Hi dear readers!

I'm planning to re-edit the early chapters; with no plot changes, just wording and a bit explaining. And I'll be writing some extra dialogs, as well. I noticed that in some chapters there are too few of them.

Anyway, now enjoy this chapter!

 

Two people were present at a foothill of the Crescent Ridge, where it would take no more than an hour of stroll to get to the main gates of the Atten city. One of them was a renowned warrior throughout this area of the country, whose name was Kiria, also known as the wandering warrior. She was standing still and watching the surroundings.

The second person, who was in the form of a seventeen-year-old girl, was lying on the snowy ground and struggling to fully regulate his breathing.

Felix had just collapsed under the pressure of relentless attacks of his master. There could have been bruises on his body if his sparring partner hadn’t aimed for softer parts of his delicate frame. Still, his limbs were aching from overexerting his slender muscles.

At first, Kiria had kept her movements in a defensive line, only shoving or pushing the trainee, only occasionally tripping the inexperienced apprentice in martial arts. She had displayed and proved how much pitiful the shapeshifter’s knack of combat fitness was.

Then the next phase of the training began.

Felix had to gather up his shattered dignity, which had been caused by him trying to land a single hit to the warrior woman, and failing nonstop, receiving tenfold of counterattacks in return. Good thing his master wasn’t being overly harsh, nor utilizing any strengthening techniques.

“Enough time resting. Stand up,” Kiria commanded, looking down indifferently at her disciple’s poor state. “Now you fight with mana in your channels.”

Felix groaned. With mana surging through their limbs, his master obviously wouldn’t go easy on him this time. After all, the consequences would not be lasting in an enhanced physique.

His feminine body was going to see some more blemishes after this spar, when his first and last wound had finally healed up. It was taken care of at the previous day’s prolonged bath time.

“Is there any… mistakes in my fighting, master?” Felix asked as he propped his tired and battered frame from the ground, still slightly panting.

He was not a total clueless dummy when it came to fighting. To be beaten up this badly was not a satisfying outset for his first time training session. Being overpowered to this extend shouldn’t have been possible either, no matter how it was looked. Maybe there were hidden techniques to avoid upcoming strikes, or some sort of magical skills to read an opponent’s movements in advance.

Kiria didn’t seem to be using any mana, considering the warrior’s every move was rather ordinary. It could be even said she was slower than Felix was. But he didn’t stand a chance to inflict a single successful hit throughout the entire spar.

“You are slow, untrained,” Kiria pointed out. “It’s clear you haven’t been in many fights. You defeating the second stage warrior was because you have enormous mana pool, the monster instincts must have greatly influenced your attacks, as well. I admit you have a technique and some talent for combat. But that’s all. An unpolished skill with no training is worth for nothing.”

These were some harsh words to say, but Felix preferred spicy truth anyway. Maybe it would be a fuel to force him to refine his battle rusty mind.

Taking into account his form was ever changeable, he believed there would crop up situations that he would have to alter his appearance many more times. He would not remain in this form too long.

What he had to prioritize was his mindset. To imprint the toughness of combat and adapt his mind to this world’s common concepts were his main objectives. It was the reason he became an apprentice to the warrior.

After acclimatizing to this world to the level Felix would have no trouble exploring new areas, he would be able to immerse himself wholly to finding a way home. Until then, surviving while enjoying some marvels of this continent didn’t sound like a bad idea, under the care and protection of this magic warrior, of course.

“How wide is it between the stages of mana masteries?” Felix asked, getting out of his pondering.

“Wider than you think.”

Well, this much was expected, considering very few warriors he had seen so far could be called extremely strong as the person standing with him.

Kiria’s overall bearing, her gait, and her every movement was so refined if someone from Earth saw her fight, they might think she was an artificially made super soldier, cyborg or something. She stood on the ground as if her feet were cemented, but when she walked, every step was taken by her own will, and the earth seemed to be obeying that will. She was so perfect at controlling her body.

“So… what stage are you on?” It couldn’t be a secret, right?

“Second, peak.”

“I see. And… Can I ask your age?”

Kiria gave him a faint questioning gaze. “Twenty-six,” she replied.

”That’s good.” His assumption was around the same. “I mean, you read my every move like a book. You must be quite experienced.”

“You’ll learn it too. Though it’s too early for you to try.”

So there was a method to predict someone’s movements. Or was it a mana control technique, used not in body parts but in a nervous system of a person’s brain?

That would be fascinating.

“Is it by mana powering the brain?” Felix let loose his curiosity.

