After a short walk through the hallways of the Academy, Mikael arrived at a gym where the rest of his css was gathered, with Emily teag the dueling css. The gym was well-equipped, featuring on racks filled with wooden training ons and multiple sparring stages for practice bouts.
He joihe group and waited briefly before Emily checked her watd addressed the css.
“Alright, everyone, wele to your first dueling css. I don’t have much to say other than this: you’ll be sparring with your cssmates to improve. Remember, this is practice, so there shouldn’t be any injuries.”
She paused to let her words sink in before tinuing with a firm tone.
“You’re free to fight however you’d like—whether it’s a 1v1, 2v2, or even a 3v2. The only rule is that all partits must agree to the match. If I catyone f someoo a duel or bullying, there will be serious sequences.”
With that, she cpped her hands and cluded, “That’s all. Happy sparring!”
As soon as Emily finished speaking, Amelia approached Mikael, catg the attention of nearby students.
“Spar?” she asked directly.
“That’s what we agreed ht?” Mikael replied.
“Yeah,” she firmed with a nod. He poioward a nearby sparring stage.
“Here?”
She nodded again. “That works. But what rules do you want to set for this spar?”
Mikael thought for a moment before answering. “Why don’t we keep it simple? We’ll fight until one of us wins. No special rules—just a straightforward sparring match.”
“Alright, let’s do it!” Amelia agreed enthusiastically.
The two of them headed to the on rack to choose their equipment. Amelia selected a bow and a quiver filled with training arrows and two daggers, while Mikael grabbed two wooden swords. He then ected the hilts of the swords with an aura thread that was ected to his hands.
Once armed, they took their positions oage, fag each other. A signifit portion of the css gathered around, their i piqued as they prepared to withe duel.
“Ready?” Mikael asked.
Amelia responded with a nod as Mikael began the tdown. “Three, two...”
At "two," both fighters ed themselves in aura cloaks, simultaneously enveloping their ons in their energy. “One—go!”
At the signal, Mikael unched himself forward like a rocket toward Amelia, while she unleashed arrows in rapid succession, resembling a mae gun.
Thwack!
The arrows were parried mid-air by Mikael’s ed swords, their extended range enhanced by his aura threads. The ons soward Amelia, f her to drop to the ground in a swift evasive maneuver before she retaliated with another arrow.
Mikael leapt into the air to avoid it, but the arrotly ged dire, homing in on him. Anticipating the move, he trated a rge amount of aura into his leg and kicked the arrow aside.
Seizing the moment, Mikael closed the gap between them and unleashed ferocious strikes with his swords, now ba his hands.
Amelia pulled out her daggers to block the attacks but ushed back by Mikael's superior momentum.
“No way—Amelia’s being overwhelmed!”
“e on, Amelia! You’ve got this!” Aria’s voice rang out from the sidelines.
Mikael ighe crowd, his focus entirely on the duel. He maintained his relentless onsught, f Amelia to stay on the defensive as she tio be driven back.
“Urgh...” Amelia grunted as her arms strained uhe impact of his blows. Realizing she o act fast, she unched a full-strength kick toward Mikael’s ribs.
Mikael dropped his arms to block the kick, successfully defending himself but losing ground as he was forced back. Their strength was nearly equal, and his earlier domiemmed solely from his maintained momentum.
Taking advantage of the brief reprieve, Amelia retreated and unched a rain of arrows at him. Mikael deflected most of them with his dual swords, but one slipped through and pierced his left thigh, breaking through his aura cloak.
He quickly yahe arrow out with a sharp grunt, his eyes never leaving Amelia. His caution paid off as he noticed her charging a wooden arrow with an enormous amount of aura. The arrow envelopped by her aura, appeared as rge as a spear.
Realizing he had no time to waste, Mikael funneled his own aura into his ed swords, causing them to glow and expand in size.
