How in the world am I going to iterate this? Well, whatever.

"Just move as fast as you can from location to location until it becomes muscle memory."

"I see." She put a hand on her chin and walked off.

Standing in a neutral position, she made a few attempts of dashing towards the castle wall, with every try her stance and approach had slightly adapted. 𝘧𝑟𝑒𝑒𝘸𝘦𝘣𝑛𝑜𝘷𝑒𝓁.𝘤𝘰𝓂

Eventually she had finally done it, a blur of her figure was left behind.

Picking up a piece of rock off the ground, I threw it at the afterimage.

A hole made by the rock appeared on the afterimage, and the whole figure soon disappeared.

That’s definitely going to be useful for fooling enemies in the future.

It’s going to take a while for Vertere to come so I should check on my own progress.

"System open."

==[Status Window]==

「Information」

[Name: Ring Euclid]

[Class: Warrior]

[Equipment]

◈ Dragon scales armor (+1 Phys.)

[Command the scales and it will listen]

◈ Force armor

[Gets stronger the more enraged the wearer is]

◈ Leather pouch (Pages of the book of war tactics/ Flask)

[Weapons]

◈ Fire Hero’s Sword

[ExcaliBurn: Shoots out an Arc of Flame]

[Description]

...

「Attributes」

[Physical | lvl: 3 (+1.5)]

[Stamina | lvl: 3]

[Intelligence | lvl: 4.5]

[Mana | lvl: 1.5]

「Skills」

[Advanced Sword Technique]

[Adept Practical Martial arts]

[Basic Blade aura]

[Adept Perception]

[Adept Pain Tolerance]

[Unique skill: Kraken]

=====

What a shame, I didn’t get any stronger... my skills hasn’t improved either. Have I reached my peak? As master Index stated for Alleus.

I should work on blade aura and increase my mana output, it seems that the bigger my mana pool is, the less I require to expend on skills like Excaliburn.

Unsheathing the fire hero’s sword, I focused my mana to wrap around it’s blade.

Soon a faint hue of blue aura shrouded around it.

Getting into a fighting stance, I held the sword using only one hand. My focus for now is being able to strike single-handedly without struggling.

Practing multiple combinations of sword strikes, I was left dissatisfied.

"It’s not enough, I need to be faster."

Hastening the speed of my sword strikes, my shoulders and forearms eventually gave out.

"Urgh." my face crunched.

What if I try this:

"Scales, strengthen my arm." Wrapping around my arm, the scales gave me a surge of strength within my arm, and it also gave me stability.

I’ll use this strategy until I get used to it.

With every strike, the air left a swooshing sound, splitting the wind.

"Hoo, that’s nice."

If I ever get a broken limb or two, I can simply wrap dragon scales to strengthen it, since it also provides stability, I can focus on fighting.

***

Training until dusk, my body was covered in sweat.

I had also learned that wrapping the scales around my arm to strengthen it only lasts around five minutes.

Vertere had also arrived, he was reciting the notes he wrote down:

"...light can be transformed into a type of divine magic, although faint, it can provide sufficient healing..."

Noticing me stare at him, he put the notebook away.

"How did it go?" I asked.

"Everyone uses a different kind of theory to cast their spells but I’ve dumbed it down to a simple formula. Once my mana pool heals, I can test it out."

Grabbing him by the wrist, I asked:

"How in the world are you fine when you have this absorbing your mana!" I’m a fool, how did I not notice the jade bracelet was still on him!

"Don’t worry, it was satiated when I was being healed by the doctor."

Letting go of his wrist, I sighed.

"Thank goodness, now come. I’ve got a few stuff for you."

Walking back to the campfire, Alleus was putting wood into the flames, and Lieur seemed to had just finished her training.

"Hey Vertere, did how was your searching?" Alleus skewered a few pieces of meat through a stick.

Sitting down to help her, Vertere answered:

"It was good, you seem a little rough."

"Haha, yeah. We’ll be staying here for a while, since Incus is going to be busy getting healed for a few days."

Holding the skewed meat over the fire, Vertere looked towards me.

"So what did you want to give me?"

Sliding over a piece of folded clothes, I pointed at the stick he used to skewer the meat.

"Also that’s your wand, so you might want to eat that fast."

Looking closely at the stick which was clearly a wand, but was difficult to see because of the darkness enveloping us, he pulled the wand back.

"Why didn’t you tell me!"

"Because it’s funny." I chuckled.

Transferring the meat to an actual stick this time, he went inside the tent to change.

After a while, he walked out.

"Looking good." Lieur extended a hand of cooked meat.

"Thanks." Vertere accepted and sat down before continuing:

"Didn’t anybody question you when you got this stuff?"

Nodding, I replied:

"There was a few who asked but they didn’t question any further."

"What are you guys planning to do once we get out of this novel?" Lieur asked, holding the skewered stick that Vertere struck into the ground.

"I suppose I’d look for a job first, but what I really want to see is a winter snow." Alleus answered, handing me a stick of cooked meat.

Accepting the gesture, I stared into the sky.

"For me, I would probably look for the author and rewrite it..." Of course I knew that there was no way to guarantee for all of us to go to the real world, but once I do, I’ll make sure that everyone here will.

"I was thinking of doing the same thing! But I would change how the nobles act... they’re just a bit, y’know." Vertere’s face changed into a glum expression.

"So what about you Lieur?" I asked.

Giving me a smile, she finished the meat on her stick.

"I’m going to open a real flower shop."