After trying to train for the past 3 days, it was finally the weekend- Saturday early in the morning, to be precise.
Nova was talking to the "actual" Reischneid inside of the space in his mind.
『There really isn't any shortcut around this, is there?』[Nova]
『No. You can only hope that you get the hang of it soon.』[Reischneid]
Every half an hour or so, Nova would flicker awake, and disappear from the illusionary world of his dreams.
『I don't think I can...』[Nova]
『What's the big deal? You can just sleep and wake up over and over.』[Reischneid]
He scratched his head and sat upwards.
『Reischneid. I need my sleep. I don't think I can stand this anymore..』[Nova]
『Well, what did you expect? Training mana at all times? Even while sleeping? If that's what Sarena did for even 2 months, then it's no wonder why she has 2500 units of mana.』[Reischneid]
『Whatever. I've been doing this for the past 2 days. I should be able to finish it up in an hour.』[Nova]
Nova laid back down, before his stomach rumbled.
『...Nova? Are you hungry?』[Reischneid]
『Of course I'm hungry, I've been doing this without food for the past 10 hours.』[Nova]
『Then, will you have enough for this last hour?!』[Reischneid]
Nova suddenly had a realization.
『...Crap.』[Nova]
『..Nova. You should've just ate at a later time, like I told you to.』[Reischneid]
『Well, I was.. Really hungry! I couldn't help it.』[Nova]
『Welp. Whatever, your neck, not mine.』[Reischneid]
『Hey! What's up with your lack of interest of me dying?!』[Nova]
『Well, isn't it more interesting if there are more near-death incidents?』[Reischneid]
『Like when?』[Nova]
『Exactly. Your life is boring. The coolest thing you've done was fight Reagan. When I was your age, I was already fighting against beasts!』[Reischneid]
『Well, I'm sorry modern society has rules that prevent the use of children under the age of 18 from fighting-』[Nova]
『Yeah, yeah.. Shut it with that society and children fighting crap. You know in a few years you'll be fighting some beasts too.』[Reischneid]
『Next year.』[Nova]
『..Aren't you only 17 next year?』[Reischneid]
『My birthday is the 15th of August.』[Nova]
『...Oh. That's coming up soon, isn't it?』[Reischneid]
『Yeah. But, more importantly- what do I do about the hunger problem?』[Nova]
『Do you have any snacks? Food? Delivery?!』[Reischneid]
『Oh! Yeah! Mage's meals.』[Nova]
『Yeah! It's been a while, hasn't it.』[Reischneid]
Nova went on the app and chose a random menu that he hadn't ordered before.
A meal appeared out of thin air again, but he quickly realized it was the same size as last time.
Nova dug into it- a meal with soft tacos, a burrito bowl, and some additional sides.
『...Now that I look at this, it was a bit smaller than expected.』[Nova]
『Well, you should just order another one!』[Reischneid]
『I feel like it will be fine though.』[Nova]
『Wait! Why don't you just eat that cookie that you've been saving?』[Reischneid]
Nova pulled out the heart-shaped cookie that was wrapped in plastic.
『...I feel like Freyana is cheering me on.』[Nova]
Nova felt like Reischneid was giving him a weird look.
『...Sometimes, you're the weirdest person.』[Reischneid]
Regardless, Nova opened up the bag and took a bite of the cookie.
『...It's delicious.』[Nova]
『You say that about all of her cooking. When is the day that you say something different?』[Reischneid]
Nova thought about it for a moment, before remembering those few times Freyana got angry.
A sudden chill ran down his spine.
『The day I die?』[Nova]
『...Yeah. Tough luck.』[Reischneid]
Eventually, Nova a beeping noise on his student ID told him he was done with his assignment.
『Then. Is it time to sleep?!』[Nova]
『Nope. You're going to keep practicing it until you can sleep with it on.』[Reischneid]
『Huh?!』[Nova]
『You gotta get used to it eventually.』[Reischneid]
『There's gotta be something that will make it easier, right?!』[Nova]
『Nope. Just keep your mana consistently flowing. Remain at the same amount at all times.』[Reischneid]
Nova pressed a button on the bracelet that was more reminiscent of a watch, causing a screen to flip open.
『So, if I have 12/17 units of mana now, I sleep with a drain of.. 1 unit per hour?』[Nova]
『Eh, close enough. Should keep you from suffering too much in the morning.』[Reischneid]
『Alright, then let's stabilize it..』[Nova]
Nova began to focus his mana and keep it at a stable 1 unit per hour consumption on the bracelet.
