Mixed Blessing System

As she thought about how and when Lothur had learned his techniques, Annaliese began to pay attention to this man's strikes and movements.

As he attacked, he displayed a power equivalent to someone who had just reached 3rd Transformation, something superior to what she had seen just a few days ago.

And noticing this, she could not help but wonder how he had managed to get stronger in such a short period.

'That...'

'What's with this strength of his? Is he by any chance using some item to hide his cultivation?'

'No. There's nothing on Lothur's body nor his clothes.' She dodged a diagonal attack, feeling a slight wind pass through her belly after the tip of his weapon made an arc in the air.

Jumping back a few centimeters, she decided to test her opponent's defenses, still curious about where his strength came from.

Pow!

With that, she made a surprise move towards Lothur, taking advantage of the fact that he was still finishing the diagonal move from before to kick him in the chest.

Seeing that, Lothur promptly tried to dodge his opponent's attack, jumping to the side while using the weight of his weapon to his advantage.

However, he had not been so quick, and the tip of Annaliese's left foot struck his right arm, causing him to go off balance and fall to the ground.

"Ouch!" He let out a slight sound of pain as he rolled across the floor, already trying to get up before falling outside the circle that demarcated that place.

'Not bad!' Annaliese praised him in her mind, realizing that most of her kick had not affected that man, or he would not have recovered himself so quickly.

However, soon after the two returned to the fight, it did not take long for that woman to notice several problems in Lothur's posture, something common to see in inexperienced cultivators.

She then continued to fight with him, exchanging blows and dodging his attacks, constantly pushing him while giving her tips. "Lothur, your defensive positioning is not good."

"Every time you attack me, you leave several gaps that are easy to see and take advantage of."

She watched his movements as sweat began to form in that man's pores, slowly wetting his clothes. "If it weren't for your movement technique being excellent for your level, the fight would be over by now."

She then moved right after he tried to hit her left shoulder, taking advantage of one of his gaps to scare him a little.

Pow!

After seeing that woman's fists approaching his belly, Lothur's eyes fluttered. He tried with all his might to dodge that by jumping back.

"See?" She laughed, thinking of how she had subtly touched his abdomen before he was able to escape that attack. "If I were using one of my techniques right now, I certainly would have hit you, even with your reaction speed."

Annaliese was obviously not using her techniques since, with her natural strength and speed relative to her body, she could easily overpower Lothur.

She saw him begin to breathe hurriedly, looking at her with an expression of doubt. She smiled and said. "You need to be alert at all times, Lothur."

"It is not because one attack of yours may defeat your enemy that you should let your guard down."

"The opposite of that, as long as you are not sure of your victory, you never leave openings for enemies or people in your surroundings."

"Always be ready to act!" She pressed him again, now using a little more of her speed to attack this man and work on his weaknesses.

"OK." He said in determination, beginning to pay attention to those points raised by Annaliese.

As they continued this fight for a while longer, that woman soon saw another problem in Lothur's posture.

"Besides your defense when you attack, your attacks are not the best either." She continued to 'dance' with him, constantly deflecting and counter-attacking this man, making him suffer.

So far, Lothur had not hit any attack on that woman, only having expended his energy to strike the air and deal with her attacks.

With that, as he sweated considerably and struggled with his mouth open to breathe more easily, he heard her voice. "You have to work your weapon more intelligently."

"It is not good for you to behave as if you are trying to hit a stationary target. You are wasting your energy every time you put so much force into your blows and make these simple movements."

"Let your imagination tell you how to use the ax in your hands."

"Don't restrict yourself to the obvious!"

"Think that that weapon is part of your body and that it is possible to move it without restriction." She watched him closely, seeing the determined look in his eyes.

"How am I going to do that? Moving this ax is not as easy as you imagine..." He said in frustration.

"Then that means you are not yet strong enough to use this weapon properly or that it is not suitable for you." She said this as she summoned an item from her spatial ring.

After that was said, she picked up something that looked like a long cylindrical steel bar and spun it on one of her fingers, making it form what looked like a spinning shield.

At the same time, she indicated for him to attack her, smiling as she showed him some of the skills he might have if he were more clever with his weapon.

Clang!

As he tried to attack that woman, Lothur saw her using that thing to stop his movement, causing the ax in his hand to fly away.

Then she used that thing to cut his shirt while making a different motion, similar to the one painters use with their brushes.

Upon sensing that, Lothur stumbled backward, feeling that even using an ordinary steel bar, Annaliese had demonstrated a dexterity far superior to his.

'So that's it...' He finally understood that he did not need to use his ax as simply as before.

After falling to the ground, he saw Annaliese stopping her last movement, using one of her hands to help him up.

"Well, let's stop here."

"Now that you're already exhausted, and I've already given you several hints, let's leave it until we continue this tomorrow."

Hearing that, he did not complain, having just looked into Annaliese's brown eyes with gratitude, feeling that this training had been precious.

Lothur still did not know if the minor injuries he sustained in those minutes would be enough to boost his Physique. However, because of that woman's hints and how he had been pressed during the last few minutes, he knew that this could be useful for his understanding of his techniques.

And that in itself would already be extremely important to him!

"Sigh..."

"Thanks for the help, Anna." He said sincerely. "I hope you won't mind continuing to help me in the future."

She smiled at him upon hearing that, pleased to have had this moment with him without making a blunder as had happened previously. "Hmm, you don't have to thank me. I'm happy to be able to help you."

"However, answer me one thing..." She approached him with a curious expression on her beautiful face. "Since when can you do these things? Why are you hiding this from my sister?"

Lothur breathlessly breathed as he watched that woman, wondering how he should answer such a thing.

"I think it was after I was hit by a carriage a few days ago..." He said without specifying his situation.

"Oh?" She watched him in surprise, interested in how being hit by a carriage had changed him so much.

"But I don't want other people to know about it because I want to surprise your sister..." He used that excuse to dispel that woman's doubts. "I want to surprise her during the academy competition for the Secret Realm places."

"I want to use that to improve our relationship."

"What?"

"Are you serious?" Her eyes widened in shock, surprised at this revelation. "If this is true, why are you after that other woman?"

"That..."

"You wouldn't understand."

"Anyway, I am telling you the truth, so I hope you can keep that secret for me. I don't want to raise expectations for your sister and then fail her..." He lied, but without showing any hesitation in his voice or look.

And that had been enough for Annaliese.

As someone who had, to some degree, disappointed her parents with talent not as good as her sister's, she knew how expectations could influence relationships.

"All right, go get some rest. See you tomorrow."

After that, Lothur quickly left that place, making his way back to his room in anticipation of what would happen when he woke up the next day, already recovered.