Ari could not help but keenly realize her own mistake.
For a moment, she had definitely felt it—the unfathomable realm she had never encountered in her life.
‘What have I done…’
By that point, the emotion of jealousy had long disappeared from her heart.
Jealousy is a sentiment one can harbor only when one imagines catching up to their rival.
Just like an ordinary person cannot envy a storm, it was the same for Ari.
She looked up at Duke.
The death clad in a helmet, casting shadows over his face, was approaching.
Only then did she understand Duke’s intention.
Exert her full strength.
Otherwise—
‘I will die.’
From Duke’s perspective, Ari was no more than a replaceable nobody.
Even if Rex were to protect her, the karma she had accumulated in front of this natural disaster was insufficient to be repaid with her death.
‘Guh…’
There was one way to survive: to prove her value.
From that moment, the genre of the sparring changed.
It was no longer a sparring bout to understand each other but a challenge to weigh her survival.
She began running in a circle around Duke.
During that time, Duke merely stood still in his place, gazing forward.
Gradually narrowing the circle, she aimed for the exposed area between his helmet and cloak at the back of his neck with the edge of her hand.
This, too, was a move that aimed for a fatal point, which should have been avoided in sparring.
However, Duke calmly turned his head slightly, easily evading the attack.
Her strike, aimed at his neck, passed over his shoulder, past his helmet, and extended toward Duke’s front.
He grabbed the arm that had reached over his shoulder and bent slightly forward.
Using his shoulder as a lever, her body soared into the air.
Duke took care to adjust her posture mid-air to make it easier for her to land.
Smooth and clean it was, but she landed not with her back but her feet.
Duke gestured to her with his left hand.
“Again.”
Stunned, she snapped out of her daze and charged at Duke once more.
She attacked his chest with both palms.
Once again, Duke slightly twisted his body and deflected the attack with a flick of his hand.
“Again.”
There had been two instances where her attacks were nullified.
Ari also knew that Duke had plenty of opportunities to counterattack during those brief moments.
Nevertheless, Duke did not retaliate.
Instead, he only disturbed her posture enough so she wouldn’t get injured.
At this point, she couldn’t help but grasp Duke’s intention.
‘Ah…’
– “It’s not a good habit to assume everyone sees others through your standards.”
Duke’s words came back to her.
She had assumed that he was certainly irritated.
Thus, she exerted all her energy to prove her worth.
But Duke felt absolutely no anger.
As if he had never forgotten the purpose of this sparring from the beginning, he consistently accommodated her so she could bring out her full power.
‘If I were in his place, I would have already…’
If she were the one, she would have already forgotten about the sparring and engaged in a fight to the death.
‘Haha…’
She couldn’t help but let out a wry laugh.
‘A complete defeat.’
In terms of skill, loyalty, character, and capacity, it was her complete defeat.
A defeat so complete it invoked awe rather than envy.
She bowed her head to Duke as a sign of acknowledgement of her defeat.
“I apologize, Sir Erwick.”
Along with her anger, her fighting spirit also subsided.
But Duke, seeing her diminishing fighting spirit, could not hide his disappointment.
‘Ah, the newbie has realized the reality…’
—
For still waters, the third most enjoyable time had come to an end.
There’s no happier moment than when the newbie, unaware of anything, burns with competitive spirit; however, Ari had laid down her fists upon realizing the reality.
‘This means he won’t fight me anymore.’
Duke’s mood became even more melancholic.
But it was fleeting.
Duke soon realized that this was a misconception on his part.
Her fading fighting spirit once again rose, and it was a far stronger one than just moments ago.
‘What?’
Duke quickly assessed her state.
When he realized that her level had risen by one stage, he could not contain his joy.
‘Broke… through the barrier?’
The newbie broke through a barrier right in front of him during sparring.
Duke immediately began searching for the cause of her breakthrough.
Though he was far from being a man of vast knowledge, he did have an eye for people, which was a virtue of the final boss after all; he had cultivated this trait to some extent.
In no time, he found the cause of her breakthrough to level 30.
“Humility has dawned upon you.”
“Thanks to you, Sir Erwick.”
The rambunctious adolescent tiger from moments ago was gone, replaced by a martial artist with the dignity of a mountain master.
Just as Duke had said, she had enlightened herself with humility.
“Thanks to you, sir, the cat within me has awakened to the vastness of the world.”
Duke shivered slightly under his cloak.
Had he not been in his final boss mode, he might have climaxed lightly by now.
While Duke was pinching his thigh hard enough to bruise, she brought her fists close to her waist.
As martial artists often do before a sparring match, she gave a respectful salute with precision.
