Alice decided to show Damian just how simple-minded he was, regaining her confidence now that she had a plan. The first step was to make space. She decided to go with a bigger area than the previous training ground. Cleaning up a fifteen-meter by fifteen-meter field.
Right now, the area she wanted to use was filled with weeds, roots, and grass. On top of that, it wasn't flat enough. She had to change this first if she wanted to do anything else.
She started her construction work by preparing the foundation, casting air shockwaves under herself, each one pulling two or three blades of grass.
Was this inefficient? For sure.
Would she keep using it? Precisely.
"Who in their right mind would skip on a chance to train their magic?" She for sure wasn't one of those people, instead using this as a learning opportunity rather.
It's been over an hour straight of using the shockwaves. They have grown more powerful now. Easily pulling everything from under her. She was surprised by how fast she was progressing, but she for sure wouldn't complain about it.
Throughout the entire process, Alice could feel her stomach rumbling loudly. Which wasn't surprising, as the last meal she ate that day was breakfast.
She took a look around. The forest was now engulfed in darkness. The birds were no longer chirping happily, and the wind was way sharper and colder. She could also make out the howling of a beast from far away and decided to call it a day. But before she went back home, she cleaned the area up. Pushing all the plucked-out roots and weeds away from the arena, taking one last look at her progress, and being very happy with it.
"Fufufu, at this rate I will be able to do it without a problem." She went back to Elizabeth's house. Ready to wake up soon the next day and work even harder. A wide grin spreading on her face as she hopped, filled with excitement.
When she got there, the lights were out. She snuck inside to not wake up Elizabeth or Jack. She grabbed a piece of bread to fill her stomach and quench her hunger. Then she slowly went upstairs to take a quick bath and go to sleep.
"Okay. now time to revise my plan for tomorrow.... tom...." Her eyes grew way too heavy to open, her muscles relaxing as she drifted off to sleep.
She woke up some time before other residents. Giving her enough time to clean herself better. The bath yesterday was more of splashing herself with water to not stain the sheets during her sleep rather than a normal bath to clean her body.
After quickly bathing herself, she felt refreshed and could hear Elizabeth preparing breakfast. The smell of baked bread and cooked meat spread throughout the house, making Alice drool. She quickly changed into fresh clothes, choosing the ones that looked most worn out, as she knew they would get dirty or potentially destroyed during her construction project.
"Good morning, Miss Elizabeth," she greeted her while coming downstairs and into the kitchen. "Do you need help preparing the food?" She tried to act considerate, but she couldn't take her eyes off of the food on the counter.
It was a basic meal in this household. One that she has already grown accustomed to. It being a piece of chicken meat with bread and butter. But due to her empty stomach, it looked more like a five-star course right now.
Elizabeth looked at Alice's face and saw just how hungry the young girl was. She knew just how hard Alice trained. She also knew how much food growing kids need to build their bodies. "You know what? I think I do. I really need someone to taste the chicken." She smiled at her.
"R-really?" Alice's eyes sparkled with joy. "I will happily help you, Miss Elizabeth." She puffed her chest out, taking pride in such an honor.
Elizabeth gave her a plate of fried chicken. "Good luck with your training." She hugged her. "I hope you will succeed in getting into the academy." Overwhelmed, Alice hugged her back. Feeling a mix of emotions inside her. Happiness, love, and... sadness? It felt like the hole left in her heart left by her parents was starting to heal.
She could barely hold back tears as this love that was being shown to her hit too close to home. Bringing up all the joyful as well as unpleasant memories. She ate the chicken, savoring every bite.
"I'm off," she shouted, her voice cracking. "Thank you so much, Mom." She turned red as she realized what she had just said. "I mean Miss Elizabeth!" She ran off embarrassed.
"Today I have to make bricks." She thought of a plan while running: "I will mix water with dirt to make mud, then blast it with fire." Her plan was great on paper, or in this instance, inside her mind. But she knew that there was no way for her to hold heat hot enough for the bricks to harden.
But she had an ace up her sleeve.
