Van was on the ground, sprawled out as he let out huge breaths of air to try and recuperate from his early bout with Ander.
After the horror incident, the two had gained quite a few levels, with Ander breaking through level 40 while Van was mid level 30. At this point, Van was reaching the same level as the former Wise Guys when they first met, proving that he was keeping up with the hard work.
Aidan was glad to see that. Van had been working hard to make up for what happened to his sister when she got kidnapped by the Red Riot. Since then, he had been pushing himself, polishing his skills and fighting style for when he went back out to level again. While that wouldn’t happen any time soon considering they were still waiting for Aidan to recover, he was using his free time to get in as much training as he could squeeze in.
Ander was much the same. His comrades Nicky and Bill were still in the city, busy dealing with the guild matters and finding jobs to help restore the city. These kinds of jobs weren’t really meant for monster killing, so Ander opted to let them do as they pleased and instead hang out with Aidan and the others for training. Aidan was more than glad for that as Ander was basically a treasure trove of sword knowledge.
Even when his fighting style was tailored specifically for himself alone, the general view of his sword play was easy to understand according to his simple logic, which proved that he was more about understanding combat through the body rather than learning through theory or study.
That worked better for Aidan as he watched the two fight, not just seeing it physically with his eyes but understanding the fight going on through their souls. He could tell when Ander decided to strike, feint, or use a technique that would give him the upper hand against the taller and sturdier Van. While that normally served to help Aidan how to fight Ander better, it instead helped him understand what the normal fighting process was for a sword fighter. The same went for Van who, upon learning how to fight better with his own style, translated to Aidan on how to handle swords in another form.
But now, watching them finish a fight just now, Aidan couldn’t hold himself back. He stood up from his crafted earth seat, leaning on the earthen prosthetic leg that looked like he was wearing a boot rather than a whole fake leg as he walked over to Ander, sweating a little but otherwise still standing.
“Ander, how about a quick match between you and me?”
Aidan asked, and he wasn’t surprised to see Ander looking at him as if he had lost his mind. He instantly looked over at the missing arm by his side and the prosthetic leg, and he of course knew that Aidan was currently going through a period of weakness.
His soul ached in pity as he replied. “I… I don’t know if that’s a good idea.”
“Trust me, I know what you mean,” Aidan said, raising his hand. He was glad that Ander cared a lot for his physical well-being, or perhaps he just didn’t want to fight with an obvious cripple. “I’m not asking for a full-fledged fight like you just had. I just want to know what my limits are with a sword...”
Hearing that, Ander quickly grew interested. “I see… you want to use your current state to better gauge how you fight with a sword.”
Aidan was taken aback. When Ander’s soul grew in anticipation and excitement at the thought, it was clear he understood what Aidan meant immediately.
“W-What do you mean?” Van quickly rose up, obviously hearing what Aidan said and started to look concerned.
“I meant that if I’m like this, when I eventually get better, it’s possible I’ll learn more on how to fight with a sword. I always used magic while fighting with a sword, and I think it’s making it difficult for me to fully grasp how to fight with one. When I’m like this, I have no choice but to really hold onto my techniques rather than use my stats, you get me?”
“Oh, I think I do,” Van nodded. “But are you really sure? Even if Ander holds himself back, won’t it be dangerous?”
“It’s not like I’m fighting against a monster that would kill me,” Aidan rolled his eyes. “If I was fighting monsters, that would be dangerous. We’re just gonna have a fun little play match with swords as the main lesson. Plus, I need at least a little exercise–watching you two go at it made me wanna get up and get busy too.”
“Yeah… I get what you mean,” Van stood up, nodding. “And I’m betting it would be better now before Haley sees and tries to nag at you.”
“Not saying she’s bad, but you get what I mean,” Aidan grinned, getting Van to fully agree with silence. “Though that’s if Ander is okay with it.”
“I am,” Ander nodded. “But let me know immediately if you can’t handle it. Haley would kill me if she found out I hurt you even if you asked for it.”
“I’ll heal myself if that’s the case,” Aidan grinned. “Nobody has to know.”
Ander and Van quickly shot a look at each other as if not believing what he said. Aidan shook his head as he pulled out a wooden sword they used for their spars from his spatial bag.
The two gave themselves a wide berth, with Ander putting himself into a battle stance. Aidan quickly got comfortable with his legs, his prosthetic one clamped to him tightly to make sure it wouldn’t fall off throughout the fight.
He closed his eyes for a moment, letting Sense Vibrations take hold of his surroundings. When everything was in place, he nodded to Ander, and the fight began.
Needless to say, the fight was barely worth watching. Aidan managed to fight well even in his hampered form, but Ander was too quick and too ferocious for him to hold back. Only having one arm was also a disadvantage, as he could have used both hands to improve his swinging speed and make more adjustments on the fly.
But it was precisely that reason why Aidan wanted to fight. He was starting to understand his own limitations, and therefore had to make adjustments on the fly as they had more spars throughout the hour. To make it fairer and more of a challenge for Ander, Aidan used Infuse to improve his physical stats, becoming stronger and faster for Ander to handle. He didn’t mind that as Aidan also needed to get used to using Infuse while fighting physically.
