"Fuck! Why did I have to run into a Hydra!"

Naoki was running as fast as he could away from the chasing hydra. He couldn't look behind him, but judging from the loud stomping noises behind him, he knew it was very close behind him.

He tried to slow the hydra down by shooting fire spells and icicles at the hydra, but they were all ineffective against its tough scales.

As he kept forward, he noticed that the path was starting to come to an end as he approached a cliffside. He also felt mana building up where the hydra was, indicating it was ready to fire an attack of its own.

He had to choose, either attempt to dodge the attack or take a gamble and go down the cliff. He decided on a whim that the cliff may be the safest option, so he made a leap of faith and jumped down the cliff. Behind him he could feel the heat of the fire coming from one of the hydra's heads.

When the hydra approached the cliff, it stopped, looked around and then walked back into the forest.

Meanwhile by the cliffside, Naoki was hanging onto a branch that grew on the cliffside. After confirming that the hydra had indeed left this place, he dropped down and sled downwards alongside the cliff and landed on the ground safely. It wasn't a very tall cliff, so he was fine.

He could now continue to make his way out of here using the map he acquired. However, he knew he couldn't let his guard down just yet, because there are plenty of other dangerous and threatening monsters around this area.

Judging from the map, he still had about a dozen kilometers to walk before he reached the closest town.

Now that he knew where to go, he went on his way to get out of this hellhole.

While he now had a clear direction to go, he still felt like something was off about what the hydra did. First off all, it tricked him earlier, meaning it knew all along before it even got to the cave that he was present. Secondly, when he jumped down the cliff, it didn't bother looking for where I was, but instead just looked around and went in a different direction again.

It then dawned upon him what was going on. The monster most likely is able to sense the mana around it, just like how he could sense mana around him. He knew the hydra would come back again.

Completely forgotten about the ability to sense mana, he realized he could use that to know if there are monsters around him.

He focused on trying to sense it and noticed a few smaller nearby that were most likely asleep, but in the distance, he sensed a large source. It was like a lighthouse in the darkness of the night. He knew that had to be the hydra. After monitoring the source, he sensed that it was slowly getting closer, meaning the presumed hydra is still going after him.

He began running at a faster pace in the opposite direction, trying to get away before the hydra was nearby again.

"There is no way I can make it to a safe location like this." He said to himself after running a bit and already starting to get exhausted again.

"I'll exhaust myself before I get there and then I'll have no chance of defending myself properly."

If he had to fight the hydra anyways, he'd rather do that when he still has enough energy left. So, he didn't run away anymore and decided to face it head on.

Using the time he has before the hydra arrives, he prepares a very large spell to fire at it on first sight.

He focused on it tremendously, trying to gather as much mana from the environment and from within himself. The concentration of mana in between his hand palms then slowly started giving off a bright yellow light, indicating the mana being transformed into a physical phenomenon. He kept doing this until it was as powerful as he could get it to be without losing control over it and it going berserk, probably lighting the entire area on fire.

Once he saw the hydra, he fired the ball of hellfire towards it. It slowly travelled into the forest and resulted in an enormous explosion.

When the fire dissipated, he heard nothing for a moment. But then he heard a loud roar followed by the hydra charging at him.

One of the heads was charging what seemed to be an ice attack. He quickly leaped sideways and then followed up with another fire spell to deflect the ice attack from the hydra. The fire and ice collided, resulting in a loud sizzling noise and a lot of water vapor.

The hydra then prepared another attack but this time with its third head. He first couldn't see what it was preparing but then he instantly noticed it and quickly ducked out of the way. This would've saved his life because it shot a lightning strike at him. The ground beneath where he was standing was completely scorched.

The hydra now knew what Naoki couldn't deflect and started repeatedly blasting him with the same lightning attack. This forced Naoki to focus mainly on evading the attacks, giving him no chance to retaliate.

No matter what he did, Naoki couldn't get out a single counterattack. Anytime he tried charging a spell while on the run, he was fired at by the hydra, forcing him to disrupt his charging.

He even got barely hit a few times.

He then tried gathering mana again to charge a spell again, but this time he was already anticipating the hydra to fire at him. This time however, it fired with all three of its heads in a barrage of fire, ice and electricity.

