"Do it again! Do it again!" Aphrodite cheered, watching as the Phoenix opened it's mouth, unleashing a small burst of fire.
"So, what can this guy do? Besides breathin' fire and shit," Azuma hummed, glancing at Taga as he stared at the bird in front of him. The phoenix in front of him looked a lot different from the DxD-World familiar he knew Riser had.
The bird was bright, being a mixture of orange, yellow, and red as it looked like the embodiment of a flame. It was large - being nearly three feet tall, full of puffy-bright feathers, and had large black eyes that were staring at Aphrodite naively. There was also a sharp beak on its face, along with shark dark-red talons on its feet.
"A lot o' things," Taga grunted in response, also watching Aphrodite fawn over the bright bird, "But, it depends on its age. They only get stronger as they age, and they are reborn into their younger form when they die from old age, so there's no way to know how old it is just from lookin'."
"But there is a way to check?" Azuma asked, interpreting what Taga had told him.
"Yeah. You just gotta make it your familiar, and then it'll have a familiar menu in the system," Taga explained, reaching up his hand and swiping it in the air, "Right now, it's the familiar of whichever higher-up bought it, so I can't check it, but I can transfer it over."
A moment later, a notification appeared in front of Azuma.
[Familiar Gained!]
[Legendary] [Phoenix]
[Legendary] [Phoenix] - LVL 79
[Upgrade with Points]
[Evolution Tree] - LOCKED
[EXP: 1,250,975/725,000,000]
Azuma's jaw nearly dropped as he stared at the phoenix's stats, "Level 79?"
"Damn it, I knew there was something wrong with them givin' me a legendary item early. It's a young one!" Taga's reaction was the opposite, the man's face falling slightly as he spoke.
"This is young? It's fuckin' level 79!" Azuma said loudly, turning to look at the rat man, "Gobby's been workin' day and night since I got here, and he's barely level 10! Aph's been leeching off me this whole time too, and she's only level 7!"
"Don't call me a leech!" Aphrodite whined, puffing her cheeks out at him. The only way the useless Goddess even got to level 7 was because Azuma had manually leveled her up, as Aphrodite did nothing productive enough to actually gain exp.
"Phoenix's don't die of old age, and usually don't die in general. It's hard as hell to beat one, much less kill it," Taga explained, shaking his head at Azuma, "Some of them are millions of years old, and have levels in the tens of thousands. Even a young one should be in the hundreds - this one is practically a baby. It looks young, and I doubt it's because it was reborn recently. I doubt it's even had a rebirth yet!"
"...So, it sucks?" Azuma asked blankly, gesturing to the bird, which looked over at him with narrowed eyes. A second later, he had to jerk his head back to avoid a ball of fire, which slammed into the wall behind him and dispersed.
"No, it's still a phoenix. It'll grow stronger, and this is probably actually the best scenario," Taga shook his head with a grunt, "You're much stronger than when I first met you, but your limit is roughly the 20th floor right now. An older phoenix wouldn't listen to someone so weak, even if it was your familiar. It'd take years to prove your worth. With this youngin' here, you both can grow together."
Yeah, that would suck if I had a familiar that thought I was a weakling.
…
"Still, I wish it was strong as fuck," Azuma deadpanned, causing the phoenix to squawk indignantly at him.
"Compared to what you've got right now, it is," Taga responded dryly, "I don't know much about that other world you go into all the time, but I've seen that girl, Ravel, whose from there. This little guy's got an even stronger regeneration ability, and is at least seven or eight times stronger overall."
"Yeah, he is still level 79," Azuma hummed, nodding approvingly at the phoenix. It wasn't the dragon-level power familiar he was expecting when he saw a legendary phoenix, but it was still way stronger than any other units he had.
If Taga's estimation is right, then it's probably encroaching on ultimate-class in strength.
Ravel was on the weaker side of high-class devils, but seven or eight times her power was still a lot. If Azuma had to guess, the phoenix was probably a step below the actual big shots, like Sirzechs and Serafall, and closer to the level of someone like Kokobiel.
