章節 22: 022 Astonishing Growth
"————"
It stopped.
Time, it had stopped.
Ais gazed at the tip of the sword hurtling towards her, her pupils, already contracted, shrank even further.
"Ais!"
Someone seemed to be shouting Ais's name, the voice full of panic.
Hearing this voice, Ais finally reacted, her pupils, which were about to shrink to the size of needle points, suddenly burst with a fierce color.
"Boom!"
The wind enveloping Ais exploded, transforming into a tangible shockwave that sent everything in the vicinity flying.
Reiger felt an overwhelming force from the front and before he knew it, he was blown away, slamming into the wall of the courtyard.
"Cough...!"
The pain in his back forced Reiger to expel all the air from his lungs involuntarily.
The wind around him, upon colliding with Ais's wind, was directly dispersed, causing Reiger to endure a wave of impact that left his entire body in severe pain.
"Are you, are you okay?"
Ais, momentarily dumbfounded, panicked in a rare display.
It wasn't just Ais; even the others watching the battle were taken aback.
"Trouble, trouble has happened!"
Theona began to scream and shout.
"It's all your fault! Why did you have to yell just now?"
Theone slapped Theona hard and accused her.
The one who had called out Ais's name just now was Theona.
If it had not been for Theona's shout, Ais wouldn't have reflexively gotten serious.
"I just couldn't help shouting out when I saw Ais was about to be stabbed!"
Theona, nursing her sore forehead, tearfully retorted with tears in her eyes.
"Foolish Amazon!" Bert scolded at once, "Ais was using Magic and had 'Wind' protection. How could that boy's sword possibly have hit Ais?"
Indeed, even if Ais had not detonated the wind power around her to repel Reiger, it was highly unlikely that Reiger's attack would have resulted in any substantial outcome.
The blessing of Wind Spirit Swift Walk would protect the user's body, and even if Reiger's sword had struck, it would most likely be blocked by the 'Wind' surrounding Ais.
Thus, Theona's shout had been completely superfluous.
"I'm sorry..."
Theona seemed to realize this as well, mumbling in embarrassment and guilt.
"Enough, snap out of it," Finn intervened to stop the quarrel, "Let's go check on the rookie first."
As he spoke, Finn leapt directly from the window, utterly disregarding the fact that he was in a tower tens of meters high.
"Really, every single one of you is still so hot-headed."
Grace scolded as she followed by jumping down.
Revilia had already gone ahead.
Seeing this, Bert, Theona, and Theone followed suit, one by one, jumping from the tower to the courtyard.
Only Loki remained, one foot on the window ledge, seemingly about to jump, until she saw the far-off ground beneath her, causing her lips to twitch and, pretending as if nothing had happened, she quietly withdrew her leg.
"Never mind, as long as Finn and Revilia are there," she said.
The Wise Chief God wisely avoided the potential of crashing to the ground on her own.
Thus, the first-class adventurers of the Loki Familia entered the courtyard one after another, gathering around Reiger.
"Are you okay?"
Revilia was the first to approach, helping Reiger up while placing a hand on him, seemingly checking on something.
"...I'm sorry."
Ais also came forward, and looking at Reiger, who was not very stable on his feet, she bowed her head, her face filled with downcast sadness, resembling a child who had done something wrong.
Even Theona apologized, looking at Reiger with eyes full of regret.
"Cough, cough..."
Reiger coughed a few times and took in a shallow breath, feeling the pain in his chest and back recede; he then looked around at all the first-class adventurers present and shook his head.
"I'm fine, don't worry about me."
Reiger's words prompted everyone to take another look at his complexion and, seeing that he was indeed not in any grave danger, they finally breathed a sigh of relief.
"It's good to hear you're okay," Finn said, seeming to want to pat Reiger on the shoulder but realizing he couldn't reach and giving up with a smile. "Thank goodness the 'Wind' lessened some of the impact for you, otherwise, after that hit, you might have been bedridden for days before being able to get up."
"You guys went a bit too far," Grace said, puffing out her cheeks and glaring, with a cold snort. "A light spar would have been fine, but you had to go all out. Did you want to kill or seriously injure a clansman?"
"Indeed," Revilia frowned and spoke, "Ais, you've overreacted. You should reflect on this."
"Um..." Ais's head hung even lower, her expression becoming even more dejected.
