I assessed the man in front of me. I had run into people like him many times in my old world, people that would want to fight a person of rare talent to quell their own curiosity or boredom.

It's not that I didn’t understand their actions, hell, to be honest, I had done this many times myself and it was quite entertaining.

But being the one on the receiving end…not so much.

My legs still felt somewhat sore and I didn’t have my dagger anymore which meant I had to rely on hand to hand combat. Even though I was mentally more skilled in hand to hand combat rather than wielding a dagger, I had grown used to wielding it over the past month.

I let out a sigh and tried to cope with not having the dagger, and got ready to fight.

The man in front of me though, didn’t even bother to get in a stance. He just stood there nonchalantly, his right arm hanging out his cloak with his still sheathed sword in his hand. “I’m ready whenever you are, brat.”

His condescending attitude was starting to piss me off, so I quickly enhanced my body with mana and bolted towards him.

I lashed out with multiple punches, but the man swiftly dodged every single one and kicked me square in my chest, sending me tumbling several feet away.

I rolled away, eventually rolling back on my feet. As soon as I looked up, a green crescent filled my vision. I clumsily ducked, just avoiding the wind slash the man had launched.

I looked back up at the man, he was still standing in the same spot not having moved a single inch, “Not a bad kid, not bad at all. You were able to dodge my wind slash as soon as you got up, your reflexes are great.” The man continued to mumble to himself but I couldn’t make out anything he said.

“You could’ve at least told me we were using spells.” I said, aloof.

“I didn’t think I had to,” the man laughed. “This is a spar between mages after all, but if you're so eager for permission, then it’s granted.”

I controlled a vein from popping out of my forehead at his snide remark, and thought back to when I used a wind spell against the two-headed serpent. It was my first time using one of my elemental affinities, meaning my body was fully accustomed to my mana core allowing me to utilize spells.

The only element I could use was wind because we didn’t have a dark element grimoire lying around the house to allow me to get the basics down.

The only spell I had actually practiced was just simple wind slashes with my dagger. Even so I was confident I could pull off the basics like wind bullets and allow the wind to enhance my speed.

There was one thing I wanted to try though. I had theorized this after I read the wind grimoire and if I could pull it off it would be fruitful in a time like this.

I held out my hand and attempted my theory. The first thing I did was straighten my hand like I would to chop an opponent, then I coalesced wind mana around my entire hand and sharpened it. This would allow me to use my hand as a makeshift blade.

The process looked like it worked but just to be sure I walked over to a nearby tree to try it out.

The man looked at me curiously; not knowing what I was doing.

“Just give me a second,” I said trying to calm his curiosity, “I just need to test something.”

“If you have to take a leak, you don’t have to lie about it.” He snickered, “A mans gotta do what a mans gotta do, no shame in that.”

Even though I was growing tired of his annoying remarks, his assumption worked in my favor. I walked over behind the tree, upped my wind clad hand and performed a horizontal slash. My hand cut the tree bark like butter.

I took a closer look at the cut I had just made. I could see the inside of the tree, it was smooth like it had been carved to look that way on purpose.

I smirked.

With this I can cut his blimp of an ego right in two.

After a couple of more cuts I disbursed the spell, then tried simple wind bullets.

I conjured multiple bullets of wind from the palm of my hand, and sent them toward the tree. By the end of my little test drive the tree was covered in dozens of mini craters.

I switched from wind bullets to my hand dagger spell and repeated the process of alternating until I felt satisfied.

After a couple seconds of alternating, I walked out from behind the tree and towards the man.

He had already opened his mouth to say something, but I interrupted him before he could speak,“Just shut up and fight.”

With my mana enhanced body and wind heightening my speed, I was at him in a split second, and I saw his eyes widen in shock.

I lashed out with a flurry of punches, but despite his shocked expression at my speed, he dodged every single punch.

Expecting this, I had prepared.

I threw a right punch, and as I expected, he dodged. I feinted, releasing my fist, making my hand into a razor sharp blade of wind, and slashed at my opponent.

My hand reached his cloak and slashed threw, but the cloak just fell to the ground, the man was gone.

“Nice feint, and technique.” His voice sounded from right behind me, “That would’ve hurt, even to someone like me.”

I turned around, and upped my palm towards his face, conjuring multiple wind bullets, “Don’t lie to protect my own pride.” I said, as I hurled my spell. But as my wind bullets were about to reach his face, he disappeared once again.

Is he…teleporting?

“Oh?” The man said. This time, I heard his voice to the left of me. I turned towards his voice, he was standing under one of the tall trees, smiling, “I was just trying to give you hope.”

He stepped out from the tree's shadows allowing me to make out his uncloaked figure. I stared stunned at the man's arm; or rather lack of an arm.

The left sleeve of his long sleeve shirt dangled loosely in the wind with no arm to fill it.

The man seemed to notice my shock, “That better not be pity I see boy. Even with just one arm, I promise you I’m still one of the strongest mages you’ll ever meet.”

This guy has some serious self importance…

My pity wasn’t for him, but the realization that I was getting my ass handed to by a cripple.

“I don’t really care that you don’t have a left arm, but when you keep teleporting or whatever, away like that, it makes me want to pity you.” I said, mocking.

The man teleported right in front of me, his foot already at my sternum, “That’s what I like to hear, brat,” he said as he delivered the kick, sending me tumbling fifteen feet away.

I got back up, spitting the dirt out of my mouth and made my palm into a wind blade one again.

The man was already near me though, his still sheathed sword was already mid swing.

My wind clad hand clashed with his sheath and in that split second I upped my left palm and conjured wind bullets, shooting them towards the man, “Checkmate”

My thoughts of finally getting a hit on the man soon disappeared as a black swirl appeared where I aimed my spell and nullified it.

What the hell was that?

Although I was curious about what the man just did, I tried to cope with my failed attempt, and reacted with an attempt to land a right kick to his left ribs.

I had grown used to his childish patterns of movement and knew he was going to teleport behind me, making me miss the kick entirely, so I just used the kick as a follow through to generate more power for a back kick. My plan worked perfectly.

My back kick landed, making the man teleport back to gain some distance.

“That was a powerful kick for a four year old. I’m not even trying to protect your pride this time. What do your parents feed a little monster like you?”

“You must love the sound of your own voice,” I responded, annoyed he called me a monster.

He laughed, ignoring my mocking, “Maybe you're right.” He put his still sheathed sword on his side, then he walked over to pick up his now cut up cloak, and put it on. “I think I’ve seen enough of your abilities. You’re quite skilled, frighteningly so. You're only four years old but able to stay calm and composed during a fight like a veteran warrior. The first kick that I landed on you would’ve had any four year old; awakened or not, abandon the will to fight, but you…..” He looked at me, eyes narrowed.

I was a little surprised by his words. In my old world I was a powerhouse when it came to fighting. In this world though, I haven't even come close to reaching the level of combat I was on. Even if my mind stays calm and composed during a fight, it’s only a small advantage if I don’t have the power to back it up.

I just shrugged my shoulders, “Well, as you can tell by my mana core, I’m not a normal four year old.” I said, trying to quell his suspicious thoughts. “Instead of talking about me, I’m more interested in what you used to nullify my spell.”

“So you want to know that aye?” The man put his hand on his chin thinking, “I can tell you, but only if you accept.”

“Accept what?” I asked, confused.

The man disappeared from my vision, and I felt a chop of a cold hand on the back of my neck.

“You’ll find out when you wake up, brat.”