Can't Be Like Me

"Whoosh!"

The wind ripped past his ears, propelling Leo forward at an astonishing speed towards the girl who was not far away.

Leo noticed the change in himself almost the instant he started sprinting.

That was a speed completely different from before.

That was an incredible acceleration force that would have been absolutely impossible in the past.

His body felt as light as a feather, his senses became as sharp as a wild beast's, and his thoughts seemed to accelerate several times in that critical moment, leaving him with the capacity to even feel astonishment.

By the time Leo realized what was happening, he was already standing right in front of Ais, and he saw the same look of surprise in the girl's eyes.

Although the distance between the two was not far, the speed that Leo displayed still seemed to surprise the girl, causing her movements to be delayed by a fraction of a second.

It was that one-thousandth of a second of hesitation that gave Leo the initiative.

"Bass!"

The small straight sword sliced through the air, transforming into a cold arc of light, and swiftly slashed towards Ais.

The high-speed slash startled Ais, whose eyes narrowed instantly. Her body moved almost reflexively, drawing her sword from its sheath to meet the attack.

"Clang!"

As the sparks appeared, a strong wind spread out like a shockwave.

Leo's small straight sword collided heavily with Ais's scabbard, bouncing off each other and causing both of them to stop in their charge.

However, Leo did not stop. As if he had expected his attack to be blocked, he instantly lowered his body and accelerated again.

His figure completely transformed into a blur, flashing to Ais's side and unleashing another sword strike at her shoulder.

"Clang!"

Ais reacted quickly, even faster Leo. Almost at the same time as Leo swung his sword, she flipped the scabbard to block the attack, causing sparks to erupt from her side.

Leo showed no sign of stopping. After his first attack failed, he moved swiftly again, circling around Ais.

Like a swirling gust of wind, Leo circled around Ais at high speed, running and constantly swinging his small straight sword, sending a continuous stream of sword light towards Ais.

One sword flash after another, wave after wave, as if a vast array of swords and blades were flashing around Ais, slashing at various parts of Ais beautiful body.

Shoulders, chest, abdomen, back, thighs, neck, heart, and even head —Leo, just like before, showed no intention of holding back. Every strike was aimed directly at Ais's weaknesses and vital points. If someone unaware of the situation witnessed this, they might even suspect that Leo intended to kill the doll-like girl.

But as I said before, this was only because Leo believed that his attack, at this level, would definitely not be able to harm that blonde, golden-eyed girl.

As expected, Ais remained expressionless in the face of Leo's merciless attacks. She simply moved her wrist and turned the scabbard to block all the slashes.

No matter which blind spot Leo's sword was aimed at, Ais seemed to be able to see it clearly and block it easily.

She could even find an opportunity to counterattack in Leo's relentless and unstoppable offensive, letting the scabbard in her hand pierce through the seemingly endless sword light and slash towards Leo's body.

However, this time, Leo was no longer as easily defeated by Ais as before.

i"

The scabbard struck like a blurry whip, its speed and force causing Leo's pupils to shrink to the size of pinpoints.

However, those pupils, now shrunken to the size of pinpoints, were different from before; at the critical moment, they successfully captured that fleeting afterimage.

Leo suddenly froze, his upper body instantly pressing down, dodging the whistling attack in a bridge-like stance.

"You dodged it!"

Ais was taken aback when she saw this.

In that instant, with his upper body lowered, Leo swung his sword at Ais, aiming straight for her ankle.

Ais reacted quickly, leaping away to create distance between herself and Leo while dodging the attack.

Leo pressed his advantage, leaping forward and lunging towards Ais, launching another relentless attack on her.

"Clang clang clang clang clang clang clang clang----!"

In an instant, the sound of metal clashing rang out incessantly in the courtyard, where sunlight was about to pour in.

Faced with Leo's relentless and unstoppable attacks, Ais responded with both sharpness and composure, maintaining her distance from Leo while continuously blocking the incoming slashes.

Leo's attacks were extremely fierce and intense, but Ais was still able to steadily parry them, preventing any sword light from penetrating her defenses and touching her body, thus maintaining her invincible position.

As time went by, Ais noticed that Leo's attacks were not slowing down, but rather accelerating. His speed, agility, and reaction time were all increasing.

It looked like it was undergoing a transformation.

It looked like it was evolving.

"No the same----"

Completely different.

At this moment, Leo is a completely different person from before.

This made Ais accept the fact with mixed feelings.

He really did level up.

Level 2 was not an unfamiliar area for Ais.

She reached that level eight years ago, and now she has far surpassed it, so she can completely disregard it.

But when she thought of the man in front of her, who just a month ago was an ordinary trainee member who couldn't even kill Falna chicken and hadn't even received any favors, Ais couldn't suppress the complicated feelings in her heart.

What's more, just yesterday, her opponent was sparring with her at a level not much stronger than an ordinary person, but now he is showing a strength that seems to have undergone a complete transformation, which really makes Ais feel complicated and even at a loss.

Ais was even somewhat surprised to find that, although it was only a recent upgrade, the strength that Leo displayed was quite different from what she knew about Lv.2.

Compared to other newly upgraded Lv.2 characters, Leo's attack and speed are both superior.

Moreover, he is constantly getting stronger and faster.

"Is he... adapting to his own power?"

As someone who's been through it all, Ais can easily tell what kind of state Leo is in right now.

He is working hard to master the abilities that are greatly enhanced after reaching Lv.2.

