"Good, now you may begin." Incus instructed.

Dodging a sword strike, I countered with a horizontal slash.

My arm has yet to heal but the swelling has gone down... however it hasn’t reached the point of where I can use two hands to wield a sword.

Combination after combination of swift one handed strikes, I focused my eyes to spot a weak spot.

Alleus jumped around, using the vanishing step technique to dodge my attacks.

Looks like she’s attempting to learn how to use it efficiently.

Stomping on the ground, I thrust forward.

But what I attacked instead was an afterimage.

Turning my head from side to side, I couldn’t see where Alleus could be.

A shadow then covered the sunlight.

Looking up, Alleus had her sword above her head, preparing to swing.

Jumping back out of the way, she threw the wooden short sword my way.

Barely dodging the attack, Alleus had suddenly appeared behind me with a wooden short sword in hand.

"Looks like I win partner!"

Alleus had stopped her slash just when it was about to hit me in the face.

"Ha, you would’ve lost if it wasn’t for the fact that my hand is still recovered." I jokingly said.

"Don’t act so smug, you could have just used your dragon scales to strengthen it." Alleus pouted.

"Now I want you all to do individual training, I’ll come and try to see what I can do." Incus instructed.

Looking up, it wrote that Incus is going to be assessing our forms and try learning who we are to give more in depth depth advice.

Swinging the wooden sword, my form is much more refined than what it usually looks like because of the sword is much lighter than steel.

After a while, Incus had then appeared in front of me.

Stopping my training, I tilted my head.

"Yeah, what is it—"

She then swung a wooden sword at me out of nowhere.

"Argh!"

Trying to block the attack, I was then sent back.

"You..."

"Me?" I asked.

"Just who are you, I’ve seen you everywhere... the academy, battlefield, palace, and now here. Hold on, aren’t you that guy from the orc raided village?"

With sweat pouring down my face, I hesitated for a moment.

"Well I’m sure it’s just a misunderstanding..."

Giving me a blank stare, I began panicking.

She’s going to kill me if I don’t give a believable answer.

Looking behind her, I saw as Alleus was ready to swing her wooden short sword.

Shaking my eyes no, she paused and gestured:

"What?"

What do you mean what, don’t swing at her you fool!

Seeming to catch my intention, Alleus stepped back.

Patting myself from dust, I sighed.

"I just have a lot of sibling that look just like my—"

Incus then crushed the grip of the wooden sword in hand.

Well that didn’t work.

"Okay fine you caught me... I just was on vacation in my village and I was confused by who you were because I haven’t been back at the academy for a while."

Seeing that she was yet to be convinced, I continued:

"I didn’t want anyone finding out that I had missed a lot of school so I joined the army on special permission so that I wouldn’t be looked down on."

Wearing a frown and glum expression, it seemed that she had calmed down.

"I’ve heard stories about you so I began following you so that I can hopefully find out how to be as great as you."

Rubbing her face, she threw the wooden sword away.

"Alright, I’ll believe you for now."

Walking to get a new wooden sword from a barrel, she pointed it at me.

"If you’re so persistent on being a hero like me then show me just how strong you are."

I can’t waste this opportunity to battle against the main character.

"Scales, strengthen my arm." I said, barely audibly so that Incus wouldn’t hear me.

Under my sleeves, the dragon scales wrapped around my bruised arm.

Clenching the wooden sword with both arms, I lunged forward.

Blowing out air, I swung with all of my might at her.

Incus then blocked my attack in a neutral stance.

Damn it, is that the difference between our strength that grand?

Gritting my teeth, I followed up the attack with a flurry of attacks, shifting my weight from rear to lead foot.

Just one hit... just one hit and I’ll be glad with that.

Out of nowhere, I felt as wood hit against my thigh.

Catching myself before I fell to my knees, I swung diagonally upwards.

But Incus had ruthlessly stopped my attack with an overhead slash.

At first we were at a stalemate but I was slowly getting pushed down to my knees.

"Grrrrgh..!"

Forcing every little bit of strength left in my body, I slowly got back up.

My legs screamed in agony, and I felt my joints screech.

"My goodness, maybe I had judged you too harshly... you’re quite impressive."

She then place the wooden sword down and gave me an eerie smile.

"Tell me, is there anything that you want?"

Without any hesitation in my voice, I replied:

"Impact line, I want to learn the technique."

Surprised, she patted my on the back.

"Alright, I’ll teach you but you need to meet the prerequisite of have blade aura."

Focusing my mana to shroud the wooden blade, I swung down to the side.

"Already met."

Still have that eerie smile on her face, she then raised the wooden sword in her hand.

"Impact line is nothing special, it simply requires you to explode your mana then refine it right when you’re about to hit the target."

She then swung down, it was for a short moment but I definitely saw an explosion of aura which got compressed.

Looking down on the ground, it had a sword mark left on it.

How scary.

Attempting the technique, my mana didn’t explode nor compress into a refined form.

Chuckling, she grabbed my hand.

"Exploding your mana may not seem easy but techniques is just about forcing your body to do what you want... which means the same for your mana pool."

She then placed her hand on my lower abdomen, which seemed to make Alleus unhappy for some reason.

"Imagine your mana as an icicle..."

Closing my eyes, I focused on imagining an icicle.

"Then crush it."

Listening to her instruction, my mana had faintly exploded as I opened my eyes.

"I-I did it."

"Now imagine melting that Icicle then refreezing it." 𝙛𝒓𝓮𝙚𝔀𝒆𝒃𝓷𝒐𝓿𝙚𝓵.𝙘𝒐𝒎

I then quickly imagined what she had instructed.

Looking at the aura, it had become much more condensed.

"There you go, it’s a simple technique but the timing of the attack is where it’s power is from... as soon as it touches the slightest skin, you do as I taught you with your mana."

"Thank you hero Incus."

She then waved and walked towards Alleus, who was being hostile towards Incus.