Chapter 57
Damn my past self, that bastard!
While sparring with Yor, Chae-rin cursed at her past self.
Your past self is always a bastard, but today it felt especially true.
What the hell was that idiot thinking when they prepared this god-awful content?
Of course, since past and present selves are usually connected, she could somewhat understand the thinking.
They probably wanted to receive guidance. Like some kind of educational broadcast.
Just like those lucky users who got to learn from masters they happened to connect with, she too wanted to gain some insight by borrowing others' strength.
To be honest, she kind of wanted to get stronger the easy way.
But she had no idea that what awaited her would be this endless hell.
Thwack-!
"Ugh!"
With a heavy impact, the leather armor she wore caved in.
While she had her dagger raised high, he had kicked her in the side.
With the synchronization rate set to minimum the pain wasn't too bad, but the impact alone forced her to collapse.
She couldn't even see the attack properly - when did his leg even come up?
She wanted to use this chance to rest a bit longer, but his words were merciless.
"Again."
Chae-rin pleaded with a pitiful expression.
"Just... just let me rest a little longer."
"Why? You still have stamina left."
"Can't you at least go easy on me! I haven't landed a single hit..."
"I'm already going plenty easy."
Well... that was probably true. If he was serious, she'd be a pulp by now.
Even the hit she just took to her side only had impact, not much actual damage.
But isn't this a bit much... they've been sparring non-stop for 30 minutes now.
[Stop! Her life points are already at zero!]
[He has no human heart...]
[At least teach something... don't just keep hitting...]
[It's rare to see the streamer looking this pitiful lol]
[A man who beats her up.. I kinda like it...]
[?]
The chat was mostly sympathizing with Chae-rin.
Though Yor had his reasons too. He wasn't just mindlessly beating her up.
He wasn't some psychopathic sadist just toying with her after all.
"Huff... huff..."
Well, seeing her panting like that did awaken a slight sadistic pleasure...
But that was beside the point.
He was genuinely pushing her for the sake of her growth.
Being someone's teacher was quite a pleasant feeling.
Come to think of it, back when he was at the orphanage, he had dreamed of becoming a teacher after watching the nuns teach children.
Though now he was teaching combat rather than letters.
Still, you could say he achieved his dream in a way. As such, Yor wasn't half-assing it.
It's just that his teaching method involved learning through the body rather than words.
'Hmm...'
Still, seeing how exhausted she was, he decided to give a bit of advice.
"Do you know how many times you've been hit in the side?"
"Huh? Maybe... 3 times?"
"Right, you keep leaving your sides wide open when fighting."
Yor was currently sparring at a level appropriate for her current abilities.
Which meant his attacks were mostly scaled to match her level.
The openings he was exploiting were ones that even the demon beasts here would surely target.
"It seems like you're trying to compensate for the dagger's short range with big movements, which creates openings. If that's what you're going for, you might as well just wildly swing a greatsword to be more threatening."
"Your field of vision is too narrow too. Being agile is good, but you're so focused on attacking that you can't see your surroundings. You couldn't even properly react to my attacks just now, right?"
"And why do you keep creating distance while holding a dagger? I don't get it. You should at least know your weapon's range. That's why you make big movements, your attacks become predictable, and openings appear."
These were issues that even Yor, who had never properly learned combat, could point out.
Though the skill gap probably helped him notice... still, they were that obvious.
After 30 minutes of drilling her, he could see it clearly now.
Stab-! Thunk-!
Of course, each word stabbed into Chae-rin's heart like a dagger.
Her eyes dropped downward like a guilty person's.
[Wow this guy's not just good at physical beatdowns, he's good at verbal ones too wow]
[That fierce face giving criticism would make me piss myself fr ;-;;-;]
[Chae-rin regretting her content plan rn like if you agree lol]
After firing off his words for a moment, Yor took a breath.
After the stick, it was time for the carrot.
"But well... overall it's not bad."
"Really?"
"Yeah. Quick judgment, flexible body."
It wasn't empty praise. Just a year ago she probably only knew combat from clicking a mouse online.
