-Chapter: 10 A sword

++ [Tina’s Perspective] ++

After I got separated from my other body, Karu sister lead me to an open place just near outside the forest.

Well, unlike Sharon sister.
Karu brought a lot of things in a bag unimaginable for her size.

Just how strong are they?
I kind of want to know.

“So let’s start the training first, go hold this and swing it for a 100 times”

“Ok”

She handed me a sword, a wooden but heavy sword.
Seriously, just how heavy is this? I can’t even lift it properly.
But, oh well. Let’s just use the affinity system.

Then after that, let’s swing it slowly.
1… 2…. 3… 4… Hah~ it’s heavy!
If I swing it from the back of my head to feet, lifting it back up is the hard part.
Just the weight of this thing is enough to tilt my balance.

“Are you having a hard time swinging? Don’t add force when you swing, just let the gravity and momentum take over.”

“Thanks”

Let it fall by itself… the weight of this thing is enough to at least break a brick.
Maybe if I use her method then maybe…..
Let’s just try it out.

First, lift it up above my head.
Hold the handle with both hands, use my hips and back to move it.
Then, Swing!!!

*Swish!*

Eh? It worked! At least the part where I had to swing it.
Not the part where I try to lift it back again.

“Wow, just wow. No one can perform that trick in their first time, even me which took 3 months to perfect my posture and swing. But to that degree, you just swung it normally just like nothing”

“Ok…?”

“Fufu, then here. Forget the 100 swings, let me just teach you how to block and attack”

“Ok”

Karu sister then brought out a wooden sword stored at one of her bags containing all kinds of weapons.
Just how? How can you even lift that?

“Get ready, I know that you are new to this but I need to know more of you… you, As the sister of apple, I guess you have some strength too.”

“What’s with Sister?”

“Your sister is the top 1 in combat ability. Well, I’ve also heard that your parents are some big shots, didn’t you notice? Your parents are strong”

“Yes, I noticed... So …?”

“I don’t know who are they, but I don’t care either way, just as long as we can have fun”

“Ok?”

“Then try doing a simple defense pose, like this”

She then bent her legs downward and lowered her posture.
Shifting her weight to her front, and then positioning the wooden sword at her side.
A sharp glare can be felt.

“This is how it should be, be Serious because one wrong move can be fatal”

“Yes!”

Even though it just looks dumb from the outside perspective, it is surprisingly Direct and serious.
This is a professional, at my standards.

“Now go and copy that, I’ll be doing a straight attack. Go and predict which side I’m attacking. Don’t worry it won’t be that hard”

While doing a thumbs up and smiling while holding the sword at her side.
She then moves slowly and watches over me.

Well, she said that I predict her movements then why not just do it at the last second she attacks?
I mean there is a risk in doing so, but the chance of attack will be a hundred percent.

Then suddenly, Karu moves at high speeds but unlike my parents who move more faster than her.
She lifts her sword at the top of her head and dashes faster.

Eh? Wait! Wa-wa-wait! That’s just too fast!
Eh… What do I do!?

The distance between me and Karu reduces the second passes by, and of course, the accelerating Karu never stops.

Ah! …. Left or Right…. Damn! At this moment the calculation skill would be the most efficient choice right now.
GAH! Don’t panic... me, Watch her movements slowly and predict her attack.

Karu then moves sideways in a jump step, doing a zigzag. The sword is now in a thrust position, just below her stomach.
After that, she jumps up and the sword disappears along with the strong sun rays just above her.

Huh… How can I see that? I’m still a beginner at this and just suddenly out of nowhere, somebody just goes to hermit mode.
Just the only styles I know is the thing she just thought me and some handy anime reference. Not very helpful.

“I guess I can’t still go hard on you huh?”

Karu then reappears near a boulder just beside the road.
She moves silently and fast, without minding the panicking Tina.

Eh? Where? Ahhhh….
no choice, let’s just use the barrier magic.
[Barrier magic: Exploration style]

The magic of Tina expands and weaves itself, afterward a dome of weaved magic threads formed. The barrier magic then expands of about a radius of 5meters in diameter with Tina in the middle.

I guess you can’t hide from me now huh? Haha!
Not really, unlike her which uses pure swordsmanship styles, I use the help of magic.

I know that this isn’t right, but if I try to concentrate more and use the skills available at my aid then maybe I can find her.

The Smell of the grasslands just away, the Sounds of the birds twirling, the feeling of the soft breeze.

Just if any of these proves useful then I don’t care.
as long as I can survive this… maybe.

“you lose… Want to try again?”

“eh? Wait, when!? Where? Ehhh!!”

A Sword is pointed at Tina’s neck, the unguarded tina remains stunned.

Wait... I'm sure that I didn’t detect anything with my exploration magic.. well its only limited to magic sensing so maybe….
eh? Then… just how?

“you lose. So do you want to try again?”

“please explain!?”

“ah, that’s boring. Meh~ just do some swings as punishment”

“Why!?”

“because you lost”

“uuuu~”

 

Karu then hands tina a Metal blunt sword, it is made for training and there is no visible sharpness as it is just a blunt one.
a Shiny but rusty sword made out of iron.

