Chapter 107: Classroom Etiquette (1/2)

Mike summoned his mana and formed a sword of fire, and fell into the Flowing River Stance, ready to respond to the Instructor's next move. He wasn't sure what the man was intending, but the hostile intent behind that blow felt very real.

There was a crack of compressed air, and his flame blade was cut in two.

Johnathan shook his head, ”Forgotten already, have you? Only Earth or Air while under this roof,” he said while gesturing to the ceiling with his glaive. He turned, and put some distance between the two of them again. ”Get yourself ready.”

Finally catching on, Mike hopped up on to the statue he'd made earlier. Gripping the hilt of the sword in one hand, he drew it forth with one swift pull, and lifted it into the air triumphantly.

Slightly flabbergasted, the instructor took a few moments to regain his composure. ”Was it really necessary to include that feature?”

Mike hopped back down to the floor, and once again entered the Flowing River Stance. ”I was planning a bit about the Once and Future King, but I don't think anyone here would get the reference.” He pushed some mana into the stone sword to harden and sharpen it.

Sighing, Johnathan resumed his own stance, ”Let's just get on with it.”

He launched himself forward and delivered a blistering mixture of thrusts and chops that Mike was hard pressed to defend against, even though he was faster and stronger than the older mage. Unable to do much more than simply protect himself, Mike weathered the storm until he saw a brief opening to make a counter attack.

Sweeping in low, he skirted inside the reach of the glaive, and whipped his sword in a horizontal slash. Mike thought he was sure to deliver a telling blow, but his footing suddenly gave out. A small patch of darkness pulled the proverbial rug from under his feet.

As soon as Mike's back hit the ground, he felt the cold material of the glaive press against his throat. ”I can tell you've been trained a bit, and fought in a few battles, but you've never learned how to use your skills properly. You have the makings of a proper battlemage, should you decide to pursue that route.”

Pulling his weapon back, Johnathan offered Mike a hand up. ”Don't know what you did before coming here, but it's clear you lack practical experience against enemies of the same strength. Your style relies too heavily on your superior attributes, your spellcasting is far too flashy and inefficient, and you lack real versatility. A man with your range of abilities should have no problems dealing with an old, worn-out soldier like me. Now, let's go again.”

What followed was a fast paced training course that saw Mike hitting the ground more often than not. All throughout it, Johnathan kept producing numerous bits of wisdom in regards to the proper usage of magic in combat.

”Arcanists will tell you that the only way to use magic is with a chant, and that free casting is phenomenally wasteful and largely ineffective. They're not exactly wrong, but to completely disregard free casting because of that, is to ignore one of the greatest advantages of elemental magic. Its speed. Even the most gifted of chanters still require a second or two to unleash their magic. While this doesn't make much of a difference when you're casting from the safety of a formation, in the heat of combat, every second counts.”

Mike was having a slightly difficult time absorbing the lecture while dodging the random slivers of shadow that Johnathan had started sending at him from multiple directions, forcing him to occasionally summon earthen shields, lest he be pin-cushioned by them.

”You've got both martial and magical skills. Use them. If you can't defeat an opponent outright, make an opening. Attack them in the way they least expect it.”

Taking his advice, as soon as Mike found a good opportunity, he fired a blast of wind in the instructor's direction. Johnathan simply cut the magic in two with his glaive, hardly even bothered by it. This was slightly unexpected, but Mike had already planned on his first effort failing.

Johnathan tried to take a step forward, but couldn't. Looking down, he noticed that the ground under his feet had flowed over his boots and hardened. With preternatural reflexes, honed by years of combat, he blocked Mike's overhead swing, causing the stone sword to shatter under the strength of the blow.

”Good try, but the finishing blow was too telegraphed. A thrust would have been faster, and less noticeable. Better yet, an earth spike, especially from any of my blind spots, could have ended the fight. Anyway, we're out of time.”

Mike looked sadly down at his broken sword, before nodding his thanks to the instructor for the lesson.

”Sir, before we are done, I wanted to ask you something?”