The moment Amelia fully charged her shot, she let the massive arrow fly. Mikael tered by skillfully maniputing his aura threads, ung his swords with a flick of his wrists. The ons streaked through the air, meeting the arrow halfway.
BOOM!
A shockwave erupted from the collision, shaking the stage. The arrow and ed swords were locked in a stalemate, suspended in the air as the two batants poured more and more aura into their attacks.
Gradually, Amelia’s arrow began to overpower Mikael’s ed swords. Seeitack gain the upper hand, she felt a surge of excitement and goward Mikael—only to find he was no lohere.
Thud!
A surprise kick smmed into Amelia’s side, sending her flying off the stage. Mikael had used the stalemate as a distra to close the distand deliver a decisive blow.
Amelia tumbled several meters across the ground before ing to a stop, letting out a pained grunt. The css was stunned into silence, unprepared for su uable and strategiclusion to the duel.
Seeing his victory, Mikael allowed himself a tired smile. The fight had been brief, but its iy had drained 40% of his aura.
He jumped off the stage and approached Amelia, who was still lying on the ground with a dejected expression.
“You okay?” he asked, his tone sincere.
Amelia sighed, pulling herself out of her thoughts of defeat before answering. “...Yeah.”
Mikael extended a hand to her. She hesitated, surprised by his gesture, but felt forted by his humility and ck ance. She grasped his hand and stood, a renewed determination lighting up her eyes.
“Another match?” she asked, her voice resolute. “But this time, I’ll win!”
Nearby, some of the boys gritted their teeth, clearly a how friendly Amelia was with Mikael.
Mikael smiled and nodded, eager to tinue. He had learned a lot from their fight and saw another duel as an opportunity to improve further.
The two of them retrieved their ons, returo their positions, and prepared for another intense sparring session.
After the initial duel, they tinued sparring. The sed duel ended in another victory for Mikael, but Amelia didn’t get disced. She kept challenging him, and her persistence paid off when she wohird fight. Mikael, having used a signifit portion of his aura during the previous bouts, was forced to serve it more carefully. In trast, Amelia, with her higher rank, had a greater reservoir of aura to draw from.
They ehe sparring sessions on good terms, agreeing to tiheir matches in future duel csses.
As the days passed, Mikael attended his various csses while training intensively. His efforts paid off, and before long, July 30th arrived.
July 30th, 2025 - M
Sunlight streamed through the thin curtains, casting warm, golden streaks across the room. Mikael stirred, his face half-buried in the soft pillow. The lingering haze of sleep g to him as he blinked groggily, his eyes slowly adjusting to the brightness.
He let out a long sigh, running a hand through his disheveled hair. For a moment, he just y there, staring at the ceiling.
With a faint groan, he swung his legs over the edge of the bed. The cool wooden floor beh his feet jolted him slightly more awake. Stretg his arms overhead, he felt the tension from his brief nap ease out of his muscles. "Alright," he murmured to himself, the words almost sounding like a yawn, "time to get moving."
‘Before I start the day, I should check my status. It’s been a while since I st looked at it.’
“Status”
[Name: Mikael AngeliniRace: Human (Dirarnia World)Lifespan: 21/99Overall Power: Tier 1Military Rank: Recruit 0/10 MP
Global Level Tier 1 Race: 10/50Experience: 1.5K/91K XP
Css: Sword MasterLevel: 26/50Experience: 17.5K/18.2K XP
Stats:Strength: 413(100) → 421(108)Agility: 466(100) → 477(109)Endurance: 414(100) → 424(110)Vitality: 438(100) Perception: 437(100)Intelligence: 51 → 109Spirit: 51
Energy:Aura (Dirarnia World) F- Tier 230/230 → 526/526Mana (Dirarnia World) F- Tier 230/230 → 519/519
Active Skills:
Active/Passive Skills:Body Refining Teique(Unon): Tier 0, Level 3
ed Sword Style(Rare): Tier 1, Level 2
Aura Threads Creation and Manipution(Unon) - Tier 1, Level 3
Mobile Meditation(Unon): Tier 1, Level 1
Passive Skills:Unarmed Martial Arts Mastery(on): Tier 0, Level 2 → 4Footwork Mastery(on): Tier 0, Level 3 → 46th Sense(Unon): Tier 0, Level 2 → 3
Life Points (LP): (-240) 1080]
A/N: The stats in brackets (100) are his stats with the limiter on.
