"Become strong?" Sword Burn didn't seem surprised. He turned around to look at a distant mountain.
"Then, do you know what strength is?"
"Strength... is just being strong." Kaede couldn't explain it clearly; it should just be becoming stronger than she was now.
"Mhm. Then let me ask you, does this count as strength?" As he spoke, a sword appeared in Sword Burn's hand, and he gave it a light swing.
"..." Kaede watched from behind, and to her shock, the distant mountain was actually split in two from the middle. Though she couldn't see the surface of the cut clearly, she felt it must be exceptionally smooth.
"Strength..." It took a long time for Kaede to recover from the shock and squeeze out that single word.
"Mhm." Sword Burn nodded slightly. Then Kaede felt her vision blur, and she was in mid-air with Sword Burn, with a vast, endless ocean below them.
"Then, does this count as strength?" Sword Burn said, then struck down with his sword.
This time, a sword light of extreme brilliance shone in Kaede's eyes.
Kaede slowly closed her eyes. She couldn't see clearly, couldn't look; she couldn't even observe. Her eyes could no longer withstand such brilliant light.
When Kaede felt it was over, she saw a rift in the middle of the ocean before her. No matter how the surrounding seawater surged and billowed, it could not fill this rift.
"Strength..." Only now did Kaede vaguely understand exactly what kind of person she had taken as a master.
"Mhm." Sword Burn nodded once more, and then he and Kaede were back in the room. Sword Burn sat there again, drinking tea that hadn't even gone cold yet.
"Is that strength?"
"It's strength."
"However, after reaching my level, such things can be done with a flick of the wrist. Can that really be called strength?" Sword Burn asked.
"..." Kaede was somewhat silent, not knowing what to say. Strength? Indisputably, in her eyes, those two casual sword strikes of Sword Burn's were beyond her reach, and she likely wouldn't even come close to that level for a long time to come.
However, as Sword Burn said, at his level, those were just casual actions. As long as one reached that level, anyone could easily achieve that degree of power.
In that case, could those two sword strikes really be considered strength? Even if they could instantly kill countless versions of the current Kaede, could they truly be called strength?
Just like how Kaede's current casual sword strike was something her initial self could never have produced, even if she had given her all...
"You are very strong," Sword Burn suddenly said.
"Eh?" Kaede was stunned. She was strong?
"To be precise, the other you is very strong."
"Dragon King..." Kaede murmured.
"So, do you know what the gap between you and the other you is?" Sword Burn finally brought the question back to the original point.
"The gap..." Kaede couldn't say. Kaede knew that what she could do, the other her could also do; and what she couldn't do, the other her could.
The gap between her and the other her was indeed large, but where exactly did that gap lie?
Kaede had never thought about this problem. They clearly shared the same body; it wasn't as if the body's attributes suddenly increased when the Dragon King came out.
The same body, the same attributes, the same moves, but what the Dragon King could achieve, Kaede might not necessarily be able to.
This was their gap—using the exact same body, yet achieving different levels of results.
But why? Confusion appeared in Kaede's eyes. If Sword Burn hadn't brought it up, Kaede estimated it would have been a long time before she noticed this issue.
But having noticed it, why was it so? She didn't understand.
"You know how some people can suddenly have an outburst of power, right?" Sword Burn suddenly asked.
"Mhm." Kaede nodded with confusion.
"Without external factors, there is no such thing as an 'outburst' in this world." Sword Burn said with a look of disdain. "An outburst is just one's own power. The mind controls the body, and an outburst is just using the body's power a step further. Ultimately, that was power the person already had, power they had from the start. Outburst? Utterly laughable."
"..." Listening to Sword Burn's words, Kaede felt as if she understood something. The Dragon King seemed to be her 'outburst' self.
"Your degree of control over your body allows you to exert seventy percent of your strength. You could say you're among the top tier of many people."
"But the other you can exert ninety-nine percent of your body's strength. That is your gap—nearly thirty percent of your power. And as your strength increases, this thirty percent will only grow larger and larger." Sword Burn spoke with a hint of admiration, seemingly for the Dragon King's strength.
