(clank clank)
The sounds of swords clashing against each other can be heard.
I was surprised when he said that he won't be holding back, but we still agreed.
(clank clank)
We didn't know then that he would be training us with real sword instead of wooden one.
And currently, I'm trying very hard to block Ars' sword that keep on coming at me.
"Ugh..."
"Don't just block, deflect it!"
"..."
"Not like that! Follow the sword's flow and guide it properly!"
"..."
I tried following what he said, but it's not as easy as it seems.
'He's strong... way stronger than Jaesuk'
Because it's too hard for me to think while defending against his attack.
"Shit!"
Cursing out loud, I swung my sword hard but he deflected it easily as he said.
"See? Just like that"
'Dude...'
(thud)
I then fell to the ground while having a sword pointed at me.
"Okay, you're done for now"
Putting away his sword, he called out to Kim Jaesuk.
"Jaesuk, take his sword and come!"
"Okay"
I then gave my sword to Kim Jaesuk before walking away.
They're just steps away from each other, getting ready to fight.
"Do your best, I won't hold back"
"Yes.."
And then the fight started.
And I got surprised once again because Kim Jaesuk is holding out pretty well, even countering once in a while.
The fight continued for a while before it ended in Kim Jaesuk's loss.
"Well, Kim Jaesuk is definitely stronger than Alex"
"We're aware of that..."
"I see? That's good"
Nodding his head, he then continued.
"Do you guys know what mana is?"
"Yes"
Mana is the amount magic power you have inside your body.
To cast a spell, you need to be able to use and control your mana, which varies for everyone.
For example, let's say Villager A has 50 amount of mana, Villager B may have either higher or lower, depends on their talent and hard work.
'But what does swordsmanship have to do with mana?'
"Don't tell me?"
"Oh? You thought of something?"
"Are you telling us to cover our sword with mana or something?"
Ars then looked surprised.
"Yea, that's roughly it. How'd you now?"
"Ah, no... I'm just guessing"
'There's not way I can tell him I read about it in a novel back in earth...'
"Good guess though... but it's not as simple as it seems"
He then hold his sword in front of him before focusing.
A while after, a slight aura came out of his body that covered his whole sword which looks very sharp.
"This is sword covered with mana, and it increased the sword's sharpness and durability depending on how strong your mana is.
And depending on that, you can even extend the reach of your sword with your mana"
After explaining it, he proceed to take a wooden sword lying on the ground before using it to smash his mana covered sword.
He didn't even put any power into it, just slightly clashing the sword with each other, and the wooden sword got cut cleanly.
"See? Not just this, but you can also use it to cover your whole body with mana, which is called Body Strengthening Technique. I can't extent my mana to cover the whole body yet though..."
Listening to his explanation, we nodded our head.
"Now, let's try to feel the mana inside your body"
"Okay..."
"How do we do that?"
He then began teaching me first.
"Imagine your whole body as a medium, and there's water gathered inside it your heart as the centre..."
"O- okay..."
"After imagining it, command the water to flow towards all your whole body, but don't rush it and do it slowly..."
Doing as he said, I can feel something coming out from within me.
I felt a little excited for being able to do that, which caused me to lose focus.
"Hey focus!"
"!"
(zingggggg)
"Ughh"
Some kinds of aura then explode out of my body which hurts a lot.
"Wha- what happened"
"Sigh, you lost focus in the middle of moving your mana..."
Just after he said that, I suddenly felt really tired.
"You'll feel tired because you lost a great deal of mana since it poured out instead of staying inside your body... Take a rest for a while"
Then he went to Kim Jaesuk to teach him the same thing.
I walked away to lay down in a nearby bench.
Looking at Kim Jaesuk and Ars, I then tried to imagine my mana flowing like earlier.
But a sudden pain break my focus.
"Ugh.."
Groaning, I stopped doing it and focusing my attention to Kim Jaesuk.
But what I see surprised the heck out of me.
A golden aura is enveloping him his body, circling him.
And it seems I'm not the only one surprised because Ars' face is a sight to behold.
'Sigh... what a monster that guy is...'
I thought before falling asleep.
---
'Imagine my body as a medium... water in gathered in the centre of my heart... make it flow and around but don't pour it outside of my body...'
Trying out what Ars told Alex earlier, I succeed in making my mana flow on my first try.
