97: Blood in the Water, Part Twelve

Blood in the Water, Part Twelve

A few days passed and Neve reached Blade: 20. 

As far as she knew, 20 was... decent enough. In a general sense, anyway. Nobody was going to be impressed to hear that she'd made it to this point, but they would be very surprised to hear she made it there in the amount of time that she did. 

Getting to this number so quickly had, of course, only been possible thanks to Erin's status as a Trainer.

If Neve were training this skill in a conventional way she'd probably be around 10 right now, give or take a few levels depending on how much sleep and rest she sacrificed. There were Warrior-path players who hadn't made it past 25 Blade a whole year after the Unity Trials started, though that could be attributed more so to laziness on their part. 

It was also, however, thanks to the fact that players couldn't play the role of Trainers.

Hell, "Trainers" in general were just a rumored concept up until now. People on the forums had guessed that because the Unity Trials were designed to resemble video games, they might also come with such NPCs specifically meant to boost one particular skill, as these were popular inclusions in fantasy RPGs. It had never been confirmed that they existed, up until now. 

Erin, as an "NPC" herself, was one. And so, Neve was making record time in training her Blade. 

The good thing about this was that Neve would likely make it to 40 Blade in just a week or two. 

The bad part was that she'd likely remain at that point for the rest of her journey, from that moment all the way through to the 10th Floor.

Unless she gave up on getting her revenge entirely but she was far from willing to do that. 

Now, she and Erin were making their way through the top part of the city once again. All Neve wanted at the moment was to:

1. Look for any materials or herbs for Ahlakan's alchemy. 

2. Get into one, supervised, fair, one-on-one fight, preferably against a basic grunt. 

She didn't have any aspirations of outmatching her opponent through skill or anything. What she wanted to test out was her sword's damage. As she recalled, it scaled off Blade, Arcane, and Healing Magic, but mostly the latter. 

[How much damage will 50 Healing Magic give me? I guess we'll see.] 

"You know... Not that I believe that the lessons I've given you are not of the highest of quality, but I would be rather surprised if you've already managed to grasp the intricacies of fighting necessary to not end up with one of those 'tridents' going through your neck. Are... Are you certain you wish to fight something right now?" 

"Yes," Neve replied. "I know the enemy will be a better fighter than me. I just want to test the quality of my weapon." 

"Neve, even the greatest blade ever made would be little more than a pointy stick in the hands of someone inexperienced. I, the princess tagging along with you who happens to be a much more battle-hardened warrior, would recommend that we walk back to the tents and just train some more." 

"Don't worry so much," Neve said, stifling a chuckle. "I'm a healer. If anything happens, I'll just fix myself up. But, I really do want to see how strong this sword is right now." 

"Suit yourself." Erin sighed. "Goodness. I wonder if this is what I sounded like back then." 

"Hm?" Neve looked over at her. 

"When I was first learning to fight," Erin replied with a smirk. "My family purchased the best training money could ask for, and yet, all I wanted was to set it aside and stick my swords in something." 

"Lovely." 

"Actually, I was always rather proficient at sticking things up certain places, but this had suggested an entirely different sort of euphoria, you know?" She asked as Neve's cheeks reddened. 

[Why does she say shit like that?] 

"... All those sorts of thoughts were pushed right out of my mind as soon as I actually got into my first fight, though." Erin's tone softened as she began to go through her memories. As Neve looked around, ensuring no enemies would catch them by surprise, Erin said, "I was traveling to a relative's estate when some bandits descended upon us, thinking they could win a fight against our group through a numbers advantage. What they did not know was that the people being escorted were capable of fighting back as well. I hopped out of the vehicle and faced off against this young man," she explained. A nostalgic smile tugged at her lips, but her half-lidded eyes seemed almost regretful. "I remember his face quite well, even now. He was scraggly, so thin I would have thought he was a child were it not for his thick beard. With wild black hair and dark, black eyes, he held up a rusty dagger in front of me and... Well, I killed him," she stated quickly, shrugging. "But only just barely. I didn't get into any other fights for a while after that."

"Is this the sort of thing you were writing about before?" Neve asked. "In that memory journal or whatever that you were making after I told you about your... You know, the fact that you're a summon." 

"Indeed," she said, stretching the word a little. "A useless endeavor, given that I will never see my home again, but... The point is, if you want to test your blade's sharpness then that is fine, but you're far from ready to win fights consistently." 

"I understand." 

She was still going to do this, though. She was just too curious. 

