Chapter 6: Chapter 6
I have spent the last 3 weeks practicing my "elementary boxing" as I have decided to call it and I can proudly say that I am slow, but tough, hahaha. I've become even more aware of the strength of each of my punches, it's incredible, but no matter how strong I am I still can't do continuous damage. So this is where my "Elemental Boxing" comes in, I use my earth elemental magic to corner my opponent, I achieve this by creating a "C" shaped wall that prevents my enemy from escaping while I'm at the entrance. It's not very high, barely reaching my chest, but it should be enough to stop my enemy long enough to finish him off or prevent him from escaping.
I've trained my moves a lot, so I can say that I've gotten used to it enough to mobilize my mana while having a moderately decent result to keep up a knockdown fight. Another thing I've managed to do, is make my walls thin enough that I don't use up that much of my mana and still be able to withstand 1 hit from me. I don't need them to be tough, I just need them to hinder my opponent's mobility in a fight. The tactic is to corner and hit until the enemy destroys the wall, I destroy it by some mistake in combat or someone else does, but keep at least 1 second occupied my opponent.
For that and more I can say that I'm happy that my practice is paying off. As for crafting, I have the results of a 5 year old with 0 talent in drawing... They're bad, but I don't plan on improving overnight. Part of the difficulty I have in creating things with just my hands is that my fingers are so big and I need to be as delicate as I can. But I can't say that trying to sculpt is boring or unfruitful, as I've managed to control my strength a bit better. If I continue on this path it is likely that I will be able to hit hard without staggering my enemy and driving him away from me by some carelessness. I feel almost like a monk, and, in fact, when I think of "being like stone" I'm right on point, hahaha.
Well, well, another thing I've improved is my fine use of mana. This thanks to crafting, but this time with my magic. It turns out that making cards with so much fine detail makes me have to strain my imagination and focus on the details. I've been able to create 4 cards the size of my hand with fine enough detail to surprise me. My hands are clumsy but my mind is sharp, or at least that's how I feel when I compare the results of my art using both methods. It's only 4 cards because the fine details are so much. So much that my mana runs out before I can finish them all. But the speed at which I use mana has increased satisfactorily.
With my memory. I can't say if it has increased or decreased, but I think I've kept it at least at the same level. I've been using stones with domino-style dots, which I shuffle, and like the memory game, I try to make as few mistakes as I can. For now I'm not sure if I'm doing well... *sigh*.
With my constant use of mana I go practically without it most of the time. Thanks to all this, I'm now used to it and can quickly go into meditation to actively draw mana and replenish it faster. According to my own estimations it takes me 5 minutes less than before, so it would be 35 minutes less than my 2 hours of passive recharge. In my opinion, I'm doing excellent. I've also realized, and it's possibly the best thing of all, that all the training has allowed me to start feeling that my mental powers are getting closer and closer to my hands!
For now I can't explain the feeling, I just know it. As I also know that I still have a long way to go before I can control them at the basic level. As for my bodily powers... I have no idea, but I'm not discouraged, as I'm sure that by training so much every day I'm improving my will. As an elemental I don't need sleep, so all this time I've been practicing and thanks to "meditation", as I started calling the technique I use to actively regain mana, I can relax my mind and focus on mana. Doing this calms and relaxes me. It's funny that it does, because I'm made of stone and the stress is not the same as a human.
I can feel like I'm constantly missing something, but it's not hunger or emptiness. I don't know what it is, but that constant feeling is quite frustrating. I can guess it's the dwindling levels of the fifth element on the planet. Azeroth sure is hungry.
These months I have also learned that I get "hungry" every month, and since I only have 1 "Core" left out of the 4 I brought, I'm afraid I will start to get hungry if I don't go and "hunt" my food. I'm not sure if this is a normal thing or if it's just me... Elemental ecology is not something that will be published in depth in the WOW Cannon.
Anyway, with so many types of training I have to do I have scheduled my daily schedule.
In the morning: "6:00am until 11:59am".
(1): "Elementary Boxing" training. When the mana runs out I start part 2.
(2): Meditate. This in order to quickly recover mana and get used to "meditating". These two things take me about 3 hours. 1 hour I use to box without using magic. 30 minutes I use to box using magic, but trying to keep my usage to a minimum so that my mana lasts, as I can only do 4 walls before I run out of mana. The rest of the time is "meditation". That takes 3 hours out of my morning.
(3): Memory exercise, in which I spend 1 hour.
(4): Art with hands. 1 hour
(5): Art with magic. This, making my flashcards with lots of details. 30 minutes, because I spend time observing and trying to spend the least amount of mana, but because it's so many details, my mana drains quickly. I work miracles to last that long.
(6): Again meditation. 1 hour and 35 minutes
At this point, by the time I finish recovering mana it's already afternoon.
In the afternoon: 12:00pm until 6:59pm
(7): Meditation with the intention of controlling my mental powers, so this is where I calm down and relax the most. 1 hour and 30 minutes.
