A week has passed since Matthew woke up in Evan's body. Despite the insistence of his mother, Matthew thought that he had spent enough time in rest. The shallow cuts that he had received from the forest had already healed and the bite marks on his head were in the process of healing. He decided to test his first ability for real. His mother was a non combatant and his father, uncle and grandfather were busy being handyman, bodyguards and mercenaries.For that reason he asked his sister Sophia to train with him. She happily agreed to train with him.
When Sophia learned that Evan had woken up, she was overjoyed. She hugged her big brother as she had missed him a lot. "I knew that you would wake up big brother. Mother was concerned but I knew that you would never leave me." For training Matthew and Sophia went to a nearby open meadow. They stood several meters apart. "Big brother ready?". "Ready when you are sis". Sophia as well as Matthew had a wooden stick in their hands. Sophia activated her mana and bosted her speed a little. She dashed towards Matthew. Sophia attacked Matthew with her stick.
THUK
Matthew managed to block his sister's attack with his stick. Sophia attacked Matthew at different angles but Matthew kept on blocking them. Matthew worked out with his father and grandfather, along with his larger physique, he managed just fine. "Sister you should use more mana. I can take it" said Matthew.Seeing that she was not making any progress, Sophia decided to go all out. She maxed out her speed and agility using mana. She could only sustain this state for a few minutes due to her lack of Mana reserve. She dashed and appeared behind Matthew. She aimed at his left shoulder, but to her surprise Matthew managed to block her attack. Matthew used his ability Sense of Mana to perceive that she had appeared behind his back and used that information to block her attack.
Sophia was surprised. "Wow brother. Is that your new ability?" "That's right. I can sense you through your mana. You need to try harder to beat me." Sophia smirked "very well." The battle continued. Sophia used all of her skills to try to dislodge the stick from Matthew's hand. She kept on attacking Matthew by dashing and appearing at various angles. She even used punches and kicks to attack Matthew. Matthew also started to use his arms to block her attack. She occassionally managed to disbalance Matthew and make him stumble with her skillful strikes. The only reason Matthew managed to persist was due to his Sense of Mana ability, which he used to sense her position and keep up with her speed.
However eventually the battle came to an end. Sophia dashed at full speed and attacked Matthew with her stick. Matthew tried to block her. THUK. He stumbled backward due to the force behind her attack. Then Sophia kicked Matthew's wrist, sending his Wooden stick flying. "You did well big brother. I am proud of you." "Thanks" Matthew said. Even though he lost, he was still happy as he managed to get a bit of fighting experience. He also managed to fulfill his first quest.
[Quest:
For the first time(D grade): Use your ability Sense of Mana in combat for five times.
Reward: Five exp points added to ability Sense of Mana.
Completed
Abilities:
Sense of Mana: stage 1(5/100)
Allows the user to sense mana in abilities and organisms upto a distance of 15 m.]
Matthew picked up his falled stick. Just because he lost the sparing match didn't mean that the training was over. He and his sister trained with each other for the remainder of the day. Both of them managed to improve their reflexes. The Sun started setting and Matthew decided that it was time to go home. "Time is up. Let's go home little sis. Otherwise mother will be worried. We have trained for long enough. We will continue with our training tomorrow." "Ok big brother." They started walking home.
"So Sophia, in which direction do you plan to evolve?" "Well I haven't decided on that big brother. I can evolve to directly increase my speed and agility like the Blitz Runner, but quiet frankly speaking I find that to be boring. I mean he is powerful and I admire him but that is not the direction I choose to grow in." "Well suit yourself. The Blitz Runner is the fastest human and is worshipped by humans all over the prime material plane. I have heard that he will be taking part in exploration of the great beyond. I wonder if we would be able to see him."
"I have heard that Ultrasound Screamer and Dragon Slayer are also going to join the exploration effort." "Which among them do do think is stronger?" "I don't know. Both are powerful in their own right. The Ultrasound Screamer managed to defeat the Night Raider pirate fleet by herself five years ago. She defeated their experienced pirate lord along with the four stormcaller mages all on her own. Where as the Wyvern Slayer managed to kill the Wyvern called Doom Roar by himself. Both are old geezers who have accumulated enormus combat prowess and political influence throughout their entire life. Both of them are going to colonise the great beyond via their respective organisations and power base."
"We can think about that later. All that traning has left me hungry. Hopefully mother has cooked something delicious." They reached home. Emily Mercer was waiting for them. "Sweetheart are you alright? You didn't get injured again did you?" Emily asked. "No mother. I took care of big brother just as I promised. He is completely fine." "I am ok mother. No need to worry. I am hungry though. Did you cook anything delicious?"
"Ofcourse sweetheart. Today I have cooked baked pork with gravy, bread, vegetables and have cut apples for dessert." "Yay, thanks mother ".