Chapter 31

Chapter 31: Recovery Ability Seems Off

There is no lunch break; after finishing work, Adrian is about to start his training with Teacher Artoria.

As with yesterday, their sword training continues. Adrian's movements are very precise, but he has learned from the morning's combat experience that most of the time, except for the first strike, the enemy won't give you the chance to strike with a cool pose, shout out some cheesy name, and then comfortably attack.

Practicing basic techniques helps Adrian become familiar with the power of each strike, enabling him to use their full strength as perfectly as possible in battle.

Of course, achieving this requires extended practice and actual combat experience.

"Haa!" 

"Ha!"

Adrian finds shouting while swinging the sword adds an extra flair, reminding him of classic martial arts films.

Artoria doesn't pay him much attention. In fact, she doesn't need to. It doesn't take long for his voice to start cracking from shouting, though. Being overly dramatic comes at a cost.

As for Tom, he plays around with his small bamboo sword for a bit before growing impatient and heading back to sleep.

Both Artoria and Adrian know that even if they try to make Tom continue training, he'll likely come up with some bizarre way to slack off. So, they just let him be.

"Adrian, stop for a moment," Artoria says.

Adrian puts down his sword and asks, "What's wrong?"

Standing in front of him, Artoria tilts her head slightly to look at him and says, "Take off your clothes."

Adrian's a bit surprised, "Huh?"

"The bruise on your forehead has disappeared, and I want to check your injuries," Artoria explains, tilting her head again. "Is there a problem?"

"...No problem, please don't say it so calmly though," Adrian says as he lifts his shirt, revealing his increasingly prominent abdominal muscles.

Artoria doesn't have as many distracting thoughts as he does. She points to an area where there used to be a bruise, "It's completely gone. Was the medicine you applied some sort of special treatment?"

Adrian responds, "No, it was just a regular swelling reduction and pain relief medicine." He touches the area where he had the bruise and notices that it has completely healed.

The medicine in the medical kit was all ordinary, and Tom didn't need any to recover from injuries. Even applying bandages was more for psychological comfort.

"Before I came to this world, I was just an ordinary person. I'm pretty sure I don't have any kind of superhuman recovery ability," Adrian says, raising his left hand. "If there's anything different, it's this."

He has experimented before: the magic array on his hand is something only he, Tom, and Artoria can see. Now he's starting to suspect that this array has altered his physical condition.

Artoria nods, "That's a possibility. Keep an eye out for any unusual changes in your body. For now, it seems like a good thing."

"Yeah. Since my injuries have healed, let's continue our sparring! Oh wait, I mean, let me finish the basic training first," Adrian corrects himself. He still plans to build his strength and arm power; he doesn't want to get beaten to the point where he can't complete it.

During the break, he checks his energy level and draws from it again. Instead of drawing when it's above 90%, he waits until it's fully replenished, wondering if this changes the probability of what he might get.

But his assumption proves to be overly optimistic. Summoning items still consumes 80% of the energy, and the results aren't spectacular:

"Congratulations, you've obtained the Emiya family's kotatsu and Tom's rolling pin."

"Stored in the item inventory."

The rolling pin is unremarkable, but the magic array is either a curse or a blessing in the kitchen – it either ruins the Emiya family's kitchen or wreaks havoc in Tom's. Adrian's unsure if these items disappear in their worlds or if they're copied.

He hasn't seen a kotatsu before; he's only heard that it's a seductive artifact in the winter, a place where anime characters crawl into and don't want to leave.

He can experience it when winter comes... Wait, do the Sabaody Archipelago islands even have a winter?

He hasn't particularly asked about that, and the weather in the Grand Line is chaotic. Even if winter suddenly came the next moment, it wouldn't be surprising, right?

After resting for a while, Adrian and Artoria practice with their bamboo swords.

After getting beaten up in the morning, Adrian has made some progress, managing to last through three strikes this afternoon instead of being defeated in two. That's a 50% improvement, and that's something to celebrate.

At the end of their training, Adrian is once again covered in injuries. Now he can't help but recall Zoro from his world, who endured 2,000 losses against Kuina. Will he have to endure being beaten up thousands of times?

"Ouch..."

He still needs to apply medicine; at least it temporarily relieves the pain. The tavern will be open for business for a while in the evening, so he doesn't want to be hindered by injuries.

Lifting his shirt to reveal his wounds, Adrian tries to look dignified, or perhaps a bit stiff. He leaves the task of applying medicine to Artoria.

He initially declined her offer, feeling slightly embarrassed, but she insisted, and he eventually accepted her kind gesture.

"If you don't want to trouble me, just become stronger quickly," Artoria encourages him.

He's not sure how much longer he'll have to endure getting beaten up. To ensure that training doesn't burden her, he reluctantly starts to adapt, although he might find a bit of happiness in the process.

"Artoria."

"Yes?"

Adrian jokes, "Have you ever heard the saying, 'Playing chess with a smelly basket, the more you play, the worse it smells'? If you keep training with a beginner like me every day, will you eventually become weaker?"

Artoria continues to apply medicine as she responds seriously, "That won't happen. I can't speak for others, but for me, every sword swing is an accumulation of experience. Whether in practice or battle, whether against a strong or weak opponent, every swing I make is serious. Even if it's just a tiny improvement, every sword swing makes me stronger."

Adrian falls silent for a moment, then says, "I feel like you just struck a chord with me."

It's like she comes with an XP bar for swordsmanship skills. She's attractive, strong, and has a cheat ability. If this were a novel, she'd be treated like a protagonist. Is she truly worthy of being called the Knight King, who became a hero through her own power?

"Alright." Artoria throws away the cotton ball, puts away the tweezers and medicine, and encourages him, "Don't underestimate yourself. Even among those I've seen, you're one of the most diligent. Plus, with this recovery ability, you might end up stronger than me someday."