It wasn't long until Nero was lying on the floor breathing heavily covered in light bruises "A goddess shouldn't be this strong" Nero complained with ragged breaths
"Well she is so get used to it" Aurathia smiled as she started to do some exercises while she waited for Nero to recover, doing push-ups and sit-ups to pass the time
After recovering enough to sit up properly Aurathia stops her exercises and proceeds to update Nero's status
"Not bad, the increase in your stats show that the training that we are doing is deffinately having an effect" she says passing Nero the parchment with his stats written down on them showing their growth
Nero
Human
Strength: 106 (H)
Endurance: 107 (H)
Dexterity: 115 (H)
Agility: 125 (H)
Magic: 100 (H)
Skill: System
"Those agility and dexterity stats of yours seem to be going up quite a bit faster than the rest of them, you must be focusing on improving them in the dungeon" Aurathia noted
"I guess I'm just talented in those areas" Nero replied, thinking to himself that the training space must make it so that his stats increase at a faster pace when combined with the fact that he basically got almost twice the amount of time to train compared to other people
"Sure you are" Aurathia huffed, able to tell that Nero wasn't revealing everything but not wanting to push him to tell her anything he wasn't comfortable to do so before smiling "now go earn us some money"
"Sure thing" Nero said as he made his way down the steps with Aurathia following him "do you have any plans for today?"
"I was going to find out if I can get paid to train some people" Aurathia replied "probably go to Take to see if I can teach in his dojo in the morning for a bit of pocket change and then I'll go see if I can see Hephaestus to see if I can get a job training some of her workers how to exercise correctly to improve the efficiency of their hammering techniques"
"I was planning to head to Takemikazuchi as well, I was hoping that he would have another weapon that I was planning to use as although the kunai that I am using will be fine for the first few floors I have something more suitable in mind for the lower floors but I don't think that the stores in the city will have what I'm after so I was going to see if he had what I'm after"
Oh, and what would that be?"
"A pair of tessen"
Tessen huh, indeed they wouldn't have something like this in a country this far west but I'm sure Take would have some, an interesting choice of weapon, why them specifically?" Aurathia queried
"I'll tell you eventually, just not yet" Nero answered
"I'll hold you to that" Aurathia smiled as they arrived at Takemikazuchi's dojo
"Hey Take, you there? we've got some questions for you" Aurathia declared as she opened the doors
"Aurathia, what brings you here?" Takemikazuchi questioned
"Two things mainly, first I was wondering if you needed any help training any aspiring adventurers" she answered
"You can help whenever you wish, it will be helpful to have someone like you to handle the exercises for people who want to build their base stats while I teach them martial arts" he agreed "what was the other thing you wanted to ask?"
"My kid here was wondering if you had any tessen, he apparently wants to use them as a weapon" Aurathia continued
"You do realise just because you want to use a weapon that using them and actually wielding them are 2 different things" Takemikazuchi said with a serious tone while looking at Nero "I hope you are not asking me for such a weapon just because you wish to use something unique"
"I understand and I'm not using them to stand out, I truely wish to wield them" Nero stated
"If that is the case show me that you are able to open one in a fluid motion, if you can't I will not lend you one as I do not wish to give a weapon to someone who cannot use it" Takemikazuchi gently ordered as he produced a simple unadorned tessen and handed it to Nero
Feeling the weight of it in his hand Nero easily flourished it open before flowing into the movements that Yumi had trained him in to see how the tessen that he was currently wielding differed from the ones that Yumi had allowed him to use in his training before closing the fan once again
Takemikazuchi and Aurathia looked at Nero with shock as neither of them expected Nero to be able to wield the tessen half as well as he was able to
"Wait here" Takemikazuchi said as he moved to another room, coming back a short time later with a small box "I was bestowed these back while I was in the east as an offering, but I was never able to find someone who was suitable to wield them even amoung my own peerage, I would like you to have them" opening the box "they are called Shirayuki and Hyōka, the snow and ice"
Inside was a pair of Pure white tessen with snowflake designs detailing the fan, the metal cool to the touch
"I-I don't know what to say" Nero stuttered as his fingers traced the edges thinking that they looked beautiful
"Say you will take them, I don't wish for them to remain in a box like this" he responds holding out the box to Nero
"Do it" Aurathia lightly ordered "both for you and for Take"
"Then I will gratefully accept them" Nero decided, taking the fans from the box, the metal feeling right in his hands as his ice based abilities that had yet to be trained seemed to resonate with them without him having to do anything
"If Hephaestus was here she'd be happy seeing a weapon seeming to fit so perfectly in someones hands" giggled Aurathia before pushing Nero towards the door "now to the dungeon with you, get using those weapons of yours to show how thankful you are"
"Ok you don't have to push me" Nero chuckled back
"No but it makes you move faster" Aurathia giggled
"Alright see you later" he waved as he made his way towards the dungeon, planning to dive much deeper today after he found that none of the enemies on the first floor posed any threat to him and hoping that the stronger enemies would allow him to make money faster and fill up the bar that would allow him to summon his next trainer to be able to get new abilities and become stronger even faster.