The Clueless Prince

Chapter 13: A Dangerous Game of Hide and Seek

A/N: No 14th chapter tomorrow sadly, I didn't expect to get so busy today... But I hope you still enjoy this chapter. Oh and next chapter is the start of the school arc! That will be a lot of fun!

Now enjoy!
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I wiped my sweat off.

Breathing in, I leaped at my opponent. First slicing towards them, which they dodged, before stabbing at their weak points. The opponent blocked my attempts and began pushing me back. I gritted my teeth and persevered, trying to gain the upper hand. Too focused on the fight, I didn't notice that my stance was slipping.

My opponent slammed their sword into mine, causing me to lose my balance. I fell, and right as I was about to stand up, they put their sword at my throat.

"Checkmate." Heath smiled.

"Damn. It's 0-5 now..." I scowled. He put a hand out but I ignored it and stood up. Brushing off the dirt, I picked up my sword.

"Let's go again."

"Resting is important too—"

"I'll rest when I can't move." I was becoming exhausted but I wanted to fight again. I've been training with Heath (and by myself) for the past few months. I'd been so occupied with training that I'd even fallen asleep in the training yard. Hadn't the knights noticed me, I might've gotten a nasty cold.

But even with all this training, I was still too weak. There were a handful of months left, I had to quickly improve or I'd—

Heath overpowered me once more and I found myself at the end of his blade. I met his gaze.

"Again—"

"Rael, no. This is becoming unhealthy. I heard from the knights that they always saw you at morning practice. And that you were the last one to leave. If you continue to overdo it, you won't ever improve. Swordsmanship isn't only about training." He didn't lower his blade as he glowered. "It's about knowing your limits and surpassing them. What you're doing is merely using a sloppy foundation and reaching for the skies. Even if you train every day, you won't come far. Only those with talent or enlightenment can effortlessly train like that. You have neither."

I stared at him. And then sighed.

"Damn you. Why do you always have to be right?" Heath lowered his sword. I plopped down on the ground, sulking. "You mean, 'you're not like me, so give up', right?" Heath averted his gaze.

"N-not really. Even if you're not good at swordsmanship, magic might fit you more." I gave him a blank look.

Ever since I awakened, I could sense magic. That might sound like an amazing ability, but magic for me was like the air. If there was enough of it, I'd feel a breeze of it. And even though my awakening had been... different, I was certain that my quantity of mana hadn't increased. That meant that I, Rael, was an average spell caster.

Even the schools of magic that Rael chose in the game were average...

I sighed. How could I get past this hurdle? All of the future opponents were strong, too strong for me. I didn't want to single-handedly defeat them, but rather work as support for the main character and the love interests. To do that, I'd have to be at least decent enough to stick around them. To become the perfect shadow, I had to catch up.

I began pondering as Heath took a seat next to me.

Finally, something clicked. I wanted to slap myself. There was a very simple solution to this issue. If the original Rael wasn't good enough, I simply had to boost my abilities in other ways.

"Rael, why are you smiling like that...?" Ignoring Heath, I started scheming.

There were many ways to boost your abilities. There were two choices; temporary boosts or permanent ones.