After leaving the classroom, Anna brought me to a field where a man with the head of a lion was sitting with a wooden sword in his lap. An orange skinned, one eyed man with a horn protruding out of his forehead was sitting opposite to him. Anna moved to the side of me and simply watched over me as I approached them. With Anna standing by, I decided to approach Crest and the one-eyed man to see what was going on.

  " Crest, am I interrupting something?"

  " Hmm? Ah! John, my friend! No, not at all! We were meditating while waiting for you!"

  " I see... Sorry to make you wait. Who is your friend, Crest?"

  Crest ears flickered as he heard my voice and excitedly answered my question. I then proceeded to ask for an introduction, seeing as how this person may be someone brought in to help me learn Swordsmanship.

  " Ah, this is My Wife's younger brother! His name is Paul. He's going to be helping me train you. Even though he appears to be the same age as you, Paul is actually only 13 years old! I've been training him since he was 10. I was supposed to resume training him today, but I was asked to train you as well. On the bright side, you'll have a companion to train with."

  " I see! Then with that, allow me to introduce myself. My name is John Ericsson! I look forward to working with you Paul!"

  " Nice to meet you, John! My name is Paul Sharp! Nice to meet you! Thank you for saving the life of Uncle Crest!"

  * Grip!*

  After shaking hands with Paul, Crest handed me a dull sword. And at this moment, I remembered the control of my Mana was still in effect! It felt like I was holding a cinderblock in my hands. Looking at me struggling to hold it, Crest began to talk to me in a concerned voice.

  " Woah... John are you ok!? Ah! You've just started using the Advanced Control Technique! Well, all I can say is bear with it for now. It will grow easier in time. It took me 3 weeks to adapt to it completely."

  " I'm going to spend 3 weeks like this!?"

  Crest, seeing the shock in my eyes, looked at me and started hurriedly explaining.

  " No, no! It may take longer or shorter for the person. But considering your Mana, it may take that long. To give a bit of hope to the current you, each day is easier than the last. It just takes time for your body and mind to adjust to the Technique. For now, all you can do is grin and bear it. And since I want to do this right, I won't be coddling you, John.... Today's lesson is going to be strenuous for you. But first, I need you to stand like this."

  * Grip!*

  Crest started to talk in a softer voice and then entered a stance as I was still struggling to hold the sword. But I did as I was told with great struggle.

  " Yes! John good! Now you must swing your blade like this!"

  / Shing! Shunk! Thump!/

  After I managed to lift the sword, Crest proceeded to step forward and launch an overhead slash with his wooden sword. I copied as best I could, but the sword fell from my hands under the strain. I went to pick the sword back up and mumbled under my breath in confusion.

  " Why is this so much harder than running or reading?"

  Crest, and Paul who was next to me must have heard it. Paul spoke to me.

  " John... Have you ever swung a sword before?"

  " Huh? Uhm n.. No, no I haven't."

  " Have you ever studied before today?"

  As I got back into my stance it clicked with me.

  " Ah. Since my body isn't used to swinging a sword, the strain is harder than things I have done that my body remembers."

  " Yes, that is correct, John."

  At my epiphany, Crest confirmed my thoughts. He then proceeded to give me instructions to continually repeat the swing until the strain subsides. Crest and Paul Proceeded to do a warmup and spar in the meantime. After 20 minutes of attempting the ugliest, most uneven swings I've ever seen in real life, Anna approached me and asked how I was feeling.

  " Master, are you okay?"

  " No... But... It's.... Not... Because I'm ill... Just... Need... To... Swing..."

  I replied to her and Anna walked back to where she was standing originally, she looked at me with concern as I continued to raise and swing my sword. After 30 minutes I could grip the sword without feeling like I was going to drop it. Progress always feels nice. Noticing my swings increasing in speed and frequency, Crest and Paul came over to me. They were sweating a bit, but not as much as me... God... I can't wait for my Control to be better! After watching me for a few minutes, Crest finally spoke.

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  " Good work John! There isn't as much discomfort in your movements and it seems your arms aren't tired yet. Because of this, you're going to move into a 2nd exercise. Which to be honest, is going to restress you all over again."

  " Haah Haah.. You can't.... Be serious!"

  To my question, Crest looked at me and answered me with a serious gaze.

  " I'm deathly serious, John! Though, because we are doing this next exercise now. It will yield good results for you in the future! Now follow me to the training dummy!"

  While huffing and puffing, I followed Crest along with Paul. Anna, who looked on worryingly, seemingly fighting back the urge to say something, followed behind me as I did my best to keep up with Crest and Paul. After walking a short distance, we came upon a row of 5 training dummies. Crest began to instruct me.

  " Now just to make sure. You are in possession of a Mana Blade Skill, correct?"

  " Yes, it's called Holy Mana Blade."

  " Good. You're now going to use it on that dull blade and attack the training dummies after you can maintain it. This is important, since if you can use a Mana Blade, you have a giant advantage over other Swordsman."

  " Understood!"

  " Good. Paul also has a Mana Blade Skill, so you can both practice this together."

  " I'll be in your care, Paul."

  " Likewise, John."

  Paul, who was looking at me like an abandoned puppy, began to activate his Mana Blade. At first, I saw nothing. To which Crest told me to focus my perception, after I did, I saw it! A rich orange transparent Mana began to envelop Paul's blade and sharpen on the edge side of it. After he was done, he began to strike the dummies. Crest spoke after.

