Let’s humor her

“Alright then.” I sigh as I draw my sword. “But only cause you asked to nicely.” I then add with a smirk, which got a return smirk from the cat girl.

We both take a defensive position and just gaze at each other for a while. Her stance is good. I’ll have difficulty getting her off balance. I’m sure she’s eyeing me for flaws as well.

Now I know she said she’d go easy on me, but I have a feeling she’d feel insulted if I went easy on her in return. I’d better go all out with my D rank then.

I let my left hand off my sword handle and summon some water from the nearby training urn. Not as much as when I used on Miranda earlier. If I did that, I’d be without mana much too soon. Just a small orb of water will do fine.

With my sword in one hand and an orb of water in the other, I search for a gap in Leona’s defense again. Because I’m magically holding this water, I start searching for angles that I usually don’t go for. Like below and above. That is when I get an idea.

I throw the ball of water up and let arc towards Leona with the intention of making it hit her on the head. Leona raises her shield above her to prevent the water from splashing her, which is exactly what I wanted her to do.

With Leona’s defense reduced, I rush forward for an attack. But Leona is better than I thought. She first shields herself from the water and parries my sword strike at the same time. Then she charges me. I can tell by the strength of her blows that she is holding back, but she still keeps her speed up. Dammit, this is probably going to be the one chance I’ll have at defeating an A rank, but Leona’s defense is too solid. She is either protected by her shield or by her sword. If only I could be fast enough to strike both her sword and her shield at the same time.

Suddenly, I see an opportunity. For a split moment, Leona starts to move more slowly then usual. This is where I can take the advantage. I quickly strike with my sword against hers to push it away, then I strike against Leona’s shield and get that out of the way too. This is it, the opening in her defenses that I need. I step closer to her and bash her with my shoulder. That … might not have been my best decision. Leather armor is not exactly the best protection when bashing plate mail. Leona remains standing and my shoulder is now hurting, but I at least feel good about having gotten a good blow on her.

Then I get surrounded in a bright light again, just like earlier. The pain in my shoulder disappears and despite the fight with Leona, I feel energized once more.

“Ok, what was that!?” Leona says angrily.

“What?” I ask confused.

“The thing you did with your sword!” Leona yells with her ears flat against her head. “You struck both my sword and my shield at the same time!”

“Uhm, no. You suddenly started moving slow.” I answer.

Leona looks at me as if I had just insulted her.

“Slow? Me? I do NOT go slow! It’s you who went fast!”

Fast? Can’t be. I was going as fast as I could. I clearly remember Leona going slow.

“Hey, you think maybe you unlocked a new skill in the middle of our match?” Leona then asks, a bit more calmly.

She might be right about that. I should check my adventurer card.

I reach for the pocket where I usually keep it, but I don’t find it there.

“Fuck.” I sigh. “Kiara must still have it.”

“Well go and find her then.” Leona says.

“Right.” I reply, and turn around to head into the castle. Though I immediately turn back to Leona and say, “Thanks by the way.” Then I quickly give the cat girl a kiss on the cheek.

Leona responds by hissing at me.

When I’m back in the castle, I figure it is probably already too late to find Kiara in the dining room. I ask the maids if they can direct me to Kiara’s room, which they do. When I get there, I start banging on the door.

“Kiara! It’s Darx! It’s important!” I yell.

Kiara calmly opens the door and casually asks, “Want your adventurer card back?”

I quickly tell her about my extra training with Leona, the double attack I performed on her and the glow around my body. She then showed me my adventurer card and Leona was right. A 2nd line of question marks got replaced by a skill named [Dual Strike]. But while I am focusing on my new skill, I see Kiara’s right index finger place itself right underneath my rank.

“Wait … C?” I ask in complete confusion.

“Looks like you ranked up.” Kiara answers.

“But … I thought ranks don’t change.”

“Normally they don’t.” Kiara tells me. “The great majority of people never get to have a rank upgrade. It is in fact such a rare occurrence that it is considered equally rare as getting an S rank.”

I look at the C on my adventurer card again and try to process what has just happened.

“If I could get a rank upgrade from D to C, does that mean it could also upgrade from C to B?” I ask.

“I’m sorry, Darx. You are the first person I’ve seen receive a rank upgrade.” Kiara says. “But I guess it’s possible.”

Once more I stare at my adventurer card and go over the many possibilities. Could I really get multiple rank upgrades?

“By the way, there is something else your card is showing, but this is a bit more subtle." Kiara continues. "Your new skill, [Dual Strike], is a melee skill. Normally fighters and sometimes rogues have this one."

"Ok." I say, not sure what she is trying to suggest.

"But you also have magic." Kiara says as she points at my water element. "Melee skills combined with magic. That implies you're a spellsword."

Amazing. All she had to do is look at my skills and she figured out my class. A water magic spellsword. That is a Templar, right?

"But if that's true, then why is my class still in questionmarks?" I ask Kiara.

"No idea. That us yet another mystery, i guess. Also, I didn’t see you at dinner tonight. You really should eat at least something. It’s not fun to sleep on an empty stomach.”

I put my card away and leave Kiara be. Even on my way to the dining room, I still can’t stop thinking about it. C rank with possibilities of growth.

When I arrive in the dining room, I see that there is somebody else still there.