Naoki ducked away, but it seemed like the attacks covered such a huge area that he physically couldn't evade it. At least, that's what he initially thought. Against all odds, he managed to just jump far enough to evade all attacks.

"I actually dodged that. I felt much lighter doing that just now." He thought to himself.

As he was wondering about how he just dodged those attacks, he could tell that another barrage was incoming. This was not the time to think about it.

When the hydra shot another barrage of fire, ice and electricity, he once again managed to dodge it, despite it looking like it was nearly impossible to do so. This time, however, Naoki quickly followed up with a barrage of ice and fire of his own. Though he successfully hit the hydra thanks to his suddenly increased agility, its scales were simply too tough.

That didn't completely matter at this moment because Naoki has suddenly gained the ability to prevent a situation where he couldn't do anything besides defending.

He figured out by focusing his mana on himself, instead of trying to manifest it into a physical phenomenon, he could enhance his physical capabilities somehow.

He knew that people used magic to enhance their physical capabilities, but he couldn't believe it when he managed to use it completely on his own.

He focused so much mana onto his own body, he got so quick that he could even start jumping from tree branch to tree branch without breaking much of a sweat. He felt like his body was lighter than a feather.

He used his speed to approach the hydra and try and slash at it using the sword, that he hadn't used yet.

Once again, no damage was dealt due to the high defense of it.

They were currently in a stalemate where one couldn't damage the other, while the other couldn't land a hit.

Even then, Naoki kept shooting fire and ice magic at the hydra with short intervals. He didn't have any other option and he was already committed to defeating the hydra.

After an exchange of various attacks, both still haven't changed the turn of the battle.

"Aren't you tired yet? Because I sure am." Naoki said to the hydra, knowing that if this battle of attrition kept up, he will lose. The hydra looked at him furiously.

He decided to give it his all once more and just charged straight ahead with all his might using the sword in his hand that he has barely used.

He swiftly dodged all three attacks from each hydra head and jumped over its three heads. He then dived towards the body of the hydra with his sword. On impact a loud metallic noise could be heard. Naoki landed on the ground, almost losing his balance.

He looked at his sword and noticed that it got chipped, but he saw next was even more significant. On the ground was a piece of the scale of the hydra. When he looked towards it, he could see cracks starting to form on the location where his sword hit just now.

"Looks like your also starting to reach your limits." Naoki said with a grin on his face, knowing that he still has a chance to prevail.

His smile would quickly fade away when he stood up and suddenly felt like he could barely move. His whole body ached and he fell on the ground.

He nearly ran out of mana and he had pushed his body too much using body enhancement magic.

Naoki quickly took out the vial he still had in his pocket and quickly drank it empty before the hydra made its move again realizing that Naoki is currently defenseless like a sitting duck.

After a few seconds of agonizing pain and tiredness, he felt all good again. However, his tiredness is still present and it is slowly building up. He has to finish this now, before it's too late.

"But I know it is already over. I've got you where I want you to be."

With that, he fired off a very large ice spell. The hydra had to counter it with a fire spell of its own, in order to not get hit. Dodging was not an option. It was simply too sluggish for that.

When the ice and fire made contact, a huge impact was heard, followed by a large mist cloud, making it hard to even see a few meters in front.

The hydra looked around to try and find Naoki through its mana sensing skill, but it didn't seem like it could locate Naoki through the mist.

Out of nowhere, Naoki landed a strike with his sword once again at the scales that were cracking. His strike was followed by a shattering noise of the hydra's scales.

Experiencing agonizing pain, the hydra flailed its tail in all directions and hit Naoki, sending him flying. Luckily for him, he didn't hit anything and landed on a few bushes. The hit from its tail did hurt him badly.

"It's not over yet!" He yelled while struggling to even stand.

He quickly focused a ton of mana towards his body and he swiftly closed the distance between them.

While the hydra was writhing in pain, it didn't notice Naoki quickly approaching it.

He stabbed the hydra where the scales were all gone.

It screamed out in pain again. The loud scream could be heard throughout the entire area.

Naoki focused his mana towards strengthening his body and he pushed the sword further inside its body and then made a slashing movement, breaking a bunch of scales and creating a large blood gushing wound on its flank.