“Your humble servant, Arabella, begs your indulgence, Sir Erwick. Please grant me the opportunity to broaden my horizons.”
The fighting spirit she thought had faded could be felt once more.
No, it wasn’t fighting spirit this time.
‘Competitive spirit.’
Duke’s lips curved upwards.
Fighting spirit is the desire to secure a victory from an opponent.
It’s not inherently bad, but it’s somewhat inappropriate to harbor such sentiments towards someone of an unreachable height.
To put it bluntly, it means not understanding one’s place.
However, competitive spirit is distinct.
It’s the determination to achieve a goal even when knowing you will lose.
Duke understood what her competitive spirit was aiming for in her gaze.
“Ordinarily, it would be disrespectful to wear this cloak in front of a martial artist like you, but I shall leave it on in respect for your spirit.”
Upon Duke’s words, she brightened.
‘So, Sir Erwick!’
The insight to understand her intentions without a word spoken!
‘He truly is a fit mentor.’
Her breakthrough to the 30th barrier must have occurred due to meeting Duke, who became her spiritual mentor and made her understand humility.
She tightened the strap of her gauntlets further.
‘I must prove that I have the qualifications to consider myself your disciple.’
Of course, she knew she was being presumptuous.
Even if she shows respect now, it won’t erase the rudeness she displayed towards Duke up until now.
But she didn’t apologize for it.
– “There’s no need to apologize for threats that aren’t threatening.”
Just as Duke had said in the past, he wasn’t the least concerned about her rudeness.
It wasn’t just about ignoring physical attacks; he forgave even her rudeness.
Since unnecessary apologies were also a form of rudeness, she decided to replace it with respect.
“I’m going!”
Kung!
With her strong step, a white aura began to rise around her body.
Through the faint black interwoven in the white aura, one could almost hear a roar, as if a white tiger were bellowing.
To her, Duke’s commendation came.
“Indeed, well-controlled divine possession!”
Divine Possession.
It is a fatal spell of the beast tribe—enhancing one’s physical abilities astronomically by accepting the aura of an animal symbolizing oneself.
Only, in the era of the second tier, she could not use this divine possession.
‘That’s because I didn’t know moderation back then.’
Since being overwhelmed by the instincts of the white tiger when accepting its power, she had only been able to endure a tenth of it.
But at this moment, a leapfrog growth had been achieved, receiving up to seventy percent of the power.
Kuung!
With a sound that tore through the air, she rushed towards Duke.
Just as before, when she reached Duke, she firmly planted her foot on the ground and extended her palm.
Once more, Duke deflected her attack with his left hand alone, dodging it.
Unlike before, her body in the aftermath did not stagger.
Duke gave her another commendation.
“An excellent display of restraint.”
Until the previous fight, she had been unable to control her own body.
She thought she was the best. Her powerful skills couldn’t be stopped, and there was no way someone could dodge her fast punches.
Such arrogant thoughts filled her heart, so there was no restraint in her attacks.
Hence, when her attack missed once, she lost her balance, and a light push was enough to destabilize her posture.
But not now.
She was careful to adjust the power of her attacks, considering how Duke might block them or dodge.
To make an analogy to fighting games…
‘She’s restraining skills with large aftermaths.’
And she even engages in psychological warfare without underestimating her opponent.
In this short time, she had gained insights far beyond Duke’s expectations.
‘Impressive.’
As a warrior, as a newbie.
Respecting her, Duke began weaving magic around his left hand.
‘Direct elemental spells would be too harsh for tier 3…’
Instead, he focused on the strap of her gauntlet.
She resisted his elemental force with magic, bouncing it off.
But drawing attention to the strap was exactly Duke’s intention.
He didn’t miss the tiny gap and coiled his left arm around hers, extended long.
Once again, Duke, applying wrestling techniques, lifted her off the ground.
This time, however, she used the flexibility of a cat, righting herself in mid-air and grabbing for the lace of his cape.
“Hmm.”
Duke made a sound that didn’t hold any particular meaning but felt somewhat cool.
He released her arm and distanced himself from her right hand that aimed for his cape lace.
Launched into the air, Ari immediately assumed a falling posture like a cat, landing smoothly on her two feet.
“Sharp move.”
“Thank you.”
Without a pause, she rushed at him again.
This time, she bent her body almost to the ground, aiming for Duke’s ankles and sweeping the ground with her leg.
‘How will he counter this?’
The opponents in her sparring sessions before she became a slave would fall to this move every time.
It looked like a simple tackle, but there was no need to touch the ground for that.
This move forced a one-sided psychological battle on the opponent.
