When I came to, I was lying on the ground, still inside the [Arena].

My first thought wasn’t directed to the new gains waiting for me, no, it was directed to how frustrating it was that I didn’t get to be pinned by Sheeno even once… and at how frustratingly easily she beat me once she got serious.

Don’t get me wrong, I already knew she would win, but the last [Skill] she used completely countered my whole ‘kit’, making me notice that I had nothing that could protect my summons from environmental damage, for one thing. I mean, I could probably staunch the problem by spamming [Reapir], but that would quickly bring my [Mp] to zero.

No, she showed me a flaw of my ‘build’, and I would fix it.

And the gains I got during our spar would probably help me do that.

Through your action you have been awarded +1 [Strength] and [Acuity], +2 [Dexterity] and [Insight], and +3 [Will] and [Energy]

Nothing too crazy, but still pretty neat.

I opened my eyes and then immediately shut them again with a grunt: They had removed my goggles.

“Sorry my chap, we removed them while checking on you. Here they are”, the androgynous voice of Merglobth said from above me.

I started blindingly swinging for my goggles, but a quick ping from [Unavoidable Detection] made them easier to snatch from the waiting tentacle.

With my protection back on I looked at my surroundings, noticing the ruined appearance of the [Arena], and a dozing Sheeno in a reclining chair nearby.

She had removed her metal breastplate, which made me realize it was padded, making her chest look much more bountiful than it actually was: She wasn’t as endowed as I initially thought, but it was a more natural look for her body.

“Was I out for long?” I asked, while pointing a thumb to the sleeping beauty.

“Not really, but your companion isn’t really known for her capacity to wait”, responded the eldritch creature.

Sheeno jerked awake, and when her gaze met mine a grin started to grow on it.

“Ready to start again?” She had the audacity to ask.

“No”, I responded.

“Aw, c’mon. Let’s spar for a bit more. You shouldn’t even be hurt in the slightest anymore!” She wined with a pout.

“Sheeno, it’s not like I didn’t know what the end result of our spar would be, I knew that I would lose and I’m not being a sore loser about it. You just gave me a lot to work with during our little match, and now I have a bunch of glaring problems that I have to fix. Fighting again before I do that would be useless for the both of us.”

She just looked at me with a blank look, signaling that she probably didn’t listen to even half of what I had said.

“You could have just said ‘no’”, she had the gall to say.

“I did, literally a few seconds ago!” I shouted, while throwing my hand in the air.

Her ruse to get me to flip out worked as she intended, and she gave a small chuckle.

“How about you two just acclimate yourselves to your new surroundings for the rest of the day? I just know it that some off-time will help both of your psyches”, interjected the creature that had legends about them breaking minds.

Sheeno glared at Merglobth, but quickly relented.

“Mph, fine! I guess we could go and grab some grub”, and with that, she picked up her discarded equipment and left the room.

“Forgive her. She just had a hard time finding people that genuinely went all out against her without attempting to take her life, so she was relishing in the new experience she shared with you”, explained the [Chthulian].

“I… guess that’s fine. She just gave me the impression that she was more put together at first, and I didn’t think this was anything more than her being a battle junkie… Shit, now I have to go after her and apologize”, and with a quick goodbye, I went to do just that.

Exiting the [Arena] I found Sheeno not too far away, kicking at every loose rock she could find, while sporting a mighty pout.

“I see you can also make pouts look worthy of a princess”, I lamely said when I reached her.

“Ar, ar, how very funny of you. I never heard that one”, she replied in a monotone, not even turning to look my way.

“I know, I’m just that good”, I kept prodding her.

“And when are you supposed to get to the point!?” She snapped, almost turning, but stopping herself in time, resulting in a jerky movement of her head.

“Now maybe? I’m not even sure what the point is, I just wanted to keep you company and tell you that I do want to fight again… it’s just that you showed me just how easily you could beat me, so I want to get better for both your enjoyment, and my pride”, I poured out all my confused thoughts.

She stopped walking, I did the same just next to her, and then she finally turned to look at me fully.

“You’re serious.”

Hers wasn’t a question, but I responded anyway: “Except when it was obviously a joke, I haven’t been anything but honest with you the entire time we have known each other”.

With great difficulties, she dislodged our gazes, and started looking around. We were attracting a bit of attention.

“Come”, she said, and without waiting for a response she grabbed me by a hand and started dragging me along.

“And I’m getting dragged again…”

By her sure steps, it looked like she knew where she was going, but after a bit of prodding, it was clear that she didn’t want to talk anymore until we reached our destination.

I glanced back, and when I noticed Merglobth following us at a respectable distance he waved a couple of tentacles in a friendly wave, which I returned with a crooked grin.