(8): Training of earth spells. In this training I focus on improving the spells I already have, such as stalagmites and walls. I'm looking for what you would call "cost-performance". Refining my spells takes time, but it's worth it and that's why before I cast each spell I spend some time imagining and analyzing the mana expenditure.1 hour
(9): Meditate. Whenever I run out of mana I have to do it. 1 hour and 35 minutes
(10): Boxing. I train my moves and analyze them. Whenever I box I always imagine that I'm fighting the fire elemental and the stone elemental. Of course, separately. 2 hours
At night: 7:00pm until 11:59pm:
(11): "Elemental Boxing". I take advantage of continuing my training against my mental enemies, but this time I use my magic. 30 minutes. Too bad it didn't last that long.
(12): Meditate. 1 hour and 35 minutes
(13): Art with hands. 1 hour
(14): Art with magic. 30 minutes
(15): Meditate. 1 hour and 35 minutes
(16): Memory exercise. 1 hour.
In the early morning: 12:00am until 5:59am
(17): Meditation with the intention of controlling my mental powers. Subtracting the minutes of the 5 minutes added to each meditation, it would be minus 25 minutes. 5 hours with 35 minutes in total. And repeat the day. Sometimes I do some variations so I don't get bored of doing the same thing over and over again.
With this schedule I no longer have to suffer about what to do next. But today is a special day, today I'm going to go "hunting" for my food. With so many days of training I want to know how I'm doing and what my results will be. Hahaha, I'm excited and happy.
...
I went back to the left side. The side where I first faced the two elementals. My goal today is a 1vs1 battle against a fire elemental, but I won't refuse a fight with an earth elemental. Today I will risk a fight, but of course, I have my reasons.
The first of my reasons, is because I believe I can time a fight with an earth elemental. I will try to conduct the battle in such a way that none of his attacks can hit me. Now, if it's a fire elemental it will be a bit more complicated, but with the strategies I have prepared so far I'm pretty sure I'll be able to eliminate it quickly without taking too much damage.
The second of my reasons is because I really NEED to prove to myself that all my training has paid off. I may be a rock, but even rocks collapse with insistence. This battle is for me, it's to prove to myself that I can. This battle is to teach myself that I am no longer the same weak being, I am now an elemental. I am a being that represents one of the most fundamental things in the universe. I will NOT back down, not again, I WILL ENDURE AND TRIUMPH.
*SIGH*
It's strange how the emotion runs through my being. But I won't hesitate to raise my morale. I will fight and I will win, I will prove to myself what I can do.
Luckily for me, my search soon paid off. A battle of dozens of elementals was taking place. The fire elementals against the earth elementals.
I will make this battle unforgettable, MY FIGHT WILL BE LEGENDARY!
I didn't foolishly run against the elementals that were fighting, instead I grabbed a rock a bit bigger than my hand and prepared myself. I calmly walked over to one of the 1vs2 battles in favor of the fire elementals that was going on.
My calm approach caught the attention of one of the fire elementals, which was ready to shoot fireballs at me. As the speed of the fireballs was not too fast I was able to block one with the stone I picked up and the other hit my torso. The others I just dodged and passed harmlessly close to me.
When I was a few meters away from the fire elemental, it stopped firing its fireballs at me and started to approach as fast as it could against me. As it came closer I could feel in me the intense thirst for battle, the craving for violence, the rage and the burning desire to consume everything.
The emotions I felt were powerful, but I could still act calmly. When the elemental was close enough, I raised my arm with the stone and prepared myself.
*Swoosh*
*♪ Boom ♪
He threw the stone as hard as I could and I hit him cleanly in the chest. The fire elemental didn't seem to have expected the throw, for it caught it. The blow seemed to have dulled it a bit and I could see the hole the stone made in the ground on the other side. The stone pierced through the fire elemental. Well, I wasn't expecting much either if I'm honest. Fire elementals are made of fire... Just because their flames form something like a solid torso with chiseled muscles doesn't mean they actually have them... I don't really understand why they look like that in the first place, it's strange how the logic of the game affects the world or maybe I'm seeing it wrong and it's this world that sent images that inspired the creator of WOW... Anyway, I don't know.
With my full attention on the fire elemental, I didn't waste the opportunity of its momentary stupor and started to hit it with a direct blow to its jaw.... The blow was not too strong, just enough to break the cervical vertebrae of a common human. That in an elemental translates as a slight upward movement of the head.
To continue with my combo attack this time I hit his right shoulder. I assumed it's his dominant because with that arm he was throwing his fireballs at me.
My goal is to prevent him from being able to start hitting me. With the hand I hit his jaw back into position with I made an attack from above. I plan to slam his head down and prevent him from being able to counterattack now, as he should be trying to get out of my "attack zone".
The blow was effective, but the elemental was no fool and began to retreat. Too bad I wouldn't allow such a thing. I summoned the C-shaped wall and cut him off. Now he will have to face me if he wants to escape.
When the elemental stopped, it was because he hit his back against the wall, for he had not been looking back as he retreated. The sudden shock stunned him for a moment and he saw that there was a wall interrupting his passage.
As this happened I raised both hands and brought them together. This blow would be the one that would put an end to his existence, I was sure of that, for I would retain none of my strength in this attack.
When the fire elemental turned its gaze back, it only had enough time to look at the object obstructing the sun, with what I felt was disbelief.
Author's Note: What do you think about this chapter, what do you think about the protagonist's progress? I hope you liked it, please comment. Every comment gives me motivation to continue. Have a great day ^^
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