73 Evolution Of A Martial Skill (2/2)

Though she took several breaks throughout the course of her sparring session with Sophie, no matter how many times Elizabeth tasted defeat at the hands of Sophie, she never fully broke and gave up. All it would take was some moments to heal the bruises and scratches that had accumulated across her body and it was back to the ring.

Eventually though, Elizabeth was brought out of her madness with a timely notification from her status and quest functions.

[Milestone Alert!

The User has evolved a Martial Art to D Grade!!!

Hidden Quest: Martial Arts Milestone #2 (Complete)

Difficulty: D

Degree of Completion: Excellent

Objective: Get any Martial Art to D Grade ✔

Description: For a newbie like you, getting a Mortal Grade Martial Art to Level 17 in a short couple days is pretty impressive. It isn't anything heaven-shattering or the like, but even in the Shadow Realm, you need to be a genius to see such results.

Reward: Elemental Energy-Technique Integration Cube

Bonus: Integration Cube's Quality Increases to Origin Energy-Technique Integration Cube

Martial Art: Art Of The Eight Limbs (Muay Thai)

Level 17

Experience: 1,525/1,775

Grade: D

Description: A combat sport descendant of Thailand, characterized by the use of fists, elbows, knees, and shins.

Current Effect: Unarmed combat at the Pawn level yields a 5.88% buff to Strength and Defense. Due to the user not yet being in the Pawn-Stage, only the Mortal-Stage buff is applied. (Total Applied: 100%; Total Achieved: 105.88%)]

”Let's call it a day here...” Upon understanding that she wouldn't receive more buffs regardless of how much she improved her abilities in Muay Thai, Elizabeth quickly expressed her desire to move away towards other aspects of training herself. Besides, she'd been fighting for several hours already. It certainly wouldn't surprise anyone that after all the things she'd been through, that she wanted a break.

”Hmph! I thought you would last longer~” Unsurprisingly, Sophie didn't miss any chance at belittling Elizabeth. However, she appeared to indulge in this small victory a bit too much, as her giggling would not stop even after several seconds….

Elizabeth didn't mind the gesture, as she had already gotten her time's worth from being Sophie's temporary punching bag. Though she hated to admit it, Sophie had done a rather good job at pointing out the flaws in her understanding and strategy as a Muay Thai boxer. She might have been ”a little” rough, but the time Elizabeth spent sparring with her yielded experience that was just as good if not better than the amount she would have received when training with Jane.

As a matter of fact, instead of continuing her path towards making an enemy out of Sophie, Elizabeth chose to ”retreat” back to her room in ”exhaustion.” She had been planning to stay down in the training area until the dojo's closing time, augmenting her body with internal refinement and various exercises. But, after Sophie gifted her with more time to improve her Muay Thai, even she felt it would be unnecessary to recklessly slap her face by proving that she wasn't the least bit tired and could continue for much longer.

Though she didn't really feign exhaustion, Elizabeth cleaned up the area she used for training and took her leave for the day. She returned to her room and stared at the various magical or nonsensical items strewn about, promising herself that ”eventually” she'd get down to organizing her things. Alas, it was never ”now,” always ”later,” as Elizabeth, just like most fifteen-year-olds, had a case of procrastination; though at the moment, it seemed to be an extreme case of the terrible disease...