Chương 154: Chapter 153 [She's My Girlfriend]

The sparring bowl was empty with the trainees on dummies at the far end. The lads grabbed wooden weapons from the rack and made their way over. Leo and Phil went first. Phil came at him hard, pushing the pace, and Leo let him. He read the pattern until the overcommit came and then stepped around it. His follow-up strike found Phil's ribs. He swore under his breath.

"Again," Phil said.

"Fine. We'll do best of three." Leo pushed Phil from the restart with Phil taking a more cautious approach. They traded strikes for a few moments, parrying and dodging while trying to find an angle to land a hit. Leo eventually took the next point by throwing a fake downward slash into a stab, his sword's reach just enough to catch Phil on the backstep.

"Fuck. Man, I don't know how you make that slash look so real. The fake feels impossible to see coming in time."

"I don't know what to tell you, dude. I'm not sure how to beat it when Kai uses it either." [Karen] That was amazing Leo. Well done Son. [Olly] Yeah, that was insane Dad. You made it look easy.

"It's not. Phil's good, I just spent most of the tournament fighting people with similar styles to him so I have a bit more of an advantage." [Chris] Look at Phil's face. He looks so annoyed. LOL. [Tony] Really dude? Did you just think LOL so it comes up in chat? [Jace] xD [Tony] Idiots... Sam and Luka squared off next. Luka used his maul to force Sam backward, step by step, toward the edge of the bowl. Sam kept retreating until he was about to hit the wall before he placed his foot on it and shoved off.

He managed to catch Luka by surprise, which led to him throwing up his shield.

"You cheating bastard," laughed Sam, before he summoned his fog and stepped backwards into it.

"Fuck. Yeah, this is going to suck." [Jake] The way he stepped back into the fog looked cool as. It's like something out of a game cutscene. Luka slowly walked forward, looking and listening for any sign of where Sam was hiding. Moments later the fog dissipated and Luka felt wooden daggers at his neck.

"Well, I should have seen that coming. That shit is so overpowered, man."

"Well, maybe don't try to cheat next time," said Sam with a smirk. [Tony] Never would have pictured Sam as an assassin. He needs a hooded outfit.

"Brandon uses a bow so he doesn't join in on these one-on-one spars. He won the archery tournament though, he's a good shot."

"Cheers, man," said Brandon.

"I'll show some of that off later but I don't want to get in the way of the training going on over there."

"Yeah, fair enough," said Leo.

"You think you can take me in a spar, Leo?" asked Shai, walking over. [Chris] Oh this should be fun.

"Yeah, not at all," laughed Leo.

"I'll give it a go though." They took their places in the bowl and Leo took a defensive stance. He waited for the spar to begin, fully expecting Shai to come at him the same way Phil did. She didn't. She raised her hand, palm up, and made a come-get-it gesture.

"Okay, what the hell is that?" laughed Leo. Enjoying this book? Seek out the original to ensure the author gets credit. [Jace] She's feisty. I like it. Leo pushed forward and activated Flowstate. If he was going to lose, he was going to make sure he looked good doing it. He had to impress Shai in their first real spar, especially with the kids watching on. Stabs led into slashes. Fakes into flurries of strikes. Shai read all of it.

Leo tried to get her to buy the same slash into stab move that worked on Phil, but she side-stepped it, then ducked the stab. She struck out at Leo's ribs, but he stepped out of range, throwing a wide-angled, backhanded slash. [Olly] Holy shit. This is like watching Star Wars. [Karen] Language Olly. [Olly] Sorry, Grandma. The spar went on for a little longer before Leo missed another strike and couldn't get out of the way of the follow-up in time.

"Well fought, babe. You did well."

"Thanks. I still have a long way to go though." [Karen] That was amazing Leo. Shai as well. I can't believe my eyes. I never thought my son would grow up to be skilled with a sword of all things. [Jake] Or magic. Cool as fuck, Dad. [Karen] Language. The group decided to call it there for fighting and made their way back to the flat. Back at the flat, Leo sat back down on the couch and summoned the Sarren from his inventory. He drew it and held the blade up so the chat could see. [Karen] Leo that's a real sword.