Should the opponent brace their legs to withstand the tackle, she’d use her leg to sweep their jawline from the ground.
If they lifted one leg to dodge, she could easily twist her body from clockwise to counterclockwise and use the strength of her wrists to hook their ankle.
If they bent down with their hands to guard, she’d withdraw her kick and instead strike their chin with a knee as she stood up.
It was a technique of acrobatic mobility unique to felines and beast-folk, taxing on the wrist tendons, but effective in surprising the opponent.
But she didn’t expect Duke to fall for such a move easily.
True to her expectations, Duke countered her technique in a way she had never seen anyone else do.
He placed his foot precisely on her sweeping leg, as if trapping a rolling ball.
“Wow.”
She was genuinely amazed.
Theoretically possible, but no one had ever succeeded in doing this before.
Duke could have easily stepped on and crushed her ankle, but he let her go instead.
“You practice the pride of the Mountain Tiger school, don’t you?”
“Do you know of it?”
“I’ve met them. It’s a tough school.”
“How do I fare?”
“You’re in the top five among those I’ve met from that school.”
Proud of this evaluation, Ari beamed.
Accurate to say it was their fifth meeting, but Duke didn’t feel the need to mention that.
—
Afterward, she continued her attempts to reach Duke’s cape.
Meanwhile, Rex, as the referee, alternated between marveling at their sparring and keeping his eyes glued to their stamina bars.
‘It seems to be coming to an end soon.’
Below Ari’s green health bar, the yellow bar was nearly empty.
This meant her stamina was almost depleted.
‘Divine possession really consumes a lot of energy.’
Though its effect was spectacular, increasing all combat stats by 5 each, the stamina consumption was intense.
Contrary to the expected 30 minutes of combat, her stamina drained in just five minutes.
Rex nodded, pleased with gathering valuable information before the actual combat.
‘That said, this is quite shocking.’
Rex checked Duke’s health bar.
His health points hadn’t even dented by one point.
Though he thought Duke’s extremely high life points and natural regeneration might ignore the damage from her fixed-damage skills, the reality exceeded even that.
Instead of simply enduring it, Duke hadn’t allowed a single blow with his overwhelming proficiency.
‘0 multiplied by 100 remains 0…’
Her fixed-damage ability was meaningless if the damage dealt is zero.
Rex noted these facts in her character sheet:
<Arabella>=====
– Divine possession causes extreme stamina drain: needs stamina training.
– If skill proficiency is vastly lower, skills become meaningless: needs skill proficiency training.
==========
Considering he might have to command more than just Ari in the future, taking notes was essential.
Experience from games often proved that not taking notes now could lead to mistakes later.
Having finished taking notes on Ari, Rex moved on to Duke’s observations.
– <Victory>
No matter how much he thought about it, it was just a ‘Victory’ button.
Just as he finished his notes, a new word appeared above Ari’s stamina bar.
<Exhaustion>
‘So, it ends like this.’
Ari collapsed, gasping for breath.
Contrary to her, drenched in sweat as if from a waterfall, Duke remained perfectly calm.
Even the stamina displayed on Rex’s monitor showed Duke had only lost 1% of it.
Thus, the sparring ended with Ari’s judgmental loss due to exhaustion.
—
After the sparring, Duke walked away without even glancing at Ari who was now exhausted.
‘Let’s not raise any flags unnecessarily.’
The task of handing her water and a towel fell solely on Rex.
Duke, maintaining an emotional wall with his voice, left a general review of her technique.
“Your punch was powerful, speed commendable, and technique refined. However, you couldn’t let go of your clinging to the past.”
With her mind barely functioning for lack of oxygen, Ari managed a response.
“I’m… sorry… huff… huff…”
“Hmm.”
Duke turned his back on her and walked toward the exit of the training ground.
His methodical isolation was enough to cause potential misunderstandings.
‘He must be dissatisfied.’
Especially for Ari, who wished to be accepted as a disciple by Duke, it was a disappointment that made her lower her head.
—
At that moment, as Duke was about to exit the training ground, he paused.
“I have seen your potential clearly. I look forward to your future growth.”
With his back turned, Duke showed her the torn lace of his cape.
“I will mend my cape, and during that time, I’ll leave you in the care of Lord Rex.”
With that, Ari bowed her head deeply toward Duke as he left the training ground.
“Thank you!”
She repeatedly bowed towards Duke’s retreating back as he left the training ground.
—
At that time, Duke.
‘Today I can sleep soundly.’
Meeting the newbie, and getting to deliver the lines he’d been wanting to say.
This was turning out to be the absolute best day with no room for improvement.
