Getting stronger [2]

It was the last day of training with Mike. Wearing one of my sets of training wear, I was stretching before we got started.

Besides me, Mike was talking through our goals, not only for the day but for the future as well.

The talk mostly consisted of the production of a new martial skill and getting more used to attacking in general. To me, it sounded like he just wanted to make sure I was in the right mindset, and as I already had a clear idea, I only half-listened to his words.

".. and that's all. Now let's get started."

A tap on his DAD made Sir. Blockalot come out from the floor, with his signature sword and shield.

As this was the last day of the week where I would be guided by my homeroom teacher, I wanted to present at least a seed of progress to him.

Taking out my worn-out training daggers, which had dulled quite a bit after two days of hours of hitting a steel target, I started to stimulate my purple mana a bit.

Mike took his usual position to the side, and gave me my signal, "Commence!"

I rushed forward, closing the distance between me and the dummy, and made a quick thrust with my right hand. As the muscles in my arm contracted to create movement, I applied my lightning to the weapon and tried to make it explode into the doll.

*CRSSHHT*

A big electric discharge was produced at the tip of my dagger and exploded into the dummy.

Thinking I would be met with some criticism, I looked toward my teacher. Dumbfounded, he only stood with his mouth agape at my sudden achievement.

*Cough!*

Noticing my gaze, he made the coughing maneuver to collect himself.

"Well done, lad! You actually managed to explode your mana on your first try today! Did you practice on your own yesterday night or something?

As I wasn't ready for his sudden praise in the middle of my training, not during a rest like usual, I replied with the truth.

"No, I just kind of... tried it?"

"You just tried it? That's amazing! It's like your element is a part of you instead of a produced tool to be used."

"Haha... Isn't that exactly how it is though? You already know that my mana is now always of the lightning attribute?"

'As my mana is pretty much just lightning energy now, shouldn't it be easier for me to use on a general level?'

"Oh, yeah. That's how it was now, wasn't it? I guess as you are the only person I've ever met with this condition, I didn't think of all the implications. You are special, little hare."

Feeling my temperature rise at the nickname I had almost managed to forget, I had to ask, almost shouting, "Why did I suddenly become a little hare again?!"

Instead of explaining himself, he triggered a pavlovian response by just saying one word, "Again!"

Uncontrollably, my body lunged at the dummy, practicing the timing and discharge of my element once more.

'Am I a dog?!'

Even with a silly thought in my head, my training continued, with the Gorilla's guiding words.

"Make it sharper! Don't just let it explode in all directions, control it and channel it with your dagger."

My previous progress had, indeed, been a step in the right direction and, if I were a swordsman or a hammer user, I could have continued practicing the more general explosive discharge. Unfortunately, I wasn't. The explosion-type discharge might be able to incapacitate and damage someone without needing much finesse, but it would only really shine if one had physical strength behind it.

Just as my instructor had stated, I needed to focus it a lot more, make it sharper, more piercing.

Not just for the sake of awakening a new skill, but also to make my other attacks more lethal. If I didn't have the strength to penetrate the enemy's body with a dagger, my lightning would have to do it instead.

Remarkably, I could reliably produce the discharge with the right timing today, without any prior teachings except for Mike's presentation yesterday. It was as if the information had gotten analyzed during the night, in order to be applicable today.

Slowly but surely, the electrical detonations got more concentrated, and I got sucked into a rhythm.

"Again"

"Again"

"Aga...

I started to lose track of Mike's voice, and now, the only thing that existed was to execute the purple-streaked attacks endlessly.

"-Miren, stop!"

After one last clumsy attack, my vision darkened. The next thing I know, my face got splashed with water, waking me up. Standing over me with a bucket in his hands, was my teacher wearing a huge smile on his face.

"You sure are reckless aren't you, little hare?"

Without the energy to retort, I sat up and asked, "How long was I out for?"

A bit surprised at my sudden unexpected question, his forehead showed some wrinkles, "Only ten minutes."

"Hmm? That's shorter than I expected. It feels as if I got to sleep for a whole night."

He immediately capitalized on my stupid vocalization and the nature of his smile changed into a more sinister one.

"That's great! Then let's start part two of our sessions!"

'...'

"Yes."

I rose to my feet, at the same time Mike fixed the dummy's settings using his DAD, so it would start to block and parry my attacks for me to practice accuracy and speed.

Taking a deep breath, I readied myself, preparing to instantly attack at my teacher's signal once more.

"Commence!"

I dashed to the dummy, keeping a low posture to make myself even smaller. Throwing out a left stab, to bait a reaction, Blockalot raised his shield to block it. Using the momentum of my impact, I spun myself in reverse, around its body, finally ending the sequence with a spinning slash right in the back of its neck.

"Again!"

I got ready for the endless torture once more.

****

"BLARGHH"

Currently puking in a bucket, I couldn't help but swear internally at the gorilla sitting on his chair, spectating with a grin.

'You fucker...'

Thinking, because it was the last session for the week, he had made me continue hitting the dummy for another hour, instead of meditating like he said I would.

With my sense of pain and discomfort dulled, as a result of my focus, I hadn't even felt the lengthened time until I was made to stop.

The result had been such that when my body finally got to relax, the pain came flooding in and exhaustion made my stomach turn inside out.

Still, with his grin, Mike commented, "It honestly is interesting though. It's as if your body unconsciously shuts down all unnecessary emotions when you are in combat mode."

"What do you... *BLARGGHH*

Unable to hold his laughter anymore, he tried to at least make me feel a bit better, "HAHAHAHA, no it's truly, haha, great."

Taking a deep breath, he finally managed to take control of his rude actions, "It's an amazing thing, quite fitting for your fighting style, where you need to keep your heart cold and collected."

He stood up from his chair and started to make his escape, as to not start laughing right in my face again. Before he left, he threw me a keyboard and said, "With this, you can come in and train whenever you want. I'm usually here a couple of hours every night after classes end. You can come by if you feel like you have the energy."

"Thank you, S... *BLARGGHH*

Mike's face started to crumble, and he quickly made his way out of the room, as to not explode in laughter in front of me.

****

"So Miren, have you gotten to practice a new skill or something with Mr. Borr?"

During our dinner talks, which at this point seemed to be more of a rule than an exception, all three of them had already talked a lot about their own lessons.

James explaining how they would practice different sword skills, like [Double Strike] or energy enhancement. Sarah talking energetically about mana control and their specialized practice, where she was trying to use her [Healing Winds] more flexibly. Lastly Brad... To be fair, he didn't say much, just something about hitting each other hard, over and over.

Me, however, hadn't shared much about my practice, just the first comment about hitting a dummy.

This led to James finally inquiring about what I was doing during my afternoons.

"Hmm, I'm trying to create a new skill. Because of some circumstances, I'm not really suited to awaken any of the general dagger skills."

Thinking a bit further about my practice, I added, "Oh! I'm also learning how to kill! How to most efficiently stab the eyes, cutting one's throat, and incinerate inner organs with lightning!"

...

A deafening silence, and three pairs of eyes filled with pity, projecting the thought 'Why is teach forcing you to learn this?'

Me being an assassin-type, they could probably figure out that it was quite obvious for me to learn how to dish out finishing blows, but because I had the stature of a small kid, it was probably quite disturbing hearing these words from me.

A bright, slightly trembling voice broke the silence, "That's... That's great. Haha. Yes, of course, you need to learn how to.. to kill..."

Sarah's impression of me seemed to have taken quite the hit, once again trying to figure out if I really was cute or not.

I didn't have time to mind their stirred expressions, as I was too busy trying to eat the mountain of food in front of me.