“Aaagh!” Derb’s mighty sword was tossed into the air, landing with a heavy thump, Derb landing not far behind. “You call that a swing, boy? I’ve felt the villagers hit harder with a wooden sword!” Derb got up slowly, drawing out as much rest time as possible, “Don’t compare to those monsters, what do they eat to make them that strong? I’m just human damnit not some ultra monster.” He ran towards his sword and picked it up, rushing back to Deitre. He acted as if he was going to swing vertically, only to spin, digging his heel into the ground while slamming the sword into Deitre’s right side. Nothing but a plink off the Giant warrior’s sword, Derb already knew what was coming and hid under his sword. The sword in Deitre’s hand came crashing down on him with little grace, making his teeth rattle and his stomach churn. A swift kick from seemingly nowhere sent Derb once again flying. “Do you never learn? That tactic won’t work on someone much stronger than you, fight carefully and leave no openings. leave as much reach between the two of you as possible. It’s one of the benefits of having a longer sword.” Derb wasn’t listening to his teacher’s wise words, however. He was incapacitated as he hit the floor particularly bad, gasping for air.

“THAT’S ENOUGH!” Derb saw in his blurry image a little angel coming to finally send him to heaven, or hell, whichever took him away from this cruel teacher faster. Tiffany was furious, this had gone too far. During all the other spars Derb was left exhausted but never to this state. His face was covered in purple splotches and his body was getting leaner from all the healing. She could barely keep up healing his body at all! “Don’t you think you can take it easier on him? He’s suffering so much...” Deitre only watched solemnly as she pushed Derb onto his back and started pouring her magic into him. At some point, he became aware enough to wake up from his delusions. “Oh god, Tiff please just act like you ran out of juice, if I have to attack that brick wall again I think I might just run away from home.” She smiled tiredly, “See? Even Derb doesn’t want to do all this...”

Wait, what? Derb was finally realizing what was happening. “Ah, wait Tiff… maybe don’t be so hard on Deitre… wait a second. Deitre, maybe you could go a little easier on me… I mean… I don’t know... if you want to...” While Derb was beginning to mumble, like a coward, Deitre spoke loudly and confidently. “As you are now there is no perceivable way I can see you winning any fight against anyone more than a complete novice. You won’t survive out there, boy.” Derb scoffed, of course he wouldn’t survive out there. He could barely survive Hannah when she got particularly feisty. “I get that, I do. But… don’t you think you’re taking this a bit too far? It’s not like we’re in trouble right now. We have all the time in the world! ” The last part of that sentence made Deitre flinch. Hard. Derb hid behind Tiffany in fear, causing Tiffany to wonder why she even bothered helping the big baby.

Deitre didn’t react aggressively, however, he just turned away from them. “We will continue training tomorrow. Understand, boy, that experience comes with age. I fear you might repeat the mistakes I made with someone dear to me.” Derb stood, now healed enough to walk without complaining. “Um, I understand, I’ll see you later Deitre! Teach Tiff more foods, it’s been boring eating the same things from her. Ow.” As Derb rubbed the shoulder Tiffany punched, they both walked back to train with teacher Gerald once more. “What was his deal?” Tiffany still seemed slightly angry, which Derb felt warm at. “You’re going to be a mage anyways so what’s the point in keeping you under this dumb work...” As she pouted Derb couldn’t help but feel conflicted. “You do understand I’m doing this because I want to, right? I wouldn’t do anything I wouldn’t want to.” Derb said, trying to calm the girl who meant well. “B-but, you’re getting all hurt! Before all you did was cry at splinters so how can you handle this?” Tiffany started sputtering.

Derb coughed, hiding his embarrassment at the accusation. He straightened his back to look more confident as he lied. “I’ve never complained once in my life, you have no proof. Besides, I’ve become stronger, so I can take better hits you know?” Derb stretched his arms, longer than they were about a month ago. All this training had increased his growth by a lot, or maybe that was just him being in this world. He could almost feel the mana building his bones and muscle. It was kinda gross actually. “I can’t believe you’re taking his side after everything he’s done to you… after everything I did for you...” Tiffany was grumbling, much to Derb’s amusement. “Hahah! Hey, who kept sending me back to get my ass handed to me? I felt quite fine passed out on the floor thank you very much.” After another swing from the honestly quite strong tiffany, they made it back home.

“TEACHER, IM BACK!” Derb yelled into the doorway, receiving a glare from Hannah, sitting just inside. Closing her book she looked at both of them, looking smug. “Teacher is out, He’s still processing your fancy project.” Derb stared blankly at Hannah, “So… free day?” Hannah rolled her eyes as a smile came onto her face. “No, idiot, master is making us train under meditation today. He told me to do it as a group with you and Tiffany.” She got up from her chair, guiding them further in two an open spot in the house. “So what now, teacher?” Derb casually asked Hannah, earning a smug smile on her face. “He told us to sit in a triangle formation with our backs together, something about circulating the energy that escapes our bodies into each other!” Derb looked blankly at Hannah, and then at Tiffany. “What is that supposed to mean?” Hannah looked a little disheartened at the question. “I… don’t know... just do It!” She pushed Derb onto the floor in a sitting position and she did the same, Tiffany following closely behind.

