"We really should have brough our practice swords along." said Conrad as he winced away from the left hook Kurt had aimed at his liver. "Though I guess that some brawling practice isn't bad, either."

  "Better than nothing." Kurt agreed as he brought his left hand up in a back-handed motion, deflecting Conrad's jab away from his face. The older brawler pulled his arm back with a speed that almost made Kurt believe that he was cheating on the no-magic-reinforcement rule, and threw another jab, this time at Kurt's sternum.

  Kurt evaded the blow entirely, spinning on his heels, and grabbed Conrad's arm with two hands, one around his wrist, the other grabbing his shirt's shoulder. The younger boy then planted both of his feet firmly on the grass-covered soil and, snapping at the hip, threw his older-yet equally sized- opponent over his shoulder, and Conrad hit the dirt, back first, with a lung-draining ohmpf.

  "...Good one." said Conrad, sounding a bit grouchy.

  "I know." Responded Kurt, half-smiling. He then leaned over Conrad's fallen form, his head casting a shadow on his friend's face. "But seriously, are you okay? Can you keep going?"

  Conrad gave him an unimpresed look, and proceded to activate his aura. Blue lightning like energy covered him like a shroud, and he got back on his feet so fast and swiftly that Kurt actually recoiled back in surprise, which gave the speedster the perfect chance to rush away from him, putting some good twelve yards between them.

  "Yeah, I can keep going." he said, smiling smugly, before his face scrunched in what looked like worry. "Hey, just to be sure: This is like our usual spars, right? With the whole "first-blood-before-magic" rule? I mean, this is the first time we fight hand-to hand after all, so we don't have much in the way of customs for it."

  Kurt pondered for a moment on Conrad's words. They really didn't have anything set for this kind of joint training. After all, before this quest, they had only ever sparred with each other in fencing, and that had been mostly for two reasons; first, because they were the only two dedicated swordsmen in the order's already small selection of capable fighters, and second, to try and one up each other in their mutual, envy-fuelled rivalry.

  As things were now between them, as things Kurt hoped they would stay, they really had a lot to go over.

  "I think that's a good idea." He finally said, leting his life-force flare across his skin, feeling his muscles and bones swell with power. "You ready?"

  Conrad smiled, and his response came in the form of a lunge. His frame blurred like a flickering flame, cutting through the distance between them in the blink of an eye, and Kurt barely had time to put an arm up, protecting his liver from the lightning quick jab the Aura wielder had delivered. The quick punch bounced off his forearm, and Kurt found himself quite surprised at just how light the blow had felt. He knew he was stronger and tougher than Conrad, and that he had been so since before the quest started but, even so... the diference shouldn't be this big.

  How much stronger had he gotten, physically speaking, since his strange ability had awakened?

  His pondering slowed his reaction time just enough to give Conrad the time to rush back, retreading the path he had taken on his lunge, and the next thing Kurt knew was that twelve yards separated them once again.

  Hit and run tactics, uh?, Kurt pondered. Well, it is a good tactic for a speedster.

  "Holy shit!" Conrad exclaimed, shaking his hand on the air. "That was heavy as all fuck! Are you made of stone now or what?!"

  Kurt blinked, and his eyes went to the arm he had blocked with. "Is the difference that big?" he asked. "Compared to our last fight, I mean. Did I get that much tougher?"

  "Well... yeah. Quite a bit." Conrad said, abandoning his stance, his Aura receding. "I mean, it is a bit difficult to gauge exactly, since this is the first time we fight mano a mano and all, but yeah. That jab went with twelve yards worth of wind up, and it just bounced off you like a tenis ball hitting a wall."

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  "I see." Kurt whispered, more to himself than anything, as he watched the life force powered flames recede off his skin, and with them, the feeling of pressure and strengthening. He turned his head towards Conrad. "Hey, you mind running a little test with me?"

  The Aura user looked at him carefully.

  "What kind of test?" he asked while approaching.

  "A simple one." Kurt said, holding out an open palm, which he clapped twice to draw attention to hit. "Just hit here, no Aura, with all you've got."

  The young man's attention went towards the offered target, then to the one offering, and then to the target again. For a moment, Kurt thought he would not do it, that he would have to more clearly explain his reasoning to convince him.

  Then Conrad punched him, throwing all the weight he could behind his fist in an exagerated hook. It was the kind of move one would never use in a real fight. It was too energy consuming, too easy to see coming, and left too wide of a gap in one's defenses for it to be used in a situation were your opponent wasn't letting you pummel them.

  This, however, was such an ocasion, and Kurt's hand took the full brunt of that impractical, absurdly strong blow.

