CHAPTER 46: TRAINING

"And finally, the last thing," said Angelica. "About how to proceed to your training of your mana sense and why I consider it a very important aspect of your growth."

"Athar," Angelica continued. Her tone softened slightly, but her conviction deepened.

"Most people including most of the academies," she explained, "students are not taught about mana sense until their second year."

"By then, they have usually reached the peak of E Rank. That’s when they start learning the connect phase. Only after breaking through to D Rank, do they begin working on control part. So, even when they become stronger their mana sense lags behind them and they have to do unusual hard work to strengthen their mana sense."

She let out a small sigh.

"But I disagree with that approach. There are many people whose potential caps at D or C Rank. Why should they be denied the benefits of early training?"

"There is no rule saying you cannot learn mana sense earlier," she continued. "It is just that, in the beginning, students have so many other priorities. Raising their cultivation, learning combat and battle techniques, synergy with their beasts, understanding the wider world... mana sense ends up taking a backseat."

She paused and looked directly at him.

"But I want you to focus on it right away. It is that important."

"By the time you reach D or C Rank, I want your mana sense to already be sharp, developed, refined, second nature."

"You may not understand why just yet, but trust me—it is more useful than you can imagine."

"All the benefits I already told you is there," she continued. "Right now, even a complete mortal can injure you badly if he somehow is able to sneak behind your back and catch you by surprise. With mana sense, this would not happen."

"Not only this but even when facing an opponent who is directly in front of your eyes, mana sense helps immensely," she added further.

"You will notice subtle shifts- a twitch of the hand, the turn of a foot, the gathering of energy before a strike. You could anticipate movements, techniques before they are unleashed."

Athar nodded slowly. Her words resonated with him. He remembered Trux. He himself had sneaked and taken Trux by surprise.

If Trux had even a basic grasp of mana sense, Athar hiding behind the stairs would have been meaningless. The ambush would have failed and his plan, disrupted.

He smiled inwardly. He had acted out of ignorance. He was not even aware of things and he can only thank his fortune.

"There are many more uses for mana sense," Angelica said, watching him closely. "You will come to understand them as you begin to use it. And that is why I want you to start now."

"Do you understand?" She questioned.

Athar nodded again, this time with clarity in his eyes.

"Good," she said with a small smile. "Now, let me show you how to begin?"

What followed was a longer, focused session in which Angelica guided Athar through the very first steps of practicing mana sense.

She helped him search for that faint, elusive connection, the subtle thread linking one’s awareness to the surrounding mana.

From there, she explained how to gradually build upon it, strengthen it, and slowly expand it further and further outward.

It was a tiresome and mentally demanding process.

Athar failed repeatedly. Again and again, he reached out and missed. By the end of the session, his progress was minimal, barely a flicker of connection here and there, nothing stable or repeatable.

"Do not be disheartened," Angelica said gently, watching as Athar sighed in frustration after failing one more time.

"This is a tiring and time consuming practice. It takes people months to even keep that very first connection stable enough. And that too when they are at peak E Rank with a far better control over their mana."

She continued, "You would not master it in a day. Practicing while fatigued will only make it harder. It is simply not efficient. Rest for today."

Athar nodded and finally relented, taking a moment to rest. He was too tired. As he sat down, Angelica shifted the conversation toward lighter topics specifically, his life.

Though she already knew a fair amount, she wanted to hear it from him directly. There was something different about hearing someone speak their truth in their own words, shaped by their tone and expression.

Athar spoke simply, touching on different parts of his life in broad strokes, never going into too much detail. He did not want to sound like as if he was attempting to evoke sympathy or retell his hardships for attention. The poverty, the rejection—those were parts of his past. He had lived through them, learned from them, and moved on.

To him, there was little value in reopening wounds that had already healed.

"We will meet in few days," Angelica said as she dismissed the session for today. "Till then keep practicing on your own and if you find any problem do not act in haste. You can find and approach me anytime."

"At that time, I will check on your progress and hopefully we can talk about a bit about the battle techniques you are practicing."

"I assume you are already practicing two techniques," she remarked further.

"Yes," Athar nodded. "Sword Slash, which I have mastered to a fair degree and used in the battle yesterday."

"And phase of illusion, which I have not yet started to practice. It suits my mist."

Angelica gave a nod but did not comment anything. And though, Athar was tempted to ask if he had selected suitable techniques, he kept his mouth shut. Maybe, next time.

Before leaving Angelica slid a metallic card towards Athar. On the card, the name Angelica and a number had been engraved in bold characters.

"Keep this card," she said. "Using this, you would be able to use this training room without any restrictions. I believe that the dorm might not be the best place to train all the time."

Seeing this Athar hesitated. The cultivation technique, the storage ring and now this. He felt it was too much to take.

Angelica very easily guessed what was going through his mind.

She chuckled, "Do not fret over it. All the teachers of the academy and their personal disciples get this facility."

"Use it without any worry," she added.

Hearing this, a slight relief washed over Athar as he picked up the card without any further hesitation.

By the time Athar returned to his dorm, it was already evening and he slumped on his bed as he fell back to sleep and even missed his dinner.

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