Nate observed as Anthony pushed forward with determination, taking up the sword that he had let fall to the ground. It was a laboured determination, Anthony's were still shaded with a light red as he rubbed them incrementally to dry what was left of the tears.
But without input from his guiding voice, Anthony continued to make his way towards the entrance. He may have been slouched, maybe even a light limp, but he pressed forward. After passing through the entrance, the wind blowing through his hair and cold nipping at his ear, he took a deep breath in and out. He looked up and sighed, his exhale forming a cloud as it dissipated from perception, floating upward.
"So," Anthony began with content. "Where do we begin?"
Are you sure you don't want to rest for a second, kid? You only just woke up.
"I'm sure," Anthony had contently decided.
Alright, so what I'm thinking is we'll just start with basic moves to get you used to the sword.
"Okay," Anthony said as he held his sword in front of him.
You're gonna want to get into a good stance, hold it in both hands, keep your feet grounded at shoulder distance with your legs bent. Keep your elbows in and focus forwards. Nate said as Anthony silently and faithfully followed every order, Now, I want you to just raise this over your head and strike downwards.
Their training continued without much incident, Anthony was coachable, he listened and followed through with intent. There was no speed to his moves, each action committed with laboured deliberation. So much so that Nate was almost worried for Anthony, he had woken up in a sharp fright, followed with tears and a quick exit. It remained silent until suddenly Anthony's stomach made a loud grumble and Nate pounced on the chance.
Hey, ya know you're pretty good at this, but there's only so far you can get with just this. Nate prodded.
"What do you mean?" Anthony responded, freeing his focus from his sword for a short second.
Well, just practicing the moves just helps you be comfortable with the sword, but the only thing that will help you learn how to fight is practical application.
"Okay, how do we do that?"
Well here's what I'm thinking, I say we go hunt some low level monsters and maybe, just maybe, we can keep them for a snack afterwards?
"A snack?" Anthony asked, showing a little bit of hope for a second followed by a quick glance to his stomach before quickly tightening up. "Yeah that sounds good. We can try that."
Alright, let's start moving, wait this is another chance to do some learning!
"Huh?"
Mana beasts are formed by magic coming together in nature, there are many reasons the mana might concentrate in such a way but either way it will come with the passage of time.
"Then how are we going to eat it afterwards if they're made up of mana?" Anthony asked with a preemptively disappointed skepticism.
Kid, mana can still form into solid matter, and with low level mana beasts that's usually pretty much all their mana did was form their bodies.
"So?"
Basically they're just regular animals with a bit of a mana signature, but obviously not much, in other words we can definitely hunt them down and eat them, totally within our capabilities! Nate said with excitement.
"Okay so what do you want me to do here?" Anthony asked, now just frustrated by Nate's teaching method.
Well, think, if they have mana-
"I am hungry, please just tell me," Anthony demanded.
You're hungry?! Why didn't you say something earlier, Nate said sarcastically, only answered by the sound of Anthony gritting his teeth. Okay okay, socratic teaching method aside, I just want you to try to find some by sensing their mana.
"Coulda said that in the first place," Anthony grumbled as he focused up, closing his eyes to picture the world around him only in terms of mana. He thought back to the first time he attempted to sense his surroundings, but that was different, back then he only projected his own magic on his surroundings. Now he needed to sense mana, not project upon like usual. He knew mana, this wouldn't be hard, he just needed to search outwards instead of in. Creatures out there would radiate mana, all Anthony needed to do was relax and let the answer come to him. Anthony took a deep breath and within a few seconds, his eyes flew open.
Did you find it?
"Yeah, there's a mana beast around a minute's walk from here."
That's right. But before we leave, I want you to try to apply this constant sensing full time, see the world like this, it can only help you.
"Okay, sounds good," Anthony said as he began to march forward towards the mana signature they had both sensed.
Okay sounds good? That's it? Nate said in surprise.
"Huh? I mean it's not like it's hard," Anthony responded, keeping his focus on his stride towards. "It's not like I haven't been doing it my whole life I just had to change my perspective."
Oh, well, good for you, Nate said with a slight snark but Anthony ignored him, pushing forward. Anthony continued through the forest, watching his steps, trying to keep silent more and more as he got closer to the beast. Suddenly, he caught sight of the beast, and instinctively hid behind a tree attempting to keep from its view. Anthony slowly turned, peeking his eyes out from behind the wide trunk, looking for a clear sight from between the branches.
