NOVEL WEB Chapter 80
Before the duel, I handed over a ton of info to Kashian. It had been my routine since I came to the city. Sure, the association already spilled some details about the opponent, but that just wouldn’t cut it.
I needed the nitty-gritty—what rank they were, what sword they swung, their classes and grades, the whole nine yards.
And don’t even get me started on their food preferences and habits. The Abyss Secret Syndicate’s crazy intel capabilities were always mind-blowing. I knew they must have a boatload of my info too.
During the sixth duel, Kashian faced off against someone lingering in the fourth floor. The longer they stayed at the university, the more traces they showed. I sifted through the piles of scribbled notes to extract only what would help her.
And she used that to wipe the floor with her opponent. Well, that was my hope anyway. I just wanted it to be of some use to her.
She scored a perfect 100. A flawless score. It was a sign of the most beautiful and efficient movements I could think of.
I watched Kashian bustling around packing her things. After the sixth duel, she looked half like a rag doll. A bunch of dolls clung to her, busy healing her up. Thanks to that, she was in pretty good shape now.
Once upon a time, I thought getting a 100 meant breezing through every duel. After all, that score meant there was no room for improvement. But this duel was a different monster.
The walls of the fourth floor were sky-high. He was prepping to leave the university. For us, with our five to six years of experience, it seemed like ages away. The next opponent had been around even longer, and was bound to be tougher.
Those who had been around were no longer your average students. It was like a child tree maturing into a real tree. Generally, a mage could leave the fourth floor once they reached full tree status.
“We call that the sculpting stage. I’m currently in the forging stage. That’s how we build ourselves up.”
Kashian told me that after the duel as we watched the replay. Swordsmen categorize themselves into eight stages. She was stuck at the second stage, while her opponent was at the third.
Amid that gradual growth, their bodies were gradually honed. But there was something in the video that couldn’t merely be explained by physical prowess. When comparing physiques, hers was no pushover either.
“So, shall we head to the city?”
Mira gently wrapped her arm around mine. Kashian nodded with a hint of excitement. After the duel, she had thoroughly patched up every nook and cranny of her body with all sorts of magic.
At that moment, she was as perfect as can be. Yet, I couldn’t shake the unease. The challenges ahead were bound to get tougher. We stepped outside the room and on our way.
Familiar roads guided us, and soon the practice arena came into view. A bunch of people awaited us there. They had come to spectate her duel. Some waved at her, while others shouted to grab her attention.
Responding to their greetings, Kashian climbed up to the practice arena. Normally, duel seekers would swarm my doll to grab a waiting number.
But today was different. Nobody was jumping at the chance to step into the arena, just a handful of folks nervously stealing glances. Those exuding strong magic from their swords recognized Kashian and began to warm up.
Those who had shown interest in her were usually at the lower tiers of the university. Folks from the first to the third floor, to be precise. That’s why she had been racking up easy victories.
Of course, some fourth-floor characters popped in occasionally. But they were people who hadn’t quite fully adapted to the fourth floor yet. The strong ones, like the one from her sixth duel, didn’t show up.
The fourth floor had those preparing for their next step—graduating or leveling up. So, they always zeroed in on that, mostly roaming outside the city or focusing on personal training.
The seventh opponent was one of those. That’s why we needed to request duels from those remaining in the fourth floor. The Blade Association accepted our proposal with open arms.
And that’s how we ended up with those guys. Their faces showed clear annoyance. I mean, can you blame them? They’d been dragged out of their cozy lives just to face a mere second-floor Kashian.
“Alright, sorry to keep you waiting! Let’s kick off the duel! Those wishing to enter, please pay your entry fee! It’s a hundred points to participate, and you’ll get a thousand points if you win!”
With that, I projected my will onto my doll. The Mirror Bug flitted around gathering applicants. We collected scores from those we brought along too. They laughed to themselves, probably thinking it was a chance to reel in a thousand points.
The doll sparkled like crazy, and the Mirror Bug glimmered. Just then, the first challenger stepped up. A giant guy hefting a sword that looked thicker than Kashian’s whole body.
“I heard some rumors, but I’m expecting at least half of what I heard.”
He crossed his arms, his voice booming thanks to the magic amplified in the arena. Some folks jeered, while others cheered wildly. The atmosphere was electric.
Kashian stared at him with her characteristic blank expression. There wasn’t a hint of emotion in her eyes. In the past month, she had claimed victory in hundreds of duels. She bore an unblemished record. But could she keep that up today?
“Hmm, I think she’ll win that easily. Probably just need one arm, right?”
Mira chimed in, clinging to my arm. When I glanced down, she wore an incredibly relaxed expression. The Bear Doll next to her clutched a Mirror Bug to capture Kashian’s form.
“One arm, you say?”
“Yes, so be ready. This’ll be over quickly. They’ve got duels piling up.”
At that, I opened my pocket space. Shadows dolls, which had been waiting around, crawled out. They were the ones I had prepared in the room.
The dolls primed their magic, half-activating their spells, staring intently at Kashian. The instant the duel was signaled to start, they would dart right out.
In the arena, the two of them slowly drew their swords. They slightly tilted their blades and nodded at each other. Then, they spaced themselves apart and locked eyes.
