Chapter 38: Chapter 36 – A Lesson in Humility and Strength

Part of Corina's temple was built over the river, allowing it to act as a bridge. We crossed there into the mineral fields on the other side. It was... Shiny. Even fresh from the earth, the majority of these stones had beautiful patterns or colors that normally wouldn't occur naturally. If they were processed, they'd probably be extremely valuable... But I could only really see them as shiny rocks.

 

Well, there was an exception. "Hey Corina. Are any of these Moonstone?"

 

She snapped her attention to me, having been lost in thought. "Ah, Moonstone. Yes, I found a place that could work for Moonstone over on the northeastern side of this room. I'd take you there, but this is the edge of my place of power for the time being. I can't go any further until it expands." She stopped and folded her arms.

 

I stopped as well, frowning as I turned to look at her. "I know you're supposed to be locked to your domain, but isn't that the entire Dungeon at this point? Why can't you leave your place of power?"

 

She waved the question away. "Older Nymphs can leave temporarily, and I'm sure I'll reach that point far sooner than I was meant to, but for now I need time to acclimate. If I really need to go further for some reason, I'd have to focus on expanding my place of power, which would take a lot of mana and time. So it's really just a matter of time, no matter what." She shrugged and redirected the topic. "Will you go look at the Moonstone?"

 

My thoughts skipped off the question and I took a moment to answer. "Well... No, it'll still be there afterwards. And we don't really need it until we have a one hundred meter cubed room. That'll take a couple days, I think..."

 

She shrugged again. "In that case, this spot is fairly stable. You can train here." She pointed at the ground I was standing on. Then she waved before turning and heading back to her temple. "I'll get back to work. Stay safe."

 

I'd kind of meant for her to stay and help... But I guess she did have work to do. Next time I took a break, I'd have to make sure she was included, though. I shook my head and turned to the Kindlesprite. "I know this was my idea, but I'm not really sure where to start." I admitted awkwardly.

 

The Kindlesprite thought about it briefly before asking, "What do you already know?"

 

"Oh." I looked away uncomfortably.  I wasn't really sure I wanted to rely on my knowledge from the internet. Probably the only lesson I was confident in was that movies and games were extremely unrealistic. My practical experience was extremely limited, just swinging around a stick once in a while. Still, gotta know the bad habits to get rid of 'em.

 

I spent a long while talking about things that I knew. A lot of the time, I had to remind myself to keep my cool and avoid going into too much detail. It was really embarrassing how much time I'd spent learning about this stuff- and how enthusiastic I was about it. We didn't need to sit here for the next two days...

 

Despite my own feelings, the Kindlesprite only waited patiently, listening to everything I said without interruption. When I'd finished, she nodded. "Some of that was not included in my knowledge. You have an interesting perspective on combat... As if it were a list of recurring actions and reactions." She paused.

 

"My own experience is also lacking. A great deal of my combat knowledge is instinctive, things that I cannot explain with words. How much force I need to use to move a weapon of a certain weight, where I am most vulnerable to surprise attacks, how much damage I can sustain before I need to heal myself." 

 

She interrupted herself, shaking her head slightly. "I do not believe we can actually spar. While some of what you know is valuable, I do not think you're physically capable of injuring me." She looked around, before taking a defensive stance in the middle of a clear spot in the area Corina pointed out. "For now, you should focus on trying to figure out your physical limits. I will try to give you advice, if something becomes apparent."

 

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"Please try to rely only on non-magical attacks, for the time being. Move as fast as you can, and hit me as hard as possible without injuring yourself." She looked at me emotionlessly.

 

She's so calm. I really must not pose much of a threat to her. The thought made me feel weak, for the first time since my Refinement. Even though I'd gained so much, I still wasn't a match for her. Probably not Corina either. I sighed, looking at the Kindlesprite's still healing hand. At least I don't have to worry about hurting her or getting hurt since we can both use healing magic.

 

I suppose I've wasted enough time... There wasn't any need to offer a warning or to treat this like a real fight. I just walked up and punched her. There was a solid feeling unlike anything I'd ever felt before. Or maybe, it was a feeling I'd just never noticed because it was usually covered up by the pain of cut skin and bruised muscles.

 

She braced against my attack with her arms, not reacting in any other way. She only waited for me to continue.

 

I backed off a step and glanced at my hand. There was no pain and no broken skin. I opened and closed my palm, but there wasn't any difficulty like I'd expect from broken bones. It's not that the punch was weak, by my standards at least. I just really didn't know my limits, like the Kindlesprite had said.

 

I stepped in again. This time I moved my body like I was throwing a ball, only I threw a punch instead. It was extremely telegraphed, but the strike landed in the exact same manner as before. This time there was enough force to knock me backwards slightly, throwing me a little off balance.

 

The Kindlesprite braced herself, catching the blow on her forearms again. There was a crunching sound from the ground under her back foot, but she was unmoved and impassive... Until she nodded slightly.

 

For the next few hours, we explored the limits of my body. I tried everything the two of us could think of to increase the power of my attacks, from different stances to running starts. I never felt any debilitating pain, but I did injure myself a couple times. There was a strong feeling that I wanted to describe as pain, but it didn't really register the way it used to. I was able to keep my focus, I didn't become dizzy or faint. It was just... 'Ah, I'm hurt. Time to heal.'

 

It was a huge relief, honestly. I hated the feeling of pain, avoided it whenever I could. With the current conflict, I couldn't avoid it anymore. But like this, it wasn't really an issue. I could fight as much as I wanted- No, it would be easier to fight than to stand back and let others get hurt for me. That... would probably still hurt, even if I wasn't physically injured.

 

No matter how hard I struck or how fast I moved though, the Kindlesprite blocked everything without being harmed. It was reassuring to have such a capable Creature, but I still felt inadequate. As things were, I would never be able to fight from the front. I might not even be able to defend myself if a Chaos Beast managed to reach me if I hid in the back.

 

For a long while, a thought was niggling at the back of my Mind. If I wasn't strong enough now... Then why not look through the Evolution menu again? Last time, I'd only really been interested in the Refinement pattern. That was a stunning success, but I hadn't had a reason to delve further.

 

The problem was that thing the Forums had mentioned. Dysmorphia, dysphoria... I was quite happy with my newly pain-free existence. If I changed my body and hated it... Well, it was a scary thought. I could revert it back if it was too much... But would I actually do that?

 

If it was a choice between being strong enough to defeat the enemy and being happy with my body...

 

I don't think I could look my Creatures in the eye if I did something so selfish.

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