"Okay, enough of that." Mr. Renard says, looking annoyed as he turned to look in our direction.
Those wildcats were indeed ferocious, but compared to the bear I first fought, they seemed less aggressive. Although they came at me in a horde, they didn't act cooperative, as if they were just moving on instinct.
But having said that, it was still tiring to evade their ponces and counterattack.
"Hey kid, you just awakened right? I wanna confirm something." Mr. Renard asks, looking at me sprawled in the grass while drinking water from exhaustion, "How come you can already do mana fusion?"
"Mana fusion? what's that?" I asked as I sat back up. I was still annoyed at him for suddenly dragging me into this fight, but I swallowed it and asked him instead.
"Huh? Are you a fool?"
He raised a brow and crossed his arms with a look of dumbfoundedness. He gave out a sigh before continuing
"Kid, awakening only means that your body is able to circulate and expel mana from your body, allowing you to use magic. But mana fusion means fusing the mana that's being circulated in your body with your physique. Get it?"
Even if you ask me, I have no idea how I can do that. Thinking back, even though I did feel exhausted from those chimeras, I could feel my movements getting easier. But it's not like I did anything in particular.
As I was thinking that, another thought popped inside my head. Wasn't this guy calling me a brat before? is that a sign of approval or something?
"Hey! are you listening brat?"
Yeah, that was just my imagination.
"I don't understand it either, all I know is I was trying to stay focus."
That wasn't a lie. I was just trying to focus, because if I let any distraction or sign of fear take over me, then I would naturally lose myself to my emotions of fear.
"Well, I guess. Your mana fusion isn't entirely polished either, but still. Normally, mana fusion would naturally develop in a mage after years of mana circulation. It isn't something you can do only short after awakening." He says as if giving up. But a term he said caught my attention.
Mana circulation is something I, or rather, White, have been doing. Well, I can only tell from the memories I have, but mana circulation was described to be similar to meditation. But I don't know if that's the reason though. This body was already mine before it even awakened, unless--
"Can you do mana circulation even if you haven't awakened yet?"
If so, that would mean White's efforts didn't go in vain. Well, I guess they did because I'm the one in the receiving end now...
"Hmm... well mana is part of the air we breathe, after all, so even if you couldn't circulate it, you could still intake it. But doing mana circulation without awakening often leads to mana poisoning so that's not advisable... brat did you--?" Oh, snap. Well, I guess White's efforts aren't the only thing I'm receiving.
I quickly averted my gaze. Mr. Renard appeared exasperated, but soon placed his hand on his face and gave out a heavy sigh.
"Whatever. It appears you're fine anyway, so I won't dig deeper. But know that if your mana circulation is faulty, it can collapse your circuits."
"Then can you teach me how to properly do that?"
"Sure. Kayla's doing that anyway," He said nonchalantly.
To be honest, I was expecting a bit of resistance from his character, but I guess I was still judging him base on first impressions.
I looked at Kayla sitting next to me as she smiled happily. This time, however, it wasn't a smile that shows her usual proud smugness. If anything, I could see the burning excitement in her eyes.
"We don't need to use our magic attribute, right?" I asked, remembering my(White's) grandfather's warning as to not use my magic. I'll probably use it secretly in the future, but I don't think now is the time for that.
In my old world, just being slightly different would label you along the lines of disgraceful or shameless. This is why I chose to heed his warning as to not cause any unnecessary trouble.
"No, not really, we're just gonna sleep-er.. meditate!" Kayla answered delightfully.
"Uhh... Nah, brat. you're just going to circulate mana. You don't need to convert and expel them."
"So we're just gonna keep on meditating then?"
"No brat, if we don't balance your body's base capabilities, it would have negative effects on you."
Oh, he did say something about mana fusing with my physique earlier, "I see, then when will we do that?"
"Well, you mercilessly dismembered these chimera beasts here. I was planning on putting Kayla against some of them after you lost but..." Mr. Renard stares at the other beasts.
