Choke

*Swish!*

*Swish!*

*Swish!*

The sound of wind whistling echoes through the small forest clearing as a teenage boy absolutely covered in sweat continues his exercises as a stern-faced man watches with crossed arms from the side.

Michael swings the wooden stick for the one millionth time today... Or at least, it felt like it had. He'd discovered that while he possessed a ridiculous amount of Agility, his Strength and endurance was far from what he wanted them to be. But this isn't why he was torturing himself like this.

These sword swings were supposedly to ingrain proper sword etiquette and techniques into his body, so that muscle memory would take over whenever his mind was elsewhere, say battle, or being distracted.

Of course, his Gandalfr runes refused to work since he wasn't holding a 'weapon' but a wooden stick instead. After Ralf had accidentally learned of the rune's existence, he'd made sure that Michael never activated them, so that he'd actually learn instead of relying on the runes all the time.

And while Michael hated his guys currently, he had to say that the man's teachings worked. His footwork was now far better, instead of the weird mish-mash of reactionary stances he'd previously been relying on... As much as he didn't want to admit it, the stances he'd been using were the ones he'd seen in anime... Specifically, Naruto and Dragonball... Yeah, he'd take that fact to his grave.

As for his actual swordsmanship? Well... Without the runes, he was basically just untalented. Michael didn't want to acknowledge this before, but it made sense... Back on Earth he was what you'd call a 'Geek', not smart enough to be a 'Nerd', but physically inept enough to be ridiculed for it nonetheless.

So, while he was making progress in his swordsmanship, it wasn't anything impressive, and it make take centuries for him to actually master it. That is if he didn't gain a skill boost as he had with Riki and Daggers.

*Thwack!*

The clap of wood hitting flesh sounds out as Ralf slaps Michael in the arm with his 'teaching rod' as he likes to call it. Michael grunts, but more in annoyance than pain as he glances over to his teacher.

"Pull your arms in, you're spreading them out again! I've told you, you're not a bird or a peacock, you're a boy! So start acting like it!" he firmly states, stepping back again to allow Michael to continue.

"Hmph, I'll show you peacock." he whispers under his breath as he follows Ralf's orders and pulls his elbows in as he starts swinging again.

This continues for around thirty more minutes when Ralf finally lets him stop, "Alright, that's enough for today. Tomorrow we'll go over some techniques I think you may find useful."

Michael nods, dropping the stick since his arms felt like they were going to fall off. His Shadow Dance skill would slowly heal him, but things like muscle strain take far longer than any regular wound for some reason. Maybe something to do with issues removing lactic acid? He wasn't a scientist so he had no idea.

Ralf hands him some water and pats him on the shoulder, "Good work, shall we check to see how our lady is doing?" he asks, gesturing over towards where Tiffania should be training.

"Yeah, hopefully she hasn't set fire to the forest again." he says after taking a few mouthfuls from the flask.

The trio had made their temporary home near the southern cliffs of Albion, far from any cities but close enough to some villages that Michael could 'borrow' supplies when needed. Obviously, they had to change locations once already when Tiffania accidentally set fire to the forest with a new spell she'd learned, but things had been pretty calm since then.

The duo walks through the forest and come out onto a large rocky area at the bottom of a mountain. Tiffania was standing on a large boulder not far from them, looking at a cliff wall with a determined expression.

"Wall of Ash!" she chants while going through a few careful wand movements. Once done, smoke, or ash billows from the tip of her wand as if she'd opened a portal directly above a volcano. Not only was it hazardous to breathe, but Michael could see embers being emitted from it, clearly showing just how hot the cloud was. The grass under it wilted and dried before bursting into flames, the stone blacked and the moss growing on it charred before disappearing.

This was one of the spells she and Ralf had been working on lately. It was actually a new creation, made by combining Tiffania's natural Wind affinity with Fire, and the Void's strange proclivity to produce smoke. Not that Ralf was aware of the latter fact, they'd tried to get that under wraps for now.

The ash cloud continues towards, unabated by the rather tumultuous wind blowing through the area, eventually stopping directly in front of the cliff face, where Tiffania had been aiming. It was slow, and took time to both cast and reach its intended destination, but the crowd-controlling effects of it would undoubtedly prove invaluable in future. Even Michael, someone who had a litany of strange abilities, didn't want to imagine getting caught up in that.

*Clap, Clap, Clap*

Michael claps for the successful spell, causing the girl to jolt and turn to face them, "Good job, Tiff, soon even Osmond won't be able to beat you." he praises with a laugh, causing a blush to spread across her cheeks.

Ralf nods but his brows twitch slightly as a conflicted look flashes on his face, "You've done well..." he remarks, but seems like he has more to say, despite his continued silence.

Tiffania just gives a bright smile in response, "D-did you think it will be useful?" she asks after a moment.

Michael gives a thumbs up, "Deffinitely." he grins, but decides to not reveal his thoughts on what would happen to someone caught in it... She'd probably be traumatised if she cast it on someone... "Let's get back to camp and eat something, I'm starving." he says, Tiffania wrapping her arms around his elbow as the group slowly makes their way back.