Machinist of Mana Chapter 96 Testing My Resistance

I was a little anxious about fighting the little old lady that was Professor Ruian, but that changed in the first second of the battle. Around me the sands of the arena exploded in a wave, thrown back by whatever spell she'd hit them with. Even I felt the power slam into me, tossing me back a few feet like a hard wind in a storm.

However I stood through the assault, blinking the dust out of my eyes as I tried to dodge any follow-up attacks. I could tell that even though I'd been effected it wasn't as bad, the flood or the circle we stood in was tossed away, but I'd only been thrown a bit. Seemed like I was making a bit of progress after all.

There was no time to bask in small changes though, as the good professor seemed determined to give me a true test. As I was still recovering several bright missiles flew forth from her hands, arcing here and there as the zeroed in on me. I began to bob and weave among the flock of attacks, ducking this way and that to avoid whatever they were meant to do.

“You can't defend only boy, attack!” Sir Kendrick yelled from the sideline.

He was right of course, and so without words I dove toward my enemy, two of her arrows slamming into my side. They stung just a bit, but beyond that there was no lasting change. That seemed to surprise her and in under a second I was beside her, lightly tapping her with the flat of the practice blade.

“Good showing Percival, seems I'll have to try harder,” she said with a smile.

“Please don't feel the need professor,” I answered, worried about what I would get next.

She did, she did indeed feel the need. As our next round began she twirled her arms and the small group of missiles she'd shot at me before looked like a cute children's joke. This wasn't a handful of crows chasing a hawk but a full on moving flock of starlings, buzzing like a swarm of angry bees.

“Shit,” I managed as the wave crashed, moving towards me like a stampede.

Behind the swarm I saw the good professor releasing more and more of them, flowing from her hands and leaving trails in the air in almost fractal patterns. That gave me a hint though, about the nature of these attacks.

Dancing around the edges of her still growing attack I tested my idea, focusing on protecting my hand and slapping one of the little attackers. It dissolved with almost no issue at all, feeling like a popping balloon against my hand.

Gritting my teeth for I knew what I needed to do I pushed my mana as hard as I could to the front of my body and charged, one arm brought up to cover my face. The result was loud, with the professor yelling in alarm as I passed through her cloud of defenders, each exploding like a tiny grenade against me but doing little other than being loud. With a quick move I once more touched her with the practice blade.

“Are you okay boy!?” she asked, seemingly unconcerned about my win.

“Perfectly fine professor,” I answered with a nod.

“What made you do that?” Sir Kendrick asked from the sidelines.

“With so many more I knew they had to be weaker, and after testing it the only way out seemed to be through,” I told him.

The knight guffawed. “It worked, but don't depend on that in the future, it's a good way to get yourself killed against a more practiced opponent. Had she left most of them weak with only a few strong attacks mixed in you'd have had a very bad time.”

“Yes sir.”

Professor Ruian looked quite displeased now that she was sure I was fine, and I knew I was in for it now. It didn't matter how much I'd grown she still had quite a few years of practice with her abilities on me and I knew the headmaster didn't have people on his staff who weren't good at what they did. Perhaps this wasn't her forte, but that didn't mean that she didn't have something.

We reset once more and she looked over at me, eyes narrowed. As our knight called us to begin there was no wave of missiles, no missiles as all, instead small glowing lines crisscrossed in front of me.

I tried to look for somewhere to dodge, but there was nowhere. The net closed in, and knowing that I couldn't avoid it I once more charged, hoping to break the strands. That was a mistake, as soon as the first one touched me it was like jumping into a spider's web. Quickly the strands grabbed on, wrapping me in layer after layer of kinetic webbing.

My body was stuck fast, and once more I tried to push my resistance out. Slowly the strands of my teacher's webbing started to slip off, dissolving or just finding no purchase on me. I nearly had a hand free as I saw her move again.

Sweat was pouring down Professor Ruian's face as she furrowed her brows in concentration. As she did so all around me the sands began to move. That was bad, very bad.

Like flowing water the sand around me poured up my legs, forming thick layers before seeming to harden into rock. I struggled, but couldn't break it off where I was tied up, and once it hardened I had no leverage at all. First one leg, then the second, my hips followed not long after. She was nice when she got to my chest, leaving me plenty of room to breathe even if I couldn't properly move much. Inch by inch she began to cover my arms and I got desperate.

I tossed my sword, not hard, but hard enough to make it to her. Sadly it missed, but it did make her flinch, ducking to the side and giving me a moment of respite. In that second I tried to break away from her trap but it just wasn't enough, I was held fast in the layers of magic.

“That's enough I think,” Sir Kendrick said from the side.

“Very well,” Professor Ruian said, releasing me, the stones cracking and falling away before finally returning to the ever-present sand.

“Remember Percival that resistance will only help against direct spell effects. Summoned or controlled elements will bypass it completely, and need to be dealt with in other manners,” he told me.

“Right sir, I remember.” He had told me that in the past, but I'd never actually experienced it. If water was summoned and controlled my new ability wouldn't help me at all, the same against the sand the professor had ended up using. Not everything could be stopped that way, and I needed to keep that in mind. “Do you mind if I sit for a moment?”

“No, I need to talk to the professor anyway,” he said.

Though those spars had only lasted a few minutes it still felt like my body was shaking. Adrenaline and stress had built up in those moments, along with the full expenditure of effort and I was spent. So while they talked I went to sit on one of the stands, laying back and breathing deeply.

“I thought you were going to keep to direct attacks?” I heard Sir Kendrick whisper as he got close to his guest instructor.

“If I'd done that the boy would've won every round. What in the world kind of training have you been giving him!?” she returned in an equally low tone, they probably didn't realize that I could easily still hear them.

“Keep your voice down, did you actually try?” he asked.

“Of course I did, wasn't going to hold back to keep an ego intact.”

I wanted to laugh. Here I'd been thinking that I wasn't making any progress at all, but it seemed my instructors disagreed. Of course I couldn't, or I'd give away just how good my hearing was, and it was good to keep one or two cards close to your chest. Had this been a real battle I'd have been in trouble, but had this been a real battle I'd have shot the professor long before those spells got to me, so I was happy enough.

“Percival!” Sir Kendrick yelled from across the arena.

“Yes Sir!” I replied, sitting up and looking to him.

“Good work, you pass, if barely. I want to see you working harder though, don't think just because you managed this that your training is anywhere near done.”

“Understood,” I nodded to him.

“Off with you, get some rest.”

With another affirmative I left, keen to get a bath while the baths were still empty. However as I left something struck me, normally if teachers wanted to have a private conversation they'd use a small bubble spell to keep ears out, but they hadn't. Had they really forgotten, or had I been meant to hear their words? It sent a chill up my spine, for I knew that if I had, and I slacked even a bit it would be a bad time for me when they came back.