His stats hadn’t ged much, except for his intelligence, which had doubled. The rest remained mostly the same. However, many of his skills had seen notable improvements, with the most signifit ges iwo skills:
[ed Sword Style - Tier 1, Level 2(Rare Active/Passive Skill)Description:Builds on aura thread teiques, allowing the user to not only trol swords remotely but also enhance close-bat attacks with these threads
Active Effects:
When the user is actively eling his aura in his swords their sharpness, and durability is enhao the level with any supplementary aura cost.
The user use the ed Sword Style Form. All the form created by the users are enhanced and beagically stronger
Created Form:
ed Sword Style - 1st Form, Bde Tempest
ed Sword Style - 2nd Form,(Not created)
Passive Effects:
The users will be able to learn and apply knowlege reted to the ed Sword Style a lot faster.
ditions for Level-Up:
Upgrade the ed Sword Style to the level either by upgrading the first form enough or by creating the sed form 0/1
Pay 1600 LP: 0/1600]
[Mobile Meditation - Tier 0, Level 1(Unon Active/Passive Skill)Description: A meditation skill that transdent it’s limit and work passively in all situation, the effect is increased if the user take a sitting position aate.
Active Effect:
When the user is seated, immobile, and focused, energy regeion bees three times more effit than normal.
Passive Effect:
The users passive energy recovery speed is doubled in all situatioher he is moving, fighting, or sitting.
dition for Level-Up:
Use the skill for 10 hours in a battle situation: 0/10
Pay 400 LP: 0/400]
He nodded in satisfa, seeing his progress and knowing that much of it wasn’t even reflected oatus s.
‘Hmm, but both of my cores are pletely full. Should I break through?’ he thought for a moment. ‘Nah, not yet. I still grow them a bit more. My trol is already extremely good, but I tio improve it, especially since I’ve already reached level 41 of the advanced trol puzzle in such a short amount of time. Who’s to say that with a little more time, I ’t upgrade my trol to an even higher level?’
‘With my enhanced trol, I could squeeze out a bit more mana and aura into the cores before breaking through, which will make a signifit differen the long term. Anyway, I don’t have time to dwell on this right now, sidering today is the day we go dungeon expl with the css. I’m pretty hyped about it, and I’ll finally be able to level up my css, which has been stuck at the same point for a while.’
He shook off his thoughts, knowing he didn’t have much time before his css was scheduled to meet for the dungeon exploratioe a quick breakfast before leaving the dormitory and stepping into the lively hallways of the Academy.
As he walked through the bustling corridors, he noticed some students murmuring as he passed by. This time, however, it wasn’t about his strength or anything like that. The buzz surrounding his victory itle royale as a oner had only sted a few days before fading from everyone’s memory.
What remained of i, though, was that he was often seen sparring and talking with Amelia, which had sparked some rumors. Hearing the whispers, he inwardly sighed. ‘Guys, these rumors are sadly only 50% true. Amelia and I aren’t sneaking off to spend time alone in a room or anything sdalous like that. Or at least, we’re not at that stage yet. We’re on the liween friendship and something more…’
In truth, during the time that had passed, he and Amelia had met frequently and grown closer. After Mikael’s “revetion” in the Virtual Training Mae, he had bee noticeably more flirtatious, as evident in his iion with Lyra. With his fidend striking appearance, Amelia couldn’t remain indifferent, and the two had quickly reached a point where they seemed to be cirg each other, just shy of taking the step.