Kiria looked at him with slightly frowning eyes, not looking to have understood his phrasing. After all, he had been attempting to speak fluently in this country’s language by imitating the locals. Perhaps he had been demonstrating his rusty language skills all this time, he couldn’t tell.

“I meant, do things look slower when you fight in such high speed? You were so fast when you were fighting those five men,” Felix clarified.

“Oh, you mean that.” She chuckled, shaking her head. “All right, listen. The reason I can predict your attacks so easily is that I have specifically trained my body and mind. I can anticipate my opponent’s every possible move. No mana used.”

Felix tilted his head, puzzled by such a simple method.

“How much do you think a battle lasts in a real duel?” his master resumed.

Felix contemplated the question, not responding for a full minute. If things were so uncomplicated, wasn’t the entire combat system of this world based somehow on luck?

No, it couldn’t be that unreasonable.

He glanced at his master, who was still waiting for a reply. “Ten seconds or so?” he answered.

“Correct. Duration of a battle is too short because we move very fast,” Kiria stated. “Only by intense training and going through thousands of mock battles, will you be able to read your opponent’s moves to a certain extent. You have to watch the stance of your enemy, every indistinct twitch they make, in order to anticipate their next attack’s aim.”

“But most importantly, you must be aware the whole structure and posture you are showing to your opponent. It gives hints of your next strike, along with your weak spots an enemy can leverage. So by knowing yourself completely, you can take control of the course of battle to some degree, as I did back then. Is it clear?”

Felix kept his mouth shut. Whether his master was trying to impress or warn her disciple, it was clear that to reach this proficiency, a warrior would be required a crazy amount of time of practice and training. Perhaps mana would help along the way, but experience seemed the utmost priority at this field.

This calmed down Felix’s curious spirit a little, and forced down his enthusiasm together with it.

“I shouldn’t have said all of that at the start.” Kiria’s muttering was vague, barely audible. Many had said he was the wandering warrior’s first disciple. Maybe she was struggling to explain things because it was a first for her too.

“Look, listen,” Kiria spoke up with a serious tone. “This all sound very hard at the beginning. So you should put your aim to the future first, but focus on now while training, on your current advancement. Understood?”

Felix nodded half absentmindedly, trying to rekindle her zeal for learning, for experiencing new things, for new feelings, and for the passion and thrill in battle…

Okay, I can do this. He tried to assure himself.

Steeling his determination and taking deep breaths, Felix prepared to enhance his physique. In less than half a minute, the visible smooth skin of his feminine body, which was peeking through the uncovered parts of her new robe, started to glimmer faintly. It was a sign the body was becoming sturdy. If not looked attentively or touched directly, no one could tell the mana powered state a person was in.

Cold became a little more bearable, and his muscles began responding readily to his every upcoming thought. It was as if they were heartily anticipating his every move. Any restraints felt nonexistent, whether caused by the outfit or by the minor denseness of the air.

This sensation was truly addictive. Fighting without the use of mana was like going into a war with no weapon. Felix had felt significantly vulnerable during the first seconds of the spar they had. He had felt… so mortal.

But now, he was again super powered, ready for any clash.

“Come at me,” Kiria shouted at her disciple, signaling him to start the mock battle.

So he moved.

The shapeshifter bolted toward the warrior, his fist ready to launch a strike to the chest. He saw the woman was preparing to dodge to her right, halting briefly with her step. It must be a feigned move.

Felix quickly put more attention on her right side, where the warrior might change her last direction. However, it turned out to be a skillful body maneuver, a nicely performed feint.

She continued her path on her right, suddenly grasping Felix’s arm’s on the way. Felix attempted to get released by force, but this force was instantly taken advantage. Kiria threw him toward a nearby tree trunk, which was four to five meters away.

Felix’s back banged onto the wood. He grunted, not from the impact though, from annoyance. He again felt like a child playing with an adult for a second time on this day.

He stood up, not caring to the state of his martial uniform, and dove back into the mock battle again.

This time, he kept the distance closer, not making any abrupt long distance movements. Punches upon punches buffeted down on the female warrior by his almost blurring fists. None of them was landing successfully, failing to damage an ounce of her skin.

Kiria deflected, dodged, stepped away when he intended for a weighty punch. Even kicks that provided longer strike range were useless. Felix didn’t dare aim higher; he knew the aftermath of his leg being caught would not be a laughing matter.

As the mock battle continued, the shapeshifter ran low in patience, and attempted wider swings of arm strikes, which then ended for him to be hurled away for at least half a dozen meters. Kiria introduced him with the snowy surface of earth a few times by slamming his body mightily on the ground.

