Author: me
Type-Moon (Nasuverse)
Chapter 17. Human Potential
"When you dismiss the impossible, what remains, however improbable, is the truth. " - Sherlock Holmes
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- For the good of your training, I will ignore the simplicity of this room. But you know I was once a queen, right? - Scathach looked around the room with a disgruntled look.
It was the most ordinary doghouse. Wooden flooring, simple and angular style of furniture, monotonous and boring. Sora herself had never noticed a problem with it, but this Queen owned the whole world, so her demands are on another level.
- Forgive me, Master, but I built this house myself, and I am not of noble blood. - Sora raised his eyebrows, but inwardly he thought that Scatah had chosen to stay here, and such claims were inappropriate.
Scathach decided to settle in the Inner World, arguing that the place holds many mysteries. This World is so similar to her Land of Shadow, but instead of the cage she has been trapped in for over two thousand years, here she feels freedom and mystery. Yes, mystery. In the world of the Nasuverse there is no unknown for her. The Witch of Dun Scaith possesses the wisdom bestowed by the Abyss. The knowledge and experience that this Queen holds is beyond human understanding. But as an alien, Sora is shrouded in a veil of obscurity that has awakened long-forgotten feelings in her breast.
- Although the house itself is not bad, the rooms should be furnished nicely and the walls repainted. - Saying this, she was already planning what she would do with the decoration of the house.
This small house Sora built during [Displacement] training. Standing on four wooden pillars reinforced with runes, it is a two-story house with a blue roof and white walls. The style of this house combined details of Norwegian and Chinese culture. It sounds strange in words, but the result is pleasing to the eye.
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- But why a teacher? - Sora murmured perplexedly.
- It is useless to have a power you cannot use. - replied the Witch in a stern voice.
Scathach immediately disappointed Sora by saying that he would not learn Magic until she saw him as a warrior. What is a warrior in her mind? Blood, pain, and courage is what a warrior is. Once Sora sheds enough blood, learns to fight pain shoulder to shoulder, and earns the Scathach respect for his courage, then the Witch will begin to teach him Magic. Respect he has earned through blood and perseverance, and the remaining two points will be even harder for him.
Sora sighed sadly:
- Then mentor me, Master.
Training, pain, development. Sora had trained like crazy before, but could he compare to his teacher, of course not. The system of infernal exercises that Scathach had personally constructed for her pupil was far crazier and more rigorous than any other.
Lying under two cobblestones weighing fifty kilograms each, Sora pushed himself up off the hot sand. Such weight didn't strain him even before Scathach was summoned, which is why runes were running through his body, whose only task was to increase the friction force of his body. As a result, to perform any action, he must exert considerable effort. But the most unpleasant thing is that Scathach refused to dispel these runes, meaning that even in everyday life, Sora suffered.
Nearby, in the shadows, sat the Witch of Dun Scaith. She never took her ruby eyes off Sora.
- What is the Runa Algiz used for? - Her noble features and her teacher's temperament created an incredibly intimate and seductive image.
- The Rune of Divine Protection, when applied to the body, surrounds the rune-player with an incredibly powerful invisible shield that can withstand absolutely any type of attack. - Sora replied, mentally counting down the ninth dozen repetitions. - In return for absolute protection, a mage is not allowed to conjure or use weapons within the shield, as it simply will not release anything from its limit to the outside. - Cursing all the gods he knew, this situation reminded him of the early days of personal training.
- How does Algiz interact with weapons? - Scathach clarified, and leaned back against the tree pole.
- When the Algis Rune is applied to a weapon, it works for a fixed amount of time, depending directly on the magician's magical potential. Algiz allows you to ignore the opponent's physical defenses when struck, but only if the strike is retaliatory! If the weapon with the rune is used to attack, the mystical rule of Algiz won't work.
Sora had already forgotten what it was like to just start training, but he was already tired. His body was making strange, squeaking noises, telling him it was at its limit. But Scathach didn't think so; as long as her apprentice could talk and remained conscious, he could still do it. And as if guided by that thought, she approached a clutch of flat cobblestones. Just like the two that now lay on Sora's back.
