Chapter 31 - Mana Sense

Mana sense.

A useful skill that only a select few are able to use proficiently after reaching S-rank.

By raising your mana sensitivity to its max, an individual is able to see with an imaginary third eye made up of just colors and the range at which they could see things was limited based on the core ranks an individual possesses.

This powerful skill also helped with reaction time as it would make it possible to spot distortions in the space around a person or an attack imbued with mana, effectively giving them enough time to react to it way before the attack happens.

At its absolute peak, mana sense can also be used to widen a person's range of view far beyond what the eyes could allow, determine a person's core rank, and speak to people's minds without even needing to activate it.

That being said, understanding how to use mana sense itself was like trying to have a conversation with the mana in the air by pulling it in into your own body and exuding it almost immediately and constantly, just like the way breathing works.

As a result, mana sense usage required either an insane talent or years of training and even an S-tier to SS-tier core rank and above to completely master its usage.

The reason however for Flynn and Aiden's absurd understanding and usage of mana sense, albeit still currently unknown to them was as a result of the mana veins circulating through their body which was nearly reaching its completion due to their diligent late night trainings.

It also did not help that even in the novel, the way mana sense functions were never really touched upon and it was only brought up during fight scenes or whenever it was being used.

Due to this, Aiden and Flynn were completely oblivious to the fact that only S-rankers and above were able to use it proficiently and were of the belief that anyone, regardless of their core rank could eventually come to master it with enough time, hardwork and dedication.

***

Pitch black.

Pitch black, total darkness.

That was all Aiden and Flynn could see.

Yet, despite this, both brothers watched the total darkness instantly light up and transform into a world full of only moving colors, like something that came out straight out a fresh acrylic painting.

Due to this, both of them immediately ducked after sensing a minor distortion in the air.

This slight distortion was caused by an orange figure holding onto a black object, and as a result, both of them were able to harmlessly avoid the weapon that had almost hit their heads.

Ivar's big hammer swooshed passed the heads of both brothers but still, he was able to nick a few strands of Flynn's silvery green hair.

This was because although it might've seemed like Flynn ducked at exactly the same time as Aiden did, his reaction time was just a tiny bit slower.

'I need to react faster!' Flynn inwardly said to himself after feeling Ivar's hammer swoosh past his head.

As both of them ducked, almost immediately, they quickly dashed backwards, safely evading a rocky spike that had suddenly jutted out of the grassy field, an indication of Ivar's spell that would've very much punctured through their foot if they so much as wavered even for a second.

-Twish! Twish!

Without even giving them anytime to catch their breaths, Ivelia fired two arrows in quick succession, infusing both of them with mana to increase their speed and power while targeting each brother.

Aiden and Flynn skillfully evaded the arrows by slightly tilting their bodies to the left and right respectively while simultaneously back-stepping a bit, causing the arrows to safely swoosh past them. All of this happened in the span of seconds.

Both brothers had a black blindfold tied tightly across their eyes and were in their training outfits without any weapons in their hands.

Aiden wore a black shirt with slim grey joggers along with black sneakers while Flynn wore a dark blue shirt and slim black joggers which had white stripes along it's sides along with matching dark blue sneakers.

It was quite early in the morning at around 6am, way before the usual time of 7:30am when Frank would begin their usual training sessions and the twins were helping the two brothers to improve their reaction time when using mana sense.

Ivar once again dashed towards Aiden and Flynn, his hammer swung in a downwards hammering motion with both of his arms but yet again, both of them had immediately jumped away just before the hammer hit the ground with a terrifying slam, leaving the grassy area there pressed into the ground and unevenly levelled.

-Thump!!

Ivar who was not planning to let them evade any more of his attacks easily immediately used a spell by chanting inwardly.

'[Earth Series: Wall Formation]!'

Aiden and Flynn who had jumped backwards to avoid Ivar's attacks, felt a brown structure that had suddenly surrounded them from behind.

They wondered why Ivar seemed to have used a spell that posed no threat but soon, they understood just what Ivar had been planning as they heard a whistling sound speeding through the air.

Ivelia who had placed her hands on the taut bowstring suddenly materialized four arrows one after the other via the spatial ring present on her fingers while thinking of Anna's advice when she began instructing her on how to use the bow and arrow two months ago.

'Ground yourself. Aim true. Fire unwaveringly!'