Sure, it's still a game now too. But in the end, she was the one thinking and moving.
For a modern person to develop this level of combat ability in just a year was impressive.
However, there was still something that didn't add up. A sense of dissonance that even Yor hadn't quite figured out yet.
To identify it, he ordered her again.
"Come at me again."
"Sigh, okay..."
Chae-rin nodded and charged at him again.
Swish-!
The dagger cut through the air with a sharp sound. Knowing she wouldn't hit anyway, her blade strikes showed no hesitation.
Swish-! Swish-!
Yor nodded internally as he dodged her dagger.
The more he fought her, the more his suspicions seemed confirmed.
'As I thought...'
Her senses weren't keeping up with her physical abilities. Her body and mind were out of sync.
Or more precisely, her mana couldn't keep up.
As mentioned before, everything in the world contains mana.
And the more you train, the more that mana moves according to the user's will.
You didn't even need high-level techniques like 'Sword Energy'.
Even B-Class adventurers could circulate mana through their bodies just fine.
Surely they weren't actually tearing bears apart with pure physical strength?
It was all possible thanks to the miracle of mana.
However, watching her movements, he could feel that the mana wasn't properly enveloping her body in time.
It wasn't that she lacked mana. It just wasn't flowing properly.
As if she didn't quite know how to move it.
'Well...'
Unlike the people here, otherworlders had only been moving mana for about a year.
It made sense they wouldn't control it as naturally as a tail that suddenly grew.
If anything, the game's compensation effects that let them reach B-Class despite that were impressive.
Though it seemed they hit a wall at this level.
So how to solve this problem?
Now that he knew the issue, he could roughly guess the cause.
They'd done enough sparring, it was time to mention the solution.
Tap.
With that, Yor grabbed the wrist of Chae-rin who was swinging her dagger in a trance.
"That's enough, let's stop here."
And that turned out to be a mistake.
As he grabbed her wrist, all her footwork got tangled up.
"Ah...!"
Unable to control her forward momentum, Chae-rin's body pitched forward.
Having only been dodging the dagger, Yor hadn't expected her to lunge bodily at him and couldn't avoid colliding with her.
In a way, she caught him off guard. She deserved praise for landing this surprise attack.
Yor and Chae-rin fell with their bodies entangled.
Crash!
Along with the sound of falling, something hard yet soft enveloped her.
The impact left Chae-rin's head spinning for a moment.
"Ow ow..."
She held her head and opened her eyes.
And could see Yor glaring up at her from beneath.
At the same time, the chat window scrolled rapidly beside them.
[uwaaaa]
[omg streamer you crazy girl just straight up pounced on him]
[Chae-rin no matter how thirsty you are you shouldn't do it while streaming..]
[lololol you're so dead]
"Eek!"
Realizing the situation, she jumped up from Yor with a start.
Then immediately bowed her head in apology.
"I-I'm so sorry! It wasn't on purpose!"
"No, it's fine..."
Yor nodded while scratching his head.
As she said, it wasn't intentional. If anything, getting an apology first was a bit surprising.
The sensation from when they fell still lingered in his mind. Something large and soft pressing down on him.
The leather armor she wore instead of metal alloy only made it more noticeable.
[Poor Yor suddenly getting pounced on ;-;;-; all women must die ;-;;-;]
[Video recorded and PDF saved, see you at the police station]
[ffs Chae-rin stop being so blessed]
An awkward air hung between them for a moment.
Meanwhile the chat window busily mocked her.
Finding the air uncomfortable, Yor changed the subject as if nothing happened.
"...So let me tell you the problem."
"Ah, yes yes! Let's do that!"
Chae-rin, feeling the same, eagerly responded to Yor's words.
The mana flow is slow.
She can't properly utilize her excellent physical abilities.
The reason is that she has reduced sensory feedback from her body.
Because her senses are dull, she can't properly perceive the changes happening in her body.
That was the cause of the problem Yor had identified.
If so, the solution was simple.
Having finished his brief explanation, Yor said to Chae-rin:
"Want to try raising your synchronization rate?"
All the way to maximum, that is.