Strategy? - 50
"Hoh! That's right. Let's continue!"
He cracked his knuckles.
Meanwhile, Bell watched carefully from behind.
"Even though I sounded confident, I can't recklessly use mana magic. That would drain my mana too quickly..."
His eyes followed Marc's movements.
"I'll just have to think of some other way."
…
Marc rushed toward Juro and leaped into the air, throwing another punch. Mana engulfed his hand, rapidly hardening into a dense rocky fist.
Juro simply looked up at him with a smile.
He didn't dodge.
Instead, he clenched his own fist and threw a straight punch.
BANG!
Their fists collided, sending a loud impact echoing throughout the training ground.
Marc was repelled backward.
But the moment his feet touched the ground, he caught sight of a figure rushing past him.
Bell.
He was already charging straight toward Juro.
"Oh? Is it your turn now?" Juro joked confidently.
Bell didn't answer.
He drove a punch toward Juro's stomach.
Juro quickly caught his fist.
Bell immediately twisted his body and swung his leg toward Juro's face.
Juro swiftly leaned away, the kick passing within an inch of his face.
But he was still holding onto Bell's fist.
And that was exactly what Bell wanted.
While his legs were still in the air, Bell subtly adjusted his position and drove his knee straight toward Juro's hand.
For the first time, Juro was caught off guard.
His eyes widened.
He immediately released Bell's fist and backed away, barely avoiding the incoming knee.
But the moment he moved—
Marc was already there.
A kick came from Juro's side, Marc's leg covered in hardened rock.
Juro raised his arm and blocked it, then immediately grabbed Marc's leg.
Marc twisted his body while Juro held him in place, concentrating mana into his fist.
He grinned.
"Meg—"
Juro's mouth opened, ready to cast Megen.
"PYRINI!"
His expression changed.
Juro's eyes widened as he heard the first word.
He quickly looked downward.
Bell's hand was already extended toward him.
"PYRINI SFAIRA!"
A powerful burst of flame erupted from Bell's palm and shot straight toward Juro.
But Bell didn't stop there.
The moment the fireblast left his hand, he moved again.
Mana condensed around his fist as he rushed forward, aiming directly for Juro's stomach.
At the same time, Marc's rocky fist was already drawing back for another strike.
Three attacks.
All converging on Juro at once.
Juro's mouth remained open.
He could still cast Megen.
He had enough time.
For a fraction of a second, everything seemed to slow.
Then Juro smiled.
BOOM!
An explosion erupted as all three attacks landed.
Bell's fist struck Juro directly in the stomach.
Marc's rocky fist connected with his cheek.
And Bell's flames engulfed the space around him.
For a moment, both Bell and Marc froze.
Then the smoke began to clear.
Juro stood there with a smile.
"Congratulations."
He released Marc's leg.
"You managed to land a hit."
Marc dropped back onto the ground and immediately looked up at him.
"Really?! We did it?!"
"Yup!"
Juro gave him a thumbs-up.
Marc's face lit up with excitement.
Bell, however, remained still.
He wasn't feeling nearly as proud.
He knew.
"Just as the attacks were about to hit him, he had enough time to cast Megen over his entire body."
Bell looked at Juro.
"But he didn't."
His expression became more serious.
"He let those attacks hit him."
"He was severely holding back against us."
"He slowed his reactions on purpose..."
"From the very beginning, he was giving us chances to land a hit."
Bell sighed quietly and looked down at his own hand.
"Well... I guess I'm the same."
His fingers slowly curled.
"I can't really expose too much magic right now without properly explaining how I even know them."
Marc's Pure Eyes, Zen, slowly began to fade. As the mana surrounding his body disappeared, the rocks covering his fist and legs cracked apart before shattering into pieces and vanishing.
Noria and Brea got up from the bench and walked toward them.
Marc slumped down onto the ground, sitting there with a tired but satisfied smile.
"Haaah... I think this is the first time I've ever pushed my mana." He let out a small laugh. "But that was really fun!"
Noria and Brea chuckled as they joined him, talking with Marc about the fight and asking him about the different attacks he had used.
Juro looked down at the kids with a smile before clapping his hands together.
"Alright! No time to rest. We've got a competition to win later. Bell, Marc, c'mere. Let's form a strategy."
Bell looked at him in surprise.
"Oh, you can plan strategies?"
Juro's smile immediately disappeared.
"Huh?? What's that supposed to mean?!"
Marc, Brea, and Noria all burst into laughter.
Bell simply smiled as he watched Juro's reaction.
After the laughter settled down, Noria spoke.
"Anyways, my sister and I have to go inform our father and mother that we'll be watching the three of you in the competition."
"Oh yeah..Okay!" Marc replied.
Noria and Brea began walking toward the door. Before leaving, Brea turned around and waved.
"We'll be right back! Let's all go to the competition together."
Both sisters smiled before stepping outside and closing the door behind them.
Marc, Bell, and Juro waved back.
"Alright then."
Juro reached into his belt pouch and pulled out two medium-grade mana potions, handing one to Bell and one to Marc.
"Here. Drink this. It'll replenish both of your mana."
Marc's eyes immediately lit up as he took the potion and held it up.