The blood all spilled on Naoki, painting him completely red.

He had to quickly fall back again, because the hydra started shooting out various attacks at random in all directions. He even had to deflect a few attacks.

After not long, it stopped firing off attacks and collapsed on the spot.

Although it seemed like it was down, Naoki was still very cautious as he knows getting caught off guard could cost his life here.

To confirm his suspicions, the hydra's heads started moving again. They tilted towards Naoki and looked at him for a few seconds.

Naoki got ready to stop any attacks if it decided to fire off more of them.

The hydra looked at Naoki not with hatred or fury as it did so far, but rather something that resembled admiration.

Naoki caught on to that and he looked it back in its eyes.

"I'm honestly surprised myself that I managed to defeat you, let alone put up a fight. It was an honor fighting you, but I'm going to have to finish you off. So, don't hold it against me."

The hydra changed its expression from admiration to a look of acceptance, knowing that this was probably it.

Naoki got ready to fire off a large icicle towards the hydra.

When he started gathering mana to charge up the spell, he suddenly felt a familiar feeling again. It was the feeling of his body suddenly becoming heavy and struck with agony.

This time it was much worse than anything he's ever experienced.

"Argh… I… think I've pushed myself too hard."

He didn't have a mana restoration potion on hand anymore, so he had no way to get rid of his current condition.

He collapsed to the earth. His whole body gave out after his intense battle.

The hydra looked at Naoki writhing in pain on the ground in confusion. It couldn't move from its own spot to inspect what was going on.

It didn't take long before it dawned upon the hydra that Naoki was down for the count and couldn't muster any strength to finish off the hydra.

The hydra, however, did still have enough mana of its own to attack Naoki.

And that's what it did.

It started charging a lightning attack, knowing that he couldn't deflect it and that he was in no state to evade it.

Naoki quickly took note of what it was doing, but he knew he couldn't do anything.

All he could do was watch in pain, while the hydra was charging its lightning attack, ready to shoot him any moment.

Despite his mana being mostly depleted, he still persevered and tried to resist. However, he couldn't do much beside putting up a not so impressive ice wall.

He knew that it most likely wouldn't hold, but what else could he do.

The hydra fired off its attack and it quickly made contact with the ice wall in between them.

What followed wasn't the wall shattering and striking Naoki, but instead the hydra began screaming once again in pain.

The screaming quickly stopped and the hydra fully collapsed, indicating it has finally died.

When the ice wall broke down, Naoki could see what had happened. In front of him was the hydra lying there, its body covered with sear marks.

He was confused. He didn't understand what happened, why the hydra suddenly screamed in pain and then died.

When he saw the sear marks on it, he first thought that perhaps Yasmin had saved him, since he was in a very bad situation.

When he looked up, he didn't see anyone or anything.

He then inspected the hydra closer and then found out that it was lying in a very large pool of water, tainted slightly red by its blood.

He then quickly realized what must have happened. The lightning was redirected towards the hydra itself due to it hitting the ice wall, which was connected to the pool of water.

He breathed a sigh of relief. He got extremely lucky in the end.

He slowly struggled his way towards the hydra and looked triumphantly at its corpse.

"I win…" was all he said.

Afterwards, he promptly collapsed on his back. His consciousness slowly faded. He saw a few flying creatures in the air circling above him in the sky.

"Guess I won't be making it out of here on my own."

A bright light then filled the sky, he couldn't make out the details of what was going on as everything started to become blurry. After that, he couldn't remember anything of what happened.

__________________________________________________________________________________________________________

I can't believe what I'm seeing. He actually managed to beat a hydra on his own. Well, he had a sword and two potions on hand, but still. Very impressive.

I looked in front of me and noticed a group of flying creatures approaching the site. They started circling above the hydra and Naoki, who are both motionless on the ground right now.

They must think the two of them are easy prey right now. Well, not on my watch!

I took the lot of them down with a light beam, vaporizing anything in its path. Just a few more, but I think I've scared them enough by vaporizing the others. They are fleeing now.

Time to go pick up Naoki, before any more monsters start showing up.

I flew down and landed next to Naoki. He looks like he was roughed up badly by the hydra. It really gave him a bad time, didn't it?

