“Now,” Eric said. “How good are you at controlling your mana already?”

Alan closed his eyes and imagined the net. It was easier to push his mana this way. He focused on his left palm, trying to push mana there. Days upon days of training helped him, he never stopped only to eat and do his emptying in the woods. He got faster at collecting mana at his hand by leaps, though projecting it or doing something else with it was still impossible yet.

“Hmm, good enough for now,” Eric observed quietly while he was focusing. How he saw what he was doing was still a mystery to him, but he demonstrated his ability countless times in the past days.

“Now, let’s try to keep it up while doing something. Focus it in your legs!” Eric commanded.

Alan got to it at once. He imagined the net once again, carefully guided mana into his feet.

After he was done, he waited for the soon coming instruction. “Now, take a step!”

He did… and launched himself forward like a bull. He wasn’t expecting that for sure, seeing him falling face-first into the dirt.

He got to kneeling, turned around with a huge grin on his face “What the hell happened?” He said laughing.

“That, my friend, was a mana infused step.” Eric said laughing in unison with Alan “You’ve taken your first step on taking your first step, how does it feel?”

“Amazing! Wait, let me try again.” Alan stood up, closing his eyes once again and gathering mana in his feet, taking one more step. He launched forward once again with great momentum, this time not falling face first but having time to roll. He got up once again and closed his eyes. He did this at least a dozen times and time after time, his grin grew in size.

After the fifteenth step he was getting pale and tired but his smile never faded. That day, he took his first step… following it with fourteen more.

***

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That night Alan was calmly meditating, gathering more mana after exhausting his storage during the day when he was startled by a loud and long shriek. He has never heard such a voice, it had to be something immense based on the loudness of the voice. As he opened his eyes he saw Max and Eric was nowhere to be seen, Ellie was with Theresa in the corner, trembling, while Jonathan was in front of them, with trembling hands holding a one-handed sword, that was cleanly polished. He got up, but his own legs betrayed him as he collapsed, his heart in his throat pulsating. He hasn’t even seen the creature that was threatening them, yet fear was overcoming him. He slowly crawled to the back of the wagon and he saw their enemy.

Huge wings made of leather and spiky ends adorned its scaly body. It had a deep green color with a little shining as the moon reflected upon it, its head decked with four eyes that were pure black and a sharp beak. Its acidic smell could be felt even from the wagon.

The creature was huge, only its wing was at least as large as Max himself. Now that Alan noticed, Eric was standing next to Max, together facing the creature.

The creature gave another shriek, then lunged forward toward Eric, who was agile enough to dodge its beak and jump over wings, while trying to counter-attack with his own sword that was out already. Alan didn’t even notice the man unsheathing his blade until it was in action. Unfortunately, it bounced off from its scales. As soon as he regained footing he pivoted forward again but Max wasn’t the one to stay still either, hacking at the wings that were in front of him. Eric’s sword flashed in the moonlight as it went straight to its neck, but Max’s blade was faster, making the creature jitter enough for Eric to miss. The leathery wing was slashed in two, oozing dark green blood, just as its scales, but as soon as they landed on the dirt they started hissing like burning charcoals. Eric not wasting his time again after landing, headed to its neck again only to be forced to defend as the creature tried to bite a chunk out of him. Max refocused on its head too, but his sword was melting at the tip taking away range, He rushed forward hacking at its scaly neck only to get rebounded from it. It was too tough for them to cut. The realization made Eric do something he said he wouldn’t do.

He ignited his sword. Agile movements helped him dodge the still attacking creature, and he made a slash for the wings. It came off in one blow. But it wasn’t enough for him, as he jumped forward for the neck again. The creature tried to resist and attack, but its head was held down by Max’s weight as he tried to grapple it to the ground. With that, Eric effortlessly beheaded the monster, making it ooze the acidic liquid to the ground.

Along with the monster's two halves, Eric slopped to the ground, panting while Max didn’t even get up from there. They were both exhausted but they were victorious.

Alan rushed forward, trying to help them, but they both refused. Instead, he waited until they got better, picking up their swords in their steads, waiting with questions, like: what the hell was that?