Might as Well - Chapter 387 (Patreon)

After that encouragement, the two of them – Sam still mentally exhausted from the challenge he had just survived and Cynthia anxiously staring at him – stood in the middle of the training field.

His sword hung loosely in his hand, ready to respond to the slightest provocation, while opposite him, Cynthia gripped her spear tightly enough to squeeze juice from a stone fruit, a very serious look on her face. She looked like she was about to jump into a life-or-death battle.

Sam looked at her stance, imagining where she would strike and preparing for her first attack, but otherwise, he simply smiled and watched her.

Cynthia’s eyes darted all around the field, looking for a way to strike at him, while the entire dome was filled with silence.

Then, just as Sam began to find the silence a bit burdensome, a tumbleweed tumbled between them.

He blinked.

Cynthia blinked.

“What?” he whispered in surprise.

Following the tumbleweed’s journey, he saw a small flap open in the ground and swallow it.

‘Built-in tumbleweed for dramatic moments?’ he mused. “Awesome…”

It was at that moment that Cynthia yelled out and launched herself forward.

“Gotcha!”

Her spear shot toward him, illusory spears appearing around it to confuse him while the real weapon screamed through the air as Cynthia threw her whole body into the strike.

Sam took a short step to the right, raised his sword, and used the flat of the blade to guide the spear harmlessly past him. With his other hand, he released a small burst of wind that threw Cynthia backward.

“Nice try,” he said with a laugh in his voice. “But I have Mana Sense…”

Cynthia didn’t reply. She simply went with the attack, using the momentum to fuel her movement, turning on the spot and using it to accelerate her spear as she cut toward Sam, aiming for his neck.

One more step forward.

Sam’s sword moved around his head, catching the spear on the shaft and redirecting it upward, causing the attack to miss by mere centimeters.

Another step forward.

He continued the motion, turning his wrist and bringing his sword downward, releasing a crescent of void energy toward her.

Cynthia’s eyes widened, but instead of retreating, she twisted her body and jumped sideways, letting the attack pass her. Her spear blurred as she attacked again, a dozen strikes aimed at different angles. Some were obvious, others hidden behind illusions, and several carried enough force that Sam could feel the mana behind them.

However, it was still the same mana she had been using so far.

None of it carried the primordial feeling that had suffused her transformation.

With a quick burst of speed, he began moving.

The illusions were ignored. One strike was blocked, another redirected, and a third simply missed as he stepped out of its path. He moved forward, closing the distance. He dodged one attack by slightly turning his body, his sword blurring as he answered every spear strike with the edge of his blade.

Within a second, he was standing over her, his sword held against her throat as she breathed heavily.

“Again,” he told her before turning around and walking back to his starting position.

“It’s not fair…” she complained as they took their stances again. “You’re much faster than me!”

“This isn’t about speed or defeating me, Cynthia,” Sam explained. “It’s about you learning how to use your new body.”

“But… I’m using my new body?” she asked in a questioning tone, looking down at her newly transformed form and flexing her clawed fingers.

“Yes, but you’re not using it as a Dragonkin. You’re using it as a human,” Sam clarified. “It sounds basic and cliché, but you need to shift your mindset. You’re a Dragonkin now. Attack and fight like one.”

“What the hell does that mean?” she asked, flabbergasted.

Sam just shrugged. “Dunno. You’re the first Dragonkin I’ve met…”

She gave him a flat look. “You know, every time you say something like that, I start to understand my sister’s rants…”

“Good. Use that anger!” he replied cheerfully. Then he raised his sword in salute. “Now. Again.”

Cynthia growled, gripping her spear even tighter. Her eyes glowed, and her new horns and claws sparked with magic that slowly, but surely, shifted from the ordinary mana he had grown accustomed to sensing from her into something with a faint trace of primordial energy.

It was minuscule, almost nothing. The only reason he could sense it was because of his Dragonkin Mastery skill and because he had just spent an hour standing in the middle of what was probably the Primordial Sea.

She launched herself forward with such force that the ground cratered beneath her feet. She flew through her stance and unleashed another barrage of spear strikes, the magic in the air crackling with fury.

Sam smiled.

They spent the afternoon in the training field, going over every skill Cynthia had and testing how each one felt with her new build, trying to understand how the transformation affected her abilities.

In the end, she managed to shift things around slightly and gained a small understanding of primordial energy. Her strikes became faster and stronger, enough that Sam had to stop holding back quite as much.

“Woohoo!” Cynthia cried out joyfully as she practically collapsed into the chair. Her hair stuck to her forehead, her armor was scuffed, and her skin was covered in a light layer of dust and sand from the training field mixed with sweat. “I almost had you there!”

“Most certainly…” Sam chortled.

“Mean…” Cynthia pouted, then grinned again. “Check this out!”

She waved her hand, sending a screen toward Sam while excitedly watching his reaction. On it were some of the results from their training.

[Congratulations! You managed to grasp the bare bones of being a dragon!]

[Thanks to being trained by (one of the) progenitor(s) of your new race, the effectiveness of the training was doubled!]

[You gained the skill Fledgling Progenitor Dragon Spirit!]

[Fledgling Progenitor Dragon Spirit: Level 11/25 (0%) (Passive) Being the first of your kind allows you a greater connection to the Primordial Sea, enabling you to infuse yourself with its energy. Increases the effectiveness of mana by 1% per skill level. However, this greater connection comes with its own disadvantage: you are susceptible to Dragon Rage.]

