{Rin}

{One Week Later}

"Get ready," Maria said, and as Rin took a deep breath, she narrowed her eyes, preparing herself. Her teacher was holding a dagger in her right hand, aimed straight at Rin's body. "Don't think too hard about it. You need to refine your instincts to the point where your body understands what it has to do naturally."

"Right."

Rin rolled her shoulders in an effort to calm herself down. Her heart was pounding against her chest, but she reminded herself that she'd done this many times before by now and that Maria wouldn't actually hurt her.

Well, she wouldn't hurt her too badly, anyway.

"I'm ready," Rin let her know.

"Okay," Maria replied and suddenly, she charged forward.

What followed happened over the course of a few seconds and yet, in that time, Rin had to make several choices, one after another.

[She's going for my left shoulder,] she thought, dodging to the right. Maria's dagger narrowly missed her. Maria spun, taking her dagger into a reverse grip. [My abs,] Rin thought before she leaned to the left, and the dagger grazed the spot right under her belly button. She let out a short hiss in pain before Maria pulled back a fist, clearly telegraphing a punch.

[Duck under it,] she told herself and she did so, but then Maria caught her with a knee to her stomach, and a string of spit came out of Rin's mouth as she fell to her knees. The wind was knocked out of her, and Maria quickly cast the [Heal] spell, to cure the wound she'd made with the blade.

"You're getting faster," Maria told her, "but, you can't corner yourself like that. Ducking into me left you with no options. If you have to dodge, always dodge away, instead of going into your opponent, unless you know you can land a hit before they respond."

"Ack," she coughed, before nodding. "I understand."

As Maria had promised, over the past week the two of them had been hard at work. Rin's days now revolved around this training, with her only extended resting periods being the time she spent digesting those healing meals she and the others would receive for lunch. While they all walked around, hung out, and did whatever else they could with their days, Rin would be here, practicing. Today, however, the isolation hit Rin particularly hard because everyone else was off on their second mission, while Rin was here, making up for the time she'd lost after her first.

She honestly didn't know if she was getting any better, but Maria seemed to believe so.

"Take a moment," Maria told her as Rin wiped away some sweat. "How do you feel?"

"Like I'm still not fast enough to dodge your attacks," Rin let her know. "And it kinda sucks."

"Good. That is by design, Rin," Maria told her. "You must have forgotten. I am much, much faster than you. The reason you are able to dodge my attacks at all is because I am purposely slowing down, but..."

She knelt down in front of Rin and tapped her forehead with her index finger.

"... If I allow you to get too comfortable, you will stop improving. If I allow you to use that strange ability of yours during our practice, you will use it as a crutch. All I am doing is maintaining the challenge."

"I-I get that," Rin nodded, recalling what Maria had told her after she'd shown her the [Spirit Flame] ability. Maria had been impressed, but she was quick to point out that such an ability could lead Rin to over-rely on it.

She also mentioned, however, that she hadn't heard anything about that ability, which made Rin wonder just how old and forgotten it was.

"It's just..." She continued. "Yeah, I don't feel myself getting any quicker."

"Is that so?" Maria asked. "Alright. Stand up."

Rin did so wordlessly, and Maria took a step back.

"Here's what I'll do," Maria began to explain. "I am going to come at you with nothing held back. I will look to punch you as I would in any real fight, however," she added just as Rin started to pale, "I will do so at the speed and strength that I was using when we first started. Understand?"

"I-I think so..."

"Okay. Get ready."

Hearing that, Rin put her fists up. She nodded, letting Maria know she was prepared, and then, the cinnamon-haired woman ran up. She went for a right hook on Rin's head, but Rin dodged backward, watching her fist go by her face slowly.

[Wait, what?] Rin asked herself as Maria then went for a spinning heel kick, and Rin saw it coming, leaning back. She tried for a couple of punches aimed at Rin's mid-section, and the rookie adventurer blocked a couple like Maria had taught her to do before Maria then went for an uppercut that Rin avoided easily.

"Do you see now?" Maria asked, taking a step back.

"... Crap," Rin thought as she looked down at herself. "You're... You're not, like, I mean, is this for real?"

At that, Maria put a hand on Rin's shoulder. She smiled at her student as she said:

"I know what I'm doing, Rin. You are getting better, even if you don't see it. I need you to believe in me here, but not just that, I also need you to believe in yourself. Got it?"

"..." Rin could agree with the former, but the latter? She couldn't promise that at all. She was determined to learn, but everything that had happened did shake her confidence. Still, she nodded and Maria did the same.

"We're done with physical training for the day," she told Rin. "Now, we work on growing your Essence."

This, as Maria had said a week ago, was another step in the process. In order for Rin to be able to use any bread-and-butter techniques, along with the [Spirit Flame], she needed to expand her Essence pool, however marginally she could.

The two of them sat down next to each other, by the edge of the room, looking out the open wall. It was a bright, sunny day, where the forests beyond the city almost glinted under the light, swaying as the wind passed over each individual tree.

Below, there was just one person using Eli's obstacle course. Seth was training by his lonesome, having already come back from his mission. Remembering how she'd caught him and Elisa that one morning at the start of the semester put a bad taste in Rin's mouth.

"Uh, remind me how this works again?" Rin asked, distracting herself.

"Sure. What you want to do is allow the Essence inside of you to circle all throughout your body, much in the same way that you do when limit-breaking. However, the lack of action will instead allow the Essence inside of you to become more fluid, growing within your body."

"... Okay," she nodded, taking a deep breath. "Got it."

