191 - Relative

Vivi felt like she was starting to get the hang of this whole ‘swordsmanship’ thing.

Even she couldn’t help but learn at a rapid clip when she had stats to put most Titled rogues to shame. She had appreciated just how responsive her new body was before this point, of course, but not to the degree the incredible capability deserved. 

Being able to take one look at Suyin perform a technique, then flawlessly copy those movements right afterward, meant Vivi had stopped fumbling around after only the first lesson. Now that she and Suyin had shared several extended sessions, it no longer seemed like an impossibility that Vivi would survive the tournament without making a fool of herself.

Beyond the simple stats, Vivi had her teacher to thank. Vivi might not have the keenest eye for recognizing exceptional swordsmanship, but she could tell the woman was on a whole other tier of competence compared to most fighters—even highly talented ones. Suyin’s fight against Ember had illuminated the full extent of her phenomenal technique.

Unfortunately, all that said, Vivi didn’t have a lick of talent. Her reflexes and coordination were great, which allowed her to swing her staff around and block attacks when needed, but that was the extent of her combat prowess in physical matters. While she’d inherited Vivisari’s magical memories, she hadn’t gotten any muscle memory. The mild proficiency she did have came from no-lifing a full-immersion VRMMO, which, while helpful, didn’t compare to hundreds of years of real fighting.

Suyin’s constant talk about ‘simplifying base principles’ and ‘designing minimalist techniques’ made it clear that she agreed with Vivi’s assessment—Vivi needed a straightforward strategy to rely on, as she was far from ready for anything more complex. She had to admit the pseudo-style the disciple was developing was fascinating and, even better, easy to use.

I really do owe her a ton for this, she thought. It was a shame the woman didn’t sound particularly interested in joining Vanguard. Maybe I can ask Eshara to help me make a sword as thanks. Though, Suyin seems attached to her current one. I wonder if it’d be presumptuous or rude. Perhaps she would broach the topic in a roundabout manner. As if that’s my strong suit, she mentally huffed.

With one of Saffra’s matches coming up, Vivi dragged their group of three through space and back to the arena—they’d been in a training facility in the Adventurer’s District. They materialized near the top of the rafters to avoid drawing attention, and Vivi smoothed out the spell signature. Though with so many people teeming about, their party still drew looks for the simple matter of suddenly popping into existence.

“Really is convenient, that,” Suyin said after a moment of wobbling around. She was still getting her sea legs when it came to spatial effects. “I think you’re starting to make me jealous. When do I get a teleportation skill?”

Vivi didn’t agree aloud that [Mage] was the superior class, since that would be tactless, but it was quite obviously true, and so she couldn’t help the idle nod she gave in response.

“All right, I’m gonna head there,” Saffra said, waving goodbye before turning to half-jog down the central stairway.

“Do your best,” Vivi called to her as she left.

“I will!”

Vivi and Suyin followed behind, though at a more sedate pace as they sought out seating closer to the ring. While they both had exceptional eyesight thanks to their stats, it was still easier to make out the details of a fight from up close rather than afar. Plus, spectating Saffra’s match from a distance would feel cold and impersonal.

“She’s won all three today, hasn’t she?” Suyin asked when they found spots near the front and settled in. “That means she only needs one of these next two to qualify for the mithril bracket.”

“She’s doing well,” Vivi agreed, pleased at hearing praise for her apprentice. “She kept insisting she wouldn’t make it through the series, but she’s been holding her own.”

“It’s more comfortable to go in with low expectations, so I can understand why she’d do that,” Suyin replied thoughtfully as the beastkin girl appeared on the walkway, striding out toward the moat-enclosed arena. Her opponent walked alongside her. “Though that mindset can be self-defeating, too. There’s a balance to strike.”

Vivi could see that; depending on the situation, pressure could be either a good or bad thing. At any rate, Saffra seemed to be performing despite her reserved attitude, so the perspective clearly hadn’t put her in the ‘self-sabotaging’ bucket.

