14 Chapter 13

31st October, 2015

I stared back at my opponent, an East Asian man in his mid 20s as we awaited for the inevitable toll of the bell signalling the start of our bout. We faced one another with both our hands outstretched with our dominant arms stretched further than the non dominant one, ready to attack, defend or counter as necessary. A small crowd had gathered around us cheering us on yet we paid them no mind as we waited for the match to begin.

Eventually the man overseeing the match struck the bell and I made my move. I started with a simple straight punch which my opponent blocked with ease before attempting to sweep my legs with his feet. In response, I pushed against the ground with my legs retreating out of range of his foot. He then charged at me before following up with a roundhouse kick. I managed to duck in time and was about to follow up with an upper cut which sadly didn't connect as my opponent blocked it with him palm. Seeing that he was still standing on one leg, I kicked it and he lost his balance almost immediately. Yet as he fell, his arms managed to grab my robes and he used the momentum of the fall to throw me over his head and onto the ground.

We both scrambled onto our feet before putting some distance between one another and reaffirmed our stances. This time, he was the one to make the first move as he advanced in a serpentine motion to confuse me before attacking me with a barrage of punches. I used my forearms to block several of his punches all the while countering with my own punches. This continued on for a while with both of us landing hits on one another until I saw an opening. I ducked under one of his punches then counter with a rabbit punch to his cheek. Making him taking a couple of steps back while cradling his face.

Before he recovered from the blow, I then followed up with a kick aimed at his shin which caused him to loose his balance. Despite this, he tried to counter with another punch which I caught before twisting his arm dragging it behind him and causing him to fall as he was still unbalanced. I then snaked his arm around my leg, effectively trapping him. He struggled for a short while before giving in and they announced the conclusion of our bout.

With that I let go of my opponent and helped him up. I thanked him for a good match and he congratulated me on my win with a smile on his face before walking towards his friends. I did the same.

This was how I had spent the last week. Wong had prepared even more merciless training regiment which consisted of me climbing an actual mountain in the himalayas with a heating spell to shield me from most of the cold. As promised, I hadn't learned any of the mystic art trainings during this time instead focusing more on my endurance, stamina and my close quarter combat skills. Several of the disciples and teachers at Kamar Taj were proficient in a broad range of weapons and they imparted their knowledge to me to the best of their abilities this past week. As a result of my training along with prior teachings by Madam Han, my skill martial arts had improved to around the level of a blue belt. I was being taught judo, kyokushin karate and muay thai though, I was better at the last two than the first one at the moment.

And despite only spending a week here, I managed to make friends with several disciples. I knew people from many different walks of lives came to Kamar Taj but I didn't know just how much until I came here. Some were even from countries I didn't know existed and of even able to pronounce. I was especially close to small group of teens around my age. They were a group of 3 girls and two boys who apparently hailed from the Koibata clan in Japan and had been studying at Kamar Taj for years. Many of their ancestors used to be students at Kamar Taj and it was tradition for them to send a few of their brightest progeny to follow in the footsteps of their ancestors and study the mystic arts.

Akechi Koibata is the eldest of the group. He is 16 and part of one of the clan's branch family. He focused mainly on the Eldritch school as well as the mental school of magic. Then there was a pair of fraternal twins Souma Koibata and his sister Hana Koibata who were both 14 like myself. Both of them were proficient in enchantments.

The remaining 2 girls both hailed from the main family of the clan. They were sisters by the names of Kaya and Yukine and were 15 and 14 years respectively. Kaya mainly focused on Eldritch magic and divination magic while Yukine focused on summoning magic and Alchemy.

"Great match. Looks like you're improving." Akechi patted my back as I walked up to them. His personality was similar to the stereotypical, 'battle maniacs' you see in anime and out of all the students, he was the one who sparred the most. The rest greeted me as well before our conversations steered towards our training. As I had been forbidden from practicing magic for the past week, I instead focused on my Alchemical skills and my enchantments during my free time. I exchanged notes with both the twins and Yukine getting pointers from them on how to improve my skills while at the same time, divulging my knowledge on their respective subjects as well, at least to a point. I wasn't really keen on showing all my cards to them neither were they. In short, it was a mutually beneficial agreement between us which we never addressed.

