I dodged her attacks and stepped back out of her range. She followed, casting Shining Arrow again as she did. I dodged that too, but she followed the spell immediately with another series of blows, surprising everyone.
“I knew I wouldn’t be able to hit you,” she huffed.
“Your movements are fast and precise, and you’re reading my moves. You’re used to fighting. Have you still been adventuring since you entered the Academy?” I asked.
“You see all, don’t you? Yeah, I’m in a party with some upperclassmen, and we go into the Academy’s dungeon after class and on days off.”
Any student could go into the dungeon so long as they had the Academy’s permission. There were some noble students who went dungeon diving, but more than half of the students who did grind in the dungeon were commoners, despite making up only twenty percent of the student body. This was because students could get magic crystals by defeating monsters in the dungeon. Dungeon diving was basically a part-time job for them.
Even so, it was rare for a first-year commoner student to go into the dungeon like Milia. They hadn’t been trained by their family’s tutors or knights before coming to the Academy, like the noble students had, and were usually low-level.
“All right, time for me to attack,” I announced. I closed in on her and struck. By that point, I was moving fifty percent faster than when I’d fought Vern.
“That’s too fast, Arius!” she cried, but she still reacted fast enough to dodge. “Holy Spear!”
She cast the tier-three Light spell from close range, unleashing a spear of white light. Had she chosen to focus on might since I was coming at her? I slashed the white spear aside with my mana-coated sword, making it disappear.
“No way! How could you cut a spell with your sword?” she demanded.
“There are plenty of adventurers who can do that,” I told her.
Milia continued to attack me with both sword and magic while dodging my attacks as I increased speed. The attacks she couldn’t dodge, she reliably blocked with her sword and buckler.
But, since she’d flown into the fight at full force, she was running out of MP and stamina, and the damage points above her head started jumping up.
“I think we can stop there,” I said. “Good job, Milia.”
“I knew I couldn’t win against you, so I’m satisfied just giving it my all. What do I need to work on?”
“If I had to say, it’d be power and defense. You’ve got a good balance of abilities and a strong foundation. If you keep on training, you’ll improve across the board while gaining experience. As you get more experience, your movements will get more efficient, which will use less stamina and let you use your spells more effectively. The other thing is mana manipulation, but it looks like you’re taking that training seriously. It powers up both your spells and skills while using your mana more efficiently.”
When Milia and I came out to each other as reincarnated, she told me she also wanted to become stronger, so I taught her how to practice mana manipulation. She had a good feel for that sort of thing and was already aware of and consciously controlling the flow of mana before I came into the picture. Her spells were more powerful than others, but she needed an even finer control of her mana if she was aiming higher.
“I’ve been practicing until I run out of MP every day, just like you told me to,” she replied. “Thanks to that, I feel like my understanding of how to use mana efficiently has gotten a bit better.”
“Being able to manipulate mana exactly how you want to reduces MP waste and increases your spell’s power. If you keep up training like you are now, you’ll get even stronger.”
You had to hone your ability to sense mana and have a clear and detailed image in your head of its flow up to the point you activated your spell to align with what you wanted to do—the more precise your manipulation, the more accurate your sense for it. There was no upper limit to how much better you could get with mana manipulation.
“Thanks, Arius. I’m glad to hear that. It’s because of you I’ve gotten this far,” Milia said with a smile. She was happy she could feel herself getting stronger.
“Milia, you’re incredible!” Vern proclaimed, laying on the praise. One of the many good things about Vern was that he acknowledged the strength of his opponent.
“Thank you, Your Highness. But I still want to get even stronger!”
“Me too. I’m not going to let you outdo me!”
After that, I took turns sparring with the rest of the group.
Sophia was equipped with a type of cloth armor that had higher defense than regular clothing and also buffed mana. Her weapon was a compact, small sword, which was even more slender than the sword Milia used. She also had a main-gauche, a dagger with a guard used for parrying.
Sophia’s sword skills were at a practical level for a girl, but her primary method of attack was her magic. She used Dark element spells, which excelled more at inflicting effects rather than offensive power. To be totally honest, she wasn’t suited for a tournament like this, where the fights were one-on-one.
“I know what you’re going to say, Arius,” she began. “I was selected for the Combat Tournament because I have good grades, but I’m not strong enough to do well.”
