Kingdom Building: Civilization Starts with Divinity-Chapter 77: Aerial Maneuverability

"You look rather confident today, Disciple! Is it perhaps because of those wings of yours? They are quite a bit bigger than they were yesterday." Gravana laughed.

"Well... Tricks are my specialty. I’m not so sure my wings have anything to do with that, though."

Alchemy shrugged. Her expression was more smug than confident. It was true that she had a new trick to show Gravana, but she was just glad that she had something to do.

"Grahaha! Come on, then! I’ll determine whether these tricks of yours are worth the effort."

As Gravana took a defensive stance, Alchemy lowered her body, crouching as she prepared to propel herself forward.

’Remember. The goal is one hit. Either land an attack or make him move backward. My Strength is disgustingly low for being a Tier 2 existence, but that’s fine. Razor Surge gives me the lament of surprise.’

Honestly, Alchemy didn’t want to use any skills during her training with Gravana. Not that any of them but Supplication would help, but she thought it kind of defeated the purpose of training if she was just going to rely on her skills anyway.

There were going to be situations in the future where skills couldn’t be used, either due to an anti-mysticism barrier or just a lack of SP. That being said, since Razor Surge was a passive that she couldn’t disable, she might as well use it to get some revenge for all the hours of being beaten senseless by Gravana.

Pushing off the ground, Alchemy became a blur as she looked for an opening. When she got into Gravana’s range, he started with a big move, sweeping low with a complete spin.

In response, Alchemy stomped down, trying to catch his leg, but he somehow managed to cancel his momentum entirely and redirected it into a punch from the side.

Alchemy took the hit with her left arm, directing the attack upward before ducking lower. She tried to throw a punch, but Gravana wrapped his tail around her arm and threw her upward.

The throw caused her to spiral upward, but she instantly gained control of her rotation, flying straight back down. It was a shame the sun wasn’t high enough to blind Gravana, like during his fight with Nera, but it didn’t matter.

Getting into the air was Alchemy’s plan from the start, as he only really had one way of defending himself against her. Gravana would surely be prepared for something if she instantly went to the sky, but if she used the chance when Gravana thought she was discombobulated, she’d have more leeway, even if only a little.

Gravana prepared to sidestep the attack as she came barrelling down, but then Alchemy punched early. Several inches early. The punch wasn’t even close to hitting him, but then a blade, one nearly invisible to the naked eye, came flying toward him.

He easily noticed it coming, but he couldn’t dodge it! Not without using his wind or ultimately moving out of the way. So instead, he smiled wide at Alchemy and punched the invisible blade as hard as he could, the wind generated from the punch being so strong that Alchemy got blown nearly a kilometer back.

"Ow..." Alchemy complained as she got out of yet another crater.

She didn’t know that her tiny mass could create so many large holes until she began training with Gravana.

Worst of all was that she was starting to get used to the pain. Gravana’s bellowing laughter could be heard as she began dusting herself off, even from so far away.

"Oh lord. Did I make a mistake?" Alchemy sighed, knowing full well that Gravana would make the training harder because of that little stunt she pulled.

Quickly, Alchemy made her back before he stopped laughing.

"Jeez. Couldn’t you be a little gentler? Don’t you know you shouldn’t hit a maiden!"

Her words made Gravana stop laughing as he looked at her... Only to begin laughing even harder.

"A maiden!? You?! GRAHAHA! What exactly is that supposed to mean? You scared your broken face is going to scare off your future mate? Even then! No matter how hard I hit you, no wound ever seems to remain! Scar and all, it always ends up completely gone!"

"I regret ever opening up about myself to you."

The gall on Gravana. Using the fact that she has no interest in romance to make fun of her despite him being the exact same. She wished she could be half as shameless as Gravana.

"Haah... Haah... Ugh, you’re too funny, Disciple. Let’s review that little bout. You did something really good there! What do you think it was?"

Alchemy pondered for a moment.

"The ranged attack catching you off guard?"

Gravana tilted his head before shaking it.

"That was good, yes. But that’s not what I’m talking about. We can discuss the attack itself after." Gravana said.

"Hmm... Then... Was it my positioning when I got you to throw me into the air?"

"Close, but still no." Gravana shrugged. 𝕗𝚛𝚎𝚎𝐰𝗲𝗯𝗻𝚘𝚟𝚎𝗹.𝕔𝐨𝕞

His answer caused Alchemy’s brow to rise. What else could it have been then? Those were the only two things that she thought were noteworthy.

When Gravana saw that she wasn’t capable of answering, he spoke up.

"You used your wings! Like in our initial fight, you used your wings to redirect yourself in the air." Gravana explained.

"You’ve seen the little shapeshifter fight, yes? During your battle against the Mint Lions."

Alchemy nodded. She was slightly preoccupied by the two lions who were trying to maul her, but she saw glimpses of Nera’s fight.

"Having extra limbs gives you a monstrous advantage over your opponent. You’ve seen it yourself. Your aid can overwhelm people even when she doesn’t have a weapon simply because she has four arms and two wings. She can fight with the intricacies of us bipeds yet fly like a bird. Even if you lack two of her arms, you need to do the same."

That... Made a surprising amount of sense. Taking it one step further, Nera had far more control in the air than a bird would. She had full aerial mobility, able to move her body in circles like the rotors or a helicopter if she wanted.

"I see what you mean, but..."

Alchemy paused, not sure if Gravana would accept her excuse.

"But." Gravana hummed.

"I can’t fly."