[Day 2]

Once we made it to the West side of the village, Monica realized that she was still wearing the same clothes from last night. She went on a tangent about not wanting to be dirty, and how she needed to dress in the right attire for training. I could've cared less, but when she mentioned she needed to take a bath, I told her that it was perfectly fine to leave me by myself. If it's for a bath… then anything goes, doesn't matter what it takes.

"Monica, baths are essential to living a wonderful life, so don't ever feel the need to ask someone if it's ok to take one. You might not know, but I am a bathing enthusiast myself, so I don't care what anyone says. In fact, I take baths every day, doesn't matter if I'm still clean or not... BATHS ARE THE BEST." I said while mumbling about how great baths are.

Monica looked at me like I was jumping off the deep end, right in front of her. It would seem, that not being able to take baths while I was a kid... has given me PTSD.

"Hakkar, honey, are you sure you're going to be ok while I'm gone? I don't want to be the reason why you fall behind during training." She said while looking at me mumbling.

"Huh? Oh yeah, don't worry... I think I got the gist of it back when Mr. Auger was talking to me." I said while snapping myself out of my bathing trance.

"Ok... I'll be back in about an hour, so practice the stuff you already know till I get back." She said while giving me a friendly smile.

"See you later, Monica." I said while waving bye to her.

After she disappeared back into the village, I sat cross-legged on the ground and started training. I didn't know what to do at first, so I just started by sending my internal mana to my eyes. After doing so, I was able to sense the mana around me with my eyes. I did this with every sense and thought that was it, I couldn't believe it was that easy.

*Whack*

"Wrong!" Mr. Auger said while slapping the back of my head.

"Ow! What is wrong with you?" I said while holding the spot he hit.

"Where did Monica go?" He said looking down at me while smoking his cigar.

"What? Oh, she went to go change and take a bath, why what do you need?" I said while still holding the spot he hit.

"Ahem, it would seem that an urgent matter involving the Envoy has come up, but since Monica's not here, I'll give you a hint before I leave. Remember... even without enhancing your senses with mana... they can still perceive... what you will them to perceive." He said while already getting ready to sprint towards the village.

'Wonderful, another riddle for me to solve... what is with these guys and their shitty explanations?'

While Mr. Auger sprinted toward the village, I sat back down on the ground, and continued training. Mr. Auger's words played in my head over and over until I entered a trance of sorts.

*****

While I was in my trance, Monica watched me from the sidelines. She waited over 7 hours before someone else finally came over to where we were. It was Mr. Auger, who was sporting a brand new slap mark on his face.

"How long has he been like this?" Mr. Auger said while looking at Monica.

"7 hours, but don't talk to me, creeps like you piss me off." Monica responded while glaring at him.

"I said I'm sorry! How was I supposed to know you were taking a bath?" He said while touching the new bruise on his face.

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"Enough, I don't care about your excuses, Auger, just tell me when the boy's going to wake up." Monica said while still glaring at him.

After staring at me for a little longer, he smiled at Monica and started walking forward. When he made it in front of me, he began waving his hand in front of my closed eyes. He made no noise while walking, and even though he was waving his hand... I couldn't hear a single thing.

*****

'What is that thing in front of me? It's disrupting the natural mana that flows around it.'

Although I couldn't hear anything sneak up on me, my senses told me otherwise. Opening my eyes slowly, I looked at the object in front of me.

'A hand?'

"Well done, brat, you've finally started understanding Mana Awareness. Although... you can only see a couple of inches in front of you, so I'd advise expanding your range a bit. Nonetheless... good work, now tell me how you did it, so I can have you work on a new technique tomorrow." He said while slapping me on the back.

"How long has it been since I closed my eyes?" I said while holding my back.

"*Sigh* can you ever just appreciate me? I mean, look at how good of a teacher I was just then. I praised you and everything… the least you can do is say thank you!" He said while blowing smoke in my face.

"*Cough* nice bruise you got there… now tell me how long I was out for." I said while waving away the smoke.

I left Mr. Auger so dumbfounded, that he just stared into the distance with his mouth slightly open. When he finally spoke, I thought he had gone crazy.

"Inner peace. Yes, I've achieved it… now nothing in this world can hurt me." He said while walking away with a goofy smile on his face.

"What's wrong with him?" I said while looking at Monica.

"Hahahaha, that was good, Hakkar. You couldn't have done it any better than that." She said while rolling on the ground laughing.

"Hey, Monica, how long have I been sitting here?" I said with a little bit of worry in my voice.

"Why are you so worried about that? It's only been 7 hours... you still have more time to train if that's what you're worried about." She said while wiping tears from her eyes.

"I see... only 7 hours... WAIT, 7 HOURS." I started crying as I grabbed my legs and shook them around like noodles.

'I can't feel my legs?!! Wait, maybe I can use Mana Healing like I did this morning.'

After about 10 minutes, I could feel my legs again, and when I opened my eyes after focusing, Monica was only two inches away from my face. She was crouching down, staring at me with her sharp eyes.

It only took me two seconds to completely turn red from embarrassment. In my past life, I was never able to leave the hospital, so talking to women was impossible, and in this life... the only people I ever see, that are women, are little kids or my family. I never thought I would react like this with Monica, but it does make sense. She looks about the same age as I was back on Earth, and her new outfit... makes her look more mature.

Since she wasn't in a relaxed setting, she redid her hair. She changed it from a messy bun to a high ponytail, tied up with a black ribbon, and 2 parallel bangs that left her face completely obscure. She also changed her clothes to better fit training. She wore a black sleeveless turtle neck that was paired with, brown jean-like short shorts, along with a black belt that had pouches on it. For footwear, she wore knee-high brown boots, paired with black leggings that left a 5-inch gap between her shorts.

'Get your head out of the clouds, Hakkar, you have no chance... so just focus on training.'

"Hakkar? Why is she so close to you?" Ulta said from behind me.

"Ulta? What are you doing over here?" I said while snapping my neck around.

"I thought you would be hungry after training all day, but it seems I could care less anymore." Ulta said while running away.

'Great... now I'm hungry, and I have to somehow resolve this misunderstanding with Ulta. *Sigh* as much as I think Monica is a wonderful woman, I don't care anymore. Ulta is someone I consider family, a little sister to me... if I had to choose my sister... or some random lady from the Empire... my choice is pretty simple.'

"Could you move back a little bit Miss Monica... You're a little too close to me." I said with a blank expression.

"I just wanted to tell you, that when you're using Mana Healing, you should also be using Mana Awareness. I was able to sneak up on you with ease... if I was an enemy, you'd be dead right now." Monica said with a cold gaze.

"Noted, I will continue training, and work on what you and Mr. Auger told me." I said while standing up and waking away.

After that, I continued to practice until the sun went down, and the moon was shining brightly in the sky. In the end, I was able to find the Chief's hut with my eyes closed. I wonder if that was enough progress for one day of training?

Since I can now feel the mana around me within a 10-foot radius, finding the Chief's hut was simple in this cramped village. I've also learned how to use both Mana Awareness and Mana Healing, like how Miss Monica said I should.

As I was praising myself for my achievements, I entered the hut and instantly felt that something was off.

'Where's Ulta?'