"Ugh… do you have to go so hard?" I groaned, rubbing my arms at the same time. Shen only healed the injuries she applied to me. Ever since we practiced, it has been non-stop me getting punished for mistakes.
At first she took advantage of my eye. Then, she went easy.
She'd swing her weapon with more strength than I do. Coming from above, then side. Whenever I got tired, she recovered my stamina with a spell. Unsurprisingly, she never got tired. Is it due to her vampirism?
More, and more she overwhelmed me. It was a few hours, then she eventually slowed down.
"That's enough for today," Shen said, walking to a shady part and taking off her necklace. "You did well, despite your physical disabilities."
Her sword clattered to the ground, afterwards falling down on her butt. I took a seat next to her, for an odd reason, I felt fulfilled.
"Um, thank you for sparring with me." I thanked her, only in response I got a chuckle. "Also, I have a question… Mister- Ahem, I mean Miss Shen."
"When we're alone, just call me Shen. And it's 'Master' in front of everyone else."
"What's with that necklace?" Curiously, I pointed at the necklace Shen had laid on the ground. It had a silver outline encircling a red gem in the middle. Additionally, it looked rather ordinary, just like any old necklace.
Shen snatched it quickly, and stuffed it in her pocket. "It's something that allows me to be in the sun."
Then why are you acting so defensive about it? I felt this urge to point it out, but Shen's face— a frown and furrowed eyebrows dissuaded me. Yeah, I'm still scared of her.
I relaxed my body, relaxing my back on a fence post. When Shaun left our area, we started talking. Mister Takeda wanted to be called Shen, she was a woman for five hundred years… that makes sense, it hasn't been a year like me.
Anyways, apparently Shen went through the corners of this world. She's learned a lot, even when I was beaten she taught me new things; fixing my movements and habits. I learned… a lot throughout.
"Wait, hold on!" I popped up, pointing at Shen. "I thought you were going to teach me magic!"
"Hm?" Shen looked at me, I could see the slight confusion awry on her face. "Oh, I told you to last a few more rounds. You didn't, so I decided to teach you more swordsmanship."
"... You still have not changed, huh?"
Shen let out a small laugh, eventually leaning back and relaxing; she had a supple smile.
"Tomorrow I'll teach you magic."
"Alright…"
"Actually…" Shen opened her eyes, she sounded like she was thinking of something. "How do you feel right now?"
I tilted my head, before confirming I feel fine. Aside from the strain in my arms, and the ache of my feet, I feel perfectly fine.
"Good, I think I can teach you a bit."
"E-Eh? But you said tomorrow?"
Shen didn't say much more, instead, she went into teaching mode.
First, she tested my mana capacity at this very moment— my intelligence stat was directly connected to my capacity. I showed her my intelligence stat, she didn't have much words.
"It's okay. average at best." She muttered. Every word stung… but it's probably true. She's been through a lot in these five hundred years. It still hurts though…
Next step, she had me turned away from her; placing her hands on my back, I felt her mana push into my body. It was cold, like ice was going through my veins.
"Currently… you're average in mana capacity, a little lower."
Ouch…again.
"Next, we'll test your mana output." Shen suggested, at the tip of her finger was a glowing ball. That is not a healing orb.
At an instinctual level, I felt something was off; at a closer inspection, it was a lighter shade of yellow— almost pure white unlike healing orb.
"What do you want me to do?"
"Inject your mana into this, " She held her hand close to me. "This is something you can use at a higher control."
"...is it safe to touch?"
"As safe as it can be."
That… that's extremely ominous… but I can trust her. I closed my eyes, with a distrustful grin I brought my hands closer. What the…
The orb was radiating a frigid feeling. However, I ignored it, and Shen guided me.
I released my mana, the white orb never changed. It was meant to change if a foreign source was entering.
My mana couldn't pierce the surface, the more I tried, and tried, nothing was changing.
Shen released a sigh, the orb in her hand turned into wisps before disappearing.
"Maybe that test was a little tough." She muttered, retrieving her palm and turning back.
Little?
Before I could ask, Shen raised her finger. "Your mana output is above average." She said to me, a small smile forming. "Our level distance is vast, bigger than any ocean; yet I was able to feel your attempts."
"Is that good?"
"Extremely, your spells are way more powerful than shown by your stats." Shen explained; afterwards, she turned to me once again, holding both palms out. "Let me give you a demonstration."
Two orbs, one was so much smaller than the other: whilst the other was four times bigger. Both were yellow, signalling it was a healing orb.
"Guess which one is more potent."
"The right?" I guessed, I was uncertain– but I pointed at her right palm, it had a much bigger orb.
"Wrong."
After a tilt of my head, Shen forced the orbs to float above my hand. To my utter surprise, she stuck her arm out into the sun; in an instant, her arm was set a blaze, charring her skin faster than any barbecue.
How the fuck is she not writhing around?!I would be absolutely screaming holding my damn arm!
She held it there till nearly all of the flesh was turned to ash; eventually she brought it to the shade. It was still smoking heavily, and she didn't care about it.
She had me bring the bigger orb to it, slowly pushing it into her arm.
"This is the weakest output," Shen explained. Her arm didn't heal any amount, it stayed the same, not even a bit of the charr went away. "With wounds like these, it'll do nothing. I poured more mana into it, but I put no power into it."
I thought- Huh? What is she talking about?
"Mana output isn't correlated to how much you put into it."
"So, why is it called output?"
Shen released a sigh, her healthy arm asking for the other orb. "It's the strength of your mana. That one, I put an average amount of mana into it. Give me it."
I did as I was told to, passing it to her.
"Watch."
