Acquiring Combat Experience

Upon arrival at the designated meeting point, Locus immediately noticed two things, with the first one being a child, presumably Carl, tied to a tree, and the second one being a young adult; Locus guessed he was in his twenties, sitting under said tree, leaning with his back against its trunk. When the man noticed Locus, he quickly stood up.

He was about one head taller than Locus and dressed in all-black, long-sleeved clothes. Around his hip, he carried a belt with something that looked like a dagger to Locus.

"Hey, you got the dough?"

"Of course, all here!"

Locus held a jingling bag in the air. He came prepared, although he wasn't the one who devised the plan.

"Put the bag on the ground and show me what's inside!"

Noelle had expected as much, so Locus did exactly as she advised.

Between Locus and the stranger who kidnapped Carl, there was a distance of about 50 meters. Locus kneeled down, put down the bag, and opened it. Then he took a handful of coins out of the bag and let them clatter back in.

The trick was that the coins were not golden but rather just ordinary copper coins. It was a cheap trick, but Noelle thought that it might work, and it did seem like it.

"Here, in case you want to take a closer look."

Locus tossed a coin over to the kidnapper, with the difference that this one coin was actually a gold coin. After taking a closer look, the man pocketed the coin.

"All right, we're gonna do it like this: The kid stays here and the bag stays there. The two of us will just switch places. You go that way; I go this way."

He pointed left and right. Locus nodded. He was on high alert and moved with extreme focus, slowly approaching Carl.

About halfway there, the young adult, about 15 meters from Locus, suddenly drew his knive and came running towards him. If Locus hadn't been this cautious, this could very well have been the end for him. Locus immediately drew his katana out of its sheath. It instantly started vibrating.

"Did ya really think I was falling for that old trick? With that level of acting? HA!"

He closed the distance so fast that Locus could barely take a stance. When Locus thought that the man was in reach of him, he swung his sword.

He used just his right hand and tried to cut diagonally from the top right to the bottom left. It was an amateur move that was just as predictable as rain on a dark and cloudy day.

While still approaching Locus, the criminal made a quick step to the side and avoided Locus' attack, which had brought the ladder out of balance.

"You fight like you never held a sword before!"

The man stabbed Locus, who tried to dodge to the left. Even though it was just a little cut to the side, Locus suddenly felt a lot of pain coursing through his body. He leeched on to the man, who now tried to stab Locus again. Locus held on to the arm holding the knive.

"Let go of me!"

"NO!"

No matter how hard the man tried, whether he pulled with all his strength or hit Locus to make him untighten his grip, Locus just wouldn't let go. His fingernails dug under the attacker's skin.

Then, with no time to think clearly and without any way to get out of this situation alive in mind, Locus focused harder and harder on not letting go of the arm, and slowly, the arm's movement and strength lessened bit by bit.

"ARGH! WHAT ARE YOU DOING!?"

After what felt like an eternity for Locus, the arm had completely stopped resisting and moving. Locus saw his chance for a counterattack.

Since he didn't want to leave this rather safe position, he tried twisting the arm he held. But it wouldn't budge at all. When he looked down at the arm, he froze. Still, he was more flexible than the arm made out of pumice that he held in his hand.

"WHAT ARE YOU DOING TO ME!?"

Locus looked up at the man who stabbed him just a few seconds ago and who was now fighting for his life as his whole body was turning into stone. But Locus didn't let go. After some more struggling, the man stopped moving. If you could still call him a man, that is.

He had transformed completely into stone.