Mana combat

<Alef's POV>

The next morning when I walked into the living room, Rosa came over to me.

"Good morning, Alef"(Rosa)

She greeted me and kissed me in the cheek. I put my hand in my cheek.

"Go-good morning"(Alef)

I replied nervously, which caused Rosa to smile.

"I'll go help my mom serve breakfast"(Rosa)

She turned around and went to the kitchen.

"Morning, Did I miss something?"(master)

Master said yawning.

"Not a thing"(Alef)

"Then, why did she... Oh, so that's how it is, this will be easier and funnier than I thought"(master)

Master realized something in the middle of her sentence, and passed from a confused tone to one of joy.

"Could you enlighten me, master?"(Alef)

"No can do, it would take the fun away"(master)

"So, you lied about toying with me!!"(Alef)

"Why are you so sharp in everything that has something to do with me and dumb as a rock in everything else!!?"(master)

I yelled at master and she retorted in exasperated way. Once again we started bickering at each other. This started to be an habit.

"There they go again"(Jessica)

"I suppose this will be an everyday happening"(Auntie Lynn)

"Shouldn't we do something?"(Uncle Roger)

"Nah, they'll stop when they smell the food"(Jessica)

"We should add fuel"(Auntie Lynn)

Because of the delicious smell we stopped bickering, and notice that everyone else was staring at auntie Lynn.

"Why are they staring at her?"(master)

Master whispered me

"No idea, but let's just sit at the table pretending that we didn't see a thing"(Alef)

"Good idea, my cute little apprentice"(master)

Today's breakfast was really peaceful, I didn't fight with master and everyone else was all smiles. This was the first meal I truly enjoyed since yesterday.

After finishing breakfast, I geared up and prepared to leave for patrolling the village. But, as I was heading to the entrance, master called me.

"Good, you're geared up already. I like that you're fully motivated for training. Let's go"(master)

"Um, master I have to patrol the village, could we train after that?"(Alef)

"My cute little apprentice, your only responsibility is to train under me diligently. Let's go to the forest to train"(master)

She grabbed me from the shoulders as she ordered me.

"But..."(Alef)

"No buts"(master)

"What if..."(Alef)

"Won't happen"(master)

"How about..."(Alef)

"I'll say this once, my cute little apprentice, if you skip this training, I'll put you through hell at night and you'll wish you were dead. I really mean it"(master)

Master's words filled me with an immense dread, so...

"What are we waiting for!? Let's go to train!!!"(Alef)

"That's the attitude, my cute little apprentice!"(master)

We arrived at the training spot one hour later.

"Today, I'll teach advance mana combat"(master)

"I thought you said my combat technique is flawless"(Alef)

"Your dagger combat technique is flawless, but the way you utilize mana is at best at a novice level"(master)

"But I coat my body in mana properly"(Alef)

"And that's exactly the problem, you just coat your body in mana. You don't use it as a helper to move faster or anything else."

I didn't get what she was trying to say. I thought that, that was the only way to use mana in a hand to hand fight.

"Let me exemplify it to you"(master)

Seeing my confused face, master felt the need to show me what she meant. So, she walk a little distance away from me and lift her right arm. Then, she move 2 meters to the left without moving any muscle.

"How!?"(Alef)

I blurted out with my mouth agape.

"I used mana, but moving it's not the only application. Watch this"(master)

Master put her hand in a trunk of a tree

~Bang~

~Crack, crack, crack~

~Thud~

Suddenly, the trunk of the tree started to crack. In the next moment, the tree was on the ground.

"This are the two ways of utilize mana. I called them advance mana combat technique"(master)

"Only now I realized that I'm rookie"(Alef)

"Yeah, but you have plenty of potential, so don't fret over it. Now, let's start.

First, I'll teach you how to fire mana from your palm. To begin, coat your hand in mana, then gather all that mana in your palm and compress it, and finally, you release it in one go in the shortest time possible. And voila, you had just made a mana palm strike"(master)

"Okay, here I go"(Alef)

"Practice with that tree over there"(master)

I put my hand on the trunk of the tree, then coat it with mana, next I gather the mana in my palm and compress it, lastly I release it. But, of course nothing happened.

"Hmm, maybe you didn't gather enough mana or didn't compress it enough, because the release speed was good. Try again, this time gather mana longer"(master)

I listen to my master, and I try again but this time I spend a whole minute gathering mana in my palm. But, the outcome is the same.

"This is good!! Your only problem is the mana compression, which shows that you're not an inept in the usage of mana"(master)

Master said happily and start to hum.

"I don't know if I should feel flattered or insulted"(Alef)

"It's obviously a compliment. Most people learn to utilize mana in a wrong way and, because of that, they would never be able to learn advance mana combat. So, you should be proud of not being an inept"(master)

I said troubled and my master replied with joy and a tinge pride, which caused me to be more troubled.

"Alright, to compress mana correctly, imagine the mana gathered in your palm as a ball, then make that ball as small as you can. This will be difficult, so don't be discouraged if you don't manage to do it today."(master)

I start practicing the mana palm strike with the pointers that master gave me. At noon, master told me to stop because I need to recover for night training. Oh yeah, I'll have to train at night too. Sigh. By the way, somewhere in the middle of my training master picked flowers for some reason.

"So, whom are those flowers for?"(Alef)

"For Rosa, obviously. You'll give them to her"(master)

"Is this your way of helping?"(Alef)

"I'd love if you were sharp in this matters too"(master)

Master groaned while handing me the flowers.