"Lame."
Flipping through an inexplicable tome, Lieren dismissively tossed it behind him with a straight face and picked up another mana-dowsed ancient book with a worn-out leather cover and excitedly flipped through it, his eyes gracing through one line of text to another with astonishing speed. It wasn't just speed, though, that was impressive about the inquisitive boy, but the rate at which he absorbed the knowledge within, no matter how complicated and alien it was to him, as well.
Heaving another sigh, he muttered disappointedly: "No, this isn't it either. Gah! where is it?!" Tossing it without a care, the ancient tome flew behind him like all the other books he had skimmed through…
But this time, it didn't land, instead falling one the lithe and calloused hand of a serene blind woman. Her invisible gaze held a steel-like quality to it, almost like it had been sharpened by one of the many techniques outlined in the very books he been skimming through this entire time. There was a cold smile frozen on her ivory face.
Glancing back with a hum, he regarded her presence, gave a smile of his own, and immediately went back to reading his book. No use wasting time right now. There was much to be learned, after all!
The blind woman lingered for linger than a minute, clenched her fist, took a deep, heavy breath, then lifted her face back and faced forward. Her smile was gone, replaced with his ever-calm expression. Still, there was just the smallest bit — maybe even imaginary — sense of frustration on her pale face.
"So, are you planning on playing nice now?" She said aloud, her voice as even as it could be.
…Or it seemed to be.
Standing up with a begrudging look, he threw one last glance at the neat pile of books he was planning on reading, made a mental note of his exact location using the objects around him as landmarks, and glanced back playfully.
A vein popped in the blind woman's temple.
"You…! Not agai—" Before she could finish, however, he was already gone. Gone like the wind.
◇◆◇◆◇
Pushing mana throughout his body in a constant rhythm, Lieren rounded one corner sharply and kept himself low. With his mana signature hidden by his Resistance which he has learned to consciously make more powerful at his whims, it must have been a real problem to try and find him, even with her extraordinary sensory ability that he hadn't quite figured out yet. He felt like he was close, though. As if it was one the tip of his tongue.
"Wha—" Feeling a cold shiver run down his spine like a bucket of iced water, his intuitions screamed at him to calm down and fall back…
Though, that was to say that he immediately jumped up frantically. With his body augmented by wild mana, it allowed him to jump much higher than what was normally acceptable for Adorned his age and stature. A frown interrupted his analysis as he ignited Manavision and sparked his dyes with nascent light.
Mana, natural and purified, rolled through the fine marble like a wave of unforgiving wind. Except, the waves were more… manufactured, unnatural, and man-made to be something as ancient and graceful as the gift of wind itself.
The innumerous shelves of ancient tomes and crates of magical trinkets shook ever so slightly, as if some hidden force tried to knock them over. Tracing the waves' epicenter and source, he found the lithe figure of a pale woman with closed eyes and graceful physique standing with one of her feet in front of her, almost as if she had stomped it.
…Which she did. Brutally, in fact. No mercy whatsoever. There was cold fury on her face, which used to serene and calm, but was no longer.
Landing on his feet, dull pain spread throughout his body. He still needed much practice and control when it came to Augmentation magic, but he was ready to learn to reach an appropriate enough level to efficiently use this advantage of his. No matter how much his mastery in Augmentation magic was, his internal mana consumption was on par — maybe even beyond — that of the most trained and skillful individuals in the whole continent.
…But at the same time, he was just a kid with next to no life experiences. And that's not exactly a bad thing.
Taking note of her position, Lieren rounded one particular corner and willed his Resistance to become denser and thicker, hiding his mana signature even more clandestinely.
His heart felt as if it was in his mouth when he saw the lithe figure of his Master padding by him completely, a subtle frown betraying her calm and serene face. She was annoyed and irritated.
He held his breath.
And at the same time, he couldn't help but suck in one. His eyes went was wide as a crystal ball.
Jumping to his feet and dashing away from his hiding spot, he just barely managed to run away from a reverberating blow of her fist, which came almost as fast as her single step which brought her practically face-to-face with him. Her serene face was facing forward, while her right arm was outstretched where his head had just been.
If the blow had hit, he might not even have a head anymore.
He frowned as cold sweat began running down his face. This was not good. She was really, really trying to kill him.
'This… this isn't good.'
Pushing even more mana to his body, he dashed away and jumped, dodging another deadly and potentially fatal blow to his abdomen. It was only by a hair's breadth did the attack miss, but it was enough to made his nerves scream at him to run away.
But he was a moment too late.
Before he could recognize it, he was already flying away, crashing into a shelf filled with magical items and ancient artifacts, completely wrecking the shelf it had been sitting on for who knows how long.
Dull, reverberating pain spread throughout his body like an echoing blast. It spread evenly, growing weaker and weaker as it went, but it was still pretty darn painful!
For a moment, he forgot how to breath. Master Feng's voice resounded beside him, cold and menacing:
"So, are we going to play nice now?"