Swing!
A gust of wind flew from the tip of Syla's blade as she swung her sword vertically as fast as she could, her dad observed her from the side, calculating the speed of each of her swings and also the delay between them.
Upon seeing her daughter's technique, he grabbed Syla's hand and moved them a bit to stabilize how she held the sword.
"Keep your hand steady and don't let it slip further outside or inside the hilt." He said.
"— Got it." Syla replied before trying to swing the sword once more.
"It's– Somewhat better?" She noticed.
"Hmm, that's good, maintain that hand placement and do more attacks for a few minutes." Her dad said as he walked closer to their house, sitting beneath the shaded area away from the scorching sun.
'Urk.. He had the audacity to rest while i practice under the sun!' Syla whined, her eyebrows furrowed from frustration, but she kept going, showing no sign of giving up.
A minute passed, her father still observing from the distance, Syla felt the blazing sun on her skin, sweats began dropping to the ground as she kept swinging her sword, trying her hardest to maintain her form and not letting her hand slip away from the sword's hilt.
Swing!
Swing!
Each swings different from the last, one could be a horizontal slash, while others could be vertical, she also mixed some stab attacks in between the two, Syla could feel her shirt getting wet from her sweats, the fabric started to stick onto her skin, making her uncomfortable, but there was no time to care about such matter, as someone that has lived a total of two lives, she was used with many struggles and could control her urges, her perseverance lets her to stay focused for 4 minutes until finally, her dad stood up and told her to stop.
.
.
"That's enough, you can rest now." He said as he approached Syla.
"Huff.. huff.. Thanks dad." She responded with heavy breaths.
"Even after 6 months, your stamina hasn't increased that much it seems, what do you think? Do you want to end it here?" He gave Syla a choice, whether to end the training or continue, thinking that it might be too dangerous if she continued.
But Syla had something different in her mind.
"No, i can still stand up.." Syla said.
Her dad was hesitant at first, not saying anything for a few seconds before he let out a deep sigh.
"Haahh– Don't yourself too hard, even if you're a genius, your body is still fragile– Fine, but you need to rest first, we'll continue after 10 minutes." He said as he walked inside the house.
'She's really serious about her dream, her palms were rough and many of the skins were peeled off, if that's not a sign of constant training, then i don't know what she did to get her hands to be like that.' Her dad remembered the feeling when he touched Syla's hand, it was similar to his own.
'If she becomes a wanderer in the future, then we won't be able to meet with her for a long time, to be honest– I was hesitant with it, she's my only child, what kind of father wouldn't be worried when their daughter is alone somewhere far away– But after seeing how much effort she put at such young age, i couldn't help but admire it, maybe she was chosen, maybe she was destined to become something much greater than just a demihuman living in the woods—
'What i can do now is just giving her the best support that i can, to make sure that one day, i'll see her for one last time at my death bed, and not the other way around.'
Syla's dad grabbed a water jug from the kitchen, he brought it outside and gave it to Syla, she gladly accepted the offer and drank the water. They both sat down on the ground and watched the sky as the clouds formed into a giant.
Birds ocassionally passed above their house, bringing along winds that came from a faraway land, the wind grazed their skin as falling leaves landed beside them.
"How was your magic?" Syla's dad asked out of the blue.
"Better than ever– my mana is expanding, but the progress is slow, if i keep absorbing mana, i'll gradually become stronger as time passes."
Their conversation continued for a while, Syla explained that mana absorption method is way slower than she expected, with her dad responding with a nod and a few compliments, they shared many moments in the past, talking about them and reminiscing the older times. And before they knew it, 10 minutes had passed in the blink of an eye.
.
.
"Well that was your fault, if you didn't climb the bookshelf, mom wouldn't have nagged you about it, you should be thankful that the bookshelf didn't fall on you." He said. "Hmm, enough with the small talk, how's your body?"
"Its all better! Just tell me what to do!" Syla smiled and picked up her wooden sword again, holding it tightly as she walked out of the shaded area and into the sun.
"Haha, alright then– Don't hate me after this okay?" Her dad followed her behind and they both faced each other within a distance. "Come at me whenever you're ready."
Syla stayed in her position for a few moments, looking for a chance to strike, her eyes gazed at each corner of her dad's body, her hands was gripping the sword tightly as her tail swayed. Then, she goes for it.
Pushing her leg as hard as she cold, Syla dashed forward, taking a step with each stride as she ran towards her dad rapidly, her sword swung to the back of her head as she charged for a slash attack.
CLACK!
The sound of two wooden swords clashing echoed through the forest, Syla's attack was blocked by her dad. Realizing that one attack wasn't enough, Syla aimed for her dad's right waist, she spins her body and was about to hit right on the spot. But in a matter of less than a second, her dad slides his right feet to his left, turning his body just enough for the wooden sword in his hand to intercept Syla's sword that was about to hit his waist.
"Wha—" Syla was flabbergasted, she didn't expect her dad to move that fast, his movement were almost impossible to follow with her eyes. 'As expected from someone that's been a hunter for almost a decade.
After her dad blocked her second attack, he unexpectedly guided Syla's sword to the ground, and using that moment where Syla was unguarded, he pushed her with his hand.
SWOOSH!
"Keuk!!" Syla grunted as she felt the force of her father's hand contradict with her body, her saliva escaped from her mouth and her legs almost lost its balance, Syla was pushed back a couple of meters back, she stood at the exact same spot she was standing before the spar had begun.
"Oops.. Sorry! did that hurt?" Her dad apologized after looking at Syla's face.
"Heh, this much is nothing, i'll get you next time." Syla replied nonchalantly, she quickly ignored the pain in her chest and move forward one more time.