Seeing as the practice dummy was still intact, Amber gritted her teeth, and sent more magical power into the staff. Her eyes glowed brighter, with small strands of lightning expanding out to the rest of her face.
Mirabelle watched this not knowing what she was thinking.
The originally stable lightning bolts seemed to become incredibly chaotic, but the power exerted had definitely increased. The outer layer of the practice dummy became charred to the naked eye.
But even until Amber finally fell to her knees, exhausting her magical energy, the dummy still stood unbroken.
Amber's face was pale, with her hands on the ground panting for breath, she looked unwillingly at the practice dummy, then asked Mirabelle, "How strong is that dummy?"
Mirabelle innocently replied, "It's the same rank as you".
Amber couldn't believe it, angrily retorting "Impossible. I've killed monsters of my rank many times on the way here. How could I possibly fail to break this dummy?"
Mirabelle glanced at the angry young woman, showing no sign of a smile; her eyes cold and sharp, "Like any opponent, they have weaknesses and strengths. If you believe that you can just throw some lightning at everything and it'll die, then you're much dumber than I expected".
Amber felt the coercion emanating from the woman in front of her, and came back to her senses. She forgot that she was no longer in the Northern border. Her mother couldn't help her here, and the feeling she just had. The teacher in front of her doesn't feel any weaker than her mother.
Shock went through her mind. If the woman in front of her was of the diamond rank, and she threw a tantrum, even if her mother found out about this, she would be at a disadvantage when coming here. Only now did Amber realise that the academy that could stand for so long in the capital, was stronger than she expected. She quickly lowered her head and apologised, "I'm sorry. I was frustrated by my failure".
Mirabelle saw that she understood the situation, and she returned to her jovial appearance, "Well when you're young, it's easy to be temperamental. As long as you can learn to be calm, there's no limit to how far you can go".
Mirabelle turned towards Isla and Sila, "Well you girls decide who goes first."
Isla looked at the dummy in the distance, the charring that had originally been prevalent, had at some point disappeared. And now it stood unharmed.
Isla turned towards Sila, her voice low "Where do you think it's weakness is?"
Sila tried to remember what happened when Amber attacked, before replying "Did you see where the first burn marks appeared after the lightning girl attacked?"
"You should at least learn there names, Sila", Isla said rolling her eyes. Her sister was far too casual when it came to strangers. She didn't even bother to say their name. It wouldn't be surprising how many people would be offended by her in the future.
"I'll work on it. But do you remember?" Sila said perfunctorily.
Isla though of the attack. The lightning wrapped itself around the dummy, but it was the stomach that showed signs of burning first. "It's abdomen?"
Sila raised her eyebrows slightly, acquiescing to Isla's answer.
"Do you want to?" Isla asked.
Sila shook her head, gesturing for Isla to take the lead.
Mirabelle in the distance had heard the conversation between the two, and her eyes looking at the twins were much brighter. She watched as the one named Isla took out a dagger from her storage ring.
Her eyes followed as Isla flashed as fast as she could towards the dummy, and Stabbed the dagger straight into the abdomen of the dummy.
In the eyes of the people around, Isla seemed to teleport, but in Mirabelle's vision, it was as if she was going in slow motion.
She could see the girl clearly had no formal training, a lot of the actions she took were unnecessary which was adding stress and reductions to her speed.
But Mirabelle could tell that Isla had learned her skills through practical application. She didn't have the hesitation that came with inexperience, so it was clear these sisters were commoner born talents, with only each other as a backing.
It would explain their closeness. A level of reliance that she hadn't seen with siblings of noble families.
A loud cracking sound came from the dummy, and she watched as Isla retreated from the attack immediately afterwards. 'Good. Distance yourself straight away' she thought.
Mirabelle liked these two more and more. She thought about the feasibility of taking these girls as her personal students. With keen understanding and obvious experience, as long as she could weed out the problematic habits they've learned, then their futures would be limitless.
And it would be best if she could take them in sooner rather than later. Before those other old things came out of seclusion to steal them from her.
Mirabelle watched as the dummy that had been standing unharmed beforehand, continued to crack from the stab wound tk the abdomen, finally reaching a point where it crumbled to the ground, a pile of broken stone.
"Well done. You managed to find its weakness, and exploit it. This is the first and most important lesson that you can be taught.
Knowing your opponent is the key to victory. If you're aware of their abilities, their strengths and weaknesses. Their habits and even their personality. You can be certain of their techniques, or their methods of attack. This will give you untold advantages when facing an opponent." Mirabelle explained lightly.
After Amber heard this, she began to think pensively. The twins were aware of this truth, they had used it many times in their previous battles. Although they were obviously too uninformed about their opponents for it to have the greatest impact on the battle.
This reminded Isla that she needed to not only focus on the history of the empire, nor the power division. But her and Sila also needed to figure out the strengths and weaknesses of different types of elemental magicians, as well as monsters and stronger warriors.
Sila saw Isla's determined look and felt a pang of dread run through her body. She put her hands together, her eyes trembling with anxiety, 'Please, I beg you. Don't let it have anything to do with learning'. Unfortunately for Sila, her prayers would not be fulfilled.