It was at this time that I learned how to make talismans from the twins. It worked just like runecraft but instead of etching it with mana on the object itself, you first etch a diagram on a special piece of paper before imbuing it mana. After that, all you have to do it paste the talisman on the object/ place you want and you have yourself and fast and portable enchantment. Meaning it is easier to make and could be used by anyone who has mana, some even without mana. Of course it has its drawbacks. In runecraft, you become aware of any mistake in the rune as soon as you make it, making it possible for you to correct it but when making talismans, if your screw up the diagram, you will have to discard it and start from scratch. Moreover, even if you accidentally overlook a mistake, you won't know that you had until you activate the talisman, which could be fatal. Talismans also have a weakness that runes don't. That being the talismans themselves. Whatever enchantment placed originates from the talisman itself. Destroy the talisman, and the enchantment will disappear. Not just that but even if it the talisman is blown away by the wind, the enchantment will disappear as well. Both are extremely likely scenarios considering the talisman has the durability of actual paper unless you place a specialised ward on the talisman itself.

In addition to teaching me talismans, the twins also helped me make dimensional storage bag using my book bag. I already knew basic conjuration magic as it was how I was summoning my armour and staff. They are stored inside a personal pocket dimension connected to my soul that has a limited size, around 2 cubic meters at the moment. It would increase as my masteries over dimensional magics increases. But the thing is, conjuration requires a lot of focus and costs mana and that might not always be an option for me. With dimensional storage all I would have to do is reach in and take what I need much like conjuration, the items are stored in a pocket dimension which is connected to the item its enchanted on. The one we created had a capacity of 4 cubic. I planned on stocking it with food, water, medicine, potions, a change of clothes, a sleeping bag and anything else I might need in an unexpected situation. The potions, consisting mostly of mana recovery, healing, and physical enhancers were created by me with the help of Yukine. Even without that, the existence of the dimension storage bag allows me work around the limited capacity of the conjuring pocket dimension since I can store the book bag inside my pocket dimension.

We were discussing more about the how to improve our spells when I spotted Madam Han approach. As she approached, we all bowed in respect. I did the same as we decided to keep our prior relationship a secret from the other students. It was less of a hassle that way.

"Ms Johnson. Master Wong is calling for you. Please meet him in the arena." she spoke.

"Wait... You mean I can finally...." I spoke like a child about to receive a present.

"Yes. You may now resume your mystic arts training. Don't make me regret this." she interrupted me, maintaining a cold and aloof personality in front of the other students.

"What did she mean by that?" Kaya inquired with a raised brow.

"Ms Johnson had been forbidden learning or practicing any spells last week as a punishment for her prior actions." Madam Han spoke and I spied a mischievous glint in her eyes. She was upto something.

"Why? What did she do?" the twins spoke in a synchronised tone while smirking at me.

"Nothing. I encountered a shadebeast and got its blood on me. Then Master Strange came and saved me. I was then punished for my reckless actions." I spoke, trying to control the flow of the story by being as vague as possible.

"Wait you fought a shadebeast?!" It was Akechi who spoke and at that moment, I knew what madam Han was planning. With Akechi's demeanour, he will want to challenge me to an all out duel, using both our magic and martial arts, something I wasn't quite ready for and will pester me until I agree. I opened my mouth to try and lie my way out only for Madam Han to block that route.

"Fought and killed it. She then went on to help Master Strange seal the fissure." Madam Han said. And almost immediately, a gasp could be heard from my friends and some of the students nearby.

"No.. No... No, I didn't actually assist him. I helped keep the shadebeast away." I tried to downplay the story as much as I could. However, it was at that moment another voice joined in and sealed my fate.

"Oh I wouldn't say that. You killed quite a lot of the shadebeasts you even stunned the greater shadebeast, giving me the opportunity to kill it." Strange emerged from the background and another gasp resonated as the listeners registered his words.

