When they announced they were going to train that morning, it was actually meant for Alicia alone.

Harnessing the magic from Orb, Alicia moved the set of scarecrow-shaped targets covered by waist-length sacks out of the courtyard. Those human models would be the target practice and arranged in a row to form a horizontal line. The set of targets were actually Leith's training targets during his magic shooting practice.

"Okay," said Nadine, who was sitting pretty in the chair with Gilmore. "Let's try the most basic first. Try shooting all those targets with your magic."

Alicia took a stance with the Orb hovering between her hands. "I thought when you said practice, I wis nae the only yin who has to train."

"Hey, I'm not the one having trauchle fightin'. Although magic is wee different, you should at least have an idea of fighting with ranged weapons."

Without more ado, Alicia integrated with Orb. The blue and purple glow almost dazzled the already dazzling noon. Orb fired its energy shot at each target. The five targets were hit. Shooting magic wasn't as difficult as shooting a firearm or the like, apparently.

"Not bad." Nadine gave a small compliment. "Next, shoot one target while moving."

Alicia swiftly took the middle position. After taking a breath, she dashed and shoot at the strawmen tied to the wooden pole. From all ten attempts, only in the second one did Alicia hit the hanging doll. Her brown friend forthwith stopped the actions. "Awright, that's enough."

Nadine got up from her seat. "Your orb may hover with steady. But your movements are wobbly and unbalanced. And since you're synchronizing with the Orb, maybe that's the reason your shot direction follows your movement as a whole, not just Orb's. " Nadine's hands went to the shoulder and waist of the girl to guide her body.

"Your upper body should be as stable as possible. Bend your knees slightly to support the weight."

"Like this?" Alicia tried to model the required gesture.

"Aye, more or less. Move with your feet like that. When your knees are supported,"—Nadine demonstrated moving slowly with bent knees—"Your knees can reduce the vibration coming from the upper body, and absorb the shock when shooting."

"Thus, reducing recoil and increasing shooting accuracy?" reply Alicia with her vibrant tone.

"Now aren't you the canny lass?" The girls laughed after that.

"Okay, what are you waiting for? Have it a go then!"

Alicia steadily trotted on once more, trying to get used to the motion of walking on her knees while shooting. As seen from her body gestures, she's not used to shoot like that. But her aim went uphill; out of ten energy blasts, only one missed, while the other one only hit the side of the dummy.

"Wow, you learn fast," praised Gilmore. "Is it because you fired magic?"

Alicia just chuckled. "Ah, c'moan, this is just the first try."

“Well, keep practicing and maybe you can beat Leith’s wizarding skill,” said Nadine. “Oh yeah, you might be able to ask him for help to cast yer magic better.”

“Leith?” That Crimsonmane’s smooth face went dreich for a moment. “I don’t know. Isn’t it too early to tell Leith everything?”

“Sae whit?” Gilmore asked as he sipped his lemonade. “Who is he aff tae tell? Yer papa? The hail house of Crimsonmane? Well, why not? At least they’ll treat you better when ye can cast spells, eh?”

Orbs just gave her a signal. ‘The mysterious origins of my powers could make you a target. Just be careful about sharing information, Liz.’

Alicia took another moment for a thought. “I’ll consider it. But noo, I want to learn close combat.”

“Then it’s yer turn, muscle brain! Get yer arse off the chair, you lazy bastard!” ordered Nadine.

Gilmore stalled. “Huh? I thought you’d be the one teaching her everything.”

“Nae danger of that happening. My body is also sore, ye ken! Switch positions!”

They both changed positions. Gilmore would guide Alicia in the fist fight. The man got up and approached Alicia, groaning from the aches and pains from last night. Gilmore complained, saying, “How come dae mages have to learn any martial arts? I mean, ye could just do the ‘pew, pew, swinggg, whooshh, abracadabra’ and but,” Gilmore said, trying to imitate the sound of the magic effect. “Ye dinnae cop loupin' at all after last night’s rammy? Mah body hurts, ye ken.”

“Oh, don’t complain, mate. Just one technique! After all, whose idea is it to train after breakfast?” replied Alicia with a straight face.

“Whose is it? Hmm... ah dinnae ken. Speaking of which...,” Gilmore went back to being a fool and then casually changed the subject. “What do you want to learn?”

“Eh, I dinnae ken. How to attack, I guess?”

“But ah dinnae ken martial arts in magic.”

“At least they have the same moves as real martial arts, right? Like this show I’ve seen, they can control the natural elements with oriental martial arts moves!”

“Are you really taking references from animated pictures?”

“I don’t know. I think that characterises you more.”

“Hah! Nice sarcasm, Miss Crimsonmane.”

“That’s not sarcasm.”

Gilmore thought for a while, trying to find the ideal reference to utilise Alicia’s magic at close range. Then he reminded she once hit the ultimate junkie, Caleb Dune, with her favourite sphere. Gilmore seemed to get a brilliant idea based on the expression in his eyes. Alicia gazed at him, full of hope.

“Och! You can manipulate Orb’s movements without touching it, can ye not?” Gilmore asked, which aroused Alicia’s anticipation.

“Aye, and?” her answer was brief.

“Aye, just swing it around or something like that, then.”

Nadine spat out her lemonade.

Alicia sighed. “You really are a bad instructor.”

Gilmore took a breath as well. “Alright then, tell ye what. Let’s have a spar. When we fought last night, ye were pretty guid at using yer Orb for close combat. So I think ye and Orb seem to know what yer doing. I’ll train your reflexes and agility.”

“Yaldie! Awright, maybe that’s a good idea.”

