Alice agreed quite easily than Miss Stella had anticipated but Alice did wonder about one thing.

Why did Miss Stella not tell her about that herself?

The next day, Alice discovered that Miss Stella had traveled out of the country for something important. So, to avoid the situation where she would forget to pass on this message personally, she sent Devon in her place.

"Ugh, my neck aches," Alice complained as they stood in the fields and then glanced at Leo who was giving her a blank expression. "...is what I’d like to say if I were a normal person." She said and laughed. "But seriously, Devon pushed me too hard."

"No, I think he did lesser than what should’ve been done." Leo said. "He gave it his all because his student was none other than the prodigy of the century. But even then, he managed to tire out before you even used half of your stored energy." He squinted his eyes at her.

"What? Don’t blame me. I ate monster meat and got a huge boost. But I doubt it would’ve been any different if I hadn’t eaten monster meat." She said and he sighed.

"I guess so. But it’s good you guys stopped on time. With your affinity with weapons and quick learning, you were able to grasp the footwork in one night and you two even spared."

"I’m pretty sure I only had the advantage after the third bout because I had taken note of his own foot movement, how he swung his sword, and things like that. And because I’m naturally faster," she swirled her fingers and then folded her arms. "... I could see all of his movements, knew how to counter, and, of course, started winning from there."

"I don’t think there’s anything else he needs to teach you since your main weapon isn’t the sword anyway. But full mastery is also good so you should keep at it." Leo said and she dropped her back on him, resting as she felt exhausted just from having him say that last part.

"Did you enjoy the jerky this morning?" Leo asked and Alice’s face beamed.

"Yeah, it was nice. I think I can still feel its chewy texture in between my teeth and in my jaws. Ugh, I wish I had more of it." Alice daydreamed and he shook his head.

"You’ll only get more tomorrow so delete it from your mind." He said and she clicked her tongue.

Then, Alice’s eyes fell on the archer selection process, and she saw Clarissa who had picked up her bow and was staring at the target.

Alice used her third eye to take a look at the mana pool around her heart. It had grown quite a lot. Did she try the method last night as well?

"Say, isn’t that method you recommended to Nicholas quite harmful?" Alice asked. "I mean, once you’ve used your mana to the point of depletion, recover it immediately, and then deplete it again, all for the purpose of increasing it, wouldn’t the body collapse at that rate?"

"No," Leo answered and looked toward Clarissa. "It would look like it was harmful to the body since they would always be exhausted and lack energy but after the first two days doing it, it starts to get... Natural."

"Huh?"

"It’s like going to the gym for the first time. When you work your stiff body, even just a little, you end up getting aches all over from your torn and overexerted muscles, and you feel you can’t continue. But when you do it the next day and the day after that, and the day after that, what do you think happens? Does the ache persist?"

"Hm, no. It doesn’t. It starts to get used to you, and your body becomes stronger, firmer, and more flexible." Alice answered, quite surprised that that logic can be used for mana training as well.

"Exactly. That principle works for Mana as well. Only, it works faster."

"Whoa!" The surprised exclamations of the students drew their attention back to Clarissa who had actually succeeded in cracking the target that was deemed indestructible to the students.

(I think that word became null when Alice’s arrow broke through it and headed for the forest)

Clarissa was surprised and panting softly, staring at the arrow that had gone through the target by a few centimeters.

She didn’t think it would work but it did. She... She looked at her hand... She was getting stronger.

She could feel it. Her mana pool had grown larger and very soon, it would be no different from an ocean.

Subconsciously, she turned to look at Alice to see if she was watching. She wanted to boast that she was getting stronger by doing her best and very soon she would be able to take at least one hit from her. She wanted to...

Her eyes fell on Alice who was smiling brightly at her with a thumbs up.

Seeing this, her heart warmed up. It was a silent encouragement from the one she wanted to defeat. A silent encouragement from the one who was pushing her beyond her limit.

It made her happy.

"Wow, she’s blushing." Alice said to Leo. "She must feel good."

"Well, she’s come to idolize you so no surprise there."

The representatives for the bow and arrow competition had been picked. Two females and one male. Clarissa was topping them of course.

The others were picked equally but then it was time for the swordsmen to be picked.

"You just picked up a speed yesterday all willy-nilly, are you sure you can do it?" Philip asked and she looked at him surprised.

"Oh my gosh, look at you being l surprised and shit,"

"You little..." Of course, her words got to him, and she laughed.

"To think a day would come when you would show your true colors. Did I tease you to the point you grew fond of me? Eh?" She was like a pest in his ears but he tried his best to hold it in. "Come on, you have nothing to worry about. It’s not like anything can hurt me as I am." She said, confidently taking up her sword, and Philip threw his gaze away while sighing.

"Who was worrying about you?" He asked. "I’m worried you’ll recklessly swing that thing and slice the other students in half."

"Yeah, yeah. You don’t have to worry regardless. After all," She swung her sword a bit and pointed it at her opponent, smirking as she said, "...I have a great teacher."

Source: Webnovel.com, updated by lotustale.com