"I think I can try, although I have never used it before in an actual fight, I should be able to get the hang of it after a couple of tries right?"
Ainz stared at him for a moment, as he lied through his teeth, while he was lying at the same time he wasn't exactly lying to him, even if he hadn't used it before in an actual fight, he still knew how to use it.
Bruce had a slight smile on his expression, and when he heard him a bit of warmth appear on his face, during the months they had spent together as a master and student, he began to understand the attitude of his student.
Although he seemed like he was always serious, that was on the outside, in fact he was simply a cheerful kid who had experienced the cruel reality of fate. Sometimes he could see the kid had so much on his mind than his age, but he didn't let it affect him and simply accepted things as they were.
Ainz was the most ruthless kid he had ever met or seen, while kids his age were always afraid of something happening to their body while training, the kid instead treated his mind and body like a piece of metal that needed to be beaten until it was perfect.
His belief was that if his body refused to bend that meant, it wasn't beaten enough and until it bent it would never stop hammering and forging his body and mind, no matter how much pain he would suffer in the process.
If his mind was weak, he would heat it till it was no longer weak and reverberated with his body, causing a constant nauseous feeling lingering upon him, that one wouldn't noticed until they came close to him.
Of course, he knew how Ainz was training even if the kid wasn't always truthful, and how determined he was in his search for power, so one way or the other, Bruce couldn't help but start developing some kind of empathy and respect for him.
'Huh, I wonder why the kid is so confident? Is it because he had been secretly practicing with it even when I told him not to? Or maybe he just doesn't know how difficult and effort it's needed to actually use it.
'What a shame though, if his position was different and he was from the main circle of the Kalamas family, he wouldn't have had to go through so much just to prove himself, and would simply have had a bright future, with such talent and perseverance, am sure no one would have been able to compete with him in the main family.
'Yet, the people from the main family would never allow someone from the outside family to grow without a leach, especially someone that might come back to bite them, not even his father could change that fate.'
The complex look on his expression became even more apparent as he thought to this very point, even though he was the captain of the entire outer circle guard, there was nothing he could do to help, this left a bitter taste in his mouth as he exhaled a soft sigh.
"Kid, do you know how much time has passed since our first meeting?"
Bruce suddenly said, and then realization dawned upon him after Ainz thought for a little while.
Because of how engrossed he had always been with his training, he would sometimes forget about the passage of time, however, it was only after Bruce said it, that it dawned upon him that time had truly passed.
"Good, I guess your mind isn't all about training, and there's still some space left for other things. That's right, almost six months has passed since then, and your astonishing progress with mental energy has long surpassed the standard I had set for you.
"So next week, we will begin the treatment, so the mana in your body might not be useful anymore. But before then, we will start with actual martial arts. This will make it so that you will gain some advantage, in case you manage to survive the treatment."
Upon hearing what Bruce said, Ainz put on a serious expression on the outside.
'Finally, I was beginning to wonder when things would finally kick-off to the good part, it was beginning to be boring just taking beatings and experiencing headaches, my body would have continued to lose its balance if it wasn't pushed to the next level.'
Thinking this, he went toward the weapon shelf and picked his usual spear, and stared at Bruce intently, since it had come to this he decided to hasten the process.
"So master, there's no reason for us to waste time right?"
The slight smile on Bruce's expression vanished, when he heard what Ainz said, it was a blow delivered to him, upon all he had said and done to convince the kid.
'Does this kid have any conscience at all? Does he really want to die?'
Bruce suppressed the thought of picking up the cane and hitting him, but then remembered the kid was a masochist, beating him would only make things worse than they already were, he shook his head to repress his thoughts and took out the wooden cane.
"Then as usual come at me, with everything you got but only this time try to mix in some mana to your strikes. You should be able to do that much, with three or four strikes of mana before the mana in your body depletes."