"Starts with what?" Agnes asked, her expression wasn't kind.
"Well, sparring," Warden said, leaping to his feet. "That's what I'm taking as payment, didn't you hear last night."
Agnes narrowed her eyes, considering him. She wondered if it was another of his games to amuse himself and make fun of her... Thinking that, she replied, "I'd rather pay with essence gems or contribution points."
The guy gave her a pouting look. "Come on, don't say that," he said. "Do you know how is it to find a sparring partner who can match you?"
Weirdly, Agnes kind of did. For all her time in the academy and in the army, the people who could clash with her shoulder to shoulder could be counted in a single palm. The numbers became even smaller as she accumulated more power in her path.
However, here was a weird guy, who didn't seem to have the same drive as her, yet his battle lust overwhelmed her. Sparring with him might be worth her time, but only if he takes it seriously.
"I have no interest in playing around with a broom," she said.
"How about a sword then?" Warden said and brought out [The Divider]. "I would have liked to work more on my spearmanship first. Sadly, I broke my spear... Then again, I think I can learn much about sword from you compared to spear."
Agnes shot his weapon a look. There seemed to be an intrinsic bond between the blade and Warden as if it was a part of him. Her attainment in seeing through this connection wasn't good enough for her to recognise what kind of weapon it was... but if a weapon lets you bind with your soul is definitely related to a soul relic.
Though the aura it radiated isn't condensed enough to be a complete one... Hmm...
Agnes unsheathed her blade, [Twisted Fang], an incomplete soul blade, which was still at a higher calibre than his sword.
Warden smiled, purple gleam appearing in his eyes, as a predatory grin spreading across his lips. This certainly didn't look like he was going to play around...
"I have heard so much about your power from the others," Warden said. Dark purple energy wisped out of his form and his weapon, causing her to raise her eyebrow. "Let me experience it."
Agnes raised her sword as darkness coalesced around her form, forming her lesser defence which accomplished rankers of the same rank were unable to penetrate.
For the first attack, Agnes let him deal a blow, to make him see what he was dealing with. His blade crashed into her dark armour, making her take a step back with the sheer physical force behind it. As for the energy that stuck from his blade... all of it was absorbed through her dark Armor. Her power [Darkness Taketh All] lets her consume all energy and transform it into darkness.
And yet... A bone-chilling shiver ran down her spine when she found she was unable to transform the purple misty energy into darkness... Well, not completely. Moreover, when the raw energy of the blade drew into her channels, it burned through her in a cold indignation.
Agnes eyes turned dark and she rejected all the foreign energy immediately. "Void energy," she mumbled, still feeling the shiver in her back. She looked up at her sparring partner. "You have a path?"
Warden just shrugged and charged at her. His expression told less taking more fighting.
Warden tilted his head, perhaps considering if he should tell the truth. Did he think it was not apparent yet?
"Well, kind of," Warden said.
Agnes narrowed her eyes, studying him again to see if she had missed anything.
"What?" Warden asked, finding her gaze somewhat uncomfortable.
"Just wondering," she said, exhaling. With the sweat marring her complete form, she would like a bath, though in this mission she would have to be satisfied with her energy. "As far as I can remember void related classes are all restricted through the system."
Warden gave an oblivious look as if he was hearing it for the first time. Then he saw how she was sucking in all the sweat from her body and clothes through her darkness power. His eyes lit up. "That's a neat trick, can you do it for me?"
Agnes was right about him, he was odd. He just found out his path might be restricted in the system, and yet he asked him about cleaning his sweat. Hmm, maybe he's good at acting.
Well, she couldn't glimpse at his aura to determine anything. There was a heavy ward on place, kind of like 'him'. Agnes shook her head and ignored that line of thought.
Warden seemed to take her shake of the head as a refusal of his request, but he only complained with a deep exhale. "So, you were talking about a restricted path?"
"I'm surprised you did not know anything about this?"
Warden scratched his chin. "I'm not really around here."
"Nor am I," Agnes snorted at his obvious excuse. "Restricted path is as it sounds... they are restricted. I don't know the details, and most of what I learned is speculation but the system will not let anyone with a restricted path reach the Peak."
"Hmm," Warden hummed deep in thought and then shrugged. "Well, nobody came to stop me from advancing and—" he suddenly stopped as if remembering something. His eyes turned sharp. "Can you tell me more about this?"
"I mean, my knowledge is incomplete and whatever I learned seemed like speculation," she said. "Still, I can give a full account of what I remember, considering your help in repairing my breastplate. It's just—"
Caleb walked in with his spear in hand, looking ready for a spar.
"I'm here to pay for the bill," he said to Warden, whose attention was still on her.
"We'll discuss this later," Agnes said and departed, feeling talking about a restricted topic like this in the open wasn't right, even if her soldiers were trustworthy.
"Seems like you two worked on your differences," Caleb said as he positioned himself for the spar. he looked at his nonexistent uniform and smiled. "Told you, a good beating gives you prospective on things." mvle,mp|y|r hosted