Adventurers often encounter this situation after Level Ascension: the rapid increase in their strength causes their physical and mental bodies to deviate from their normal trajectory, resulting in a mental-physical dislocation.

The mind cannot keep up with the rapidly growing and stronger body, making it difficult to maintain accuracy, distance perception, and reaction time in combat, thus preventing the user from fully utilizing their current strength.

Leo encountered this situation before when he updated his stats, and the current mental-physical dislocation is much stronger than before. In order to eliminate these sensory errors, he had to repeatedly try various movements in his battle with Ais in order to harmonize his mind and body and slowly unleash the strength he should have after the upgrade.

Therefore, at this moment, he gives others the feeling that he is gradually becoming stronger.

"Call!"

Facing the afterimage of the sword sheath swinging towards him, Leo dodged it with increasingly nimble and simple movements, making Ais's attacks no longer as easy to hit him as they used to be.

Previously, when facing Ais's attacks, Leo could barely dodge one out of ten moves, while the remaining nine would all hit him and send him flying.

Today, Ais has launched more than ten counterattacks, but none of these attacks have managed to hit Leo.

This clearly resonated with Leo, who was still adapting to his own strength.

"I am indeed getting stronger again."

This realization made his eyes grow brighter and brighter as the battle progressed, and his movements became increasingly intense. Whether sprinting or attacking, he became more and more adept and powerful.

If it were an ordinary person, facing Leo's attacks that kept getting stronger during the battle, they would probably have gradually fallen into a disadvantage because they couldn't keep up with his intensity.

But Ais didn't.

She remained expressionless and nonchalant, her eyes fixed on Leo as if he were something important she couldn't look away from, completely blocking Leo's increasingly fierce attacks.

Leo then belatedly realized that his attacks were getting stronger, and Ais's strength was increasing accordingly.

That's only natural.

Ais was already suppressing her strength when sparring with Leo, a newcomer who had just debuted, so how could she possibly be countered by Leo?

So what if Leo unleashes a power that's practically transformed?

Even against Ais, a level 5 adventurer, she was still no match.

As Leo transformed, Ais gradually unleashed her own power, increasing the intensity of their sparring and relentlessly suppressing Leo, preventing Leo from breaking through her defenses no matter how fierce his attacks became.

"Clang!"

Amidst the continuous flashes of swords, Ais's scabbard pierced through the air for what seemed like the umpteenth time, striking the small straight sword that Leo was slashing at, sparks flying from the friction for what seemed like the umpteenth time.

This time, Ais used significantly more power, causing Leo to feel a powerful force transmitted through the small straight sword, which knocked him back.

Leo had to jump backward to deflect the force and create distance between himself and Ais.

The intense battle between the two finally found a respite, causing both to stop what they were doing and enter a stalemate.

Leo remained silent.

Ais looked at him, hesitated for a moment, and then spoke.

What were your stats before you leveled up?

Yes, Ais sensed from the strength Leo displayed that his pre-level-up stats might have been very high.

Otherwise, having just upgraded, he wouldn't be able to demonstrate strength significantly greater than that of a typical newly upgraded Lv.2.

Unless----

Or... do you have a skill?

Clearly, what Lefiya could think of, Ais could also think of.

Based on the strength Leo just displayed, he either had very high base stats before leveling up, or he possessed some kind of skill that could increase his base stats.

Only in this way can we explain why Leo's strength surpasses that of a typical newly upgraded Lv.2, even though he has only just leveled up.

At least, when I first reached Lv.2, without using magic and skills, I was definitely not as strong as Leo is now.

"I do have skills."

Leo was silent for a moment, then sighed and answered truthfully.

"But that skill won't directly increase my strength."

At the very least, it is completely different from the amplification and enhancement skills that Ais and Lefiya understand.

"And you----"

Ais's expression remained complicated, and her hesitant manner was even more pronounced.

"You want to ask me why I was able to become stronger so quickly, right?"

Looking at Ais like this, Leo finally spoke her mind.

Ais didn't speak, but her gaze was fixed on Leo, silently showing how much she cared about this matter.

Becoming stronger has been Ais's unwavering belief since she was seven years old.

Since Loki Familia, Ais's only obsession has been to become stronger, stronger than anyone else, so that she can kill more monsters and avenge her ultimate nightmare.

Therefore, at first she was almost obsessed, constantly pushing herself to become stronger, even at the cost of ruining her body and disregarding her own safety, as if she wanted to burn out her limited life completely, desperately trying to become stronger in a way that would shorten one's lifespan.

Although she is much gentler than she was in the past, her strong will to become stronger still remains in her heart, something she can never give up.

In the past, Ais rarely showed this side of herself when facing Leo.

But now, she couldn't hold back anymore.

Before her was a living example of someone growing stronger at an astonishing speed. Ais couldn't suppress her inner desire and wanted to reach out and touch that astonishing rate of growth.

"How did you manage to do that?"

Ais asked a question that countless people have asked, only her question was more weighty and more urgent.

Leo didn't answer the question immediately. Instead, as if he hadn't heard anything, he slowly sheathed his small straight sword and placed it, sword and scabbard together, under the shade of a tree, next to Ais's beloved sword.

Then, Leo went to the bench next to him, sat down, and waved to Ais.

Ais immediately understood, and like Leo, she leaned her sword sheath against the tree, then came to his side and sat down beside him.

The next second, Ais heard Leo's words.

"Let me state the conclusion first: you can't improve your stats as quickly as I can."

Leo's first words were a bucket of cold water on Ais's hopes.

Icy cold, and bone-chilling.