Derb breathed in deeply, getting ready to shut his senses and think of nothing except nothingness itself. He closed his eyes and entered the familiar realm of mana sense. Little things have changed in the time he came to this world. The mana was still blue, and the world was still beautiful. Tiff and Hannah seemed to have gotten ever so slightly stronger, both glowing like two little fires that were trying not to go out. It was so nice that Derb forgot why he was here in the first place. He slowly watched them draw mana in, nurturing their bodies like water to a plant. They were much slower than hi, to his smug satisfaction. While his was more manual, taking mana from the surroundings and forcing it into his soul, they were a lot more like a sponge. They didn’t seem to make the surroundings go into them… more like they were making it easier to enter them in the first place.

As Derb watched he noticed a severe problem in the way this was being done. He noticed the mana entering, but it was leaving at almost the same rate. It was rather inefficient. In a flash of inspiration, he tried what a million mages before him have attempted and forcefully shoved the leaving mana back into their bodies. It seemed to just phase through them, making the two girls shudder like they felt a ghost. He decided to forget working on an experiment that likely had been tried and tested by mages dozens of times smarter than him and began to circulate mana. He breathed in and felt around the house for every dense spot of energy, seeking to bring it closer around him, aiming to cover the darkness in a dense blue fog. The wind picked up as it circulated Derb and the two girls, filling the air with dense mana. Suddenly both the girls awoke in a sharp yelp at the introduction of electricity filling their bodies. “Tiffany! Get ready, flank, and recover Derb!” Hannah spoke as she jumped up and started scouring the area for whichever mage dared to attack their home. She turned on her Predator’s Gaze, trying to find the source of the sudden spike in mana. She followed the densest remnants, only to see Derb in the middle, disheveled and confused. Tiffany was pulling him away with a determined face, ready to face anything that’d attack the weak Derb. he easily pulled away from the grip, to her dismay, and turned to Hannah. “What the hell is going on? Is someone here?” Hannah looked at him with the most incredulous stare he’s ever seen, only to just rub her eyes and slump to the ground. “Ahahah… you scared me… VINE TRAP.” Derb felt gross tentacles wrap around his legs. When he tried to run he felt the strength of them, and realized the situation he was in.

“Hey! What the hell Hannah, I didn’t even DO nothing! Connor!” The imp heard his cry and went to help only to be put down by Hannah’s holy sleep “What are you? People don’t have that kind of control at this age… master told me that!” Hannah looked like she was panicking, and if I knew anything it was that panicking ended up with me hurt. “Ah, wait, teacher already knows about this! I swear! He compared me a holy prince or something… honest!” ALL this got was a burst of barking laughter. “You expect me to believe an idiot like you has that kind of talent? You’re not Derb, He wouldn’t be so dumb as to use such a farfetched explanation.” “Ok, first, You’re literally talking to me right now so I’d appreciate it if you weren’t so mean. Second, I swear I’m telling the truth, what do I have to do to have you believe me?” Tiffany stepped in at this point, “I don’t actually think you’re a fake… but you do understand where we’re coming from right?” She put a hand on Derb’s shoulder, something Derb didn’t quite like. “Even the divine emperor came into mana sense in his 20’s… you expect us to think you’re better?” Derb shook his head, “Look, tell me anything secret between us and I’ll prove my innocence… oh! Like that time the tree fell on both of us, and we were stuck for like thirty minutes and you were bawling going on about how no one was going to find-”

Derb got his first-ever right hook in his life, given with the proficiency of a heavyweight boxer, and promptly passed out. “He’s fine… I don’t think He wants to hurt us… I don’t think he even knows how to hurt us.” Hannah lowered her guard at this, but she felt surprised at the aggression. When did tiffany become so assertive?

What do we do? I don’t think teacher wants his living room to look like a crime scene… Hannah turned to where Derb was Hanging loosely from where the vines kept him in place, like a prisoner in wooden stocks, it was kinda beautiful in a gruesome way. Tiffany just started cleaning up, queuing Hannah to do the same. “He won’t know if we don’t tell him. Get rid of the vines please.” Hannah complied, pulling the roots back into the ground, leaving a gaping wood hole and an unconscious Derb under all the wooden rubble. As Hannah and tiffany began to clean… a silent tension filled the air. It wasn’t until a few minutes passed until one of them broke the tension, asking what was on her mind the moment it was brought up. “Um… so how’d you two get out of there?” Said Hannah, to Tiffany’s dismay… She turned around and sighed deeply, only saying one sentence. “He… just kept swinging.”