Second Week, Style

Suddenly being covered in a cocoon of dark red, Mitsuna was surprised for a moment but soon after fell asleep.

"So that's your choice huh." Empathy muttered as she kept watch.

The next day, Natash continued her training without Mitsuna. Empathy refused to leave the cocoon's side just in case so the hunting was left to Natash only.

Although this didn't last long as during midnight, the cocoon cracked and broke.

Mitsuna's clothes were still intact and the mana cocoon dissipated and was sucked into Mitsuna.

She had gotten a good amount taller, about 1 meter 25 centimetres in length. Her chest and bottom had slightly increased in size as well and by slightly I mean very slightly.

Her eyes turned from pink to having a light blue shine with pink dots. Her pupil colour stayed the same.

Besides that, nothing much changed.

She still looked the same and talked the same. The biggest seeable difference would be her status.

But before she could show her teacher, Empathy told her.

"Now Tier up."

"Ah right."

What had happened just now was that Mitsuna got a class, she was still Tier 1.

The class she chose was 'Mixed Blood' on the grounds that she had a lot more choices with that class.

Pressing on her class tab again, a similar list popped up yet it had a few key differences.

[Options:

Common: A) Mixed Blood Mage

B) Mixed Blood Swordsman

Rare: A) Mixed Blood Summoner

B) Swished Blood

Special: A) Fused Blood Chimera]

Picking the Special option like her teacher would have probably told her to, Mitsuna was yet again covered by a similar cocoon of mana yet this time the dark red cocoon had threads of white.

The Tier up lasted for only a few hours, unlike the Class change that lasted over a day.

When Mitsuna woke up moments before dawn, her cocoon shattered and was sucked into her body.

Standing up, she had yet again gained a few centimetres and was now about 132cm tall.

Her pupils stayed the same but her irises that held dots of pink changed in colour. They went from light blue to a dark cyan and had a few dark red dots shining within them.

Her hair underwent a small change as well, a few strands of white covered the edges and her hair grew slightly longer as well. It could now reach her calves.

And her status had changed a good amount as well.

[Name: Mitsuna

Titles: [Princess] [Talented] [Future Calamitas]

Race: Frozen Ash Dragon

Class: None - > Mixed Blood - > Fused Blood Chimera

Level: 20 - > 21

Status: Newly Evolved

Attributes:

Health: 89,000/89,000 - > 100,000/100,000

Mana: 83,500/83,500 - > 93,000/93,000

Attributes:

Strength: 2,100 - > 2,380

Vitality: 1,780 - > 2,000

Intelligence: 1,670 - > 1,860

Agility: 2,790 - > 3,010 - > 3,510

Dexterity: 2,560 - > 2,750

Defence: 1,820 - > 2,040

AP: 0 - > 500 - > 0

Elemental Affinities:

[Ice - Tier 1 - > Tier 2]

[Fire - Tier 1 - > Tier 2]

[Time - Tier 0]

Skills: [Dragon Transformation] [Dragon Breath] [Phoenix Regeneration] [Mixed Physique] [Dragon Scales] [Phoenix Bones] [Elemental Manipulation] [Mana Condensation] [Mana Sense] [Phoenix Eyes] [## ############] [## ############] [Mana Reinforcement] [Aim] [Conceal] [Sprint] [Swordsmanship (Basic)] [Greater Stamina] [Concentration] [Vortex Mana Flow] [Unique Breathing] [Blood Flow Control]

Special Skills: [Determination]]

Mitsuna poured all her free AP into Agility. She was practising the sword and did need to be as fast as possible while wielding one.

The only skill she gained was [Blood Flow Control] but it was more than enough because both special classes gave her multiple small benefits. She couldn't recite them all from heart because there were just so many, although they were small percentile-based.

Empathy congratulated Mitsuna but then told her to get to training as she was lagging behind because she missed a day.

Mitsuna ran outside, was greeted and congratulated by Natash and they started sparring.

During the second week, both Mitsuna and Natash constantly swung the sword.

Towards falling leaves, trees, animals, themselves or just air.

Natash was getting the hang of her Style and was nearing the edge where she could perfect it by the end of the 4th day.

Mitsuna was still having trouble with her Style. She did not know if she wanted to be more aggressive or more defensive in her swordplay.

As the week went by, Empathy did not butt in much. By her words, 'Your Style is yours to make, not mine.'

Mitsuna and Natash had stopped making any mistakes in their regular swordplay at the end of the 3rd day.

This was also the time they started sparring a lot more.

And every time they did, Mitsuna felt like Natash was getting further and further away.

At first, she lost by the skin of her teeth.

Then she lost by a hair.

Then by a single step. And so on.

Mitsuna was nearing the time when she would get her Style slowly but surely. Yet by her estimates, it would take a few more weeks.

Mitsuna's only idea was to sit down and think.

But enlightenment does not come that easy.

Even after thinking for nearly 2 hours straight during the 4th day, nothing much changed.