  "Holy shit!" Kurt exclaimed, clutching his hand on the opposite armpit, already feeling the familiar combo of heat and itchiness that came when receiving a strong blow. "You really went for that one, didn't you?"

  Conrad smiled at him. Smiled smugly. "Hey, when a friend asks me for a favor, I go all out. And we are quite good friends, you and I."

  "Remind me to reconsider that."

  "Nope." Conrad said cheekily. "But seriously now, why did you have me do that?"

  "To cheek how much stronger I was in my base state, without boosting myself through Pneuma." Kurt said. "I don't really feel like it made much of a difference. What do you think, as someone with experience fighting me in both states?"

  Conrad crossed his arms over his chest, and tilted his head to one side, humming. "It doesn't feel any tougher than human flesh should be. Here, let me try something." He extended his hand forward, the half-clenched limb pointed at Kurt. "Try and push it."

  Obeying, Kurt took hold of the offered limb with his recently battered hand, locking fingers with Conrad, and threw as much of his weight behind it as he could while still standing straight. He managed to gain a couple inches of terrain before Conrad started applying strength of his own, and the struggle became much more even. They remained locked in that improvised contest for maybe a minute- enough time for Kurt to push Conrad's hand until it nearly touched his chest- before Conrad called it off.

  "You definitely are stronger than me when it come to brute force, life force boosting or not." he said, and this time it was him wh clutched his own hand. "But you are not inherently superhuman or anything. How much stronger are you supposed to be, strength wise?"

  Kurt shrugged. "About twice as much as I was before our spar back at the order, and even then I had gotten a couple of 'points' added to it."

  "I see." Conrad murmured. "I can see the difference when you're using your flaring and all, but it looks like that ability, whatever it is, can't make you inherently superhuman like a magic beast even if your 'stats' raise significantly. You don't feel all that stronger now that when we you scored first blood back at the order, let alone twice as much."

  "But it did make a difference then." said Kurt. "I only got a very small increase to my physical stats then, and it still made a difference big enough for you to notice, and for me to score that hit."

  "The diffrence itself was small." Conrad said. "It was the fact that there was a difference at all what was surprising. I mean, it's not like we used to spar together everyday, but we still did it often enough to check on each other's progress. You simply had progressed farther along when compared to what was normal to throw me off my game a bit. With how evenly matched we are...or were, I guess, those two small differences weighed quite a bit on the outcome."

  Kurt took Conrad's words, pondering on them while examining his own arm, as if expecting to find it packed with muscles he didn't have before. He found nothing.

  "Those first few 'points' on my Strength and other physical 'stats' were special." He finally said.

  "Special?" asked Conrad. "How so, exactly? Did they count more or...?"

  "I don't think so, no." Kurt rapidly answered. "In terms of the 'boost' they give to my physical prowress, however large or small that 'boost' is, they were most likely worth as much as the ones I got after my fight with Ruth. Those first stat points were special because I received them while my body was still below its top performance. I think that, while every increase to one of my stats changes me in some way, there's a limit to how that change manifests, and the laws of biology are one such limit."

  "I... see." Conrad said in a slightly dubitative tone, scratching the side of his head. "So those first 'points' alloted to your Strength, Dexterity and Vitality changed your body in the small ways it required to reach its zenith, based on your weight and body type and all, while the ones you acquired after that changed you in different ways, in ways that, while not making you stronger in your base state, potentially manifest while you're actively exploiting your life force."

  "Pretty much, yeah." Kurt said, genuinely impressed, a smile drawing on his face. "You caught on it fast, man."

  Conrad shrigged, giving him a slightly smug smile. "What can I say? I am kind of a genius."

  "Yeah, yeah. You're the smartest in the world." Kurt snarked. "Anyway, you wanna keep sparring or...?"

  "I don't know. Maybe we should get moving already." Conrad answered, scanning the are around them. They were stopped at a small field of grass besides the road, a sea of pine tress surrounding them on both sides. The group had decided to stop here after a few hours of driving so Conrad could rest a bit. In fact, the quick spar they had been tangled in was to serve thet purpose, to get some exercise and to clear his head.

  They were alone right now. Mila had gone on her own for a quick treck though the forest. Kurt had briefly wanted to protest this, still scared of having the group split up, but he mnaged to hold it in. They had no reason to think they were on any danger and, even if they were, Mila was at her strongest when surrounded by plants. It was also literally impossible for her to get lost in that forest, apparently as a result of her ability to communicate with the spirits of nature.

  "Yeah, you're right." Kurt agreed. "I'll go get Mila."

  Before Conrad could answer him, Kurt roused his life force, and white, smokeless flames covered his body, pooling particularly thick around his legs and abdomen. He turned quicly, and rushed towards the forest, piercing into the foliage like a bullet.