The woman appeared to be a skilled wrestler. It wouldn’t end well to be grabbed by this kind of opponent in a real battle, especially if the one you were confronting could display a strength level that could defy a professional heavy weight lifter.

Felix went to a close combat range once more. His goal this time would require some light tricks, so receiving some hefty punches to non-bruisable spots were expected. Fortunately, Kiria wasn’t aiming to leave lasting damages from the start. Bruises would fade away completely with a single shapeshifting, anyway, so Felix didn’t worry too much of it.

He directed straight punches on Kiria’s chest and stomach, not with full power, which were all deflected with excellent precision. Luckily, she was not fighting back that much.

Seeing his master was passively blocking the strikes, Felix rapidly stooped his feminine body forward, as he took a step back in order to show off his own grappling technique. He then dove underneath the warrior and took hold her legs in full embrace. The whole act was performed around in a tenth of a second, from the things it looked.

Finally!

Felix lifted the woman while swiftly moving his body straightly forward. He would slam this warrior to the ground for the first time.

However, when the warrior’s frame was just a half a meter above the surface of the ground, she managed to twist her body, putting her leg toward the direction she was going to be flattened in the last moment.

It was unexpectedly fast maneuver in mid height. Felix’s intention of using the woman’s heaviness to increase the impact backfired. Instead, Kiria somehow propped one leg on the ground while falling. Using Felix’s own lightweight against him, she threw his maiden body to the previous direction of the tree.

Moments later, the shapeshifter was groaning again as he looked up at the snowy land upside down, this time not just from frustration. The impact was quite perceptible to his bones.

How the hell did she do that? The warrior had reacted to his trick a little too fast.

“You…. You lied when you said things wouldn’t slow down with mana, didn’t you?” Felix accused his master as he helped himself rise. He tried to tidy up his jumbled up long hair while breathing heavily.

Kiria just laughed lightly. “I didn’t. You will be undergoing the same training schedule once we are in Chindon. Trust me, my thinking was quick, but not because of mana empowering.”

“Then what was that?”

Kiria went on to explain the training regime to exercise a person’s mind, to the way that it could help concentrate better and accelerate a person’s thinking speed. It was not a secret technique of inner mana control from what Felix understood. In fact, it was simply a meditation course that was practiced on Earth as well.

Disposing excessive thoughts during a fast-paced battle and gathering full focus on the current situation was the gist of what the warrior woman implied.

In the end, summarizing from all he had collected so far, Felix concluded this world was different from his own only because of the existence of the magical energy. A human’s intellect in this world functioned in the same speed that of the people did from Earth. Abnormal creatures existed because of mana, as well.

The tasks he had to accomplish to explore the inter dimensional magic seemed considerably simpler now. If the rules of physics, which he knew plenty well, were similar of that back on Earth, and if this could be leveraged by the interference of the magical energy, maybe there was a hope of return.

In fact, someone must have already undertaken scientific researches in the field of teleportation. His sudden appearance in a random place couldn’t have been a coincidence; it could be a failed magical experiment.

“Alright, let’s go back to the inn.” Kiria’s suggestion pulled down Felix from his contemplation.

“…Yes, master,” He replied. Addressing the woman as ‘master’ had now become a habit. It would serve him well when other people were around.

“By the way, I had told you to stay silent about your training on the road. Do you know why?”

Felix shook his head, wondering where the warrior was leading the topic by this question.

“There is also a type of inner mana users who can enhance their sensing abilities,” Kiria revealed, prompting him with her tone to pay more attention to the subject. It sounded an interesting piece of knowledge.

“They are called magic hunters. They can’t strengthen their physique as we warriors do, just their five basic senses,” she said. “That’s why I told you to keep quiet. They can see and hear distinctly what is happening around them for hundreds of meters away. If you are not sure no one is eavesdropping in your surroundings, don’t utter a word.”

Felix frowned. “From how much distance can they hear things, exactly?”

Kiria didn’t immediately reply, seemingly digging her memory for an answer. “Well, I travelled with hunters many times before. Some could pinpoint a fish in a river while standing on a mountain peak, or detect people chattering from very far distances while all I could hear was dead silence.”

Felix nodded while imprinting what his master had just said to mind. Fortunately, he had kept his mouth glued during the journey, or maybe even all the time since he was set free from that brothel.

Could their senses be as sharp as my barghest form’s? This question made his head ache in riddles. In the monster form, it was not an issue to perceive sounds of movements from miles away if he concentrated. Detecting lingering scents, also identifying whom a smell belonged to was not a problem whatsoever.

