Any time Cynthia raised her shield, her opponent would bash it aside with one of his swords, then use the other one to slap her side. When she tried to attack, he would parry it easily. The outcome of the match was easy to determine, but he was purposely drawing it out by not attacking critical areas.
After about another five minutes of the prolonged abuse, the referee finally called the match, announcing a loss for Cynthia. Nobody seemed surprised by that result, and Cynthia herself walked to the nearest wall, where she collapsed. Okay, this one looks a bit more promising.
Denise and I waited a moment before we approached her, allowing her some time to recover from her last fight. “You okay?”
She turned her head towards us, and unlike the brunette from before her face appeared completely depressed. “I-I’m fine…”
“You sure?” I moved over and sat down beside her. “That was pretty rough.”
“Y-yeah… What do you want..?” She looked at me cautiously, and I had the feeling this wasn’t the first time she had been bullied like that.
“I wanted to talk to you, and possibly make you an offer. Can I get your name?” I decided to ask her name, simply to be polite. Typically, people would get freaked out if a stranger suddenly knew your name, right?
“I’m Cynthia… Who are you?” Her voice was slowly becoming more even, so it seemed she was recovering more and more from the rough treatment.
“My name is Jin. I’ve got a couple of questions to ask you, before I make my offer. Is that alright?”
“Okay… but nothing weird, right? I don’t… I don’t do that..” She turned her face away and brushed her hands against her eyes. Good god, people don’t actually bully her into that too, do they?
“No, nothing like that. Well.. it might seem weird to you, but not that kind of weird. First, I want to know why you’re here, what you want to get out of all this.” I wave my hand to motion towards the hall.
“I want to get strong.. I need to…” Cynthia’s voice was small, like she was honestly afraid something bad was going to happen if she didn’t get what she wanted.
“Mind if I ask why? You don’t have to answer if you don’t want to.”
Turning her head, she looked up to me curiously, her brown eyes watering. “You… you really want to know?” When I nodded, she took a deep breath and began speaking. “My family… we’ve always been soldiers for the kingdom. Every generation, the same thing. But it was never an obligation… it was just what my family always wanted. My father, though… He told me that I didn’t have to become a soldier… But, if I wasn’t at least that strong by my eighteenth birthday, he would disown me.”
“That’s… harsh. I’m sorry to hear it.” I brought my hand up to pat her shoulder gently, and she shook her head.
“Even if I’m not a soldier, my family is one of strength. So I have to get stronger…”
“May I ask… how long do you have?”
“Three months…” Her voice was small again. “Three months to reach a soldier’s level, but at this rate three years wouldn’t cut it.”
“I see.. Okay, I just have one more question. If you do get stronger like you want, what do you plan to do? I’m sorry, but a father like that doesn’t deserve his daughter. That’s my honest opinion.”
She looked up at me, and began laughing bitterly. “I know… his requirement is a trap. Once I get strong, I either join the army, or he guilts me into leaving for an adventure so that my strength isn’t wasted. I don’t want to join the army, though…”
“Well, how about adventure? If you go together with people, then it will surely be more fun than hanging around here, right?”
“Maybe.. but who would go with me? Look at me.. I am the worst in the class. Hell, I am the worst in the classes three years behind me.”
I smile to her, pointing a thumb at my chest. “I would. And so would she.” I pointed to Denise next, who waved at Cynthia. “Not only that… but if you want to come on a journey with me, I can even make sure you get strong enough to easily beat your father’s standards in the time you have left.”
“What… how can you do that? Are… are you making fun of me?”
“Not at all. I’m not quite sure how long it will take, but I will definitely make sure you are ready in two months. In exchange, I want you to join Denise and I on our adventures.”
Hearing my words, Cynthia’s face froze for several long moments. Slowly, she gulped, nodding her head. “Okay… I’ll do it. Just… just tell me what I have to do.”
Cynthia’s level is too low to join your party. Until her level increases, she has been registered as a Student. Mentor Mode activated.
Smiling, I nodded my head. “Okay, first of all, do you have any actual equipment aside from your training gear?” When she shook her head, I shrugged. “It’s alright, we’ll get you some. Do you actually own that sword and shield, or are you just borrowing them for training?”
“They belong to the hall… is that a problem?”
“Not at all. Do you know somewhere we can go to train privately? The methods I plan to use aren’t something that should be shown to the public.”
Raising an eyebrow, Cynthia grew a small smile. “So that’s what you meant by weird… okay. Well, we could go outside the walls? Thanks to the problems with the bandits, not many people leave the city anymore without armed escort.”
“Ah, if it’s just that brigade, it’ll be fine. I’ve encountered them a few times.” I grin to her and stand up, offering her a hand. She nods, taking it and standing in front of me. “Turn in your gear, and let them know that you won’t be coming back. I’m going to make a proper fighter out of you.”