“I’m not going to make any snide comments, and if you’ve decided you want to do this, then I support you. The tournament’s just a school event anyway, and it could be a good experience fighting in a situation where you’re at a disadvantage. I think gaining perspectives in different situations could help you do the things you want to do.”
“You’re right. I’ll give it some thought.”
Sophia gave everything she did her all, and that wasn’t to restore her family, House Victorino, to glory. It was to support Eric, her fiancé.
Zeke was equipped with half plate armor with the crest of the royal family and a longsword. Appearance-wise, it was similar to my adventuring friend Jessica’s style, but she used a bastard sword, which could be used one- or two-handed. The problem was that it wasn’t like Zeke chose a longsword so he could keep one hand free to increase what he could do, like Milia did—he hadn’t put much thought into what he’d chosen.
His fighting style was along those lines too. As a love interest, his base specs were high, of course, and his level and stats weren’t bad at all. It felt like it was all sort of half-assed.
“Hey, Arius… No, never mind,” he said.
It seemed like there was something on his mind, and I wasn’t going to critique him if that was the case. Getting stronger wasn’t an end-all be-all for everyone.
Like Milia had said about Sasha, she came to the practices because Zeke did, but she didn’t seem interested in participating.
After we finished our sparring matches, I told the others they could practice in the other Special Barriers when they weren’t busy. Milia was out because she’d used up her stamina and MP. The only people who did anything were Vern and Zeke, who sparred a bit.
“Noelle, I just remembered, I think I’ve seen you before,” Milia said casually. “You were studying in the library with Arius, right?”
“Uh, yeah… W-We were…”
“Noelle, I need to apologize to you,” Sophia began. “Not long after we entered the Academy, some noble students dirtied your clothes in the cafeteria, but I didn’t stop them. I am very sorry for that.” She lowered her head in apology.
“I-It’s all right, my lady… I-It’s all in the past…”
“You forgive her? Thank you! And, you don’t have to be so formal. We’re both first-year students,” added Milia.
“B-But, I’m a commoner…”
“That doesn’t matter, right, Sophia? I’m a commoner too, but Sophia’s my best friend.”
“That’s right,” Sophia agreed. “And we’re friends now as well, Noelle, starting today.”
“Me? Y-Your friend?”
Noelle wasn’t the type to volunteer for the Combat Tournament, and she probably wasn’t interested in getting stronger. I invited her because she was a good person, and I figured she’d get along with the others. Milia had this ability to get people to let their guards down immediately, and Sophia was so kind; both characteristics were helpful in this sort of thing.
“Noelle, do you want to try sparring with me?” I asked.
“Uh, yeah…sure. You did invite me, I guess I should try.”
Even Noelle was getting out there to try. That was probably thanks to Milia and Sophia.
“Th-Thank you for your help, Arius!” she said. She was a magic attacker. She had on a robe somewhat thicker than normal and was holding an oak staff.
“Come on, Noelle, don’t get nervous with me too,” I lightly joked.
“B-But everyone’s watching…”
Well, Noelle was shy. Guess you couldn’t expect her not to be nervous.
“First, try and relax, then use the spell you’re best at.”
“A-All right. Here I go, Stone Shot!”
Noelle was best with Earth magic and was in group B for the magic practical class. She wasn’t as good as the rest of us in the group, but she did have a knack for magic.
The stone clump she launched at me flew with force, and I shifted slightly to the side to dodge it.
“That’s it, Noelle,” I encouraged. “Keep going like that, don’t stop casting.”
“A-All right. I got it.”
She kept firing, and I kept dodging. Noelle didn’t have any weapons, which meant the moment I attacked, the fight was over, but it wouldn’t really be a match if I never attacked.
“Noelle, it’s my turn to attack. You try to counter.”
“A-All right!”
I approached her, dodging her spells as I did. Once I made it up to her, she didn’t raise her staff or make a move to dodge. She just squeezed her eyes shut in fear of the attack that was about to come.
“Oh, Noelle…” I sighed as I jabbed her lightly in the forehead with my finger.
“Ow! Wh-What are you doing?”
“That can’t have hurt. We’re in a Special Barrier.” It didn’t even display damage numbers over her head because I touched her so lightly.
The first thing Noelle would need to learn is how to fight, but she wasn’t particularly interested in getting stronger. I’d have to think about her role in a fight if she were going to keep coming to these practices.