Our path ended up bringing us back through his room, and into a room in the back that I thought was some kind of closet. It turned out to be that it was some kind of ‘conference room’, and after a flick of a switch from Sheeno, a [Spatial Enchantment] so strong that I could see it through my goggles came to life.

The room was completely unadorned, except for the undecorated wooden table in the center of the place, surrounded by simple wooden chairs, and a crystal ball 1 meter in diameter sitting on top of it.

Sheeno released my hand and plopped on one of the chairs, while indicating with two others for me to do the same next to her, and I complied, without asking any questions, yet.

After a bit of fidgeting with all 4 of her hands, she looked me right in the eyes and started talking.

She explained how she was hunted by her brother, the new [King] of her people, how there were different [Temples] dedicated (at least in part) to hunting those [Anomalous] like us, and how our meeting was orchestrated so we would both have someone that diverted some of the attention from the other, although she confessed that it was more for her benefit than mine.

“And that’s why I want to keep fighting you.” she kept on explaining, “I will admit to loving the thrill of the fight, but I wanted to keep sparring with you to beat all the bad habits you formed out of your style- like, which caster, for predisposition to summoning waits for their enemy to get close to them to fight them head-on? And your only supportive [Spell] just repairs the damage done to them!? I must admit that if it wasn’t for the versatility of your [constructs] I would have been disappointed. Not that they can’t pack a punch when they want to, but I think I already demonstrated how easy it is to counter them.”

“And that’s why I need some time off to make more [Spells] and [Skills], and fix those I already have. Why would you push me to fight again before I can act on those lessons you’re purposely trying to impart? That seems counterproductive…” I responded calmly.

“If you knew what I was trying to do, why didn’t you just make alterations to the [Matrixes] on the fly during combat!? That seems like the exact type of thing you should be good at, with all the ‘seeing Mana’ thing”, she asked perplexed.

“Maybe in a real fight a rushed job like that could work, and even expected from a back-liner like me, but this was a spar!” And now I started losing my patience. “It would only be normal if I was given enough time to ponder what the best solutions would be that wouldn’t hinder me in the future, and that requires time!”

I realized that I was ranting, but now the flood gate had been opened, and I had no intention of stopping.

“When we first met, I thought that I had met some kind of ‘kindred soul’, with both of us having been stripped from anything familiar and banished from our homes, and one that shared my ‘abnormalities’, and knew what being ostracized felt like. I don’t even care that your intention was to use me, I even expected it to be so. What I will not tolerate is you trying to manipulate my decisions: If I capitulate to your wisdom, so be it; but if you keep pushing me without explaining why, we are fucking done!”

I don’t know when I stood up, nor when I had stepped within her personal space, but we now were almost nose to nose, with her seated height similar to my standing one.

“Ok” she finally said.

“Ok?- No wait, I’m not doing that again, I get it”, my statement was met with a raised eyebrow, to which I could only shrug.

“So…” she paused, awkwardly scratching one of her cheeks, “are we still a [Party]?”

“Are you going to start treating me as a member of this [Party], instead of a tag-along?” I queried.

“Is this still about wanting to buy a house for the both-“ she started asking, but I interrupted her.

“Yes, it’s still about that! We should discuss those things in private, and reach a decision together, not quarrel with our different opinion in front of strangers!” I snapped back, with more bite than I intended.

“Ok, ok, I get it! But Merglobth is the closest thing to an uncle that I have around here, and that’s the only reason I dared to be so direct in front of him. For [Gods] sake, I was [Princess]! I know how to act properly! I just didn’t expect for you to have such huge hangups!” She snapped back.

“Oh, I’m sorry. I didn’t know that after losing every friend and family member I had, seeing my home planet being destroyed, and being ostracized from my people, I wasn’t allowed to develop hangups and other problems. Excuse me, [Princess]!”

I wouldn’t say it out loud, but I was certain that I was in a worse situation than her. But that was the last thing she needed to hear.

At least you are self-conscious enough to understand that.

We were staring into each other eyes, but before I could lose myself in them she threw her head back and, while covering her face with two of her hands, with the other two massaging her temples, she gave a long groan.

The moment lasted longer than I thought it needed to, but it ended up being just long enough to calm myself back down, finishing with a sigh through my nose.

Once she removed all her hands from her head Sheeno looked back at me, and very slowly brought one of her hands to pat my head.

“You’re very soft”, she commented while ruffling my hair.

“You know, I actually had a problem with people touching me for the longest time, so, while I got past some of it, I still think that you shouldn’t just touch me so casually… but I guess this is still fine”, I informed her.

“Too bad, I’m a ‘hands-on’ type of person, and I’m big on ‘body contact’”, she responded.

“That’s what she said”, I mumbled out.

“What?” She asked, confused.

“What?” I asked back innocently.