She nodded again, a bit more happily this time, and ran off to a weapons rack. The way she discarded her equipment was almost like she was throwing them, and then she spoke to the same instructor that had me ‘get lost’ yesterday. Once she walked away, it looked like he was relieved to see her go. “Okay, I’m ready…”
“Alright, let’s go.” The three of us began walking towards the city gates, and I casually checked her character information.
Name: Cynthia
Race: Human
Title: No Potential
Fame: 40
Gild: 4119
Level: 10
Health: 210
Mana: 0
Strength: 33
Agility: 20
Endurance: 32
Wisdom: 10
Intelligence: 10
Luck: 5
Attack: 10 + 24.5
Defense: 10 + 18
Talents: Swordsmanship 4, Shield 3, Heavy Armor 3
Title Bonuses: -50% experience gain until level 25
No Potential? There are titles like that as well? Well, it doesn’t really matter, she should surpass its restriction by the end of the day.
“Uh… Jin, sir?” Cynthia tugged on my sleeve while we were walking down the road.
“Yeah? Something the matter?”
“You said you’d be getting me some new equipment. Why are we already heading out of the city?” She turned her head to look at the weapons shops we casually walked past.
“Ah, well I’ll be providing your weapons today. Once you get a bit better and don’t need them anymore, we’ll get you better quality ones.”
“Ah… okay…” She didn’t seem at all convinced, but followed us regardless. I knew she would, because the mentor system wouldn’t have activated if she wasn’t honestly determined to see this through.
“Oh, don’t worry about Jin. He seems weird, but really he’s just a cheat character.” Denise grinned to Cynthia, patting her on the back.
“A.. uh… cheat character? What do you mean?”
“You’ll see once we get outside.” She smiled to the younger girl, and the rest of the walk was relatively quiet. The guards greeted us again as we passed, but gave a lingering look towards Cynthia. Through their helmets it was impossible to make out their expressions, but they probably knew her
father.
“Hmm… it would be bad if the wall’s patrols saw this. Let’s head into the forest.” I nodded to myself, and began walking towards the nearby forest.
“But.. but the bandits…” Cynthia was slowing her pace a bit, obviously scared of encountering the brigade.
“Ah, I think I’ve already taken care of most of them. The rest should know to leave me alone. If they show up, we’ll let Denise handle them.”
“Oooh! I get to have some fun, finally!” During the previous encounters with the brigade, it appeared that Denise had been unsatisfied with her roles. So, I told her that she could have any that showed up today.
“You… okay… I’ll go along for now…” She walked back up to join us, and we soon entered the forest.
“This is good. We don’t have to go very far, just need to block their line of sight. Denise, we alone?”
Taking a quick look around our surroundings, Denise nodded. “Yup!”
“Alright.” I took a deep breath and sat down on the soft dirt. We were just barely inside the forest, so the trees weren’t that dense yet. But it did do the job of cutting the line of sight with Durlin. “I’m about to show you something, but you can’t tell people about it, alright Cynthia?”
“If… if it’ll help be get stronger… I’ll do it.” She spoke hesitantly, but nodded her head to show her resolve.
“Okay, I’ll begin then.” I put my hand on the ground. “I have discovered the origin, and bring it forth anew. Arise, and bring your light unto the world.” The diagram for Create Lesser Object appeared below my hand, and Cynthia gasped.
“You’re a magic user…” Her voice was soft as she watched those strands of blue light jumping from my arm and gathering in the center of the circle. I had never really tried making this type of object before, which is why I used this version of the spell. Since it fills in the gaps and makes a generic version of what I want, it is perfect.
Gradually, the ball of condensed mana grows, turning silver as metal pushes out of it and forms the shape I desired. She had the talent to use heavy armor, so my first creation for her was a set of half plate armor. Once it was finished, it was perfectly sized for her, but otherwise looked like a mass produced suit of armor you’d find on any common soldier.
“Okay… take it… Give me a couple minutes and I’ll make your shield.” I was briefly short on breath, until my magic started recovering. Cynthia nodded slowly, grabbing the armor and moving behind another tree to slip into it. By the time she was finished, my mana was recovered and I was casting the spell again.
This time, I made her a small steel shield, similar to the one she was using in her practice match earlier. Again she gratefully accepted it, and I took a couple minutes to rest before making her sword. The sword turned out like everything else I made with this spell, boringly generic.
Once she was fully equipped, Cynthia looked over herself, another smile ghosting onto her lips. “Thank.. thank you. This is the first time I’ve actually used any of this.”
“That’s alright. Let me know when you are ready to begin.”
She took a few more moments to look over herself, before nodding. “Okay… I’m ready.”
