Anger rose and fell in his mind, a force of wisdom settling him down everytime he got heated while looking at kahawai. If not for this calming presence convincing him of the folly of attacking this man, he would have lept over and been beaten within an inch of his life.
'You nearly killed me over some assessment. But I'm nowhere near your level. If I attacked you here, on your territory, I'd be gone. I'm not even on his radar of threats. When I strike, I will be ready. Untill then, I'll train.'
The group trained every morning, sometimes during the night. With the threat of the Hunters trail so soon, housed by the association, all hands were on deck. They practiced simple training exercises as a unit, including formations, and terrain management from Max. As the teams strategic brain, his mind was indispensable.
The group hand a dynamic before Alexanders introduction and white they discussed many subjects, getting to know eachother, he didn't have a particular particularly weapon he was better at.
His use of swords, spears, knives, and bows were all within proficiency after a few days of him learning. He was by far the most diverse in the group, nowhere near the mastery with the sword as Nakamuras, or as quick as Kalani with her knives.
"I'm stronger than I was yesterday, I can win!" He swung his sword at an opening on Nakamura, his blade coming from his left side. The slash cut his clothes as he stepped back, drawing his blade along Alexanders left arm on his back step.
"Excellent, but don't stop at one attack. You must capitalize on your opponents with a combo." Nakamura took his blade from the slash and added a downward strike on his shoulder. Alexander tried to block with his sword, putting every once of strength into it.
Boom!
Dust rose from the training area, and cracks formed were Alexander kneeled from the onslaught of attacks. His wooden blade split in half, along with Nakamuras, something that had happened regularly between the two, more frequently now.
"You are getting better, Mortem. I underestimated you in the beginning, and that was my folly. I await our next interaction. Focus on your attacks more, and anticipate your enemies moves when you strike."
Alexander rose from his knee, an inch into the dirt. "I almost had you. How do you move so fast when I'm nearly on you? Its as if time slows down when I swing my weapon, while you speed up."
Nakamura contemplated something for a second, a slight smile on his face. "When you achieve a D rank, you shall find out. Untill then focus on your foundations."
Alexander was confused why he would say something and nothing at the same time. "Well, I guess. Let's clean up and head inside. I'm sure everyone is waiting, and my stomach is yelling.'
Alexander had learned an entire lifetime of skills, but using them was farfetched with how his body moved. He trained as much as he could, even in his dreams. Visions of his stances and formations, even those he had only seen once he practiced. Strangely enough a voice even corrected his form sometimes, both inside and out of his dreams.
'The shoulder should be lower, and feet should be further apart. More strength to the middle of your swing and then follow through. You should meditate more, and practice accumulating mana.' The voice was considered enough and sounded like his own thought that he never thought it more than his own intuition. He followed its process like he would his own advice and made significant progress.
When he trained his magic under the elders guidance he was left in different areas of the estate. Some places were warmer, colder, dirtier, wetter, and darker. He found a dark cove in the forest, some distance from the noise of the practice the group was doing.
'Everytime I see his face I just want to smash it in side his stupid head. How I survived is still fuzzy, but I can vaguely remember swiming up and punching him. Well hell get more than that when I surpass him. Now, let's see, this is a perfect place to focus. Breathe in and absorb the mana, exhale and expel mana.'
The elemental mana flowed from his surroundings, swriling around him and gathering in his core, holding it within, then expelling it from his breathing. He could sense everything around him in a dull greyscale.
'In and out'
A rustle of leaves on the forest floor attracted Alexanders attention t9 his right. His sense were heightened and he assumed it was q forest creature coming to check the human out. He stayed still and continued to wait for it to move closer so his senses could perceive it more.
The creature stalked closer to the human, sniffing with its bulbous head, and large nostrils. Warm meat, it thought in its primitive thoughts. It's tattered childlike clothes fit loosely as it motioned mischievously to its companions to circle around.
"Aww, it brought friends. Little animals are so adorable. They're splitting up? That's weird, why are they getting into an ambush formation, haha. Cute things must be scared of me... but they're getting closer?'
Alexander slowly opened his eyes to take a look at the small animals, wondering if it was a family of rabbits or squirls, as they moved quite fast for smaller animals. The bushes trembled and the voice gave him a warning. He trusted the voice but his reason tried to convince it of its folly. It coast him time to react as the small spear shot out from 15 feet, digging into his stomach.
'What happened, where did this spear come from? I have to move now!' He set his mind. Grabbing the spear and breaking it in half, keeping the tip in the wound to control the bleeding. Max, as the teams medic along with strategists, pounded into them to never remove an impaled object from a wound. Light magic could heal many things but not a loss of blood.
His heart beat steadily where normaly he should be panicking. He focused fire magic within his hand and shot a small stream fire at the bushes, burung it to ashes and catching the creature off guard as it burned.
Arhhh Gurhhhsshs
Whoosh! Whoosh!
Alexander dodged two spears thrown at him from the side, fumbling slightly from the pain of the spear in his stomach. He summoned the mana for another fire stream, but failed to concentrate as the pain spread up his spine and stomach.
'Urrgg.. I'm losing it, and this thing is not making it better. What are these things?' Alexander backstepped and looked at the burnt corpse of the creature. "Goblins!? What the hell is a gate creature doing here?" He understood what this meant and the catastrophic event that took place near the mansion.
'A Chaosbreak!' He thought as his eyes caught a glimpse of five pairs of eyes crawling around in the shadows, gleaming with hate as they spread out. Stomping and breaking of branches gave way to a nasty aura that spread in the out in the clearing.
"Just great, they have a troll too!"