"Woah," Anthony said, as he became captivated by the sight. The creature before him was large, almost twice Anthony's size. It was a massive stag-like creature, but unlike the ones Anthony had seen before it was covered from head to toe in long fur that appeared to mix between white and light-blue. Its antlers towered so high above, it could be mistaken for a small tree if they didn't seemingly have golden ornaments falling from every end. It could be mistaken for a regular stag until seeing it's face of which four eyes, each with a golden iris gazed at the terrain around it.
Anthony-
"I don't think I can kill that thing Nate," Anthony said without shifting his gaze.
You're right, you can't. I'm sorry I didn't realize ahead of time but that's a spirit not a mana beast.
"What's a spirit?" Anthony asked as he finally retreated behind the tree, placing his back against it as he rested.
It's a creature made of pure mana, instead of having physical forms like regular mana beasts there would be nothing to consume from them but mana. They are divine creatures often necessary for their ecosystem's survival, this one is probably the spirit of this mountain, killing it would be a death sentence to all of the natural life here.
"Then why…" Anthony responded with a long pause.
Why what?
Suddenly, without a word, Anthony grabbed his sword and launched himself towards the spirit. Nate began to yell for him but was silenced as a large wolf with red eyes leaped from behind some trees opposite the beast to him. It sprinted towards the startled spirit, who stumbled at the sight of the fearsome wolf. The wolf lunged, fangs bared, towards the spirit but its plans were halted as Anthony met it in the air.
The wolf screeched with a startle as Anthony slashed underneath creating a deep gash in the wolf's stomach. The wolf fell on its side, it stumbled in its pain attempting to find its footing for a counter attack but before it could Anthony drove his blade into the wolf's neck. The wolf's muscles gave out and breathing immediately ceased. Anthony let go of his sword, the blade still embedded in the wolf's corpse, he fell to his knees with heavy breaths raising his slumped shoulders up and down.
How did you-
Between breaths, Anthony responded, "Could you not sense it?"
No, I didn't notice.
"Well, I did, and then I responded," Anthony said matter of factly.
But how did you even kill it? That was a direwolf, those aren't a joke.
"I- I uh- imbued my legs with mana, so I could get there in time. Then- then I just ya know, slashed the sword, did the movements you taught me." Anthony answered as he huffed through laboured breaths.
Damn, well nice job, good to know I'm training a natural.
"It was still- just so hard."
That's okay, it'll get easier. But now we got some meat to cook, so that problem's solved.
"Yeah," Anthony said, climbing to his feet. "I guess I'll start making a fire. Did you see where the mountain spirit went?"
It retreated after you killed the direwolf.
"Good, at least it's safe."
Yeah, at least it's safe.
The wolf was too large for Anthony to drag so he started gathering wood to cook over a fire right there in the woods. Once one was lit, he used his sword to cut off a leg and skewered it above the fire. Eventually, Anthony decided it was cooked enough and cut off a piece for himself. Sitting around, warmed by the fire, chewing contemptibly, Anthony finally got a second off rest for the first time. He looked up to the sky and saw the stars, he was so consumed by whatever task was next ahead he didn't even realize the sun had set.
"The stars look a little different from back home," Anthony said as he gazed at the night sky.
Yeah, but you recognize some constellations right?
"I do," Anthony responded. "We probably aren't that far from home."
Nate didn't respond but after a second of silence Anthony continued in a soft voice, eyes still focused upwards, "So you were an actual person right? Do you remember anything?"
Uhhh, no, I mean yes, I was a person. But I don't remember much more than my own name and practical skills I had.
"That's sad."
It is, but I do have some faint memories, more like feelings really.
"Like what?"
Regret, mostly, but also love, I- I think I had a family.
"Yeah? Kids and everything?"
Yeah, but I still regret, I died too young. I left them.
"It's okay, I don't think you would've left them if you had the choice."
Then why do I still feel so much regret? Why am I still here?
"I don't know, but maybe there's things we can do? If we get your memories back and find your family, maybe we can temper that regret a bit?"
Maybe, after we get you back to your family? I still need to train you.
"We can do both, we're already stuck together, might as well help each other out," Anthony said, answered by a light laugh, softly echoing through his head.
Yeah, might as well.