"What's this?"
Hikari checks her surroundings.
Two platforms separated by a chasm.
The wyvern knight stands on the opposite platform.
It stands at attention as Hikari turns to face it.
It was slim.
Much slimmer than the swordsman she first encountered.
At its size, a swing of her sword would send it flying.
But its stance tells her it has no intention of fighting that way.
She looks around, confused about what she's supposed to do.
The wyvern knight watches silently.
"Duel?"
She draws her sword and takes a stance.
But the wide chasm keeps her from fighting it in melee range.
The wyvern knight on the opposite platform draws its sword as well.
A short one-handed sword, barely the length of its torso.
It holds the sword upright with one hand.
Its other hand rests behind its back.
The broad side of the sword covers the middle of its helmet.
A nimble dueling stance.
Hikari copies.
Suddenly, instead of attacking, the wyvern knight sheathes its sword.
Hikari is confused.
A table emerges from the platform in front of the wyvern knight.
Throwing shards.
The wyvern knight picks a shard.
Wyvern flame flares in its hand.
Suddenly, it tosses the shard straight at Hikari.
Hikari tilts her sword and blocks the flying shard on reflex.
The shard crumbles as it strikes the blunt side of her sword.
A light burst of flames licks her wyvern skin.
Hikari barely sees the wyvern knight's hand move.
The wyvern knight picks up another shard.
Hikari readies her stance this time, watching the wyvern knight's hand movements closely.
The shard suddenly disappears.
She blocks, using only the shard's mana as it enters her mana sense to determine its direction.
Three in a row.
But it was only a warm-up.
The wyvern knight tosses a shard in the air and catches it.
Then it freezes.
Hikari braces herself, watching the throwing hand closely.
The shard disappears.
Suddenly, it appears less than a meter away.
She yanked her sword into its path, blocking it at the last moment.
She couldn't see it coming.
Only her extremely quick reflexes and an active barrier could save her from such an attack.
The table in front of the wyvern knight lowers back into the ground.
It draws its sword and assumes a parrying stance.
A table emerges in front of Hikari.
On it, a spread of shards and throwing daggers.
"My turn?"
Hikari grabs a shard and charges it, just as she has before.
She raises her hand and aims.
The distance across the chasm meant she would have to toss it with greater strength.
She leans forward and releases the shard, transferring her forward momentum to it.
The burning shard streaks across the chasm towards the wyvern knight.
Before it reaches its target, it fizzles out.
Dust scatters down into the chasm.
The wyvern knight stands still, staring back at Hikari awkwardly.
Hikari tries again.
She had used the charged shards to destroy a hive.
But she used them as short-range explosives.
The chasm was a new challenge for her to overcome.
Her telekinesis. Does it work in this space?
She tries it.
The shard hovers before her.
Works. She turns it toward the wyvern knight waiting across the chasm.
It flares with wyvern flame.
She tones it down so it won't overload before it hits its target.
Then she squeezes it with telekinetic energy.
It was like drawing a bow.
It's going to take a deep draw to haul it across the chasm.
Crack! The fragile shard shatters.
The wyvern flame it contained went up in a brief puff of fire.
Hikari scratches her cheek.
Normally, her long-range attacks are
The table recedes into the ground.
The wyvern knight sheathes its sword as it's turn to attack.
Hikari takes a parrying stance.
Eager to watch how it's actually done.
The wyvern knight holds the shard in its hand.
…
The huge pot rumbles as Hikari drags it along the ground.
She opens the lid and begins munching down on the cannonball fruit.
After three shorter trips up and down the tower, she still couldn't get past the shard-throwing statue.
Munch. Munch. She munched through two cannonball fruits.
Workout time.
Thirty push-ups. Thirty sit-ups. Thirty squats.
She used to do fifty at one go back at the estate.
Her heavier body meant she had to reduce the reps.
But she'll eventually get back to where she was.
Munch. Munch. Gulp. She eats another cannonball fruit to fill up after the workout.
Without a crack in the wall, she lost track of day and night again.
She caught a brief glimpse of sunlight and heard wyvermlings squeaking when she went back down to the fifth floor to collect her giant pot.
Three meals a day.
The concept comes back to her from time to time, reminding her of the estate.