"Now, we just have one last thing to do," Azuma hummed, standing up and taking a step toward the Phoenix. It looked up at him blankly, tilting it's head cutely at him.
"What am I gonna name you?"
—----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
"...I must insist that you practice…" Artoria droned out, the woman looking like she was on the verge of giving up. After many days of constantly trying to get Azuma to learn how to use a sword, she was almost ready to throw in the towel.
"Eh, alright. I've been stat farming for long enough, I guess I should train some," Azuma nodded, turning away from his computer. In order to procrastinate having to learn from the British woman, he had been strangely productive in constantly farming up more stats.
I used to find the monotony of it boring, but knowing that the other option is becoming a colony again has been motivating.
"...There are many dangers pointed toward you by summoning me, I must insist-" Artoria blinked, cutting herself as she looked over at Azuma, "W-Wait, you will?!"
"Yeah, you still haven't learned how to speak American yet, but I can't wait forever for you to," Azuma hummed. He had given his trainer the condition that he would train if Artoria learned how to 'speak American,' but considering that wasn't a real language, he would be waiting forever for her to learn it.
"G-Great! Let's get started right away, Master," Artoria nodded, her face brightening at the idea of finally getting to train him.
"Yeah, yeah. Follow me," Azuma waved, leading her into the mining tunnel and down the long hallway. He had known this day would come eventually, so he had ordered some of the miners to dig out a training room for him.
"They did a good job," Azuma nodded approvingly, glancing around the room. It was still a large open cave room with glowy ores lighting it up, but it small rack of weapons Taga had made along with carved-out sparring grounds.
"Grab a sword, and then we will begin," Artoria ordered, walking towards one of the sparring circles. Azuma walked over to the weapons wrack, grabbing one of the swords at random.
[Mythralite Sword] - A sword created by [Taga]
Durability: 500
+15 STR
+5 END
Oh? I get stats just for holding it? I need to have Taga make me an actual sword.
The sword was a mixture of silver and blue, and looked like it had been hastily made. The blade itself looked like it was more stone-like than metallic, as it had chips in it and bits that were jutting outward. The hilt was also lopsided, and the handle dug into Azuma's hand as he held it.
…Hopefully, Taga just didn't put much effort into this one. If this is the best he can do then I need to get a new rat.
"Alright, let's begin!" Artoria said, reaching onto her hip and pulling out her own sword.
Azuma nodded, walking over and standing in front of Artoria.
"Hold your sword out," She ordered, and he obliged. She glanced down at his grip blandly.
"Your grip is too loose, and your stance is extremely subpar," Artoria frowned.
"Eh? It looks fine to me," Azuma countered, looking down at this body. He was essentially standing normally white lazily pointing his sword forward - sufficient to say, it was not fine.
"Widen your legs more," Artoria ordered, and Azuma stared at her blankly. Slowly, he shifted his legs apart a couple of inches.
"More than that! Have you ever fought anything?" Artoria sighed, waving at his legs again.
"No. Actually, I punched the Orc Dungeon Master, but he died in one hit," Azuma deadpanned, moving his legs a bit wider.
"Good enough. Now, raise your hand, and swing!" Artoria ordered, doing a model swing to showcase how it was done. As she did, a rippling went through the air from her perfect slash.
"Got it," Azuma hummed, raising his sword and swinging it sideways. As he did, a notification appeared.
[Sword Training] training started!
[1/10] Until Milestone!
Azuma blinked.
What is this going to give me? STR?
Before he had more time to think, the notification expanded.
[Sword] training started!
[1/10] Until Milestone!
Due to training with a [HEROIC] Training Unit, your progress has been multiplied by 10x!
[10/10] Until Milestone!
[Sword] Training Milestone Reached!
[Sword Fighting] Proficiency Unlocked!
+1 [Sword Fighting] Proficiency Level!
