Reincarnated In A World Of Mana As A Mechanic-Chapter 47: Taking The Training Wheels Off 2

Professor Ross gestured, and several training dummies rose from the floor—these ones seeming more sophisticated than the running course constructs. "Reaction speed is your first line of defense. Not just physical speed, but mental speed—the ability to recognize threats, assess options, and execute responses faster than your opponents can complete their attacks."

She moved to stand before one of the training dummies, an action which it responded to by swinging its dulled blade down on her. Monica Ross swerved, a wave of mana coating her palm as she slammed upwards at a precise manner, knocking the blade out of the constructs arm while also sending a force that pushed its arm upwards and leaving a massive opening in its guard.

Without warning, she struck the dummy with lightning-fast precision. Her powerful attacks followed by a sharp whistling of the wind, each strike flowing naturally into the next, creating a combination that would have overwhelmed any human opponent.

Before long, the construct fell to the ground twitching periodically while its limbs found themselves separated chaotically across the field.

The students couldn’t help but shiver as they stared at the scene, subconsciously imagining themselves in the construct’s position before they finally produced a singular thought within their mind. ’What a battle-crazed woman.’

"The key to fighting magical opponents is disruption. You don’t need to overpower their magic—you just need to prevent them from completing their casting sequences." If the professor managed to guess what was on their collective minds, she didn’t show it. Instead, she went on to continuing her explanation before she turned to address the students directly. "This requires understanding timing, distance, and opportunity. You need to recognize the moment when an opponent is committed to a particular action and cannot easily change course. This also means you have to know which attacks are feints and which aren’t."

Ezekiel found himself genuinely interested despite his recent humbling experience. This was practical combat theory of the sort that couldn’t be downloaded or programmed—it required understanding, practice, and instinctive response. Things which could only be accumulated with experience.

"Partner exercises," Professor Ross announced. "I want you to practice basic disruption techniques. One partner attempts to complete a simple action sequence—could be weapon preparation or defensive positioning. The other partner practices interrupting that sequence using minimal force and maximum efficiency. Switch roles after three attacks or three disruptions."

As students began pairing off, Ezekiel found himself partnered with a muscular Brawler named Henrik. The two didn’t exchange any words, simply moving on with their training with silent agreement.

They began with Henrik attempting to complete a mock attacking sequence while Ezekiel practiced disruption techniques. Without Laura’s assistance, Ezekiel had to begin reading body language, recognizing preparatory movements, and timing his interventions appropriately. All of this required quick calculations that his brain wasn’t used to despite his high intelligence stat.

It was frustrating work. Several times he moved too early, allowing Henrik to adapt and complete his sequence anyway. Other times he moved too late, resulting in Henrik successfully completing his attack pattern. But gradually, through repetition and Professor Ross’s pointed corrections, he began to develop a feel for the rhythm of combat.

The lesson continued with increasingly complex scenarios. Multiple opponent simulations, environmental hazards, and situations where disruption alone wasn’t sufficient and direct confrontation became necessary.

They also switched up their partners a lot, to allow the students experience a more varied set of attacks.

Throughout it all, Ezekiel maintained his decision to rely on his own developing instincts rather than technological assistance. The result was a performance that, while competent, was clearly less impressive than his previous demonstrations. Obviously his performance in the survival course seemed to have spread despite the fact that there weren’t many students attending the class.

Other students began to dismiss him as less capable than they’d initially thought. Edward, during a brief break between exercises, even made a snide comment about "early luck running out eventually."

Ezekiel didn’t correct the misimpression. If anything, flying under the radar would give him more opportunities to practice and improve without the pressure of expectations or unwanted attention from instructors.

Even if he was indeed weaker than a Brawler physically, and couldn’t match their combat awareness, it did matter. His Class wasn’t that of a Forger, he was a unique Mechanic. His advantages lay in his inventions, he simply wished to train other aspects of his body while his research was stalled.

"Your homework." Professor Ross announced as the class period drew to a close. "Is to practice the disruption sequences we’ve covered today—if you have the sufficient amount of institute points that is. But more importantly, I want you to start observing combat situations—sparring matches and magical demonstrations. Begin imagining yourself in such scenarios and simulate what your possible reaction should be."

She then fixed each student with her predatory gaze. "Real combat awareness isn’t something you can learn from textbooks. It requires observation, practice, and the willingness to make mistakes while you’re still in a safe environment to learn from them. Most of all, it needs to be accumulated so I hope you all will be diligent and continue your training whenever you get the chance."

Walking back toward the apartment with Vahn and Yuri, Ezekiel reflected on the day’s lessons. The decision to train without Laura’s assistance had been humbling but necessary. He couldn’t expect to rely on her forever after all.

"Rough day?" Vahn asked, noting Ezekiel’s contemplative mood.

"A bit." Ezekiel corrected. "The training is definitely helping though, so I have nothing against this small bit of pain."

Yuri bumped him on the shoulder, a confused expression painting her face. "I noticed you took quite a few hits during that running exercise. Is your magical sensor malfunctioning? Or did you piss Laura off again?"

The mechanic smiled. "Nah, I didn’t. My sensor isn’t malfunctioning either, I can’t even use it without my visors, remember? It’s more like I’m trying to take off the training wheels and learn properly."

Vahn raised his brow while he spoke, his voice laced with concern. "Are you sure it’s wise to handicap yourself during training? These exercises are designed to push us to our limits."

"That’s exactly why it’s the right time to handicap myself." Ezekiel replied. "Better to discover my actual limits now, while the consequences are just bruised ribs, rather than in a situation where our lives are at stake. What about you guys? How was your training?"

Vahn forced a bitter smile. "Don’t even remind me. My mana core still hurts from all that pushing around. Miss Miranda Ward is almost as brutal as Miss Monica Ross is. The former is more cold though, same as always. We were pushed around to keep on casting spells until our mana bottomed out completely while also dodging enemy fire and also figuring out what timing to attack back."

Yuri also revealed a tired smile. "I heard that she is in no way less unique than Miss Ross despite staying true to her Mage class. It’s said that unlike most Mages, Miss Ward doesn’t need Brawler or construct guards on a battlefield, she is known as the most elusive yet efficient mage on the field despite her fire affinity."

Thankfully for the siblings, the institute, obviously knowing that the students would have a hard time moving their body after the Combat technique course, had made the course the last class of the day, allowing the three to stay together in the apartment and get some much needed rest.

Ezekiel almost moaned with delight when he felt the soft material that was the bed beneath. But he didn’t give in to his fatigue, instead he stood up to get something to eat.

Obviously against wasting precious points on the fine cuisines that could be delivered to their door, the trio instead opted for ordinary ingredients that were much cheaper and could be cooked by themselves.

Yes, they cooked it themselves. Apparently, although the home help construct could indeed cook, they would still have to pay for it. It was a measly 10 points but the money pinching Ezekiel was absolutely unwilling to let it go.

So he cooked himself, with the help of Laura and the multiple recipes stored in her database. After eating the surprisingly good meal Ezekiel had prepared, the three headed to the training room to further their training.

For the training alone, the money grubbing Mechanic was okay with spending the institute points on him in exchange for a few hours against the advanced golem in the training section of their apartment. It hurt him dearly to spend such an amount, as though the money disappearing from his account was equivalent to a few years of life leaving him, but he bore through it.

The only saving grace—at least to him—was that the golem would be activated for 4 hours if activated with a set power of rank D, allowing the trio to divide their time and go against it multiple times before they finally gave in to their exhaustion and fell asleep.