Whoosh!
Cutting the air in its way, the iron blade moved gracefully in the hand of its master. The master in question was, of course, Serina.
On the other hand, Ken was having trouble performing the thousand slashes that his master had told him to do. After about seven hundred, his form deteriorated so badly that even a baby playing with a stick would have looked more graceful.
Serina simply glanced at her disciple with a disappointed look and then continued her own training.
Clang!
Ken dropped his sword and fell to the ground, drained from the exercise. Finally, a thousand slashes were done… and his body was beyond lethargic.
Aching from the muscles he didn't even know existed, Ken glanced at a potion nearby but thought otherwise. After all, potion sickness is a very real thing. One could get addicted to potions and their bodies would deteriorate as time went by, leading to a horrific death.
'How would anyone get addicted to those vile-tasting liquids…'
Serina approached her disciple and smiled.
"I guess that's it for today. Your form was acceptable at the start and then slowly descended into an awful dance… We can't move forward to other techniques until you feel comfortable with the weight of a sword. So, doing a thousand slashes daily is a must for now. Overall, you did relatively well for a first-timer. Keep it up and you'll get a sword-related skill soon."
Wiping his sweat with a clean towel, Ken nodded in approval.
"Glad to hear that… I think I'll head back now. There's a magic lesson with Ani later, so, I probably should change my clothes and rest a bit."
"Yeah, you should. Good luck with your lessons."
Abruptly, Ken sprang to his feet, assuming a crouched stance as if preparing for a marathon. Serina stared at her disciple, puzzled by his strange action.
"Thank you, Teacher!"
Before a frown could appear on Serina's face, Ken had already fled the scene. [Runner's high] worked in full gears as he bolted back to his humble abode.
Shortly after, he heard an explosion coming from the direction of the training hall.
'I probably should stop teasing her…'
Taking a mental note, he continued sprinting, not daring to look back.
Opening the door, Ken entered his house. He took off his sweaty training clothes and put them into the laundry pile. After changing into a fresh pair of casual clothes, he looked at the pile of dirty clothes and grimaced.
There were three days worth of clothes, forming a tiny mound in the room. Promising himself to wash them later, he went to his room and took some well-deserved rest.
After a while, there was a gentle knock on the door.
"Coming!"
Ken went to open the door and Anires was there waiting for him, in her usual oversized robe.
"What's taking you so long? Let's go."
Following the elven mage, Ken walked past the residential area and eventually reached the center of the village. Standing at the edge of the magnificent lake, Ken glanced upward.
The gargantuan tree appeared even more enormous and majestic up close. The giant tree towered over the village, overshadowing its woody brethren. Its leaves and branches together formed a vast dome above the tranquil lake.
Ken had grown used to seeing elves having their usual days atop the canopy of the tall trees, so, he was a bit surprised to see no elves on the giant tree.
"Come closer."
Anires' sudden comment allowed Ken to snap back from his awe. Although he did not know why she told him to get closer, he complied anyway.
"Are we climbing the tree or something?"
Anires looked at Ken and grinned.
"Or something."
'Huh?'
Before he could ask any more questions, Anires quickly grabbed him and jumped into the lake.
'Ah, cold… huh?'
The coldness of the tranquil lake did not affect him at all. In fact, he was not even wet, and he was even breathing air!
Looking around, he found out that a bubble had formed and encased the two of them. From Anires' concentrated look, it was clear whose work the air bubble was.
'At least she could have warned me… wait, did she? No, she didn't. "Or something" doesn't count as a warning.'
Since it was nearly night, the only source of light around was the moon. But, the faint light was barely visible under the depth of the lake.
Ken did not know how deep the lake was, but he knew it was quite a distance downward since they had been sinking for quite some time now.
Suddenly, he saw light coming from an opening in the side of the small mountain where the giant tree had taken root. Without hesitation, Anires willed the air bubble to dive in the direction of the opening. It seemed that she was quite accustomed to the journey.
Going through the entrance, they landed on the slippery floor of the hidden cave. Since they weren't in the water anymore, the air bubble disappeared. Anires let out a heavy sigh as the frown that appeared on her face when she was concentrating faded away.
Ken observed the surroundings with great interest. He was especially fascinated by the fact that some sort of barrier prevented water from filling the hidden cave. Despite being deep underwater, there was fresh air in the cave, hinting at the existence of a well-maintained ventilation system.
"So, what was that?"
Ken looked at Anires with expectations. It was almost as if his eyes were sparkling.
"That was a tier-1 magic spell which let me create an air bubble. Making it large enough for two people took a bit more focus since I wasn't used to it. How was the ride?"
"It was great. After all, the great Anires herself accompanied me."
"Fu fu fu, Of course."
With a satisfied smug, Anires led Ken down the cave through a tunnel. As he walked further and further, he got nearer and nearer to the source of the light he had seen earlier.
After descending for a while, his feet finally stepped on something other than the rocky floor of the tunnel. It was grass. Green luscious grass now covered the floor of the tunnel, stretching far deep into the tunnel.
'Is it just me, or is the grass glowing?'
Walking a bit further in, the duo finally reached the entrance to a chamber where the light source was located. Entering it, Ken had to cover his eyes before they managed to adjust to the blinding light radiating from the chamber's floor.
He was correct. The grass was indeed glowing!
On the ethereal grassy meadow, hundreds of rare herbs and precious flowers bloomed gracefully. At the center of the mystical field, a lone tree stood tall in all its glory.
A wave of positive sensations radiated from the serene tree. Ken felt a comfortable warmth enveloping his body which also brought about a calming effect on his mind. As usual, he tried to use his [Unravel] skill on the marvelous tree, but surprisingly, nothing appeared.
"That's a child of the world tree. We usually call it the Mana tree since mana is abundant in its surroundings."
Anires mistook Ken's confused look as a curious question and explained.
"We have one in every elf village, but this one is special. You'll see why in the future. We also got the materials for making your mana organ from here."
Then, Anires turned to Ken since no reply came back, but she shortly found herself speechless.
A tiny orb of golden radiance had come out from the serene tree and was now floating around Ken. Leaving a trail of lucent glitter, the orb twirled around Ken, forming a ring of brilliance around him.
It appeared that Ken had already found out why this child of the world tree was special.
"Umm… Mind explaining?"
Clearing her throat, Anires spoke:
"That's a spirit… I guess you don't need to wait for the future to see the special part. Excluding me, you're the first person to befriend it… more like it befriended you. It's usually shy and timid, never showing itself around strangers… not that many people visit this place."
Ken stared at the golden orb in front of him.
"Spirit, huh?"
The spirit gleefully danced up and down as soon as Ken spoke.
'Is it nodding?'
No semi-transparent screen appeared when he focused on the spirit, just like the tree. Ken considered the possibility that his skill might be broken, but he quickly shrugged off the idea. After all, he could see [Elf] clearly above Anires.
'Probably the low-level issue again…'
Looking at the human and spirit duo, Anires couldn't help but heave a sigh.
"Well, I guess the process will be much easier since we have its help."
"Process?"
After the mana organ incident, Ken had somewhat formed a trauma when hearing process or procedure… especially when the word came from Anires.
"Yeah, we came here for that, didn't we? The process for you to sense mana, and hence use magic."
Suddenly, Ken felt a change in the atmosphere of the chamber which reminded him of the first encounter with the proud mage.