CHAPTER 147: CHAPTER 147 COMBAT EXERCISE [PART 2]

Roman nodded and dropped back into his stance, hands clenched into fists, Mana still flowing through his arms and legs.

He closed his eyes again, breathing slowly. He tried to feel the space around him, like before.

Silence first, then he opened his eyes, and Victoria was gone, but immediately he felt it.

A faint stir behind him just like last time.

He turned quickly, swinging his arm, but there was nothing.

"Wrong," Victoria’s voice came from his side, followed by a tap on his shoulder.

He flinched and turned towards her.

"Focus. Don’t just guess," she said. "Breathe. Listen to your instincts and Mana sense. Don’t rush."

Roman took another breath and reset. His heart was racing, and he closed his eyes and opened them. Victoria talked about Mana sense, so that must be the feeling he gets.

A second passed... then he felt it.

To his right.

He ducked.

Victoria’s hand swooshed over his head slowly.

"Nice," she said. "Now you’re getting it."

Roman smiled a little but stayed focused.

Another flicker—this time to his left, the speed she usually comes with is different, she was trying to see if he could sense her.

He raised his arm, and a soft tap hit his forearm.

"Better, again," Victoria said.

Behind him.

He turned and stepped to the side, dodging the swipe of her shadow blade. She wasn’t going to hit him, but he dodged either way.

"That’s more like it," Victoria said. "See? You don’t need to see with your eyes. Mana can be felt."

Roman was panting slightly. Sweat rolled down his temple.

"That’s... hard," he muttered.

"But you’re doing well," she said with a small smile. "This exercise helps you build awareness. If you can sense me, you can sense beasts. Even people trying to sneak up on you."

"Yeah, but it’s like my brain is slow. By the time I react, you’ve already moved."

"That’s normal. You’re still new. The goal isn’t to win—yet. It’s to learn how your body and Mana respond, after training you’ll be able to do this without thinking"

Roman nodded, wiping his face. "Okay. Again?"

Victoria chuckled. "Sure. One more round. This time I’ll move even faster."

Roman groaned quietly. "Great..."

She vanished.

Roman tensed.

He didn’t wait for a feeling this time—he trusted his gut. Looking around him, Victoria had actually disappeared; he couldn’t see her in the building, it was exactly like that night.

Roman immediately felt something besides him and raised his left arm—and blocked her strike.

Victoria raised a brow, nodding. "Impressive. You’re learning faster than I thought."

Roman smirked. "I guess getting hit is a good teacher."

"Get ready," she said again. "Now let’s test how long you can last, and I’ll hit you this time, but I’ll hold back so don’t worry"

Roman reset his stance, ready for another round. He wasn’t winning, but for once, he didn’t feel completely hopeless, even though Victoria wasn’t using any of her power; he could tell he was still learning.

Victoria stepped back and held up a single hand.

"Let’s see how you handle something closer to real combat."

From her hand, black smoke started to rise. It curled and twisted like mist, then formed into a tall figure—a shadowy body with glowing eyes, shaped like a person.

It was different than the first one he sensed, this was more like a clone than a shadow, but it was pitch black except for the eyes.

"This is a Shadow Clone," Victoria explained. "It’s weaker than me, but it moves like me and it won’t hold back. Try not to die."

"It won’t hold back, I’m not going to die am I?" Roman muttered, raising his fists.

The clone rushed forward without warning.

Roman barely blocked the first hit. A heavy punch hit his arms and pushed him back, his boot scrapping against the sand.

"Damn... it hits hard."

He tried to fight back, throwing punches and kicks, but the clone was fast—faster than him. Its attacks kept coming. A kick landed on his side, knocking the wind out of him.

He rolled, got up, and dodged another punch. After each punch, the clone gives him space to recover before striking.

"Keep moving!" Victoria shouted. "Don’t stay in one place!"

’I wonder when he’s going to figure it out, but how is he this good, The more I look at him, the more potential I see, he can’t possibly grow to be stronger than me’

’I’m supposed to be having sex with him, but I’m going to wait till he makes a big progress, now I really want him to win the Queen’s tournament,’ Victoria mumbled to herself.

Roman gritted his teeth. His muscles ached, his arms throbbed from blocking. He was sweating hard now.

He ducked another swing and backed away, breathing hard. This was just too much; there was just no way he was going to win.

"I can’t win this with just fists..." he mumbled.

Then it clicked in his head, the last time she created a shadow like this, it died out after a fireball, this one was a little different but it would work.

He raised his hand quickly as the clone charged towards him.

[Fireball]

A ball of flame formed in his palm and shot forward. It hit the shadow’s chest, exploding in a burst of fire.

The clone stumbled back but didn’t fall. The part where the flames hit was a hole; the shadow immediately began filling the hole.

"It worked!" Roman grinned.

The clone came again, faster now. Roman fired another fireball, but the shadow dodged it. It jumped, closing the distance.

Roman dropped low and rolled to the side. He raised both hands. "Double Fireball!"

Two flames burst out and slammed into the clone’s legs. It stumbled again, part of its smoke-like form tearing away.

Roman didn’t wait—he kept firing.

Boom. Boom. Boom.

The shadow finally fell apart, fading into black mist.

Roman dropped to one knee, breathing hard.

Victoria clapped slowly. "Well done, I thought you had forgotten you were a mage"

He looked up at her, still panting. "That thing was crazy, and besides you were the one who wanted a fist fight"

"When did I? You fought against a spell of mine, I was using a spell, and you were fighting barehanded," Victoria said, and Roman sighed.

"But you beat it," she said. "You thought, adapted, and used your spells. That’s growth."

Roman smiled, wiping sweat off his face. "Still got hit a lot, I think my hands are shaking"

"And you’ll get hit more," she said with a smirk. "But soon, you’ll hit back harder possibly with a spell"

Roman stood slowly, his chest rising and falling. It hadn’t been an hour yet, so he wanted to keep going. His Mana was still plenty, and he still had the stamina to carry on.

.

.

.

Their training continued for a while, and at the end, Roman was on the ground. He was too exhausted, and worst of all, he felt pain in his hands and legs.

Victoria created two shadow clones at the end, and both of them were able to create a shield made of shadow, which could block Roman’s fireball, so he had to be creative.

At the end, Victoria had to stop as Roman couldn’t go anymore.

"At least you’re making progress. Today was better than yesterday, also tomorrow I’m going to increase the pressure you feel when coming in, so you should train on your own." Victoria spoke from where she sat, a chair made out of her shadow.

"I wanted to ask you a question, where does your magical ability fall under the types of magic?" Roman asked.

"It doesn’t, I would have been elemental but the control I have over it is different, unlike elemental I can create and move things mad out of my shadow, more like blood magic but with shadow and more control"

"I can fly, glide on water, create a small group to fight for me, and I got powerful fast, also all the spells I use were created by me, creating spells is the hardest thing to do, even harder than fighting a powerful demon"

"Really, how many spells do you have?"

"A little over 50 different spells, once you get the hang of the spell circle then the rest is easy, you just have to be careful, when a spell circle is improper, it’ll explode and depending on the level of the mage"

"So if I get a spell circle wrong the explosion would be minor?" Roman asked.

"Yes, but if I get a spell circle wrong and I infuse enough Mana, I can take out the whole academy even with the barrier," Victoria said with a smile.

"How did you get so powerful, was it because of the war with demons or something or someone else?" Roman asked.

"Did you think I got stronger because of Evelyn, we were friends in the academy and since the academy days I was stronger, I was rank 1 all the way to class 3" Victoria replied.