his Aura would also grow along with him.
He focused on his blade, feeling the connection between him and the blade. And then, he moved.
It was as if he was fighting an invisible opponent, each movement of his had counters, he would delay his inputs, and parry, his movements were smooth, yet carried a great amount of strength within them.
He went on for an hour before feeling the sun rising, he stabbed his wooden sword on the ground and observed the sun, letting it's warmth caress his body.
"Now that I think about it, Bell's birthday is in a month. He would be nine and I would be eleven." He remembered Bell and the village, he missed them dearly. But he wouldn't let them interfere with his goal to find his lost self.
"Zephyyyyrrr!" Tiona's cheery voice sounded out behind him. She towards him before tackling him, giving him one hell of a bear hug.
"Urk!" Zephyr felt his breath escape from his lungs. "T-tiona time out.. I'm gonna suffocate..!" He tapped the back of the girl, pleading to be let go.
"Eh.. So boring." Tiona let go of him, letting Zephyr finally breathe properly. "But you feel stronger. You must have had a good increase in stats huh?" Tiona started the conversation with a slight smile.
"Yeah, even Loki was shocked." Zephyr got up from the ground and patted himself, dispelling the dust that stuck unto his clothes.
"Hmm.. Then, you probably haven't gotten used to that increase in strength yet." Tiona said, a mischievous glint flashing in her eyes.
"Why don't you spar with me again so you can get used to it?"
"Alright." Zephyr didn't think much of it, they were sparring practically everyday.
"Yosh! This time I'll be using 60% of my power!" Tiona pumped her fist.
"Eh? 60%? That means you were holding back all this time!" Zephyr mouth went wide open. It seems he had miscalculated.
"Yeah! I was always using half of my power everytime we sparred, lest I injure you." Tiona said with an innocent smile.
A wry smile formed on Zephyr's face. 'I might need to level up before I can fight Tiona seriously.'
"Now, come on, come on! Let's fight!" Tiona readied herself with a fighting stance.
Zephyr also did the same but his aura was whirring around him, the aura looked more fluid, instead of just an ethereal blue it seemed more alive, with more color.
The fight commenced as Zephyr took the initiative to move.
He delivered a powerful right hook that was skillfully blocked by Tiona, she countered with a kick of her own that Zephyr dodged by ducking.
The both of them proceeded to engage in an intense slug fest in where they abandoned defense and just duked it out.
Their movements were a blur, every strike creating a powerful gust of wind. Zephyr punched the right side of her face before Tiona headbutted him.
Zephyr's mind blanked for a moment before he gained clarity and gained distance from Tiona.
"Oi oi, are you serious? You're using your sister's fighting style now?" Zephyr grimaced, Tione was a beast in combat. She was prone to anger and always went wild when you fought her for a prolonged time.
Zephyr knew that because he experienced it himself, he challenged Tione to a fight and he proceeded to get pummeled after trash talking her.
"Hehe! Don't worry, I'm not like Tione, I don't go wild." Tione laughed before dashing towards him and delivering a swift leg sweep.
Zephyr dodged the leg sweep and delivered a devastating kick from above, but Tiona blocked it.
"Phew, that was a heavy kick. Nice one Zephyr!" Tiona commended him.
As Zephyr landed on the ground he was caught off guard as Tiona charged at him like a bull, he was pinned on a wall and Tiona proceeded to beat the shit out of him.
"I forfeit!" Zephyr shouted out, his arms were giving out from the intense pummeling.
"Man, you're hella strong! I know I said I would help you get stronger but you're the one handling me." Zephyr sighed as he unstuck himself from the wall.
"That's not true, you're really skilled in combat. Me and Tione are from a tribe where we're trained to be strong from the start. But you're technique in fighting is always evolving, you always find ways to bypass my defense and that helps me polish my technique more." Tiona comforted Zephyr, but what she said isn't a lie.
Zephyr is not only extremely talented in the sword but in combat as well, everytime he fights a strong opponent he evolves, he's a monster in the making.
"Well you're probably unsatisfied with always holding back against me, so wait for me to level up. I'm sure by then, I'll be strong enough to seriously content with you." He extended his fist towards Tiona.
"Um!" Tiona herself also extended her fist, forming a fist bump, a bright smile plastered across her face.
—————
"He is progressing faster we thought." An elegant female voice sounded in a meeting room. It was Riveria.
"That's right, we should be able to go on an expedition again in a month, what should we do for now captain?" Gareth's gruff voice was pointed to Finn.
"Let's see.." Finn closed his eyes for a bit before opening them again. "I say we observe for now, it's clear we made the right decision in letting him and the twins meet. This way both sides are able to train eachother, Zephyr excels in adaptive combat. While Tiona and Tione are Amazon's who excel in strength. Zephyr will get used to fighting stronger opponents and evolving, while the twins are able to polish their skills against him."
"Two birds with one stone huh.." Riveria said.
"That's right. With Zephyr's growth speed, he should be able to level up soon. We estimate that in one week he should be able to level up." Finn said with a smile.
"Leveling up in 2 weeks of becoming an adventurer.. The kids a goddamn monster. Even Ais needed a year." A wry smile formed on Gareth's face.
"Well isn't it great that he's in our Familia, we have another outstanding rookie in our midsts." Another voice sounded out, Loki, the Goddess of the Loki Familia was also present in the meeting room.
"Indeed, well it's a blessing that Ais and Zephyr exist, who knows they might just surpass the likes of the Zeus and Hera Familia." Finn rested his chin on his hands.
"Two heroes, I do wonder.. Will a third one appear?" Loki looked outside the window, her tone was soft, a stark contrast to her usual silly tone.
———[Chapter End]———
A/N: After careful reconsideration, I've decided that this novel will include harem. But worry, not, it's not the "Catch em' all" type. The minimum would be 2, with 3 being the max. I already have a heroine that I've chosen, while the other one, or two are still not decided.
This is not wish-fulfillment, or a self insert. I don't see myself in my character, he's a character I created to represent growth. So you needn't worry that the romance will be forced, or unrealistic. I plan to properly flesh out the romance and actually give meaning to the word "Romance". After all, my mother didn't raise me to disrespect women, fictional or not.
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