Enjoy~!

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“Ha! She got it on the first try! How’s that for a genius, eh Gerard?” Madam Rothema chuckled.

“Hardly. A barrier that takes ten minutes to form, and three seconds to break can hardly be called a barrier.” Master Thales replied.

Thera sighed. He was right. As it was now, her barrier wasn’t battle-worthy at all.

“You’re just saying that! You’re really just happy that she was able to do it first try, right? Besides, the only thing that she’s missing is practice. If she practices at it, then time, strength, shape: she’ll be able to manipulate any piece of the barrier according to her will.” Madam Rothema replied.

Actually, barriers were kind of Thera’s specialty, if it was magic. The fact that she could make a barrier with martial spirit was truly fascinating, though, since the way to activate it was completely different from the way she activated magic.

I wonder if I could make my own martial skills? She thought to herself, as she stared at her hands.

“True, but she is far from such a level of mastery as things stand.” Master Thales replied. “You’re just trying to make me release her from lessons so that you can steal her away when I’m not looking.”

“Now you are truly judging a good man’s mind with an evil man’s thoughts! I had no intentions of stealing anyone. Taking back what is mine, though, is a different matter.” Madam Rothema said.

“I thought we had agreed that I was to have Thera for these next three months.” Master Thales said, darkly.

“You’ll be busy all this week just trying to teach Laura there how to use that skill. Why not let me work with Thera while you’re busy?” Madam Rothema asked. “Unless you’re giving up on the other one?”

Thera blinked. Somehow it had turned into a custody fight, with her in the middle of things. She was not sure whether she wanted to laugh or to cry.

Master Thales’s expression grew dark. “I am not giving up on either! Even though Thera is able to use the skill, she still needs to get better at it. Until she can have at least a normal time of thirty seconds per use, I will not allow you to take her.”

“Then, it’s a deal. You have said it, now. There’s no going back on your word. Thera reaches thirty seconds per use, and I take her up to work on her spells until Laura has also acquired the skill.” Madam Rothema said.

“…Thera, go practice your skill while I guide Laura.” Master Thales said. It seems he had relented under Madam Rothema’s foxy onslaught.

And so, a schedule was eventually formed where Thera would learn a martial skill from Master Thales and practice it until it was considered battle-passable.

Then, while Master Thales worked on helping Laura to learn the skill, Thera would climb a ladder to Madam Rothema’s floating mansion, where her magic shackles would be removed for increasing the proficiency of her spells.

This went on for three months. During those three months, Thera learned skills that roughly translated from the Latin into: Stellar Shield, Meteor Charge, Thousand-Hands, Ghost Evasion, Yin-Yang Riposte, and Shadow Flight.

Meteor Charge [Fax Collatus] was a skill that focused in pushing mana to the legs, giving a similar effect to a Sonic dash.

Thera was amused at the idea of teaching this skill to a blue hedgehog wearing red shoes. But, due to the lack of such a novel little animal in the vicinity, she put the idea away for later.

Thousand-Hands [Mille Manus] focused upon using speed, precision, and diversion arm techniques to create an area around the body where attacks would not get through. Unlike Stellar Shield, it did not try to pitch strength against strength, but was more of a technical skill.

Ghost Evasion [Spiritus Evasio] was another speed skill that worked upon speed to the effect that after-images were formed, momentarily confusing the enemy into thinking that his strikes had hit before the afterimage disappeared, giving the user the appearance of a ghost.

Yin-Yang Riposte [Yin-Yang Responsum] was a countering skill, wherein the energy from the enemy’s attack would be used to power a counter-attack.

This was one of the easiest ones for Thera to learn, as most of her other-worldly martial arts had similar-although not as powerful- moves. It also had the oddest trigger chant, having included a Chinese term alongside the Latin.

Shadow Flight [Umbra Fuga] was a skill that allowed one to retreat or flee under the cover of any usable shadow in the area.

Honestly, this one seemed to be most like a magic spell, but since it used martial spirit and physics instead of mana, it only just barely applied as a martial skill.

Thera decided to think of it as a kind of ninja technique.

It only took her three to five days to learn each technique, while it usually took Laura ten to fourteen days to learn them. As such, three months flew by before they knew it.

“Well, I suppose this is as prepared as I can make you.” Master Thales said. “Even though I wanted to teach you some more things, if we don’t leave now, we’ll never make it on time.”

“Never make it where? Why are we leaving? Why do we need to be on time?” Thera asked, curious.

“It’s the ten-year students contest, dearie.” Madam Rothema supplied.

Ah. The ten-year students contest; so that’s why. Thera nodded. She had read about it in Garkmel’s History of Martial Arts and Practitioners.

Since around 40,000 years ago, the Black Class people were insanely proud of their students. However, there was hardly a chance or them to showcase how wonderful they were. And so, an agreement came out between them to have a contest, to see whose student was the strongest.

The winner would have access to Haven City’s cultivation treasure for the next ten years. You’d think that there would be enmity between those who won and those who lost. But even the students who lost were awarded prizes based upon their performance.

Therefore, the contest became an event much looked forward to upon the continent.

Wait. Does that mean… Thera looked over at Master Thales for confirmation.

“Yes, you’ve got it.” Master Thales nodded his head, the corner of his mouth turning up in a smile. “You two are attending as my students.”

“WHAT!!” Laura yelped. She was not so arrogant to think that a meager three months of learning could overcome another person’s ten years of training.

We’re going to be slaughtered! She predicted in her heart.

“I know what you’re thinking. You think you can’t win, don’t you?” Master Thales said. Thera tilted her head to the side.

Normally, it should be impossible…but the fact was, Thera and Laura weren’t on the scale of ‘normal’ anymore, so the outcome remained uncertain.

After all, Thera had never actually seen a true fight between martial practitioners, so how could she predict the outcome?

“Just three months of training can’t possibly catch up to ten years. I say that, but actually, it’ll take us nine months to get to the arena on Plateau Peak.” Master Thales said.

“On the way, I’ll have you continue your training, so it’ll actually be a year’s worth of training versus everyone else’s ten years.”

His eyes took on a rather dangerous glint. “I can’t wait to see their faces, too.”

Thera and Laura both felt that their easygoing days had officially been numbered. Laura shuddered, while Thera simply sighed.

““Yes, Master Thales!”” They both said.

Thales turned to Madam Rothema. “So? What will you do while we travel?” He asked.

“Why, come along with you, of course!” Madam Rothema declared.

“It’s been ages since I’ve seen a good fight. I won’t be missing this one!” She cackled.

Thales muttered under his breath.

Old hag. You’re probably just going because you want to make money on the bets, don’t you?!

“I heard that!”

Master Thales grinned widely. “Did I say that out loud?” he asked.

“Say what?” Laura asked.

Thera looked down at Thorn, the magic katana in her hands, quite sure that she didn’t want to know what Master Thales had said.

She gave the kashira (butt cap) and hand-guard an extra polish.

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