After everyone greeted one another, it was time to assess things. My friends had already made me their "leader" of the group long ago, without even talking about it. Therefore, wherever I spoke to all of them, they would quickly listen to me. I directed my gaze to Erdrich and Elizabeth, my primary targets today for sparring sessions.
"Have you two trained as I told you?" I wondered. Almost a month ago I had taught Erdrich and Erika how to use Ki, and told them to practice the breathing techniques for the rest of the month. I have been testing them slowly, but without teaching them anything concrete because I wanted them to first build a good enough foundation.
Both of them already had a very large quantity of Ki themselves. Even the small and delicate-looking Elizabeth was stronger than one might think at simple glance. If Ki could be calculated as a Stat, both would have large quantities. Perhaps Elizabeth would be around 500 without even training it or cultivating it yet, while Erdrich might be near 700 or 800.
I know that Ki increases over time as a body develops, but without my training I would easily have less than them, both untrained.
If it wasn't because I cultivated for years since my birth, I wouldn't have enough for everything I've done so far. Training my Ki has been of great help for the growth of my strength. This just showed these two had great talent for martial arts. Indeed, even the little Elizabeth could be able to fight well. Maybe not with fists but perhaps with the typical staff of priests, or maybe a hammer.
"We have put some training, yeah." Said Erdrich. "I have felt this "Ki" thing better lately, is this something to do with learning better martial arts?"
"I have been running around like you said I should, Blake. It was fun and my body doesn't feel as tired as before either…!" Elizabeth replied. Before having her Ki Core awakened, Elizabeth was slightly sickly physically, and couldn't run too far or fast, or she would get very tired. But since I awakened her Ki, she had become more energetic and her stamina had increased several times.
"Good, you two should be ready for the training then." I said with a nod.
"Training?" The two wondered.
"First of all, you two will have a match with me, and while fighting I will impart on you my knowledge."
"By fighting? Sure. Though I don't really know how you'll do it." Erdrich replied while feeling slightly doubtful of my abilities as a teacher.
"You're underestimating Blake, Erdrich, you'll get your ass kicked!" Said Chris.
"I've already had my ass kicked before, not like it can get any worse." Erdrich replied to Chris.
"F-Fighting? But I am a girl, I can't easily fight…" Said Elizabeth.
"Girls can fight too!" Erika said to Elizabeth.
"Don't feel afraid of giving me a punch, Elizabeth. It is important for you to grow stronger in this world. We are still in this small village, but eventually we'll move on beyond these boundaries." I said to Elizabeth, petting her head. "Give it a try."
"Geez… Okay. I get it!" Elizabeth said. She seemed to be feeling slightly more motivated.
"Then let's get to business."
And like that, I decided to first spar with these two. I wanted to spar with them two times each, just to make sure things were alright, I'll rotate between the two, of course. The first one was Elizabeth, as I didn't wanted her to sit down and wait while doing nothing. The rest of my friends decided to spar against one another themselves. Erika versus Chris and Eric as usual.
Erika was a literal monster in terms of offense and defense, and even utility, so the two kids had to team up against her if they wanted to stand a chance.
"Elizabeth, concentrate the Ki within your body and make it flow into your arms as I taught you before. Also, can you feel your Mana?" I wondered.
"Y-Yeah, Ellergest taught me how to manipulate my Mana…" She said. "And Ki… it feels light… Oh? I don't remember it being so light and easy to manipulate!"
Her bright eyes shone with golden light, as Elizabeth suddenly began to emanate an aura of both Ki and Mana mixed up together of the same color as her eyes.
"Good, now. What moves do you know?" I wondered. "I had taught you plenty of things, but what do you prefer?"
"I-I… Erm, I like using my staff. I am not good at kicking, I don't know if I am good at punching either…" She said.
"Alright, let's try bare fist fight first and then we can move to use weapons." I said. "Come at me wherever you feel like."
I stood there while waiting for Elizabeth. She was wearing a blue dress this time instead of wait. I had told her it was better to wear something that would be easier to wash from things such as sweat and perhaps blood.
Elizabeth clumsily rant towards my way, as I felt her Ki and Mana gathering in her fists, her fist timidly reached my chest and hit me. It was such a gentle pat of her hand that I felt like she wasn't even taking this seriously. I noticed her arms trembling a bit. Maybe I shouldn't force her to fight? But… if she doesn't know how to fight, whenever her MP goes out, she'll be dead weight.
What if she's alone, without anybody to protect her and out of MP? She'll die. She has to have more options.
"Elizabeth, your punch is too soft, what are you doing?"
"Don't apologize, hit me harder."
"But I don't… like hurting others…"
"Hm… I know it is hard, but for your friends and for your father, that old man… You have to learn how to fight with something more than Mana."
"D-Don't call papa an old man!!!"
However, out of nowhere, I ended enraging Elizabeth for calling Ellergest an old man.