Training Continues

Our little training group met back in the desolate valley the next morning after eating a hearty breakfast. I made sure to bring food for lunch this time around.

Before heading out to training, Sylphiette had used the teleportation scroll to take Cliff and Elinalise to Milishion and help them out of the enclosed room. Thankfully they didn't have any surprise run-ins with Orsted before they had left. It took Sylphy about twenty minutes to see them off and close the room back off.

Roxy, Sylphiette and myself stood in a line together while Ghislaine stood across from us to monitor our progress. Orsted was giving us some room to practice. He and Eris were on the other side of the valley. Eris was practicing her sword swings while Orsted would comment on her form.

I took a deep breath and tried to muster the utmost levels of focus as I prepared to place all the Hydra's scales that I have been holding on the ground.

'Please let me feel something', I thought. 'Even if it's just a little bit. Anything.'

Maybe I'm being overly dramatic, but I'm getting desperate, OK? Nothing I try seems to have even the slightest effect. I've never been able to control my battle aura, even in my past life. Badigadi told me I have no talent for it. At this point I just need a straw to grasp. Something to give me a ray of hope.

Then it happened.

The moment I dropped the Hydra's scales, I felt a sudden rush. The stiffness I had been feeling left my body as I felt something like a refreshing cool breeze on a hot summer day. Only the *breeze* was blowing outward from within.

'This is it! This is what my natural mana feels like!'

I tried to mimic the sensation.

"Ghislaine, how am I doing?", I asked excitedly.

"You're still pushing out even more mana", she said with a normal expression.

"What? No, that can't be right."

"I can only tell you what I see", she answered.

'I guess that makes sense. If I were to mimic the refreshing sensation I felt when removing the Hydra's Scales from my person, it would make sense that I would be pushing out mana. That is what I presume that I felt after all.'

"How about this?", I asked her once more.

This time I focused on how I felt stiff while equipped with the Hydra's Scales. I tried to mimic that to the best of my ability.

"Hmm..." Ghislaine leaned forward and studied me curiously.

"It doesn't look like you're doing anything... No wait! I saw it! You compressed your mana! It was just a tiny bit; almost too small to see, but it was definitely there. For a moment your mana definitely compressed."

"Yes!", I shouted for joy. "I did it!"

"Congratulations!", Sylphy clapped.

"I knew you could do it", Roxy added.

As excited as I am right now, I also realize that this is merely a drop in the bucket compared to fully mastering my battle aura. Still, it's at least a start.

The three of us continued practicing for about two hours while Ghislaine continued to watch. Sylphiette continued to make good progress. Roxy and I were about on the same level. We both managed to make our aura fluctuate slightly but not enough to have any practical effect.

At this point, Ghislaine needed a break and put her eyepatch back on.

"I get exhausted after a while if I keep my eyepatch off for too long", she explained.

Understandable. Similar to my ineptitude with controlling my battle aura, Ghislaine is unable to precisely control the mana needed to operate her Demon Eye. Whenever she uses the eye to see, it drains her mana at a default rate and eventually she will run low.

Explaining that she needed some rest, Ghislaine decided to take a break and spar with Eris for a while. Personally I found it laughable that anyone would consider sparring with Eris to be a 'break'.

In the meantime, Orsted took over our training. While he couldn't visibly see our mana like Ghislaine, he was still able to offer helpful insight from time to time when we struggled.

While Ghislaine's assistance was obviously helpful, Sylphiette had already progressed enough that she could now get some effective training done on her own. I couldn't speak for Roxy, but from my perspective it was hard to tell how I was doing without Ghislaine here to watch.

I continued my meditation-like practice as I closed my eyes and tried to focus on that feeling of stiffness I felt when I carried the Hydra's scales. As I zoned in on that sensation I began to visualize a layer of mana surrounding me and compressing against my skin when...

CRACK!

BOOM!

I flinched as I could hear the swords of Eris and Ghislaine clash on the other side of the valley. I could feel the remnants of the shockwaves their strikes caused even from this distance. I opened my eyes in annoyance at the unwelcome disturbance.

"Don't lose focus, Rudeus", Orsted said. "In a real fight your enemies aren't going to wait until you're ready. Small background noises like this don't even count as a disturbance."

He was right. Looking for something else to blame for my failures will get me nowhere.

After a couple more hours of training we took a break for lunch. Sylphiette created a small cavern of sorts using earth magic so that we could eat in the shade. While not quite as bad as the desert in the Begaritt Continent, it was pretty hot out today. The sun shone bright and there wasn't a cloud in the sky.

I opted to pick up all the Hydra's scales that I had brought and kept them in my pockets while I ate lunch. Hopefully this will give me a boost when we start back up again.

Sure enough, once we got back to training I felt the same refreshing sensation when I dropped the scales, as though a weight had been lifted from my shoulders.

I picked the scales back up and set them down again. Now that I've become more attuned to what it feels like, I was able to sense it even after a short time.

"Very good Rudeus!", Ghislaine complimented. "You're compressing your battle aura more. It's much easier to see the difference now."

That was a relief to hear. So I have been making further progress after all.

"Sylphiette, you're doing great. I think you're really getting the hang of it. I think you're ready to start using your battle aura in action. Why don't you try practicing with Eris?"

"Eh? You want me to spar with Eris!?"