'I don't know what the hurdle I'm facing is so I have no clue on how to get over it.' is what she thought.

Even after asking Empathy for advice, all she got was 'Figure it out, B.'

After the 5th day, Mitsuna refused to go to sleep until she got the hang of it or even until she got a hint.

Practising her swings, she found no flaw.

Practising her footwork, she found no flaw.

Practising her reaction speed, she found no flaw.

Mitsuna was stuck. She knew that Natash had overtaken her in swordplay some time ago, but even when looking back on their frequent sparring sessions, Mitsuna found nothing that she could have done.

'Is it just overwhelming skill?'

Mitsuna still didn't have complete control over her new strength but that was the only thing she found flaws in.

But even if she fixed that, it would not help her get her style.

She needed to figure out how she wanted to wield it.

'Effectively? Efficiently? Elegantly? Fast? Strong? Smart?'

Looking down at her wooden sword that had multiple scratch marks on it, Mitsuna thought.

'Why am I learning this again? My parents sent me here to learn and all I'm learning is swordplay. I kind of want to learn about the outside you know? Magic seems cool but they didn't really ask me my opinion...'

Stabbing her sword into the ground, she sat cross-legged.

'If I want to be free by my 14th birthday and not marry into some random noble family I need to be a lot more than just 'strong'.'

Flicking the handle of the sword, Mitsuna continued her line of thought.

'Strength. Speed. Elegance. Efficiency. If I want to travel, which I do, my sword style needs all of this. It needs to be... Perfect.'

Coming to a conclusion, Mitsuna stood up and took her sword.

'This is going to f*cking suck.'

Walking over to her teacher, Mitsuna asked for a spar.

"Well, of course, my pupil." Empathy said with a smile.

The reason Mitsuna did this was simple.

'Since teacher is the person that has neared perfection in the sword, I need to learn and adapt to her. Although Natash is good, better than me, our teacher is greater.'

...

From the eyes of Empathy, the situation seemed different.

After waking up and getting straight to training, Mitsuna seemed to be lagging behind.

Before she was keeping up, although with difficulty, now she had to put in hundreds of times more effort.

Even after taking a good while to think, she couldn't figure it out.

But what Empathy saw was clear.

'She is predictable. There is no flaw in her basics and that is her mistake.'

'What she should be aiming for is a full-on attack. Since she has her father's scales and mother's bones she should be rather tanky.'

Empathy then saw Mitsuna sit down, stab her sword into the ground and think with a serious expression.

'Is she going to do it?'

Mitsuna rarely had a serious expression.

Empathy had only seen it thrice.

Once when she was learning breathing, once when she was trying to find flaws in herself while resting and now. And every time she had this expression, she grew.

This time, her expression hardened as a fire seemed to light her pupils.

'What is she thinking this time?'

Seeing her student stand up and walk towards her, there is only one thing that crossed Empathy's mind.

"Teacher, I would like a spar."

Smiling widely, Empathy answered.

"Well, of course, my pupil."

...

Mitsuna was standing while evaluating her teacher.

Activating her [Phoenix Eyes], [Concentration], [Unique Breathing], [Sprint], [Mana Sense] and [Blood Flow Control] skills, Mitsuna prepared herself for a beating.

'All I have to do is watch and feel her style.'

"Ready?" Empathy asked.

"Mhm."

"Alright."

Drawing her sword and unfolding her wings, Empathy dashed forward.

Sidestepping the thrust attack, Mitsuna activated [Mana Reinforcement] right as she counterattacked.

Her teacher's hoodie was scratched.

"Oh. Well done."

'Not good enough.'

Mitsuna now knew what she needed to complete her Style.

'To complete it, I need overwhelming strength, unseeable speed, beautiful elegance and lethal efficiency. If my perfect Style is a Crescent Moon, right now I am barely a New Moon. Yeah. That sounds cool.'

Randomly throwing a comparison in her thoughts, Mitsuna was slightly distracted as her teacher pierced her arm.

"You better focus, B."

Mitsuna swung her sword with a clear image of what she wanted to achieve while tightening her arm muscles to keep her teacher in place.

Mitsuna's blade hit her teacher head-on.

The trail it left was that of a small silver spark and at the impact sight that was her teacher's face, a small shock appeared.

Mitsuna had found her Style. But that wouldn't help her win right now as only her teacher's glasses got knocked off.

Empathy removed her sword from Mitsuna's arm, picked up her glasses and looked at her.

"Good job. But never hit a woman in the face like that again." Empathy said with closed eyes and a light smile.

"Y- yes ma'am."

"Well, you mostly figured out your style. What name did it get?"

"Name?"

"The System records all progress you make. When you learn a Style, it gets recorded just like any other skill."

Checking her Status, Mitsuna saw a new tab under her current status.

[Sword Style: Crescent (Upgradeable)]

Filled with joy, Mitsuna boasted a little to Natash while helping her achieve her own Style.

By the end of the week, Natash also received her style that was focused on faints.

It was named [Fake].