Chapter 16 The advantages of being friends with a panther 1 (2/2)
”...never mind”
after find his companion to be no help at all in his quest for new magic Mars practised for a few hours almost succeeding a few times only to have his magic fail and explode in his hands before he finally managed to make a small ball of darkness appear on top of his palm
”**** YEAH!!!”
as he celebrated his victory over the art of [Shadow magic] Mars yelled loudly while taking a victory pose startling Victoria that had fallen asleep a few minutes in to his training, as Victoria was sending him a slightly resentful look for interrupting her afternoon nap Mars was jumping around like a caveman after just having discovered the wonders of fire not at all noticing her resentful look as he admired the little ball of darkness for some time before calming down slightly as the rational part of his brain took over
”...well this does not look very useful”
looking at the pitiful ball of darkness in his hand Mars felt like the effort he put in not being equal to the results
”might as well test it”
deciding to test the power of his newly obtained magic Mars grabbed the ball of darkness that was floating a few centimeters over the palm of his hand as he felt the smooth and squishy surface of the ball he was a little surprised before he picked out a target tree and took aim
”...lets see what this puppy can do”
performing a near perfect overhand throw the ball rapidly accelerated as it left his hand and flew through the air towards the tree before hitting the trunk exploding like a water balloon covering the surrounding area in some sort of liquid darkness as Mars walked up and inspected the damage
”...well this is interesting”
as Mars was inspecting the liquid darkness by poking it with a random stick he discovered that the 'darkness liquid' was acting like some super adhesive glue sticking to the surface of the tree as well as the stick he had poked it with while it was giving of a little smoke as the parts in direct sunlight was slowly melting
”well it certainly is not better than [Dragon-flame magic] in terms of offensive and destructive power... but it might be useful in certain situations”
after Mars finished absentmindedly poking the liquid with a stick he sat down to see how long it would take for the darkness liquid that was exposed to sunlight to melt
”about 5 minutes and... it looks like the surface of the tree is mostly undamaged as well, this might be good for hunting and taking down a target in a non-lethal way... overall a valuable addition to my arsenal”
feeling somewhat satisfied with the test of his new magic Mars remembered another part of his arsenal that he had not used yet
”hmm [Swordsmanship]...”
remembering the whole incident with making a sword out of bones Mars felt somewhat reluctant to use this skill as it seemed to have a negative effect on his mind
”screw it what's the worst that can happen?”
walking into his cave Mars took garbed the only bone sword he had deemed usable and walked out again with sword in hand and stood out in the area he had cleared of trees in front of the cave as he felt the sword in his hands
”...the question now is how do i use [Swordsmanship]? or rather how do i use a sword in the first place?”
as Mars felt the smooth 80 centimeter long single edged blade of the sword with his hands he gradually started to feel like he knew how to handle this sword as he grabbed the handle with his right hand he lowed the sword to just before the tip of the blade touched the ground and closed his eyes to feel the sword in his hand
”...this is?”
as Mars stood still with sword in hand he felt like a voice or maybe the will of the sword was flowing into him from his right hand that was grasping the handle, like it was saying to how to use it
”...like this?”
mumbling Mars seamlessly like water flowing slipped into a stance holding the sword over his head preparing to strike with his right hand while also lightly gripping the handle with his left hand
”...this almost seems like cheating”
as he stood still with sword raised and his eyes still closed he felt like the sword was an extension of his arm and that it slowly was becoming part of him
”HA!”
yelling out and swinging down with the bone sword with blinding speed the tip of the blade once again stopped right over the ground almost like the sword and the ground was two magnets repelling each other before they could met
”...this is awesome”
as Mars opened his eyes now wearing a ferocious smile as he quickly turned into a blur as his sword struck out from all manner of stances and all kinds of angels sticking the empty air sometimes creating strong winds and other times soundlessly passing through the air like a ghost
”this is ****ing AWESOME!”
as Mars struck out with his sword he gradually got more and more excited and unconsciously transformed thereby increasing his speed even more as he turned into a blur moving all over the place with expert looking footwork over the uneven ground and tree stumps that got even faster
as time passed
”THIS IS THE BEST!”
losing himself in practicing Mars only stopped after the sun had gone down as the sweet purred down from his lean body and he lightly panted completely exhausted as his arms and legs trembled but still a ferocious smile was still planted on his face and his eyes was sparkling from excitement as Victoria walked up to him
”Mars... also have horns?”
looking blankly at Victoria for a few seconds Mars torched his forehead and discovered he had transformed at some point during his sword practices
”yeah i am not human i am a half-dragon human, so sometimes i have horns and claws awesome right?”
”yes... Mars strong”
receiving the simple praise from Victoria Mars felt a little happy and petted her on the head as she lightly purred for some time before he pulled his hand back
”let's head down to the river, i need to wash up”