Before I knew it, I was surrounded from all sides by my friends and other disciples as well, inquiring about what had happened that night. Akechi was attempting to speak to me only to get buried amongst the small crowd gathering around me.

"Oh.... Oh look at the time. Master Wong is expecting me. So ummm.... talk to you later." I squeak as I jumped up before creating a levitation rune under my shoes, using it to propel over the crowd before dispelling it. I fell on the ground and tucked myself into a roll before running away as fast as I could. I glanced back and saw the crowd pursuing me. Akechi was in the lead, using magic to fly towards. I made a mental note to ask him to teach me before casting [Mistral Aura], enhancing my speed. I ran through the courtyards evading my pursuers, some of whom were using the golden ring, which I found out were called sling rings to create a portal and trying to ambush me.

I eventually made it to the arena where Wong awaited at its center. I crashed onto the arena, panting for breathe as my pursuers had forced me to take several detours that effectively tired me out despite how much I had improved.

"Damn. Looks like Madam Han won the bet." Wong muttered as I looked at him with confusion. Which was short lived as I heard my pursuers arriving. At that moment however, Wong transported us to the mirror dimension making me release a sigh of relief. Realisation than hit me.

"You knew about this." I asked/demanded.

"Yep." was all he said.

"Why did you do that?"

"Let's see for one thing, it was fun. Secondly, interacting with so many people will help break you out of your shell. You need to learn how interact with others better."

"I'm sorry. I'm getting a lecture about interaction with others from You?" I said with a deadpan expression.

Wong went silent at my words before replying with. "Touché. But anyways. That's not why I called you here. Today's the days you begin training in the ways of the Eldritch school. Are you ready?"

And that was enough to revitalise me as I jumped up onto my feet and diverting my full attention to Wing's teachings.

He first began talking about how the disciples at Kamar Taj used magic. Unlike me, they draw their powers from the Vishanti. The Vishanti are a trio of God-like Entities who are the patron of Strange and the Masters of the Mystic arts. Most of the other magical groups also had patrons themselves. Since I already draw power from the astral realm, I didn't need to learn how to draw power from the Vishanti. I also had the choice of drawing power from both sources but at my current level, any attempts to do that is going to overload me with mana.

Once he was done explaining the basics, he demonstrated one of the basic spells of Eldritch school, the Tao Mandalas. It was the same circular disks that he had used against me a week ago. He explained in depth how to create it he slowly made several geometric shapes out of strands of light, adding into the spell until it was finished. Once he was finished, he asked me to attempt to do the same.

I cleared my mind and as per Wong's instructions, before attempting to create same energy as Wong had. Around an hour passed before I felt a spark. I then doubled down on it, trying to recreate it and soon enough, more sparks flowed and kept on exponentially increasing until I finally succeeded. Blue sparks crackled between my arms which I extended like I was making spaghetti dough. I was happy at my success yet equally confused because of the color. The eldritch energy harnessed by the others were golden yet mine came out blue. I was about to ask Wong why when he mentioned that the change in color was because I was drawing from a different dimension.

I nodded in understanding as I attempted to create my own mandala. Unfortunately, it failed partway through. And so I tried once more, I was able to grasp the eldritch energy faster this time and was also able to progress further in the creation of the mandala before I failed. This went on for 5 more times before I finally managed to create a proper mandala. I felt euphoric just like the day I first unlocked my mana. And who knows how far I'll be able to go.

An: A bit of an announcement. I know I was setting Felicia as the love interest. But after thinking about it for a while, I wanted to test the MC with other less known characters. I not saying that Felicia is completely off the table but right now she is 2 years older than the MC so I don't think she would actually see MC as a romantic interest. I want to maintain a would they won't they type of relationship between them at the moment than see how compatible MC is with some other characters much like in the comics. If they do end up together, it will be after they a few more years.

I already have some candidates. Such as Stature, Aka Cassie Lang, Kate Bishop maybe someone from the Runaways you know, someone not commonly shipped in such fanfics. Let me know if you have any recommendations.