Although I was able to kill one and immobilize another by aiming for their tendons, two were in a critical condition from their spiky body's collision, while the one I immobilized can no longer stand up because of its severed tendons.
I haven't killed anything as a prince. Although there was a yearly hunting tournament, I've only ever participated a couple of times to give my offerings to my fiancé. And those were mostly just to save face as they were released later on in the wild again.
There was also that war, but I only joined in as a strategist and never went to the field. As I was pondering about that, Mr. Renard then ends the immobilized wild cats.
It was probably out of mercy, but since it's not something I'm used to, It doesn't feel all that good. I guess that's something I need to adjust myself to if I want to live my life here.
Following Mr. Renard, we head deeper into the forest to continue our training.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
I sat down and closed my eyes, and breathe the way he told me to. Calmly breathing in the air around me, the sweet scent of nature slowly started to disappear as I got more and more focused on the interiors of my body.
My mind was at peace and my body felt rejuvenated as continued to meditate. It was as if I was disconnected from time, all the while feeling purified.
"-y!" hm? is someone talking to me?
"OY!"
"Gahhh! My ear!" A loud voice rang loudly at the side of my ear, pulling my consciousness back to the surface.
"See? it's hard to stay awake right?" Kayla proudly says as she was munching on a skewer.
"I wasn't sleeping though. I was actually meditating unlike you, you know," I shot back.
"Ugh... Yeah, sure, fine. Whatever!" I can't help but think of how even White was fed up with this. It's understandable because she's a child but... come on! sighing internally, I gave her a dry smile as to hide my thoughts.
She mustn't have liked that as she turned her head to the side and clicked her tongue.
"Well anyways, dad says we're eating now. I already hunted my prey so we're going to eat those and bring back the one you killed."
While I was meditating, Kayla was training her sword against other third-grade beasts, while Mr. Renard was preparing his mise en place while waiting for Kayla's catch.
They could have used the wildcats I killed, but they said Kayla's target would taste better. Well, I wouldn't really like eating big cats either so that's fine with me.
But then, Kayla's catch was a wolf. In other words, a dog. To be honest, I don't know how to feel about this since I've never eaten a wolf before, but they look like it was natural to eat any type of beast, so I guess that's fine? No. It's still unusual in my opinion. Or maybe I'm just too conservative. I don't know anymore...
"Hey Brat, you're finally here! Come and get your skewers!"
Mr. Renard called out with a mischievous grin which made me involuntarily gulp from uncertainty.
Closing in, the smoke coming from the grilled skewers smelled fantastic. It didn't smell foul like I was expecting, but eating a dog still felt unfamiliar in my mind.
Of course, I kind of wanted to decline it, but that smell made it seem like my worries were unnecessary. Mr. Renard, with a proud grin stapled on his face, offered me a skewer.
Setting my worries aside, I gave out a wry smile as I grab the skewer he offered me.
Mr. Renard's face make it look like he was going to play tricks with me again, but since I don't have enough proof, I just took a bite preparing for the worse to come.
"T-this is.... good!?!"
"Hey? Why the question brat? of course, it's good! I made it!" Mr. Renard placed a hand on his chest and stood proudly.
"Hehe! of course, it's good! Dad uses a lot of spices to enrich the scent and flavor."
That was true. The meat was tender and tasted amazing. This reminded me of Mediterranean cuisine in my previous world which had appetizing meat dishes.
As a Prince, I was always served the fanciest, most noble dishes. But this skewer, not only was it delicious, it felt satisfying to eat! If I can describe what I was feeling right now, disregarding that I'm eating a wolf, it felt wonderous.
We spent the rest of our time savoring our meals, telling each other stories while we're at it. But since I didn't have a story to tell, it was Kayla telling stories about me(White) to her father.
They laughed, annoyingly so, as the feeling of embarrassment coming from the original White's emotions showed its way in my face. But I suppose this feeling doesn't feel bad at all.