COCA-A-DOODLE-DOO!
The rooster in Misses Amelia's backyard crowed, signaling the rise of a new day. Alice was already awake, though, changing her pajamas into her training clothes, checking thoroughly for a tear on her body. She wore a shirt with charred spots and shorts full of holes. The weather was calm today, making it another great day to be spent training.
Alicie tidied up her bed and swept the floor in her room and corridors. Elizabeth didn't ask her to do it, but she felt like it was the bare minimum that she owed her.
When the floors looked brand new from the care that Alice put into sweeping them, she went downstairs, moving as slowly as possible to not wake up Elizabeth or Jack, who were still sleeping at that point.
"I feel like I'm becoming a master at sneaking thanks to this." As soon as she said that, she stepped too hard on the floor, making it creak. "Shit!" Sweat fell down her face. Alice slowly turned around to check if it woke anyone up. After making sure no one woke up because of it, she continued her trek downstairs.
Because the ground floor was made out of stone, she didn't need to watch her steps anymore.
Elizabeth agreed to let her take a quarter of a chicken for her training every day. She fried it nicely with her flames, learning to control its power and making herself lunch. As repayment for this act of kindness, Alice made breakfast for everyone but herself every morning. After preparing the food, she also watered Elizabeth's garden.
It was full of colorful plants; luckily for her, they weren't as difficult to take care of as some plants back on Earth. They just required some conjured water to grow without a problem. From what she has read in the books, the reason for this was the mana infused into the water protecting them from withering away.
The moment she was done with those tasks, she ran off towards the training grounds.
It's been now close to two months since she came to this world. The town was no longer mysterious to her. She grew accustomed to it and its people.
"Good morning, Miss Amelia!" She greeted their neighbor.
"Oh my, you are always up so early, Alice!" The older woman answered, "Don't get yourself in trouble!" She waved as Alice kept running.
But this stroll wasn't just a way to get to the arena as fast as possible. It was much more than that. Her physical strength was still lacking, and she knew that this just wouldn't do.
Through this month she has read multiple workout books. To her surprise, there were plenty of those in the public library. It seemed magic was valued way higher in this world than physical strength. She also got some pointers from Lucas, who for sure knew better than her which muscles needed more attention.
She ran around the entire village to strengthen her legs, then did pull-ups and sit-ups before finishing next to the arena.
Alice marveled at the size of her muscles. Back on Earth she was just a scrawny woman who never lifted anything heavier than a grocery bag, and now she could feel them bulging with power.
"What took you so long today?" Damian, who always showed up first, was annoyed. "Ignore it. Let's spar instead! I have a new fire spell I want to try!" Hearing those words also felt like a routine to Alice at this point. He had a new spell every day since she joined them in training. And so far none of them worked as he intended.
"sigh Sure, Damian. But only until the rest shows up. She took a stance on the other side of the arena. "What should I be today?" She asked him.
"It's a close-range spell, so fight like a brawler," Damian grinned. He threw his robes away as to not restrict his movements, which surprised Alice. It was the first time he came up with a close-range spell, and she had never seen him so confident before (excluding his words).
"Show me what you are made out of then." She stretched her back and took a stance. Her feet were shoulder-width apart, with her left foot a step forward from the right one. Her knees were slightly bent, but not enough that it would hurt or limit her flexibility. Alice held out both of her arms forward; both were bent and close to her body to protect against strikes.
Alice waited patiently for Damian's first move. The air blew calmly around them, leaves drifting lazily in its embrace. There were barely any clouds in the sky, letting the sun's beams cover the entire forest. Squirrels spectating the fight from a close-by branch on one of the oaks, biting on acorns like it's popcorn.
The teen began running towards her. It wasn't a fast pace at all, which didn't surprise her as she was the same at the start.
When Damian got close enough, she tried to grab him, rapidly moving towards him with her left hand aiming for the right shoulder since Damian is right-handed. Her other hand curled into a fist, ready to strike him down.
But this young fire wizard had a trick up his sleeve. As soon as he saw Alice holding her hand out, he smiled widely and had a spark in his eyes.
"You underestimate me!" He shouted. Flames engulfed his entire body; Alice's hand was way too close to his body, making her jump back.
"Ouch!" The lower part of her left arm was now covered in blisters. The pain spread through the entire arm; she was now pissed. "You punk. Don't think I will let you off easy this time," Alice blew on her hand and shook it. Making the pain duller. "I'm going all out."