+10XP!
[0/100] Until Milestone!
Azuma stared at the wall of text, taking it in. Then, a grin formed on his face as he looked directly into Artoria's eyes.
"You're the fuckin' best!" He grinned, causing the woman to blink in surprise.
"W-What? Where did that come from?" She muttered, a tiny bit of red dusting her cheeks at his sudden compliment.
10x progress from training with her? This is fuckin' awesome.
"More importantly, that swing was terrible," Artoria huffed, shaking away her embarrassment from his compliment, "Your technique is even poorer than I imagined. We have a lot of work to do."
"Nope, I gotta do this first," Azuma shot her down, holding up his arm as he started to shake his wrist lightly. As he did, the sword wobbled in the air, barely moving.
[Sword] training started!
[10/100] Until Milestone!
[20/100] Until Milestone!
[30/100] Until Milestone!
[40/100] Until Milestone!
"...What are you doing?" Artoria asked blandly, watching as shook his hand in the air stupidly.
"Training," Azuma replied easily.
"...Training?" She tilted her head, genuinely confused at his actions.
"You wouldn't get it, but it's training. Just stay here and wait for another… ten hours, maybe? Then you can start teaching me again," Azuma nodded, causing the woman's face to go pale.
While he would need to learn actual combat from Saber, he could spam increase his sword proficiency first to make it easier.
"T-Ten hours? You're going to do that for ten hours?" Artoria asked, her face pale at the prospect.
"Yup, and you have to stay here and watch. If you leave, it'll take me a hundred hours instead," Azuma hummed, continuing to jiggle the sword in his hand.
"...why did I have to be summoned to such a master?" Artoria muttered, dejectedly walking over to a chair in the corner of the room as she readied herself to watch Azuma jiggle a sword for half a day.
—----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
"Alright, I'm done! Let's get back to training, Saber!" Azuma ordered, finally satisfied with the level of his sword proficiency.
"Y-You are?" Artoria snapped, her eyes shooting over as she had been dozing off while leaning against the stone wall next to her, "Great! Now we can truly start!"
Artoria hurriedly got up, walking into the middle of the sparring circle again and holding up her sword.
I'm tired from doing that for so long, but I can do a bit more training before I go to sleep.
In reality, Azuma felt like his arm was going to fall off, but he genuinely felt bad for the blonde woman in front of him.
I've tormented her enough. I gotta give her something.
"First, there are many different forms of slashing a sword. Try this one - it is a jab, and is one of the easiest," Artoria explained, thrusting her arm forward and jabbing her sword into the air. As she did, a gust of wind shot outward and the air around them hummed from the perfect technique.
"Got it," Azuma nodded, tensing his exhausted arm. He thrusted his arm forward, jabbing his blade into the air. As he did, his high overall sword proficiency actually made the jab seem quite respectable. It couldn't compare to Artoria's, but it looked more like Azuma was a decent swordsman instead of a guy who had never swung a sword seriously in his life.
[Sword: Jab] training started!
[1/10] Until Milestone!
Due to training with a [HEROIC] Training Unit, your progress has been multiplied by 10x!
[10/10] Until Milestone!
[Sword: Jab] Training Milestone Reached!
+1 [Sword Fighting: Jab] Proficiency Level!
+10XP!
[0/100] Until Milestone!
Azuma blinked, staring at the notification.
I have a progress bar for each technique?
Slowly, Azuma turned his gaze to Artoria, truly feeling bad for what he was about to say.
"...I'm sorry," He muttered, shadows covering his eyes.
"What? What are you sorry for?" Artoria frowned, "That was quite a poor jab, but it was your first one. There is no need to apologize, Master - you will surely improve in time."
"No, not for that," Azuma sighed. Slowly, he turned his body, pointing his sword at the chair Artoria had been sleeping on.
"...What are you…" She trailed off, a sense of horror forming in his eyes.
"Go sit down. We're going to be here for a while."
