Illusion of Integrity

Creative Copycat

"Please, keep mine as a secret, Joker. Or you want me to spread your identity too?" Maha scolds her with heavy tone.

"Nonono, let's hide our cards." Riss replies with hands raised.

["Wow, cool phrase!"]

"That's so joker-like...Anyway, was that true? Learning swordmanship? Really?"

"Wait, how did you know that I'm Joker?"

"Your aura back then was obvious. Everyone has their own taste of domination skill. I'm older than you think you know."

"Ah okay, then, can you teach me?"

"Well, maybe? But how do you learn swordmanship without a sword?"

"Errr can I just make a sword with my skill?"

"Why don't you just blast people with your skill then?"

"Ah, yeah, it's better to use real sword."

"Let's go find yourself a sword."

"Anyone selling sword here?"

"I know one."

Both of them decide to go quickly. Only few hours left until the sun is set. They finally arrive in the blacksmithy and enter the building.

"Hmm? The weirdo?" The receptionist blurts.

"Where is your boss?" Maha puts his hands on the desk.

"Let me call him then."

It doesn't take long before the receptionist comes back with someone of buff body in front of him. "Weirdo, it's rare seeing you here. What's up?"

"Beardie I'll be straight to business, do you have any unsold swords?"

"Eh? Another one lost their mind?"

"Was that remark necessary?"

"Follow me then." The blacksmith leads the way to the inner shop. Weapons of different types are hanging in the wall. All of them are uniquely shaped weapons. "Who's gonna use this by the way?" Beardie asks while glancing at the swords.

"This little girl."

"Xagan? Using sword? Kid, you are not being hypnotized, aren't you?"

"Nope, ah my name is Riss. Nice to meet you." Riss bows slightly.

"Just call me Beardie, everyone do. If you really want to learn swordmanship, you better pick medium swords. You don't want to use katana like that weirdo over there."

"Ah, why?"

"Katana is for slicing, as a Xagan you have the potential for more power, so slashing is a better option in my opinion. And fighting with katana while flying gonna be a pain in the ass I tell ya. Because you will use thrusts a lot." The blacksmith explains, Maha only nods a few times, approving the opinion.

"Hmmm, that makes sense."

"Here, use this." The blacksmith shows a medium sword with several red gems laid on it. Such a beautiful yet simple sword.

"This looks like decorative rather than functional."

"You mean those gems? That's a magic sword, Lil Girl. You pour power on it, and the sword will keep it like a battery. Unless you decided to unleash the power, it will be kept in the gems."

"Battery for what? This sword uses battery?"

Both Maha and Beardie facepalm. Riss is a total newbie in term of weaponry. She doesn't even know the concept of energy in weaponry.

"You see, the energy will be kept in the sword to either sharpen the cut, or unleashed as an energy slash."

"Oh, so that's how the battery works. But how do I pay it?"

"You look like a rich little kid. Your dad will pay for it. I will deliver the receipt to your house, what's your dad's name?"

"Ah that's convenient, my dad is Duke Bernidas."

"Duke Bernidas!? I won't get scolded by him, right!?"

"Don't worry, you won't."

"Good, then just take it, I will deal with the trade later with your dad."

"Thanks, Beardie."

"No, I'm thanking you, another weird stuff sold is a good thing. I don't know what I was thinking when making that one."

After say goodbyes, the two of them leave the blacksmithy. Riss is satisfied with the sword, it's beautiful and powerful. They talk with each other on their way back to the inn. Everyone stare at Riss, it's like the day is going to rain soon when they see a Xagan brings a sword, and a little kid too.

"That's a good sword, it won't break easily."

"I see, thanks, weirdo."

"No problem."

"So, how are you going to teach me?"

"Hmm, we need a space big enough. Let's go somewhere, follow me."

Maha brings them to a back alley. After checking that no one is here, he draws his katana and lets out a breath. Surprisingly, he cuts into the air in front of him, and the space got slashed! "This is where I usually train, let's go."

Both of her mouth and eyes are wide open. Riss can't believe what he just saw. Someone slashed the space.

"What are you doing? Hurry up."

The scenery that welcomes Riss is stunning. It's a bamboo forest with a waterfall at the end of the sight. The cliff spans a very long distance. Where the waterfall ends at the ground, the river continues the flow.

["WOW!"]

"WOW!"

"Wake up! We are here for training."

"Ah, sorry."

"Now, usually someone will need to learn on how to increase their power. But because you are powerful enough, the only thing that needs to be fixed is your control and your senses. You will be slashing these bamboos over there. The cut has to be clean. Don't use brute strength, feel the resistance and control your muscle."

"So, I just need to s***h it horizontally."

"Heh, as if everything is that easy."

Riss unsheathes her sword and readies herself. She stands 1 meter in front of the bamboo and exhales a breath. With all of her power, she slashes the bamboo but it got deflected instead. "Eh!?"

"Hahahahahahaha, told ya."

"Hmmmm..."

["Wait, I have an idea."]

"How?"

"Stop spacing out." Says Maha, but Riss ignores it.

["Why don't you just ask him to show it. I will copy him, and later we can train it ourselves."]

"Ah! That's genius!"

["No, you are just too dumb"]

"..."

"Weirdo."

"Hmm? Finally got back to your senses?"

"I know a better way to learn swordmanship."

"What? How?"

"Just show me, I will copy your skills, later I will train it myself. It's one of my ability."

"Such cheat exists!?"

"It's not a cheat, it's an ability, and it's called being creative."

["I should be the one bragging, not you."]

"Hehe."

"Sigh.. fine, now watch me." Maha walks to the bamboo in front of Riss, "[Quickdraw]." With a quickdraw, he slashes the bamboo easily and sheathed back the sword. "Heh, try to copy it."

"I'm no Joker if I can't copy it." Says Rainbow Riss. Just before Maha slashed it, Rainbow Riss took over. After that, she then tries to mimic it, but her quickdraw is way slower than Maha and ends up deflected again. "Eh!?"

["Ehhhhhhhh!?"]

"Hahahahahahaha." Maha laughs loudly, "You don't do quickdraw with swords, you do quickdraw with katana."

"Then why did you showed me Quickdraw instead of normal s***h!?"

["What a jerk."]

"Hahahahaha, my bad, watch me again then." Maha takes another stance in front of another bamboo and do a normal s***h with unsheathed sword, "[s***h]" Same like before, the bamboo ends up slashed perfectly. "Now, do it like I did then."

"Sigh.." With unsheathed sword, Riss mimicked the s***h perfectly. Even though the power of her s***h is weaker, it still cuts the bamboo perfectly. "Wow, so technique matters, even with my current power, it still ends up cutted."

["Heeeeeeee that's interesting."]

"Of course, that's the beauty of the swords."

"Heh." Riss smirks. "That will be all I guess. I will train this in my dorm. Later can I find you again if i want to learn more?"

"Sure."

"Thanks, weirdo."