The moment she completed those words in her mind, Ivelia immediately fired all four arrows in rapid succession, each coated with mana to increase the power of the arrows with deadly speed and precision.

-Swish! Swish! Swish! Swish!

As if to remind both brothers that Ivar was not the only individual they should be wary of and was joining this particular training session they were having, four arrows which had been fired by Ivelia came whistling through air while aiming for both brothers, two for each of them.

Flynn and Aiden upon now realizing, that the three-walled structures that slightly enclosed and curved around them, had been created by Ivar to make it hard for them to jump away and evade the oncoming arrows, rapidly began to rack their brains while thinking of how to escape the distortion in the air that was inching closer by every millisecond.

Each brother, upon seemingly coming up with how they were going to evade Ivelia's arrows, quickly put their plans into motion.

Flynn swiftly turned around and ran towards the wall directly behind him while jumping onto and immediately leaping off of it to perform a perfect side flip, spinning his body at mid-air like a seasoned gymnast to avoid the oncoming arrows.

His plan had been very successful as both arrows swooshed past above and below him as he flipped, his body remaining suspended in the air due to the skillful spinning flip that he had flawlessly pulled off.

'Buying those acrobatics and parkour skill arts was definitely an excellent choice' Flynn thought to himself as he landed gracefully from his flip, the two arrows that swooshed past him drilling holes into the walls and staying stuck in it.

Aiden's plan however to evade the arrows did not require any form of movement when compared to Flynn's, as he had remained stagnant without moving. His concentration though, was at its maximum, and his hands had been coated with a thick layer of mana.

Ivelia and Ivar had wondered what Aiden was up to because although Flynn had turned around to run towards the walls, Aiden however seemed to not even have a single muscle twitch in his body as he stayed glued to his spot like a statue.

The moment the arrow was just a few inches from reaching Aiden's face, Ivelia and Ivar had almost wanted to tell Aiden to duck but as if to put their worries to rest, Aiden's hands moved at a blur, detailing the impressive and immense speed at which he was moving his body and caught both arrows, a wide grin on his face as he did.

Flynn also landed from his flip the moment this had happened.

Ivelia heaved a sigh of relief while Ivar just shook his head in amazement at how both of them had immediately thought of solutions to deal with the trapped situation they had been in.

'I wonder when I'll be as cool as them…' Ivar wondered to himself after which he then immediately shook his head.

He was doing just well too considering he became a low-tier C-ranker last month.

The Duke had immediately gotten him an epic weapon art called the {Thundering Strikes} which he had been so grateful to him for.

Ivar however had decided to also practice basic movements with his hammer instead of going straight for the weapon art, just like Aiden and Flynn had done.

'It's fine! Slow and steady Ivar. Don't rush!' he inwardly advised himself.

Ivelia on the other hand, had been giving a bow and an arrow by the duchess about two months back and she had begun to teach her how to use it during her spare time.

Ivelia who wanted to be able to at least protect herself in case she was put in a perilous situation like last time, was glad for the lessons even if it meant that she had more work on her plate.

She however decided to learn a weapon art after she had increased the potion's efficacy to its maximum.

Learning a weapon art required a lot of time and dedication so she didn't want half-ass it, especially considering that experimenting took up most of her time. As a result, she had decided to put it off until she could dedicate all of her time to learning it.

Ivelia had also always wondered why she awakened as a low-tier C-ranker even though she was a commoner.

Although Ivar had been praising her as a rare gem back when their Dad was still alive and had taken them out to determine their core ranks, the actual reason, as she had surmised by herself after the warehouse incident was definitely because she was of noble blood and that maybe, just maybe, she inherited more of the Steelblade family's genes than Ivar.

As a result, she understood why she had advanced to mid-tier C-rank even without consistently training her mana core for over the past few years since she had awakened.

'Well, it's not like there's anything I could've done if I didn't know that I was from a noble family'

As Ivelia gradually settled her thoughts, she watched Flynn and Aiden sit down on the moist grass while removing their blindfolds.

Aiden gave her a thumbs-up to which she slightly nodded back in response but Flynn instead was staring at her for almost a minute without giving any gestures, a mischievous smile playing on his lips.

Ivelia wondered if there was something on her face but as if to mess with her, Flynn gave her a slight wink, his mischievous smile now turning into one of amusement.

Ivelia's cheeks turned a rosy shade of red and her ears also tinged with red due to this small gesture from him as she thought to herself while averting her gaze.

'He's definitely teasing me…'