—----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
"Alright, I'm ready to train again, Saber!" Azuma called out, turning back to the woman. She stared blankly at him in response.
"...I thought you said it'd only take ten hours," She droned out, her eyes looking empty from having to wait so long.
"Nope, that was the first time. I needed to rest before working on my jab progress, and then again after. You need proper rest to train properly, right?" Azuma asked, actually having a good point.
"...You are right, but…" Artoria sighed, standing up again and slumping as she slowly walked over to the sparring circle, "I wish you wouldn't make me wait. It is painful to watch you do that motion for so many hours in a row."
"Well, I need to increase my progress, and you give me more progress just by being here, so…" Azuma shrugged unapologetically, taking his place across from the blonde girl as he held up his sword.
"Hmmph, it's fine. Now, let us begin again," Artoria huffed, holding her sword up at Azuma, "Widen your stance again and straighten your back. Your core is too loose as well."
Azuma tried to fix his posture, but did a poor job.
"...We will have to work more on that later," Artoria conceded, "Now, try to replicate my movement."
Artoria raised her, lifting the sword above her head, and then slashing it downward. As she did, a swishing sound resounded through the air, and the very air around Azuma seemed to shake from the technique.
"That is an overhead slash. It is another very basic technique, and will act as the basis for your overall combat along with the other basic techniques," Artoria explained, and Azuma tried his best to mimic her motion. He performed an overhead slash, which looked far worse than Artoria's but still better than an average swordsman.
[Sword: Overhead Slash] training started!
[1/10] Until Milestone!
Due to training with a [HEROIC] Training Unit, your progress has been multiplied by 10x!
[10/10] Until Milestone!
[Sword: Overhead Slash] Training Milestone Reached!
+1 [Sword Fighting: Overhead Slash] Proficiency Level!
+10XP!
[0/100] Until Milestone!
Azuma stared at the notification for a moment. Then, he slowly turned his head to look at Artoria.
"...We'll continue tomorrow," She sighed, the energy deflating from her body again as she walked back to her chair.
—----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Finally, after many - many - days of farming progress, Azuma had all the basics of swordplay down.
"Let's get back to sparring, Saber!" Azuma said, holding up his sword as he stood in the sparring circle.
"..." Artoria didn't answered, merely standing up from her chair and dragging her feet over to the sparring circle. After having her hopes raised and killed so many times recently, she was fully defeated.
"I'm serious this time," Azuma said as he saw her demeanor, "You already showed me all the basics now, right? So we can actually get to the good part!"
Artoria stopped for a second as she considered his words, then her face brightened a bit as she smiled lightly, "Yes, I suppose you are right. Since you know all the basics, now you must learn how to utilize them."
Artoria stepped across from him, sliding into her fighting stance, "Now, try to attack me. Don't feel discouraged as you do - it is your first time in a fight, so I do not have high expectations."
Azuma nodded, shifting into his poor, but better than previously, fighting stance. He held his sword up, and then shot forward, slashing his sword out in a horizontal slash.
As he did, Artoria's hand quickly shot up, tilting her sword to the side and easily blocking his slash. But, he didn't let up with just that.
He stepped forward even closer, leaning to the side as pulled back his sword and lashed out again in an overhead slash. As he did, Artoria's eyes widened slightly at the second attack but shifted her blade upward to block it again.
The exchange continued for a few more blows - Azuma keeping on the offensive as he slammed strike after strike at the servant, but none of them broke through. Eventually, Artoria decided to go on the offensive.
She sidestepped one of his swings, letting the sword fly past her as she jabbed her own sword forward at his gut. As she did, Azuma's hands seemed to move superhumanly fast, not even utilizing time-dilation as he jerked his arms back. He barely raised his sword in time, utilizing his high proficiency [Sword: Parry] to smack her sword again.
Artoria frowned lightly as he blocked the strike, stepping forward as her next slash was even faster. Despite the increased speed, Azuma barely managed to parry the strike again, causing Artoria's eyes to narrow.