I inspected him closer, to make sure he wasn't in any mortal danger. To my relief, he was fine. Just some superficial wounds.

Oh, hold on a second. What is this?

I noticed a strange collection of mana inside Naoki. Upon closer inspection, I realized what this meant.

I didn't expect to see this. This… exceeds all my expectations. I'll have to look into this more and see what I'll do about it. For now, I'll get you to safety first.

I noted how he looked worried right before he passed out. Don't worry about making it out of here on your own, you've passed the test. You can rest easy now.

I took to the air again and started flying towards the horizon.

A few days later, Naoki was lying on a bed inside a room. He hasn't woken up at all this entire time, until now.

He slowly started to move, before he opened his eyes for the first time after being unconscious for so long. He looked around a bit and noticed that he was in some unknown room. He was also the only one inside it.

The room looks rather ordinary. The walls were made of logs, with a few small decorations here and there.

"Where am I?" he asked no one in particular.

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When he tried to get up to get a better look around the room, he was struck with the same feeling again as during the ambush of the convoy.

He groaned in pain and then gave up on trying to get up.

"I'm getting tired of this happening each and every single time I use a bit more of mana than I should."

He then heard the door of this room opening. He turned his head to look at it and he saw an old woman coming inside the room, holding a tray with a plate of food.

"Hey, you, you're finally awake. You were asleep for almost three whole days." She said while putting the tray on a table next to him.

"How are you feeling right now?" She asked.

"Considering my whole body hurts and I can barely move, I would say not so good."

"Well, that's normal, I've been told by your friend that you used all of your mana during combat in the Black Forest."

When she mentioned the Black Forest, he suddenly remembered again what happened. The last thing he remembers is that he was fighting the hydra and it ended up hitting itself when it tried to attack Naoki. After that, he went unconscious. Now, he somehow is inside this place with this old woman that he has never seen before.

"Sorry to interrupt you but I have a small question. Where am I right now and how did I even get here?"

"We are in the village of Zenith, located in the dukedom of Romsgart."

"I've never heard of that place. How far are we from Merkandor?"

"Merkandor? Oh, you mean the capital of Silgardia. I would say very far. You'd be travelling for weeks."

"I thought the border between Silgardia and Mathardia wasn't extremely far away from the capital?" Naoki thought he was still somewhere near the Black Forest in Silgardia, but considering the capital was in the northern regions of Silgardia and the Black Forest was Northwest, he found it strange that it would take that long to travel there.

"That's because we're not at the border. We are inside Mathardia."

It then clicked inside his head. That's also why he had never heard of the duchy of Romsgart. It's because it wasn't even in Silgardia.

"I think you should rest a bit more, if you want to travel all the way to Silgardia."

The old lady then started walking towards the door to leave him alone. But before she closed the door, he wanted to ask her one more question.

"Wait! Can I ask one more thing?"

"What is it?"

"Do you know where Yasmin is?"

She looked at him puzzled, but she quickly caught on to who he meant.

"Oh, you must be talking about the young lady that carried you here. She's been waiting outside. Don't worry, I'll tell her that you have finally woken up."

"Thank you."

And with that, she fully closed the door, leaving Naoki all alone again.

He didn't have to wait very long again before Yasmin entered his room to check on him. She had her special necklace on, which changed her appearance. It fully hid her wings and changed her hair and eye colors.

"How are you feeling right now?" She asked.

"Physically not so well, but I think I'll recover, just like last time."

She then breathed a sigh of relief, glad that he would be alright.

"So, about three days ago…" She begun saying, but before she could even finish her sentence, Naoki quickly interrupted her.

"I'm guessing I failed, didn't I? I couldn't make it out of the forest or make it until the sun comes up." He said dejectedly.

She was taken aback by his quick response before she could even finish her sentence. However, that's not what she was going to talk about.

"I mean, that is true, you failed the task given by me, but you still passed in my eyes."

Naoki quickly changed expressions from sad and disappointed in himself to one of surprise.

"You're not just pitying me right now, aren't you?"

"No, nothing like that. You genuinely passed the first part of the training. In fact, you have gotten the highest marks you could possibly have gotten."

