"You have potential to become stronger than me in a year or two, but you shouldn't get carried away, Billy," Drew said.
"... Yes," Billy said while he was trying to catch his breath.
Billy was trying to be diligent and humble. That was why he asked his father for a spar after learning and practicing one skill that would increase his overall attack speed a lot. Still, he didn't consider many factors. He ended up not doing anything, even though his father didn't even try to attack.
"The world is a lot larger than we think, Billy," Drew said while climbing the stairs. "This town, our villages… they are small if compared with the grand scheme of things. There are many more beasts out there with absurd levels of power that can't even be compared with the elementalists. Don't forget about that."
Billy nodded again and then let his back fall on the ground, and he began to rest with his arms wide open while facing the sky. The world was big… of course, it was. Besides, Billy was the one who had been negligent. He practiced his magic, archery, and spear, and he still hoped to make his father, who only trained a single one of those for decades.
"Why didn't you use the Light Spear?" Alexander asked.
"It wouldn't make any difference," Billy replied.
"How can you be so sure?" Alexander frowned.
"There is a clear difference in all aspects between my father and I," Billy explained. "If I can't defeat him on the most simple types of fight, there is no way I can do so on the higher levels."
Besides, Billy could see the level of his skills. That was just another combination. While Billy and his father might have the same mental age, their life experiences still were too far away from each other. Billy might be more skilled and stronger than kids five to six years older than him, but there was another wall beyond that that it would take some years to surpass.
Besides, Drew had a skill that Billy didn't have: Block Mastery. It was because of that that he so effortlessly deflected Billy's attacks without breaking a sweat. The skill was there in the shop for fifty skill points, but again, he wanted to learn that by himself.
"All right, let's practice," Billy said. "We will alternate in only attacking and only blocking. You can start."
That was probably the fastest way to learn Block Mastery. While that was a skill that not all warriors of the tribe had, Billy didn't think it needed any status requirements. It was probably a matter of skill and persistence to acquire that one. Nevertheless, they persisted.
Before they could come up with any progress on that matter, Natalie finally returned after two months, and she wasn't alone. Lily was with her for some reason. A few months ago, they went to ask Leo if she could train with them in her free time, but he said no. He said that she could train by herself, and slacking off during the day wasn't an excuse just to try to recover the lost time at night.
"I suppose she reached her rebellious phase… that is what you get from being so strict," Billy thought.
"Not fair… you three really left me behind," Lily said.
"That is your fault for being such a slacker during the day," Billy said.
"What did you say!" Lily shouted.
"Let's not make a scene, otherwise your father will get even madder when he learns this," Alexander said while forcing a smile.
"It is fine, he thinks that I am at Natalie's house," Lily said.
"So, it was a problem to leave her with boys… I suppose you start to worry about that when being the father of a girl of her age," Billy frowned while thinking that.
"In any case, I finally developed my own technique!" Natalie said. "Behold my awesomeness!"
Billy had just received a warning not to get ahead of himself, but it didn't seem like someone had said anything like that to the girl. In any case, she sure looked excited, so Billy was expecting something shocking. Still, was it normal for teens to develop new techniques that fast? Or that group of misfits was secretly a group of geniuses?
Billy immediately prepared himself to fight while assuming a defensive stance, so it was the usual against Natalie. Soon Billy confirmed that Natalie had come with some nice stuff. While pointing her left sword horizontally and toward him, Natalie put her right one a few centimeters over her right shoulder. Her right side was completely open, but the left one could cover for her at any moment. It was hard to know if she had created that stance with that in mind or not, but it didn't matter.
Suddenly, Natalie dashed toward Billy and swung her left sword horizontally toward Billy's chest. His spear was already there to block it, so he didn't have to do anything. However, as soon as the weapons collided, Natalie swung her right sword aiming almost at the same spot. Billy didn't even see the attack.. He only felt the impact on the cable of his weapon that made a powerful sound echo through the area and pushed him backward several meters.
