Year 5009 after the system day 61 of the sun season during the morning in the Tonne village.
Ming who had been watching without interrupting like the last time he was in front of this master swordsman, had all the hairs of his body in awe as what unfolded in front of him was simply talent.
'To think there would be an old man like him around, just what level is he? How can he take all of Iris's attacks easily like they don't matter? It legit looks like she's trying to kill him, wait no, I believe that may truly be a thing.'
"Come on weakling is this all you got? At this pace instead of 3 years it'll be more, not that I mind, but you might, having to spend more time with this old, drunk, and beggar stinking man," he said while having fun then laughed dodging all the strikes effortlessly.
"I'm... doing... my... best! My... body... can't... keep... up," I said having a hard time breathing as we've been at this for a few hours every day for what feels like an eternity.
"Alright rest a bit, you also seem to have a visitor even though you might have to once again talk with him from the floor, I'll be back in a bit," I let myself fall on the floor feeling the warmth of the wood while dripping the sweat on it staining it.
"It's been a long time master Iris, I hope you've been well."
I gazed towards the voice meeting the sunlight coming from the source, making my eyes stay half-open.
"Ming was it?" I ask unable to see him, and not remembering any voice like his, as I didn't talk with him before."
"Yes, Momo older brother, descendent of the legendary fisherman, and keeper of the black key."
"What brings you here? Is your sister okay? Did my sister take good care of her?"
"Yes, everything went as you mentioned, even though I didn't expect her to have that much talent, the soldiers all admire the general, almost like she was born for war."
"Hum... perhaps she did, I'm not sure myself as I never got to unveil her mind much less her past."
"Didn't the two of you lived together since birth as the twins you two are?" He asked conflicted while feeling her words to be confusing.
"Yes, don't worry, you're correct," I say while feeling really tired.
"Alright, I have a letter from Aurora," he takes it out of a hole inside a hidden pocket under the coat.
I take a deep breath then use my leftover energies to sit crossing the legs in front of me while grabbing the letter from the extended arm Ming.
I proceed to rip the blue seal on it and takes the paper out reading it slowly.
'Hello my little witch, I hope you're becoming stronger, I've been reducing their numbers fairly well as time goes by. I'm estimating them to do a surprise attack very soon which will be the initial grand blow on their losses, I'll be saving the soul power I can sneak from the corpses and send it to your way once you need it as extending the area we can travel inside the mirror world has no benefits so far since we're both busy. From the information I gathered from the church and recently from a wise goblin, it appears that the party experience is received in an area oriented space, so if we're close by to someone of at least rank 1 and above being killed we'll get some experience, the older the soul the less we get, if someone dies naturally we don't get any. It's truly incredible just how much the church experimented with humans, but I don't have access to a lot of things, one of them being the fact that due to having a lot of fame and disgrace implies that the beast races can sense how much we have, it also appears that it is a thing they do not own, so with that different races have systems of their own, in other words, you who have that big amount will surely reward you, in fact, the last piece of information I found in the records from the church was quite shocking. Thanks to the goddess actions in implementing the system she had to pay a toll, to be fair it was an unexpected one, the penalty received for the human race to be part of the new fund system was to have their levels capped requiring fame and disgraceful amount to be able to break through them, in other words, it is recorded that the highest human reached was level 80 of rank 4 class, to go higher the class would require to be level 5, and each one only increases it by 20. I do not know how much you'll need, so once you're done with training with Ray in 3 or more years, get back to farming titles be they fame or disgrace, both will help to unlock more of them. Leveling up with the help of the other witches should be possible afterward once you awaken, so getting a strong base is a must, I'll delay the war enough to exhaust the goblins and the possible extras the three other kingdoms may send allowing the humans to become stronger, otherwise, when we fight an even stronger race we won't last. Currently to the south, there are 4 goblin, one orc, and one kobold kingdom. I miss you little sister Iris, may we meet soon, in a few years, also don't forget adorable witch, once she finished her first ordeal to research for you all the class skills, make sure you think about what you'd like to do first, live a happy life while leaving the gruesome side to me, also the goblin king is level 134 and is not the strongest goblin, there are even giant goblins, not sure how tall since I haven't seen one yet.'
Tears filled with happiness joined the salty ones on the floor.
