Chapter 146 Sword Myth Springs: First Test
"Pardon?" Shiro asked with uncertainty in her voice.
"I think I might be having a breakthrough in my Hidden Proficiency." Lyrica repeated.
"…"
Shiro narrowed her eyes in slight confusion.
'Even though we know what her weapon of choice is, it is still nigh impossible for her to feel a breakthrough so soon.' Shiro thought to herself.
The hardest part about advancing Hidden Proficiency is that most of the combat potential is instinctive. The users don't actively know what they're doing so it is harder for them to improve on themselves.
That was the nature of Hidden Proficiency. Even though they were a gift from the heavens, the trials that one must go through to improve is equally as tough.
There was no free food in the world after all.
"What makes you think that?" Shiro asked as she wanted to make sure that Lyrica was indeed having a breakthrough.
"Well, when I fight with my dual ended swords, I feel like I can tap into moments where everything slows down. But no matter how hard I try; I can't go any further. It's like a small veil is stopping me from advancing. I'm so close yet so far." Lyrica sighed.
"Hmm… That is indeed the feeling you get when you're on the verge of a breakthrough." Shiro leaned back a little.
'When an adventurer gets this feeling, it is when they're about to fully form their attack domain. The fact that things are slowing down in her eyes means she's slowly grasping all the movements in a certain area around them. For Lyrica to have this feeling so soon, she must be working hard to gain experience in fighting.' She thought with a small smile.
"I believe that what you're experiencing now is a small bottleneck just before unlocking your attack domain."
"Attack Domain?" Lyrica tilted her head slightly in confusion.
"An Attack Domain is where one is able to grasp everything in the area around them. This is the step before grasping a Full Domain but I'll tell you that later. Personally, I've never managed to form the Attack Domain so I can't really teach you about it." Shiro smiled apologetically. She wanted to help but she couldn't do anything right now.
When she reached her apex, she had her Nanomancer class to create an entire fortress to help win her battles. There was no need for her to get close to the enemy at all. Therefore, she never even managed to develop an attack domain.
'And I had managed to achieve full body control as well. What a waste.' Shiro lamented.
With a talent like full body control, theoretically, it would have been a cakewalk to achieve an attack domain. But in the end, her advantages with range never gave her the chance to form the attack domain.
"Maybe we'll find out when we fight some monster's tomorrow." Lyrica sighed whilst laying her back on the bed.
"Hehe~ Why don't you let me sleep here instead?" Lyrica grinned and shifted her body onto her side before patting the spot next to her.
Shiro smiled wearily before walking over.
Lyrica's excitement was cut short when Shiro flicked her on the forehead.
"Stop messing around and go to sleep already." Shiro chuckled slightly.
"Fine~"
Walking out of the room, Lyrica closed the door and sighed sadly.
"But I wasn't messing around…" She whispered quietly before walking away.
In the next morning, they gathered just outside the town and prepared to go to the first marker.
"Before we go, let's see what we can do first. I'm able to summon my four swords but they're in their base state. I can't use any of the elemental shifts." Shiro said whilst summoning her Ascendant Dream. While she could use her Nanomancer skills to create bladed weapons, that was the limit of her power. She couldn't make any of her guns or armour.
"I can still use all of my sword skills. But that's it. I can't use anything else other than them." Lyrica responded.
"Mn, I can only use Attack Demon Knight." Madison shrugged.
"What about you Silvia?" Shiro asked since she was her biggest concern. Silvia was a healer, all of her experience and skills focused on healing so there was no way she could use the sword.
"Surprisingly, I can still use the most basic healing spell." Silvia admitted while a golden glow appeared in her hand.
"Handy." Shiro nodded her head.
"But take a sword just in case." She said and floated one of her swords over to Silvia.
Grabbing the sword, Silvia was a little surprised by how heavy they were.
"Wow, these things are heavy." She admitted whilst trying to hold the sword steady but eventually failed.
"Really? They feel kinda light." Shiro tilted her head whilst juggling two swords in the air.
