Chapter 443: Zamia's training continues
After taking a minute to recompose, Eldrian finally stop up and told Ceph that they should try again. Nervous, Ceph made his way so that they would have 15 meters separating them.
"Are you sure?" Cephaphyr asked, afraid of injuring Eldrian again.
"Yes," Eldrian smiled in reply as he quickly threw on his chestplate at the very least. This time he planned to rather focus on dodging if he could. So when he shouted start he watched Cephaphyr carefully.
After a few seconds, Ceph asked, "Aren't you going to summon a shield again?"
"No," Eldrian replied while sending a fireball at the little elf. It felt wrong just doing so, but he realized he wouldn't be able to do anything to him even if he went all out. If somehow Ceph was unable to react, then his parent would naturally interfere.
However, Cephaphyr easily countered the fire with a massive stream of water. Before having needles form from the stream and all aim at Eldrian. Seeing them come, Eldrian quickly cast a wind storm (Ischyros Anemos Tier 3 version: Thyella Anemos) to try and send these needles flying or at the very least scatter the water they were made of.
This worked, for about half of the needles. The others made it to him with ease and soon he felt like a porcupine. Cephaphyr immediately stopped casting when he realized he had hurt Eldrian again, rushing forward he started healing him again while again feeling terrible. Constantly apologizing.
'Clearly, the aim isn't to have me and Ceph train the same thing.' Eldrian realized at this point, there was no way that Zamia and Agamemas were unaware of the massive difference between the two. It was also now very clear, yet they weren't stepping in to stop them.
'This is truly dangerous for me, they likely want to force me to my limit. While they likely wish to teach Ceph some restraint.' Eldrian thought, unaware that Agamemas was constantly instructing Cephaphyr of exactly this.
'There is no need to have summons so much water for such a small fireball. Even half would have been too much. As for the needles, it is good you didn't aim for his vitals, but in a true battle you must never give an enemy a second chance.'
This repeated until sundown, with Eldrian unable to move thanks to not just mana exhaustion but also having been hurt and healed repeatedly. Even as a player, the amount of damage he had taken had tired his avatar beyond anything he had experienced before.
This training continued for another week.
By the end of this week Eldrian was able to at least not lose thanks to Ceph's first spell, however, the second or third often had him at his wit's end. Even with Cephaphyr having learned to control his spells to inflict minimal damage, Eldrian still felt helpless.
"Right, that is enough of that for now," Zamia said, stepping forward and summoning some water to clean the grass of the blood that was staining it. Today's was much less, and not just because it had only been three hours.
"But, it is still morning," Eldrian said after thanking Cephaphyr for healing him again. In a way, this was also torture for the little alicorn. Every day he would end up hurting his friend because he was unable to control his own magic.
Heck, he had almost killed Eldrian a hundred times. If not for Zamia stepping in at those times Eldrian would have really died.
"It is, but we are going to change training methods. Cephaphyr has come to realize what he needs to focus on, and why."
"And me?" Eldrian asked.
"You have come to learn just how diverse magic can be. But now you shouldn't fall into the trap of not mastering a set amount of spells in set form."
"Why?" Eldrian asked, feeling that the ability to change a spell at will was simply omnipotent.
"Because it slows your casting and reaction time. The amount of focus needed to have a spell take on the form of a thought, versus a prepared spell, is fastly different. You should have realized this already, just think of how quick you used to cast versus now."
Only when she highlighted it did Eldrian realize it. Frost Needle used to take him less than a thought, but now it took him nearly a breath's time. Pausing, he looked to the side and instead of imagining the icicle as precisely as his new method required, he just pumped in mana and thought of the spell as before.
As soon as the thought formed, an icicle the size of his arm formed and flew into the trees. Eldrian smiled seeing this, "I see what you mean."
At this point, he had no idea why he hadn't received a new system notification. He had assumed he would get one when he managed to learn dynamic magic, and he felt he had. But, he had yet to receive any notification. 'Is it... What am I missing?'
"Enough of magic, your next training is going to be trying to cast while I pressure you."
Hearing this, Eldrian's heart skipped a beat. "You-you?" He asked in disbelief.
"Yes, don't worry, I will only pressure you enough to place you under stress. The aim of this training is to have you still be able to cast spells even when you have just a thought or two to act."
Nodding, Eldrian got ready.
This training was far worse than against Cephaphyr. The little alicorn didn't know how to control his magic, resulting in Eldrian nearly always ending up hurt. But that also allowed Eldrian some rest.
Zamia, instead, could perfectly control herself. She charged at Eldrian just fast enough to have his mind scramble. Hit him just hard enough to have it register and be painful, but not do much damage.
She would even go so far as to heal and rejuvenate him during the battle, causing each fight to last not just a minute or two, but half an hour or even some times an entire hour.
...
Crawling out of the cabin, Eldrian felt completely drained. He had never felt so tired before, yet his stomach was also growling so much that sleep didn't even enter his mind. Instead, he just laid there and tried to gather his breathing.
"How-why? Am I so tired?" He mumbled through gasps as he finally managed to climb to his feet. On unsteady feet, he moved to the cafeteria to get something to eat. Dreading tomorrow if it was going to be the same.
Against Old Sword he had felt like the man could read the future and knew all he might attempt. Against Zamia, it felt like she didn't just know what he would attempt. But she would even allow him to attempt it, only to easily brush away his efforts with a quick punch or kick.
Leaving him not only injured and without success, but also reeling from the shock of having his control over his spell and mana destroyed. Her attacks were aimed so precisely that it would always break his concentration at the key moment.
This, this was by far the worst part. And far worse than any other training he had ever received.
Yet, Eldrian wasn't unhappy. While it was shit and felt like hell, he had quickly realized how important getting over this was. How much stronger he grew with each fight if he managed to last to the end.
{AN: A big thanks to everyone who continues to support this novel on WN. Let's see if we can break the top 100!}
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