The actual Trial of the Dragon

Well, seeing as how a Level 10 shaman beat the shit out of him, John had no big hopes for fighting against an Level 18 Dragon, or whatever a Dragon-Kin would be. But, as a bit of an boon, he could use his skills again, so maybe he could deal with her a bit better?

Kwang’s voice rang out through the hall once again, “Same rules as before, five hits, three rounds, but you’re free to use skills this time, but please, don’t do too much damage to the dojo. We might have some Grade-A Fateweavers around, but I’d like not to pay for those services.”

“Ah don’t worry, since this is partly our evaluation of Mr. Newman, we would give you some discount, adding to the friends and family discount,” was Magoi’s cheerful answer

Sighing and shaking his head, Kwang just looked to the fighters, “Both of you, ready?”

Kaen sent up a grin and a thumbs-up, turning her side to John. It could be so easy… Just a quick, dirty dagger… ah well… He himself nodded as well, preparing his next steps. Now that he had his skills again, his approach would be a lot quicker than it was before. He had his versatility again, and he had some modicum of CC. The fight looked a lot better on paper, but there was one big unknown: his opponent. He had no idea what she could do, and the class ‘Dragon-Kin’ gave him no indication except for maybe some kind of breath attack and supernatural strength and speed. But nothing specific.

“Begin!”

John immediately used the Propelling Flash Step to shorten the distance between him and the girl. Apparently, his opponent was just as offensive, as she pushed herself towards him as well, extending her fist for a punch. Using his Flash Step at the last moment elevated him just enough so that her fist missed him, but he was close enough so that he could easily throw the Mana Dagger that he summoned. It bounced off of her harmlessly, but the hit counted.

5 to 4.

He wasn’t done yet, though, as Kaen was still in her rush to his previous position and he was now behind her. Using another Flash Step he caught up with her and smacked her over the head with his spear, sending her tumbling.

5 to 3.

The dragon girl quickly rose again, pushing herself up. Her eyes were now sparkling blue, as if an fire was burning inside them. She dashed towards him again and her arm was moving in a way as if to try to intercept him in the air. John, however, used his Flash Step against one of his hands and pushed himself down, striking at her legs and making her tumble. His plan worked perfectly as the girl had obviously not expected him to use the ability in such a way and she was sent falling on to the ground.

5 to 2.

While she was still standing up, Mana Dagger came off of its cooldown, so he threw one towards her. She managed to catch the dagger at the last second, though, denying John the easy hit. Something about her started to change, as her chest began to softly glow blue and steam began to rise from her mouth and the exposed parts of her body. She stood up again and rushed towards John a third time. Expecting her to be just as fast as the last two times, John was completely surprised as he found her fist buried in his face, sending him flying into the next wall. The impact was hard enough to push the air out of his lungs, but apparently it didn’t count as a hit.

4 to 2.

While he was still sliding down the wall, he could see her already jumping towards him again. Not so surprised about her speed this time, he pushed himself off of the wall with another Propelling Flash Step and slid under the approaching dragon girl. While he was under her, he just had to admire her toned, small body and it’s exotic color. That didn’t distract him from striking her another time with his spear, sending her into the air. As she was trying to correct herself in the air, he immediately sent another Mana Dagger after her.

4 to 1.

She was too busy getting her bearings in the air to notice the dagger or dodging it in any capacity.

4 to 0.

The immediate shock in his hand told him that the dagger hit its mark. He let the weapon drop, and rushed towards Kaen to catch her descend. He caught her in his arms, and her blue, sparking eyes were focused squarely on him. Her tail swished around a bit until a couple of moments passed and she found her train of thought again. Pushing herself out of his arms, she mumbled a quick “Thanks” and walked back over to where she had started.

John simply chuckled and picked up his spear again.

Her chest was glowing even more now and it was slowly spreading along her arms and her stomach giving her an eerie look. Once his hand had a firm grip on his spear, she immediately dashed forward again, with speeds even higher than before, this time, she didn’t punch him into the wall though, but into the ground with a superman punch, his head hit the ground with an intensity that would’ve sure cracked his neck if he didn’t have Gamer’s Body and the protection of the dojo. His body bounced high enough to be eye level with her again, where she roundhouse kicked him into the next wall.

3 to 5.

Being absolutely dizzy from that, John took the time and used Flash Step to keep out of her range for a while to get his bearings again. She was quick enough now to completely dodge his Mana Daggers, but not fast enough to completely outrun him yet. He still had the possibility to dodge her attacks thanks to a mixture of Acrobatics, Flash Step and Dodge. The longer the fight went on, the quicker she was getting, but she was also getting more and more straightforward with her strikes, barely using any feints or even her legs less as time progressed.

Dodge, Lv. 3

On two occasions John was able to get a hit in thanks to Counter, but the second time he exposed his side a bit too much and received a massive backhand for it, flinging him through the room again.

Counter, Lv. 3

2 to 3.

Landing on his feet after that attack made it able for him to barely dodge a lunge Kaen made from her position dozens of meters away. Leaning back like Neo in order to avoid her punch made it possible for him to bring up his spear and hit her in the stomach. That didn’t faze her though as she quickly leapt off of her new position and barreled her own body into John.

