Free Web NovelChapter 10: Katana and a Sycthe [3]
Mana breathing was the way an Awakened absorbed and circulated mana inside their body, inside their core.
Yes, in my book Awakeners also had mana cores. That was where mana was stored, obviously, alongside Soul Fragments.
All the concepts Ezio was explaining to me I already knew well since I was the creator, but being able to put them into practice was another matter entirely.
It was just like knowing every movement needed to swim in a pool but never having been in one before.
I sat on the floor with my legs crossed and eyes closed while Ezio pressed his hand against my back, injecting his own mana.
"Be calm and patient. Memorize every bit of how I move the mana inside your body." Ezio instructed.
Something warm — mana — entered my body through Ezio’s hand and flowed throughout me like a living river. It first moved towards my abdomen where my core was, then upwards towards my arms. I could feel it reaching all the way to my fingertips. Afterwards it moved to my head, came down to my chest, then to my legs, and finally returned to my core.
"You have quite a large core." Ezio sounded surprised from behind me. "Now that I have shown you how it’s done, try it on your own. Think of it like breathing in and breathing out."
I did as instructed and drew the mana in the air into my body. Once it was inside, I imitated the way Ezio had moved it through each part of me. I guided it into my core, then released it outward through my body, moving it to every single part. Wherever the mana passed, I felt my strength rise.
Then I moved it back to my core and repeated the process a few more times to get used to it.
I opened my eyes and turned my head to the side. "Done."
"You grasped it quickly." Ezio raised an eyebrow.
"It wasn’t difficult at all."
"Then let’s move to the next part: mana control."
"You have already pushed your body almost to its limit back when you were still a mundane human. But now that you are no longer useless, I want you to run 20 laps around the room without using mana." Ezio stood up and smirked.
Twenty laps? This guy was crazy.
"Are you sure twenty laps is really necessary? Why not ten?"
He shook his head. "Nope. You asked me to train you, so you follow everything I say."
"Mandem thinks my legs are robotic or something..." I muttered.
"What the hell is mandem?" Ezio asked in confusion.
I didn’t reply and started running. I kept my breathing steady and calm so I wouldn’t exhaust myself too fast and held a reasonable pace.
At the corner of my eye, I saw Ezio running alongside me.
I spared him a glance. "I thought I was the only one running?"
Ezio didn’t look at me and kept his head forward. "Just try to keep up."
He suddenly picked up his pace and went past me.
I smiled and increased mine as well, chasing after him.
Hours went by as we ran around the room, and throughout the laps Ezio instructed me to enhance specific parts of my body with precise quantities of mana. It was to train me to control mana without wasting it.
At first I sometimes infused too much into my limbs and other times too little. But as time passed, my control and accuracy improved at such a rapid rate that eventually I could no longer feel any mana going to waste.
After a few more hours, I finally completed all 20 laps.
Huff. Huff.
I threw my sweaty body to the floor, chest heaving up and down while my heart hammered against my ribcage.
God, I was exhausted.
Every part of my body hurt — my joints, my muscles, everything that made up a human body.
Not even on my hardest workout days in real life had I ever felt this tired.
Ezio had truly pushed me to my limits.
As I lay there cycling through every curse word I knew — please, kids, cursing is bad — Ezio’s shadow fell across my face.
I looked up at his smiling face.
"Why are you smiling?"
He shrugged.
"Nothing. I’m just hungry. Hurry up and call the maids to bring lunch, it’s already afternoon."
I rolled my eyes.
The bastard didn’t even look tired after all those laps. Not a single drop of sweat on him.
Which made me wonder just how strong this guy was. I knew the strength of the other guardians since I had created them, but not Ezio’s since he was an unknown variable.
Still, I could already make some rough assumptions.
He was probably weaker than the other guardians since they were older, and he looked to be in his late twenties at most.
"Give me a moment." I raised a shaky hand.
I only pushed myself up once I had absorbed enough mana to walk.
When I did, I stepped out and spoke to one of the knights standing guard at the door, who was startled since I hadn’t come through it. I ordered him to have the maids prepare food for ten people.
After 45 minutes, the maids arrived with the food I had requested, set up a table for me and Ezio, then left after a few hesitant glances at him.
"You are scaring the ladies." I said as I ate a hot potato.
"Wuat?!" His words came out wrong since his mouth was stuffed with food.
"Tsk. Grown man with no manners." I clicked my tongue and took another bite.
"How am I scaring the ladies?" He asked after swallowing.
"Because you look like a vampire. Have you seen how pale your skin is? You look like someone dug you out of a graveyard." I pointed at his skin.
"You are no better. You are pale as well." He pointed a fork at me.
I touched my chin with my right hand and said, "Yes, my skin is pale, but at least it is porcelain and not ugly like yours."
Ezio gasped.
His mouth fell wide open and a chunk of potato dropped out.
"That is absurd!" He protested. "Have you seen my jawline? My beautiful obsidian eyes?!"
"Why would I be looking at your jawline? I don’t swing that way. And if you do, I don’t want your life anymore."
"You... you..." Ezio’s shoulders trembled and his face went red as a tomato.
It seemed I had struck a nerve.
For a moment I almost thought he was going to curse at me, but his anger vanished as quickly as it had come. freewebnøvel.coɱ
The hell?
"Phew." Ezio took a deep breath and turned back to his meal.
"If it wasn’t for that damned contract..." he muttered.
I tried to keep firing insults at him but he didn’t budge and ignored me completely.
"Ah, I almost forgot." Ezio’s eyes moved from his plate to me.
"I plan to use a second weapon."
"What?" Ezio stopped eating. "Why would you want a second weapon? Is it a katana?"
"Well, partly because I just want to, but also because it would be good for long-range attacks. And no, it’s not a katana. It’s a scythe."
Ever since I was young, katanas and scythes had always caught my eye. The scythe especially — it has such a great design. If I had taken over someone else’s body instead of Yves’s, I would have chosen a scythe over a katana without a second thought.
Shout out to Soul Eater.
"You know how impractical a scythe is in combat, right?" Ezio said.
"Yeah, especially at close range. But as long as I don’t let the enemy get close, I’ll be fine. And if I master it, I’ll be terrifying." I drank from my cup of lemon juice.
"Then how are you planning to learn it? I only know the katana, not a scythe. And your family wields swords, not scythes."
I pulled the cup from my lips and smacked them, a gesture that made Ezio’s face scrunch in displeasure.
"It’s simple, really. There is a certain monster that will help me train with the scythe." I smiled. "That’s why I need you to take me into the forest in two weeks."
