"Woah, those look kinda ominous, especially the black one-...oops, that'd sound really bad taken out of context," She laughed wryly.
"Yeah, I thought the same thing," I chuckled in response, before adding, "I can show you how Drain works if you're okay with me using it on you. But Devour is too dangerous."
"Hm...what if you just used it on one of my gloves?"
"Sure, that'd be fine, so long as you're okay with losing it forever."
"Yeah, that's fine. Go for it," She replied, staring curiously as she took off one of her gloves and tossed it towards me, before I swallowed it up with Devour, then sending Drain towards her, briefly engulfing her before I deactivated the Skill.
"Well? How'd it feel?"
"I definitely felt my Mana getting consumed. And I see no sign of my glove. Cool, these are pretty powerful abilities, aren't they?"
"I suppose, but against stronger opponents, I can only really use them for defense. They don't move all that fast, they're fast enough against weaker and slower targets, had no issue using them on Low Level Monsters, but it was really tough landing hits on the Dungeon Boss."
"I see...so, what about that other Skill you used?"
"Huh?"
"You know, the one where I suddenly felt tired. I definitely saw your lips move, so you chanted-...wait, do you even need to chant since your Skills are manually activated?" She frowned uncertainly.
Crap, she's seriously way too sharp, and observant to boot. Fortunately, I already thought up an explanation for this, just in case anyone noticed my chants.
"No, I don't, but I do it because it kinda pumps me up. I mean, everyone else does it, and I guess I think it's kinda cool, so yeah," I grinned sheepishly.
It's a bit of an embarrassing explanation, but I think that should add to its believability.
"Hahaha, yeah, I think I get that! I'll admit, when I use my Skills and chant, I get pretty pumped up too, like when characters in action shows use finishing moves," She admitted with a giggle, before adding as she winced slightly, "Ow...anyway, can you tell me about that Skill that made me tired? You did do something, right?"
"Yeah, I call that one Lethargy. It triggers a wave of energy that inflicts a certain amount of fatigue on everything in the vicinity of the wave. It took a while to figure out how that one works, I only realized when I noticed that some bugs around me collapsed while I was experimenting with it. And I confirmed it by using it on that Dungeon Boss," I informed her.
"I see, so you've had this Skill for a while, then?" She realized in fascination.
Yeah...I should probably avoid giving her too much more info. She's figuring out so much just based on the little I have told her so far.
"Yes, I have. I want to keep my abilities hidden as much as possible, I don't want to draw too much attention. So, could you maybe not tell anyone else about this?" I grinned sheepishly.
"Oh, of course, I already assumed you wanted to keep them a secret. And I wasn't planning on blabbing, anyway. Actually, I think it's pretty cool, I don't really have any close friends, so I've never shared a secret with anyone.
I mean, who knows, maybe sometime in the future, there'll be a dire situation where the only solution is something super specific that only your Skills can handle. If that happens, I'll be able to say something like 'don't worry...I know a guy'," She stated with a smug look on her face, before adding wryly, "Uh, sorry, I know that was super dorky and cringy."
"N-No, not at all, I thought it wad pretty endearing, actually," I replied as I averted my gaze slightly.
Damn it, that was really adorable, it kinda caught me off-guard.
No. Stop doing that. Must we really go through this every time, Ai? Like I've told you several times before, I'm keeping my lust and libido in check until I turn eighteen.
"Oh, um...that's nice of you to say, thanks," Smiled Ariella, looking away as she fidgeted with a lock of her crimson hair.
Fuck.
Well, no point in denying it, she's cute as hell.
No, drop it.
"Yeah, sure, no problem. So, anyway, is there anything else you want to know?" I asked her, as I calmed myself down.
"Hm...well, I get the feeling that you've got at least a few more Skills that you're hiding, but I don't want to get too greedy and ask too much of you, so I'll leave it that for now. But...maybe I'll pick up where I left off someday," She replied with a smile.
"We'll see, I just might answer. And thanks, I appreciate that. Also, sorry again for hurting you earlier. Maybe you should you go visit a Healer," I suggested apologetically.
"No, I think I'll be fine, the pain's subsided to a dull roar at this point. I should be more or less good as new in, maybe...an hour, hour and a half?" She responded, giving me a thumbs up.
Yeah, I don't sense any deceit, so she isn't simply putting on a tough front, she really is recovering.
Her body's natural healing is amazing, it took me nearly two days for my arm to heal, but she's on track to heal in a couple of hours.
"I'm kinda jealous, with I could heal that fast," I replied wryly.
"Well, I noticed that the stronger I get, the faster I heal and recover. Oh, that reminds me, I did have one more question, if that's okay. While our sparring session was pretty short, I noticed something during our brief exchange of blows.
And that's the fact that you're definitely faster and stronger than you were before. I really do think you're getting stronger, regardless of the fact that you've supposedly maxed out your Potential," She remarked with a gleam in her eyes.
Well, she's onto me. But, sorry, I can't answer that honestly.
"Really? I haven't noticed, I've just been working on honing my combat technique, so maybe I've gotten faster in that my movements are sharper, but I doubt I've gotten physically stronger," I responded with a bemused shrug.
"Hm...I don't know, I still think-...oh, wait, is that another thing you want to keep secret? Okay, forget I said anything!" She grinned apologetically, as she sheepishly averted her gaze.
Huh. At this rate, she's going to figure everything out before much longer.