"I'm not exactly following what you're trying to get at."

"You see, I initially gave you the first task as a test of your mettle, your ability to adapt to your surroundings and to gauge your potential. Your battle with the hydra was impressive, but that's not the most significant thing to come out of this. What's more significant is that you have awoken a new type of power."

"Wait! Seriously? A new power? This is all getting a bit overwhelming for me."

"Don't worry, you should rest until you're in a physically improved state. Then, everything will be cleared up."

There was a short silence after that, but it quickly got interrupted by a rumbling noise. It was Naoki's stomach. He looked away embarrassed when Yasmin looked at him.

"Perhaps you should eat a bit as well."

"Yeah, that would be good… if I could move."

Yasmin quickly took the hint and took the bowl of what looked to be a stew and started feeding him.

"Ugh… it's almost like I'm a mother feeding her child."

________________________________________________________________________________________________________

"How much longer, before we are at the top?" I complained to Yasmin. We've been walking up this mountain path for hours on end already. She never even told me where we were going.

It's only been two days since I woke up from my slumber and I'm already getting pushed by her.

"We're almost there!" she reassured me. I looked up and the top was indeed very close.

When we finally got to the top, I sat on the ground, panting heavily after climbing all the way up. I then noticed that there was a large building on the top of the mountain. It was a few buildings in the middle of an open area surrounded by walls. It reminded me a bit of the magic academy. There didn't seem to be many people, except for the two guys with staffs at the front entrance.

"So, what is this place?" I asked her once again.

"This is the local training grounds of the village Zenith. It's a bit like the academy, except it is more focused on martial arts. We are here because we need to talk with the master of this place. He will help me elaborate more on this special new power that you have unlocked.

She then approached the two guys, asking to speak with their master. When the two noticed that Yasmin wasn't a local or anybody from the training grounds, they instantly turned her away.

"Please, can you just let us in! We're not planning anything malicious!"

"That's exactly what anyone planning something malicious would say." Said one of the guys.

"Sorry, we can't just let any outsiders in."

"Hear me out! We came all the way from Silgardia to this place, do you realize how long we've travelled? It took us weeks!"

Of course, this was a blatant lie that she was telling. Just getting from the academy, which is close to the capital, to the Black Forest took us a dozen minutes, thanks to her flight. I'm pretty sure getting here couldn't have taken long either.

"Again, rules are rules. We can't just let you in and I don't care how much you've travelled! Now go back to where you came from will you?" He said to her face, this time a bit ruder.

Clearly, she didn't like the way he responded to her, so she got more aggressive.

"Huh? Are you making fun of me right now? Telling me to just return like that and waste all my time?"

"Yes, that is indeed what I said. If you won't, I'll have to force you." He said, now getting closer to Yasmin. This guy was about a head taller than her, so he looked down upon her. The other guy noticed that things were escalating.

"Hey, uh, this is getting out of hand. Why don't we just ask the master about this?" He said, trying to defuse the slowly escalating situation. However, it didn't do anything to deescalate their current situation.

"Oh, will you now? And what will you use then? Your puny little twig you got there in your hand?"

Before the guy in front of her could even react or say anything, she snagged the staff from his hands and inspected in.

"Huh? Hey! Give that back!"

"You'll have to come and get it back!" She responded in a childish way.

"Damn… Come here you little…" He yelled while charging at her, but she nimbly dodged his attempt at a tackle.

"Whoever gave you this staff should really reconsider how much they value their security. You wouldn't even be able to scare off a weasel with this. You should make it more imposing."

"Hey! Leo! Help me get that back!" said the guy who just got up after his failed attempt at a tackle. So, he is called Leo, huh?

"Ugh… fine! But I'll blame you if we get in trouble for this, Reynold!" With that he joined his buddy in trying to steal Reynold's staff back.

Even against two people, Yasmin easily dodged all their attempts at grabbing the staff. She never even laid a finger on the two guys.

Both eventually stopped when they got tired from all the chasing.

"Are you guys giving up yet? That's a shame, it was just getting fun." She said with a smug face.

Both of them looked frustrated, but Reynold seemed like he was about to explode from anger. I then noticed something strange happening in his right hand. When I tried to look closer, I instantly recognized it.

