Chapter 48: A War

"Amber, are you sure he won't find us?" Ezra asked with a panicked expression.

"I'm sure. This time, and if he does, you know the plan, right?" Amber inquired. Ezra nodded in response to her question, and another child beside them asked, "Was it a good idea to hide at the same places?"

"Absolutely. He won't even think of such a situation, so it's the best plan," Amber replied with a wide smile, awaiting in a place that had space but was also dark.

What is happening…

Simply put, it was a war, which Amber and the two others found impossible to win. Waiting in the dark, they started feeling the vibrations of someone nearing their location. Their faces tensed as Ezra moved a little, preparing for the worst outcome. The war went on for hours, with them seeing their comrades being captured one by one, causing fear in their hearts. Knowing that such a situation was coming to them now was something they didn't want.

Amber's eyes glowed in the darkness as they felt the vibrations stopping just in front of them. Due to fear, the boy beside them decided to jump, preparing to run. "No," Amber shouted slightly. Ezra was able to hold his leg, but it was too late.

Opening the box, the boy felt someone holding his leg below so he couldn't run. "Noooo," a hand came from above and someone held him.

A slight chuckle came from above as the view of a young man with pure white hair and a bandage covering his eyes, with a devilishly handsome face, still shining. Alex helped the boy and said, "You guys don't know how to hide, huh." To tell the truth, Alex didn't even need to use his soul sense to locate their location.

Their group was already loud enough for him to hear from the box. "This is unfair, big brother," Amber cried out.

"Yes, are you cheating or something? You have your eyes covered. How does that make sense?" Ezra wondered, shouting at him.

Laughing, Alex replied, "I never said it would be fair." He chuckled. An hour ago, Alex was just lying on a tree beside Lisa, but those kids came to him wanting him to play with them, which he agreed to. But he placed a condition, "Now that I have won, it's time to train." He let go of the boy, who removed himself from the box.

"See you soon, Amber," he said, about to move.

"Wait," Alex said, which the boy stopped. "Where are you going, and you two?" He said, staring at the boy beside him and then the two beside a house who were preparing to go and play somewhere else.

They showed confused expressions, and the boy beside Alex asked, "What do you mean?"

"I think I made it clear that I would be training all of you," Alex exclaimed, which made the children show stunned expressions. Being merely commoners, they didn't expect that Alex would even consider them in his plan. They were shocked and didn't know what to say. Alex just started moving, signaling them to follow.

Amber jumped out along with Ezra, saying, "Olivia, let's go, and you too. I think Big Brother would be so angered if you stayed behind." She smiled and ran to hold a girl who had red short hair, being the same height as Amber, and aged 10 years old, with blue eyes. She dragged her along, and she just smiled and started walking with her.

"What are you two waiting for? Let's go," Ezra said, walking with his arms on his head, having a bored expression. One of the two had brown hair and blue eyes, having some similar appearance to Olivia, who was his younger sister, being 11 years old, whose name was Noah.

He smiled and started walking. "Come on, James," he shouted, running toward Ezra's position. The last boy had black hair and eyes, still in shock, but in the end, moved to their position. He was the same age as Olivia, being 10 years old.

"Wait for me, Noah," he shouted.

Somewhere on a plain field, Asher and Davain were staring at each other intensely, with 5 children beside them. Alex stared at the engagement with a complex expression. "You damn half-dwarf bitch."

"Look who's talking, fire brain."

"Okay, stop," Alex's cold voice rang out, not wanting them to influence the children. Both quickly stood up straight, staring at Alex, which made the kids laugh. Sighing, Alex said, "Ha, either way, kid, you will be training with those other kids."

"Wait, we…" Asher went silent after seeing Alex stare and shut his mouth, which made Davain laugh.

"Davain," Alex called out, stopping the young man from laughing. "Have you mastered the first stage of controlling mana?" he inquired.

"Yes, but the second stage is still a problem," he answered.

Shaking his head, Alex then pointed. "Asher, you will be joining the kids when I am training them in the first stage, okay?"

With an unwilling expression, he nodded. "Okay, listen up. I am only going to say this once, so stop what you are doing," he said, staring at Olivia and Amber, who were shocked as they stood up straight. What was Alex doing? Simply put, he was briefly using Soul King on a single or two targets, something he was training on.

He explained the first stage of mana control to them and briefly helped the kids along with Asher before walking some meters away from their group with Davain.

"The second stage is External use of mana, for example," he raised his hand slightly, and a ball of Arcane mana showed. "Externally releasing the energy inside, which I think you already know. Now, let's move to the final steps of this stage, which is increasing the circulation around the body, helping in increasing the casting speed of your techniques and skills."

He further said, "Right now, you just need to increase it to a level you can handle, which should be 2 times, right."

"That's the hard part," Davain said and sighed. "Haaa, it requires a tremendous amount of focus to do. When I'm in battle, I just can't do it," he explained.

"That's why you will be fighting me until you are able to do it in combat."

Davain showed a complex expression. 'Why can't you let me be lazy for a day?' which Alex noticed and smiled, removing his cloak.