[So I'm sure you've noticed by now your complete inability to use either magic or your physical strength in any significant way, you can't be so inattentive to have not noticed it at this point right?] - Manic Blade

[...] - Rose

After one-sidedly deciding that he would train me I was dragged to what looked like a cross between a school track field and something that would appear in a training montage. Glancing around immediately after being manhandled I was in awe of the sheer amount of unrecognizable equipment. On top of that the entire thing was in what had once been a grove of trees. I could see the gouges in the ground from large roots being torn out and in the distance was a stack of what was left, completely leafless and sad looking.

Growling slightly at his insinuation that I didn't know my own weaknesses I kept silent because he had hit the nail on the head and I had no idea what I was supposed to do about it.

[I'll take your silence as a yes. Well then can you tell me what spellcasting requires on a basic level?] - Manic Blade

[...what do you mean?] - Rose

[I mean what steps must be taken to cast a spell and determine both it's shape and function?] - Manic Blade

[Oh... Ummm? Hmm what I remember is that the first thing that is required is the correct amount of mana then using that you must maintain the image of what you want then releasing the spell?] - Rose

Thinking it was a trick question at first I had him clarify and after determining that he really was starting at the basics I answered with something that could have come straight from the textbook. Proud of myself I puffed out my chest slightly but instead of receiving an affirmative all I got was a look of pity.

[Wrong. What are they even teaching you kids at that academy of yours? I guess it was too much to hope for that the shapeshifter bitch would actually correctly train her students... Hah...] - Manic Blade

[H-Hey! Shade's mom has nothing to do with our class! Legal Loli Sensei is the one teaching us!] - Rose

[Legal Loli? Oh do you mean Lolianne? Hahahaha! Oh this is rich! You mean that little squirt became a teacher?!? Hahahaha! I mean I knew that she had retired from being an adventurer and she always used to tell me how much she liked kids, but a teacher?!? My sides! Hahaha!] - Manic Blade

Feeling my face getting warm with anger I was about to tell him off for making fun of Legal Loli Sensei but this next words stopped me from tearing him a new one.

[You know Legal Loli Sensei?] - Rose

[If you mean Lolianne then yes. We once adventured together back... well it must have been almost 40 years now. She was such a cute kid back in the day, wet behind the ears but so eager for excitement and adventure. Tried hooking up with me actually, turned her down on account of her not being my "type".] - Manic Blade

Making round motions with his hands as he said the word type I found my face heating up for a different reason and immediately looked away from him.

[Y-Y-You were telling me about m-magic?] - Rose

[Hmm? Oh right, magic.] - Manic Blade

[Ahem! Anyway as I was saying. Your concept of spells and magic isn't necessarily wrong but it's simplistic to the point of being useless and on top of that the order is incorrect.] - Manic Blade

[Order?] - Rose

[Okay, watch this carefully and tell me what you see.] - Manic Blade

Holding up his hand in front of my eyes he suddenly snapped his fingers and a bright green flame hovered over his hand, appearing in midair. I jumped in shock, I hadn't even felt any build-up of mana nor the telltale signs of magic being cast. It was like the mana just "became" the spell without actually being utilized.

[W-What just happened?] - Rose

[Oh you can't tell?] - Manic Blade

[No? As far as I could see it was like all of the steps were skipped and your spell just... happened?] - Rose

I looked at the old immortal for a hint and noticed a slight smile on the sides of his mouth but I wasn't sure if it was because he found my answer amusing or if he was just teasing me again.

[Oho you noticed that did you? Well do you have any idea how that happened?] - Manic Blade

Thinking deeply for a moment about what I had actually seen as he waved away the green flame, letting it snuff out, I groped for an answer before giving up and just guessing.

[U-Umm... Did you just do all of the steps at the same time?] - Rose

[Ding Ding Ding! We have the correct answer! You see magic, or spells if you prefer, are just manifestations of natural processes that we then bend to do our will. I didn't just conjure a flame out of nothing, I used the already existing fuel to simultaneously light the fire at the same time as actually supplying my mana. Doing this not only basically gets rid of the time-lapse between readying the mana and actually casting the spell it also significantly reduces the mana required.] - Manic Blade

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[But how does that make the way the Academy teach us wrong? Sure your method might be more efficient but why does that invalidate their way of teaching it?] - Rose

[Because what they are doing it actively trying to force the world to listen with brute force. Not only is this harder and cost more mana but it causes all sorts of problems when a lot of it is done in one area. I don't know why Lolianne is teaching you guys this way but I taught her better, after we are finished here I may need to remind her of her lessons.... the hard way. Hehehehehe!] - Manic Blade

The look on his face and his creepy laugh when he said that sent a cold shiver down my spine as I realized that this old guy may have been where Legal Loli Sensei got her teaching style from.

[Oh right, getting back to your lesson... I'm going to have to cast a Candle spell and hold it for the next, lets say..... 4 hours should be about right. If you let it go out I'll be eating your lunch while you watch.] - Manic Blade

[Wait what! But I...!] - Rose

[We start now! Good luck.... hehehe...] - Manic Blade

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Wiping a bead of sweat from my forehead I felt my concentration waver and the small flame in my hands flickered slightly as I panicked and overcompensated. Still weak I regained control of the candle spell before I let the last 3 and a half hours of work go to waste.

After rushing me into my first real test I had initially started confident in my ability to hold an easy to cast spell like Candle, at least till lunch anyway. I quickly realized how difficult this attempt actually was however only about 30 minutes into the trial when I found out how difficult it is to keep the mana being fed to the small flame at a small enough rate to maintain but a large enough rate so that it didn't immediately blow out. And to top it off because we were outside I had to adjust the consumption rate based off of weather conditions.

