Chapter 30: Rigorous Training[2]

Once my mana was restored, I sat up from my seating position and turned towards Simon. It seemed that he had been waiting patiently for me to finish my meditation. Huh, I don’t think I would’ve been able to wait that long without doing something. To each his own I guess. After I collected my thoughts, Simon began to speak.

“The first thing we need to fix is your rashness. If you don’t think about things logically and with a cool head, you will be killed in battle. The only reason you have gotten this far without dying is because you were fighting monsters that barely had any brain cells. If you end up fighting an opponent with a decent amount of intelligence, he will exploit this weakness of yours. Therefore in this next segment of training, you will be forced to use your mind rather than brute force.”

My only response to the vampire’s words was a grimace. I couldn’t offer a rebuttal since everything he stated was true. I was pretty hot headed in my fights, but that was the only way I knew how to fight. I only had my first serious fight about a week ago, so it wasn’t a surprise that I wasn’t an expert at it. But after this training, I would hopefully be able to fight smarter and more efficiently.

Before we began our training, Simon had us move to a different spot in the clearing. This was because the spot we were at now still had various holes in the ground thanks to my failed spell. After walking for about a minute, we stopped. I was told to stay in the spot I was currently standing at as Simon moved a good distance away from me. With attentive ears, I listened to my next instructions.

“For this training exercise, you are only allowed to use earth magic. The reason for this is because in the future, you will inevitably get into a situation where only certain spells will work on certain enemies. Therefore you need to know the ins and outs of each type of your magic. You don’t want to become the jack of all trades and the master of none.”

That made sense. The rats I had fought didn’t seem to be resistant to any of my magic, but that didn’t mean all of the enemies I would fight would be like that. I would need to be prepared for the day I met an enemy that was resistant to most of my spells. From what it sounded like, once I was done with this training, we would repeat it. Only the next time I would do it with a different magic.

“The next rule is that you are not allowed to use any weapons. Weapons made from your magic are an exception however.”

Although I would’ve preferred to use my spear in this fight, I could see where Simon was coming from. In the battle with the formidable rat, I hadn’t been able to use my spear at all. I needed to know how to fight without a weapon. Once I knew how to do that, I would be able to use a weapon to help me fight.

“The final rule is that you do this training spar alone. That means your animal cannot interfere in the fight, no matter what happens.”

Once Simon finished speaking I nodded my head. I had a feeling that I would be doing this spar alone so I wasn’t really that surprised. Taking a deep breath, I calmed my mind. I needed to be prepared for whatever Simon threw at me.

As I stood there waiting for some sort of attack, Simon looked at me. Wait, was I supposed to start the battle? Shrugging my shoulders, I examined my surroundings to see if I could use any of it against my opponent. The area around me was a wide cavern with an extremely tall ceiling. Unlike the sewers, there was earth beneath me, not bricks. This would be extremely helpful since I was forced to use earth magic in this fight. After thinking for another minute, I initiated the fight.

Sticking my hand out in front of me, I began gathering mana towards the area in front of my hand. While I was thinking, I had thought of a new spell that would help me in the upcoming battles. After my mana was clumped together I began gathering earth from my nearby surroundings. As they gathered together in fragments, they began to take on the shape of an earthen spike. By attacking this way, I wouldn’t have to launch my earthen spikes from the ground. If I fought any opponents, I wouldn’t have to be worried anymore.

The only downside of attacking this way was that it took longer than attacking directly from the ground. The time it took wasn’t that long but you needed every second in battle. Thanks to this being a spar, I could spam attacks like this, and soon I would be able to launch this attack way faster than I ever had before.

With my hand facing Simon, I created two more earthen spikes that levitated in the air. While I was creating these two spikes, I also directed my mana into the ground so I would be able to attack him from two different directions. Just throwing these levitating earthen spikes wouldn’t hurt him. I needed to think smarted in order to defeat Simon.

With a flick of my wrist, the earth spikes in the air went shooting off towards Simon. The moment they neared him several earthen spikes erupted from the ground below him. How would he dodge these attacks?

I watched as Simon narrowed his eyes at the oncoming attacks. With a flourish sidestep, one of my levitating earthen spikes was avoided. He was forced to jump however when my earthen spikes erupted from beneath him. Right into my two flying earthen spikes.