'Why would I do my best to become stronger if not to help you silly Aurora? Though I will make a potion shop after the training is over since my parents wanted me to, I can even run it with the adorable witch, it could be fun, and a good chance to make money while leveling up my alchemy skill. Aurora becoming a noble lady didn't really make me or our parents richer, in fact, it was just a title for her to be able to become a general as that was the minimum standard upon the law of the Lumen kingdom. Parents have been working their entire lives, so I'd like to give them a break from it, with my dark alchemy I might become rich, especially with the new law where the disgraceful classes are allowed to live anywhere they want, the fanatics aren't as dangerous, and everyone now looks at the goddess Aria with better eyes. Pretty weird how she allowed that in the first place unless the goddess had some restrictions like the toll she paid for giving a bit more fairness to the human race, in fact, why is there a division of fame and disgrace? Couldn't it be called points or something and accumulate with doing good and bad things? Too bad there is some information that isn't appraisable, especially when it belongs to a god unless it is a physical thing like the magic in those ruins.'
"Ming, tell her I might take longer than expected with my training, my talent for it is good but I'm not exceptional like Sylvia, and my age is also a problem, my body can't keep up, and I can't magically grow up faster either, so perhaps an extra two years, once I'm done I'll open a potion shop, once I'm rich enough, I'll go back to adventuring and get my rank to the max, those two will be my goals once the training is over, and send a hug to Aurora and Momo for me will you?"
"Of course master Iris," Ray entered while he heard the way Ming addressed me and started laughing saying," you're still too young to be a master swordsman my dear student, but at this pace, it's a matter of time. I'll make sure of it before this body gives up on me, and won't allow you to run away till I engrave everything I know."
"Thank you for taking good care of her swordmaster Ray, I'll be taking my leave now."
"See you soon Ming," I smile kindly at him.
"Have a safe trip kid," he said with a grin about to sip on some alcohol as today's daily dose of training was over.
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Ming closes the door to the dojo softly and leaves.
"Don't worry about it teacher Ray, while it is true it will take time. I'll make sure you don't die on me before I get to master everything you teach me, even if I have to turn you into a monster to do so."
"A skeleton me would be funny wouldn't it?" We laugh together imagining the idea which makes me remind of how I almost died to one before.
"Hey, Ray..." I look at him as he takes a sip carefully grabbing his attention.
"What's up blondie? Need another haircut?"
"No! Leave my hair alone before my mother finds out, she would be depressed seeing it like this, it's a good thing my parents didn't come to the annual tournament."
"Is that why you used a wig last time you visited her?" He started laughing taking another sip.
"Yes... I miss my hair even if it grows strangely fast it will still take quite a while."
"The wonders of having a good stamina, it also aids the body in many ways, not just health."
"Really now? I haven't paid much attention to the different parameters as I have a good quantity on all of them, but despite their amount, I can't use them to their extent due to body limitations, except perhaps wisdom."
"A wise child is still a child little Iris, at best you can use your mana since you have a lot of wisdom, monsters who have a lot of stamina but low wisdom can't use it."
"I'm able to reduce my health for wisdom how come they can't?"
"Because wisdom isn't only the max capacity of mana, it is the knowledge of mana too, the ability to use a certain amount comes from its value as well as other things like rationalizing with the intelligence you have, but even if you have high wisdom and intelligence, the numbers aren't real or even significant, it is limited by the race we own, even though humans are pretty smart to be able to make such good alcohol," he takes a sip laughing carefully grabbing the bottle.
"Would there be any race worth changing to I wonder..."
"Once I'm done with my regret I'll want to live in peace, but if you have a long term wish that you can't achieve as a human then perhaps look into the different races this world has, and choose any that lasts a bit more in what comes to age, if there's any."
"I expected the teacher to mind me changing from the human race to something else."
"Well, your aura is abnormal either you change it on your own or something else will."
"My aura? You can perceive something like that? I'm able to perceive mana or elemental aura, but since I'm not using either..."
"Yes, that's correct, I'm not entirely human either, how do you think I've gotten so strong and old? Even though I can feel my death approaching and my body dying every day."
"If you're not a human then what are you?"
"A human just not one hundred percent one, eating soul stones was the only way I found back then to raise my level cap and get enough fame too."
"I understand..."
"When the time comes Iris, I'm sure you know what to do."
"I understand teacher," I lower my head in respect towards him while hiding the sadness I feel as he takes yet another sip," I will give you the best burial I can along with your swords as promised for teaching me everything."
"Good girl," feeling a little tipsy while using it to hide the pain of his old body, numbing it, he lays down and falls asleep resting.