She must have been gone for long enough to worry her lady.
It makes her feel rather guilty, but at this point, she might as well finish what she started.
She begins her post-workout meditation. Mana exercises.
Always starts with telekinesis, her neutral mana form.
Then the wyvern flame, which she is now training.
As the mana courses through her, she visualizes the fight with the wyvern knights.
The mana flow of the swordsman. Stable, strong, consistent.
The ranger, which she is now stuck on. Sharp, subtle.
She catches tiny glimpses of it every time the ranger throws a shard at her.
Slowly, she was piecing it together in her mind.
As her body heats up and her salamander skin saturates, she switches to the wyvern frost.
She still found it incredible that the same mana form could produce opposed effects.
Only one trial room taught her how to use it.
She has to figure out the rest on her own.
Now for her RazenHeir flame.
She practices the basic form to avoid forgetting about it.
The form she'd practiced for years came back quickly.
Compared with the wyvern flame, which causes a sharp burst of damage, the RazenHeir flames were far more durable.
It's a strange mana form; now that she thinks about it, it doesn't just do straightforward burn damage.
Its durability came from some other hidden secret.
The ability to leave flame marks is one of its most useful traits.
Ivory berries. She cursed quietly to herself for forgetting to leave a trail for the RazenHeir scouts to find her.
She couldn't have done it anyway, as the constant growth messes with her ability to channel it.
But it is slowly returning to her now that her body has stabilized.
The hall was only stretching her mind to the limit.
She powers down, getting ready for a nap.
Her cloth outfit was still intact. However, it had gotten too small.
She uses it as a blanket. After resting, she'll attempt the wyvern statue again.
…
She steps onto the tile and stares into the knight statue's great helmet.
The slim statue, a fraction of its neighbors' mass.
Its arms hang at its sides, each wielding a dagger pointing away from her.
The knight must have been a great assassin in life.
The statue powers up. Hikari closes her eyes and lets herself sink into its thoughts.
…
The wyvern knight takes its position.
A shard in its hand.
Hikari has seen the stance more times than she cared to count.
The knight's mana is very faint, hidden skillfully.
It's even harder to detect from this distance.
But after possibly thousands of times, Hikari senses just enough to time her blade.
The shard disappears.
Hikari stays calm.
There.
She catches a tiny glimpse of wyvern flame as it crosses the midpoint of the chasm.
A tiny adjustment of her blade.
A clean block.
Just the right angle to deflect the flames away from her.
The second shard disappears from the wyvern knight's hand.
Hikari kept her eyes on its hand even as she blocked the first shard.
She spots it.
A split second.
A spark of flame on her blade. Another clean block.
The third spark. The wyvern knight changes its stance.
Hikari takes a deep breath.
It's not over yet. In fact, the hard part is coming.
The wyvern knight grabs three shards and holds them between its fingers.
A silent turn of its hand.
Hikari holds her sword steady.
The first spark of wyvern fire appears in the middle of the chasm.
Hikari tilts her sword.
The second appears before the first hits her sword.
She tilts her sword, getting ready to block the second shot right after the first.
A spark of flame appears on her sword.
A split-second pause.
The second spark hits her sword.
Hikari pulls her sword up, her eyes on the last shard.
Her hand tightens, stopping the sword.
The last spark hits her sword.
The wyvern knight stands at attention.
The table sinks back into the ground.
Hikari's table rises.
It was her turn to attack.
Gently, a shard floats upwards and hovers above her hand.
She turns the sharp tip towards the wyvern knight.
The shard glowed with wyvern flame, weak enough to be blocked by a thin layer of steel.
But the weak flame was harder to detect.
A split second of focus.
A gentle push.
The shard flies.
To the untrained eye, it completely vanished.
The wyvern knight swings its light sword like a whip.
A spark of flame as it parries the shot.
Hikari winds up another.
It flies silently.
A spark of flame on the wyvern knight's sword.
A third shot.
The wyvern parries it just before it hits its chest.
A rumbling feeling.
The table lowers.
The wyvern knight sheathes its sword and stands at attention.
…
Hikari recoiled.
Wobbling as she stepped off the tile.
The knight statue powers down.
A rune glowed above it.