After returning to the courtyard, Almond started training on his Mana techniques as he wanted to improve them further.
He could improve them further because he had enough stats, mainly Perception and Focus, and his Mana control was high enough to do so.
He practiced Fortification and its lesser version, Mana Shroud, which didn't give toughness but just erased his presence stemming from his body and mana auras. It wasn't a useful technique during the battle as it was only used to sneak around, but even then, people using Focus Field would discover them.
But it was a must to practice Mana Shroud because there existed a higher stage of this technique—the 2nd stage, Aura Cloak, and it was something that could hide within someone's Focus Field as well.
It was tough because Aura Cloak required a perfect understanding of one's surroundings to change one's aura to match the atmosphere or any object one would use for hiding oneself.