Though—not to discredit Saffra’s three-zero record so far—she had only faced normal opponents, no stronger than high-gold. Given the current bracket, that was what most of the participants should be, but Vivi had been identifying more and more outliers the higher they climbed. Saffra hadn’t yet needed to fight an undercover orichalcum for example, whereas many others had. She’d gotten lucky with her matchups, all things considered. 

All it takes is two unlucky fights to fail to qualify. She’s not in the clear yet.

Speaking of… Vivi thought, studying Saffra’s opponent. Maybe this’ll be one of them. The man was tall and thickly muscled, wearing heavy armor and holding a spear and shield. She could see that he moved with a smoothness and confidence that very few people in this arena matched.  

He also had nearly two full heads on the girl, and what looked like twice again her shoulder span. The extreme mismatch in statures reminded Vivi that while the bronze-rank bouts had hosted a fair number of younger competitors, she hadn’t seen a single person Saffra’s age since their most recent advancement. The closest had been a lanky boy around sixteen. 

Suyin must’ve had similar thoughts at seeing the huge man and the thirteen-year-old, because she said, “I’ve been meaning to ask: what level is she? It’s impressive how well she’s doing.”

Vivi mulled over her response as the duel in front of them began. Saffra immediately raised her staff and started casting at the same moment the warrior rushed forward. Vivi winced as she received instant confirmation that her apprentice had met her match; he moved far faster than a gold would. Combined with her first impression from earlier, she could tell this man would be working his way through this bracket without issue, taking a win from Saffra in the process.

Luck does run out eventually.

Returning her attention to Suyin’s question, Vivi debated whether she had the right to give away Saffra’s level. It was semi-private information, depending on context. In the end, she decided she was overthinking things. “She’s in the low four hundreds.”

“Oh?” Suyin asked, interested. “That’s it?” 

Vivi nodded. Despite their frequent training sessions, Saffra was putting on levels much slower with the Chalice draining her. The days of getting five to ten levels with each hunting trip were long gone.

“Color me even more impressed,” Suyin said. “Really thought she’d be past the five hundred mark. Wouldn’t have blinked if you told me she’s mithril.” Regardless of her words, Suyin’s tone was nonchalant; she didn’t sound all that surprised, and even the initial reaction had probably stemmed from having misjudged the girl.

She does have a high-Titled blademaster teaching her, and she’s not that nervous around me either. She clearly has high standards. Saffra might be good for her age, but I think Suyin is a genuine prodigy. 

Though Vivi wouldn’t point it out aloud, since it would feel dismissive or maybe even rude, quite a lot of Saffra’s current power came from her gear. Saffra hadn’t had nearly enough time to rework all of the grossly subpar spells in her grimoire, the normal way a mage would distinguish themselves. 

They would get there in time, though. Then Saffra would be a proper powerhouse—especially if void magic continued developing in a promising way. Saffra had used the simple spell to great effect in her previous matches, even as clumsy as the current implementation was. Not that it would be useful here; her opponent was probably orichalcum. The gap was too big to overcome.

Vivi normally wouldn’t have asked, but Suyin’s inquiry had made her curious. “And what level are you, if you don’t mind answering?”

Suyin pursed her lips, telling Vivi that, as she’d suspected, it wasn’t the most casual of questions, but the disciple replied after a moment, “Passed eight hundred about a month back, or thereabouts.”

Vivi realized she didn’t know what that meant, practically speaking. “That’s very good, right?”

Suyin hesitated before looking at her, expression puzzled with a hint of indignation. Then she seemed to register something. “Ah, I suppose elves don’t advance exactly the same as humans. I’m twenty-three years old, Lady Vianora, and that’s… very young for my level.” She snorted. “Not that ‘good for your level’ or ‘good for your age’ really matters. Hm. That’s the same issue I have with the tournament’s other brackets, as it happens.”

Vivi didn’t quite understand the swerve in topic. “What do you mean? You don’t like how there’s level-restricted brackets?”

