- Shari -

Seems like it's about to begin.

At least, that's what the announcement tells me.

"Everyone! We start now. Whose name is called, register here." (Kaleb)

He looks somewhat professional at this.

Some names get shouted and random soldiers gather around Kaleb.

Their looks show all variants of uneasiness, determination, and reluctance.

At least it's obvious that everyone here sees us as some kind of obstacle which they have to overcome, and no one's going to wimp out.

Well, I guess they've got no choice in the first place.

Naturally, those assigned to Liqu's side look much more anxious than those on mine.

Almost everyone has seen that mock battle when we arrived and what that slime can do.

With me on the other side, they at least know that they can keep up.

And I lack my daggers which, for my unstable body, were the only means to get an "edge”

But I don't have a choice now.

They're already lining up.

The first one is already going to engage Liqu.

Equipped with both a shield and a normal sword he takes position in front of her.

"Begin!" (Liqu's judge)

He storms at Liqu, determined to overcome the distance as quickly as possible.

"Splash"

And literally got washed away, off the field.

"Liqu, this is training! At least give them a chance to do something!" (Shari)

"Okay!" (Liqu)

It's not really fair if she just always pushes everyone she's up against away by flooding her whole designated area.

Well, the next hesitant soldier who comes at her instead has to dodge several tendrils.

There's still no way to overcome this as the sheer number is ridiculous, but now there's at least the illusion of a chance.

And it seems as if I have to get started as well, as they're lining up on my side.

The first one is a young man I don't know.

He has a good grip around his training longsword which he wields with both arms.

He rushes at me.

I try to distract him with a slash from the side to his legs, yet he parries as my force was not impressive.

I can't prevent him from coming close.

It just takes a moment for him to prepare an overhead strike which I try to block with crossed swords.

"Whack"

And he totally manages to push through and hit the stone.

I had no chance.

Not only did I lack the stability to maintain a block, but also the signal got dulled due to my core being a bit farther away than usual from the area I operate in.

Also, I didn't want to use high-speed processing to make it since I have to conserve my energy and have to avoid that burning-core sensation if I want to last the whole day.

My opponent returns with visible elation to his comrades, bragging about his newest feat.

The stone meanwhile crumbled as they're brittle to make it easier to note the results.

This is a little disappointing.

"Good work. You've qualified for the advanced course. Now proceed." (Kaleb)

Despite his little accomplishment his face now distorts in horror at this "reward".

He now has to line up for Liqu's lane and the look on her face tells that she's very aware that he just hit me.

Okay, now I pity him.

Especially when I eventually have to witness what she does to him when it's eventually his turn.

After that, the next one to attack me for some reason lost quite a bit of his initial intensity and lacks a certain vigor.

I have to take another stone since the first one is already damaged.

The man in front of me has two short swords and seems to be quite able to use them.

However, this can't go on like this.

If I perform too poorly I will be seen as a liability.

And liabilities don't receive good treatment.

I quickly reach out for the racks with some tendrils and take three more short swords.

I mean, what else was all my training for?

Kaleb, who exclusively is responsible for my lane, signals to start.

"Begin!" (Kaleb)

My opponent directly goes into a sprint.

"Swish"

I answer by guiding a single sword in his direction, the way I practiced it.

Sadly the trajectory is off since I mostly used my daggers which have completely different forms, sizes, and weights.

Still, it's close enough to make him stop.

Since I have to use this opportunity to follow up, I use four more swords to slash at him.

However, as my strength is barely existent and he's quite nimble, he manages to deflect them with swift movements.

I start to ask myself if this is really the average soldier in the count's army while he again storms in my direction.

My attacks aiming for his legs get easily dodged.

As a last line of defense, I can only use my remaining swords and simultaneously aim with all my swords at him from behind.

He answers by hauling off with his right arm and then...

He throws it at me!

The weapon flies directly through my defense and precisely hits the stone.

The idea to move it out of the way came too late before it shatters.

My other blades still come at him and manage to scrape him, as he can't defend himself completely with only one remaining sword, but in fact, I have lost.

"That was quite narrow. I guess the advanced course won't make much sense here." (Kaleb)

Shit!

I've lost again.

Fighting without accelerated thinking is truly much more difficult.

I need to do something.

Change something up.

My approach was to keep them at a distance by suppressing them with a superior number of weapons.

Yet whenever I do this they get easily deflected.

They aren't very dangerous in the first place, being just levitating pieces of metal.

The enemy can just strike at them and my whipping attack loses its power for too long to be comfortable.

I can't deter these soldiers with those pieces of scrap.

Wait! What if I don't use the swords? Yes! That could work.

The next one approaches me.

It seems longswords are popular in this army.

Again I concentrate on gathering all of my swords for an all-out attack.

Naturally, I fetch the one I threw before back.

He runs at me and again I swipe with a weapon tendril at his side.

Unsurprisingly, he can deflect it with his sword without becoming any slower.

But I've planned for this to happen.

The moment the weapons clash I abandon mine and instead continue rushing with the slime tendril to his leg.

He can't dodge anymore as my slime already glues to his pants.

He tries to jump, but it won't help against my clinging tendril.

Instead, I can use this to throw him off-balance midair so that he falls to the ground.

Now is the moment for my prepared attack.

All my swords rush out and I stop them a moment before they crash onto him.

Otherwise, this would've hurt.

"You've lost Eklis. Better make up for this in training." (Kaleb)

After this, I think I've got the hang of this.

I aim for their legs with a tendril and yank them away.

At least being glued like this impedes them and I can wear them down with a barrage of blunt sword hits.

And a slime's tireless assault, backed by the knowledge I couldn't hurt myself by tearing something, and generous application of mass to get the intended result helps very much to overthrow the common soldier.

Some try to avoid getting caught.

But first, I have the same control over these tendrils as over any limb of my body, so I can simply readjust my trajectory.

And second, it's not so easy to dodge this if they're already occupied with my strikes.

I know using those extra appendages is totally inhuman, but it's my best option to get this done.

Like this, I manage to improve my quota considerably.

Liqu meanwhile has yet to get a single loss, which was to be expected.

And this even though she spent the whole time looking at me to ensure that I'm safe.

While I'm at it, the flesh on the table dwindles quickly.

Nonetheless, it's almost surprising how easy it is to destroy someone's balance.

There are some who still pose more of a challenge, but I can keep up.

I feel how I get better.

With each fight, I get more confident to deal with humans in a fight.

Could it be that this whole event is just the count's plan to help me get better in combat?

Could it?

It's totally possible considering how it's set up to keep me constantly fighting.

Dion basically already told me the reason.

I was too weak while at the same time being the sole factor that keeps Liqu sane and like this prevents a catastrophe.

I wouldn't say that I'm invincible now, but this training helps.

Even without high-speed processing, I am now able to use my pseudo-appendages simultaneously.

Well, mostly just for very basic or pre-planned planned movements but it's at least something.

At the moment, I think I can deal with anyone they send after me.

"Ah, it seems it's my turn now." (Peras)

What the heck!? Just what did I do to you, world?!