She lunged forward, rushing at Azuma with a flurry of attacks. As Azuma barely parried one, another instantly came from another angle. To Azuma's credit, he managed to survive the onslaught for nearly a dozen blows, even without using time-dilation, before a slash broke through and sent him falling onto his ass.
"Damn, you're fuckin' good," Azuma muttered, wincing as he pushed himself back onto his feet.
Despite training his basic proficiency, and overall sword proficiency, so much over the past few days he still couldn't hold his own against Artoria.
Even if I was using time dilation, I still don't think I could beat her. She's just that far ahead of me.
He wasn't using his skill because it would defeat the purpose of his current training - he needed to be adept at using a sword, and then her could train to incorporate his time altering skill into his fighting style.
"That surprised me. You are far better than I expected. I'd even say your quite good," Artoria complimented, staring at Azuma with impressed eyes, "Nay, I'd even say you're very good. Each of your techniques are exceptional. Are you sure you've never used a sword before our training?"
"Nope," Azuma confirmed, glancing at her with a shit-eating grin, "I told you I wasn't just waving my sword all those hours for fun. Think the waiting was worth it now?"
"Indeed. I can't argue with the results," Artoria conceded begrudgingly, "Though you had not even held a sword until mere days ago, you are already an exceptional swordsman. Most would take years, if not decades, of learning to reach your current level."
"Thanks, but you're exaggerating," Azuma sighed, nodding at her, "You were just toying with me, right? You could've ended that fight whenever you wanted."
Though Azuma had put her on the defensive for a bit, and had held out against her onslaught for nearly a dozen blows, he could tell that the woman wasn't going all out.
She's a Servant. Of course I can't take her on yet, even if she is weakened.
"Indeed, but you should be proud of how you did. Your footwork, decision-making, balance, and overall bodily control are… terrible," Artoria told him bluntly, shaking her head at his words, "Which makes how you performed all the more impressive. If you were even novice-level at those aspects, and a fair bit faster, you could force me to fight against you seriously. Your technique is simply that good."
Azuma blinked at her praise, feeling a bit proud of himself.
I'm glad that all those hours spent waving that sword around weren't for nothing.
"Alright! That's why I have you, right?" Azuma grinned, locking eyes with the blonde woman, "With you teaching me, I'll get all that down in no time, right?"
Artoria looked back at him, her eyes staring into his, and a beautiful smile appeared on her face.
"Indeed," She smiled brightly, "Follow my instructions, and I'll turn you into one of the finest swordsmen in history."
—----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
"Azuma! Azumaaaaa! We have an emergency!" Aphrodite howled, nearly slamming into the wall as she flew into his room so fast.
Azuma's bedroom had gotten a big upgrade - now no longer just being the main dungeon room with the dungeon core. Instead, he had marble walls, a huge king-sized bed, a closet, mirrors, a TV, and even a computer.
"Whatever goblin is out scouting is probably fine," Azuma replied lazily, predicting that the 'emergency' in question was something stupid, "He's a scout for a reason."
Aphrodite constantly annoying him about the status of their scouts wasn't uncommon, as she cared a lot more about the lives of his units than he did. Azuma left most of the scout-management to Ravel, and when he did take charge he usually just chucked a random group of units in a random direction - which usually led to said random group ending up dead within a few days.
"It's not a goblin! But, now that you mention it, you need to check on Gobthalowmew! His group left over a week ago and isn't back yet!" Aphrodite whined, apparently forgetting her previous 'emergency' pretty quickly.
"He's fine," Azuma waived her off easily.
His whole group died immediately. I sent them toward that Nemean Lion den on accident.
In Azuma's defense, he had been using a broken compass - because a certain goddess had banged on it one too many times while trying to figure out why the 'spinny thing' in the middle kept pointing away from her.
"B-But we have a different emergency right now! A bigger one!" Aphrodite went back to her first issue, poking at Azuma's cheek with her miniature finger.
