We were at a field nearby that was wide enough for the two of us to spar. Me and Girmold eye-ing each other as we stood at opposite ends of the field, next to what looks like a goalpost in a football pitch.

The field was very suspicious, as:

1. It is devoid of any trees yet full of grass.

2. It is very suspiciously rectangular.

3. Why the hell are there things made out of wood and net that remind me a lot of a goalpost???

I mean, seriously, why are there goalposts in this field? It's like a futsal field, but with grass! I was so hyped as that used to be the sport I loved to play before the pandemic struck but that was gone when I asked Professor Damian about it, not including Girmold, and he said that he doesn't know what football or futsal is. Makes it even more suspicious, but we decided to investigate it later someday.

Professor Damian was standing in the middle, being our referee for our match, had another pen and paper to, I quote, "Write down notes on how you two will fight". Girmold has no qualms about that but I have a sneaking suspicion that he would be taking notes of me only.

"Start!" Professor Damian shouted as he quickly jumped back to avoid the chaos that he thought will ensue, but both I and Girmold only went halfway to the middle before taking a defensive stance while circling each other.

He's also trying to make the opponent attack first see how strong I am and do a counter-attack. Luckily, I had a plan in case this happened.

We kept circling each other as I waited with a lot of patience. Ok, plan B. If he's not gonna attack, then I'll do i-

He suddenly rushed forwards with blurring speed and covered half the distance in a split second. Well, that allowed me to use plan A. Right before he could reach me, I conjured a wall of earth from the ground, and he hit it with enough power to crack it on my side. I can't help but cringe at what would give him quite the migraine for some time. Professor Damian visibly cringed too.

I jumped over my wall and saw him wobbling a bit, holding his head. He impressively still had enough balance and consciousness to spot me and got ready again. I breathed fire from my mouth like a dragon should as he then held his sword horizontally with one hand on the hilt and the other on the flat side of the blade. I was confused on why he did that before my fire started going around him in a sphere. A magic shield?!

I heard a whiz go past me which made me panic and stop my fire breath as I then start to dodge random earth shards from the ground. When I stopped my fire, Girmold then could have a clear view of me and all the earth shards started getting accurate. That's when I did something that I learnt this morning while experimenting on my magic. I conjured some water and concentrated to make it solid before the earth shards could hit me. Girmold was shocked to see that I'd created an ice barrier in mid-air to protect myself.

As I landed back onto the ground a fair distance away from Girmold, he conversed, "Hey! I guess you ain't only powerful when you're mad, eh?! Ya didn't use much water magic last time either!"

I telepathically replied, "I've practiced a bit and prepared more counters to all of your shenanigans yesterday! Although that shield you did was quite unexpected!"

He smiled, "That was a new spell I haven't used! Glad that it worked! Although my signature move is an old spell that you've seen! Remember this?!"

His sword started glowing again for the air slash attack I remembered him doing. Of course, I was ready for it as I slashed a claw up at the same time he slashed his sideways.

****************************

I was taking practicing more magic at my haven inside the cave again after I spent half an hour in the natural springs at the top of the cliff. I then wondered if I could replicate what Girmold did with his sword, which then I proceeded by trying to create ridiculously pressurized air from my mouth. I managed to make it strong enough to go through a stalagmite, but only once because I noticed that it required all my concentration which made me dizzy and took a quarter of my mana--A QUARTER-- for one slash. I was quickly running out of energy at this point, so I decided I could do that.

But then I had an ingenious idea to use water instead of air to do the slash. In which I tried with low concentration and shot one from my maw, only for it to not go through one, not two, but THREE fat stalagmites and then still hit the wall of the cave with such power that it created a hole which I could fit the magic 101 book in. I was so surprised by that and was even more surprised when I found out it takes nearly no magic essence to do it as I conjured tons more without getting tired.

I started experimenting even more and found out I can conjure it not only from my mouth but from slashing other parts of my body like my tail and my claws. I decided that using my claws would be the easiest to do and the coolest looking.

****************************

His air slash was conjured at the same time my water slash was from my claw and it met in mid-air before both dissipated into nothing. I smirked very widely as his jaw dropped. I didn't give him more time as I carelessly slashed 4 more water slashes from a paw with all 4 of its fingers.

Two missed, one grazed his foot and one managed to hit Girmold's sword. He stumbled back both from panic and the hit.

He then started fuming, "WHAT THE HELLS, YOU IMBECILE. YOU COULD'VE KILLED ME! LUCKY I WAS FAST ENOUGH TO PUT UP MY SW-"

He suddenly stopped as he looked at his sword and his face shifted to one of horror. It was alarming enough that Professor Damian went to check on him.

"What's wrong?!"

"..." "My sword..." "It has a chip."

I decided to check too. There was indeed a chipped-off part at the bottom part of the blade which was triangular and went deep enough to reach the core of the blade. Although I couldn't understand why he was so horrified. it was a strong attack.

Alright, I couldn't help but feel guilty that I carelessly decided to use my newest spell in the arsenal that could literally kill the guy, but, I was also surprised that the sword haven't broken in two yet considering how much one water slash--Damn I need a cooler name for that--went through before stopping. That made me more confused as to why he was so horrified.

Luckily, my question was answered because the professor seemed to have the same confusion. "It was a strong attack..." He said glaring at me for a second. "Why are you so shocked it chipped?"

"..." "This is made out of Silvantine..."

And that's when Professor Damian's face also switched to one of horror. I was getting frustrated at how they're shocked at something but not telling me what it is.

"WHAT'S GOING ON? WHAT IS THIS... SILVANTINE??"

Professor Damian snapped out of his trance yet didn't show any emotions when he said, "Silvantine is an alloy of half silver and half every other metal which then makes it the strongest metal to exist. It is more than a hundred times stronger than steel..."

O

M

G

I DIDN'T KNOW WATER SLASH WAS SO OP WTF.

Girmold stared at me for a few seconds, which I felt obligated to apologize to him. But I was stopped before I started as he started to speak to Professor Damian instead.

"I don't know what in Malia could've created something like him, but for someone to replicate another version of my air-slash in a day... He is extremely dangerous. We are very lucky that Troy here is intelligent and is on our side. I'm a low elite adventurer. As far as I know, he might as well be a high elite adventurer. I don't know much about this place but he's probably the strongest being here, Professor," Girmold said.

Uhhh... is that good or bad? Like, I mean, he did call me dangerous.

"Professor, let him become an adventurer. He will be such a valuable addition to this town if he does become one. I will train him in the ways of one."

Professor Damian smiled, "Why, of course!"