“But like any martial arts in general, your stance must be solid.” Gilmore demonstrated himself. Alicia then tried to imitate him.

“Put yer feet slightly wider than yer hips. Tilt them a wee bit to the side, and yer knees should be facing the same direction.” Gilmore did his own instruction.

There seemed to be a lot of detail to pay attention to, but Alicia seemed to keep up with it well. Her hands returned to their usual manner when controlling the Orb, only wider this time. Gilmore was also ready with his fighting stance.

“Nadine, please oan cue!”

“Okay, get ready,” Nadine shouted like a referee. “Ready! Set! Fight!”

By the Big Yin’s unquestionable skill, Gilmore launched his clenched fist at Alicia’s forehead as fast as Thunderkeeper’s lightning! His mitt was so close, one of his finger joints almost touched her forehead! Alicia barely felt the wind from his fists, then broke her own stance and collapsed in shock.

“Gily! I thought you said you were louping, but ye almost broke my glasses!” the girl grumbled.

“Sorry, sorry,” Gilmore offered his hand to help her up. “It was jist a warm-up, hen. I could see ye were out of focus. You have the Orb. No need to be afraid. Use Orb to ward off my attacks and then throw it in the open gap to launch the counterattack.”

The two of them put on a fighting stance again, and Nadine shouted the signal. Gilmore played with his eyes and bullied Alicia with his body movements. Alicia’s eyes darted around, waiting for the direction of the attack to come.

Gilmore started off the match with a kick from the left foot. Luckily Alicia, who was almost hit, immediately threw Orb at his ankle. The magic ball breathed a spark of energy into his leg, giving off a stun sensation and pushing his leg in the opposite direction, lest Orb’s solid surface actually collided with Gilmore’s leg bone.

“There he is!” Gilmore said. “Now get rid of this!” Gilmore attacked with his right foot, and Alicia managed to parry in a similar fashion. Then followed by two punches from his right hand, then from his left hand, continued by his right foot kick, and another left and right punches afterward! United with Orb, Alicia repelled all of Gilmore’s attacks in a gracious dancing. Her feet were also steady, stepping and rotating according to the rhythm of her being. Alicia was once caught off guard, causing her to lose her balance; however, her focus was stronger than before. As a result, Alicia swerved from Gilmore’s assaults like a snake. Alicia almost felt like she wasn’t herself when she made that move. She even forgot that her whole body still hadn’t recovered.

Gilmore took a step back. “I bet you’ve never taken a martial art class before! How can you be that agile?” yelled Nadine from her chair.

Orb explained to Alicia with its chant. ‘Combining thoughts with mine can slightly increase your basic sense abilities, Alicia. That’s why.’

“Orb said my senses improve a little when synchronised with it,” Alicia answered Nadine. “Maybe that points out a wee bit why my reflexes are up.” Hooray, finally the young girl got new perks.

A strain of warning came out of the ball again. It said, ‘But you can’t get that and other advantages if you lose half your focus. Especially now!’

“Now? What do you mean no—” the raw fist nearly dislocated Alicia’s jaw, causing her to slip and fall. Gilmore went on with a round of kicks and consecutive attacks at the half-sitting girl as she tried to roll over and stand up while escaping the heavy blow. Gilmore’s attacks were more supple and adroit than before. Alicia tottered. The Rhino Murray didn’t give her the slightest chance to gather some of her lost focus.

“Ye cannae always fend off attacks, Alicia. Find yer momentum to gie me a skelpit lug!”

“How can I attack if I’m not given a chance?”

“Really, Alicia? Ye really ask for an opening from yer enemy?”

Alicia was forced to throw her ball into Gilmore’s fist, then took her momentum to commence the first attack. The Orb weaved around the Big Yin, but even his massive body could easily slip out of the wonder bowling ball. Alicia knew she had to keep attacking Gilmore until she decided to back off, and give her some time to complete the rest of the synchronization in order to gain full power. But the glasses girl knew she couldn’t strike forever either. Controlling Orb too excessive was also a drain on her strength.

Alicia mindlessly controlled the Orb in her hand to grab another momentum, shooting magic energy into Gilmore’s abdomen. The experiment was successful; Gilmore lowered himself in reflex while deflecting it with both hands and took a few steps back. But something else happened. Gilmore didn’t feel any jolt, pain, or anything. Just a strange gust of glimmering wind. Gilmore unceremoniously darted towards Alicia with his face still hiding under both arms.

Instead of gathering concentration, the bookworm stuttered. The same thing as last night happened again. All of her volleys of shots didn’t hurt the galloping rhino. Some also even went off on their own.

Confused, Alicia grumbled. “C’moan! Why are you broken again? Shoot right!”

‘I’m not broken! I told you to collect foc—’

Orb’s voice suddenly was just another bird chirping for Alicia, as her eyes and mouth were wide open due to Gilmore’s shoulder ramming into her poor belly! The rhinoceros slammed her to the ground, ala a professional wrestler.

Gilmore got up with his feet still on his knees. “K.O!” howled the Big Yin with half arrogance. Nadine then got up from her seat and ran to Alicia, who was lying on the grass.

“Hey! Are you all right? Did Gilmore hit you too hard?”

Alicia laid there just like that, breathless. Her dewy vision tried to recognize the figure of a brown-skinned woman who became a silhouette because she blocked the ray of Phoebus.

All the exercises she thought were intense had multiplied the pain in her body. Even her hands could barely move because of the numbness.

Fair puckled, Alicia tried to compose a sentence, “Until... what time... do we... practice?”

Nadine glanced at Gilmore for a moment.

“I think we have enough practice for today.” []