Ding... Tang... Tuk Tuk Swushh!
In the cold night before dawn, two people consisted of one boy and one grown man was seen in the yard of Ehren Estate
"I am impressed." Chadrac, who was countering Yoro's attack by his own strike, said so while having an expression that what he did was a childplay. "but I think your sword art has reached peak-elementary level by now."
To be commented like that by Chad was understanable. It had only been two days since he started his sword practice, yet Yoro already mastered his sword arts after adjusting his blade in a mere couple of times. Normally speaking, people who were new in a close quarter fighting style struggled the most in the elementary rank because this was the most fundamental level of being a close-range combatant. The term 'newbie eliminator' people used for it didn't just come out of nowhere after all, and more often than not, people gave up in this early stage.
Yoro's sword movement was smooth, almost natural even. If Chad hadn't known he was sick and never wielded a sword before, he would suspect Yoro had been holding a sword since he was born as a baby. While it seeemed that the only thing that prevented Chad from losing against Yoro's barage of attack and nimble movement was Chad's unbelievable strength and speed, he hardly broke a sweat even after all these times.
There was a gap between elementary rank and advanced-rank for a reason after all.
Tang*
"Alright, that's enough." Chad said as he flicked his sword hard, throwing Yoro's own sword out of his hand in a blink of an eye.
Yoro looked at his empty hand, surprised, but it soon was replaced by annoyance. "....ugh, it's just my hand seems couldn't be any faster or stronger no matter how I do it" He grumbled under his breath. After picking the thrown off sword up, he then sat in the ground where Chad instructed him to sit on.
"I guess we can move to our next level of training, young master." Chad started leisurely while playing with his sword like a clown did to a ball. Yoro raised his eyebrows as a response, gesturing to Chad to continue his explanation.
Holding his sword in his right hand, Chad moved a little bit further than him. "As you know, we fighters and close-quarter combatants all relied on our inner mana circulation. Different from making a spell matrix like what a mage does, we needed to keep moving and pressed under the pressure while handling our mana."
Chad then closed his eyes, his legs making a firm stance as he placed his sword in front of him. Just when Yoro wondered what Chad wanted to do, he opened his eyes and like an angered lion, he swung his sword down and slashed the ground in front of him in a fast motion.
Crackkkk!
Yoro was stunned for a second, before a resounding crack made it's way to Yoro's ear. What appeared in front of him was a crevice, about 3 meters in length and 2 inch in width. It was what Yoro thought to be an impossible feat for one to achieve from a wooden-sword alone.
Yet the reality proved otherwise right in front of his eyes.
"C-Cool!" He unconsciously exclaimed and looked towards Chad who was scratching his cheeks in embarassed manner.
The strike was strong and fast! If he hadn't known what a mage capable of, he would instantly think that no mage could ever toppled a fighter in a fight, which was actually true if considering how far they were between each other.
"This should be easy if you already could feel the mana. You just have to try and control them towards the intended parts of your body. The more you feed and enchant them with mana, the stronger and faster your body becomes."
Yoro didn't say any further words and tried to do exactly as he said. Yoro could feel the mana inside his body, flowing just like a normal blood vesel. In fact trying to empower his tendon and muscles with mana was quite easy. A grin popped out on his lips as he made a slashing motion like Chad did and opened his eyes.
"....Eh?"
Nothing come out. Not a crack, not a cut, nothing at all. He tried to remember the sensation when he made a slash before, and turned out, the mana in his hand had actually dissipated right when he made that slashing motion. A laugh then resounded in the empty yard as he tried to find out the reason, only to find Chad holding his stomach like a fool while cackling like mad.
He frowned and tried to do it one or two more times again, just to find the same result like before.
Chad's laugh stopped. He wiped the tear in the corner of his eyes as he grinned and then said to him. "You thought it would be as easy as flipping your hand over aren't you? Gahaha! This world will be littered with fighters and soldiers if that is the case, you moron."
Chad shook his head and pointed at Yoro's arm, who now was supporting a confused expression on his face. "Try to do that again, but don't move and try to maintain the mana inside it."
Even while he still had some confusion, he did as Chad instructed, tilting his head as he was thinking where this would be going to be.
Without warning or anything, Chad grinned and suddenly slashed his sword down. Caught Yoro completely off guard and cut his arm off… or so he thought. His feet took an instinctual step back when he saw the grass below him had a scar, which he promptly took as a sign that there was no way his hand came out unharmed.
"What? Did you just see a ghost, young master?" Chad's unpetrubed self was making Yoro frown even deeper considering he had just tried to cut his arm off. And that was actually it, just trying. Because to his surprise, his hand didn't get cut. There was even no scar or whatsoever, just a red line that indicates the pressure that his skin felt.
"Do you realize it now?" Chad said from his front, waking him off from his dazed state.
Yoro nodded. "the mana… somehow strengthen my arms." He said with a face full of wonder.
"Right. That means you have broken through the basic-intermediate rank in swordsmanship. Different from magic, it's all about the feeling. You just had to get used to it by practicing. If you are a natural learner in this department, then you should get a hang of it soon and could move your hand while empowering it with mana."
Yoro nodded vigorously, excited by the possibilities that lied bare in front of him. He closed his eyes, trying to circulate the mana again and again, while in his head, a relieved thought entered. If only Chad used the same strength he used to the ground, then he was more than convinced his arm would fall off.
And by the time he opened his eyes again, he saw the sun had raised in the horizon slightly, and Chad was nowhere to be seen. So he got up from his spot and headed towards the mansion, towards the usual place where his mother had instructed him to meet her everyday.