Now back to the present, 6 Months later, Syla was visibly more familiar with holding a sword, her forms looked good and the way she held the sword looked as if she was ready for battle with the intense grip and weight balance between her hands and the sword's hilt.
Swoosh!
"87.." Syla said as she swung the sword repeatedly, counting up with each swings until she reached 100.
After she swung the sword for 100 times in a row, Syla stabbed the sword into the ground, locking it in place as she walked closer to her house and sat on the ground, leaning behind the wooden walls.
"Huff.. huff.. 100 swings is still hard to do even after a week since i decided to change it from 50 swings." Syla said while occassionally gasping for air. "Gotta take some water..
She stood up from her spot and went inside her house, a few moments later, she came back with a cup of water. Syla rested for about 5 minutes before she went back to training, after doing 100 swings, she dropped it down to 80 for the next, then 60, then 40, then last one 20 swings. She swung less and less between rest time until she was done with the final 20 swings, totaling with 300 swings per day.
On average, Syla would start the sword training at 8:00AM and ended it at 11:00PM, at which after training she would help her mother with chores and then go play with other kids in the playground.
.
.
At the playground, 2:00PM—
Loud cheering and screams can be heard all around the playground as the kids ran around and play with their friends, some of them played tag, while others played catch with stones, Syla was one of the kid in the playground, however she didn't get involved with anyone, but rather prefer to enjoy the sight while sitting beneath the usual tree she had been sitting in the past 3 years.
This time, she wasn't alone, Syla was accompanied by Lud who was also sitting beside her while drawing on the dirt with his hand, he seems to be in a bad mood, looking at how his face was frowning even when Syla was near him.
'Is he angry because his friends doesn't want to pass the stone to him when playing catch?" Syla thought, remembering the scene she saw a few minutes ago where Lud was playing catch with his friends when none of them seems to be paying attention to him.
"Tch, just because they're a little better at catching the stone than me, who do they think they are..' Lud quietly whispered as he draws two stickman representing him and Syla.
"They'll play with you again soon, trust me." Syla said to comfort the sulking Lud. "Maybe you're just bad at catch, but not in other games."
"Ahh!! you also think so huh Syla!!" Lud said in anger. "W- well, even if i was bad, that's because i couldn't see infront of me when my eyes are looking at the falling stone, that's why i kept hitting stuff and tumbling over rocks– It's not my fault!"
"Then what do you want to do now?" Syla asked, her eyes glancing at Lud, but her head kept fixed towards the front.
"I have no idea– You're the only one that i can talk to right now, but i know you don't want to play.." He said as he continues to draw the sun and clouds above the two stickman.
"I can play with you." Syla answered casually, catching Lud off guard with her unexpected words.
"Huh? seriously?" He said, doubting at what he just heard.
"We can play." Syla affirmed Lud's doubt, nodding at the end of her sentence.
"Then— Uhh, what should we do– Umm.." Lud was excited to hear that Syla wanted to play with him, it's been a long time ever since they last played together, just the two of them.
"Ah, i know.. How about we walk along the village fences, we can search for something interesting at the edge of the village, maybe we'll find a treasure or something!" Lud suggested exploring around the village border, the idea intrigued Syla, she thought about it for a while, and agreed to it.
"Sure, we can do that." She said.
"Alright! Then let's go!" Lud walked infront of Syla with confidence and acted like a guide or a leader while Syla followed behind closely.
'I can look around the village and see the forest scenery, it doesn't sound too bad, if something happened, we can just hop on the fences and run away..' Syla thought, thinking that it will be a harmless sightseeing.
.
.
At the edge of the village, North side, 2:30PM—
Both Syla and Lud was walking beside the fences, they occassionally met with other people from the village that was either cooking with a bonfire or washing their clothes, when asked with what they were doing, Syla answered that they were just trying to find something lost and got away with it.
"Isn't the forest beautiful?" Lud asked Syla as he looked around him, tall trees were everywhere, bushes that held secrets behind it, and the gentle winds that brought leaves and other stuff towards them made their short exploring worth it.
"Yeah it is." Syla answered.
As they kept walking, they eventually came across a small river that was flowing right beside the village fences, located in the North side, this river was the main water source for the village as many people came to collect water for drinking or for bathing.
'I remember when my dad and i used to fish here, we got almost nothing except a few small fishes.' Syla said to herself, remembering the past memories of her.
"Where do you think the water in this river comes from?" Lud suddenly asked, curious with Syla's answer as she was known to be a smart kid, atleast to him.
"Hmm, i suppose they came from the mountains?"
Syla's answer was kind of underwhelming, with the short sentence that was straight to the point, it made Lud a bit disappointed, but he shrugged it off eventually.
The two of them sat by the river for a few minutes, admiring the nature before them and the sunny weather that made everything looked bright.
Once an hour had passed, Syla bid her goodbye to Lud as they parted ways, Lud goes back to the playground, while Syla went back to her house.
.
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At Syla's house, 3:45PM—
Clack!
Syla entered her bedroom and closed the door, she then sat on a chair that was beside her bed, it was added one year ago by her parents to make it easier for her to read a book, but it can also be used for focusing or writing.
A few seconds after she sat down, Syla closed her eyes and began focusing into her imagination.
'The usual...' She thought as she imagined a blue smoke, representing a condensed mana.
Over the past 2 years, Syla had been diligently expanding her mana slowly, everyday when she had a free time, she would use it to absorb mana and gradually increasing her mana storage. Not only did she get better at imagining the process, but she also found way better method at absorbing mana than the one Mr. Hensen used.
'Imagine a blue smoke.. Deep blue– Then gather them into one singular spot as if it was being pulled by gravity, little by little.. Condense the mana into a tiny dot.. Ugh, then imagine the tiny dot of condensed mana exploding, forming a cell of condensed mana which then cloned itself via mitosis.. Keep cloning until theres 10 of them– Focus.. Focus... Now– Inject those cells into my body one by one..'
As Syla's mind was going wild, the atmosphere around her suddenly turned cold, as a deep blue fog began to engulf her, her bedroom briefly shook like an earthquake as if it was trying to contain the large amount of mana that was being pulled from the outside into Syla's body.
After a few seconds, Syla jolted her eyes opened, she gasped loudly and pushed her chest forward, almost hitting the desk infront of her, a few drops of saliva fell to her thighs as she coughed.
Not long after, her mom came into the room, she looked at her daughter's condition and immediately knew what happened.
"Syla? You okay?" She said calmly.
"Y- yes mom, don't worry.." Syla answered, a few coughs escaped from her mouth.
"Haahh, If you're done with it, help me clean the bookshelf." Her mother sighed, seemingly unbothered, she didn't show any panic or fear in her eyes, as if she was used with Syla's behavior.
'I guess anyone will get used to it if they saw the same scene everyday for 2 years..' Syla thought.
"Alright, give me one second."