William had returned to the training ground with renewed determination. He looked at his mother, who was smiling at him with pride and satisfaction.
"Mother, I am ready." He muttered as he recalled his mother's words: 'do whatever it takes to win.'
He curled his hands into fists while his amethyst eyes shone with determination. He decided that he would win today, even if it meant he had to use underhanded methods.
Ara nodded her head in response and conjured a normal shield of light; she knew that her son had decided to do anything to win and was amused and interested in knowing what he would do. "Do your best, son." She cheered.
William didn't reply; instead, 'Wind!'
He dashed toward Ara while pumping wind mana into his legs.
BOOM
His speed reached incredible heights as sonic booms reverberated throughout the training ground.
'Earth'
The moment he reached Ara's shield, he punched it with all his might. Ara watched her son while frowning; she thought that William had learned something, but, 'It looks like he needs more time.'
But her thoughts were disrupted when she saw a small smile on his face; it was very small, and if not for Ara being a grandmaster, she would have missed it.
BOOM
William punched the shield, almost shattering it to pieces. But William didn't continue; instead, he jumped back as if he were falling to the ground as if pushed back due to the rebound and screamed at the top of his lungs.
"Ahhhhhhh!"
THUD
He fell on his back and held his right hand, which he used to punch the shield and began screaming, "Ahhhh! My hand!"
Little tears formed at the corners of his squinting eyes, while his entire face turned red due to the pain. He flailed his limbs around as if showcasing his injury to the world while glancing at his mother once in a while.
Ara was a little startled at William's actions. Her heart pounded in worry when she saw William's face redden in pain. 'Did it really hurt?' she asked herself. Her maternal instincts wanted to run toward him, ask him, and take care of him. But her mind said otherwise, 'I feel like he is acting though.'
She narrowed her eyes at William, carefully observing his movements and his hand, at which he screamed at the top of his lungs that he was injured.
'Maybe his muscles are injured?' Ara mumbled to herself. She couldn't see any visible injury on his hand, and she conjured the shield, which should be a little stronger than William.
Ara almost gave in, but she stopped herself and glared at her son when she heard his next words.
"Ahhhh! If only my mother had come running to see my injury!" William would have almost won if not for his overacting.
He glanced at his mother, who was now glaring daggers at him.
"Eh?" William exclaimed, confused by his mother's reaction, 'What happened? Did Mother know about it? Ho-'
As William was pondering how Ara knew about his plan, his mother interjected and said, "William, get up."
Her voice was crisp and serious, making William gulp nervously. He knew that he had been caught and slowly stood up.
"Do you think I would fall for that trick?" she asked, but her cheeks reddened a little as she thought, 'I almost fell for it.'
"Do you think your enemies would be that foolish?" 'I should be more careful.'
William hung his head low as his mother criticized his plan, not knowing that she had almost fallen for it.
"Remember, William, you have to do more than that to fool me." 'I will never fall for that again!'
"Yes, mother," he said; his voice was weak, barely coming out of his mouth. He knew that he had to do better, but this was his first time, dammit!
Ara's stern gaze softened when she saw her son hanging his head low in defeat. She immediately rushed toward him, reaching him in a moment; her speed was akin to teleportation.
She then hugged him slightly, ruffled his hair, and mumbled, "I am sorry, William. I was too harsh. But you see, you need more practice and also need to work on your acting skills. But you also need to layer more attacks than just a ruse, understand?"
William weakly nodded his head while thinking about his mother's words.
Ara smiled lovingly as she ruffled his hair before giving a kiss on his head and informed, "Alright, let's end this here. Your homework is to think of an attack plan for tomorrow, Okay?"
She pulled away when she heard William mumble in agreement. She then took one last glance at his son before walking into the mansion.
William, too, slowly walked into the mansion toward his room. Along the way, he kept repeating his mother's advice when his fight against the monsters in the training grounds flashed in his mind.
Especially the part where he tricked the monsters into thinking that he was attacking the orc before he attacked the others.
