Three days had passed. Tae got enough strength back to heal himself. I think something sparked between Dian and Gelda since they skipped one training and went somewhere together. I had to train on my own…

[ Tae ]

“Mind if I join you?”

[ Eric ]

“If you have strength for it. I don’t know if you’ll be able to keep up with me.”

[ Tae ]

“Don’t flatter yourself too much. I also got stronger while I was here.”

[ Eric ]

“Right. You were drugged in the arena. How about a duel without any spells?”

[ Tae ]

“Fine with me.” He said as he took out a stick from his pocket and it grew into a wooden staff.

[ Eric ]

“So that’s your favorite weapon now?”

[ Tae ]

“Yup. Works perfectly with my powers. I can change its shape and length. It also is like an extension of my hand.”

[ Eric ]

“I experienced almost all of that. Especially the thorns.”

[ Tae ]

“Yeah… Sorry about that…”

[ Eric ]

“Nah… We’re even. I left you with cuts all over your body after all.”

[ Tae ]

“That’s right. Let’s make it even.”

In my hand, I only had a wooden short sword. He went with staff thrust at me. Usually, I would dodge it or parry it with my blade but I had to surprise him. I ducked down and swung my sword at his hip. Suddenly he went into the air but it didn’t look like he had jumped.

[ Eric ]

“Hey! We agreed on no powers!”

[ Tae ]

“And I didn’t use any.”

When I looked back at him I noticed how the muscles on his arms were developed. While I tried to train every muscle evenly, he focused on his arms. Only with his arms and this staff, he dodged my attack that fast. Amazing.

[ Eric ]

“Sorry for the false accusation.”

I ran at him in a zig-zag line. Making it harder for another thrusting attack. He began swinging his staff around and ran at me. Once again I was on defense. The movement of his staff didn’t stop or slow down either, barely giving me time to block the attacks. I was only able to defend myself because I was able to see it all. My body wasn’t able to exactly keep up with my mind.

[ Tae ]

“Amazing. You were able to keep up with that. Even the best in the arena got hit a few times.” Said Tae as he took a step back to rest.

[ Eric ]

“Before I came to the arena you probably would be able to hit me but I got something after one fight.”

[ Tae ]

“What kind of power you got? You only told me about that perfect body control.”

[ Eric ]

“Right. Forgot to tell you. I was blessed for the second time.”

[ Tae ]

“What?!”

[ Eric ]

“It’s not that overpowered. The skills and spells give you an advantage from the start while blessings give you more space to grow. Loki told me that he blessed one of his servants a few times.”

[ Tae ]

“Sounds op for me.”

[ Eric ]

“In the long run yes. Right now I got only slightly stronger.”

[ Tae ]

“Let’s continue. It’s not like we’ve finished already.”

[ Eric ]

“Right.”