"Yasmin! He's about to-", but before I could even finish my sentence, Yasmin responded to me knowing what I was about to say.

"Yeah, yeah, I know what's up!"

She looked at him with a smile, clearly enjoying this spar that they're having. Although, this spar was slowly devolving into an actual fight.

Reynold's right hand then suddenly started to light up brightly. In it, I could see a bright ball with surges of electricity coming out of it.

This is bad, although knowing Yasmin, she'd most likely be able to handle it.

"Take this you little shithead!" Reynold yelled out loud, after which he was about to throw the lightning attack at Yasmin.

"STOP!"

A loud voice could be heard from inside the training grounds. Reynold's spell dissipated and we all looked towards where the voice came from. It was an old man walking with a cane.

"What are you two doing, fighting strangers at the entrance!" The man sternly asked the two guys.

Reynold then quickly tried to explain what happened.

"These two appeared at the entrance and said they wanted to speak with you. I had to decline them and I tried to send them away, but they refused. I kept trying to tell them to leave, but she was just too stubborn!"

"Hey, who are you calling stubborn here?" Yasmin said angrily.

"She even stole my staff and then we tried to get it back, but she was just too fast."

Then the master asked, "so you proceeded to try and attack her with a lightning spell?".

"Uh… That's… hmm…" After that, Reynold stopped his explanation.

"And for you, Leo, why didn't you stop him? I specifically assigned you this task to keep this hothead over here from doing stuff like this."

"I'm sorry, master."

"No need to apologize. However, I will have a stern talk with you two. Especially you, Reynold."

After the man gave the two a piece of his mind, he turned towards us.

"So, from his explanation you two wanted to talk to me about something? Is that correct?"

"Yes. It's about Harmonic magic."

This is the first time I'm hearing the term 'Harmonic magic'. I don't think I've ever heard anybody mention it. When the master heard it, he suddenly had a sharp look.

"And to be specific, it's his Harmonic magic." She said while pointing at me. The master then looked at me with his sharp eyes.

"You see, I know that you guys specialize in this kind of magic. In fact, I'm certain you're one of the only ones that do. I'm currently training him, but when it comes to Harmonic magic, I would need your help."

"What's your name?" he asked me suddenly.

"Naoki. Naoki Rhein."

"Naoki, huh?" he said, still looking at me with his sharp eyes.

"I'm very certain that he has the potential to fully harness and master the Harmonic magic within him."

"I'll assist you." He said, but he hadn't finished his sentence yet.

"I'll assist you on the condition that you prove yourself against me in a one versus one battle. Do you accept, Naoki?"

I looked him back into his sharp eyes, being silent for a solid second, before I answered him.

"I accept!"

"Then follow me inside."

With that, we followed him inside towards the open area where we would be sparring.

__________________________________________________________________________________________________________

We got to the open area inside the walls with various wooden poles and dummies scattered around the field.

I'm now currently facing the master of this place, having to prove once again my worth.

"The rules are simple, whoever lands a blow on the other wins. All magic and techniques are allowed." The master declares.

"Alright, sounds easy enough." I said. I mean, it doesn't seem that hard. The man himself looks like he's getting senile. He even has a cane. I guess he could try and hit me with that, but it shouldn't be difficult dodging it.

"Here I come!" I said, after which I enhanced my movement speed and quickly charged at him, ready to hit him with a punch.

I expected him to not be fast enough to dodge it, but when he suddenly began moving nimbly, I was taken aback. It looked a little absurd seeing an old man moving like a young athlete.

Because he took me by surprise, I couldn't stop my momentum and I fell on the ground as a result.

"Too clumsy! Has nobody ever taught you to never rush headfirst towards your enemies?"

I quickly got up on my feet again. So, trying to use speed is a no go. I guess my only other option is using spells. He said that all magic is allowed.

So, I fired a bunch of fireballs at him. Like I expected, he dodged them all without breaking a sweat. He must think this isn't anything impressive. Unfortunately for him, hitting him with those wasn't my objective.

Because I aimed those slightly towards the ground below his feet, a huge sand cloud was created. This caused his eyes to be temporarily blinded. I then used this opening to quickly run behind him and attack with an ice spell. I created a ball shape instead of an icicle, so I didn't outright kill him.