'What did I actually do there?' William questioned; he went into thought as he reviewed the fight he had with the monsters.
'I made them think that I was attacking the orc, but I attacked the wolves instead.'
'What did it achieve?' A question popped into his mind, seemingly out of nowhere.
'That's right! What did it achieve?'
William stopped in his tracks as he thought he was onto something. After a few moments of thinking, his eyes widened when he realized what he had done: 'I shifted their attention to the orc and made them lower their guards.'
A small smile of victory adorned his face as he began to think of how to incorporate his new findings into his attack plan for tomorrow.
'I could do that' He formulated his plan and then resumed walking to his room. His fists were clenched in excitement for tomorrow.
He opened his door only to see blushing Achlys and a smirking Seraphina. The girls turned to see William, and Seraphina asked, "William, how was your training?"
.................
The next day,
William looked at his mother while clenching his fist; he couldn't wait to implement what he had thought.
Ara raised an eyebrow when she saw her son's excited face. 'Looks like he has gained something.' She thought.
"Are you ready?" she asked while conjuring the same shield as before. William nodded his head in response and dashed toward the shield like he had yesterday using 'Wind.'
Ara frowned as she noticed William aiming for the shield like before. 'Hasn't he learned anything?' she thought to herself. But she immediately shook her head while thinking, 'I should be careful just in case.'
'Earth'
William sent earth mana into his hands, making them strong and sturdy, and punched the shield upon reaching it.
BOOM
SHATTER
"AHHHHHH!"
Just like before, William punched the shield with all his might and jumped back, falling on his back and holding his hand while yelling in pain. The only thing that was different was that the shield shattered this time.
Ara narrowed her eyes dangerously at her son; she didn't mind him not learning anything and just staying in the mansion, but William wanted to learn. 'So I will make sure that he learns properly.'
She then began to walk toward William; each of her steps was heavier than the last, causing the ground to shatter. She clenched her fists in anger while she gritted her teeth.
But she halted when she felt something coming from her back.
'Ice'
FWOOSH
Ara immediately jumped sideways. While in the air, her eyes darted to her side when she saw a meter-long ice shard coming down at the spot she was in.
Her amethyst eyes widened as she could hear the shard slicing through the air and piercing the ground.
BANG
The shard continued on its path, piercing the ground by almost half a meter; cracks webbed across its surroundings as the shard stood upright.
GASP
Ara gasped in shock, watching the ice shard; she could feel its sharpness as her face was reflected in it. She immediately turned toward William.
TSK
William clicked his tongue in annoyance as his plan failed. 'Looks like I have to do something more than just shift her attention.' He mumbled inwardly.
He used the insight he had yesterday and thought of a plan. In it, he was the attention grabber as he would do the exact same thing he did yesterday, which he thought would definitely anger Ara. Fortunately, it did; Ara was so angry that all her attention was on William and her mind was only thinking about how to punish and train him.
That's when his attack would come in; using ice, William created an ice shard the moment he felt that Ara was too angry to focus on her surroundings.
But too bad that Ara's sense was far beyond his imagination; it picked up danger the moment the ice shard moved.
'If I weren't a grandmaster, I don't think I would have sensed it. In fact, anyone below the master level wouldn't sense it at all. Its speed was just too fast!' she exclaimed in shock as she analyzed William's attack.
She quickly gathered herself and looked at her son, who was making an annoyed expression and said, "Don't worry, William. You have almost succeeded. Anyone below Master level wouldn't detect that shard."
William's face lit up like a light bulb at Ara's praise: 'I knew it! I knew this would work! Mother was just too powerful!'
But his happiness was cut short when Ara warned, "But remember, William, your enemies won't always be within your range of capabilities. You should also learn how to trick opponents who are far stronger than you."
William nodded his head in agreement while his mind soaked in his mother's advice. He knew his mother meant well in warning him, and he was already planning his next attack plan for tomorrow.
'I will definitely win!'