Katja Being Katja

After an hour-long break, the next spar was between Katja Alexandrova and Amy Wang. Magnus had given out his cue a few seconds ago, but none of the participants had made a move.

An awkward silence descended upon the whole parking lot. The two women were already positioned at the center, but only one them looked ready to fight, and that was Mrs. Wang.

As to Katja?

She was currently sitting down on the asphalt, one leg folded and the other extended, and one arm hung lazily on her side. Her back was slightly slouched while she was using her right pinky to clean her itchy ear. Her glazed look, drooping eyes, and occasional hiccups all indicated she had been drinking. Again.

'Did she bring all the vodka supplies from TJ's basement in her Inventory? It appears she has her priorities straight. And not in a good way,' Magnus thought.

However, she still possessed enough awareness to notice everyone's eyes looking at her either impatiently or in disappointment. While her father could only look on as if this scene was totally within his expectation.

Feeling all eyes on her, she finally groaned. "Do I really have to do this?" she asked, glancing at Magnus with a reluctant look.

Magnus sighed helplessly and scratched his head.

Instead of him replying to the drunk girl, it was the person who was supposed to be her opponent. "Come on, child. If you refuse to get up, then walk away so Helvig boy can pick a replacement. I need a sparring partner, not an alcoholic bum." The woman was clearly annoyed at her attitude.

Hearing the last two words Amy had uttered, Katja's ears perked up and her eyes became focused as she whipped her head. "What did you just call me, old lady?"

There was a slight smirk on the corner of Amy's lips. She pointed to Katja and mouthed, "Alcoholic," and then beckoned her finger as if challenging her while mouthing, "bum."

Katja gasped. She abruptly stood up, the spark in her eyes answering to the challenge. "I admit I may be a little bit of an alcoholic, but that second word was unnecessary." While maintaining a glare toward the woman before her, she shouted, "MAGNUS! SOBER ME UP, GODDAMMIT!"

Magnus rolled his eyes but did as she said. He walked up to her and touched her shoulder for a second. He only needed to apply [Big Spark] for that brief moment in order to purify the alcohol out of her system.

"Now shoo!" She waved her hand, dismissing Magnus. "I need to teach this old lady a lesson," she said while cracking her knuckles. There was a fiery look in her eyes now that she was finally sober. It was as if the girl was on a mission.

Mrs. Wang was visibly offended by her remark. "I'll have you know I'm actually still quite young."

"Listen, old lady," Katja continued, totally disregarding the woman's retort. "I know you're still grieving, but don't you think you can take your emotions out on me! I ain't gonna be your punching ba—"

*Whoosh!*

Mrs. Wang had finally had enough and fired a [Flamethrower] at the disgruntled Russian girl.

"AH!" Katja shrieked before barely avoiding the attack. "Hey! That idiot hasn't announced the start of—"

"Actually, I have. Like, five minutes ago," Magnus immediately cut her off.

Hearing that, Katja whipped her head in his direction. "What?! How come I didn't hear—"

*Whoosh!*

Amy threw out another [Flamethrower].

Katja saw that from the corner of her eyes and employed [Lightning Steps] to jump to the side and dodge. "Wait! Time out, old lady! I'm not ready, yet!"

Amy scoffed. "Do I look like I care whether or not you're ready? In a real fight, ain't nobody gonna wait for you!" she shouted as she shot out another [Flamethrower].

"Ah, fuck!" Katja exclaimed before using [Lightning Steps] again, evading the flying fireball.

"You're pretty quick on your feet, child," Amy remarked as she kept shooting out fireball after fireball without much regard to her Mana usage.

Katja's constant dodging now made it look as if she was drunk dancing. "Slow down, old lady!" She was obviously growing pissed at the annoying fireballs that kept coming at her.

On the other hand, Mrs. Wang grew impatient at Katja's lack of initiative. "Pull out your crossbow and start attacking, dammit!"

"Fine, fine!" In the middle of dodging, Katja finally took out [Tempest] and began blindly firing wind bolts in Amy's general direction. Because the crossbow used wind element mana as the ingredient for the bolts, the weapon never required reloading. Katja was able to fire it non-stop, at the expense of her dwindling Mana. [Tempest] was a B-rank item, though. So it gave her quite a lot of extra Mana. So she didn't have to anything to worry about in that department.

Most of the bolts missed their mark, since Mrs. Wang had stopped her [Flamethrower] assaults and started moving in a zig-zag pattern, closing in toward Katja. But then one finally managed to lodge itself into Mrs. Wang's left upper arm. A second later, the wind bolt vanished, leaving a tiny open hole on her arm that was constantly bleeding out. However, Mrs. Wang ignored the pain—earning her the [Pain Resistance] passive—and kept moving in closer to the crossbow-wielding girl.

At this point, all the spar participants that had been injured had obtained [Pain Resistance].

