"So first things first. Have you ever heard about the multiplication table?"
"What even is that? A fancy table for the rich? I have no clue." Eve looked totally dumbfounded.
Elyon sighed, "No, I will teach you."
He pulled out a coin. "See this coin? How many am I holding?"
"Uhh, one?"
"Correct, now—"
He pulled out another coin and put it on top of the first one.
"How many now?"
"Two."
"Good, that's addition. Now I will show you multiplication."
"Why do I even need to know this stuff? Will it help me kill someone better?"
"No, but if I don't teach you, you won't understand why I can do this." Elyon's irises turned to "50", and the two coins transformed into a hundred coins.
"Oh my god, okay, okay, teach me." Eve looked genuinely interested now. Nightfall fell from Eve's hand and landed on the ground.
This girl's greed is boundless, Nightfall whispered to itself.
Elyon picked up the two coins. "You know, I think I have a better approach. What's five multiplied by two?"
"How should I know?"
"Add two plus two for five twos in total."
Eve looked at her hands and began to count, "Two, four, six, eight... ten. It's ten?"
"Good job, this is multiplication. Now, four multiplied by seven."
Eve thought for a long while, her fingers working overtime. "Twenty-eight."
"Four multiplied by twenty-one."
"Eighty-one."
Elyon froze for a moment. "It's eighty-four..." he forced out a cough. "Uhm, don't worry about it. But let's say you got the hang of it because we don't have all day. Well, in short, that is my power. Multiplication. I can take an object, emotion, or, in a more dire situation, a concept, and multiply it by however much I want. And when I do it, my pupils change to display that number."
Eve's eyes widened in shock and respect. "You... that's an unfair power."
"Pretty much, but I don't really use my power that much. I only multiply my food or money. Oh yes, I forgot."
The coins that were on the ground disappeared without a trace, leaving only a patch of grass in their wake.
"I can cancel my ability."
Eve looked at the ground where the bundle of coins had been a moment ago. She almost shed a tear.
"Why would you do that? I could've gotten so much food with that," her voice quivered.
"No matter, we can get as much food as you want. Now, let's do your real training."
"Yeah, but I want to know something. Back when we first met, how did you block my attack?"
"Oh, that. I just multiplied the air solidity by twenty-five. That can make an almost solid wall. That wall is basically my only defense ability. I haven't thought of something else yet."
"You are a weird guy, you know that. Who in the hell manages to control the solidity of air? Ugh, let's start the training already. And what will you even do to help me train?"
"It's very simple, really. I can't really fight, so I will just use my ability."
Elyon's irises turned to "2", and suddenly there were two Eves. The original Eve turned to her clone, and her clone did the same. Then both of them turned back to Elyon. A flawless copy that mirrored the original perfectly.
"What the hell is this?" they said in perfect unison.
"Your training partner."
"But it's me? How am I supposed to fight myself?" both of them said angrily.
"With your swords, duh."
Both Eves stared into Elyon's soul without saying a word.
"W-what? Think about it, this world is full of people with weird powers. You can't train yourself to defeat every type. The best way to do it is by knowing yourself first. Know your habits and how you can exploit them yourself. Your strengths, memorize them by heart. Your weaknesses, learn them even more thoroughly. And then later, you can think about fighting other people, then gods."
Both Eves sighed, "Fine, you make a good point. But I am bound to hurt myself, probably badly. And can you be so sure I don't kill myself? What will you do then?"
Elyon pulled out a pencil, "I was going to get there." He walked over to the original and the clone. "Which one is the real you so I can mark you?"
"I am!" both of them said simultaneously.
"Oh damn, well. Uhh..." The clone disappeared, and only the original Eve was left. He then walked over to her and grabbed her wrist.
"What are you doing?"
Elyon marked Eve's wrist with an X. "Just making sure you are the real one." Then the clone reappeared. Elyon let go of the original Eve's wrist, headed to the clone, and erased the X.
"Good, now I know which one is the real you."
"Very clever!" both of them said sarcastically.
"And as for healing you if you get hurt, I will just multiply your body's natural healing capabilities to act much faster and better. Now then, you can start fighting yourself. Just try not to kill yourself, alright?"
"Very funny!" Eve and her counterpart took a couple of steps back. Both prepared their swords, ready to cause damage to themselves.
"Wait! Before we start, I forgot to do something."
Both Eves stopped. "What now? I really want to beat myself up. Why are you dragging it?" both of them answered, annoyed.
Elyon's irises turned to "8", "What I saw when you were trying to hit me back at Scholar's Rest was that after a few swings of your heavy sword, you were out of breath." Eve's body grew weaker, as if she had run a marathon.
"Bastard, what did you do to me!" both clones shouted angrily.
"I multiplied your fatigue build-up by eight. Your body should be as heavy as steel. This will help you build more stamina."
"But I want to get a fair fight first, can't you do that for me? Please—" Eve's words were cut off by Elyon's shout.
"START!"