When the hour passed, Aidan was breathing frantically while Ander mimicked him. Finally, after a few days of watching them fight and eventually doing that spar, Aidan saw the notification of his improvement.
Skill Upgraded! Sword Proficiency (Bronze) became Sword Proficiency (Iron)!
“Yes!” Aidan cheered. “Upgraded Sword Proficiency!”
“Already?” Van said in surprise. “Didn’t it become Bronze recently?”
“It’s because I got a cheat,” Aidan admitted. “I just wanted to implant it better with that fight. Thanks for that, Ander.”
“Anything for you, boss,” Ander said, grinning back as his soul showed his genuine excitement for Aidan’s improvement. “I’m happy you improved your skill.”
“Well, now I wanna help pay you back,” Aidan said, grinning. “You’re helping me and Van out a lot with sword practice. Is there anything you want to learn from us when it comes to magic?”
“Magic?” Ander asked. “Well, I would like to improve my lightning if that’s what you're asking, but how can you do that?”
“I got an idea, but I wanna know a little more about your magic. You don’t have to explain to me what your talent does, just how you use your lightning magic.”
Ander nodded and said that he didn’t mind if Aidan knew about his talent, as it was the core part of all of his magic. Aidan completely understood that as his own talent was the same, but he kept it at the bare minimum as Ander explained how his magic worked.
Just as one expected, he could freely generate and manipulate lightning. According to him, he would spend mana by generating the lightning, and his talent allowed him to control that said lightning however he wished. While it sounded incredible to hear, Ander made it clear that it wasn’t all that rosy to handle.
“If I’m not careful, I could easily shock myself and end up getting hurt,” Ander said. “If I also generate too much lightning, I’ll end up losing control and make a large explosion, with me at the epicenter.”
“So you always have to hold yourself back when using your lightning then?” Van asked. “That does sound pretty heavy to carry.”
“Is there some way for you to manipulate lightning without hurting yourself?” Aidan asked.
“Well, I sometimes ignore the damage done to me and practice with my lightning. That’s how I managed to learn some new spells, actually. I always let my regeneration take over, and if we were lucky with our dungeon spoils, I would drink a health potion to recover faster.”
Aidan was again impressed by the young man’s fortitude. Despite only being around 14 years old (which was a shock to him when he learned it from Nicky), Ander was the sort of man to discipline himself thoroughly if it meant improving his combat power. He also knew that he was always careful with how he handled himself, not wishing to drain their finances on health potions just for the sake of getting stronger.
“What if there was a way for you to practice your lightning without harming you?” Aidan asked, bringing his idea into fruition.
“That… would definitely be great,” Ander said slowly. He seemed hesitant, his soul displaying that Aidan might be tricking him or something. “But how exactly are you going to do it?”
“It’s new territory for me too, but I think it’s possible for me to control your lightning and let you generate a lot without any backlash. First though, let’s experiment a little.”
“Okay.”
Hearing the agreement, the two made some minor discussion on how to work this out and soon huddled around together. Just for safety, Aidan asked Van to stay far away, and it didn’t take much to convince him considering what they talked about. As soon as the situation was set, with Aidan being a foot or so close to Ander, the young man closed his eyes and started channeling his mana.
Now that he was close enough to see the process fully with his senses, Aidan saw how his mana instantly changed from the natural mana that everyone possesses to that of the lightning affinity. Electricity coiled around his body, slowly increasing as it covered the rest of his body. Aidan took a step back as the lightning began to increase around him. Ander was approaching the level where he normally carried his lightning, ramping up the energy generation slowly for Aidan’s examination.
That’s when Aidan did his thing and willed the lightning around Ander to his control. It was resistant at first, carrying plenty of Ander’s own will in question. He quickly told Ander to let go of his control, or rather, to allow Aidan to use his magic, and the resistance in the magic slowly faded.
Through his senses, the two had reached an equilibrium of control, with the lightning now firmly in his grasp along with Ander, who opened his eyes in surprise.
“It’s… not affecting me,” Ander said slowly, surprise and awe in his tone. “Are you really controlling it?”
“A little,” Aidan said. “I’ll let you know how far I can control it. For now, can you keep amping up the dosage? I promise you that we’ll stop if you feel any pain.”
“Understood.”
The look in Ander’s eyes changed dramatically, turning sharper like they usually did when he was in combat. The lightning increased even more now, the electricity flying out and hitting the ground. But with Aidan’s firm grasp on it, the lightning didn’t go wild outside their short radius, and more importantly, kept it away from Ander’s body.
It was becoming something of a lightshow, especially when Van was having a hard time watching from the side, his eyes squinting hard while trying to see the sight for himself.
“Anything?” Aidan shouted, the lightning becoming louder and more difficult to listen through normally. “Any pain or discomfort?”
“Not a single thing!” Ander said, excitement shown in his usually cool voice. “This is the first time I’m using this much lightning without hurting myself! What about you?”
“I’m fine here,” Aidan said, grinning as he knew Ander would like this. “So how about it? Wanna experiment with some ideas now that you can generate all the lightning you want?”
The fierce grin shown on Ander’s lips proved that he indeed got some ideas to try out.
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