The next problem I had was I had found myself burning through my mana at a far faster rate than my body could keep up with and after only about an hour and a half I had gone through nearly half of my total mana. Adjusting for that had been difficult but even so I had found a level that would allow me to regenerate mana at a more manageable rate.

The real trial had started about 30 minutes ago however as the old immortal had come back from his brief trip into the forest holding two rabbits which he then skinned and started cooking. In fact the last 10 or so minutes had been the hardest part of the last 4ish hours as the smell caused my stomach to rumble and I had nearly lost control of my spell several times in the last few minutes.

[Oh? You're still going? I figured you would have dropped by now. Color me surprised. Hmm, how much longer do you have to make it for again? Was it an hour? Two?] - Manic Blade

Hearing him talking about doing another hour or two like this made me finally snap at him, distracted by my anger.

[I only have less that 30 minutes and you know it!] - Rose

[Oh right I remember now. Oh but you might want to pay attention to your spell before you lose it.] - Manic Blade

[Ahhh! Don't go out don't go out! Nooooo!] - Rose

Quickly turning my concentration back to my flickering Candle spell I was only able to keep it going for another few seconds as I watched it fade away entirely before falling to the ground in despair.

[W-Why?!?] - Rose

[Ouch.... that must have hurt...] - Manic Blade

[You!] - Rose

Quickly rising I rounded on the offending old man that had put me through that torture and was about to unleash hell upon him but a rumbling from my gut brought me to my knees? again. S-So Hungry.

[Oh... Bad luck that, guess I get two rabbits for lunch then. Training starts over after lunch.] - Manic Blade

Staring at him with empty eyes as he made his way back to the delicious smelling meat I found my mouth watering as I thought of any way to get back at the bastard that was putting me through this hell.

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[MmmmMmmm! That was good! You should try some of this rabbit next time, I mean I can't imagine why you didn't eat any this time around.] - Manic Blade

[I'm gonna kill him.... I'm gonna kill him.... I wonder if he's edible... Just one bite...] - Rose

Murmuring my homicidal wishes to myself to comfort my waning SAN points I was even more blown away by the next thing he said.

[Well now that we've eaten I think it's time to work on your coordination and endurance. We'll work on endurance first by having you exercise...] - Manic Blade

[Exercise?] - Rose

[Yeah... We'll have you slither let's say.... 10 miles.] - Manic Blade

After his first task I had been expecting the second one to be something equally ridiculous but it went far beyond what I had expected, going into the level of impossible even. My mouth dropped open as I seriously contemplated the possibility that he was attempting to actually kill me. The sadistic smile of his face basically confirmed in my mind that this man was evil incarnate and his next words cemented that fact.

[Well chop chop! No dinner until you're done!] - Manic Blade

[WRRYYYYYY?!?!?] - Rose

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[Hah! Hah! I thought I was gonna die... Hah! Hah!] - Rose

[Good job little lady. Here.] - Manic Blade

Breathing heavily as I lay on my back unable to move I saw the old bastard enter my sight with a bowl of... something, in his hand. At this point I was sure I was hallucinating as that fucking crazy old man would never do something like actually feed me. Nope impossible! And even if he did it had to be a trap, he would only do something like that so I could lower my guard for whatever even worse thing that came after.

[Not gonna eat? Well I guess I'll eat it in...] - Manic Blade

Hearing his words my eyes widened and, pulling from some leftover reservoir I didn't know I still had, I jumped up and snatched the bowl out of his hands possessively and shovelled the food into my mouth while watching him suspiciously.

[Oh no little lady don't worry, we're done for now. I just wanted to let you know that you did a decent job today. Honestly I was expecting you to quit but you stuck through it to the end and impressed me.] - Manic Blade

[....grrrr...] - Rose

[Hahaha! Now can you tell me what these first two lessons have taught you?] - Manic Blade

[Taught me...?] - Rose

[Yes that's right... oh and each wrong answer adds an extra hour to each lesson tomorrow.] - Manic Blade

[T-That's not fair!] - Rose

[I didn't say I'd be fair now I'm waiting...] - Manic Blade

Opening and closing my mouth as I thought about possibly arguing more I changed my mind when I saw a glint of mirth in his eyes. Even though we had only been at it for a day I'd already been conditioned to be terrified of that mischievous expression. At this point it was better to just play along and hope he knew what he was doing.

With the futility of the situation fulling sinking in I decided to focus on the purpose behind the lessons today, hoping that I'd have an answer that would satisfy the sadistic immortal.

[The... Candle test... was to show me the importance of spending only as much mana as is required for my spell. And the endurance test was to raise my endurance? I'm honestly not sure of the second one actually, it just seemed like you were making me keep going until I collapsed. Almost like... almost like you were trying to get me to my very limits. I can't see why you would do that though.] - Rose

[Ding Ding Ding Ding! Correct answer! You missed a couple reasons but your follow-up covered the biggest reason for everything I did today so I'll give your answer a passing score!] - Manic Blade

[Wait but why? Driving me to my limits just for the sake of doing so makes no sense.] - Rose

[Oh but I didn't say that there wasn't a reason. Let me ask you how long you think it will take to recover from today?] - Manic Blade

[I don't know, like a week?] - Rose

[Hehehehe! Exactly. And what do you think we are doing tomorrow?] - Manic Blade

[No. No no no no! I can't do this again!] - Rose

[Better get some sleep little lady, we'll be up bright and early in the morning in say... 5 hours or so.] - Manic Blade

Walking away as he laughed I fell to the ground in both despair and exhaustion, both my body and soul in more pain than I had ever experience before.

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