Chapter 6

Under the dim starlight, the night was as dark as ink that couldn't be washed away.

And Noshia's face was even darker than the night.

Being able to consistently rank in the top ten of the elite camp's evaluations was already an impressive achievement. As long as there were no mistakes at graduation, he would likely be at least a major at the commissioning ceremony.

And for someone like himself, who was in the upper-middle range, if he didn't improve, the highest he could reach would be a captain in the main headquarters.

Damn, this is ridiculous... It was one thing to suddenly have a stalker for a whole year, but why did she have to be so strong?

Noshia really wanted to go back in time and slap himself ten seconds ago, to make him think of a better reason to refuse.

"Cough, Miss Sia, evaluation scores don't necessarily represent true strength. It's only in real combat that true strength is revealed, right?"

He racked his brain, struggling for a while, and finally had a flash of inspiration: "I specialize in martial arts and swordsmanship, especially martial arts. What about you, Miss Sia?"

"Coincidentally, I'm also best at martial arts," Sia said softly. "I've basically mastered the 'Lan Foot' and 'Finger Gun' techniques."

"Shave?"

"Um, I know a bit, but I'm not very proficient."

"Great, then let's make a bet. For ten minutes, you can attack me with any means, and I will only block and dodge, without retaliating."

Noshia was secretly pleased. He pointed to his chest, "If you can hit my chest even once in these ten minutes, I'll acknowledge your strength as superior to mine and agree to your pursuit. Otherwise, I hope you won't come to disturb me in the future..."

"No problem." Sia nodded without hesitation.

Her attitude was confident, her eyes shining, and the way she looked at Noshia had clearly changed.

"..."

Noshia, whose words had been cut off, felt a chill in his heart.

He felt that her gaze was like that of a hunter staring at prey that had already half-fallen into a trap.

'Forget it, do as you please. At least my goal is achieved.'

He had been worried about who to test the intermediate paper drawing technique on at such a late hour, but now the problem was perfectly solved, and he could use this opportunity to reject the stalker's pursuit.

Two birds with one stone, a genius plan.

...

Not far from the southeast of the training ground was the main headquarters' clock tower. Even from a distance of several hundred meters, the movement of the hour and minute hands could still be clearly seen.

Noshia and Sia stood about ten meters apart. When the clock tower showed exactly nine o'clock, Noshia raised his right hand to the opposite girl, signaling that she could start.

Swish!

Before his hand could even drop, a sudden rush of wind came from the darkness, heading straight for his face.

It was Sia's "Lan Foot."

The "Lan Foot" is essentially a rapid kick that, when exceeding the speed of sound, compresses the air in front of the leg, creating a "vacuum" and generating a sharp cutting wave.

For those who don't know how to use armed color or iron block, its lethality is not to be underestimated.

Noshia also didn't dare to be careless.

He closely watched the invisible shock wave coming through the air. Just before it reached him, he suddenly twisted his body to the right at an extremely strange angle, as if merging with the airflow, easily dodging the Lan Foot.

Boom!

The shock wave from the Lan Foot passed Noshia and exploded on a sandbag several meters behind him.

Sand and dust flew up, swirling around the training ground.

The blue-haired girl with waist-length hair was slightly stunned, her eyes showing a hint of surprise, but she quickly regained her composure. Her right foot, which had been raised, quickly landed on the ground at a speed that was hard to see with the naked eye.

Shave!

The light in the air seemed to distort, and Sia's figure suddenly disappeared. The next second, she appeared on Noshia's right side, her gaze focused, her entire body's strength concentrated in her right finger, which suddenly stabbed at Noshia's chest.

Finger Gun!

This finger strike was fierce and domineering, with a piercing power comparable to a high-speed bullet. But in Noshia's eyes, even though the airflow was like a ripple, it still had a traceable pattern.

So, in that short one or two seconds, his body moved like smooth silk, merging with the subtle changes in the airflow, dodging the strike that was almost in his face.

"Eh?"

Sia's eyes suddenly widened. Her Finger Gun was so fast that even Teacher Zeff had praised it. How could it be so easily dodged?

—She refused to believe it. Without any hesitation, she adjusted her breathing rhythm and used Shave to change positions, her Finger Gun attacks coming like a storm, piercing through the night, aiming at Noshia.

However,

Even as Sia pushed her martial arts to the limit, Noshia was still able to perfectly dodge all attacks from every direction.

In the continuous exchanges, she could clearly feel that Noshia's movements were becoming more and more fluid, his steps as relaxed as a stroll in his own courtyard.

How could this be?

Sia finally showed a look of disbelief.

In the entire main headquarters elite camp, no one knew Noshia better than she did. In her past observations, Noshia's strengths were supposed to be endurance and dual-sword swordsmanship. When did he become so proficient in paper drawing?

The Six Powers were only formally taught by Teacher Zeff two months ago. She herself had only mastered three of them, and her paper drawing was still in the exploration stage!

But the facts were right there, leaving no room for doubt.

As the time approached the ten-minute limit, and she hadn't even touched Noshia, let alone hit his chest, the girl looked at Noshia, who was subtly smirking, feeling a sudden sense of委屈 and heartache.

Was she really that bad? Even if he didn't immediately accept her confession, did he have to completely cut off her chances of pursuing him, not giving her any opportunity at all?

Noshia's mood was the exact opposite. Dodging various attack waves, he was almost grinning from ear to ear.

This smile was a mix of surprise at the intermediate paper drawing skill's effects far exceeding his expectations and the subtle satisfaction of achieving two goals at once.

"Just with intermediate paper drawing, I can do this. If it were advanced, I might be on par with CP9."

"This thousand points were well spent."

—That was his general thought.

Unfortunately, this feeling was only understandable to himself. Sia, on the other side, couldn't understand it and only thought that Noshia was gloating over her repeated failures.

Sia's sense of委屈 grew even more, and just as the ten-minute timer reached its end, she glanced at the clock tower, suddenly stopped, and ceased her attacks.

Noshia also stopped dodging.

"Time's up!" He stood steady, a smile on his face. "A bet is a bet, Miss Sia. This time, I won. According to our agreement, in the future..."

Noshia's voice suddenly stopped.

Because when he looked up, he was shocked to see the blue-haired girl standing silently under the black streetlight, tears streaming down her face.

"Si... Sia..."

Noshia instantly stuttered. With no experience in comforting girls, he was at a loss, not knowing how to start.

He had never seen such a scene before—though in the past, in his hometown in the East Blue, he often annoyed and made Belmer cry, but she usually retaliated in kind, treating him the same way he treated her.

The result was often a tussle under the orange tree, oranges falling all over the ground, and both of them ending up with bruised faces, glaring at each other, neither willing to back down.

But the Sia in front of him was clearly not that type, and he wasn't very familiar with her, having only been classmates for less than a year...