As the spikes came closer and closer to his chest, an intense look appeared on his face. It seemed that he was finally getting serious. Twisting his body in a movement that made me cringe, he dodged the earthen spike on his left and grabbed the other one on his right. Spinning around to face me, he launched the spike right back at me. Unlike my normal earthen spike however, this one was extremely fast.

Jumping to the side, I watched as the earthen spike surged past me. Man, it was going so fast I could see the after images. Turning my head toward Simon, I noticed him launching some sort of earthen balls toward me. Although they looked quite intimidating with their size, I was confident that I would be able to dodge them. Or at least I would’ve been if my earthen spike I had launched quite a bit ago didn’t slam into my back.

Letting out a cry of pain, my body was slammed right into the two earthen balls Simon had created. And of course the two earthen balls just couldn’t be normal. The moment my body connected with the ball, it exploded into fragments of the earth.

With me right next to it.

As I flew through the air in a mixture of pain and dizziness, Simon began to speak.

“Here is your first mistake. Never assume that the attack your enemy makes is his only attack. If you had been more aware of your surroundings, you would have noticed the earthen spike that was approaching your back. Now you might be wondering how I used your own attack against you. Since you haven’t fought someone who could use magic yet, I will enlighten you.”

Even though I was in a considerable amount of pain, I listened to what Simon was saying. Although the pain I was feeling wanted me to curl up in a ball and cry, I persevered. This was the only way I would get stronger. Thanks to my pain resistance skill, my body was able to withstand a considerable amount of pain. It was a shame that it didn’t reduce the amount of pain I felt though.

“Some people are able to eject your mana out of your spell and substitute it with their own. This allows them to launch your attacks right back at you. You can however stop them from doing this by putting more mana in your spell than you normally would. The only problem with doing this is that your mana will drain quickly by using this method. Even though I’m telling you this, you don’t really have to worry about this happening since you have to have a thorough understanding of the element in order to do it.”

That was relief. If a lot of my opponents could just redirect my spells at me, I would’ve had to come up with a new battle strategy. But even though I learned something new, a frown was etched upon my face. I still had to get out of the situation I was in. Right now I was falling towards the ground. The fall wouldn’t kill me, but it would be painful.

How was I going to get out of this situation. Using a wind gale wasn’t an option since I was limited to earth magic. Hmm. Maybe I should use a new spell to get me out of this situation. The earthen ball attack that I was forced to suffer through reminded me of my meager list of spells I could use. But what spell should I try to make. I would need to think quickly because my concentration skill only gave me so much time to think.

What did I want? Preferably I would want someone to catch me so I didn’t want to feel the pain of hitting to the ground. My eyes narrowed in concentration as I thought about the spell I was about to use. It would take a lot of mana to use, but sacrifices had to be made. Sticking my hands towards the ground, I began pushing my mana out of me and into the ground below.

As my mana saturated the ground, I made the earth below me change into the shape of an open hand. While the bottom of the hand was rock hard, I made the inside of the hand as soft as I could. There was no point in creating the hand if it was still as hard as the ground below me.

Normally my mana would’ve run out by now, but the closer I got to the ground, the less mana I had to use. My hand also took the vague shape of a hand. Simon probably didn’t know what the hell I had created. Oh well, I wasn’t making this hand to put it on display after all. Unlike a normal hand, the one I made was the size of my body. It was thin, but not thin enough to break when I landed on it. Or at least that was what I assumed when I landed on it and it didn’t break.

As the air rushed out of my body, I trembled in all of the pain I was feeling. Damn, this little spar was painful as fuck. Taking a glance at my mana bar, I realized that I was only able to launch a few more earthen spells. Tch, I would have to make them count.

Sliding off of my earthen hand, I allowed it to crumble into the ground. Simon looked at me with a raised eyebrow as I dusted myself off. What? There wasn’t a lot of ways I could land safely. Making sure he didn’t launch any more spells, I sunk my hands into the ground. They went in so smoothly you would think my hands were sliding into water, not earth. The reason for this was because I softened the earth by my hand so they could go in easily. They would need to for the next spell I was about to use.

