Mike was extremely grateful for the advice Zane gave him. Maybe a little too grateful. Zane didn’t like the excited glint he saw in Mike’s eyes. He decided to quickly excuse himself after he gave Mike the advice. Mike tried to insist following him so he could ask a few more questions, but Zane told him he had to prepare for his next match. With a defeated expression Mike said goodbye and slowly walked away.

“Congratulations Zane,” Sophie said mentally.

“Although I won my match quickly, I didn’t have an easy time like you did,” Shane said.

“Yeah, Sam said. “You wiped the floor with that guy.”

“Thanks everyone.” Zane replied. “I still have plenty of energy, so I’ll be moving on to my next match.”

Everyone wished Zane good luck after he finished speaking. Zane pulled out his ranking orb and looked for another person to challenge. Zane tried to challenge eleven once again but was unsuccessful. He went through a few more names until he reached the fifty first person on the ranking list. The person’s name on the ranking list was Destroyer. Zane thought it was weird, but he realized that this person might have had the same idea as Shane.

Once Destroyer accepted Zane’s challenge Zane received the location of their fight. He was happy to see that the location was where he was standing. Zane immediately sat down and tried to look for Old Sabers name under private matches. A quick search revealed nothing and he didn’t see any other names that were familiar to him. With nothing left to do Zane decided to use Meditation and go over the brief fight he had with Mike.

A few minutes passed before Zane felt someone approaching him. When he stood up and opened his eyes Zane saw a young woman. She had shoulder length dark hair, blue eyes and was dressed in a close-fitting black cloth shirt and pants. Her skin was fair and she was only slightly shorter than Zane.

“I didn’t believe it when I saw you from far away, but it’s really you.” Destroyer spoke with an enthusiastic tone. “It’s an honor to meet you weapon fanatic!”

Zane wasn’t surprised that someone was able to recognize him. However, he was surprised by the level of enthusiasm the woman greeted him with. Most people who watched his fights were members of the town and they usually greeted him with a little more warmth than normal. The people who had shown greater levels of excitement at his presence were rare. It caught Zane of guard, but he quickly adjusted.

“Hello Destroyer. It’s a pleasure to meet you.”

“Ah, it so embarrassing to hear you call me that.” Destroyer waved her hand as her face turned red. “I only picked that name because I thought it sounded cool. My actual name is Diana.

“It doesn’t matter of you use Diana or Destroyer. Both are great names.”

Diana giggled when she heard Zane compliment her. She started telling Zane about the first time she saw him fight and how amazing he was. Diana said she was a fan ever since and made sure to watch all of Zane’s matches whenever possible. After a few minutes both of them received a message letting them know they had to start the match.

Zane was much more patient when he listened to Diana. Part of the reason he was able to patiently listen was because he could see how much she admired him. Another reason was that he knew they would be interrupted by a message that would prompt them to fight.

“Looks like is time to fight. Are you ready?”

“Of course, I am,” Diana replied. “I always enjoyed watching your fights, but I never thought there would be a day where we would get to fight against each other. This is a dream come true.”

Zane wasn’t sure what weapons he should use to fight, but Diana helped him make his decision. He saw her take out two long knives and get into a battle stance. Diana had crouched down with the side of her body facing Zane and held her knives in a reverse grip. Zane copied her and took out two knives, but he held them with a normal grip.

Item Name: Copper knife

Item Type: Weapon

Tier: 0

Level: 36

Durability: 215/250

Grade: Common

Description: An ordinary knife made out of copper.

Abilities: Damage 72-78

Requirements: Level 20

Skill: Basic Knife Mastery

Level: 50, MAX%

Tier: 0

Effect: Increases the users physical damage when wielding a knife. Damage 25 + Str/15 + Dex/5

Special effect (1): Critical strike

Special effect (2): Repetitive strike

Cost: None

Skill: Basic Dual Wielding Mastery

Level: 38, 89%

Tier: 0

Effect: Increases the users physical attack damage when wielding two weapons, but it does not affect the penalty for wielding two weapons. Damage 19 + Dex/15

Penalty: 50% decrease in the damage of the weapon in the main hand, 75% decrease in the damage of the weapon in the off hand

Special effect: Ambidextrous

Cost: None

Looking at his two knives made Zane feel disappointed. The two weapons were identical and should have created a set effect. However, because he decided to have their requirements lowered, they were treated as individual weapons. Zane pushed away the small amount of unhappiness he felt and focused on the battle.

