Kumi was sitting on her bed, in her room. The burn wounds had been healed thanks to the doctors and the multitude of different healing potions that were injected into her.
This was Kumi's moment of rest. This hospitalisation.
'If this is what I have to go through daily because their damn schedule is messed up, maybe I should have just stayed in the simulation. Made friends with the butler, parkoured around a little.'
She pondered to herself as the room to her door was knocked on.
Kumi stood up and walked to the door. Opening it, she was face to face with Ayaka.
Ayaka didn't say anything, as was usual.
Kumi gestured for her to enter.
Sitting down on her bed, Kumi watched Ayaka lean against the wall.
"I'll break down the next stage of training for you."
'Nice to see you doing well, too. Yeah my burns are fine. Thanks for asking.'
Kumi thought to herself as she quietly listened on.
"In short, you have achieved everything you can at this stage. In the interest of time, we'll have you conduct a few monster hunts to raise your level."
'Ah. Great, finally a few actual level ups then?'
"Get ready and come along."
Ayaka said as she walked out of the room and closed the door behind her, waiting on the other side.
Kumi changed out of her hospital gown and put on her usual outfit, which had been replaced since her clothes had been burned up by Hilde just yesterday.
'Honestly, no more Resistance Skill grinding is making me feel blissful. Ahh, freedom...'
She thought, before correcting herself.
'Freedom... heh. If only.'
Walking out of her room, she followed behind Ayaka without a word.
"We have a location where our people can go to hunt beasts. It is a series of rooms with monsters of different strength levels behind each door. Obviously, you'll start from the very beginning. At the very least, before the East makes their move, you'll need to at least reach a suitable Rank."
Ayaka continued talking, mentioning that Kumi could essentially use everything at her disposal to kill the monsters in this training.
She also mentioned how no one except her will be in the rooms with the monsters so no one would be watching over her.
'So I can test out everything I have without a problem and against things that actually take my hits unlike monsters like you and Hilde? This sounds like the perfect stress relief.'
After a while of walking and Ayaka talking, with Kumi half-focusing, they reached a hill separated from the forest surrounding the mansion.
Ayaka walked up to the hill and kicked at something on the ground. A metal klank could be heard as a doorway opened with stairs leading down below the mound.
'How many secret locations are you hiding in this place? Seriously.'
Kumi continued following behind Ayaka.
'It's like every day there's a new hidden basement somewhere.'
She mentally sighed, 'Ah~ Assassins. What can you do?'
Reaching a large wall with a metal gate, Ayaka turned to Kumi and handed her two knives.
"These are basic weapons with no imbued runes or magical structures. This is all that you'll be given. When you feel that you can't go any further, just come back the way you came and knock on the gate. I'll wait here."
Kumi simply nodded as she took the two knives.
"A hint. The first few rooms are simple weak beasts commonly found in forests. It should be rather simple since you are fighting them in a closed off room with no special terrain."
"Okay."
Kumi walked off towards the gates, knocking on them twice as they slowly opened. It was dark inside.
Kumi stepped through as the gates started closing behind her.
The gates fully closed and the lights turned on one by one. She found herself in a hallway that lead to a small door labeled with the number 1.
Kumi stretched her legs and arms as she walked towards the door.
Reaching it, she opened it with the lever on the side and stepped through into the lit up area.
Inside, there were three beasts. Three very familiar beasts.
'I feel like I'm cursed. This would be our third meeting, wouldn't it? And the score is one to one.'
The room was large, with no roof visible. The lights on the wall illuminated everything with a bright light.
Far above, where the ceiling would be, there was a dark glass floor instead.
Standing on it, Ayaka and Hilde stood, watching on as Kumi had just entered the first room.
"How far will she make it?" Hilde asked.
"I'm unsure. At most, I believe the fourth or fifth rooms. She still hasn't properly learned how to use her elements. There's a limit to what she can do with just two knives and her own body."
"True. I think it fully depends on her level of caution. But for now, let's just watch and analyse."
Hilde handed Ayaka a tablet as she spoke again.
"Note down everything you notice or see. Don't leave a single detail out."
"Yes."
Down below, Kumi faced three wolf-like beasts whose every breath let out a tinge of flame.
They were a rather common type of beast that could essentially be found anywhere yet they were most common in the East.
Kumi raised both her knives in front of her, yet she didn't take a stance.
Instead, contrary to what both Hilde and Ayaka had thought she would do, Kumi dropped both her daggers onto the floor as if she was giving up.
The wolves growled as they slowly started encircling her.
"What is she doing?" Hilde asked with a serious tone.
"I don't know." Ayaka responded.
Before the two could make a decision on what to do or even theorize about what Kumi could be planning, The Bioweapon Below Them raised a single open palm towards the beasts.
An Unholy yet Angelic Pressure Descended upon the Beasts.
Kumi's Pressure Passive Skill, maxed in Level, which she had kept unactivated the entire time, up until now.
The beasts fell, whimpering.
Kumi's head slightly tilted back as she watched the beasts struggle.
Her pressure skill needed no upkeep to activate and it's debuffing effects were powerful but indiscriminate.