Watching my opponent carefully, I began making the earth around my gauntlets take the shape of sharp spikes. Once my gauntlets were covered in spikes, I ripped my hands from the ground and charged towards Simon. Since I was running out of mana, I could no longer afford to attack from a distance.

In response to my charge, Simon placed his hand on the ground and began filling the earth with his mana. Thanks to my mana affinity skill, I could tell Simon was about to launch a spell that was way more powerful than any he had done before. I would need to prepare myself for it, or I would be in a world of pain.

As I ran toward him, I kept in mind where his mana was in the ground. He hadn’t done anything yet so I guess he was waiting for me to spring his trap. Did he know I could sense where his mana was? I highly doubted it since I didn’t think I told him when I was explaining my mana affinity skill. Good, I could use this to my advantage.

Right before I reached the spot where his mana was, I stopped and launched the earth from one of my gauntlets at him. Although there wasn’t a lot of earth on my gauntlets, the speed at which I launched it made it extremely deadly. In a burst of speed, Simon ducked under my attack and rushed toward me. Mustering all of my strength, I swung my right arm directly at him. It was time to show him some of the pain I was currently feeling.

But before my fist could reach his face, Simon ducked under my outstretched arm. A look of shock filled my face as he twisted his body so his back was facing me. Shit, was he about to do what I thought he was going to do? My question was answered as he grabbed my right arm and lifted my body like a ragdoll. Damn, this was going to be painful.

With my arm in his grip, Simon easily lifted me up and slammed me into the ground in front of him. The ground that was filled with his mana. Even though I tried moving my body, there was nothing I could do. This damn vampire had the grip of a bull. The moment my body hit the ground, the earth below me began to surround me. I knew I was fucked when Simon jumped back as far as he could. What spell did he just use against me?

In less than a few seconds, I was surrounded by a mass of earth. Man, I could hardly believe I fell in a trap that I knew was there. Once I figured out how Simon did this attack, I would make sure to use it in my future battles. But as for right now, I needed to figure out how to escape since I doubted Simon would help me out.

Pushing myself off the ground, I was forced into a crouched position thanks to how small this earthen prison was. Tightening my fist, I slammed it into the wall that was next to me. Even though a clump of earth fell, it was soon replaced. Damn, I would have to use magic to get out of this situation. As I thought about what to do, I twisted my back so I would be more comfortable. It was when I did this that I realized that something was wrong.

Was the space I had to move around in getting smaller? Narrowing my eyes, I placed my hand on the ground next to the wall. After waiting a few seconds, my hand was pushed slowly pushed backwards. Shit! Not only did I have to escape, I had to do it quickly. Before I crushed to death by earth.

Placing my hands against the enclosing wall, I began to push the earth outwards. I let out a sigh of relief as a fresh air began to flood in. That sense of relief vanish when the hole was refilled and the earth around me began to collapse. Fuck, in a few more seconds I wouldn’t be able to escape. Fearing for my life, I began to frantically punch the wall in front of me. I rotated between ejecting the earth and punching since I didn’t have a lot of mana left. Whenever I made a gap, I shoved my body through it. There was no way I was letting the earth refill it before I could escape.

Performing a worm like motion through the earth, I managed to push myself out of the prison before it collapsed. As I lay on the ground panting, Simon approached me from above.

“Your techniques need quite a bit of work….but it will do. When you feel ready to continue, restore your mana and I will instruct you on what you did wrong and how to improve.”

Staring up at the ceiling of the cave, I let the next few minutes pass by in relaxation. This training had been taxing on both my mind and my body. But even though I was exhausted, I was glad for this spar. If I did the same thing Simon did to me against a rat, it wouldn’t stand a chance. In order to escape that trap, you would need considerable strength or a type of magic.

The thing that made the trap Simon used against me deadly was that it slowly sunk me into the ground. You wouldn’t notice at first since you would be more concerned about the enclosing walls. Thankfully Simon didn’t do this to me, but if he did, I would be dead. I could already see myself emerging from the earthen prison only to realize I was stuck several feet under the earth.

Moving my body into a meditating position, I began to restore my mana. The training Simon was giving me was far from done and the more I learned, the more I benefitted from it.