Upon having that thought, she and Erin reached another room to the northeast of the top floor that saw a couple of enemies roaming the city lazily, with blank, lifeless eyes that turned toward them the instant they appeared before them. 

Neve pointed at the enemy to the left, letting Erin know without a word that they needed one of these guys dead so that the test could happen. 

She used {Fireball} five times, taking advantage of the enemy's weakness to this element and giving Erin just enough time to go in for the kill. 

MP: 1050/1100

Erin ducked under a stabbing thrust from the opponent's trident while the second enemy ran straight toward Neve. The healer ran away, moving in circles throughout the room, while Erin lunged forward. She parried a pair of quick strikes and brought her swords to her opponent's head, making green blood spurt out the back of it. 

EXP Gained: 30

EXP: 390/500

WST Gained: 60

WST: 81055

With that enemy eliminated Neve could now focus entirely on her test. 

[I still need to activate the sword, though.] 

10 Priestess class spells. That was the requirement for Sayran's Holy Blade to actually begin dealing damage. 

Holding the dim, golden blade in her right hand and her staff in her left, Neve cast {Great Healing Dart} nine times. 

MP: 960/1100

Then, she cast {Sacred Ground} in the center of the room, where she planned to fight this thing. 

MP: 910/1100

As soon as that spell was out, it began. 

Gold-white light suddenly poured out from the sword's crossguard, wrapping the blade in a holy aura. Neve's palm was almost scalded by the hilt it was wrapped around. The newfound energy from this sword was tangible. 

[Okay, here goes nothing!] 

Neve turned toward the fish warrior, holding her sword in the stance Erin had taught her. The lamia watched on from the side, ready to intervene if things did not go according to plan. 

The instant that Neve took up that fighting position, her opponent began to attack. 

Neve had only reached 20 Blade, but something happened that highlighted the minor changes she'd undergone as a fighter. 

She could understand what the other fighter was going for. As it pulled its arms back and began to thrust at Neve in quick, jabbing motions with its trident, Neve could see the strategy it was implementing. 

[It's aiming for my midsection,] she thought as she pushed the trident away with her blade, focusing entirely on blocking for now. Then, as the opponent went for a thrust but paused halfway through, she realized: [wait, that was a feint!] 

She could recognize what the warrior was doing but was still too slow, unprecise, and unskilled to react to it. 

As the warrior struck her sword, slapping it away, Neve saw its trident hovering in front of her and understood that if this was an unsupervised fight, without Erin there, this would have been it. 

She would have died then and there.

Erin stepped in, however. She cut the back of the warrior's left leg, behind its knee. 

As Neve watched on with shock at how easily she'd been bested, the warrior fell and could not stand back up. Still, with monstrous tenacity, it swung its trident at Neve wildly, from side to side. 

"You should finish-" Erin said before disappearing, her summon timer cutting her words off mid-sentence. 

Neve, however, did as the lamia asked.  2

Raising her sword up high, she went to crash its blade down on the fish. 

And the fish raised its trident, holding the weapon by its ends and using the shaft to block the incoming hit. Even now, crippled, it was trying to defend itself. 

[Come on, just give up already!] 

Neve swung from the side, trying to use a different angle. The fish blocked it as well. It couldn't retaliate in any meaningful way from its position, and yet, it was still so painfully clear that Neve was outmatched. 

So, Neve gave up on fighting fairly. 

She stepped back and aimed her staff at the creature. A single {Fireball} flew across the room and wrapped her opponent in flames. It dropped its trident from sheer pain, and Neve took that chance to move in. 

Raising her sword up high again, she brought it down on the enemy's circular, perfectly round collarbone, the blade sinking into the crook of its neck as well, the way a lover might tease their significant other. 

The blade cut deep, then. Sliding from this position down to its chest, ending up halfway through its torso.

"Aaaaghghgh..." Green blood bubbled up from the monster's mouth and it fell back, burned, and cut down. 

EXP Gained: 30

EXP: 420/500

WST Gained: 60

WST: 81105

[...] Neve looked down at her sword. 

Damage-wise, this test had been a complete success. With her Arcane at 80 and her Healing Magic, the main source of her sword's power, at 50, the blade probably would have killed the opponent in one hit. 

Skill-wise, however, Neve would have to double her Blade and invest in Speed and Precision before she stood a chance in a conventional battle against a non-mindless opponent. 

[And, all this time, Erin's been making these same sorts of fights look easy,] Neve realized. [I didn't realize just how impressive that is until now. Holy fuck,] she thought as a newfound sense of appreciation for her summon bloomed in her heart. 

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