"Yeah, Mum." [Karen] You could hurt yourself.

"I won't. The UI accelerates learning to a stupid degree. I've been training with a sword for over a month and I won a tournament with it. I could probably learn a language in a week if I tried. I'm not going to cut myself on my own sword." [Jake] How sharp is it?

"Sharp enough. It was a reward the system gave me for winning the tournament." [Tony] Forget the sword. Did you just summon it out of thin air?

"Yeah, we have an inventory. Never have to carry bags ever again." [Jace] That would be a godsend at work. [Chris] I can't get over the fact you have a real sword and don't look like an idiot holding it. It just looks totally normal. Weird. The fact it's a fucking Katana as well. You massive weeb. [Karen] Weeb?

"Just an inside joke, Mum, don't worry about it. Anyway, it kind of is normal now. It's not as safe here as back home. We've had goblin attacks on the town. The UI boost did a lot for us, so physically I'm probably ahead of most people back home. That's not to say I'm invincible, but we're doing well at the minute." He flexed one arm with a grin. [Olly] Jesus, put it away dad. Cringe. [Tony] Check out the gun show. [Jace] You gonna start wearing sleeveless t-shirts like Tony?

You could actually pull it off, he just looks like a nerd. [Tony] Screw you man. Leo laughed.

"The others got rewards as well. Luka's is the coolest in my opinion." Phil drew both swords, the paired blades catching the light. [Olly] Woah, those are nice. [Chris] Yeah, they look sick dude. Brandon held up the quiver, pulling an arrow that shifted as it came out, the tip changing colour as it cleared the fletching.

"Infinite arrows. I can change what they do when I pull them from the quiver." [Tony] That seems OP. Luka opened his inventory and the egg appeared in his hands, the size of a rugby ball, gold and faintly warm looking even from a distance. [Jace] That's insane. The scales on the egg look sick. [Jake] I can't believe you have a real dragon egg. That's incredible.

"We think it's going to be a big one when it hatches. No one we've asked has seen one that colour before." [Jace] Are there dwarves there? Maybe ask one if you can borrow a harness for him. Leo laughed.

"Yeah, good idea man."

"What did they say?" asked Luka.

"You should ask Gomir if they sell dwarf-sized harnesses for riding dragons."

"Oh, ha ha. Very funny." [Karen] Oh my goodness. [Chris] What happens when it hatches"We're going to help him raise it. Hopefully it likes him as much as Growlie does." Sam held the disk up last. Dark stone, flat, with markings on both faces that nobody had managed to place. [Olly] That looks like something you pick up in a game and don't figure out what it does until way later.

"Yeah," Leo said.

"Nobody here knows what it is either. Right," Leo said.

"Before I go. Shai." He waved her over. She got up and walked over before sitting down with Leo and taking his hand.

"She's my girlfriend," he said.

"We only got together recently. So yeah." She smiled at Leo and squeezed his hand. [Tony] Congrats mate. [Chris] Nice one dude. [Jace] Good for you. [Karen] Oh Leo she looks so happy. [Jake] She seems nice dad. [Olly] Yeah she does. Good going dad. Don't mess it up.

"I'll keep that in mind, son. Thanks, everyone."

"I'll make sure he stays safe. You have my word," said Shai, looking into his eyes again. [Karen] I love her already.

"Right," Leo said.

"I'm going to wrap this up. Need a shower, it's been a long few days." [Tony] Fair enough. This has been unreal. [Jace] Do this again soon yeah. [Chris] Figure out how to bring me over. I'm serious. [Karen] Leo. Love you. Be careful. I mean it.

"Love you too, Mum. I will." [Jake] Love you dad. This was sick. [Olly] Love you dad. Should I be expecting a little cat brother or sister or something? Leo laughed.

"Do one, Olly." [Olly] Hahaha bye dad [Jake] Bye dad [Tony] Genuine question though. Is it one or a litter. Asking for a friend. [Chris] Yeah science demands an answer Leo looked at the ceiling, then sideways at Shai, who had clearly caught enough of his expression to know something had been said.

"Yeah. Fair point actually. I'll find out." He shook his head.

"Bye everyone." He closed the stream.