I opened my eyes and even I'm honestly surprised at how easy it is.
Looking at Alex laying on the bench nearby, he seemed to be sleeping.
I then heard Ars's voice
"You're a monster aren't you?"
"Eh? What do you mean?"
"Is this your first time trying to control your mana?"
"Yeah?"
Sighing, he continued
"Listen, no one ever succeed in controlling mana on their first try. Even the so called archwizard Elena took a couple of days to be able to control it properly. But look at you now... you're able to maintain it just outside of your body on your first try..."
"..."
"If you're not a monster, what are you?"
"I.."
"It's fine, don't say it... now let's try the next step.
Now move the aura surrounding your body and focus it to cover the sword you're holding right now"
Doing as he said, I then can feel the aura covering me move to cover my sword.
"Well, it still looks messy, but it can be used already..."
"Okay"
"Just okay? Show some enthusiastic, you succeed on your first time! you could probably be a hero man..."
"Hahaha no way..."
Laughing, I then called back the mana.
"Whoa you can even call the mana back..."
"What?"
"Usually mana that's been poured out can't be called back and it's thrown to the air"
"..."
"Not even surprised anymore sigh... Let's end today's training and take that guy lying on the bench home... he should be exhausted because of the amount of mana he thrown earlier"
"Okay... thank you very much for teaching us today"
"Don't worry about it... now shush shush..."
He then got back training on his own.
I picked Alex up and put him on my back as if giving him a piggyback, then walked away.
'Alex will be surprised to hear that I'm able control my mana already...'
As a thought that, a smile emerged from my lips as I walked home.
---
Waking up, I find myself looking at a familiar ceiling.
"You're up?"
I then got surprised and got up straight away after hearing a voice coming from next to me.
"What the f... is this my room?"
I looked around and realised that I'm sleeping on my bed.
Adrian was the one who called out to me earlier.
"Yea, it is. Jaesuk took you home earlier"
"Oh okay... thanks"
Looking at Kim Jaesuk, I thanked him.
"So, what are you guys doing in my room?"
"We're here to discuss what should we bring"
Nodding my head, we then discussed what should we bring.
First, we need money for sure as we're not even aware how to make money.
The concept of money in this world is different from that of Earth.
There's gold coins, silver coins, and bronze coins.
1 gold coins = 100 silver coins = 10000 bronze coins.
Which means,
1 gold coins = 100 silver coins
1 silver coins = 100 bronze coins
It's that simple really. But as we've never purchased anything nor have any money at this village because grandpa and grandma provided for us, we don't know how much is the average price of anything.
Second, we need a map to go to the Empire.
"A simple map will do, and as grandpa has a study, he surely have a map there..."
Then, we need supplies like food, water, and clothing.
"Grandpa said he will let us bring some, so we should be fine"
"..."
"Time passed by really quick huh..."
Adrian suddenly said.
"How many days has it been, 40 days? 41 days? I lost count already..."
"It's day 41 for us..."
I answered.
"Hey, let's show each other our status window"
"Sure..."
Kim Jaesuk suddenly suggested, which we agreed.
- STATUS WINDOW -
Name : Alex Stone
Age : 21
Race : Human
Attributes
Strength : 17 (from 12)
Constitution : 19 (from 16)
Dexterity :14 (from 10)
Intelligence : 6 (from 4)
Luck : 8
- STATUS WINDOW 0
Name : Kim Jaesuk
Age : 22
Race : Human
Attributes
Strength : 22 (from 15)
Constitution : 22 (from 15)
Dexterity : 9 (from 6)
Intelligence : 19 (from 15)
Luck : 5
- STATUS WINDOW -
Name : Adrian Mcleay
Age : 19
Race : Human
Attributes
Strength : 6 (from 5)
Constitution : 10 (from 7)
Dexterity : 8 (from 7)
Intelligence : 30 (from 21)
Luck : 5
"..."
"Jaesuk's attributes..."
"Crazy..."
Both me and Adrian got speechless after looking at Kim Jaesuk's attributes.
He has both high physical strength and intelligence.
My one increased as well, but not as high as him.
"Your intelligence as well, Adrian. It's already 30..."
"Well, it probably increased because I've been studying and learning a lot... is that it though? I'm honestly not sure how it get that high..."
After talking for a bit, we then dispersed and went to sleep.