Zane backed away to create some distance between them before speaking. “Let’s begin.”

Diana immediately rushed forward when Zane finished speaking. She was fast and it only took her a few seconds to close the distance between them. Her energy surged and she lunged forward with her right arm to stab at Zane. A quick spin to his left sent Diana rushing past him. Undeterred Diana quickly halted her forward momentum before rushing back at Zane. She unleashed two quick slashes. Zane avoided the attack from the knife in her right hand and used the knife in his right hand to block the attack from her left.

The name of the game was speed and Zane was losing. He wasn’t disappointed though. In fact, he was excited about having a challenging opponent. Diana moved faster than Zane and attacked faster too. Although she was faster Zane was more experienced. He could easily read her movements and was able to doge or block her attacks. Zane didn’t have to beat her at the game of speed. He could beat her at the game of endurance.

After a few exchanges Zane developed a better understanding of Diana. He noticed that she focused the majority of her free points on the dexterity stat and the endurance stat. Diana delivered quick attacks and used her skills frequently, but she didn’t look tired. Zane could sense that she had a lot of stamina left but he knew she would run out eventually. Diana moved a lot more than Zane and used multiple skills while Zane didn’t use any. He could continue to didge and block until he won the battle, but he wouldn’t be satisfied with that method. Zane wanted to use the people he challenged to practice his use of his weapons before he fused his skills. If he wanted to gain the most out this challenge his methods had to change.

Zane went on the offensive. After dodging the knife in Diana’s right hand and blocking the one in her left, Zane sent the knife in his left directly toward her chest. She managed to quickly raise the knife in her right hand to block his attack, but she was unprepared for the strength behind Zane’s attack. The difference in strength caused her to stumble backwards. Seeing her of balance Zane continued to apply pressure.

The speed of Zane’s attacks was slower than Diana’s. Thou he was able to keep her off balance for a while, she eventually managed to recover. However, not long after she recovered Zane was able to push her off balance again. This process continued to repeat and Zane could see Diana’s frustration. However, Zane was relaxed as he enjoyed the feeling of applying his skill with the knife.

Unfortunately, Zane couldn’t enjoy himself forever. He was caught off guard when he sensed a sudden surge in Diana’s energy. Her speed exploded as she moved faster than Zane could react and landed an attack on his shoulder causing him to take a few steps back.

“Yes, I got you.” Diana said while jumping in excitement.

“Not bad,” Zane replied. “But don’t forget where in the middle of a fight.”

Zane didn’t blame Dianna for being excited. During the entire fight none of her attacks managed to connect with Zane’s body. However, Zane had managed to break through her defenses and land a few attacks on her. She had finally managed to land an attack on Zane, but he would do his best to make sure it didn’t happen again.

After activating Warrior Steps Zane resumed the battle. Diana tried different tricks and skills, but Zane was able to handle all of them. Eventually, Diana started to use less skill as her stamina continued to decrease. Zane had a greater amount of stamina and dealt more damage than Diana. He could see that his victory was inevitable. Therefore, he decided to give Diana a few tips. Zane quickly backed off before proposing his idea to her.

“Sure, that would be great.”

Zane closed the distance between them before he started speaking. “During the fight did you notice that I dodged your attacks from your right hand but blocked the one’s from your left.” Seeing her nod Zane continued speaking. “I felt that the attacks from your right hand was stronger than your left. I saved my energy by dodging the attacks from you right and blocking the weaker attack from your left. I also applied this strategy to my attacks. Sometimes I would attack your right hand with my left and your left hand with my right.”

“Ah, of course. I can’t believe I didn’t notice that. My teachers even told me about that before too.”

“Do you want to continue fighting so you can practice it?”

“No thank you.” Diana shook her head as she refused his suggestion. “I feel like I will end up losing anyway. Besides, it wouldn’t be fair to fight you after you given me such a helpful piece of advice.”

Zane respected her wishes. If she accepted, he would have quickly ended the battle after they resumed. The special effect of his skill, ambidextrous, allowed him to switch which hand was considered his main hand. This would have definitely caught her off guard, allowed him to quickly win the match and taught her a valuable lesson. Zane didn’t feel bad about winning that way. After all, like Dianna said, he was going to win anyways.

Diana formally admitted defeat and Zane received a message about his victory. Diana said goodbye and told Zane she would come find him for a fight in the future. Zane waved goodbye and told her he would be happy to fight against her again. As she walked away Zane pulled out his ranking orb and started looking for his next fight.