1 to 3.

As both of them were on the ground, John quickly used Magic Rope to barely keep her hands away from him. That didn’t help much though, as she slammed her head into the bridge of his nose, surely breaking it if it were not for the protective spells.

0 to 3.

The shock she received from her gauntlets took her a bit out of her concentration apparently, as she quickly retreated herself to give John some room to get up. Her movements were getting sluggish and her breathing was ragged. Her whole body was glowing and… smoldering by now, as if she was bruning from the inside. That assumption was only supported by the burn marks she left on the floor.

Was that the power of a Dragon-Kin?

John took his time to rise up without touching the weapon, carefully watching the girl in front of him. Even if she wasn’t moving now, her body still glowed more and more by the second, burning footprints into the ground. The hotter she was getting, the faster and the stronger she became, but she also apparently became equally as dumb. If he could play the time well enough, he might be able to win this last one, even if the odds were direly against him…

He slowly went over to a spot quite a distance away from his spear, and patiently looked at Kaen. The girl wasn’t really in a rage mode, but it was apparent in her look that she wanted to punch John right now, which was only empowered by her words, “Don’t be a pussy, pick up the stick and bring it!”

What she didn’t expect though was for John to cast his Magic Rope and throw it towards his weapon, tying a knot around the base of the weapon. That apparently counted as him touching the weapon, as the shield once again fell over both of them. Her thought process wasn’t fast enough though to get that, and so John could control the rope to act as a pole extension and make the spear incredibly long, long enough to hit her in the side while he was meters away from her.

5 to 4.

Magic Rope, Lv. 4

Buzzing Hummingbird, Lv. 5, All Combat Skills below Lv. 5 will gain a free level

Charge, Lv. 3
Charge now deals 2.5x Damage

Counter, Lv. 4
Counter now deals 0.75x Physical Damage as additional Damage

Dodge, Lv. 4

Essence Aura, Lv. 2
Aura will now last 1.5x longer

Flurry Strike, Lv. 2
Perform 3 attacks per second now for up to two seconds

Magic Rope, Lv. 5

Mana Charge, Lv. 3

Mana Dagger, Lv. 5
Mana Dagger now deals 47 damage

Throwing Weapons, Lv. 5

Vault, Lv. 3
Vault now deals 3x Total Damage Multiplier as additional damage and increases the Multiplier by 2x

Holy shit, that was a plethora of messages, but it really was worth it. He didn’t have long to dwell on it though, as Kaen caught the solid rope and pulled John towards her with it while running towards him. John could create a Mana Dagger in the last second, making her run straight into it, while getting punched in the face, again.

4 to 3.

Thankfully, she still held on to the rope though, and John instantly reduce the size of the thing to fling himself into her again, shoulder tackling her to the ground.

4 to 2.

Her knee went straight into his gut there and he had to wheeze hard as the air left his body. The girl then took the rope, and swung it overhead with John still attached, throwing him into a nearby pillar.

2 to 2.

John could barely correct himself in the air as the girl took after him to punch him again. As her second punch connected, he was able to pull his spear into his hands again and smack her in the face. Both of them flew to opposite sides of the hall.

1 to 1.

Neither of them wasted any time and immediately barreled towards one another again. An instant before both of them were in striking range, Kaen’s glow seemingly snuffed out and she collapsed while still at full speed. Seeing this, John threw his spear away and caught the small woman flying towards him. Since he didn’t have the spear anymore, he wasn’t protected and took the impact with his actual health.

-17 HP

He was able to stop her flight though, coughing heavily as he smelled all of that burned wood around them

-4 HP

And instantly he felt the burning sensation on his hands and his chest. She actually was burning hot. Quickly laying her down on the floor to avoid more damage, the other ran over to look at the calamity.

“Is she going to be alright?” John asked worriedly.

Kwang just waved him off, “Don’t worry, she is completely fine, she just has exhausted herself too much.” While he spoke, he pulled out some kind of blanket from… somewhere and put it onto her. John could feel the effects of the blanket immediately. Where a second ago it was smoldering hot, now it was extremely chilly around him. “She has a birth defect that makes her unable to breathe fire, instead it collects inside of her, making her more powerful, fast and flexible. Downside is that her brain can't properly deal with it yet, shutting down more and more as she's becoming hotter. Best thing for her right now is to cool down and to rest. We will move on to the last step of the combat evaluation.”

Magoi then spoke up again, pulling out an amber colored crystal and a blue colored vial, “Now, for the last step we will put you in an actual combat situation. Before we begin though, we want to give you this potion to regenerate any Health and Magic you used up for this evaluation up until now. In this crystal is a trapped creature that will attack once I break it. You will use your own weapon for this. Ready?”

Once John gulped down the blueberry flavored potion, which regenerated all of his Health and Mana, he pulled out his trusty spear, and looked at Magoi with a determined nod. As they were walking up to the platform again, Magoi threw the crystal on to the ground, releasing the creature inside.