I expected it to hit him in the back and launch him towards the ground. However, all I saw was the ball getting split into small pieces in a split second.

I couldn't process what happened before my eyes because it all occurred in a split second.

"Wait, how did you?"

"Nice try, trying to blind me using the sand on the ground. However, you're going to need to try harder to outdo me!"

"Hold on there! How did you even do that? That chunk of ice was cut into pieces so cleanly!"

He didn't answer my question. Instead, he continued this spar. He even went on the offensive this time. When I looked at the cane in his hand, I noticed that it turned into a wooden sword. So, what he had in hand was a sword inside a sheath.

While he was quickly approaching me, I backed away from him until I hit a wooden pole behind me. Seeing him ready to hit me using a sideways attack, I quickly ducked to dodge it. The wooden sword hit the pole and cut through it like it was butter. My head was barely able to get below striking distance.

I created more distance between us again, while I focused on his sword.

"So, that's how it is? Your sword can cut through anything?"

I said that casually, but inside, I was panicking because I really couldn't get hit here. That pole from earlier could have been me.

"Why don't you attack me again?" the old master said, trying to lure me to go on the offensive.

I know he's trying to lure me into attacking, but I don't really have another choice here.

I started charging at a high speed towards him again, but this time, I created a huge ice wall in front of him.

Per usual, he cuts through the entire thing in one swing shattering it into pieces, like it was made of glass. However, once he could see what's behind the behind, he would see absolutely nobody. That's because I jumped above him and had a fireball ready in my hand to throw at him from above.

"Take this!" I yelled, while the master just finished cutting through the ice wall.

A huge explosion took place and I landed on the ground afterwards. Surely this hit him. But once again, the master pulled off so crazy stunt and is now nowhere to be seen around the crater caused by the explosion.

I looked for a second, before I suddenly had a bad feeling.

I quickly threw myself to the ground. When I turned around, I saw the master was behind me. His sword landed just between my legs. If I didn't preemptively throw myself there, my head would have been hit.

The master seemed like he was certain I was going to get hit. Using this small window of opportunity, I went and tried to hit him with another fire attack. As I was certain there was no way this would get dodged, the man once again surpassed my expectations and managed to sneak under my arm that was stretched forward and got behind me. What followed was him trying to hit me, but I wouldn't lose that easily!

I quickly turned around and bent my back backwards, almost until it was at a ninety degrees angle. He even cut a few hairs on my head.

When I looked to my right, I noticed that a second attack was already following at a high velocity, but because of my position I really couldn't dodge it. Shit, that's going to hit me on the head.

I closed my eyes, expecting to feel pain, but I only felt a light smack to the head.

I looked towards the master and he just gave me a blank stare and proclaimed that he won the spar.

"Oh no. I failed…" I said, feeling completely defeated. This man is just too much for me. I didn't even sense him using any mana, so how did he manage to keep up. There is no way a normal human could move that fast and keep up with somebody using body enhancement magic.

"I can see you have the potential, but you lack some basic knowledge about one-on-one combat."

He sheathed his wooden sword and then stretched his arm towards me. I grabbed it and I got up again.

"And about what I said earlier about proving yourself, you certainly have done so my boy. Or should I rather say my student?"

I looked at him for a second and then responded to him with a smile on my face.

"Thank you, master… sorry but I don't think you've told me your name yet."

"You can call me Karlo. I noticed earlier you were looking very puzzled. You're probably trying to figure out how I was able to cut through everything, despite using a wooden sword?"

"Yeah, that's right! How did you do that?"

"I think you can guess what it could have been."

I was thinking for a moment again. I didn't sense any mana around him, so it couldn't have been spells. There is also no way a normal human being could have moved that fast, as absurd as this world can sometimes be.

"Is it what you guys earlier called 'Harmonic magic'?"

"Exactly. It is a special kind of magic that doesn't work like your conventional spells. It doesn't require mana and it isn't something a person can just learn. It is a unique ability that each person has to awaken."

"I see."

The master then turned around and looked towards Yasmin who had been standing at the sidelines the entire time, observing us.

"You, young lady standing there." He said towards Yasmin.