- A perfect answer, so you'll hold out for more. - With a certain amount of pleasure the Witch uttered these words and lowered another cobblestone onto Sora's back.
Sweat was rolling hail down his forehead, his hands were shaking, and the muscles in his stomach and back, he could no longer feel. This is how children from the Age of the Gods should train, but not a boy from modern times.
- Which rune erases memory?
- Manaz in reverse. - His voice trembled, and it grew harder and harder to speak.
- What do you mean by plain Manaz? - As if unaware of her apprentice's condition, the Witch continued.
- The rune affects the wizard's intelligence...- Even breathing normally takes a long time, even with the effort of increased friction. - His thinking and mental abilities are greatly enhanced.
- Yes, and the bearer of the runes also unknowingly penetrates deeper into the mystical meaning of each spell he creates. It takes longer to cast, but has a much greater effect. - Scathach spoke in a teacher's tone, not noticing the sunken capillaries in her student's eyes and the huge puddle of sweat underneath him.
So, combining the lecture with physical exercise, Sora was taking a hero's course from the legends.
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- One more time. - A stern voice, as if giving an order.
This training is definitely one of the circles of hell.
Many tall columns lined up in a peculiar row. Sora's task was to walk through them. The only problem was, as soon as he was about to stand on one of them, the column would disappear. And what would happen if it disappeared? Nothing unusual, he would fall from six feet and hit the ground. It's like hovering on the brink of death. Sora felt like he was in a dream, but the pain was such that it's no wonder she chose this particular training.
- Dexterity is what's most important in a warrior. You don't move fast enough, you're dead. You don't hit fast enough, you're dead. You don't dodge fast enough, you're...
- dead, I get it. - Sora interrupted her, for which spikes grew in retaliation where he fell.
As soon as he was able to run the "plum blossom pillars" completely, Scathach increased their height, decreased their diameter, and then started throwing her spears at him altogether. The ever-increasing difficulty, forced him to improve.
Human potential shows itself only in moments of difficulty.
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- Relax your hand, let the spear lie free. - Scathach's royal voice admonished Sora.
This is sound advice in case Sora can attack, but right now he was running on the blade of death, or should I say the tip.
A spear was coming at him - mercilessly and very quickly.
He lunged to the side, stumbled, fell face down, and rolled sideways. At any moment he expected a spear to strike him in the back, and the expectation did not last long; the next moment the spear slashed him in the back. With a stifled groan of searing pain, he pushed his hands off the ground with all his might.
Breathing heavily, he saw the glaring spearhead approach again, ducked and darted forward, trying to follow his teacher's instructions. As he tried to swing his spear, Scathach took a step back and jabbed the spear at him, cutting the skin on his shoulder.
- You fight with a spear, distance is your faithful partner. - She acted as unconcerned as ever.
Sora had been fighting in Terraria for years, and the tactics of sword fighting were ingrained in his bones. Scathach decided first to remedy this deficiency through training in the use of various weapons, and she began with the spear.
In addition, she began to accustom him to blood and pain. What surprised Sora was that the pain during the battle with Scathach was much stronger and more real, sort of. He had been a Monster Hunter in his past life, and there was hardly a single night when he had not felt the pain of his wounds, but it paled in comparison to the pain that the wounds from Scathach's spear brought. Sure, that spear is cursed and it's demonic in origin, but every time Sora was wounded with that spear, he felt a nasty rotting sensation, as if death itself had come for his body.
Grabbing the spear with both hands, he jerked forward. Scathach didn't even move. She only made a slight half-turn, missing such a "barbaric" blow to her body a centimeter away.
Sora flew past, but in time to regain his senses, he put his foot forward. He put all of his weight on her, straightened up, and with a snarl, landed a cutting blow.
But she calmly, again without moving, swung her body backward, and when the tip of Sora's spear was somewhere in the sky, she struck him in the chest with the blunt side of the spear.
Scathach stood still, calm and serene.
- What I teach you is not combat techniques, or runes, or magic, but faith. - Her voice sounded more serious than usual. - Since the dawn of time, it wasn't those who were strong, and there were many, but those who had faith, who became heroes.
Seeing Sora's still incomprehensible look, she said:
- You don't feel powerful until you believe in yourself.