She switched her stance to a more appropriate one for this fight. She herself came up with it thanks to her practice against Lucas in close quarters, as well as Bella and Damian at long range. She called it her 'hybrid stance' since it let her take care of both the threats and was very flexible. The legs were still the same distance as in the grappler stance she took earlier, but her knees were now bent even more than before, enough to allow instant movement in any direction she wanted. Her right arm was stretched out in front of her with an open grip to allow for casting any type of magic, be that defensive or offensive. And the other was put in a defensive position, using it as a shield from damage to her vital body parts.
"You think that will be enough to defeat me?" The boy laughed, which wasn't surprising, as so far this stance had a zero to twenty ratio of wins to losses. "Alright, bet!" He continued his rush towards her, already preparing the shield of fire around him again, this time using more of his available mana to make the fire fiercer.
Alice waited patiently, waiting for a gap. She spotted one when he had both of his legs up in the air. She used this to her advantage by shooting a stream of water on his head. The water got in his eyes, making him lose focus on the conjuring of his spell. She dashed towards him, grabbing him by his right shoulder with the arm she had stretched out and pushing him to the ground.
"Gotcha!" Damian screamed. It seemed Alice had miscalculated again as he unleashed an enormous explosion of fire that spread throughout the arena. "It's my win again!" He shouted happily.
But the hand that has held onto his shoulder didn't give up for even a moment.
"B-but how??" He looked up towards Alice and couldn't see any new wounds on her body. "How did you defend yourself from that?!" He had his mouth wide open, and Alice could see his eyes shaking.
"It's pretty easy." She pushed her left arm against his neck. "I covered myself in water thicker than what your fire could penetrate." She grinned from ear to ear. "I win!"
Clapping could be heard from the edges of the arena. "Congrats, Alice, you finally won against one of us!" Lucas walked towards them. As supportive as ever.
"And who could have guessed that it was Damian?" Bella rolled her eyes and sighed loudly, "Want to go a round against me then?" She bumped her fist against the palm of her other hand.
"Of course! I'm pumping with adrenaline right now." She shooed Damian away, making way for Bella. "I might have an idea how to beat your rend today." Alice couldn't stop grinning as adrenaline pumped through her veins.
The three teens were shocked. Not even Bella herself truly understood her own powers.
"Let's see what you are made out of then!" The young mage stood on the other side of the arena. Ready for their fight.
Alice changed her stance into one fit for a mage. If she were to use the same one as before, her plan wouldn't work.
Their fight was way longer, as half of it was spent trading long-range spells. Alice had an edge in such a way of fighting over Bella.
"Two months since I started teaching you, and you still can't use water?" Alice teased her playfully, her barrage of spells overwhelming Bella.
"Maybe... but at least I can use my rend!" She smirked towards Alice. Bella's eyes started closing, as if she was starting to fall asleep.
Alice's eyes glinted as she finally saw her chance. The young mage's spell made people fall asleep. So far the four of them thought she had built up a resistance to it, but Alice had an idea that would make her win this fight.
The onslaught of spells stopped surprising Bella; she forced her eyes open and looked into the other side of the arena, seeing Alice smirk. She just stood still there, with her arms crossed, laughing under her nose.
"Are you..." She could feel strong air pressure coming from Alice; realizing what she was doing, she tried to stop her friend, but, "Oh no, you wo—" she fell asleep before finishing the sentence.
"Yay! I win again! At this rate I will easily get into the academy!" Alice threw her hands in the air. Her strategy of creating a barrier of air around herself worked wonders against Bella's rend, blocking the particles that would make one sleepy and pushing them back at her.
"Oh yeah, about that," Lucas looked at her. "How do you plan on getting the money for it?"
Alice's face went pale; she completely forgot about the fact that she needs money to pay for tuition. "Is there a way to make a quick buck around here?" She asked, her face turning red from embarrassment.
"You could join our adventurers team and go on a quest with us," Damian butted into the conversation. "After all, you don't have other skills you could earn money for."
"Adventurers team?" Alice looked at him.
"Yes, it's called 'Slayers,' and all three of us are a part of it. Although it's been a while since we took our last quest. But all you would need to do to join it is pass the adventurer's guild exam.
"Let's do it then! There is no time to waste!" The need for money clouded Alice's reason as she started running towards the town square; Damian and Lucas soon followed. Bella wasn't left behind as Lucas took her under his shoulder.