Why did I have to do this? Uu~ I want to hold real swords, not some training one.. other than that, why is this sword heavy! I mean it is made out of metal, but this weight is just impossible for me!

Even if I have my body back when I was still a guy, this weight would be still impossible to lift even with just two hands holding the handle.

“is it too heavy? Use physical strengthening, in expense for magic it gives you a boost in physical power”

“umm, how do I do that sister Karu?”

“try and make your mana flow inside your body, try to also cover parts that are important like this”

Karu’s feet glow a blue color slightly and return to its normal color. She then demonstrates her strength by kicking the nearby boulder just beside the roads going to the town.

“This is how it is done, now go try to do that too”

“umm, you didn’t mentioned on how I actually do that?”

“ah, yes... Well, every school has its own method of physical strengthening, some are relying on skills and some are relying on magic control like me. “

“Ok”

“so I'm teaching you the Magical Strenghting style. Go and memorize this formula then wear this ring to convert mana to magic so that the formula will work”

She then handed me a silver ring with magic inscriptions, it seems oddly familiar with the wand from kris’s Side. The Inscriptions and methods on how to convert mana to magic are also written, but the efficiency and Mana consumption is just terrible, not from that of a total mana conversion.

But wait, now that I mentioned it. The wand is also not a 100% mana conversion tool but at 70% conversion. If I compare on how I convert mana to the magic tools, I convert exactly 100% of the mana I use to magic.

Not to brag but, the mana is just wasted off.

“Is this for me?”

“ah yes, I’ll give it to you it just takes up my space. And just use it as an investment I made for you in the future”

Ah, of course, the world isn’t so kind as to give out a working magic tool for free, but if I use this then unlike with kris which I didn’t used the wand. I won't be found out, yet.

Karu then writes something at the ground using the wooden sword that was still attached to her waist. A magic formula, just like that other side’s but this one is different, the symbols used here aren’t like the one I used there.

Karu then writes another set of words that is understandable.

Well, how should I put this.. isn’t children at this age cant read right? I mean, we are basing the facts I learned from the side of kris.

“um. What does it mean?”

While im pointing my finger at the ground written with Formulas and Words, and by tilting my head a little at the side to show the incomprehensiveness ability of a child.

“yeah, I forgot. Then I’ll say it,

⨇ - is to circulate the power
⩆ - is to contain the mana
⩁ - is to Convert the mana
⩍ - is to control the power output

Do you get it?”

“yes”

“the ring has an automatic auxiliary function, it is able to convert mana to magic without pouring anything to it, just that if one part of your body is mana less then that’ll also mean something bad”

“so do I need to learn to flow magic then?”

“you can, but you’ll need Sharon's guidance for that or your twin sister, Kris, maybe she already learned it right?”

“ok”

“so try and construct the formula in your mind, beware though. Because of the auxiliary function of the ring, when you finish building your formula, it’ll be un-reversible.”

“ok”

“go and try it”

As she said, I then started first memorizing the new symbols and comparing the formula built by Sharon, I’ll try to make it efficient.
hey, I'm not cheating, I'm directly manipulating the formula this way.

By changing the power output to a limited one, let's base the valve style.
so when pouring lots of amounts of mana, it will not go haywire and eventually leak mana due to the limit specified by the given formula.

This way I can just adjust it by adjusting the flow of mana going to each part of the bodies. Unlike the formula which has specified parts like arms or legs, with this formula which I directly changed with the magic formula I can just pour mana in parts directly without ever always changing the formula.

Then the ring is neglected for now, but for suspicion, I tried to use the ring.
well, due to the privileges stage 7, I can directly tamper with inscriptions whether it is Ancient or Magic tools of any era. Just that I must know what it means.

“ok I know it, can I try it now?”

“yes you can”

With that, I formed the efficient formula I made and used the ring to convert mana instead.

And just by creating the formula by mind, I try to pour mana to the ring. The ring’s inscriptions float and revolves around the ring, then the mana converted to magic then goes to the specified places by the formula.

I'm not controlling the magic, but instead, I programmed it to go to the places I like. If I did neglect the fact that I didn’t ‘write’ the magic formula as given, the suspicion might be seen.

But nevertheless, I’ve only increased the efficiency two-fold.
then, by pouring little amounts of mana to the ring, the ring converts and spreads the magic inside of my body.

Unlike the wand which spreads it outside, the ring seems to spread the converted magic inside of the body.

“that’s looking good, now steadily move your feet and see the difference”

“ok”

The formula I applied this to is in my legs, as it was written in the ground. The light shines a little bit in my feet for a sec there and vanished afterward.

I tried moving a little bit forward to see the effects of the physical enchantment and found out that the output of my fragile legs increased a little. The amount of magic converted is now less because I'm directly controlling the flow of mana to the ring.

“it seems to be working better than before, is it because of your mana? “

“Maybe”

“I kind of more or less care but the mana quality affects the magic formula greatly when cast, I only know a couple high graded ones that will work out for people with ridiculously high amounts mana, I think that will work out for you as well”

“ok”

The training continued until I was approached by Vivi and Albert along with Kris, who was supposed to be in suspended animation.

Let's take a break~