Chapter 36 - Burning Bear
The morning training session the day after learning that Fighting Spirit was actually magic. Gail had a feeling that Arnold looked somewhat restless.
"John, we are going to train your strength--- Fighting Spirit again today."
Arnold almost said strengthening magic by accident. He glanced at Gail and then cleared his throat. Meanwhile, John's body began to glow faintly as he concentrated.
"Try dashing forward."
*whoosh*
His speed is much faster than yesterday. Has he already started mastering it? John really is talented. If I teach him other magic, he'll probably be able to pick it up quickly too.
"Next, swing your sword while backing up."
I guess this is a training to dodge the opponent's counterattacks.
John immediately jumped backwards, but the golden light went out before he could swing his sword.
“It's meaningless if you can't do it while maintaining your Fighting Spirit. Try it again!”
If you think before you move your body, you will lose your focus to maintain your Fighting Spirit. John needs to get used to doing these three things; maintaining Fighting Spirit, moving around, and swinging his sword without thinking about them. I wonder if Arnold going to make John doing this until his magic runs out.
John's body stopped glowing as Gail was thinking about that.
Did he instinctively sense that his magic power was about to run out?
"I guess this is your limit. You'll repeat dashing and attacking, then dashing back and swinging your sword upwards, without using Fighting Spirit for the remaining time."
John dashed forward and slashed at Arnold. When Arnold launched a counterattack, he jumped backwards and swung his sword upwards. On the other hand, Bent swung his wavering sword, while occasionally glancing at John’s direction.
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Before heading to the forest after breakfast, Gail and Dan went to the residential area. The construction of the hut was still a secret from Misha, so the two went without telling her.
"Oh, there he is.... Bossman! The hut is almost finished, so could you come over sometime soon?"
"You are here, Boy. When do you want me to come? Just pick the time."
"You're busy, aren't you?"
“Thanks to the tools someone came up with, I’ve got more work I can delegate now.”
Miguel said that with a grin.
The tools seem to be useful. That makes me happy.
"How about tomorrow? If you come to the mansion, we can go together.”
“Sure, no problem!”
Miguel thumped his chest and gave a thumbs-up. Gail and Dan then left the residential area and headed towards the forest.
(Huh? Young Master and Dan are coming from the downtown's direction. I thought they went to the forest this morning....)
Unaware that Misha was watching them, Gail and Dan passed by the mansion and kept walking towards the forest.
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The first thing Gail and Dan did upon arriving in the forest was hunt for lunch. They returned to the training ground with some rabbits and started butchering them.
"Young Master, can you teach me magic?"
"Sure, but I thought you only interested in sword."
"There's something I want. If I could use magic, I might be able to get it."
"Is that so? Then, let’s give it a try.”
"I’m counting on you!”
After finishing butchering the rabbits, Gail left the job of washing them to Dan.
"Hmmm.... Hnnnnn.... No good, Young Master. No water comes out."
"Magic is all about mental image. Watch me closely."
Saying that, water came out of Gail's finger tip.
"Carve this image in your mind."
Dan nodded.
"Now, imagine water coming out of your fingertips while focusing your Fighting Spirit there."
"Fighting Spirit?"
"That's right, Fighting Spirit is actually strengthening magic. But instead of strength, imagine water gathering at your fingertip."
"Okay, I'll try it! Hmmm.... Hnnnnn....."
*trickle*
"Oh, it came out! The water really came out!"
*splash*
*splash*
*splash*
"I did it, I did it!"
The bear started dancing.
"Young Master, I can use magic now!"
*squeeze*
Dan hugged Gail tightly
“Ouch! Ouch! You are crushing me, Dan!”
Instead of a hug, it's more like being held in a headlock by a bear.
"S-Sorry, I'm just so happy."
"I know that you are happy, but be more careful."
Gail, who was almost crushed to death, got angry and pouted. Dan scratched his head apologetically.
"Forget it. Now, try lighting the firewood this time."
"Leave it to me!"
Having said that, Dan started concentrating again.
*boom*
Ouch, hot!!
Huge fire like an explosion erupted from the firewood.
Heal!
Heal!
Gail’s face got slightly burned by the intense heat of the fire, so he hastily cast healing magic on himself and Dan.
"Geez, what are you doing!? That was quite dangerous...."
*blergh*
Eww, that's disgusting!
Dan was throwing up.
"Young Master, the potion,... in the bag...."
*blergh*
Gail immediately search for the magic potion in the bag and gave it to Dan.
"Huff.... Huff.... Huff.... I'm saved.... So this is what running out of magic power feels like. I thought I was going to die."
Apparently, Dan had bought a magic potion just in case.
"This is what happens when you use too much magic power to create fire at once."
"S-Sorry. I got a little carried away. Magic is dangerous."
You are the one who is dangerous!
Thinking that, Gail looked at the barbecue grill and saw that all the firewood had turned to ash and the iron mesh had melted.
"Oh no, we can't use this grill anymore."
"I'm really sorry...."
While Gail was finishing up the hut, Dan was making rabbit skewers while looking dejected.
"Okay, just a bit more and.... done!"
A container-like structure made entirely of earth was completed.
"The hut is more or less finished with this. Let's go buy a new iron mesh later."
The two munched on the rabbit skewers for lunch. Gail was the one who started the fire this time. That day, for the first time, there was leftover food.