"Whatever it is, I'm sure it's stupid. Go tell Mittelt about it," Azuma dismissed her, turning back to watching the TV as he casually waved a poorly-made iron sword in the air to his side, progressing toward his overall sword proficiency.
Azuma's strategy in dealing with Aphrodite's antics lately had been to send her to Mittelt, as the petite fallen had a lot more respect for Aphrodite as a Goddess than either Azuma or Ravel did. Mittelt would usually end up using a couple of hundred points to appease Aphrodite, and Azuma was more than willing to sacrifice that small number of points.
It's good to be rich.
The resort had only become even more successful over the past week as word started to spread beyond Kuoh, bringing in tourists from other cities and from the supernatural side. As a resort, the profits had only continued to rise.
"No, it's not stupid this time! It's serious!" Aphrodite whined.
"...She seems rather serious, Master," Artoria chirped from the corner of the room, where the blonde woman was staring out the window in Azuma's room… which overlooked nothing. There was just a stone wall.
I'll have something built there eventually. Every bedroom needs a nice view!
"Isn't it uncomfortable staring at that wall all day?" Azuma asked dryly toward the heroic spirit, "Come watch TV or somethin'. You can also sit down."
"N-No! It would be unbecoming of me to share a bed with you!" Artoria huffed. The only place to sit down in Azuma's room was either on the bed or on the floor - so the noble swordswoman took to standing stiffly in the corner.
She'd spent a lot of time there over the past day, as Azuma needed her nearby to accelerate his training progress - most of which he did while lazily watching TV.
"Azuma! There's no time! It's a serious emergency!" Aphrodite whined again, and Azuma turned to tell her to go bother Mittelt again when another voice interrupted him.
"I'm sorry to bother you, Master, but it is a genuine emergency this time," Ravel said, peeking her head into his bedroom, "Have you been keeping track of the prisoner notifications?"
"Nope," Azuma replied dryly, pushing himself up into a sitting position as the situation was serious enough for Ravel to come, "There's way too fuckin' many. I'd never be able to see anything if I did."
"Well, check them! Look who just showed up at the resort!" Aphrodite said loudly, poking her finger into his side with renewed vigor.
"Fine, fine," Azuma sighed, bringing up the list of prisoner notifications and looking over the recent ones.
"Sota, a human, one point a day… Ren, another human, but two points this time… Thomas?" Azuma blinked at the name, "One point. That's cool that we hit the non-japanese tourist market, but I don't think I'd call it an emergency."
"No, not that! Keep looking!" Aphrodite said urgently.
"...Takashi, one point… Sakura, one point… Rin, one point… Gerald, one point…" Azuma continued, looking over at Aphrodite dryly, "Yeah, I'm not seeing it."
"If you tap on the top, Master, you can sort by value," Ravel supplied happily.
"Oh, really? Good job, Ravel," Azuma hummed, ignoring the way Ravel preened at his words, and turned the list into value-desending order.
"Alright, the most expensive is… oh," Azuma blinked, "I get the emergency now."
At the very top of his prisoner list, it read:
[S-Rank Prisoner] [Devil] Serafall Leviathan
+100,000 Points Per Day of Captivity!
Azuma's eyes lit up as he read the text.
"Ravel, tell the workers to be on their best behavior," Azuma ordered quickly, "Give her the biggest room we have and make it free. Give her free room service as well, and offer a tour of the resort. Tell her its a gift from the owner."
"Yes, Master!" Ravel nodded, giving him a cute salute.
"We've got a big spender," Azuma's grin grew even wider, looking near maniacal, "We gotta keep her here as long as we can!"
—----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
AN: Thank you for reading! The next chapter will be out the day after tomorrow!
Or, if you'd like to read chapters early or support me, you can on Patreon.com/Koyon !
(Phoenix name submissions are still open, though I have one I like. Once one is decided it won't be showcased for a bit though because there are a bunch of chapters ahead on Patreon!)