Those hunter type inner mana users should be able to receive sound waves from a few kilometers away if their senses were as powerful as his barghest form’s.

Could those magic hunters be deceiving people about the extent of their ability so others would underestimate them? He believed and hoped they couldn’t. That was a dangerous feat supposing they were succeeding.

After finishing the discussion about being cautious, the duo headed back to the city for lunch. The half a day of training was already exhausting enough for Felix to the point he wanted to spend the rest of the day in a hot bathtub.

--------------------

In a spacious chamber, which was decorated with precious looking antiques and top quality paintings, sat a man in his late sixties on an equally wide and elegant desk. A calming aroma of incense sticks were filling the atmosphere of the chamber near a window that fit to the room. Through the window, a breathtaking view of a large capital city of the Dawn Empire would entertain any watching eyes.

The man himself was holding one of the long silk scrolls on the desk, his narrowed eyes from age were slowly running through its contents. The reports they contained were as usual; breaches in the Empire borders at the North West territory and some clashes, a few caught spies in the vicinity, deserters appearing in the magicians’ troops, and of course, the never-ending squabbles of nobles within his province.

Many cases had appeared or surfaced, which were related to that vicinity, since the obligation of managing that area was handed to him. And almost as that many cases were dealt in subtlety, very few of them being disclosed to the public. Most of the citizens of the Empire preferred booming gossips over repeated rumors that had been circulating in every city of Dawn, which was of course, perfectly convenient for any ruler at the top of the authority.

Duke Jaris Sivin was one of such rulers of the Empire. His many years of loyal service had added lasting peace and prosperity to the biggest and mightiest country of the East. It would remain so for hundreds of more generations, until it became an even bigger entity in the world.

However, as every force faced challenges upon ascending to higher levels of power, the country was having issues within its ranks. They were vexing issues, which were operating together was a challenge within itself.

“Your grace, Marquees Mareed has come. He asks for permission to enter.” A woman’s soft ringing voice sounded behind the doors of the chamber, distracting him from his brief daydreaming. He must have been a little tired.

“Let him in,” the Duke said, having already expected the man’s visit.

The sound of gentle footsteps echoed in the private room when the door to the chamber was opened from the outside. The duke didn’t spare a glance to the arrived man to find out his intentions. It would only be about one thing they had been waiting to learn about.

“Your grace, I bring news concerning the envoy we had sent,” the marquees informed.

“She died?”

“Your guess is correct, your grace,” the marquees replied in a mild praising tone. “They couldn’t bring her alive since the squad and the hired mercenaries came across an unexpectedly strong resistance. They didn’t have a choice but to eliminate her.”

This much was obvious. No, this much was expected, because the person who was appointed to the whole turmoil was the man standing in front of him right now. Mareed rarely did mistakes, but the Duke had somehow anticipated the outcome.

“And we now have no clue of what exactly took place in that town, do we?” the Duke asserted.

“No, your grace.”

“I know what happened,” the Duke said plainly. “You couldn’t manipulate that whore properly, and your judgment on her was utterly flawed. You put too much confidence on yourself, didn’t observe the situation well, resulting disorder in your plan. For that, you failed completely.”

The Marquees, who was barely above thirty, was still too young to encompass every detail of circumstances. Though it didn’t mean he was talentless in the scope of politics; despite being a bastard son of a count, he had risen up through the imperial ranks faster than his peers, creating many rivals along the road.

Still, youth showed its presence in him sometimes. However, the consequences this time could be months, or even years of delay in their grand plans.

“Your grace is wise, though I was informed there was interference from another Duke’s side,” Mareed started justifying himself. “Agents say a strong second stage warrior, who could rival some of the Empire’s elite Captains, had defended the escort troop. She was together with her disciple. My guess is she could be connected to the envoy’s case.”

Duke Sivin sighed tiredly. It was evident who the said Duke was. He was among people who objected his additional authorization, and had proposed his retirement instead.

“And what of my dear spoiled nephew and that son-in-law of mine?” the Duke further inquired.

“They appear to be in the care of the town Lord in Zenet.”

Where else could those incompetents run to other than the territory under his own province? If they had conducted well what they were handed, no problem would have arisen, and even one of them would have been feasting lavishly in that barren town by now. Maybe he must have appointed the task to someone else to handle.

“All right,” the Duke said after some deliberation over the incident. “Recount everything that occurred with your delivery squad. Also, assign some people to keep an eye on that warrior and her disciple you mentioned. Find out their connection to all of this.”

“As you wish, your grace.” The Marquees bowed deeply.

Let’s find out the reason of your blunder, the Duke mused