“Well… sort of. I don’t like the idea of them.” Suyin wrinkled her nose. “They’re perfectly sensible, don’t get me wrong.”

Vivi tilted her head, unsure what Suyin was getting at.

“Ah.” Suyin scratched the back of her neck. “I don’t know if I can put this into words right.” She was quiet for a few moments. “It’s just, whether you’re two hundred levels higher or lower than your opponent… whether you’re a prodigy or someone who took a thousand years to climb the ladder… whether you’ve got a legendary sword from a lost mythical era, or a unique class blessed by the heavens, or you’re just the luckiest damn person to ever walk the earth, all that matters at the end of the day—and I really do mean all that matters—is who’s standing and who isn’t after you’re done crossing blades.”

The disciple shrugged.

“But like I said, it makes sense to have a rank-restricted bracket. It’s a good way to predict who might go far in the future, and it’s a question everyone’s wondering anyway. Pulls audiences in I bet, and I’m sure the city’s trying to make their coin back. But at the same time, strength is strength, no matter where it comes from or how fast you got it. You’ve actually been reminding me of that recently, Lady Vianora.” 

A moment passed as Vivi absorbed those words. 

“So yeah,” Suyin said. “Obviously a rank- or age-restricted bracket isn’t missing the point or anything like that, but…” She struggled briefly to tie up her unorganized dump of ideas. “It’s much less important to me than the main tournament.”

“I can see that perspective.”

She found it interesting how Suyin was dismissive of being celebrated relative to her peers, given that the woman was such an edge case herself—the person who would benefit from those accolades. Or is that the exact reason why? Not even Suyin seemed to fully understand her thoughts, so Vivi doubted she herself would untangle the snarl of psychology. 

“Does that mean you don’t intend to join the orichalcum bracket?” Vivi asked. “Though, it’s unfortunate. If you only just hit eight hundred, you’ll be at the bottom and playing from behind.”

“That’s fine with me. I like a challenge.” Suyin considered the actual question. “I haven’t decided yet. My only real goal this tournament, if I have one at all, is to take a round from a Titled opponent.”

Vivi couldn’t help but grow amused at that claim. “Technically, you have.”

Suyin squeezed her eyes shut. “Please don’t remind me. I mean actually win. Arrogant as it might sound, I’ve been wondering whether I could for a bit now.” For some reason, she hesitated before adding, “I’ve killed a Titled-rank monster, but that’s obviously not the same thing.”

From what Vivi understood, even that had to be a rather ridiculous accomplishment for a low-orichalcum. She would’ve commented if she weren’t trying to avoid making her skewed sense of perspective obvious. Maybe Suyin expected her to act shocked; maybe she didn’t. Skipping a reaction at all was the safest way to sidestep the issue.

“There’s still prizes though,” Vivi said. “I bet you’d get high up that bracket.” Left unsaid was that, no matter how talented Suyin was, she wouldn’t be making the top placements in the open division. As the disciple herself had just pointed out, ‘good for her age’ didn’t matter when there would be fighters five or six hundred levels higher competing.

“I suppose. And I’m not nearly so vain as to think I wouldn’t find worthy opponents, I’m not the only skilled orichalcum in the world. I’m just more interested in the open division.”

The conversation fell off as much because it’d reached a natural lull as because down below, Saffra’s fourth match had closed out. Vivi had been tracking the bout throughout, and she’d known from the start that her apprentice wasn’t going to win, but she still mentally frowned as the result came to pass. 

I did know she’d start losing eventually.

While the hulking armored man hadn’t acted in any disrespectful manner, Vivi had to stop herself from summoning a bucket of water to pour over his head. It really went against her instincts to watch grown adults fight children… much less fight her own apprentice. You couldn’t have let her win? she internally grumbled, knowing it was an unreasonable thought. 

“She put up a good fight,” Suyin remarked. “Tough match.”

Vivi nodded. “Let’s go meet her as she comes out.”