After he managed to get the feel for it, he sighed a breath of relief before attempting to sleep again.
He then woke up in the hazy world of his dreams with Reischneid again.
『How committed are you to getting stronger?』[Reischneid]
『Uhm.. Pretty committed?』[Nova]
『Alright. Let's train while you sleep then!』[Reischneid]
Reischneid formed a stance that wasn't similar to anything Nova had ever seen before.
『What style is that?』[Nova]
『This? It was an original style I developed as a young man. I called it "Torrenpugnus Pluviam". In today's language, you can just call it "Torrential Rain Fist". You want to learn it?』[Reischneid]
Nova tried to copy his stance.
『Yeah! I'll do it. What's the story behind the name though?』[Nova]
『One day, when I was hitting on a girl-』[Reischneid]
Suddenly, Nova's mind flashed to a thought of Reischneid hitting on a girl and bragging about his "Torrential Rain Fist".
『Wait. I'm not sure if I want to learn it anymore.』[Nova]
Reischneid laughed Nova's comment off.
『I'm joking! I was attacked by a bunch of little fast creatures, so I needed to beat them off of me quickly and precisely. Then, I thought it was pretty cool, and made it into an actual style. Here, let me demonstrate.』[Reischneid]
Reischneid took his distance from Nova, then caused illusions to start forming in Nova's dream.
He was suddenly surrounded by little jumping imps the size of a thumb.
『I'm going to demonstrate all the forms and techniques I've developed.』[Reischneid]
A wave of imps from one side jumped at Reischneid.
To defend himself, he formed a claw with his right hand while holding an open left hand closer to his body. Then, he infused mana into his arms and hands.
『Typhoon Stance: Divine Wind.』[Reischneid]
He used an immense amount of mana to blow most of the imps away and shred them into tiny pieces.
However, a few managed to get through his claw attack and get closer to him.
To retaliate, he faced his open palm left hand toward them and rotated quickly while manipulating his mana.
『Monsoon Stance: Haze!』[Reischneid]
After he rotated his left hand, all the imps were drawn into contact with his hand before he quickly thrust forward with his open palm.
『Impact Stance: Raindrop.』[Reischneid]
The imps immediately exploded into fine dust after Reischneid thrust forward.
After they exploded, another wave of imps attacked from behind.
Reischneid shifted his footwork a little and put some mana into his legs.
『Zephyr Stance: Breeze! 』[Reischneid]
The imps seemed to have reached him, before they suddenly phased through his back.
He did a 360- foot sweep of the area, causing a dust storm and tornado to form.
The resulting storm along with the remnant mana from Reischneid's well controlled attacks caused the imps in the area to disintegrate.
After all the imps disappeared, Reischneid glanced at Nova.
Nova was staring at Reischneid with a gaping mouth.
『So? Not bad, right?』[Reischneid]
『No. Not bad at all. It looked like a scene right out of those Lin martial arts films!』[Nova]
『Well, not like you're gonna be learning that right away! Hahaha!』[Reischneid]
Nova's excitement suddenly dipped.
『Wait. What? Why not?!』[Nova]
『Well, every good fighter will pick it up from the basics. Let's learn more about the style first.』[Reischneid]
Nova thought about it for a moment, before reluctantly nodding.
『Okay! I'm listening.』[Nova]
『Alright! So I displayed one form from each stance. In Tsukikaze martial arts, they call forms "Kata"..』[Reischneid]
Nova nodded.
『Alright. The Typhoon form focuses on the offensive techniques, Monsoon form will be for the defensive techniques, Impact form is for countering attacks, and Zephyr form is for evasive techniques.』[Reischneid]
『There are only 4 stances?』[Nova]
『Only four?! Do you know how stupid it is to expect this much?!』[Reischneid]
Nova just stared listlessly at Reischneid.
『Haah… There's a 5th form. You won't be ready for that one for a long time.』[Reischneid]
『Okay. I've got it. Then, let's begin!』[Nova]
Nova copied his stance.
『Then, lets do it.』[Reischneid]
Nova slightly shifted until it looked like Reischneid's.
『No! You have to be more fluid than that! 』[Reischneid]
『What does being fluid even mean?!』[Nova]
『It just means don't be stiff!』[Reischneid]
『Like this?! I think I can feel my legs cramping up..』[Nova]
『No! Not like that! What are you doing?! Are you an idiot?!』[Reischneid]
After attempting to fix Nova's form for the rest of the dream, they managed to at least get the first stance down before Nova woke up.