While humans have an innate capacity for magic, the lack of mana on Earth caused it to be a worthless quality when searching for a mate. This caused a lack of selective breeding over it which over the generations gave individuals greatly varying – almost random – arcane talents. This is why so many of us are now restricted to lacklustre magic, while some of our kin utilise unique talents that even the other races cannot replicate.
Suko Ryo – Interspeciel Expert – Humanity and the Other Races
____
After coming to his senses, Silas introduced himself. Although he was wary of the man-giant, there was no denying they would be safer off together than apart in the tutorial.
While he remained and made small talk with Aengus, Mia crept over to Angela’s corpse before promptly returning. She merely shook her head at Silas’s strained, inquisitive glance.
“What yer searching for over there?” Aengus asked on seeing their silent exchange.
Silas scrutinised the man-giant looming over him and wondered if they should tell the truth. While on a surface level there appeared to be no harm in doing so, if Silas’s theory was right, then it had inspired appalling greed inside of Angela so what was to say it wouldn’t do the same for the man-giant? However, before he could ponder on the situation for any longer, Mia gave in and offered a brief overview of yesterday’s events.
Aengus raised a brow when she finished. “Truffle?” Seeing Silas’s nod, he smirked. “They give ye an additional point to add to ye attributes. Don’t know if it’s worth the taste, though.” His face wrinkled with disgust as he spat.
Glancing at Angela’s corpse in the distance, he shook his head as Mia had done. “Even if the lassie had it before, she certainly doesn’t have it now – ye see, the boars love the stuff. From what ye said, I reckon she and her men tried to take on the hog. Realising it was a lost cause, she must have run for it and left her teammates. No clue where she got the truffle, but she likely didn’t realise the mark it put on her back either.” He scratched his thick, fiery beard and shrugged as if it wasn’t a matter of great importance.
Hearing his doubts confirmed, Silas found himself strangely uneased. He was now certain Angela was a reprehensible person, leaving her teammates and shoving him into a bloodthirsty boar, and yet he didn’t know if it justified the blood on his hands. After some introspection, however, he realised he was thinking about the wrong way: he had shortened her suffering by killing her – a mercy kill, if you will – and while that still didn’t justify the murder, it made him feel somewhat better.
What concerned him more was the fact he had seen two deaths in two days, one by his own hands, and he feared it was only going to get worse; he had picked the extreme tutorial with naivety and that decision was now coming back to bite him in the arse.
****
Soon after, they left for the safe zone with Aengus now joining the group. The man-giant hauled the smaller boar back with him, helpfully answering their questions with surprising ease. When Silas asked him if he had been in the tutorial for longer than them, the man-giant laughed and replied he had simply had an exciting two days and nothing more.
It turned out the hog was the boss of the thunderfoot boars, a monster even to Aengus. He hadn’t tried taking it on yet, claiming he had been hoping to find others before doing so. The implication was clear and Silas said nothing against it, after all, he figured the boars and the other monsters were stepping stones for them to power up before facing the final boss, the alabaster mink. While he hoped another group would take it down for them, he had a feeling it wouldn’t be so easy, especially given how brutal the tutorial had been so far.
****
Shafts of sunlight speared through the cracks of the canopy, dotting the forest floor with bright light as they got back. Aengus deftly butchered the beast and started a fire to roast its meat. The other two were immensely grateful as the man-giant gave them big slabs of pork, giving extra to Silas.
“Ye must eat up if ye want to grow, especially Silas, ye wee bastart,” the man-giant said with good humour.
Silas rolled his eyes at the comment but still stuffed down his entire portion, finding the pork strangely juicy and delicious despite the lack of seasoning. Afterwards, as irrational as it was, he felt inwardly guilty for not rationing it.
Meanwhile, Mia happily had seconds and Aengus somehow managed to eat more than the two of them combined. After the meal, while resting, Silas pushed down his pride and mustered the courage to walk up to the larger man.
“Could you teach me how to fight?” he asked, gulping as he saw the man-giant smile in response. So far, it was clear combat ability reigned supreme in the tutorial, and Aengus was more than skilled at it too with his controlled strikes and easy movement. He hoped the man-giant would entertain his request and share some experience.
