Thud. Thud. Thud.
"Faster! Faster! And don't use your telekinesis. I hope you are good at that."
Hikari marches around the arena. A pair of boulders in each hand now.
Sheela has been pushing the pace.
But the sand was now helping her.
Instead of holding her back, the sand was helping her push forward.
"Enough. Mana training time."
Hikari drops the weights and freshens up.
They sit opposite each other.
Sheela builds up and pulses.
Hikari builds up and pulses.
Repeat.
Repeat.
"Good, now try it yourself."
Build up, release and retrieve.
Build up, release and retrieve.
"Good. Good. You learn quick. As expected of a student of the great master Sheela."
"Yes, master Sheela."
"Silence and focus!"
Pulse.
Pulse.
Hikari gets into a rhythm.
She repeats the motion over and over again to Sheela's approval.
"Good. Now it's time to spice it up."
Sheela spreads her aura.
The sand moves.
Several stone pillars appear in the arena.
"Now repeat."
Build up, release.
The uneven stone pillars break up her mana.
"Control!"
Hikari builds up another pulse.
The uneven ground Sheela created was throwing her off balance.
She pulses.
She doesn't stop.
She saw the terrain in the wyvern peaks earlier.
Sheela had recreated it for her.
Release. Retrieve.
She drags her mana back through the uneven ground.
Release. Retrieve.
It gets easier and easier.
"Getting the hang of it are we. Let's shake it up again."
Sheela rearranges the pillars in the arena.
Pulse.
The sequence was broken again.
Pulse.
Pulse.
Hikari keeps trying.
She was starting to sweat.
She keeps her concentration.
Pulse.
Pulse.
She gets it.
"Good again."
Sheela rearranges the pillars.
Hikari continues.
…
"Sit down. Legs straight."
Hikari sits down in the sand.
Day after day, she had been marching around the sandy arena.
She didn't realize how sore they were until now.
Sheela sits down in front of her.
Hikari straightens her legs as she asks.
The sand wraps around her legs and whirled, scrubbing off her sweat with the force of her movements.
"Sand is actually a very good cleaner. Once you become a better sand bender, maybe you should try it?"
"Yes."
The sand retreats.
Hikari's legs felt fresh.
"Your legs must be quite sore after training. So your master will now do something about it."
Sheela clenches her fist.
The sand below Hikari's left leg raises, pushing her leg up.
"Dang you are heavy, but it's nothing your master can't handle."
Sheela shuffles herself in front of Hikari's raised foot.
She grabs it with both hands.
"Master Sheela."
"Hold still will ya. Urk! Your feet smell. Don't get used to it, I'm only doing this because of how hard ya trained."
The sand floated up to her arms and coated them.
Her hands squeezed Hikari's food.
Hikari purred.
It felt good.
She could feel the pressure.
Despite being only a fraction of its mass, she concentrates her mana into her hands to make up the difference.
"It's good."
"He. I know you'll like it. But dang! Your muscles are tough. What did you eat?"
"Ivory berries."
"Yuck. What idea was it to pick berries that grow on the wall of a magic tower? They do have good mana content, but yuck are they inedible."
"Yes."
Sheela moves on to her legs.
She squeezes HIkari's gluts.
She had to lean her chest against Hikari's foot as she reached further up her leg.
"I wish I had your muscles. I didn't know Ivory berries could make you grow big. They aren't supposed to. I should have heard about it if someone made that work."
Hikari thinks for a bit.
"Stew."
"Yeah. I eat that everyday too. Very nutritious. The fancy sauces and mana method destroy all the nutrients inside the food. Boil them in the good old cauldron and that's all good."
"You want to grow big?"
"Yep. You slayed that sandworm titan don't you? That's amazing ya know. Would have taken a small army of sand benders to hold it. I want to grow bigger so I can slay those titans too."
"Train hard."
Sheela squeezes the sides of Hikari's gluts.
Hikari purrs.
She moves back to the foot.
Her strong grip feels good on her toes and arches.
She moves on to the other foot.
"How do you train back at the RazenHeir house? I heard they use a kind of funny fire. I don't think they do much strength training though."
"They don't."
"Dumb asses. Don't they know that building your body also builds your mana pool. Oh well, at least you take the physicals seriously."
"Yep."
Sheela raises Hikari's other foot.
She shuffles in front of it.
"How's the fight with the sandworms? My brother did give you some scrolls. Must have been a pain not being able to move freely in the sand eh?"
"Yes. The big one is scary."
"Once it bites you, you're dead. But you can avoid it. The small ones are a problem actually. They are easy to kill in small numbers. But once they swarm you, you're dead too. Don't be fooled by their size. Their teeth can bite into steel easily."
"Yes."
Sheela quietens down.
Hikari looks at her.
"Master sheela?"
She was startled.
She looks away from Hikari and continues to massage her foot.
"It's nothing. Nothing for now. Just focus on recovering."
"Yes, master Sheela."
…
Thud. Thud.
Hikari marches around the arena.
Sheela had reduced her weight burden.
Half a sack of sand.
Hikari makes the rounds easily.
"Alright, that's enough stop."
"Master Sheela."
Hikari turned to her.
"I know, I know. You're not even tired yet are you. But you actually got to fight on the front so I can't strain you out much. Besides, we gotta get you up to speed with stone shattering."
"Yes, master Sheela."
Hikari drops the weights and walks to the center of the arena.
She closes her eyes.
Sheela moves her mana.
The basic form first, and then a second set of movements.
Hikari follows.
Just like the basic form, her movements are clanky at first.
She tries to mimic it.
Sheela just keeps moving her mana in a loop.
It appeared to be her normal training anyways.
Basic form first, and then it branches into something unfamiliar.
