Once again the chill air moved along each follicle of hair on my skin as I sat by the river in my usual shirtless attire.
I raised my left hand to my mouth and exhaled air into my palm as the cold air became visible when touched by my warm breath.
Sheena's smile came to my mind as I recalled giving her a head pat when she was practicing her skills.
The memory wasn't a key one but it made nostalgia deep into my heart along with a feeling of longing. Memories of my journey with the team began to resurface and a lonely feeling that felt foreign slowly crept over me.
I placed my left hand on the grass behind me as the moisture seeped between my fingers.
~this is odd I've never been one to feel this way, I've always been one who enjoyed being alone yet here I am dreading the feeling of loneliness.
I took a deep breath and looked up at the moon recalling my training earlier, it's been two weeks since I started this training and I can now endure without passing out or needing to be healed.
I've improved a lot since I started, now all I feel is an overwhelming heat permeating my body whenever she forces her mana into my body.
I've even grown used to the cold even though it still makes my body ultra sensitive.
"You're up early." My eyes came in contact with the deep blue eyes of Madam Tsukio. Her usual flowing Snow White hair fell over my face as she stood over me filling my nostrils with a welcoming scent of fresh spring and blooming flowers.
"Yeah, I felt a bit uneasy and came to take a breather." I watched as a warm smile enveloped her face and she touched my forehead with her index.
"You may be a man but even so you need proper rest, especially with all the training you're enduring." I smiled at her words knowing that she genuinely cared about my health, even when she behaved coldly or teased me occasionally that's just her personality.
She isn't afraid to show that she actually cares for her pupil.
She then started walking and I followed her steps leading to her standing before me this time.
Her smile changed which sent a chill down my whenever that vixen-like smile dawned on her lips she always had something in mind and most times it was painful or just her teasing me.
I sat upright gulping in preparation for when was about to come.
Hey give me your hands" she spoke as she sat before me folding her legs under her like a Japanese maiden would.
Her posture now resembled that of a monk sitting on their knees, she extended both her palms towards me and I hesitantly accepted them.
Her hands were a bit chilly and soft, a similar texture to that of a marshmallow, I held her hands gently so as not to squeeze too hard. I was lost in the softness of her hands and how beautiful she looked with her eyes closed.
My instincts as a man were going haywire and I felt like going in for a hug. Despite being around her for so long her temptations only got worse over time, there was no getting used to a woman this beautiful regardless of the kind of relationship you had with them your manly instinct would dictate that you have to be attracted to her.
My eyes focus zoomed in on her soft rosy lips that had a light purple hue matching the color of her yukata I lowered my gaze to her neck in an attempt to compare to colors of her lips and the yukata but my attention was caught by the milky white skin of her color exposed from the opening of her yukata.
I took a deep breath in an attempt to calm myself but my lungs became filled with the chilly cold air around me snapping me back to my senses.
The wind then blew in between us momentarily reminding me that I was shirtless as I shivered from the cold.
"Slow your breathing to match mine and maintain the same rhythm as me, I'll try to resonate the mana inside your body along with mine to stimulate its slow, and once you sense it try to control it and regulate its flow manually." I nodded in response to her words as I understood what she said perfectly.
It took me five days of training in the river to finally start sensing the mana around me as Madam Tsukio constantly disrupted my mana pathways to reshape them into the desired paths for rune magic.
After the first week ended I was able to manipulate mana around me that came in direct contact with my body and she taught me a technique called zone or Mantaraizōn.
This created a mana field that acts as a barrier and a battery for rune mages,
A zone is when you condense the mantarai around you as it makes contact with your body creating something akin to a solid wall of air your body will continually replenish the mana you use to cast spells using the zone while it deflects attacks that are from foes that have lower mana density than you.
It took me a week to grasp how to do it but compared to the zone Madam Tsukio can create mine was far inferior and then, she said it was simply because I was unable to control the mana within so the control I had on mantarai around me was negligible.
And now here was the beginning of the third week and my training regime seems to have changed once again.
I felt a warm sensation within my palms and the warmth began to travel up my arms. I watched her chest convulse slowly then matching my tempo to hers slowly breathing in and out and once I had grasped her rhythm I closed my eyes.
This time however my perspective seemed to have changed and despite being enshrouded in the darkness as my eyes closed I saw many golden networks flowing slowly like many rivers crossing.
"Can you see them?"
"Yeah…what are they?"
"Those are your mana pathways each one flows along a different path within your body but they all relay back to the two cores present within your body, The Core Of Enlightenment; which stores purer mana within the mind, and The Core Of Acceptance; which stores unfiltered mana within your heart."
I could see two orb-like bodies within the darkness which the small golden river flows to and from along with pathways connecting both golden Orbs.
"As a rune mage, you must be able to accept and purify the mana within separating it from your life force then transfer it to the core within the mind that's the second step to becoming a rune mage. To do that, however, let's just start with you beginning to direct the flow of the mana within."
"Yes, mam!"