  " One of the advantages of Mana Blade Skills is that when a Master does it, you can't tell unless your Mana Perception is at a high enough level. Thankfully, Paul has just Unlocked his Mana Blade and is still learning. Try using yours now, John."

  trying to answer to Crest, I begin to remember what the textbox said. If I recall, the Skill said I just had to channel Mana into the blade, so I tried. And failed.

  / Fwoop./

  " What the hell?"

  I couldn't help but shout in surprise. Crest looked at me and seemed to understand. I channeled the Mana into my dulled sword and it just disappeared.

  " Ah. Aqua only had you practice Control and Tempering, didn't she?"

  " Yeah? Is there something wrong with that?"

  " No. Not at all. It just means I misread you a bit. I figured since you released such a vast amount of Mana when you healed Warrick and Sarah that using a Skill would be easier for you."

  " But Aqua said that using a Mana Blade would be child's play since I Controlled my Mana before."

  " Aye! She did and you would've been able to. But now your using Advanced Control. And with that comes its own set of challenges. What kind of image did Aqua tell you to use for your Mana Control?"

  After explaining to Crest the river and waterfall, then the dam, he looked contemplative then spoke.

  " It seems that Aqua's blind spot has affected my lesson. Oh well. I'm sure we can figure it out together, John! Basically, Aqua is a Master of Spells, but when it comes to Physical Type Jobs and their Skills, she has a blind spot that say... Warrick, or I, do not have. Seeing as how we both have Mana Blade Skills. She most likely ran out of time before teaching you how to bring out Mana while using Advanced Control. And I assumed she had already taught you!"

  Crest explained it all to me and I could see that we more or less just skipped a step. If that's the case, there's only one thing to say.

  " Alright Crest! let's do it!"

  Crest nodded his head to my words and started to explain it to me.

  " To start with, the dam is a good image to completely block your Mana from leaking out so bad. However, a dam doesn't let anything through. So, you need to change the imagery a bit. If I may be so bold, why not try imagining the dam having a door. So, you can allow Mana to escape at your command?"

  " Hmm... I'll give it a try."

  After sitting for a few minutes, I was able to squeeze out some of my Mana without completely opening the dam.

  " I opened my eyes and told Crest the news. After congratulating me, he started to instruct me to use Holy Mana Blade.

  " Ok! Try infusing the sword again, John!"

  * Grip!*

  / Woosh!/

  I did as I was asked, and Mana began to flow. I looked down and what looked like a thick white wavy cloud had enveloped my sword. I couldn't even see the blade! Crest spoke after also looking at my Mana Blade.

  " Ah! A Control and imagery problem. A Rare Beast! John, my boy, I can't tell if your untalented or a Prodigy at times!"

  Crest looked at me and laughed.... As well as Anna! I smiled wryly. After collecting himself a bit, Crest began to speak.

  " For all Magic and any Skill that uses Mana, you need 3 things. 1st is an appropriate amount of Mana to use the Magic or Skill. 2nd is imagery, without a proper image, the Mana won't know what to do. 3rd is Control, without proper Control you will only waste your Mana! Case in point, when you used your Healing Spell, that pillar shot off such a huge amount of Mana! I thought you were trying to kill Warrick and Aqua from it!"

  " I see... Also Crest, you keep referring to Warrick and Aqua by name. Is that ok?"

  " Ah whoops! Well for formal occasions, it would be bad. But Warrick and I are Old Friends! So, it'll be fine!"

  After a warm smile remembering old times, while I realized that I was indeed played by Warrick during that punishment talk, Crest continues speaking.

  " For Mana Blade, you need to imagine having the sharpest and most durable blade. If you just channel your Mana into a blade, it will be as you saw, just Mana swirling around a blade."

  " Alright, I'll give it a try!"

  * Grip! Focus!*

  And like that, I began to imagine the blade getting sharper, but something was still missing... The blade still had a waviness to it. Crest spoke.

  " So close, John! Keep at it!"

  While focusing past Crest's voice, deep in concentration trying to work out the image and at a breaking point, I realized I stopped making progress on the Mana Blade... I think the image isn't working... Thinking that I might have this all wrong, I began to freak out... I started thinking about anything that could work for sharpening a blade...

  " !"

  And then an idea popped up in my head...

  * Grip!*

  / WOOSH!/

  And it worked! I opened my eyes to no wave, but a razor-like white sheen on the blade. Crest, Anna and Paul all looked at me. Paul asked me how I did it so fast, so I explained.

  " I imagined sticking the blade in a pencil sharpener!"

  Everyone, including me, started laughing very loudly. Crest spoke after everyone calmed down.

  "Now that you have the Control and the Mana Blade down, practice on the dummy till the end of class. then, at night I want you to do 10 sets of activating your Mana Blade 5 times on a training sword for the foreseeable future, until the most natural response to you holding a sword is the activation of your Mana Blade. Also, don't use Scarlet for the foreseeable future. We don't know what kind of reaction both of your Manas' will have mixing together while trying to attack something."

  " Wait! seriously!?"

  Crest looked at me with a wide smile. He spoke with a jovial mood at my question.

  " Well, this is a class! It's fitting to have homework, John! Hahaha!"