"No, I merely meant practice swings with a training sword. You aren't at the level to spar with someone like Eris yet."

"I've never swung a sword before..."

"That's not a problem. Eris can teach you the proper form. Most people learn to control their battle aura through training their body. You seem to have mastered the fundamentals through theory alone, but it would be beneficial to learn to use it during physical practice."

"I think it's a good idea", I said in agreement. "It's not like we're expecting you to become a swordswoman, but learning how to swing one wouldn't be a bad thing."

"Well, if you say so..."

As Sylphy said this, I saw her looking down at her open hands. She was probably worried that her smooth skin would become hard and calloused like Eris. Looks like she didn't bring her gloves today. She probably wasn't expecting to be swinging a sword.

"I've got an extra pair of gloves if you would like; I think we should be about the same size", Roxy offered. "I just bought a pair the other day after coming back to Sharia. It's been a while but I haven't forgotten how cold the winters get there."

"Thanks. I appreciate it", Sylphy said with a smile as she accepted the gloves.

Sylphy spent the rest of the day training with Eris. Roxy and I continued working with Ghislaine. Both of us made slow but steady progress throughout the day. I was both happy to see improvement but also eager to master it as quickly as possible.

Sylphy praised Eris for her teaching later that night while we ate dinner. I was surprised to hear that Eris was a natural teacher. Then again, maybe it's because the two of them had already known each other well.

Roxy announced that while she appreciated the help in learning something new, she would have to skip out on training together for a while. She received a letter stating that the University has reviewed her application and was offering her a teaching position. She needed to go to the University to hammer out the details of the job and get all the paperwork signed.

"I'm afraid I don't have a knack for this anyway", Roxy laughed. "You guys never fail to impress me", she said to Sylphy and Eris.

"You were starting to get it", I argued. "Ghislaine said herself that you were making progress."

"Yes, I was getting a little better I suppose. I'll keep working at it on my own schedule. Also, if I'm going to be honest, I've been on edge constantly the last couple days and it's starting to take its toll on me."

"I know what you mean", Sylphy agreed. "Even knowing that it's just his curse, being around Orsted so much is mentally exhausting."

"His curse must be really strong", Eris added. "I was able to get along with Ruijerd right away once I got to know him, but with Orsted it's a bit harder. Maybe it's just his personality that makes the curse worse."

"No, that's not it. I'm surprised Orsted is as friendly as he is, given how people treat him. Don't you think you would want to keep to yourself if everyone screamed in fear or attacked you the moment they saw you?"

"Yeah. I guess you're right...", all three of them agreed.

Orsted continued to stay at our home for the next week and trained with us each day. At first I was bringing him his food each night for dinner, but by the third day Zenith worked up the courage to start bringing it to him herself.

"He's doing so much for my Rudy. It's shameful for me to act afraid of him like this", she said.

Over the next week I continued to make steady progress. At this point I was the only one working with Ghislaine as Sylphy had continued her practical lessons with Eris. Eris continued sparring with Ghislaine whenever Ghislaine needed some time to recover the mana she lost from using her Demon Eye. Orsted actually spent more time watching Eris during her training drills and sparring matches with Ghislaine than he did with me. Turns out that there was little he could do to help me master my battle aura other than the advice he had already given me. Having Ghislaine here to help was a true blessing.

One day Eris even began challenging Orsted to spar with her. He turned her down repeatedly but she was persistent in her requests. Ghislaine and Sylphy started to get worried about what Orsted might do if Eris pushed him too far.

Eventually though, Orsted just sighed and gave in to her request.

"Come at me then", he said with a sigh.

Normally Eris would be offended that an opponent would say that without even picking up a sword, but when it came to Orsted she knew better. Even Ghislaine and Gal were scared of his strength.

Eris charged in at full speed using her training sword only to be batted away effortlessly.

"You've got plenty of strength in your strike but you wavered at the last minute", Orsted said. "Knowing that my strength was superior you came at me expecting me to block your strike. If you find yourself up against a superior opponent you must strike with unwavering confidence. Try again."

Eris picked up her training sword and tried again... only for the same thing to happen.

"You don't have time to worry about defense when faced with someone like me. If your first strike doesn't end the fight then you will have lost. Try again."

She clicked her tongue and picked up her sword.

The two of them kept at this for a while until Eris couldn't go anymore. Using the longsword of light repeatedly like that is enough to wear out even the most seasoned swordsmen.

By the time she had finished she sat on the ground panting for breath. Ghislaine and I couldn't help but watch her spar instead of focusing on my own training. It seemed like Eris had found a new respect for Orsted afterwards, because the coldness in her voice disappeared whenever she spoke to him.

"Unfortunately, today will be our last day of practice", Orsted said while we prepared to teleport back home. "Your teleportation circles have saved me a great deal of time, but there is also a great deal that needs to be done to combat Hitogami's plans. Don't worry though. You all have been making good progress. Keep training. Your efforts surely won't be in vain."

"Thank you again for all your help Orsted."

"No need to thank me, Rudeus. We are allied against a common enemy after all."

With that we teleported back to my house. I configured the teleportation circle in my basement to take Orsted to a location in the Strife Zone like he asked. After one final goodbye, Sylphy activated the magic circle to send Orsted on his way.

I've still got a long road ahead of me when it comes to mastering my battle aura, but it's something that I'll just have to keep working on each day.