BANG!
A muffled bang echoed as Jareth's punch struck the chest of the robot.
From the eyes of the robot, a projected screen appeared with a boldly written figure: 17FP.
'17FP?!' Jareth was shocked.
He massaged his jaw as he pondered.
'From what I read, an Awakened arcanist should have four sub-ranks: Level 1, Level 2, Level 3, and Level 4. 17FP falls under Level 4, which should be the peak arcanist—with a minimum of 150 cores. Moreover, the general highest force power of an Awakened arcanist is 20FP. Does that mean I'm already nearing the peak with just 43 cores? This isn't normal. Is this one of the perks of stealing the Supreme One's vessel?'
Rubbing his jaw, Jareth threw the robot a dubious glance.
'I better stop using this robot to test my force power, in case it shares it with Esta… No! That'll be stupid! I've already revealed it. I'll reveal a bit of it, displaying how it slowly got stunted, and attribute it to me being an arcanist for a long time.'
Jareth nodded inwardly at his plan.
Then he quickly went upstairs and returned with his sword while changing into a training attire Liana had given him.
Approaching the robot while flexing his sword, he asked, "Jareth, can you battle me? Or can you only make short movements to test my reflexes?" he asked.
"After the upgrade, I can perform fluid battle," the robot answered with its mechanical voice.
"Great. I'll put my training to use. But before that…"
He walked up to the robot and lightly slashed at it, but nothing happened, not even a scratch on its body. Nodding his head, he swung it hard. His eyes widened as nothing happened.
"Is your defense a Rank 2 defence?" Jareth asked.
"No."
Jareth nodded and took a few steps back.
'I planned on battling against it at Level 3, but I should just go for peak Rank 1 strength. I'm already at the peak.'
He raised his sword, readied his stance, and regulated his breathing, going into battle mode as he locked on to the black robot.
"Attack me with a Peak Awakened arcanist strength."
"Order received!"
The robot's stance changed, with fists held up.
It abruptly lunged at Jareth, swinging a punch at his face.
Jareth dodged with a sidestep and slashed at the side of its ribs. But the robot flung its other arm, deflecting the sword back as it whipped its forward arm at his face.
Ducking as the fist brushed past his hair, Jareth pulled back, but a black foot shot at his neck.
Jareth quickly raised the sword to parry. Unfortunately, his foot was unbalanced as the force sent him stumbling. The robot pounced on him with a punch shooting towards his chest.
He managed to twist his body while wobbling, making him fall sideways. His eyes widened as he saw another fist blast upwards. He tried to move but his body felt stiff.
'It was a feint…'
That was his last thought as a punch slammed into his head, sending him crashing to the floor.
Jareth groaned and turned to look at the, now static, robot. He could feel a sharp pain assaulting his skull.
'Why do I feel weird about this robot? It was accommodating and soft the other times… but it feels heavy-handed now. Or is it because of the update or the upgrade?' Jareth mused.
'Now that I think about it, I can clearly see its quick movements now.'
Jareth slowly sat up, calculating how he would have escaped his predicament with his spells.
'The easiest would be using [Quagmire] to slow it down but the oblivium might not get to it in time. The fastest should be releasing compressed flame, using the explosion to change direction and pull myself out. But [Grieving Echo] should be active, in case I missed.'
As for why he didn't practically test it, he thought it might be too noisy and wake the people upstairs.
Standing to his feet, Jareth readied his sword.
'I was overwhelmed the last time. Now I'm awake.'
"Come at me again!"
"Order received!"
The black robot dashed towards him.
Jareth, not taking the defensive role, lunged at it.
Both of them clashed. Sword against fist rumbling softly in the basement. They fought through the training basement, with fury of attacks, deflecting, parrying, and ducking, as they searched for an opening.
A minute later, Jareth was on the floor.
He reflected on his battle, stood up, and threw himself into another round of battle.
Both of them battled it out for hours. The more they battled, the better Jareth's reaction got, but he could only last for three minutes as his top record.
Jareth splayed on the cold floor, his ragged pants the only sound in the silent room. A dull but persistent headache pulsed through his skull.
When he tried moving, he felt like he was lifting a heavy boulder, his joints thoroughly wracked and burnt from all the relentless swinging and movements. All his body was aching from the thorough beating.
'Why was it so heavy-handed today?'
Gazing at the white light vacantly, Jareth, lost in his thoughts, was thinking about his situation:
'Why did I push myself so hard? Is it because I fear death after that situation with that rock troll? Or is it because I enjoy it?'
His thoughts perched from one topic to another.
Finally, he groaned and pushed himself to his feet, or he might end up sleeping on the floor. He shut down the robot and dragged his beaten body upstairs, before crashing on the bed after suppressing the idea of using his healing potions due to the price and low quantity.
He had only two bottles of the Rank 1 healing potions and each cost about 20,000 aures.
'Using Nadia's service is better…'
Convincing himself, his droopy eyelids shut as he gave in to the fatigue.
***
Jareth's eyes snapped open at the sound of insistent loud knocks.
He wheezed against the sudden, full-body ache. The splitting headache wasn't helping matters, as his head felt like a hot knife was being driven into his temple.
'I should have taken it easy. Ugh…'
Pulling himself from the bed, he staggered to the door and opened it to see Liana and Nadia, fully clad in their armor.
"You aren't dressed?!" Liana gawked at him.
"Didn't you hear me training last night?" Jareth leaned on the door as he replied with a question.
"Training? The basement got fixed. You wouldn't hear anything anymore."
"Oh!" Jareth nodded in realization. "Are you guys going to the ruin estate?"
"Bingo!" Liana smirked with a thumbs up.
"Well, I can't go. It would be complacent of me to go to the ruin estate when I just began hunting yesterday." Jareth exhaled as he rubbed his head.
"You have us for protection."
"I'll stick to the outskirt."
"Why are you scared? Besides, hunting at the outskirt would not be profitable as—"
"He's telling the truth." Nadia interrupted. "You forgot he's still a novice because his spell control is very good. If he dies, it wouldn't be good."
Liana opened her mouth but closed it. She turned to leave."Whatever."
Nadia followed but Jareth called out to her, "Hey! Can you please perform a short healing before you leave?"
"Healing?" Nadia asked in confusion.
"Yeah. That robot was too heavy-handed."
"You got beaten by Jareth?!" Liana questioned with a slacked jaw.
Jareth stared at her in confusion as that robot was darned skillful in close combat.
But she quickly began chortling while pointing at Jareth. "Y-You have the name of a robot."
Jareth cheek twitched at her boisterous laughter.
Nadia butt in. "I'm sorry, I can't heal you now. We're going to the ruin estate, where people die easily, so I need to be a hundred percent at my peak with my core completely full."
"Umm… yeah. That's true. I'm sorry for my inconsideration," Jareth apologized. "Be careful and good luck."