As she lowered the orb to her arm, I could hear sizzling. The flesh that was once charred, started to boil— but… it was piecing back together. It was healing…
The burnt flesh, skin and bone began to wither, they were bringing new replacements.
Is this… what she means?
Does mana output talk about the maximum output? Meaning, if I can increase my efficiency, and cultivate it… I can release way more powerful spells, then I can fight for far longer…
I was amazed, I could feel these incomprehensible thoughts writhe around my mind.
Her bone was fully healed, it was spotless, there was no blood… a clean bone. Her healing is amazing…
The orb finally went inside her arm, her muscle pulled together, only visible for a moment. Then the flesh above, and lastly the skin.
"See, " Shen said, rubbing her arm alongside her words. "With enough practice, learning and experience you can reach this level."
"I thought the strength of the spell worked with how much mana you put in…" I mumbled, watching as her arm was spotless.
"That's half correct."
"Huh…"
For a while, Shen explained to me.
Mana output does indeed determine the strength of the spell. She also confirmed that levels of the spells do matter too.
A level two fireball will be stronger than a level one; but there is a limit to the firepower, which training your mana output will strengthen them.
As a rough estimate, my raw mana output is fifty percent stronger than a normal mage… My mind went blank at this, if it was, that's impressive.
Then I felt my confidence shatter after hers. When she started using magic, which was around eight to nine years old it was twice the normal.
After five hundred years, that mana output increased tremendously. It even gave her control of how strong the spell would be.
For her next lesson, she had me sit cross legged. Palms up in the air, her hands just under mine.
This lesson was simple, but pretty complicated… Split focusing on two differing things.
In my right hand, she had me full power, my palm of flames. I could feel her ice cold mana feeding into it, combining with mine to keep it going. If she hadn't, my mana would be drained fast.
It rose up high, higher than my chest before stopping.
For the next step, my left hand. She had me barely squeeze the mana out.
What else am I supposed to do? I thought whilst looking down at my palms. Sweat was rolling down my forehead, I could feel a headache incoming.
It was immensely difficult, if I didn't put all my focus I would fail. The startup was already difficult in the first place!
She had to funnel my mana in my hand. Pretty much controlling it… However, she stopped when I released my second palm of flames.
It almost spurted out, barely staying alive.
"Keep them going, as you grow more comfortable, use your flame manipulation skill to up the heat on the smaller one."
"O-Oh sh-" Just as I wanted to respond, both fizzled out…
Damn it…
One more time, it was much easier this time around. My body is pretty adaptable, the mana that flowed through my veins listened; although Shen helped a lot in this process.
She could only remark with a not bad. Nothing else, but from my peripheral vision I could see the satisfied smile.
As the time flew by, the flames never lowered in intensity. Nor did they increase, my focus and skill with it never changed.
It was around an hour, until I felt something. It allowed me to try flame manipulation; my head was much clearer, I had a clear picture.
To my left hand I looked down. The tiny flame frollicking, I turned flame manipulation on it. Furthering its small flame, turning it into something hot that I could feel.
The heat was swatting at my arms, it was hot… countering the small heat from its brother.
"Good, hold this for an hour, " Shen said to me, her tone was endearing and slightly full of pride. "Hold it for an hour."
"Okay…" I mumbled, this time the flames never ran out.
What's the point of this? Is she testing my limits…?What's the point when she's feeding my spells…
For an odd reason, ten minutes in I didn't need to focus on it. At that, she had me lower the flame's intensity in my right hand
As more time went by, it was easier. However, I could feel my skin prickle from the heat difference. It felt weird, my mind was questioning what was happening.
"One more minute."
Shen, who was so quiet, spoke out.
Holy fu- I swore in my damn mind, she made me jump! Anyways, that minute inched by, which doesn't mean it's easier.
Her hands separated from mine, leaving my mana supply to itself. Instantly, my mana drained.
By ten seconds my mana was at half tank. I had to stop it, I didn't want to pass out here.
"So-Sorry…"
"Hm?" Shen wasn't even looking. She was resting her back by the fence. Additionally, looking at me with a cocked eyebrow.
"I couldn't last a minute…."
"Come here and relax." She called out to me, ignoring my words. Was she disappointed? I thought she'd be mad…
In her previous life she was always hard on students who couldn't finish things…. Is this how much she had changed…?
"Kid, you still did a great job."
"Th-thanks…"
"You're learning quick, adapting to the flow of mana."
Thanks… I don't even know how though. It just started becoming natural like breathing.
After I sat like her, we became silent. The bright day was starting to dim. From late morning to evening, that's how long we trained.
Shen quickly became relaxed, her back curving further down. Her feet nearly touched the sunlight, but she didn't seem to worry.
Just as I was about to relax myself, someone came rushing over. Heavy, in a panic… they were Shaun's footsteps, I could hear his breath panicking.
"We need you two, now!"
"What for?"
"It's urgent! Just come with me!"
Without much more, Shaun waved his arm, forcefully calling us over; with a sigh from each of us, we followed him back into the tavern.
Even the whole city seemed on edge; people were rushing around, the stalls that lined the street were empty. It's happening again.
Within a few seconds I deduced this, it reminded me of Untergrant…
"What's the issue?" Shen had asked me before we actually went in.
She was interrupted by Shaun flinging the door open.
"James, I brought them!"
"We need to get going," James proclaimed, he was fidgeting with his cloak— his breath was pacey, eventually continuing with his announcement.
"This place is about to be attacked… the guards are preparing for an attack."
"Where are you planning to go?" Shen raised her hand, whilst leaning back in her chair. "You seem to know this threat, what has you so worked up?"
"It destroyed where we used to live! We have to get going, or we'll be caught in the crossfire again!"
"To where, is what I asked."
"Our original destination.. Ard"