"That's enough, let's take a break." I deactivate my skills at Humyr's voice. It's already been a week since Glia woke up. She's fully recovered, and once again, on this fifth day of the week, Areci and the group surprised me by showing up at the training dome.

"Your defense is amazing, and your control over Imra is wonderful." Humyr's defense is slightly superior to the lord ogre I fought. It's a mix of his rare steel affinity, Imra, several Laws, and his Banner.

Unfortunately, his speed is average for a sapphire rank, and his strength is only slightly above average due to his lack of creativity. "I was surprised by how you can move those steel plates around to counter long-range attacks."

He can construct three one-meter squares that are extremely durable—slightly weaker than his close-range defenses, but still impressive. I don't know many sapphire ranks who could easily break through those barriers. If you manage to crack them, Humyr immediately injects more mana to repair them on the spot, proof of how much effort it took him to reach this level.

"Don't be modest—you managed to crack or break most of my constructs with just a few hits. I had to keep pouring mana into them to avoid losing my defenses, and in the end, it was all useless." Humyr drops onto the dome floor, producing a dull thud.

At first, I couldn't do anything, which gave him confidence. But once I got serious, I managed to break through some of his constructs. "I also spent a huge amount of mana to break them—don't make it sound like it was easy." He didn't make it easy at all, which is why our match lasted more than ten minutes.

"That doesn't matter; in the end, I lost." Humyr really had it tough once I started attacking both from long and close range at the same time. I didn't go all out though—I didn't use my gravity mana during the fight. I have to keep some secrets for next week's match.

"Hey, guys." Areci calls out from behind us, tossing each of us a bottle of cold water. The whole group had been watching. At first, I was supposed to train with Shawu, but she lost to Humyr in a hand game, so now she's my next sparring partner.

"It's my turn! Get up, I'm motivated." Shawu rushes toward us at full speed.

"Let Maki rest for a bit; he just spent a ton of mana and energy," Areci scolds her best friend. Shawu looks disappointed hearing that.

"Don't worry, I'm ready." With a jump, I get back on my feet. Humyr walks toward the safe zone, and Areci gives me a brief look before nodding and turning around.

"No excuses if you lose." Shawu stands ready, holding her two pitch-black daggers—no weaker than my Thundersnow Fangs.

"As if you had any chance of beating me." I stick my tongue out to provoke her. I've come to know her personality well—she's loud, but she genuinely cares for her friends. Her trademark trait: she always reacts strongly to provocation.

Some sort of enhancement skill wraps around her daggers—shadows dance along their edges, constantly changing form, looking dangerously sharp. Death and shadow affinity. She creates a shadow clone identical to herself. Shawu wears a loose, all-black outfit, with only a few small openings in her wide hood. I'm surprised she can even mimic her clothing in the clone, but under this much lighting, it's easy to tell the difference.

"Both disappeared?" I'm slightly surprised to see Shawu and her shadow vanish from my sight in an instant—but not from my Personal World. I follow both of their movements, taking a defensive stance and summoning two Joyeuse—one for each target.

Shawu and her shadow dodge them effortlessly. Her speed and agility surpass the lord ogre's, and her shadow moves exactly like her—they're like twin dancers. I move my left sword to block an attack from behind, then immediately block another with the right. The attacks never come simultaneously. Shawu always strikes a tenth of a second after her shadow, trying to find a gap in my defense or exploit a small mistake.

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Her speed is unreal. We've been moving all over the arena without stopping for a second. I have to use Gravity Burst just to keep up with her movements. I wanted to avoid revealing it, but a rank II ability won't change much in a friendly spar with Areci's group.

I feel a slight shift in Shawu's mana—something I notice only because my senses have been razor-sharp since fighting the lord ogre, and Personal World helps a bit. She's moving a shadow behind me. Just as I dodge her next two chained attacks, a shadow shaped like three spikes tries to stab me from behind.

I block it with a reinforced ice mana construct infused with Imra, Laws, and Banner. I'm surprised to see her attack almost shatter it. That strike could catch anyone off guard—it carries the power of an advanced sapphire rank.

The surprise costs me—though I barely manage to block her next attack, my position turns awkward. Her next strike comes right at my back; I block it just in time—or so I thought. The dancing shadow slips past my clumsy defense, slicing through my ice armor.

I can feel her death and shadow mana trying to devour my construct. No—it's trying to devour everything. I use my own death affinity and Imra to annihilate the remnants of her strike.

Shawu doesn't stop. She keeps attacking relentlessly with chained strikes. At some point, three of her shadows begin attacking separately—their power decreases, but they become far more annoying and slippery.

"Two can play that game." I stop holding back after studying her abilities for a few minutes. Shawu is definitely on another level compared to most sapphire ranks—no wonder she belongs to the academy's most elite group.

I summon over a dozen spheres in their strongest form, focusing on her. That's not all—I charge Raging Thunder River to its maximum output, ready to release it from every direction.

Shawu looks cautious now, hesitant to attack. I glance at her, meeting her eyes, sticking my tongue out again, and raise my index finger, motioning "come at me" to provoke her. "Is this too much for you?" My taunt seems to work, because she immediately charges forward.

She saves me the trouble of chasing her. After dodging two more of her attacks, I unleash the surge of electricity in every direction. It isn't very powerful, but it delays her by just over a second—that's enough to surround her with the spheres and fire them off.

She dodges the first three; the fourth hits her dagger, forcing her back a few steps. The next two strikes break her stance, and the rest land squarely, breaking her invisibility and triggering the safety collar. Shawu's concentration is remarkable—she never stopped commanding her copy and shadows even while dodging my spheres.

"That's not fair—with your sensory ability, my invisibility was useless! And how did you always know which one was me and which was my shadow?" She complains while rolling on the ground like a child.

"No complaints after losing." I lie down beside her. "Your invisibility skill has improved—it's harder to track your position, but your shadow still lacks consistency. It feels slightly different, like a weaker version of you. That's how I could tell them apart." She stares at me, thinking.

"Another thing—you didn't mimic your clothing's movement in the shadow. Someone with basic sensory skills might not notice, but for me, it's really easy to pick up those small differences." As long as I don't overload my brain with information, I can distinguish those tiny details—maybe even tell apart five or six clones at once.

"I've tried fixing those problems. Aunt Susan mentioned them too, but it's not easy, you know?" Shawu starts hitting my arm. "Anyway, it doesn't matter much right now—there aren't many freaks like you in the sapphire rank." Did she just call me a freak? Is that really how she sees me? The others arrive, and none of them deny it.

"Someday, I'll be able to fool your ability." My friend grins from ear to ear, brimming with confidence. I don't want to burst her bubble by saying I'll improve mine too, but she deserves a little teasing.

"You'll still be weaker than me even when that happens." Shawu frowns, searching for a comeback—but can't find one, so she just crosses her arms while Humyr lifts her up like a child to set her on her feet.

Areci and Ogine offer me their hands to help me up; I take them and stand.

"We both lost… aren't you coming with us?" Oh, right—I forgot. We'd made a bet: if they managed to beat me, we'd all go to the river for a party tonight.

"I'll go with you guys, but there's something I haven't told you." Everyone looks at me expectantly.

Right then, someone knocks on the door. "I'm not going alone… hope you don't mind, but since I already had plans with her, I asked if we could all go together." The group takes a moment, and they already know who it is. I walk over and open the door—Brendu peeks inside and greets everyone.

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