"Me? What about me?" She said looking confused as to why the master suddenly called her out.

"I want to have a spar with you as well."

"But I thought it was just Naoki that had to do so."

"That is true, but I'm just curious about your Harmonic magic."

"Well, of course you'd know that I also had one."

"Huh? Wait, how do you know? Also, you have it as well, Yasmin?" I asked with a face of both surprise and confusion.

"You see, Naoki, anybody who possesses Harmonic magic can sense it in others." Yasmin said as a matter of fact.

"But if you really want to have a go at it, old man, then sure. I'll entertain you for a bit." She said, while walking towards the middle of the training ground.

"Now then, shall we begin?" master Karlo asked. He then got ready into a battle stance. Yasmin on the other hand was just standing in the middle nonchalant.

I can't believe I'm about to witness a fight between these two. Master Karlo is quite a skilled man, based on our fight, but I know Yasmin is also on a whole other level.

Master Karlo then begun charging towards Yasmin, this time, he was even faster then during our spar! Does that mean he was actually holding back against me? That doesn't matter, what matters now is what Yasmin will do. She's still just standing there, not moving while the master is slowly but surely approaching her.

Then, the thing that I least expected happened. The master suddenly stopped and jumped backwards, even further than where he started from.

What is the meaning of this? When I looked at master Karlo's face, he looked very serious, even trembling a little. As if he saw a ghost. Meanwhile Yasmin just gave him a slight grin.

"Are you forfeiting?" She asked him from all the way across the area.

"I guess I have no other choice."

"Wait, are you forfeiting already?" I asked master Karlo.

"Yes, there is no way for me to even approach her without risking my life. Your Harmonic magic is absurd, you know that?" he told Yasmin.

"Guess that'll be it for today. Please follow me inside, I'll explain to you first in detail what Harmonic magic is all about."

__________________________________________________________________________________________________________

I'll approach her as quickly as I can and use my Harmonic magic called 'Swords master's spirit' to attack her. No matter what her Harmonic magic can do, there should be no way for her to surpass the speed of my Harmonic magic.

"Now then, shall we begin?" I asked her, taking my battle stance.

She's just standing there as if she's underestimating me. If she's so confident in her Harmonic magic, then let's see what it can do.

Although I was confident in my own skills and abilities, somewhere deep inside me, I had a bad feeling about this. Why would she just stand there completely open to any attack? Nobody would do something like that.

No one would unless they're confident that the opponent is no match.

Regardless, it's too late to back down now. I'll stick to my usual attacks and gauge her abilities afterwards.

When I activated the 'Swords master's spirit', time seemed to suddenly slow down. Of course, my thought processing speed was still the same.

I started sprinting towards her, my hands ready to unsheathe my sword and slash at her. I pushed the limits of how fast I can move. As I got closer towards her, my sword was already unsheathed and ready to land a powerful blow on her.

However, as my sword was drawing closer towards her, I suddenly got a strange vision. What I saw was akin to her defying the laws of reality. Despite my Harmonic magic allowing me to land blows on people that simply cannot be parried, it seemed like my sword attacks were just fading through her. That's what my Harmonic magic was telling me. Foresight is also part of the set of unique abilities inherent to the 'Sword master's spirit'. Whatever allowed her to do that, clearly my Harmonic magic is no match for her.

What would follow after my strikes just fading through her was a sudden rift in space, which would cut through me and everything behind me. Once again, my Harmonic magic was no match against hers, as I had no way to deflect it.

All I could do was fall back before I could even attempt to land a blow on her. I knew my Harmonic magic wouldn't be lying, so it really could have ended badly if I didn't fall back. I was hoping to extensively gauge her abilities, but this is throwing a spanner in the works.

I stepped forward again, contemplating whether I should try again, but I was met with a similar vision again.

Damn it! Guess she bested in this one.

"Are you forfeiting?" she asked me from all the way across.

She had an innocent look on her, she thinks I would fall for her fainting ignorance, but I know she's clearly doing this on purpose. You sneaky little bastard, preventing me from even having a proper spar with you.

"I guess I have no other choice."

I don't know how you got your Harmonic magic and what led to it being so powerful. But it is plain absurd and shouldn't even be allowed to be a thing.