Villainess and Grimoire - Chapter 121 – Training Arc

Year 5009 after the system day 76 of the flowering season inside the dojo a girl training could be found.

“Make sure you always take a step forward when you wave the sword down, it’ll not only increase your range but also allow your body to create more strength, make sure you put your back into it and keep using both hands, your arms need to grow equally strong.”

‘Teacher sure picked quite the heavy wooden sword, he bought a lot of different ones, some lighter, shorter, larger, and he’s making me wave all of them for a while now.’

“It looks to me that your body reacts the best to a sword held by two hands, which is a shame since you don’t want such swordsmanship.”

“Sadly, to be able to excel in both I’d need to be able to retain my right hand free, but I can still learn how to wield a short sword with both hands even if I end up using only one.”

“The path I thought for you is harder than Sylvia’s one since she focused on swords like I did, as such, I’ve been making you have physical and magical training, if you use the mana you’ve been training for the past days in your leg when you take a step forward, in fact, try it and see for yourself the difference.”

“A path only for myself? That sounds rather interesting, but will it allow me to surpass both teacher and your student?”

“Yes, of course, if you manage to learn both that is, it will also require a longer time, but then you’ll at least have a great base which you’ll be able to improve on your own through fighting and training.”

“I’ll take on your challenge then!” I charge 100 mana on my left leg while raising the sword above my head with the tip directed backward and take a step forward while allowing it to slash in front of me. Once the feet fall I feel incredibly stable with my mana serving as a foothold and the sword curves without any issue.

My teacher then starts clapping lightly and then says,” now imagine if you used mana coating on your hands and weapon while doing that.”

“In the weapon I understand, but what would the hands change?”

“Well look at your own,” upon his words I stare at them noticing they’re sort of red slightly swollen,” would an outer layer of mana enable them to conserve the skin properly?”

“Of course, but it would also allow the sword to not slip, and even if an enemy parried it, would allow you to become able to grab it tighter without hurting yourself in the process as long as the mana lasted of course.”

“Let’s see what I can do about that,” I pour mana on my hands, left leg, and then restart the stance, once I resume it everything flows with great control losing a bit of the energy I used to cover everything.

“Is there any point in not just using all this mana for a spell to defeat the opponent rather easier?” Upon my words, Ray’s eyebrow went up and then he grabbed a wooden sword,” magic and weapons exist equally, what you can do with one thing, can’t do with the other, and using mana to coat yourself, if you have good control you don’t waste it, but by turning it into an element or a skill, you lose the entirety of the value, as such, it can be said that this hard path allows the user to have their mana last a lot longer, especially since we recover it quite slow.”

He covered his hands and legs with mana different than mine as I notice something strange in his and he does the same stance and motion I did, and as soon as the sword finishes the trajectory he stops it firmly, and a snap sound resounds the dojo.

“Uh!? What was that?”

“I made the sword slide through wind splitting it in two momentarily, and the space behind it that was left behind the motion was probably the sound of it, at my max speed I can even create a wind wave without relying on the wind element, not entirely sure about the theory behind it, but I believe it is the wind propagating and accelerating at such a speed that sound comes from it.”

“That’s… simply incredible!” I go in awe with the demonstration finding myself incredibly motivated to pursue his teachings.

“It doesn’t quite matter how many statuses we have Iris if we can’t grasp and use them properly, this world status shows our potential and maximum amount of it with numbers, for example, having 1000 strength, but doesn’t mean we can use that much without proper training, same for everything else, from what you told me, you spent most of your points if not all, in wisdom, in other words, you should now be able to sense the lack of control you have when applying it directly to your body.”

“In other words, I shouldn’t just focus on what status numbers show me, but instead train myself to excel at the different parameters it has, and try to surpass them!”

“Well I don’t think surpassing them is possible since they are the current max, in your case with the titles you got, might be already more than what your body can handle, you’d need quite the blessings from the gods to reach such a stage,” he started laughing loudly while imagining it.

“I have a few, but I don’t know if any would help with that,” as soon as I tell him that he stops laughing and looks seriously at me with some doubts running inside his mind, “what do you mean by that Iris?”

‘Now to review the names, status cursed skills.’

Cursed: Unidentified Skill, Mirror level 17, Soul Manifestation, Endless Growth, Endless Cap, Endless Awakening, Profane Sealing, Profane Connection.

“From what I can see in the personal data type of skill, I have endless growth, endless cap, and endless awakening!”

The wooden sword falls off his hand while he makes a dumbfounded expression,’ this girl… she can grow endlessly? Is this the reason why everything I teach her is learned faster than when I self-learned and self-discovered? Not really sure what the other two would do but they should contribute to her in some way, in fact, how did she get three different blessings? Well doesn’t matter too much, as long, as she can succeed me that’s everything I care for.’

“Don’t be lazy blondie, keep training because you still have an 80-year gap to close till you can reach me,” he starts laughing provoking me.

“I’ll close such a distance in no time!” I shout angrily while resuming the training with a determined expression focusing on my body and mana, which allows Ray’s smile to go past unaware.

‘Get stronger fast kiddo, the enemies of humanity won’t wait for you to get stronger, I might have to pay a visit to the front lines soon,’ a dangerous glaring could be seen on his old wasted face.

“The killing pressure doesn’t really make it easier to focus teacher,” upon hearing my complaint he leaves the dojo without saying anything, leaving me to my own training, ‘seems like Ray was upset with something, was it something I said or did? Probably one of his old memories striking again.’

I channel mana through my body and start taking a few steps while maintaining a cold composure after rewarming my body a bit I start waving my sword the way he taught me.

After 30 mana slashes, a familiar voice resounds in my mind.

Notice: The Skill Sword Posture has been acquired.

System: The title Swordsmanship has been received.

System: The title Sword Series has been received.

‘Surprised I only received the title now after training for so long, perhaps for having three skills with sword name in it? Would certainly make some sense, I’ve run out of mana, but I don’t feel too tired yet. Guess I’ll keep on waving the sword, I can at the very least keep improving my posture with the sword even if I don’t use mana, not sure what the skill will give me, but by the name some sort of control or stability which will certainly be of help.’

After a few hours of carefully waving the sword without spending any mana, I take a few steps to the side and allow myself to lay on the wooden floor of the dojo to rest as the spot I was is sweaty.

Soon after Ray walks in and stares down at me,” too tired to walk again?”

“I should be able to but the floor feels good,” once my words entered his ears he chuckled, then stared at my body parts noticing something,” you should let your hands rest and place them on cold water or something similar, it’ll welp with the swelling, I’ll be away for a few days, don’t stop training though seeing as you’re already doing it on your own, I suppose you won’t be lazy.”

I stare at him surprised,” didn’t know you took notice of it, as to be expected of my teacher,” he chuckles at such words and makes a serious expression,” don’t be slothful, it would only delay the time for you to learn new things.”

“Yes yes, I understand, I promised to do my best, and I’m keeping my word,” I smile proudly at myself and my exhausting efforts.

“Good, I’ll be back later,” he turns his back on me and leaves without saying anything else.

“Take your time teacher, and be careful, in preference avoid drinking any alcohol you find on your way!” I shout happily while waving my hand as he goes.

‘Quite the serious expression he had in him, I wonder what’s bothering him…’