Chapter 116 (1/2)

The next day passed in a blur.

When he wasn’t being derided by Sam for his lack of mana control, he was going through one of Mrs. Hamilton’s training games, or dodging around Lyra’s mana birds, which were becoming increasingly difficult to avoid. Between those exercises, Randidly ate as much food as he could fit inside of himself, and burned through his mana, throwing out spell after spell, flexing the extra mana to increase the effectiveness. He believed that he was slowly growing more proficient in this method, but it was hard to tell.

Then there were the times that Randidly trained in the individual steps of Footwork of the Spear Phantom, familiarizing himself with the moves. Only by repetition would the distances he could travel with the different steps become instinct, and he would truly be on the path to mastery.

Randidly also took time out of the day to practice his spear moves and skills. He considered trying to improve the effectiveness of his Ashen Spear skill, and perhaps learn the next Kata, but Randidly didn’t know where to begin. Once more, he believed that the spear move was created due to the powerful image that Randidly had at the time.

That image was due to Shal’s teaching and philosophies about the spear, as well as Randidly’s own previous insights into the power that was Ash. Together, they formed a powerful penetrative move. To develop another such move… he would likely have to have more ideas and images about what to do. Instead, it would perhaps be more effective to simply improve on the moves he had now, familiarizing himself with them.

Which, Randidly hoped, would happen naturally during this time of training. His ideas about how a spear advances would hopefully change, and his meditative moments, when he slowly settled and watched the soul skill cycle within himself, gave him more and more insights into ash. At some point, he would be able to combine them, he hoped, but now was much too early.

Instead, he just threw himself into the training. Unlike training under Shal, there was no constant threat of violence, but in a way, that only made things worse. There were moments where Randidly waivered, during Mrs. Hamilton’s grueling exercise regimen, and wanted to quit, or ease up. Was it really necessary to go to such lengths? Was it really possible to accomplish such things without improving his stats?

Mrs. Hamilton certainly thought so. Randidly thought so initially, but when he thought about how much the difficulty would increase over the next two weeks…

After one of the exercises where Randidly dodged the mana birds, he looked over to Lyra, who was sitting on the ground. His eyes widened as he saw that she grimly glared at him, wiping a long, thin trail of blood that was coming out of her nose. Then she soundlessly stood and walked away.

He obviously had noticed that the birds were moving in increasingly complicated patterns, that made it difficult to dodge. And he had noticed that halfway through, just as he was starting to run out of options, dodging became much easier. He had assumed it was because his knowledge of the steps was beginning to pay dividends, which was probably true, but if it was also because he wasn’t the only one pushing himself beyond his limits…

If Lyra was struggling furiously to grow stronger too…

Randidly’s eyes narrowed. That was right, he wasn’t simply racing down this path in order to see what lay at the end, but also because there were other individuals out there struggling forward on their own paths. It wasn’t enough to be strong, but you also needed to be stronger than the people who mean you harm.

“This…” Randidly said aloud, watching Lyra walk away, speaking quietly so she wouldn’t hear. “This isn’t enough. I need more.”

Instead of resting, Randidly raised his spear and began to practice, waiting for the next exercise to begin.

*****

Daniel yawned, sitting up. Although sleeping wasn’t necessary for him any longer, he still enjoyed the leisure time. So every day at sundown, he would lie down for a 3 hour nap, to clear his head and lounge on some cushions and pillows he had squirreled away.

Setting aside the pile of paperwork having to do with the trading convoy Donnyton was sending south to Franksburg in the next few days, Daniel ambled towards his door, scratching his butt. After all, the fact that the person at the door hadn’t yelled meant it wasn’t someone who could truly threaten him.

At the same time, the fact they dared come to the door was a bit…

Daniel opened the door, only to find a woman standing in the darkness, her eyes blazing with a strange light, the Classer that guarded Daniel during the night standing to the side fearfully.

Inwardly, Daniel made a mental note to go among the NCCs and to start training someone to be his full time body guard. This guy randomly assigned to him was apparently intimidated by a-

The woman turned to him, giving him a face full of anger blast. Daniel gasped in spite of himself.

“Where-” The woman growled, reaching up and grabbing Daniel by his collar. “Are my CHILDREN?!?!”

****

Randidly lay panting on the ground, reexamining the day’s training. It was rough. Beyond rough. He could feel the slowly growing ache of sore muscles, something that he hadn’t felt in a long time. Not since the system had come to this world. At no point, even under Shal, had he pushed his physical limits to this degree.

Part of it was the methods; with Shal, he held on as long as he could, and then was knocked senseless by Shal’s brutal spear, giving him a chance to rest. Here, he continued with the back breaking exercises, with only small breaks in between. Time and time again, his focus and patience were tested, and he was tempted to give in, allowing his body a break.

But Mrs. Hamilton’s small smile made him hold on. Lyra’s scrunched up face as she tried to catch him with her birds of mana made him hold on. The image of that group of Classers from Donnyton, battered but ready to fight him to the death, made him hold on.

This was his path. And even if it was hard, Randidly refused to stop walking it. Not for pain, not for respite, not for even Judgement from the system. That was how he wanted to live.

Frowning, Randidly leaned forward. Although he was definitely improving physically, it was slow; he could barely feel any differences in how he was able to handle the difficulty. When training changed…

But perhaps there was another solution. If he could create an armor of roots with root manipulation…

Randidly laughed aloud, amused at the image. Then he shook his head ruefully. Even though he was better, and his control was monstrous for his level, there were likely even more monstrous mages out there in the Nexus. Perhaps one day he would get to that level, but for now…

Focusing his will, Randidly poured his energy into the ground, and the roots there responded. They pulsed and moved, curving up out of the ground, inflating with his will, twisting into 3x their original size. Then Randidly shaped them, moving the roots smoothly together, forming a hand. That hand clenched itself into a fist, then flexed itself, opening.

Randidly pressed harder with his will, and a second hand sprang into existence. Grunting, Randidly pushed even further, conjuring a long, thin trunk of roots that spiraled upwards, raising the hands to chest height, splitting and forming two arms.

Sweat dripping off of his brow, Randidly pressed a little forward, and two roots sprang from the ground and spiraled upwards, ever so slowly. They rotated around each other, closely bound, winding even tighter. Randidly breathed carefully, afraid to spoil the spell. Maintaining the hands, the torso, and this new object of roots, all at once…

To say nothing of the mana expenditure, which was quite significant, his attention, divided between so many different roots in so many different shapes… was quite stretched maintaining it all.

But finally, the spiral had reached a height of 7 feet, and the two hands reached forward, grasping the spear of roots, hefting it, raising it. Eyes glowing, Randidly felt the connection between himself and the strange root avatar, more than just the fact that he was maintaining it with his mana.

So he closed his eyes, focusing on it, and he realized that it was feeding him a small bit of information, a small fraction of tactile sensation. Although it was faint, he could feel the root spear in his hands. So he gripped it.

Then he thrust it forward, instinctively aiming for a Phantom Thrust. The spear cut quickly through the air, but it felt oddly… clumsy. Frowning, Randidly opened his eyes. All at once, the strain of maintaining the avatar overwhelmed him, and the roots started to bulge and twist, straying from the desired shape.

Snorting, Randidly crushed the resistance, forcing the roots back into line, and then drank a mana potion. He would need more mana to maintain this. Then he produced his small training spear, and closed his eyes.