"Woaaaa! A potion!! The glass is so cleannnn! And the liquid inside is such a vibrant blue!"
Bell, meanwhile, casually removed the cap and drank his potion.
As the liquid passed through his body, Bell immediately noticed.
Before it could even reach his stomach, the liquid seemed to expand, and instead of remaining a liquid, it transformed into mana that began circulating throughout his body.
"It's flowing through my body.."
The mana rapidly spread through him, replenishing what he had spent during the training.
Marc finally finished admiring his potion and drank his as well.
His eyes widened as a sudden rush of energy spread throughout his body.
"Whoa..."
Both of them placed their empty potion vials down before walking back toward Juro, waiting for his next instruction.
"Alright. Now that you two have recovered your mana, let's start making a plan, shall we?"
Juro grinned.
He looked toward Marc.
"Marc, you're more used to using mana magic, right? You can feel and understand your mana better when you're controlling it."
Marc nodded.
"Good. You've already seen Megen, right? It's the magic that creates that blue translucent barrier to block attacks."
Marc nodded again.
"Try learning how to do something similar, but only with mana. Don't transform the mana into any element. Just use your normal mana and harden it."
Marc thought about it for a moment before nodding with determination.
"Alright, Teacher Juro! I'll give it a try!"
Marc extended his hand.
Mana began flowing from his palm, gathering together as he concentrated on controlling it. He slowly clumped the mana together, shaping it into a wall-like formation.
Then he focused even harder.
More mana poured into the structure, causing the barrier to thicken and become denser.
After a few moments, a solid wall of hardened mana stood in front of him.
Juro walked over and knocked on the surface with his knuckle.
Knock. Knock.
"Ohhh, pretty impressive."
Marc smiled proudly.
"Alright, Marc. You can stop now."
Marc felt proud of himself. He was learning something new directly from Juro, and the feeling of actually being able to control his mana in a different way made him eager to continue.
The mana barrier slowly dispersed, fading back into the air.
"That's good. Next, hmm..." Juro thought for a moment. "Try flowing mana out from your shoulder."
"From my shoulder?"
Marc looked at Juro for a moment. Juro simply nodded.
Marc nodded back.
"Alright. I'll give it a try."
He closed his eyes and focused.
First, he felt the flow of mana moving throughout his body. He carefully guided that flow toward his shoulder. Instinctively, his mana wanted to travel toward his hands, but with a little more concentration, Marc managed to redirect it.
Mana began flowing from his shoulder.
Marc opened his eyes.
He tried again, this time without closing them.
Mana slowly flowed from both of his shoulders, but some of it still slipped away and continued flowing from his hands at the same time.
"Aww... it's a bit difficult to focus," Marc complained.
Juro laughed and patted him on the head.
"Don't worry! This is just to get you used to slowly flowing mana from different parts of your body."
"What does that help with, Teacher Juro?" Marc asked curiously.
"Well, if you can flow mana wherever you want, you can become much more versatile with your mana magic."
Juro raised his hand, letting mana flow from the top of his head, then from his shoulders and even from his stomach.
"Earlier, when you and Bell were trying to hit me, didn't you notice that whenever you attacked my face or stomach, the barrier always appeared exactly where I needed it?"
Marc nodded.
"You can do something similar with just mana magic. If someone attacks you from behind, you don't necessarily need to turn around and extend your hands to block it. You can simply flow your mana out from your back and turn that mana into a mana barrier to block the attack."
Marc watched closely as Juro demonstrated, moving the mana around his body to show how freely it could be controlled.
"Of course, there's also something where you just wildly flow mana out from your entire body," Juro continued. "But you only do that when an attack is really that big, or when you have no other choice. It's extremely mana-expensive."
Marc listened intently, taking in every word.
"Ooo, I see. Alright, Teacher Juro! I'll keep training that!"
He then remembered something.
"But what about the competition? It's going to happen soon, right?"
Juro crossed his arms.
"Wellll... just have fun fighting out there. Trust your instincts and test yourself."
Bell smirked.
"Strategy, huh? Pft."
Juro's expression twitched.
"💢..."
Marc laughed before giving Juro an enthusiastic nod.
"Alright, Teacher Juro! I'll do my best! That fight exercise we did really helped me realize that magic can be used in such fun and creative ways. I'm gonna use this opportunity!"
Juro smiled at Marc's enthusiasm.
Then Marc suddenly remembered something.
"Wait, Bell. How did you know that magic fire thing that came out of your hand?"
Juro's gaze immediately shifted toward Bell.
Bell smiled.
"Remember when we were being attacked by those random mages? I heard them incant 'Pyrini Sfaira,' and I remember looking out the window and seeing some fire. So I just guessed that it'd be some kind of fire-blast magic."
Marc's eyes lit up.
"Woaa! You were able to use magic just based on those observations?! Bell, you're so cool! I wonder if I could also fire a fire blast from my hand with mana if I just trained hard enough!"
Bell looked at Marc and smiled.
"Don't worry. You can do it too."
Marc smiled brightly at those words.
"Marc's right," Juro added. "That's pretty impressive of you."
Bell immediately with a confident smile.
"I know, right? I guess I really am just that good of a genius."
"Mhm! Mhm!" Marc agreed enthusiastically.