“ ’course I can,” the larger man replied, pulling himself up from the ground and beckoning Silas and Mia to follow him to the crates. “Ye as well, lassy.”
The first thing he did was inspect Silas’s form while holding a spear. “It’s not bad form, but it can be improved.” He kicked Silas, and the smaller man toppled over. “You can start by bending yer knees to lower yer centre of gravity. Good. Now move yer legs further apart so ye have better balance.” He kicked him again, and this time Silas kept himself afoot.
Then, Silas demonstrated a few attacks, although he stopped upon seeing the man-giant’s frown. “Clumsy and non-threatening. I can see ye know the basics of thrust, sweep, and chop at least. Explain to me in what situations ye would use each of them.”
Suddenly feeling like he was in school again, Silas blinked in surprise and organised his thoughts before answering. “I really only use thrust. I guess the sweep can be used when there are several enemies, as for chop…” Drawing a blank, he shook his head.
The man-giant nodded understandingly. “It’s good to know this information, even on a subconscious level, as it guides yer actions when fighting. Thrust is the attack ye’ll use the most because it’s the easiest but at the same time very effective due to its penetrative force – what limits it is yer precision, speed, and the predictability of the move. As for the sweep, like ye said, it’s useful against several enemies circling ye, or more importantly, to threaten anyone who tries to enter yer space. And chop, well, chop and any other variants of the thrust are used to get past a person’s guard.”
Placing his calloused hands over Silas’s, Aengus led him through the motions. “See, yer forehand positions the strike and yer backhand provides the force. This means yer strongest and swiftest strikes are the ones level with yer body. Remember that.” The man-giant acted out several attacks, allowing him to discern the difference, before letting go.
“Ye should start by sharpening your technique before anything else; I can see ye have impressive speed and precision, but that’ll count for little in a battle if yer form is sloppy after the third strike. And remember, yer practically f***** if a monster gets into yer space, so make sure ye keep a backup weapon. Aye, I keep mine on my hips,” he said, lifting the axe and mace. They seemed like toys in his hands. “But that’ll just restrict ye since ye ain’t big enough. Instead, practise taking it off yer back until it becomes second nature and ye don’t flounder anymore.”
With that said, the man-giant moved onto Mia as Silas cycled through the attacks. Absorbed by his training, he lost track of time and only stopped once his arms were shaking from fatigue. Aengus was still training to his side, switching from weapon to weapon as he got bored, meanwhile Mia was lying down.
“You finished?” she asked in a bored voice as he walked over.
He showed her the shivers running up his arms and gave a wry smile.“I don’t think I could continue even if I wanted to.” He now thought fondly of her and felt somewhat guilty for doubting her earlier in the day. She had watched his back all this time, and so he resolved to return the favour.
“I don’t know how he’s still at it,” she said, dipping her head in the larger man’s direction. Aengus was completely focused, seemingly blocking out the rest of the world. “You know, I asked him about magic and guess what he said?”
Silas raised a brow but didn’t reply. He hadn’t known her for long, but already he knew half the questions she asked him, particularly about magic, were actually rhetorical ones she would answer herself.
“He said, although he can’t use it, there are giant toad monsters nearby proficient in magic. Apparently, they’re bothersome to deal with, but I bet with my magic, it’ll be no trouble,” she said with a grin.
Silas rolled his eyes. “Did he say what kind of magic?”
“The elemental type, like fire and water manipulation. I wonder if I can learn them,” she said offhandedly.
I wonder if I can, he thought. He was envious of her supernatural abilities and hoped he too could pick up a thing or two. His tingling skin sensation, which she had attributed to sensing mana, had gotten fainter, so he felt optimistic.
“I’m sure you can too if I can,” she reassured, somehow detecting his thoughts.
Suddenly, Aengus roared wildly, making both of them jump. The larger man rolled his shoulders and strode up to them, beaming. “Good training, but best we put it to practise now. Come on, I know a good spot with plenty of boars.”
****
Mouth agape, Silas scanned the clearing from their concealed vantage point. There were at least seven boars, the larger type, lazing about in the afternoon sun. He turned to Aengus but swallowed his words as he glimpsed the manic gleam in the man-giant’s eyes.
