Chapter 57

*Clang* *Clang*

The noises of metal crashing against metal and thunderous stomps could be heard in the "Colony of Dicathen," a vast hideout. People cheered for the two sparring partners on the vast testing site.

Claire Bladeheart, a red-haired girl with grey eyes, was one of them. Jasmine Flamesworth, a black-haired woman with crimson eyes, was the second. Both hailed from well-known families, albeit the latter's connection with them was difficult.

They'd already launched a couple of attacks at each other. Claire would simply overpower Jasmine in physical aspects if she wasn't an experienced adventurer, as the dark-haired woman...was very limited, she was not only short and slender, but Claire also had the advantage with the use of a unique badge.

Once again, Claire channeled mana in her legs, reinforcing their strength, and with that, she lunged at Jasmine. She held her sword in front of her, prepared to make a diagonal slash at the dark-haired woman. The sword traveled through the air with a swish and made contact with Jasmine's dual daggers.

The sword was stuck between Jasmine's daggers. By using this in her favor, Jasmine easily redirected the attack in a different way. She now had the upper hand over Claire, as the younger woman's sword was pointing downward at the ground. However, Claire wasn't unprepared.

With her right hand, Claire adjusted her sword so that it was pointing right at Jasmine. She extended her front leg even further, and by propelling her body with her back leg, Claire thrust his sword next to Jasmine's neck.

'That's it!' Thought Claire, seeing how her opponent couldn't block the sword and just stood there.

Her affair was immediately ended, as Jasmine dived, successfully avoiding the sword that went over her head.

"Guah!" Claire received a powerful kick in her abdomen and flew away like a ragdoll. (...Don't kill me Claire Simps, I simp for her too. She needs this to make progress.)

'She's strong.' Claire scrunched up in pain, as she saw how quickly Jasmine was approaching her. For the first time, the redhead channeled mana into her sword while also taking a stance.

The usage of magic was allowed in this testing session because, well, it was to test the magical weapon, to begin with.

Anyway, Claire was surprised as the sword burst into a pile of flames. The flames only got bigger as she channeled more mana into her sword. It reached the point where the heat affected her even more, instead of her opponent.

She then heard Gideon shouting at her, "Don't channel so much mana into this sword; you'll burn down everything here!"

Claire abruptly stopped channeling her mana, although the blaze on her sword didn't die down. She got extremely confused,

"What's with this sword?!" She panicked and waved her sword in an attempt to put out the fire. In spite of the fact that the attempt was futile.

"Booger, just retract the stupid mana!" Gideon roared again. Claire was even more perplexed because she had already ceased channeling mana into the blade.

'Unless he means…' Claire tried to sense if there was any remaining mana in the sword, only to be startled by another effect of this sword. By itself, the sword was absorbing the ambient fire-mana and using it.

Claire realized her mana was just used to give a spark and set the fire-mana ablaze. While the sword continues to do it for her later on,

'So, just like a normal spell?' This wasn't hard, Arthur had already taught them in detail how to do this. As a yellow-core mage, it was even easier for her.

The fire mana used in the sword traveled through the handle and entered Claire's mana veins. With the burning sensation going through her mana veins, the flames on the sword died down.

"Woah, but how?" Claire turned to Gideon, who began grumbling.

The artificer began explaining, "Don't think that you can gather mana infinitely with this. I warn you, this sword can absorb mana and burn it to a certain extent. You could stop it from working because of this. If it were to gather mana in an infinite capacity, then that would be my best ever creation, but the most dangerous. As no person can absorb infinite amounts of mana, it will simply burn down everything. But it does have a balanced phrase, although the fire generated won't be as strong as before."

The red-haired was speechless, this sword was already good enough. She couldn't understand why the man was dissatisfied, but perhaps that was the scientific nature of his.

"Should we continue?" Jasmine tilted her head and asked.

"Yes, please." Receiving a nod from the dark-haired woman, Claire once again set the sword ablaze and faced her.

Gideon gave a warning to both of them, "Be careful, don't destroy my laboratory!" Nonetheless, the two females ignored him.

'Okay Claire, you must show how much you have progressed in these months…' She said it in her mind and augmented her body with the fire mana. The heat emitted from the sword has disappeared, and the redhead can now swing it without fear.

"Let's do it!" Claire beamed up and dashed at the dark-haired woman.

This time, both of them were using magic. Both Jasmine, with her wind magic, and Claire, with her fire magic, achieved a level of mastery over each of them. However, the experience of the AA-class adventurer was much higher than Claire's.

And this was the determining factor in this battle,

Jasmine could, to a certain extent, predict what move Claire would use. The youngster was Kaspian's niece and was obviously taught by him too. As someone who already had an imagination about Kaspian's fighting style, Jasmine knew what exactly she should do against her.

The youngster's sword had an abnormal shape and size, compared to the normal sword used in the Dicathenian army. It was double-edged and faintly curved, but it could be easily thrust forward.

The sword wasn't much of a help for Claire, though, because Jasmine had the two daggers. With masterful utilization, the older female could deflect the redhead's sword despite it being flammable.

*Clank*

Meanwhile, on the sidelines, Ellie cutely put her index finger on her cheek and asked. "Hey, Tess. What are you thinking about?"

Tess cast a glance at the young girl and said, "Ah, well... it's nothing."

"Is that soo…" (It feels like I wrote this yesterday.)

"..." Tessia remained silent as her eyes gazed at the two females exchanging various slashes. Each of their attacks held no killing intent, but just being close to them was breathtaking.

