Mihila wasn’t done with the criticism.
“Your skill with the spear is subpar. You are a mana entity and you have yet to reach the second step. You are just average among mana entities. Above average have mastered the second step. Geniuses have mastered the third step. Stop being a brute with momentum. You can harness momentum but it isn’t enough. So you have to think.”
Kayla groaned as she stood up. Her body ached from all the beatings. A kindness. Some bruises and cuts weren’t healing fast enough because of the lock on mana in the room. She had improved. She was faster, her eyes better and her wits sharper. Improvements due to kindness showed to her by Mihila. But they aren’t significant improvements. She hasn’t been able to land a single blow on Mihila throughout the entire time that she has been training.
“You must think. Use that spirit core in your soul space to think. That’s what it is for. Think before you act. Not everything is momentum. Every action must be a cog or a wheel in a greater machine, for a greater purpose. The aim is to outwit your opponent. Stand up. Again.”
It is all a kindness but she couldn’t help but groan. She could stand up but she didn’t want to. Not with the promise of pain waiting for her. But what could happen that will get her out of this?
“Don’t delay. Stand up.” Mihila barked at her and Kayla stood up immediately.
Mihila might have voluntarily shackled all her connection to the world but her inherent power still scares Kayla.
“You just have to acquire Seamless. That’s all. Then you will surely get into a good school. I am lacking as a teacher so you need to get to a better school. Prepare yourself.”
Kayla prepared herself mentally and physically by assuming her stance.
“Now watch out for my attack.”
Mihila thrusts with her spear and yet again, her form is skewed. Her body is not behaving like how a normal body should behave. The weight distribution, posture, and center of gravity are all wrong.
A normal thrust should make the person lean or move forward. But Mihila just stands there and extends her spear forward. Kayla knows that it is how transcendents fight. They can shift the weight of their body and their center of gravity as they choose but she hasn’t been able to get the hang of it. It makes predicting their moves dangerous and erroneous.
The signals and tells of Mihila’s body don’t help Kayla in predicting the attack. Now she doesn’t know if that attack is a serious one or a feint. The worst part is that even if it is either, Mihila can transform it into another. That means she must have to prepare for both eventualities. She has to plan ahead and it is difficult to do when you know you’re going to fail.
‘Mana entities are not meant to fight transcendents.’ She thought to herself as she assumes a defensive stance.
A defensive stance shouldn’t go wrong, right? That’s only if you defend well.
Mihila’s spear is moving at a slow speed and a straight line in Kayla’s vision. Kayla’s spear makes contact with the thrust. The attack is supposed to be deflected but it turns out the attack is a feint. The spear is deflected but it absorbs the momentum and speeds up, as a flame doused with fuel. Thankfully she is prepared and her spear targets Mihila’s hand gripping the spear.
If you can’t beat them, join them. If she doesn’t know how to think ahead, then copy Mihila and learn from her. So what will Mihila do now to counter her own trick?
“Foolish.”
Mihila’s spear which is about to bypass her defense suddenly jerks sideways and slaps Kayla’s hand. Her spear might not have reached Kayla’s chest yet, but it is too close to her arm. Kayla’s spear is knocked out of her hand and this time her arm is broken. She is beaten to the ground in moments.
Mihila started to berate her. “What do you do when you’re outclassed by an opponent stronger and faster than you? Anything, but you must not have a direct confrontation. If there is a direct confrontation, make it a feint. Be prepared to fail and that means having a plan for when what you’re doing doesn’t work.”
“You were so obvious with that attack. Being obvious is not a sin, being invested is. You can make an obvious move and it will be a feint if you are not invested in a short-term benefit. You could have forced me to move my hand through that attack if it was a feint. Instead, you were invested in it and waiting for me to act. That’s just foolish”
“You don’t just wait for an opponent to act, you must limit their options so that it becomes predictable. There are too many outcomes to predict at your level, so you must limit them and prepare to counter them. You didn’t limit my options, you even prepared an easy out for me.”
Kayla to her credit didn’t cry even though she felt like it. She felt physical and emotional pain but she remained mute.
“Stop fighting like a child and start thinking like an adult. Start planning. It is foolishness to attack someone’s hand while yours is unprotected. What were you thinking? You could have angled that attack so that I had to change my trajectory but that would leave me open to your thrust. That thrust will have been the real attack disguised as an aim for my hand. We are done for now.”
Mihila deactivated the array and the mana in the room became agitated once again. Most of it flocked to Mihila like chicks to their mother. But some trickled to Kayla. She is a mana entity, after all, she deserves some attention from mana, no matter how little. That can change if Mihila instructs the ambient mana to stay clear of Kayla.
Kayla’s hand began to knit itself back together due to the assistance of external mana. The cells of the body become capable of greater things when they embrace mana. It is like they are stunted before but now they flourish in the presence of mana.
“We are done for now. Heal yourself and start the spear dance.”
Kayla nodded. It might be tiring but the spear dance is better than a spar with Kayla. Mihila watched as Kayla struggled and smiled. It is not an easy thing for those without bloodlines to acquire skills. They have them and only themselves to rely on. They must work hard and struggle. What they are doing might take years or it could be tomorrow but it will depend on Kayla.
Those with bloodlines won’t have as much trouble with skill acquisition. Their talents aside, it is a certainty that they will learn particular skills. While those without bloodlines rely on themselves, those with one are remembering skills and abilities long forgotten. It will take time but they will surely remember.
‘How’s Soverick doing?’
The thought of hard work and struggling made her remember Soverick. Of the three of her children, she is more worried about Soverick. He has high intelligence and monstrous elemental affinity but he doesn’t have forebears that could have shown him the way. He is alone in his path with no ancestor to help him.
Mihila had to struggle too in the past. She didn’t use a spear though. She wielded a two-handed sword with a single hand with her monstrous strength and a shield with the other hand. She was hailed as the impassable wall and it was her path. A path based on the law of earth as the foundation to create an impassable bulwark, but it is all gone now. Her bloodline took it from her and gave her something unwieldable.
A notification called for her attention as she was deep in thought. She accessed her communication tablet. A revolutionary product really. It made people more connected than ever before. Goods and services could be acquired at the touch of a button. And she didn’t have to receive messages immediately, a voice or text mail will preserve her messages for when she is opportune to look at them. She checked it anyway and found out it was information about Soverick from the battle academy.
“Oh no. What has he done now? It isn’t even a year yet.” She muttered in exasperation.
She hadn’t checked in with their progress because they had only been gone for a short while. It hadn’t even been 5 years yet. She planned to check in every 5 years or 3 years depending on her mood. She was sure Soverick would have caused trouble but she didn’t expect it to be so soon.
As she continued to read on, her face changed from relief to disbelief and then to a look of incredulity. Her expression would have stopped in disbelief if they had said that Soverick destroyed the battle academy. But this?
“This is just crazy. Is someone trying to pull a prank on me?” She asked out loud.