"Fufufu, the primitive construction videos will bring me victory." She rubbed her hands happily. With a mischievous grin on her face.
She started off by conjuring earth. But not forming it into anything and just letting it fall on the ground. When the amount was good enough for what she wanted to do, she switched to spraying it with water. She knew that this won't spread evenly without her contribution. So she started to knead the mud into shape. Dirtying her arms in the process.
She kept adding water, then kneading, adding more water, kneading, water and kneading again.
Until all of it turned into the consistency she was looking for.
She shaped the mud into bricks and let them rest in the open air. Alice covered them with dry earth to prevent any sticking. She then decided to clean her hands while she waited for the bricks to blend well enough into shape. It took them around an hour.
"Now it's time for the hardest part," she sighed. Not looking forward to it one bit. She stacked the bricks on top of each other and divided them into four even squares. She placed them in a way that there was a hole between all of them and covered everything but the hole in dry dirt. She then brought sticks and lumber from the forest; thanks to Lucas's training, she didn't have to chop it herself and threw it into the empty hole.
"This is where the fun begins." She lit a small twig on fire and threw it into the rest of the wood. covering the exit so the heat wouldn't escape. "Now I just need to wait," Alice thought to herself.
Of course, her waiting included more training, as she was trying to replicate having two elements active at once. But no matter how much she tried, it wouldn't work. She kept trying anyway until she heard the fire inside her makeshift furnace fizzle out.
"Time to see if this really works." She held her fingers crossed while kicking the lid off the exit. Turning her head away so the smoke wouldn't get to her lungs. But the wind blew it towards her anyway. She coughed as the taste of burnt wood filled her mouth. "So that's why they said it's extremely dangerous to do this." She started blasting the dirt off of the bricks with air, revealing how they looked.
Luckily for her. She remembered the videos well enough, and the bricks looked perfectly fine. Having a nice pastel color to them. "Now I have to place them.... But there are over a thousand of them!!" She wasn't looking forward to the next part.
RUSTLE RUSTLE
"Who is there?" She shot a ball of water towards the bushes. She was waiting for the sound of it hitting the target, but instead it was silence. Not even a different sound of it hitting anything at all.
"Relax, it's me, Lucas." The tall teenager got out of the bushes; he was laughing loudly. "I was very curious how you were doing, so I came to check." He calmed down a bit. "But then I saw your face turn into annoyance as you saw how many bricks you had to place, and I couldn't stop myself from laughing."
"Is that it? If so, then you can leave. I got it," she scoffed. Unhappy about him making fun of her situation.
"You sure you don't need help? Because I will gladly give it to you. His words sounded sincere, and his face didn't show any signs of it being a joke. He looked genuinely impressed about her work ethic and not running away from a bet like that.
"I will take you up on your offer." Deep down, she was jumping with joy. "A huge muscular guy offering me free labor? Who am I to say no to that!!!" But then she remembered something important: "But that doesn't mean I will forfeit my prize of being able to challenge you whenever I want." She glared at him. Hoping that he won't change his mind because of it.
"Of course! Now let's get to work!" Lucas shouted.
Alice explained to him how to place the bricks: "Exactly, one by one, just like that..." And the full day it would have taken her to finish it turned into a few-hour endeavor. By the end of it, both of them were physically exhausted, sweating profusely.
"That was... terrible," Alice said while sitting on the ground.
"Agreed. But at least now it's over," Lucas answered, standing over her.
"Well. See you tomorrow. She stood up and started walking back. It was already getting late, and neither of them had the strength to test out the usability of this arena. "I can't wait to see Damian's reaction tomorrow," she chuckled.
"Me neither!" He also laughed, "Good night." They waved to each other and went back to their homes.
...
The next day Alice arrived early; she wouldn't miss an opportunity like that. To see someone being proven wrong so much. She saw Damian, Bella, and Lucas arriving from the forest. She stood in the middle of the arena with her hands in her pockets and a smirk on her face.