"It's not Miss Ais's fault," Reiger had fully recovered by now and seeing Ais so disheartened, he spoke up for her, "It was my own wish to spar with Miss Ais. Her counterattack was a natural response."
"Even so, you both went too far," Teone sighed and said, "Seeing how you almost wanted to kill Ais just now, I almost thought you were in a real fight. It really brings back unpleasant memories from back home."
"Exactly, exactly." Theona nodded in agreement repeatedly.
She had been startled just now, reminded of some past memories she would rather not think about, which made her involuntarily speak out.
Therefore, if one really wanted to blame someone, it was actually all Reiger's fault. Too immersed in battle and overly trusting in Ais's skills, what should have been a more interactive sparring session had gradually become a serious fight. It was indeed self-inflicted.
"It's my fault," Reiger was certainly self-aware that he had gone too far first. Looking at Ais's dejected face, he immediately reassured her, "Please stop blaming yourself. After all, it was my fault; you were just defending yourself properly and did nothing wrong."
Hearing Reiger's words, Ais nodded, but she still seemed a bit dejected, which made Reiger feel somewhat guilty.
However, before Reiger had a chance to console Ais, Bert's voice interrupted.
"Why dwell on such trivial matters? Isn't the important thing the process of the spar just now?" Bert looked at Reiger with the eyes of a lone wolf intimidating something, "I'm asking you, boy, did you really receive the blessing only three days ago?"
At this statement, everyone's eyes turned toward Reiger.
Including Ais, who still looked dejected but seemed particularly interested in this topic, she too lifted her head to look over.
Reiger was first taken aback, then realized what was going on, and nodded, "Yes, I received the blessing three days ago."
His words were met with Bert's unreserved rebuttal.
"Who are you trying to fool?" Bert cursed, "Are you saying you've grown this much in just three days? Stop talking nonsense!"
Bert's implication was clear: he didn't believe Reiger could grow so fast.
And that was perfectly understandable.
"Considering your skills just now, without even counting the buffs from Ais's magic, I would conservatively estimate that you've reached at least level D, maybe even C, in one or two basic abilities," Finn said thoughtfully, precisely calculating Reiger's approximate skill level.
"At least level D basic abilities, and perhaps not just in one?" Grace mused, "Darn, it took us almost a year to get to that stage when we were growing, didn't it?"
"The fastest among us was Ais," Revilia glanced at the doll-like girl and said, "But even Ais took about half a year."
"Huh?" Theona exclaimed in surprise, "Doesn't that mean, the newbie just matched what Ais accomplished with half a year of effort in just three days?"
Upon hearing this, everyone fell silent.
Especially Ais, who stared intently at Reiger as if she was particularly concerned about this matter.
Reiger could only stand there, bathed in everyone's varying gazes, and inwardly smile wryly.
He was well aware why everyone was so intensely reacting.
After all, even Ais took that long to reach this stage, which spoke volumes for everyone else.
And he had managed this feat in just three days, which was indeed hard for people to accept.
You see, Ais held the world record for the fastest to reach Lv. 2; at the tender age of eight, she leveled up to a higher adventurer in just one year.
To say Ais's talent was the world's finest was not an exaggeration in the slightest.
Yet Reiger had shown a talent far surpassing Ais's, and by such a wide margin, it was a natural reaction for everyone to find it unbelievable.
But Reiger didn't think much of it.
After all—
"The protagonist of the original story managed to level up in just about a month and at Lv. 1 could increase hundreds of points in skill proficiency with each update. What's so surprising about what I've done?"
Because of that, Loki had his doubts every time he saw his own growth, but Reiger alone felt it was nothing to be in awe of.
What the story's protagonist could effortlessly achieve after being 'cheat-enabled', Reiger had merely accomplished the same, what was there to fuss about?
In other worlds, it wasn't uncommon to see even more rapid growth or monsters who could reach the top overnight.
Hence, Reiger truly wasn't phased and spoke out calmly and coolly.
"You can ask Loki if there was anything on my back when I received the blessing three days ago. She knows it best."
At these words, everyone looked at each other, then unanimously turned and headed towards the shrine.
"Come with us!"
"I have to see for myself if this is true."
The Amazonian twins grabbed Reiger by the arms, one on each side, and dragged him along.
Ais followed behind, her stride determined.
This made Reiger realize.
"My skill levels are about to be exposed, aren't they?"
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