"..." Kaede fell silent once more. Seventy percent, ninety-nine percent...
Kaede didn't wonder why the Dragon King was at ninety-nine percent instead of a hundred; she was silent because of the gap between them...
Sword Burn shook his head and sighed, feeling it was a pity. Although the Dragon King was strong, she could never reach that final one percent.
"Of course, no matter how strong you are, you will be limited by your body," Sword Burn said. "The 'becoming strong' you speak of should be the improvement of your physical level and combat power."
"When physical fitness improves, combat power naturally becomes stronger. For others, this is very important, but you players are different. It's easy for you to improve your physical fitness. Before LV5, you can hunt beasts to improve your stats. Therefore, for you, what's important isn't improving physical fitness or learning powerful moves, but mastering your own body. As your physical fitness improves, your level of control will only get lower and lower."
"For instance, I could make you reach LV5 strength right now. However, after reaching LV5, if you can't even use ten percent of that power, what use would it be?"
Sword Burn wasn't joking. He could do it; making Kaede step directly into LV5 was incredibly easy—he'd just need to kill a few LV6 Demon Kings. But it would be meaningless.
"Mhm." Kaede finally breathed a sigh of relief and nodded, indicating she understood.
"Then, how should I become stronger?" Kaede now felt true respect for Sword Burn, along with a hint of awe and closeness. She could feel that what Sword Burn was telling her was exactly what she needed most as a player.
Just as Li Chen had said before, he could easily slay an LV4 among players, likely for the reasons Sword Burn mentioned.
Kaede had also heard of an LV4 among players. That guy had relied on drawing a 'Divine Artifact' at the start of the game to reach LV4. One could only imagine how low that person's control over their strength was.
A smile appeared at the corner of Sword Burn's mouth. This disciple was easiest to deal with in this regard, and he didn't want to waste effort. "2D Soul Painter."
"Uh." Kaede wasn't surprised that Sword Burn knew her class, but she didn't know how this class related to her becoming stronger.
"Your class is quite good. Every time you return, your strength is generally sent back to its original state, yet this is also the best part."
"You only need to become stronger in other worlds. Then, when you return and reach that level again, you can make up for some flaws and become even stronger."
"..." Kaede was silent. It did seem to be the case. In akame ga kill, she had stayed at LV2 the longest. After returning, although she was LV1, she easily killed an LV2 leopard. It could be said that without the experience in akame ga kill, her control over her body might have been unexpectedly low. When her physical fitness exceeded that of her time in akame ga kill, she might not even have been able to exert seventy percent of her strength...
"I understand, Master..." Kaede nodded, looking at Sword Burn with some gratitude.
"Mhm, hearing you call me Master is quite pleasant to the ear." There was a hint of teasing in Sword Burn's voice.
"Uh." Kaede's face immediately turned red, and she looked around.
"Alright, you must be impatient already. So go. When you return, go see your senior brothers and sisters." Sword Burn said, seeing Kaede's eager expression. He also knew that Kaede had only just begun to accept him as her master, but it was much better than at the start.
"Uh, about Koro-sensei..." Kaede's face turned red again as she spoke, finding it a bit hard to bring up.
"Mhm, I know." Sword Burn nodded, then looked at Kaede with a half-smile. "It seems there's something else?"
"Uh..."
As expected, she couldn't hide anything from this teacher of hers. Kaede understood as soon as she heard Sword Burn's words, so she stopped being embarrassed and nodded openly.
"Yes, Master, I also want to ask you for a favor."
As Kaede spoke, her face heated up again. She was still embarrassed after all; having him do so much for her right from the start—first the meeting gift, then Koro-sensei's matter, and now another favor...
"Don't think too much. There isn't much I can do for you. Although I am your master, we won't necessarily meet many times in the future, so don't be polite." As expected, Sword Burn saw through Kaede's thoughts at a glance and spoke with a hint of a smile.
"Mhm!" Kaede nodded and then explained the favor she wanted Sword Burn's help with. Ahhh, I didn't expect to be able to persist until now; the third volume is finished...
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