In particular, Claire's sword just created masses of fire. If not for it, no doubt Jasmine would have already won the spar. The redhead was blocking the path for the older woman by swinging down the flaming sword in one vertical slash.

'She's wasting too much mana,' Jasmine noticed, as sweat streamed down Claire's forehead.

Her footwork was also getting sloppier by the second. This was a sign for Jas to act. It was now her time to dominate the battle. It would also be great if she could bring out the full potential of the kid.

Ellie nodded in approval. She finally saw the might of the AA-Class adventurer. "Jasmine is very strong. As expected, she had trained my brother too." Well, compared to the lower ranks, they were stronger.

'Oh, this woman was with Art during his adventuring days…' Tessia recalled one of the moments when she saw the woman, in a particular orb given to her by Elder Rinnia.

Now she could remember Jasmine properly. Deep in her heart, Tessia was thankful to her for being close to Arthur and keeping him on track.

"She's amazing." Tessia shared Ellie's thoughts. Indeed, the dark-haired woman was able to not only compete with but also outperform Claire throughout the sparring. Few would be able to accomplish this; after all, they grow much stronger with each fight.

Back at the battle scene, Claire parried the incoming attack from Jasmine with the side of her sword. Fortunately, the sword didn't snap in half and remained unscathed.

The girl couldn't adjust her sword without letting Jasmine attack her, so Claire again flared up her sword. Reacting quickly to this, Jasmine jumped away, creating distance between them. She then prepared the ranged attack with her wind element, and by bumping her hands together, Jas sent the swirling wind towards her opponent.

'She isn't giving me a rest!' Claire barely managed to sidestep and avoid the onslaught. The green horizontal tornado went past her, leaving the ground a little deformed.

"Hey, we are here too!" The attack alarmed even spectators.

'Oopsie.' An apologetic expression formed on Jasmine's face, but she quickly shrugged it off and dashed off to Claire.

The redhead, for the whole time, was only keeping up because of her sharp instincts. She won't be able to endure the hour-long battle. Jasmine didn't even show any signs of fatigue. Either way, she ends it with one move, or just gives up and loses.

Giving up wasn't her trait, and it's a bad habit to give up without trying. Claire stood in her place, preparing a counterattack to Jasmine's assault. If the redhead gets lucky enough, she might not even get halted by Jasmine. But she was prepared to get blocked by her opponent.

'She's approaching…' Claire kept her eyes locked on Jasmine, and every little movement might be determining.

So she was ready, to make a quick draw and slash right next to the opponent's neck. Of course, she wasn't aiming to kill Jasmine.

The dark-haired woman was closing up to Claire, the large steps made by her were clearly visible to the redhead. But maybe because of losing concentration, Claire lost sight of Jasmine, as in front of her was nothing.

The attack she tried to make went in vain.

She widened her eyes as he looked around hastily trying to search for the woman, 'Where is she?' She thought as he attempted to locate her opponent. Claire felt a slight tingle behind her back.

"*Sigh*" Claire sighed and dropped her weapon. Behind her was Jasmine, with the dagger pointed at her unprotected neck.

"That was a good fight." The unfazed woman put her daggers back in the storage ring, while Claire accepted the result and dropped to her knees, gasping for air. She could finally take a rest.

On the other hand, Tessia had different thoughts. "This technique… It's very similar to Art's."

Somehow her words were heard, " Because it is Arthur's technique." Jasmine stated.

The elf girl connected the dots. So it appears that it wasn't Arthur being trained, but Jasmine instead. Ironically. She wasn't sure, but that is how she saw the situation. She trained with Art a long time ago in the royal castle, along with her grandfather. She has seen him using this technique.

*Clap* *Clap*

"What an interesting use of a simple technique. Don't you think so, Claire?" Everyone turned towards the direction of the sound.

Kaspian was leaning on the wall as his face had a bright, yet dangerous smile.

"I escorted Lilia back to her family and you guys went somewhere, I kept searching for over an hour now." The former DC felt shivers down their spines.

The unexpected person, however, took over the conversation and saved DC members' asses, "Oh, Kaspian! Finally, you are here. I have to discuss a few additions to the production."

Gideon put his hand over Kaspian's shoulder and continued, "Come on, if this isn't done quickly, I won't be able to improve the quality of my inventions even further." He dragged the confused man into his laboratory.

Before entering, he gave a wink towards the group.

"Run before he comes back!" Feyrith yelled as the majority of the group bolted, leaping over the fence and disappearing.

Eleanor was perplexed. "What's with them?" She asked Tessia. In response to her, Tessia just shrugged.

"Ellie, we must go back. Your parents will be worried." Said Jasmine,

"Oh yeah, Tess we have to go now…" The girl awkwardly scratched her cheek. Tess just smiled at her and hugged,

"It's alright, this is not our last time meeting right?"

"Well, I hope it's not." They waved goodbye once again and, together, left the testing grounds.

The war was approaching, and they hoped that their future meetings would not be canceled as a result. If Tessia and other DC members join the war, Ellie will not be able to see them again until the conflict is over or, by a chance, they are stationed at this place.

"Jasmine, will you participate in this war?" Ellie eyed the dark-haired woman with interest.

"Most certainly," Jas replied warily.

So Eleanor asked herself, 'So they will leave this hideout?' Hopefully, her parents won't be pulled into this war…

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Hello there, I'm here with a new chapter :)))) A few chapters without Ashborn... Hmm, why? I want to add an element of surprise, you see.

Here's my discord for those who are interested: https://discord.gg/DqspBQXy4b

Anyway, cya!