Tension filled the air in the silence. The first to move was Kashian. She strolled forward as if taking a leisurely walk. Her sword tip swayed gently, almost like it was dancing.
Her opponent mirrored her slow movements. But the next moment, his massive sword slammed down toward her.
That sword showed incredible speed, totally belied by its size and weight. Kashian twisted just in time to avoid it. But even the force from the swing left a shallow crack in her arm.
His attacks didn’t let up and came like a rainstorm. Heavy yet swift, Kashian slowly began to create a rhythm.
Then came an attack too fast to catch with the eye. His sword came crashing down on her. She couldn’t dodge. Her left arm got sliced deep. Flesh tore, exposing bone as red blood gushed out.
But she seized that moment. Drawing on the pain, she slipped into the opponent’s opening. Her sword tip pierced cleanly through the target. A hole was made in his throat.
He gaped down at it, blood spilling from his mouth. Her sword pulled out, but just as his life was about to drain away, the magic embedded in the arena activated, forcibly separating them.
The magic spring into action, executing emergency measures. Mana enveloped Kashian’s wounded left arm and the fatal wound on his neck. But that alone wasn’t enough.
The Shadow Dolls rushed onto the arena. They started healing both fighters. With the arena’s magic assisting, the two began to recover swiftly.
Just as Mira said, the duel came to an end. Kashian easily conquered her opponent. Well, should I even call that easy?
As time rewound, I watched Kashian’s arm filling up again. Soon enough, it was fully restored. She had used her arm as a means to an end.
“I told you so, didn’t I? That was the fastest and most reliable method.”
Mira chuckled. I nodded and checked out the replay of the duel. 100 points, the perfect score. In battles relying solely on physical prowess, she had already ascended to the level of a master.
But then, she faced defeat.
The guy who snagged a thousand points slightly nodded at Kashian. With a bloodied face, she smiled back. The same happened again. She lost once more.
In those losses, she was flawless. The Mirror Bug captured that hundred points within. Yet she couldn’t win.
Even though I was watching it all, I couldn’t wrap my head around it. Kashian’s movements were faster and more efficient than theirs. Yet she failed to avoid their blades. Mira called it a matter of depth.
Their depth crushed the various changes Kashian managed to capture. What I had achieved with efficiency couldn’t even begin to encompass it.
I had no clue what that depth was. I remembered Aldric’s words. He talked about will. Hadn’t he mentioned that Kashian’s will hadn’t grown at all?
In the next duel, Kashian claimed victory. She received 98 points. She won with parts that weren’t perfect.
I still didn’t fully grasp the whole process. I observed the swordsmen going into their duels.
I had no idea how their swords evolved. I didn’t even plan to find out. In the Tower, I solely intended to leverage their powers. Their magic was pretty straightforward.
All I thought about was stuffing that power into my dolls and packing their spells into them. Something easy to understand and use; that’s how I viewed swords.
The same went for here. The body was something easy to understand. I believed that if I just piled on all the knowledge I had, the end result would be perfection.
But that alone wouldn’t bridge the gap to them. I had no inkling of the source of their depth.
If I couldn’t fully grasp them, I couldn’t help Kashian. So, I needed to first recognize the lives of those swordsmen properly.
I watched Kashian topple another opponent with a grin on her face. Her body was a patchwork of wounds. The dolls rushed to her and unleashed recovery magic while the arena’s magic supported them.
Amid that, she lifted her sword again. The faces of those summoned had turned serious. They ramped up their magic, directing their gazes at Kashian.
Thus, the duel continued. Some were fierce, while others were quite easy. A single duel extended over a long time. In that, she won and lost.
Her record for the day was 7 wins and 8 losses. It was also the day her perfect streak was shattered.
The next day, her duels took a more brutal turn. The arena was drenched in more blood, and it took longer to heal those wounds.
But she racked up more victories than the day before. The next day was no different. I flipped through the replay videos, scrutinizing the scoreboard.
80 points was the score she notched in her last duel of the day. She had won that duel effortlessly. The more she fought, the more her scores seemed to plummet.
Why on earth did her score drop like that? I checked the deductions shown by the Mirror Bug. Those deductions made perfect sense when viewed through the lens of a single movement.
Her movements were anything but efficient. They were miles away from what I considered perfect.
But those movements were beautiful. They brought about some unseen transformation from somewhere I couldn’t understand.
“Hmm, I see some flaws in this combat analysis system. We need to factor in some bonuses along with the deductions.”
Mira smiled as she said that. I mumbled “scoreboard” and nodded to myself. In the videos, Kashian wore a bright smile.
Yeah, somewhere along the way, Kashian was capturing their essence in her sword. It was something I could not fathom.
It was something beyond technical perfection. I couldn’t measure its depth with a scoreboard. I watched the stunningly smooth movements.
Days passed like that.
The scoreboard I created was a result of aggregation. It encapsulated many changes and optimized all those movements to head in any direction. In the end, after piling everything on, we reached the score of 100.
I checked the scoreboard. The duels carried on, and the score displayed kept dropping.
Kashian was no longer paying much attention to the scores I crafted.
She merely moved as she wished and began to achieve victories within that flow. The day before her seventh duel, she had only ever tasted a single defeat.
And the next day, the seventh duel concluded. Kashian emerged victorious with a 50-point score.