Damian rushed forward. "You see. I told you it's impossible...." He slowed down as the new training grounds were now in his view. "You actually did it..." His face was wide open; he rubbed his eyes, but the field was still there. "Bella. You didn't use your rend on me again, did you?" He looked at his companion, then back at the training grounds.
It was a massive two hundred and twenty-five square meter arena. The bricks used for the floor were aligned perfectly, making the whole structure flat.
"Why would I do it?" She shouted at him, still being too far away to see the remodeled arena. But when she got closer, she started doubting herself: "Or maybe I did?" Her eyes almost jumped out of their orbits at the sight.
"It seems we lost HAHA," Lucas summarized. "Congratulations, Alice." He clapped his hands, smirking at her, "And you did it all by yourself."
She smirked back. "Exactly. It was so easy, Damian. What do you have to say now?" She grinned mischievously.
"You won..." He couldn't believe it. "You won fair and square." He was extremely disappointed. "I guess I'm one step further from being called the great fire mage."
"And now I want to use my privilege as the winner to request a fight with Lucas." The mischievous grin still on her face as she stared at Lucas, "I have something that I need to check out."
"Alright, alright, but don't be sorry when I beat you!" Lucas took an offensive stance with his sword, and Alice prepared her magic.
As they started their fight, Damian and Bella were still watching the arena. Like two scarecrows in a field.
Lucas charged straight at Alice, which she anticipated, and pulled his leg backwards with a burst of air magic, making him trip. As he was falling over, she was already preparing three boulders and sent them straight at him.
He dodged the first one without much problem, then with a swift cleave, he cut the other two to shreds. He continued closing the distance between them, increasing his chances of victory by the second. Alice threw a ball of water high in the air. Confused, Lucas thought it might just be a fluke; he ran towards her to get her into his swinging range.
"Why would she do it? Unless she knows..." Damian asked.
"Like I would know, dumbass. And there is no way she does." Bella hissed at him, then shrugged.
Both of them now fully focused on the fight instead.
Lucas tensed his muscle and launched a powerful slash with his sword, but before it reached Alice, she conjured fire and shot it into the falling ball of water; the evaporating water turned to steam, creating a screen of smoke. Lucas got hit in the face, making him close his eyes and cough, losing his focus.
She used this to run behind him. Even though the best course of action would be to conjure a powerful spell, she instead started running towards him to try beating him up with her fists.
"Out of mana already?" Lucas taunted her. But Alice kept her cool.
She tried beating him in close range, assisting with bursts of air magic to keep him from swinging his sword. But his superior strength easily overpowered her and threw her to the ground, making her land on her knees.
Seeing his physical prowess, she tried a new tactic. She baited him into swinging his sword and used his weapon to launch herself back above him. After that, Alice created a powerful shockwave to launch herself back up. She thought that this paired with this planet's gravity would be enough to knock out Lucas. But she clearly underestimated him.
He easily dodged making her land face first in the dirt, ending the fight.
"I win." He smiled, not even panting.
"And I lose." Alice put her hands up over her head, showing that she surrenders; she was frustrated but happy about the learning opportunity.
"I thought you were a mage, Alice! What was that supposed to be?" Damian stared at Alice.
"Do you really think I'm that stupid?" She looked at the young fire wizard. She threw a spell of fire at him; it disappeared the moment it would touch his armor. "His rend prevents mana from touching him." She shrugged.
"How did you know?" Lucas was shocked that she knew this. He never told her that, and neither did Bella or Damian.
"Yesterday when I shot the ball of water at you, I didn't hear it exploding. And there is no way for that to happen unless you can do that." She explained her reasoning.
"Then how did you know a burst of magic could work if it's short enough?" Bella referenced her pulling his leg.
"That was pure luck, to be honest. If that didn't work, I would have given up on the spot." She laughed. "But congrats on winning."
"So what do I get as a reward?" Lucas asked. Anticipating a grand reward
"Another round, and then another. It seems I lack in the hand-to-hand combat, and I doubt either Damian or Bella are as good as you are," Alice smirks.
Lucas smirks as well, throwing away his sword and taking off his armor as both of them take a fighting stance, ready for another round.