Jay was holding the saber with both hands, pointing it at Ragna’s neck.
He stomped the ground and took a big leap toward Ragna.
’He is fast,’ Ragna thought while holding his shield tight.
Jay lowered his stance to get all the strength he had before striking the shield from below, planning to launch it into the ceiling and end the spar right away.
As if noticing his movement, Ragna skillfully tilted his shield and let the blade hit the tip of the shield.
"!!!" Jay was taken aback. Ragna’s shield positioning caused him to be unable to knock the shield up. In fact, he was forced to let the sword slide on the shield’s surface if he didn’t want to lose his balance.
In addition, Ragna took a step forward, slamming the shield at Jay.
Jay felt the impact, but once again, he realized that, despite such a great technique, Ragna didn’t have the strength to actually push him back.
Knowing the same thing, Ragna thrust his spear at Jay’s chest.
Because Ragna didn’t have enough strength, Jay took a step back and actually kicked the shield.
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Ragna tried to tilt the shield again, but Jay had predicted it and turned the kick into a stomp, pushing Ragna to the ground.
Ragna bit his lips, not being able to even withstand Jay’s raw strength.
He ended up leaping back to regain some distance.
Jay chased after him and swung his blade with every ounce of his strength.
Ragna once again skillfully wielded his shield to block it, letting the shield deflect Jay’s extraordinary swing.
It was clear that Ragna’s technique was excellent, but he noticed his weakness. If he couldn’t withstand his power, it would be impossible for Ragna to block the opponents’ attacks.
This might be the reason why Ragna was expelled by his previous group.
Still, no matter how he struck Ragna’s shield, he failed to get a full strike. In addition, Ragna hadn’t taken another step back once he understood the gap between their raw strength.
’In that case…’ Jay changed his stance. Instead of relying on his strength, he decided to focus on his speed this time. Of course, with the help of Clovis’s items.
"!!!" Ragna looked surprised by the sudden change, but he immediately adjusted his stance to receive all of Jay’s attacks.
’This is…’ Jay squinted his eyes. ’His raw strength is weak due to that body’s condition, but his technique and positioning are superb. If he can actually increase his raw strength, he can actually suppress all my attacks.’
While Jay hadn’t used all his strength, killing a Tier 2 beast should be easy. Yet he couldn’t even gain any advantage against Ragna.
Clovis might be able to overwhelm him with his speed, but Jay didn’t have the necessary speed to do it.
Hence, there was only one thing to do.
When Ragna put his shield in front of him, Jay grabbed the tip of the shield and pushed it to the ground.
"!!!" Ragna hurriedly thrust his spear, but Jay had expected this attack and skillfully struck the spear’s handle with every ounce of his strength, knocking the spear away.
"Ah!" Ragna let out a long sigh. With his spear being knocked away and his shield suppressed, there was no way he could stop Jay anymore. He lost. "You beat me. I guess I’m really not good. To think that I can’t even last a few minutes against a Tier 1 explorer."
"No. If it’s an ordinary battle, I will have some trouble defeating you. If it’s anyone else, their stamina will be depleted before they can defeat you. In our sparring, I had to resort to grabbing your shield after realizing the difference between our raw strength."
Ragna scratched the back of his head. "Is that so? Well, it doesn’t change the fact that I’m not strong. That’s the reason my previous group expelled me."
Jay rubbed his chin while looking at Ragna, thinking, ’He is actually a good guardian. He has enough technique to stand on his ground and not take a step back. Besides, with this kind of performance, it’s quite insane that he can reach Tier 2 at 19 years old. It can only be achieved with a high evolution rate.
’His only weakness is strength. That’s probably why he wants to gain some muscle. If he has enough strength, I might actually lose this sparring. He is a perfect guardian other than that weakness… people might not be able to help him, but Clovis can do it like how he manages to power us up with these weird clothes or accessories.’ Jay faced a dilemma.
There was no way he could ask Clovis for a person he barely knew. He wasn’t that ungrateful.
Jay couldn’t help but say, "I won because I took advantage of your weakness."
"Ahahaha." Ragna shook his head helplessly. "Still, if I persist for a few more months, I should be able to get enough essence to reach Tier 3. I’ve heard that there is a qualitative leap after Tier 3. Maybe it can somehow boost my strength and fix this weakness."
"What? You are near Tier 3?" Jay gasped. He seemed to have underestimated Ragna’s evolution rate.
"Do I not look like it? Well, I have a 98% evolution rate. People have scouted me in the past, but all of them have given up because of my condition. And I will continue to be a guardian, so they kind of disdain me for wasting my talent… Then again, I can only be a guardian. I told you that my body’s condition gave me some advantages too?"
Ragna grabbed his spear and hit his arm as hard as possible.
"What are you doing?!" Jay’s heart skipped a beat.
Ragna remained calm. He simply showed his arm to Jay. His arm became red and turned normal within ten seconds.
"This is…"
Ragna nodded. "This is my affinity, Heart. I can’t develop my muscles, but my heart is actually stronger than normal. My regenerative power is much more powerful than anyone with the same affinity."
Jay fell into deep thought. This was the first time he had seen such a condition. However, there was one problem. He wasn’t the captain.
"To be honest, if I were the captain, I would have recruited you to my group."
"Someone as strong as you are under another person?" Ragna looked shocked.
"I am strong, huh? I hate to admit it, but my captain is much stronger than me. I can only win two times out of ten fights." Jay shook his head helplessly. "Anyway, if you don’t mind, I’d like to call my captain first. He said that he is coming here to find a new member anyway, so he might be interested."