Training Part 2

For a month, Akhil was training his speed and strength. His strength went from a maximum of 5,000 kg to 10,000 kg, and his speed in a 100m dash went from 11.45s to 6.50s. Another thing was that his control became somewhat his domain; even Coach Eva was impressed.

He could now use his top speed without going past the marking. He could also punch out with maximum force and right after hit with half of it; he could also adjust his speed and strength at the perfect moment to either exert less or more. It seemed weird that for a person completely new to any sort of training and have nothing to do with fighting was able to develop so well in just one month.

The mock battles they have been doing seem to be getting better every day. Akhil still got hit by Coach Eva, but he could lessen the impact a little and his skill with the sword and dagger was improving bit by bit. His main techniques were slashing, stabbing, and parrying. He practiced by himself the slashing movements and tried to mimic what he saw coach Eva did a month ago. Having no avail in the techniques, he started paying it little attention practicing it in times he was free.

In today's training, Coach Eva was going to teach Akhil a movement technique called Shift. It was a technique in which you would move at your top speed from one spot to another making it seem as if you did it in an instant. This technique was handy in fighting, to distance yourself or attack in an instant. The only downside of the technique was quick energy consumption in the early stages, meaning that as you continuously use it you will consume less energy later on but to tell when that was not possible.

To practice the skill Coach Eva placed one cone at the end of the room, another in between, and another at Akhil's foot. Be reminded the training room was the size of an indoor track and field stadium.

"In an instant appear at the center cone," instructed Coach Eva.

Akhil started stretching and relaxing his body then started tightening his calf and thigh muscles on his front leg to exert as much force as possible to start. In that moment he imagined himself appearing at the center cone in one go and after forming a perfect image and pushing off with his leg he appeared just before the cone in an instant. In that brief second in which he moved Akhil saw everything in slow motion.

When he stood at the center cone, Akhil felt disoriented and as if half of his energy was depleted. But he still tried to reach the other cone and in an instant he appeared and fell down. His actions shocked Coach Eva; not only did he get it on his first try but he also did it twice. A normal person would have to have 3 to 4 tries or even take a month before they could do it and when they did do it, they would fall at the first cone. This in itself was impressive; it showed his understanding and concentration and also his usual amount of magic power.

For the next 2 hours, Akhil replenished his magic power and recovered from his fatigue. After listening to Coach Eva he was surprised and wondered if his space magic aided him in doing this. From that he started to think of ways to incorporate his space magic in his movements but because of his lack of knowledge of the magic he couldn't make any progress.

Training went on as usual. Coach Eva increased his training every time he made improvements so that he didn't become lazy and slow his progress. As the main reason for his training was getting closer and even though time flows differently in the castle it was very different for those on earth because everyone was worrying and trying to strengthen themselves enough to be able to fight.

As the days went by Akhil continued to practice Shift and every time he could only use it twice in short distances. Although upgrading this skill took a long time, the benefits of it were also there. Every time he practiced the move he would exhaust his magic power having to replenish it each time, continuously shrinking and expanding the orb in his abdomen bringing him closer to a 2-star mage.

Seeing that his current state was close to reaching a 2-star mage Coach Eva wanted to push him closer so she chose to teach him to coat his body in magic power. This wasn't new to Akhil as he had read fantasy books back on earth and he knew that coating his body in magic power was a way to protect oneself with magic and it can also be used to teach how to properly control magic.

"The trick of coating your body in magic depends on your attribute, magic quantity, control and strength of the barrier," Coach Eva says as she backs away for more space.

"An attributed Barrier as you can tell depends on your attribute, my attribute is fire and secondary attribute is dark magic," she continues.

With a simple jolt, Coach Eva's magic barrier glowed bright red, "this right now would be my weakest barrier" as she spoke the color began to change going from red to a sizzling bright yellow. As she changed the barriers color the intensity of the flame became hotter burning anything within its range but Coach Eva was completely fine.

The spectacle caught Akhil's attention as he paid careful attention to any small movement coach Eva made while trying his best to withstand the searing heat.

"The color change is according to the color spectrum for flames red being the warmer and blue being the hottest and this also corresponds with the strength of the barrier but there are times when a red flame would be stronger than yellow flame, this is where magic quality and quantity comes in."

"The more magic you have and the more concentrated it is, the stronger it will be, I have yet seen someone with a white flame much less a blue but I can assume that a person of that caliber is a sovereign in their own right," explained Coach Eva.

"The depictions of strength vary for each attribute; some may use color spectrums and others might have the ability to manipulate the specific element around it," said Coach Eva.

"I believe you still have the magic book that his Majesty gave you, in it there is an explanation on how to form a magic barrier and how to incorporate your attributes," said Coach Eva. "I'll teach you how to form a barrier and since I have fire magic, I'll teach you how to form a fire barrier."

"First you need to concentrate on the magic coursing through your body. Feel it as it goes through your bloodstream, seeps into your bones and strengthens your muscles. Now take the excess and send it towards your pores to the outside of your body and have it completely cover your body."

As Akhil did as he was told he slowly observed how the magic in his body flowed in each and every crevice of his body. He slowly started to create a channel for his magic to flow out of his body.

On the outside of his body Coach Eva carefully observed Akhil just in case something goes wrong but to her surprise a white light began to envelope his body and at every passing moment it got brighter and brighter slowly strengthening and stabilizing.

Coach Eva was surprisingly calmer than before as a normal person would take a week to properly learn how to create a barrier but he did it in an hour.

"Maybe I might be able to see a white flame in my lifetime," Coach Eva giggled as she observed Akhil's achievement.

For 30 minutes, Akhil stabilized the barrier and opened his eyes. He felt as if there was another layer of skin on his body like an exoskeleton.