“Alright, for your first test. I want you to hit me with your sword. Don’t worry, I won’t dodge. I just need to test your strength with it.” After I said that, Cynthia just looked at me dumbly. Denise, meanwhile was laughing, having fully understood what I meant. “It’s alright. One of my magic abilities allows me to reduce damage by a certain amount. I just want to see if you are strong enough to get past it. If you are, I’ll cast healing magic on myself.” Dusting my pants off, I jumped up to my feet, making myself an easy target.
“Okay… if you’re sure.” I nodded to her again, and she took a step up before swinging her sword at my side with all her strength. I did take a very small amount of damage, enough that I didn’t even have to worry about healing it. Seeing her sword stopped against my skin despite her slash, Cynthia just stared for a minute. “Wow..”
“Yeah. I can’t do tests like that with Denise. She’d probably cut me in half. But I was able to understand your ability now.” Pulling out my mana-created staff, I assumed a combat stance. “Until you can beat me in melee combat, I’ll be your sparring partner. After that, it’ll be Denise’s turn.”
Cynthia nodded again, taking a step back and assuming a defensive pose. Once I determined that she wasn’t going to be making the first move, I stepped forward, plunging one end of my staff to her outstretched foot.
“Owch!” She shot back on one leg as her foot was struck, taking another defensive posture. Though, it seems she learned her mistake and didn’t leave her limbs too exposed this time.
“Better. But you can’t win by only playing defense.” I took another step forward and thrust my staff three times against her shield, each time pushing her back. Even if I was a caster, my stats were all well above hers for the time being. After my third hit, Cynthia moved her shield to the side and charged at me, slashing directly at me with her sword. Since she knew it wouldn’t do much damage to me, she didn’t hold back in her swing.
Of course, I wasn’t just going to sit there and take that either. Bringing up the other and of my staff, I pushed her blade to the side. “Good. Keep it up.” I smiled to her, and she swung again, keeping her shield raised defensively in case of an attack.
Unfortunately, she had raised her shield too high, and it blocked her vision. By the time her sword finished its swing, I was behind her. “Block your enemy with your shield, but don’t block your vision. If you can’t see where the attack is coming from, you might as well not be blocking at all.” To prove my point, I poked her unguarded back with my staff and jumped back.
“...Thanks…” Even though she was getting beaten, she still smiled.
Cynthia has increased Swordsmanship to 5
One down… Let’s keep it going. Oddly, when I looked at her sheet again, her five points had been invested in Luck, not a physical ability. Natives like Cynthia and Denise don’t get to choose where their points get distributed, so maybe it was because she was just feeling lucky for getting the chance to grow stronger?
We continued this sparring pattern for a while, and every now and then I would cast healing magic on Cynthia if I accidentally misjudged an attack. She was leveling up much slower than Levy had when I first taught her, but I expected that even before seeing her No Potential title. After an hour of constant training, she had only gained five levels. On the other hand, I had gotten something I had been waiting for.
New Talent Acquired!
Arcane Staff -- This talent allows the user to use magic combat techniques with a staff.
Huh, looks like I guessed the name right. Well it’s about time. We took a short break, while I looked at the first skill I received. Similar to the Spell Shot ability I received from Arcane Marksman, I gained Spell Staff for this. I’d have to try it out with my other staff once I had the chance.
“Okay, let’s keep going.” I grinned to Cynthia, and she nodded, eager to continue her training as well. Little by little her skill was improving, though likely leaps and bounds faster than it had been before she met me. After we resumed our practice, she would get a hit in on me every now and then, using her shield to block my staff while her sword struck my arm.
Now that she was actually fighting closer to my level, her own level began increasing faster. In the first hour, she gained five levels, while in the second hour of sparring she gained seven. In total, her level was now twenty-two, just three short of the limit for her title. In the meantime, I also gained two levels in Arcane Staff.
Just a little more, and then she’ll really start to improve. I smiled inwardly as Denise prepared our lunch, having gone off and hunted while we were busy. Seeing as we went nearly two hours without being attacked, she had gotten bored and went off to find food. Though, I was fairly certain by her sullen expression when she returned that she had hoped to find the bandits while s
he was hunting as well.
Cynthia was wary of eating the wolf meat that Denise cooked over the fire, but once she tried it her face immediately changed. Within moments, she had finished the portion she was given and was blushing fiercely.
“Thanks… it was good.”
“That’s good. You know, Denise used to run an inn back when the two of us met. She’s always been a really great cook.”
Hearing me talk about Denise, Cynthia turned her head to look at her. “An innkeeper? But… how did you get so strong.”
Denise grinned, pointing a finger to me. “That cheat character over there. Might as well tell you since you decided to join up. Once you get to our level, you’ll grow stronger just as fast as he does, same as me.”
The Dive: Birth of a Hero Page 13