In this room, with no witnesses, she could use all of the skills she wanted to test out this entire time.
Still, she didn't trust that Ayaka or Hilde would keep her unobserved during this training. She believed they had sent some grunts or assassins to watch on from somewhere.
Kumi had made two mistakes. First, she believed that, from a distant observer, her pressure skill would not be properly noticed. Secondly, she didn't expect both Ayaka and Hilde to personally keep watch over her at this first stage of combat.
The one wolf who was closest to her, forced to whimper on the ground, was Kumi's first victim.
Walking up to it with no weapon in hand, she placed her foot on the skull of the beast.
Her second experiment would be how effectively she could use her elements.
She concentrated. To get the full use of her elements, she visualised her mana directly running through the elemental brand in her soul before coating her foot in the Element of Rot.
She hadn't yet pressed down on the beast's skull yet it started to rot away on contact with her Rot. The skull slowly softened and the beast's flesh started to fall apart.
With little effort, Kumi pressed down her foot as it ran straight through the skull, splattering it against the surrounding floor.
At the corner of Kumi's vision, a green up arrow appeared, signifying a Level Up.
Kumi raised her foot, kicking it in the air slightly as if cleaning it.
Then, looking at the remaining two wolves, she began her next experiment.
Using her Lightning element, she created sparks of electricity at her fingertips. It was difficult to form the element into a proper shape.
As she played around with the sparks for a moment, she pointed a finger gun at one of the wolves.
The simplest application was to just gather and shoot out the elemental mana with no form or idea behind it.
Still, just using lightning wasn't her experiment. She activated one of her Active Skills.
{Elemental Power Increase}
It enhanced the power behind her elemental attack but the increase of cost that accompanied it would be doubled.
She let the gathered lightning go, like letting go of a balloon on clear summer day, and electricity blasted out of her extended finger.
It struck the beast, with a rumble of thunder following. The beast was charred and instantly killed.
In fact, the lightning strike even managed to kill the remaining wolf near her target.
The first room was cleared with no difficulty.
Kumi walked back to the entrance and picked up her knives.
She stood there, thinking for a moment, before entering the next room where the very same situation occurred. This time however, she used her knives to directly cut apart the bodies of the incapacitated beasts.
With her knives dripping blood, she looked towards the next room but turned to leave.
'I'm not yet certain of the difficulty increase relationship to the number of the room. I couldn't feel much of a difference between the 1st and 2nd room but there might just be a spike in difficulty every three or five rooms.'
She thought to herself as she walked past the empty first room.
'Evidence that I directly fought is splattered on my knives. If I'm lucky and no one was observing me, then I get to keep more of my abilities hidden as trump cards.'
Kumi reached the end of the hallway as she knocked on the gate.
{Level Has Increased to 6}
{Unknown Becomes Level 4}
{Caution Becomes Level 6}
{Art of War Becomes Level 2}
{Perfect Fighter Becomes Level 2}
{Unnoticeable Concentration Becomes Level 6}
{Elemental Power Increase Becomes Level 2}
{Name: Kumi
Gender: Female
Race: Angelic Devil
Rank: Mortal
Level: 6
—Titles: Dragon Slayer, Demon Slayer, Hero Slayer, Empress's Heir, Calamity Killer, Celestial Lotus Host, Potential Shatterer, Soul Witness
Potential: Z±
—Properties:
Vigour: E- (100%)
Mana: F+ (86%)
Strength: F+
Agility: E+
Mind: F+
Endurance: E
Arcane: E-
—Elements: Lightning, Curse, Rot
—Passive Skills:
High Regeneration Level Max;
Free Footwork Level Max;
Brutal Strength Level Max;
Dragon Heart Level Max;
Growth Acceleration Level Max;
Highest Holy Blessing Level Max;
Highest Demonic Blessing Level Max;
Heavenly Demonic Pressure Level Max;
Unknown Level 4;
Caution Level 6;
Stamina Use Reduction Level 7;
Deep Sleep Level 4;
Training Level 8;
Art of War Level 2;
Perfect Fighter Level 2;
Battle Records Level 1;
Unnoticeable Concentration Level 6;
Cautious Intelligence Level 3;
Mana Prediction Level 4
—Resistance Skills:
Time Magic Resistance Level 5;
Weakening Magic Resistance Level 4;
Space Magic Resistance Level 3;
Pain Resistance Level 8;
Heat Resistance Level 4;
Shock Resistance Level 4;
Water Magic Resistance Level 3;
Cold Resistance Level 3;
Bleeding Resistance Level 3;
Mana Loss Resistance Level 4;
Stamina Loss Resistance Level 3;
Health Loss Resistance Level 2;
Fear Resistance Level 2;
Ace Level 3;
Wind Magic Resistance Level 1;
Earth Magic Resistance Level 1;
Fire Magic Resistance Level 1;
Aegis of Adaptation Level 1
—Active Skills:
Empress's Soul Sword Level 1;
Slash Level 2;
Elemental Power Increase Level 2;
Unreadable Illusion Level 3;
Preparation Level 3;
Preparatory Item Creation Level 2;
Instinct Blocking Level 2
—Personality: