47

It took the better part of two hours and several uses of First-Aid just for myself but just a little before noon I completed my goal at only nine hundred strokes.

[Learned Skill: Slash]

[+20XP]

[Slash: Uninitiated. After a long time and a lot of effort you have finally created a skill from the most basic of sword strokes. Now even the most simple of attacks became more dangerous when delivered by your hands. Successful attacks now do (115)% damage with a cooldown of 5 seconds. At greater levels, MP can be used to further empower your attacks. Must successfully strike one hundred times with this skill to Initiate]

The skill was literally the basics of the basics and barely did more damage than a regular attack but it was still a skill and could be developed into something useful. Even if the initiation value was a little high that probably just meant it would receive a decent boost in strength afterward. I hoped.

Lana was not even half of the way through one thousand chops. She had started slowing down even before one hundred and afterward she had to start taking breaks. If she were anyone else I would have used First-Aid to help them muscle through but she was someone who actually needed to experience this kind of training before they could cheat. Not just because she was an NPC but because she honestly did not have the physique or stats for it yet while this would do just that.

Not long after I finished my work, Mr. Harlow came out of the back porch and deck of the manor leading a pair of familiar faces. "Mr. Hack," Mr. Harlow calls out. "Your guests have arrived. Where will you be entertaining?"

"Out here or there on the deck, it depends on them," I call back, finally giving in and casting First-Aid on Lana when I take her hand to help her stand up from where she was resting on the ground. Then I put my fingers to my lips and whistled loudly.

[Acquired Skill: Whistle]

[+10XP]

[Whistle LV MAX: Passive. Doubles the volume of your whistles to be heard over greater distances. 5MP can be used to double your volume once again with a duration cost of 1MP per second spent whistling]

"Huh…" I say after reading the message prompt, lowering myself into a crouch and almost silently sneaking over the balding yard and up behind Papi. Then, standing up quickly with my fingers in my lips, I will the skill to spend MP on a quick burst of shrill sound bomb right behind Papi's head.

Even I went deaf and lost the same ten HP that Papi did, suddenly screaming and clapping his hands over his ears while suffering from a deafened debuff. Laughing, I hurriedly ran away as the others ran over to heal and comfort Papi. I had First-Aid so the debuff was gone with the first healing and I let my increased natural healing take over from there.

Answering my summons came more familiars than people on my team in the form of a pair of owls, a handful of dusk imp females and warriors, and Oleander's lizard. Lyr, having come specifically to look at the pregnant imps, forced Ferithar to follow her following the familiars while talking to him. Apparently she was going to teach Ferithar as well as myself a few tricks beast masters used for their pets.

Even though I could not just up and produce 'waves of mana' like a sonogram to create an image of the insides of our familiars but now at least I understood the principle. She even tried to explain the process of feeling and controlling mana but it was only so useful to a noob like me. Ferithar reassured he that he would handle magic lessons later, though.

For now I simply stayed close by while listening to the two of them reporting on who was having what babies. As it turned out, most of the familiars would be having warrior imps for babies with the exception of two mothers who were having daughters and another who was having both a hunter and a warrior. Missy and Cweeper were the ones having girls, meaning they would give birth two new mages.

Missy was the inheritor of their nests original queen as a Summoner and Cweeper was a much better version of the same powers. Hopefully they would both have children who married their magic classes because a second priestess would be very useful. The others, though, needed to figure out if they wanted to keep or sell their warriors.

Since we already had a bunch of imp familiars nobody felt the need two keep another- especially since most of the others could only have two pets at a time. Once everybody had made up their minds, Lyr gathered the imps together and led them around to an old storage building. While she was going to deal with the pregnancies Ferithar decided to make me stand in the middle of the yard and wear a blindfold.

"The point of this exercise is to help you feel when mana is being used," Ferithar explains while his voice retreats a short distance away. "I'm going to use pure and plain mana to hit you with a small bundle of kinetic energy, it'll probably feel like you're being punched. If you can start blocking or dodging these attacks, it means your ability to detect mana is there. Now, are you ready?"

"Ready," I say stiffly, hoping my practice the night before would be of some use. It was not. As soon as the word left my mouth it felt like a solid brick had been slammed up into my solar plexus with enough force to stagger me back a step or two while emptying the air from my lungs in a loud breath.

Then, a few seconds later, I got hit again. I could feel that to and three percent of my health bar disappear with each hit, telling me Ferithar really was holding back a bit. It still sucked, though, especially the third time when I took the hit straight to my chest and almost fell backward.

Inwardly yelling at myself to focus, I do my best to empty my thoughts with the sound of my own breathing only for hit number five to land once more in the middle of my chest. This time, though, I felt something. It was like the physical feeling for how wind sounded a split second before I was struck as if something were moving toward me.

After that I tried to anticipate the attacks, trying to find a sense of timing for when they were coming to help sense the use of mana. Of course, if these attacks were doing less than five percent of damage then Ferithar was using very small amount of mana. This was probably both to give me a stronger sense for mana as well as a well to beat me up and get away with it.

Finally, though, after seven or eight hits I started getting the feeling of pressure once again but this time it felt like it was coming for my chest. So, I turned sideways and leaned back a little to try and dodge. Either the shape or size or direction I could not tell but I misjudged something and after turning sideways the mana strike swept across my chest with enough force to spin me around.

However, I had done it. I had reacted to an invisible attack and minimized the damage by using an innate ability to detect mana in this game. I was doing it!

For about five seconds before the next bolt struck my in the hip only a second later and threatened to throw me straight to the ground. "You're getting there!" Ferithar calls out from somewhere ahead of me and slightly off to the side before another attack came in. This one, though, only swept across the back of my shoulders as I spun out of the way.

Now I was starting to actively move around, waiting for the slightest hint of pressure in Ferithar's direction that meant magic was being gathered or on the move. The magic moving in the air felt like wind pressure bearing down on me before an actual bullet struck but the mana being gathered to make that attack felt like a vague whirl or suction force.

Ferithar was not only using his own mana but using ambient mana from the surroundings to fuel his attacks!

After this realization struck there suddenly came a familiar voice in my head.

[Since you cannot see my system prompts, allow me to read them to you]

[Acquired Skill: Mana Detection]

[+20%]

[Mana Detection LV MAX: Passive. Mana Detection is the most basic and necessary skill for the inhabitants of Bygone Era, without it one not only cannot use magic but cannot sense their surroundings for disturbances in the natural mana that suggest monsters are in the area. Now, you can detect mana]

Once the words I heard clicked in my head it felt like the entire world changed. Suddenly there was an ever-present flow like watery air that filled every inch of the world around me. When the next attack was coming, I could feel it disturbing the flow of the world around me from over ten yards away after Ferithar sucked up the mana around him. The attack missed but I received another sweetly read notification.

[Acquired Skill: Mana Radar]

[+15XP]

[Mana Radar LVL 1: Passive/Active. A skill for reading the fluctuations and changes in mana within a range of thirty yards, making it nearly impossible to sneak up on you without a ranged weapon. At high levels can detect enemies at greater ranges as well as recognize what the enemies are. Passive mana cost of 5MP per minute to show living entities on your mini-map during combat and 10MP to active on your own]

Then, suddenly, I could see my mini-map even while wearing the blindfold. It was just a new part of my upper field of view behind the thick black cloth. Using the mini-map, I kept myself facing Ferithar as more attacks started coming in greater speeds and force. I got hit by one and lost six percent of my health.

"You're getting it, now, boy!" The Grand Alchemist enthuses as kinetic bullets rush through the air around me or strike the ground with small seismic waves of unbalancing ripples as if it were water instead of dirt. "You feel that grittiness like sand or large gravel?" He asks while continuing to attack with abandon. "That's the earth element I am mixing in to some of the attacks and why the ground feels funny! Soon, I'm going to start using ice element! Pay close attention to how the elements feel and see if you can't copy my spells through your ability to detect their mana signatures!"

"Grittiness like sand or gravel," I whisper to myself, focusing my attention on that feeling even as frigid air started rushing all around me in different directions. He really was just trying to pelt me with random shit at this point! However, I was slowly locking on to that description of the earth element so that I could feel which attacks would disturb the ground.

Ignoring the icy mana that would pass by in small whirls, I did my best to keep track of the earth attacks that could leave me open to a sudden barrage of icy bullets as soon as I lost my balance. I was actually down to just under sixty percent of my healthy by now but I was slowly starting to replicate that feeling of grittiness that made the ground resemble quicksand whenever it was struck.

Feinting a sidestep before crouching and leaning forward into a sudden dash, I will the mana circulating both around my body as well as within it to gather up around my hands as if gently splashing at water to make it flow the way I wanted. When I could physically FEEL the grittiness of earth element in my hands, I dove into a side roll away from a horizontal barrage of mixed magic bullets before rushing forward again.

Stopping only a few yards short of Ferithar, I drop to the ground and shove my hands through the dirt as if it were water and release the energy I had been gathering. Half of my mana depleted in an instant and everything within thirty yards of my position seemed to liquefy. Ferithar, only a few yards away, immediately sank up to his thighs before catching himself by freezing the nearby ground.

[Learned Spell: Quick Quake]

[+30XP]

[Quick Quake Uninitiated: Active. Earth Element. After finally unlocking your ability to perceive and interact with mana you learned how to sense, recreate, and manipulate the Earth Element for your own spell. For every 30MP spent you can now create a seismic displacement within ten yards of yourself to upset and even dispatch your enemies. Capture or entomb fifty enemies to Initiate this magic skill]

Forcing my mind to focus on ice element with the shouted word, "Freezing!" The air around me crystallized with snow from water condensing in my suddenly frigid proximity. Then, I released the energy I was building up with my entire body with a whispered word. "Frostbite."

A whirling storm of ice flurries suddenly exploded outward from around me as all but a few points worth of mana remained in my character.

[Acquired Skill: Frostbite]

[+30XP]

[Frostbite Uninitiated: Active. Ice Element. After learning how to replicate and use the ice element you have created a new spell for yourself. At the cost of 10MP you can throw a wave of subzero energy at a target to superficially freeze-dry their body and for 30MP you can release a short range radius of frostbitten air. Freeze and shatter ten body parts to Initiate]

"Holy fuck!" I cry out while ripping my blindfold off to find Ferithar trapped in the ground and surrounded in a steaming orbs of heated air to ward off the cold around him and thaw the ground. "Ferithar, did you see that?! You're amazing!"

"Good, good, good," Ferithar says with a forced calm, slowly nodding his head as I stagger up to my feet and then careen sideways back to the ground. "You're going to be like that for a minute, its an affect of draining all your MP too quickly called mana lag. If you do it repeatedly, you'll hit yourself with mana burn which could damage your mana pool as well as rebound some of your magic on yourself. NOW GET ME OUT OF HERE!"

"That… will take a second," I say awkwardly, crawling over on my hands and knees for fear of simply falling over again and again until I got to him. When I finally reached Ferithar I just reached into into his protective orb of hot air for a loss of one health point per second while struggling to stand up with him.

"I'll admit, you've certainly got some strength to you," Ferithar seems to praise me after I had pulled him up from the frozen ground, looking at the ruined ground around us. "I thought you might just try to make rocks fly at me or make cold winds like most beginners, but this is certainly effective magic use for a warrior. Two medium-scale immobility attacks and that ice one has duration damage from exposure. Very nice."

"I'm glad to have made my teacher proud," I say while opening my inventory. "Here, a gift to show my appreciation for my wonderful teacher. An elder root spear. Same amount of material as the clubs but it came from a different enemy. Now, if you want this big guy," I add while taking out the remains of the warrior club I used to make Go's axes from. "I'll have to ask you to practice that experimental mana pool procedure on my friends until you can cause a less painful but still greater increase in a person's pool."

"You want me to practice it, which means you want me to do a special one," Ferithar muses while looking at the remaining larger half of what used to be a giant blunt weapon. "Now, I don't mind getting paid to potentially ruin someone's life, but are you sure you want me to do this?"

"As the head retainer of the Delai family, it is my responsibility to ensure Ms. Lana's safety," I state simply. "This, though, can also be understood in different ways. I will not always be there for her so I have begun training her to help ensure her survivability. Teaching her how to protect herself is also a way of my protecting her. Understand?"

Nodding one quick time with a serious look on his face, Ferithar says, "Understood. I won't even charge you for hers and I will do my best to minimize the pain. However… this is artificial mana pool expansion, replicating what would take a normal person months or even years to train on their own. It simply CAN'T be painless."

"Then get to work, my friend," I reply with a grateful smile and a pat to his shoulder. "Thank you for your efforts, even if it started as a business deal I do consider you not just a useful friend but a good one. Even if I can't trust you around my Oleander by yourself."

"What I wouldn't give to be able to tinker with her mana pool," Ferithar says with a suggestive wink before laughing like a kid and running off when I pretend to get mad and swat at him.

Walking off in the direction of the storage building off to one side of the manor where Lyr and the others who already had magic had gone with the familiars. As I approached the building, though, I could hear some rather gruesome noises like muffled animal shrieks and guttural roars of pain. That certainly sounded like monsters having babies.

Sticking my head in the door I find Lil, Agnes, Oleander, and Merch being lectured by Lyr on advanced medical care for monsters such as playing OB/GYN with them. All of the hunters and warriors had already been birthed and were currently being swaddled in large sheets more to trap them than to care for them. Now, though, Lyr was helping Missy give birth while explaining the differences in the process between the three basic types of imps.

As it turned out, when imp communities grew large enough the 'queen' would evolve into an even stronger leadership monster and their harem of enthralled lessers would have minor evolutions to fill the vacancy and create a 'dominion'. Imp domains were rare because of how actively they were hunted down but Lyr mentioned that she had seen signs of imps trying to form one in the forestry near the fork of the river.

That was where Skooma and his group did their imp quests for the Guild. That was where imps were supposed to be congregating and becoming dangerous for travel and trade. THAT was where someone would find the next Canfor dungeon.

*