Repeat.
Repeat.
Sheela had gotten quiet.
Hikari needs no further verbal instruction at this point.
Just practice.
Repeat.
Repeat.
Sheela stops.
Hikari opens her eyes.
She can't tell how much time has passed.
But there was a satisfied grin on Sheela's face.
"He. Looks like this one is no cake for you either."
"How to?"
"Yeah, yeah. Be patient. You just got the movements down."
Sheela gathers the sand before her.
A pillar rose from the ground.
"Now follow my lead."
Hikari closes her eyes again.
The same motion she had been practicing.
The basic form first, the second step.
The pillar disintegrates into a pile of sand.
Sheela reconstructs the pillar.
"Don't worry about construction. You only need to destroy rocks for now."
"Yes, master Sheela."
The pillar forms.
It disintegrates.
It forms.
It disintegrates.
Sheela could do this like clock work.
Pure blood.
She was born with the mana form and had practiced it since birth.
HIkari tries to keep up.
Repeat.
Repeat.
Repeat.
The pillar forms.
The pillar disintegrates.
Again and Again.
"Ahh… I'm beat!."
Sheela laid back onto the sand and stretched out her arms.
They had lost track of them.
Hikari opens her eyes.
The sound of the sand bender snoring.
Hikari watches over her.
…
Thud. Pause. Thud. Pause.
No weights this time but Hikari is blind folded.
"Feel the sand!"
Sheela barked.
She creates a maze of stone walls in the sand.
They were Hikari's ankle height.
Enough for her to feel them if she knocks into one.
Hikari had to navigate it without her sight.
She felt her toes knock against a stone wall.
"Ya missed the turn. Try again. And don't ya use your mana sense and cheat."
"Yes, master Sheela."
Sheela disassembles the maze and recreates a completely new one.
Turns at uneven intervals.
The angle is unpredictable.
Hikari kicks down another wall.
She had it past two turns this time.
"Again!"
Sheela barked.
Another maze was reconstructed.
Hikari pulses.
The picture she created in her mind was still fuzzy.
She could sense Sheela in the center of the arena.
Her body was massive compared to the short stone walls she created.
The obstacles were made small on purpose for Hikari to properly train her senses.
Hikari kicked a wall.
Sheela reconstructs the maze.
Hikari kicked a wall.
Sheela reconstructs the maze.
Again and Again.
"Stop! Good work."
Hikari removed her blindfold.
She had cleared the round.
"Looks like you got it. It must still be quite fuzzy for you. But we are short of time to get you ready for the raid. You're gonna have to keep practicing once you're in the wyvern peaks."
"Yes, master sheela."
"Good! Have a quick chow, we still need to work on stone shattering."
…
Hikari places both palms on the boulder.
It was about the size of her head.
She focuses.
The shattering movements she had practiced for a full day.
Start with the basic form.
And then the second movement.
Crack! The boulder breaks in half.
"Again!"
Sheela repairs the boulder.
Hikari was still impressed by how seamlessly she could repair the stone.
Crack!
Hikari was consistently able to break the boulder.
Crack!
Crack!
She can't fully disassemble the boulder into stone.
But she could already see how this would be very useful in a cave.
Crack! Crack!
The boulder shatters into a dozen pieces.
Sheela nods.
"This is good enough for now. Now lie down."
"Yes, master sheela."
Sheela raised a clump of sand.
She assembles them into stone and covers Hikari with it.
"Now, use your stone shattering and break them into smaller pieces."
Same motion.
Different position.
Basic form first.
Several stones cracked around her.
"No need to aim. Imagine you're buried in a rock slide. Just blast it all round."
Hikari tries again.
Several stones crack.
"Good. again!"
Sheela reconstructs the stones.
Crack. Crack.
A series of cracks.
"More. Again!"
Hikari channels more mana this time.
Crack!
Shards of loose stone were projected into the air.
"That's too much. You're using too much mana than needed. Don't over force."
"Yes, master Sheela."
Again.
Crack. Crack.
"Good. Once you crack the stone, they will just flow past you harmlessly. No need to do anything else."
"Yes, master Sheela."
Reconstruct.
Crack. Crack.
Reconstruct.
…
"Ah… ! I'm beat. That felt good."
Sheela laid back into the said. Arms stretched out in all directions.
"Master Sheela."
Hikari offers her a tank of water.
Sheela sat up, grabs the tank and gulps down the contents
She was soaked in sweat.
The sand where she laid down was damp.
So was the area around Hikari.
It had been a few hard days of constant training.
"Damn, you made a lot of progress. You really are a genius. Where did you come from?"
"The RazenHeir house found me."
"He. No sh*t. What were you doing before then?"
"I fight orcs."
"Orcs huh? Plenty of training dummies for you. They're just like sand worms. Each one of them is not terribly dangerous. But their numbers are endless. And they can do some real damage if they manage to overwhelm you."
"Yes."
Sheela tries to drink from the empty tank.
"Master Sheela."
"Ya?"
"Thanks."
Sheela's eyes opened wide like a goldfish.
Subtle shades of blushes on her tanned skin.
"It's nothing."
She turns away.
"Just a favor for my brother. I can't join him on the frontlines. So I'll leave it to you to bring him back safely."
"Yes, Master Sheela."
Hikari reaches out her hand.
She telekinetically grabs another tank of water.
Sheela has gotten quiet.
Hikari drinks.
"Umm… Hikari?"
"Master?"
"There's a rest day tomorrow. And… I need a favor from you…"
Sheela's voice had gotten shy.
"What is it?"
"I'll tell you tomorrow alright? So pushy. Have some patience will ya."
She blurted out.
Hikari looks with curious eyes.
"Sure."
"Thanks."