"Let yourself daydream. It is imperative to remain calm throughout this. Let your mind wander and just... watch where it goes."

It was easier said than done, as loud as Rin's thoughts tended to be, but she tried. She breathed in, looking out at the outside world, and tried to silence her mind as best she could while her Essence flowed through her.

It didn't work at all for a while, but, after focusing on the landscape, her thoughts went quiet and Rin just sat there. Slowly, but surely, her body was covered in a blue aura, which meant it was working.

"Once you get really good at this, you will be able to have entire conversations while meditating, as your words will not interrupt your mind from its rest," Maria said, next to her, with her body covered in a similar haze. Her voice sounded so calm, low, and smooth that Rin almost worried Maria would put her to sleep. "Heh, it's funny, when I first started, I would do this all the time, just because I thought it was fun."

"..." When she heard that, Rin purposely stopped the process, so she could ask a question. "How much time did you spend like this?"

"Quite a bit," Maria chuckled.

"Did anyone else join you?" Rin asked. "I feel like this would get kinda lonely after a while."

Hearing that, Maria's smile faded, as did her aura.

"... Yes," Maria replied, taking a deep breath. "Someone normally did."

---

A few hours later, Rin was walking into the town, alone and with almost every muscle in her body still feeling a little sore. She didn't intend on staying outside for too long, as Xhez was probably eager to get out of her bag and walk around which Rin wanted to help her with, but right now, she needed a moment.

She'd done so much in this past week, that she wanted to take just a few minutes to unwind. Take a walk, see the sights, and maybe later, she'd do the exact same, but with Xhez by her side.

She'd learned of a small bar, thanks to Eve, that could be found just south of the Academy. It had been a while since Rin got a chance to drink, and, feeling like she could use some alcohol tonight, she decided to go buy a shot or two. The prices here were cheap enough so that Rin didn't feel like she was wasting away her savings too badly, and it was a cozy-looking place where there weren't many seats and there weren't many customers.

The place was called Lio's Bar, and Rin walked in as the sun threatened to disappear for the rest of the day.

[By the Divine, how long has it been?] She wondered as she sat down and the bartender, an old man with a missing eye, asked her what she wanted. She ordered the cheapest liquor she could get, which cost only ten silvers, and as the drink was placed in front of her, memories began to float in front of her eyes.

Back when she'd first started at the Silver Rose, having sex with people she wasn't even attracted to, bottles like the black one given to her now were her best friend. Over time, she'd gotten used to it to the point where she hadn't needed to drink herself stupid every single night, but for a while, she was a bonafide alcoholic.

So, pouring some of that liquor into a glass cup, she figured she'd get a taste of the old days.

"Oh, oh fuck," she muttered, coughing with a little laugh, "yeah... Still tastes just as bad."

That didn't stop her from taking another sip though. She didn't drink enough for it to really be a problem, but just enough to let her head buzz a bit.

At the same time, a few locals walked in and out of the bar, each one giving Rin lingering gazes and, at that moment, something strange happened. She remembered what she looked like. It might sound weird, but Rin had made good use of her looks for the past three years, knowing damn well how attractive she was.

However, at the Academy, no one there seemed to care too much about that. So, over the last month or so, she'd genuinely forgotten how regular people viewed her.

It made her laugh a little, before taking another sip. She almost missed it.

Beside her, she noticed two customers getting friendly, and subtly, she looked over at them as she heard:

"Oh~ You're too sweet!" A girl told someone. She looked fairly cute to Rin's eyes, with tanned skin, short black hair, and mischievous eyes aimed at a middle-aged man who looked completely enraptured by her.

However, Rin could tell from a glance that the feeling wasn't mutual. The sly smile that the girl was giving him looked like a facade, to the point where Rin wondered what was going on here.

Not that it was any of her business, but still, she was curious.

And, then, she saw it. The man pulled out a couple of gold varols and outright dropped them into the woman's drink. [Huh?] Rin thought as the woman then drank the contents of that mug, leaving only those coins at the bottom of the glass.

Then, the cute girl caught Rin watching and winked at her, as she took the coins from the mug and got up. The man stood with her and the two walked out the bar, and Rin could guess what was going to happen next.

"It's disgusting, ain't it?" The bartender asked and Rin turned to look at him.

"Hm?" She tilted her head.

"Out in the open like that," he shook his head. "Whores comin' by and swindlin' half the city, taken their well-earned platinum. Enough to make a man sick."

"... How?" She asked. "Isn't that illegal?"

And, when the bartender heard that, he laughed.

"Illegal? Yeah, it's illegal. Good luck finding a guard who cares about that in this part of the city."

"What do you mean?" Rin asked.

"... Lady, are you not from here?"

As soon as she heard that, Rin knew she could be placing a target on her back by answering that honestly, but, she wouldn't get answers otherwise. So, she trusted the skills she'd been training and hoped that if she was strong enough to fight off a monstrous skeleton then she was strong enough to fight drunken thieves, and she nodded.

"Ohh... Well, listen," the old man said. "Be safe around these parts. The guards in this city don't care too much what happens south of that damned Academy. As long as you don't mess with the nobles, there's a lot the guards are willin' to let slide down here. If a thief or two wants to mug a passing tourist like you, they won't care. If a woman with no money wants to get on her knees and suck off a man for his money, they won't care. They won't bat an eye at ya for shit like that down here. No, they view that as, eh, what's the word? Right, inconveniences. So, you keep an eye behind ya at all times, that's all I'm sayin'."

...

Rin paused.

"... Noted," she said before she stood up and walked back to the Academy, internalizing what she'd just heard.