[Dragon Rage: Level 0/50 (0%) (Passive) When damaged and hurt enough, you lose yourself in the primordial energies, entering an unthinking rage-like state. If your health decreases below 20%, it triggers this state. If in battle, you will continue to attack the last target. When the rage state ends, you are hit with a Lethargy debuff equal to the time spent in rage. The rage lasts 60 seconds and decreases by 1 second for each skill level. During the rage, your attack power is increased by 25% for each second spent in the state, and your defenses are decreased by the same amount as the primordial energies running through your body tear you apart.]

“You need to train that Dragon Rage up incredibly fast.”

“I’m not stupid, you know,” Cynthia replied. “But this is good, right?”

Sam nodded. He had never seen anything like this before. Rage itself wasn’t exactly new; there were currently several guilds that based their entire playstyles around Berserker-type players. However, based on what he was reading, if Cynthia managed to upgrade the Dragon Spirit skill, Dragon Rage would likely evolve alongside it.

For now, it was a huge disadvantage for her, but if she managed to gain control over it, it could become an incredible weapon.

“Very good,” he answered with a thumbs-up.

“Yes! I’m so going to be the very best!” she yelled, throwing her hands up in celebration.

Sam watched her celebrate for a few seconds before she calmed down, relatively speaking, and turned back to him. “Can we train a little more? I feel like I’m close to figuring something out…”

He shook his head. “Sorry, I have something to do, so I’m logging out soon.”

Cynthia grinned mischievously. “What, do you have a date?”

“Well, yes…” Sam said, and he immediately knew he had made a mistake.

Cynthia’s grin widened, her eyes opening in surprise as she practically leaped at him, grabbing his arm and looking up at him with the expression of someone who had just discovered a hidden treasure.

“Spill! Who? Where?” Then she gasped. “Is it… my sister?”

­­“Well, this is awkward…” Sam muttered as he looked around the decently ritzy restaurant.

They had both agreed not to go to a very expensive restaurant, but even this felt a bit uncomfortable. He was wearing a light suit, while Lucy was wearing a dress he had no name for but looked incredible on her.

“I told you we should have just stayed home and vegged out on the couch,” Lucy replied while rolling her eyes and taking a sip of her drink – some kind of incredibly elaborate mocktail. “It was you who insisted that the first date should be at a fancy restaurant.”

“It’s tradition…”

“At home, I don’t get food portions designed for pigeons…” she grumbled, indicating the three pieces of broccoli and some kind of meat artistically cut up and piled on itself, surrounded by sauce. “It tastes amazing, but…”

Sam let out a sigh. “Fine. You were right. We can go to that chicken place afterward…”

Her eyes lit up instantly, and she beamed at him, but almost in the next second, it was replaced by a frown. “Don’t you need to wait for a month to get a reservation at that place?”

“Did you forget? I have a standing reservation with them,” Sam replied smugly.

“Oh yeah… I forgot. You’re crazy…” she teased him.

“Hey, you chose me!” he replied, laughing a little and pointing toward her with his fork.

She rolled her eyes again. “Technically, you chose me. You walked into that coffee shop like you owned the place. I wanted to have you thrown out, but there was something about you…”

“Imagine where you would be if you had done that…” Sam said with a smile.

“Please.” She waved her hand dismissively. “I’m sure I would have been fine.” She looked around a bit. “Maybe not this fine, but I’m sure I would have managed.”

Sam reached out and patted her hand, keeping his fork in the other. “I believe in you…”

Lucy turned her hand over, intertwined her fingers with his, and sent him a small, shy smile. “I know…”

They sat there for a few moments, simply gazing into each other’s eyes, when a gentle cough broke their focus.

Both of their eyes snapped toward the source of the sound, where a bored-looking waiter was staring down at them. “Is everything alright with the food?”

To Sam, it was rather bland. Naturally, it was made from high-quality ingredients, but it was boring to him. Plus, as Lucy had said, the portion sizes were terrible. He would have understood if it was a tasting menu and they were expected to eat a dozen small plates of food, but they had only ordered a starter and a main course, and were planning to order dessert.

He looked at Lucy, admiring for a second how the restaurant lights reflected off her hair, before meeting her eyes and silently asking what she wanted to do. He saw her eyes dart down to the food, taking in both of their half-finished plates, before meeting his gaze again with a questioning look.

Sam nodded, and she smiled a little, but it was immediately wiped away as she turned back to the waiter.

“Terrible. I don’t think I have ever eaten anything blander.”

The waiter’s eyes widened, and his boredom vanished instantly. “Miss, if you’re not satisfied, we can change…”

“I’m sorry, but there’s no need. Just bring the check.”

Half an hour later, they were sitting in their trusty chicken restaurant, gorging themselves on all kinds of freshly made and, most importantly, well-spiced chicken. They got a few strange looks because of how they were dressed, but in the end, most people were more interested in their own meals than in them.

“This is the last time we accept recommendations from Lara…” Lucy grumbled.

Sam grinned at her. “Who would have known that an heiress like her has such shitty taste…”

She bumped her shoulder into his. “The important thing is that we’re having fun.”

“That’s true,” he admitted as he glanced over at her. Seeing a small smudge of sauce on her cheek, he reached over and wiped it away with his finger. “Missed a bit…” he teased her.

She blushed scarlet red and turned away slightly. Sam just grinned and reached for another serving of delicious food.

A/N: So indecent... hand holding in public? clutches pearls