One second, Katja was firing out wind bolt after wind bolt, and next thing she knew, Mrs. Wang was already in her face.

Mrs. Wang immediately cast a small [Ignite] with her left hand, maintaining the stationary fireball above her palm. Soon after, she activated the skill of her [Bringer of Order] ring.

[Fire King's Order]!

The ring shone bright red as it commanded the Aura around the fireball. What it did was basically amplify the attributes of fire element mana's Aura.

Fire, just like the other elements, had its own attributes. The main one was obviously heat. The other attributes, when portrayed in terms of human emotion, could be called anger-slash-excitement as well as a demand for attention.

The third attribute caused Katja to halt her movement. Upon landing her sight on the small fireball, she was instantly transfixed. The fireball drew her utmost attention. It was as if she was hypnotized not to look anywhere else.

The second attribute was subtly messing with her emotions. She was supposed to be in a state of high alert, owing to the fact that she was in the middle of a fight. However, she was confused as to why her heart suddenly started to beat faster, her fingers twitching, as if she was elated and anticipating something.

And the first attribute, well, it didn't really do much other than making her sweat more.

While Katja was fully distracted, Mrs. Wang pulled out a kitchen knife out of her Inventory. She may not have received a weapon from Magnus, but that didn't mean she was willing to settle on having zero means for an instant kill. Hence, the knife she'd snatched from the Haymsith's residence. She couldn't really call it a proper weapon, but she had to be able to make use of anything she could find in the vicinity, however mundane it appeared to be.

As the tip of the knife almost punctured the visible vein pulsating on Katja's neck, Magnus announced the end of the fight. "Mrs. Wang is the winner!"

Mrs. Wang immediately stopped fueling the fireball with mana, thereby extinguishing it. Having almost exhausted her mana, the woman almost slumped to the ground if not for Summer propping her body from the side. The girl then gently placed her palm on the hole on Mrs. Wang's arm and began applying her healing skill.

As the fireball perished, Katja finally blinked her eyes as she regained her senses. "What the fuck…" she muttered under her breath.

"Well, that was a quick spar. If you can call it a spar at all," Magnus remarked, prompting her to slowly digest what had just happened.

"You lost," Magnus confirmed and sighed in resignation. It wasn't as if he had never expected this outcome.

But despite his disappointment in her lackadaisical performance, he needed to let her know what she was lacking. "Look. Have you learned more than one new skill since our training back in TJ's house? No, you have not. Other than [Tempest]'s active skill, you only have [Thunderbolt], [Archery], and the latest one, [Lightning Steps]. The former of which you did not at all utilize in the previous fight. It would've been especially useful for counterattacking Mrs. Wang since it's faster than your wind bolts. Yet, you chose to use your crossbow instead, just because Mrs. Wang told you to."

Katja pouted in protest. "My [Archery] has reached level four! Have you ever heard the term 'quality over quantity'? At least give me credit for that!"

"And yet, your aim is still shit when it comes to moving targets," Magnus retorted.

"That's 'cause I don't have a moving target to practice with, genius! Aren't you supposed to help us get stronger and everything? Why haven't you provided me with the right tools for training, huh?"

Magnus opened his mouth but couldn't come up with another retort. He knew she had a good point. He might have to create an environment that was more conducive to her set of skills. He could, for instance, spare an hour or two to give her training undivided attention by supplying a moving target using [Earth Manipulation].

Normally, he would just create a stationary target and leave her to her own devices. But clearly that wasn't enough. She and the others who needed moving targets to practice with required him to expend more mana on manipulating and moving around a target made of earth.

"Whatever. You still lost," Magnus finally said.

Katja clicked her tongue and crossed her arms. "At least let me defend my case."

Magnus rolled his eyes. "Fine, let's hear it then."

Katja raised her crossbow. "Do you see this? Do you know what this weapons does?"

Staring at her with a helpless expression, Magnus sighed and reluctantly answered. "It...shoots bolts made of wind."

"Exactly!" Katja exclaimed while pointing at him. "Emphasis on 'shoot'! You know what that means? That means I'm supposed to be a crossbower...archer, whatever. Which means, I'm a long range combatant! And yet, you forced me into this one-on-one, close distance fight! I object to this unfairness!"

"Objection denied," Magnus immediately replied. "This sparring session is to test out and train your reflexes and fighting senses, regardless of whether you prefer close or long range. You always need to be ready for any situation."

Now, it was her turn to bite her tongue. Despite her disagreement, she knew he was right. And it wasn't as if they had an alternative training ground tailored for long range fighters. At most, she could only do her usual target practice using the available materials, at the available place.

Frustrated for not being able to prove her point, Katja whipped around and stomped away while grumbling to herself.

Magnus shook his head at her attitude. 'Well, she'll get her real long-range practice soon, anyway. But I'll keep that plan to myself for now. I'm still waiting for the right time."