Chapter 8: Daily Grind

Once Julius finished up his meditation attempts and his perception training, he would eat dinner and start on his mana manipulation training. The current goal was just for him to learn [Mana Manipulation]. Julius had considered the idea that he should learn how to manipulate mana without the skill. Edwin quickly dissuaded him from the thought.

[Mana Manipulation] was too important a skill not to have. It was the one skill that everyone had at some point during their path. The advantages it gave were too enormous to ignore, and only an idiot would not gain the skill.

Was it strange that Julius wanted to try it anyway?

Edwin taught him mana manipulation techniques that had him pull a small amount of mana from himself and try various activities, such as writing his name in the air with it or making general shapes. All the while, trying not to waste a single bit of it. If he lost control for even a second, he would have to begin again.

After several days of practicing for several hours every night, he finally got the prompt.

Would you like to learn the skill [Mana Manipulation]?

Congratulations, skill [Mana Manipulation] acquired.

Edwin was right. The difference was substantial. It wasn’t like [Spatial Perception]. [Spatial Perception] didn’t feel like it became more effective after he received a skill for it. The skill mainly lightened the mental load it had on him. However, in this case, Julius could feel the skill activating and assisting him in manipulating the mana. The best thing he could compare it to was the difference between playing a video game with aim assist on versus having it off. It was slight, and you still needed to do the majority of the work. But some of the smaller adjustments were taken care of thanks to the skill.

It was an amazing skill.

So obviously Julius decided to get rid of it. It was painful to remove a skill, but he finally managed after an hour of attempting.

Would you like to remove the skill [Mana Manipulation]? Notice: This action will remove [Mana Manipulation] from your current skills.

[Mana Manipulation] has been removed from your current skills.

***

Several months went by like this, and during this time, Julius had finally gotten into good enough shape for Edwin to decide to teach him how to fight. They started with unarmed combat, an important skill that many nobles didn’t focus on. Julius didn’t blame them for not wanting to. Getting hit sucked.

One moment you think you’re fine, then all of a sudden you overextend and take a fist to the face. Or sometimes you get tripped up and take a foot to the face. There are other times you are just too slow to react and take a spinning backhand to the face.

What was Julius trying to get at? He got hit in the face a lot. However, the second he overprotected his face, Edwin would punish him and land a shot in his gut.

For those who had never been hit in the liver. You feel like you just died. You forget how to breathe and how to stand on your two feet. For several hours a day, Julius would get folded like a lawn chair in the training yard. Some of the other members of the house who wanted to train in the mornings often watched them from the sidelines.

It became a game to bet and see how long Julius could last against Edwin.

Julius knew in his head, that he was improving rapidly. His tolerance for abuse had certainly gotten better. The problem was that whenever Edwin thought he had as well, he would raise his strength and start hitting harder and faster. So, although Julius was incomparable to himself before, he somehow continued to get even harder beatings.

Edwin was truly a sadistic teacher; he would make him run around until he was ragged. Heal him. Beat him senseless. Heal him. Beat him some more. Heal him. It was an endless cycle of beatdowns.

With that being said, Julius had to admit that Edwin’s training paid off. He looked at the most recent notice he got after the last spar.

[Unarmed Combat] has reached threshold. [Unarmed Combat lvl 3 -> Unarmed Combat lvl 4]

There was something undeniably satisfying about seeing his progress quantitatively. Julius was getting a bit worried for himself. At the beginning of these sessions, he would actively avoid getting hurt. Now, he didn’t care about getting beaten up; he became desensitized to the pain. All that mattered to him was managing to land a hit on Edwin.

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Not that it ever happened, of course. The only hits Julius ever got in on Edwin were the ones that Edwin allowed him to. Edwin would purposefully leave an opening for Julius to exploit, but Julius had not managed to catch Edwin off guard on his own.

***