Anger rose and fell in Alexander's mind, a force of wisdom settling him down everytime he got heated while looking at Kahawai. If not for the calming presence of the Other convincing him of the folly of attacking this man, he would have attacked him and been beaten within an inch of his life.
'You nearly killed me over some trial. But,.. I'm nowhere near your level. If I attacked you here, on your territory, I'd be gone. I'm not even on his radar of threats. When I strike, I will be ready. Untill then, I'll need to train.'
The group trained every morning, sometimes during the night. With the threat of the Hunters trial so soon all hands were on deck.
They practiced simple training exercises as a unit, including formations from Max. As the teams strategic brain, his mind was indispensable.
The group hand a dynamic before Alexander, and while the team discussed many subjects, one thing came up repeatedly. He didnt have a position in most of the formations nor did he have a particular weapon he was better at.
His use of swords, spears, knives, and bows were all within proficiency after a few days of practicing. He was by far the most diverse in the group, nowhere near the mastery with the sword as Nakamuras, or as quick as Kalani with her knives, a jack of all trades type.
'I'm stronger than I was yesterday, I can win!" He swung his sword at an opening on Nakamura, his blade slashing from his left side. The attack was good, cutting Nakamura's training clothes as he stepped back, drawing his blade along Alexanders left arm on his back step.
"Excellent, but don't stop at one attack. You must capitalize on your opponents with a combo, like this!" Nakamura spoke, taking his blade and jumping adding downward strikes on Alexanders shoulder.
Alexander tried to block with his sword, putting every once of strength into it from his legs and pushing up.
Boom!
Dust rose from the training area, and cracks formed were Alexander kneeled from the onslaught of attacks. His wooden blade split in half, along with Nakamuras, something that had happened regularly between the two, more frequently now.
"You are getting better, Mortem. I underestimated you in the beginning, and that was my folly. I await our next interaction. Focus on your attacks more, and anticipate your enemies moves when you strike."
Alexander rose from his knee, an inch into the dirt. "I almost had you. How do you move so fast when I'm nearly on you? Its as if time slows down when I swing my weapon, while you speed up."
'Just call me Alexander, dude. Its weird hearing my last name like that.'
Nakamura contemplated something for a second, a carefree smile appearing on his face. "When you achieve a D rank, you shall find out. Untill then focus on your foundations."
Alexander was confused how he could say something and nothing at the same time. "Well, I guess. Let's clean up and head inside. I'm sure everyone is waiting, and my stomach is yapping at me.'
Alexander had learned an entire lifetime of skills, but using them was farfetched with how strong and resilient he was not. He trained as much as he could, even in his dreams.
Visions of his stances and formations, even those he had only seen once, he practiced. Strangely enough a voice even corrected his form sometimes, both inside and out of his dreams.
'The shoulder should be lower, and feet should be further apart. More strength to the middle of your swing and then follow through. You should meditate more, and practice accumulating mana.' The voice was considerate enough and sounded like his own thoughts but he knew it was not. It was the second mind that allowed him to remember the tragic night.
He followed its process like he would his own advice and made significant progress in training his Core and body.
When he trained with Mana, under the elders guidance, he was left in different areas of the estate.
Some places were warmer, colder, dirtier, wetter, and darker. He found a dark cove in the forest, some distance from the noise of the practice the group was doing, to practicelike the elder instructed.
'Everytime I see his face I just want to smash it in side his stupid head. Well, hell get more than that when I surpass him. Now, let's see, this is a perfect place to focus. Breathe in and absorb the mana, exhale and solidify mana.'
The elemental mana flowed from his surroundings, swriling around him and gathering in his core, holding it within, then expelling it from his breathing. He could sense everything around him in a dull greyscale circle.
'In and out,'He repeated his mantra.
A rustle of leaves on the forest floor attracted Alexanders attention to his right. His sense were heightened and he assumed it was just a forest creature coming to check the human out. He stayed still and continued to wait for it to move closer so his senses could perceive it more.
The creature stalked closer to the human, sniffing with its bulbous head, and large nostrils. Warm meat, it thought in its primitive thoughts. It's tattered childlike clothes fit loosely as it motioned mischievously to its companions to circle around.
"Aww, it brought friends. Little animals are so adorable. They're splitting up? That's weird, why are they getting into an ambush formation, haha. Cute things must be scared of me... but they're getting closer?'
Alexander slowly opened his eyes to take a look at the small animals, wondering if it was a family of rabbits or squirls, as they moved quite fast for smaller animals. The bushes trembled and the voice gave him a warning. He trusted the voice but his reason tried to convince it of its folly. It cost him time to react as the small spear shot out from fifteen feet, digging into the side of his stomach.
'What the hell happened? Did that ugly little s***t just shoot me with a spear? I have to move now!' He set his mind. Grabbing the spear and breaking the shaft in half, keeping the tip in the wound to control the bleeding. Max, as the teams medic along with strategists, pounded into them to never remove an impaled object from a wound. Light magic could heal many things but not a loss of blood.
His heart beat steadily where normaly he should be panicking. He focused fire magic within his hand and shot a small stream fire at the bushes, burung it to ashes and catching the creature off guard as it burned.
Arhhh Gurhhhsshs
Whoosh! Whoosh!
Alexander dodged two spears thrown at him from the side, fumbling slightly from the pain of the spear in his stomach. He summoned the mana for another fire stream, but failed to concentrate as the pain spread up his spine and stomach.
'Urrgg.. I'm losing it, and this thing is not making it better. What are these things?' Alexander backstepped and looked at the burnt corpse of the creature. "Goblins!? What the hell is a gate creature doing here?" He understood what this meant and the catastrophic event that took place near the mansion.
'A Chaosbreak!' He thought as his eyes caught a glimpse of five other pairs of eyes crawling around in the shadows, gleaming with hate as they spread out. Stomping and breaking of branches gave way to a nasty aura that spread in the out in the clearing.
"Just great, they have a troll too!"