Looking at Shiro who was juggling the swords like they were bean bags, she couldn't help but feel a twitch on the corner of her lips.
'Little miss! I'm not abnormal like you!' She thought in her mind.
"Shiro's right you know, these are kinda light." Lyrica said as Madison nodded. They both felt the weight of the swords and swung them around with ease.
'But you're warrior based classes! Shiro's a mage!!!'
She only thought this since the moment she dropped the sword on the ground, she could clearly see it sink downwards. While it was true that swords were heavier the higher level you are because of a person's strength increase. However, even then, it wasn't something a mage should be able to handle.
Which only meant…
'Shiro's STR should be ridiculously high!' Silvia thought in disbelief.
What she doesn't know is that while Shiro's STR is indeed higher than average, it was still quite a bit lower than warriors. BUT, the main reason was because her monster title basically doubles the values of each point. One can say that right now, Shiro was a warrior class adventurer that had twice the attack power of mages her level.
"Hmm, then how about you take two daggers then?" Shiro asked.
Taking out two spare daggers that she had kept in her inventory just in case, she handed them over to Silvia.
She did try to take things other than weapons out her inventory but something was blocking them from being used.
Other than a few exceptions and bladed weapons, her inventory was basically for show.
"These are a bit better." Silvia admitted whilst testing the daggers.
"Good, then we'll see if we can find some low level monsters for you to get a feel for them first. We don't want to drop you straight into a high level fight after all." Shiro smiled.
However, both Lyrica and Madison paled at that smile since it was the same smile she had when she threw them towards a boss higher level than them.
'You have my condolences.' They both prayed.
###
"HELP ME!!!!!" Silvia shouted out whilst running away from a level 40 horned rabbit that was chasing after her.
"Just stab it~ It's that simple." Shiro grinned whilst she was sitting on a tree branch with Lyrica and Madison.
Both Lyrica and Madison watched since they have somewhat gotten used to this now. It was somewhat of a small tradition in their party.
"Shouldn't we get her something higher level than her? Why just a rabbit?" Madison asked since she felt that Shiro was being biased.
Both she and Lyrica had to face the wrath of a boss while Silvia only needed to fight a rabbit.
"She's just a healer. I can't just throw her towards a boss." Shiro shrugged.
"That being said, since we're in a trial, death's don't count…" She then narrowed her eyes towards Silvia.
"I HEARD THAT!!!" Silvia shouted out whilst throwing her dagger backwards.
*DANG!
The horned rabbit only swung its head to the side and knocked the dagger away.
"You forced me to do this!!!" She gritted her teeth and swung the dagger towards the rabbit.
However, the end result was the rabbit overpowering her and knocking her second dagger away.
"F*CKKKKK!!!!" Silvia shouted out and continued to run away.
"She's cursing now." Lyrica reported.
"Second stage already? Hmm, that was rather quick." Madison nodded.
During this tradition, one would go through the five stages of grief.
Denial, Anger, Bargaining, Depression and finally, Acceptance.
"Please horned rabbit! I've always treated your race kindly!!!" Silvia shouted out behind her.
"Ah, the bargaining stage." Lyrica said whilst pointing at Silvia who was on the verge of tears.
"She's really charging through the stages isn't she." Shiro nodded.
"Why me!!!!!" Silvia cried out as tears started to flow.
( TT - TT )
"Depression huh?" Madison raised an eyebrow.
"I'm guessing she'll take a few seconds to enter the acceptance." Shiro yawned slightly.
And as she had guessed, Silvia's face slowly transitioned into the face of a woman who had found inner peace.
'So this is the party. If I want to join, I need to be abnormal myself.' She thought to herself in enlightenment.
"Wow, she looks quite happy huh?"
"Indeed."
*PUCHI!!!! RIP!!!!!!
<_>
"HOLY SH*T!!! DID SHE JUST BITE THE RABBIT!!!" Madison cried out in shock seeing Silvia bite the rabbit on the side of the neck. She almost fell off the tree because of this.
