He did have some ideas. Unfortunately it turned out that ideas in a fight are only worthwhile when it comes to someone who it would be useful against. Markus was a man who, at least in his current state, was able to wipe the floor with Johan.

His plan was to try and use his surroundings to his advantage. He had intentionally picked a slightly sloped side of the small patch of dirt they used as a training field. He had made a couple of small pits in the ground with his feet here and there as the two of them walked around each other searching for a proper opening, of course Johan had many, but Markus was a teacher, at least in the current instance, and decided to let it play out for a bit.

Johan then rushed a bit at Markus, feinting twice before simply blocking a light blow from Markus. It sure didn't feel light to Johan who barely held his homemade spear in his hands after the strike, his hands hurting a bit and also shaking. He felt a slightly slick feeling from his hands as pain sprouted from the webbing between his thumb and forefinger.

In what Markus considered to be a light strike, he had managed to stop Johan from attacking and had effectively taken a lot of his opponents power away. Johan, for as much as he had drive did not have the innate heart of a warrior, he was easily scared of pain, and so with his webbing split he was suddenly out of the fight, much to his bitterment.

"What was that?! You said you would use a light blow!" Johan was upset.

"I did, you still have your bones intact. You told me that you had a surefire way to win this time, surely you didn't think that a small slope and a few potholes would be enough to narrow the skill gap. Right?" Markus looked at Johan with a raised eyebrow.

"Well no, but I was hoping you might trip or something..." Johan took a deep breath to calm himself a bit more. "Sorry for yelling, I was just bitter." Johan then apologized after he had a moment to think.

"Haha, that's fine kid. Most people get bitter when they lose. Fighting, even in a non lethal spar, is stressful. I won't lord anything you say in a heated moment over you. So long as you are able to recover your right mind and apologize for it. You'll get better at keeping that temper in check with time anyhow. Also your plan wasn't bad. Granted for someone on my level it has a some, oh I don't know, one in a thousand chance of working, but it would've done you better to just wait until I got bored and moved while setting more holes up. I'm a swordsman so I am good at positioning my feet, as that is the basics of most martial arts,, but even a swordsman can't see every hole on the earth. The chances would've only increased with time. Either way, you keep thinking like that and you'll be a fine strategist one day." Markus went to his quarters to change real quickly before returning, calling for Anne to come over from the kitchen, as he did so.

Enjoying this book? Seek out the original to ensure the author gets credit.

Anne came out of the small kitchen with a loaf of black bread that Markus made for the two of them. 'It's not tasty, but it is very nutritious.' he had said when he had first gave them some of it.

"Hey Anne." Johan smiled with a short wave, which she returned with a slight nod. She had become more vocal, but she still had moments of shyness.

"Good, time to get to training. The goal today is five thousand swings for each of three variations. Today will be the downwards slash, the diagonal slash and then the sideways slash, the downwards slash is first, then followed by a combination of the other two slashes. understood?" Markus asked.

"Yes. fifteen thousand slashes total. Diagonal and sideways connected." Johan clarified.

"Exactly. Get to it."

So the worst part of Johans day began. Mind you, Markus didn't just leave them to do that. Markus constantly corrected both of their forms, and he refused to count any that were not up to code, so if it was too far off the mark then you had to do another in its place. In the end Johan had to do more around eighteen thousand rather than 15 like he was initially told. Anne was much better at his portion though, being done at 16 instead and just watched as Johan completed his own.

In Johans opinion she was probably able to better remember the forms since she wasn't learning magic like he was, like Nath had mentioned that before. Moreover Johan was focused on making his body oversaturate with mana by wringing out all of his mana pool. This was, according to Nath, the fastest way to raise his maximum mana. So while doing his forms, Johan also continuously tried to control his mana externally, which he did get a bit above the skin, but not enough to be useful.

Either way it was dark by the time he finished his final work, and after he wiped himself with a dusty towel nearby, he was then given some bread by Anne. Johan gave a smile and took it with a thanks.

"...You're welcome." Anne gave a short reply, before preparing to go home for the night.

'No, not home. Not really.' Johan thought to himself. A frown forming on his face. 'Dad isn't there. Cal is partially crazy so we aren't even technically safe there. I wish I had the stuff to build my own house, a place we'd be safe in. Life here isn't so bad... Who am I kidding. We still need to get to Karshlan. Somewhere where we will be safe... Truly safe.'

Johan let out a sigh as he opened the door to the rickety building that he and his sister were staying in, hearing Cal snoring in the other room he let out a sigh of relief. He felt bad but...

The first time he had witnessed Cals episodes it was terrifying. He had been making some pleasant conversation, then suddenly Cal was screaming asking who he was and how he got into his home, Then began to rave about how his wife and son would be back from Larnim soon, what he was talking about, Johan had no clue.

Johan thought back to his life in Ambevelance during these times. A couple of his old friends had said that they sent their grandparents away because they were becoming too unstable. If they were anything like Cal, he wouldn't be able to blame them, even if the thought made him feel bad for the older man who had helped them.

Clearly something was wrong with Cal, but no one could do much in this town, so Cal just lived with it, so did everyone else. it was sad, to an extent. With thoughts like this Johan fell into sleep again, his sisters rhythmic breathing telling him that she had already fallen asleep as well.