The horned rabbit convulsed in pain whilst Silvia walked over to her dagger before picking it up.
Crouching beside the rabbit, she stabbed it through the head and ended it's suffering.
"Seems like she's accepted her situation and awakened a new side of her." Shiro smiled happily.
Jumping off the tree, they walked towards her.
"So how was it?" Shiro asked.
"… Did I just bite a f*cking rabbit on the neck?!?!" Silvia asked in disbelief.
"Yup, congratulations." Shiro replied with a grin.
"Congratulations my ass!!!" Silvia retorted having the sudden urge to flip a table in anger.
However, Lyrica noticed how this small tort- activity had opened Silvia up more to the team. She seemed more relaxed around them now.
Previously, she was still a little awkward since she couldn't just buddy up to Shiro. But now, the duo was joking around with Shiro grinning and Silvia complaining about her suffering.
'That's just like her.' Lyrica smiled softly seeing Shiro integrate Silvia into the party so quickly.
*Clap
"Alright, now that Silvi's managed to awaken a new side to her, I think she's ready for the real test." Shiro smiled.
"Hold up did you just call her Silvi?" Lyrica asked feeling a little jealous.
"Is there a problem?"
"Well you call Madison Madi and Silvia Silvi. What about my nickname?"
"Hmm… Lyrica's kinda hard to shorten though. Lyri? Rica? Riri? It just doesn't have the same Lyrica feel." Shiro explained.
"…That…is indeed true." Lyrica nodded her head after a short moment.
"I like Riri, but you're right. It doesn't give the same feeling as calling Lyrica well… Lyrica." Madison shrugged her shoulders.
"So out of our party, only me and you don't have a nickname yet." Shiro smiled and patted Lyrica on the shoulders.
"It fine!" Lyrica nodded her head eagerly since that meant it was one more thing she had in common with Shiro.
"Sure I guess? Well enough about that, let's go to the first marker." Shiro shrugged at Lyrica's behaviour.
###
Once they arrived at the location, they were surprised about the scenery. The marker pointed them towards a huge waterfall that was connected to the lake. In the middle of the lake was a small island that had a tall stone tablet situated in the centre of the tablet.
"Seems like we're a bit late." Shiro said, seeing a few groups waiting by the side.
"Oh? Someone is going to the island." Madison called out, drawing their attention to the island.
The group that was rowing a boat to the island consisted of five people who were basically wearing the same uniform.
While Lyrica, Madison and Silvia was watching the group, Shiro focused her hearing on the surrounding conversations to learn more about them.
'It seems like this group of people are known for their proficiency with the sword. Apparently, they're from the Severing Moon Sect, a sect famous for their swordsmanship.' She thought, simplifying all of the things she had heard.
"Wait, why are they burying their swords into the ground?" Lyrica frowned. The group had stabbed their sword into the ground to the point that only the guard and handle could be seen.
After waiting for a while, the five of them looked at each other before nodding and pulled their swords out. Each of the blades were covered with a white glow.
*RUMBLE!!!!
Quickly stabilising herself, Shiro made sure the others were fine before looking back at the group of five.
'Water Dragons?!- Wait no… they're not dragons.' Shiro narrowed her eyes seeing five large dragon-like serpents erupt from the lake around them.
However, what happened next caused the surrounding spectators to pale.
The serpent's hiss caused the sword users to stumble around as if they were in a drunken state. While this was happening, bones would also shoot out of the serpent's body and attack them relentlessly.
"Holy damn…" Shiro muttered with a frown.
"Can we really do this?" Silvia asked with uncertainty.
"This is a trial; they won't give us something we can't do." Lyrica said but she too had her own concerns about this test."
"…Let's give it a try. It's fine even if we die since it's a trial." Madison followed up after a short pause.
While they were talking, the group from the Severing Moon Sect was ripped apart and eaten by the serpents. After having their meal, the serpents retreated back into the water.
While the scene caused several teams to leave in fear, there was still quite a lot of people staying behind to challenge test.