Chapter 176: Sparring

Bengal released a loud roar completely interrupting Walker's flow, flames radiated from his feet completely pushing Walker backwards. "Finally you get warmed up, Let's get serious now!" Laurence shouted his encouragement to Bangel who was now intimidating beyond what he was a second ago. The roar he had unleashed completely broke through Walker's Dance of the rabid rabbit, the pace now broken Walker did not feel he could fall back in to it without building up again. This was a huge downfall he did not expect the skill to have. 

The slow footsteps of Bengal radiated more flames at every contact with the earth. Walker tried to manipulate the air to send a gust of wind to slow Bengal but failed. The tiger was completely unaffected maintaining its pace. Lifting the poorly made earth swords Walker thought better of rushing in now and instead dropped the swords. This action made Bengal rush forward, This was unfortunate for Bengal who met Walker's staff head on. The mana shot skill Walker released had strength enough to halt Bengal for an instant. This was all Walker needed to begin channeling more mana in to the ground, he knew he couldn't beat Bengal at all so using a large amount of mana he would try and trap him. Wishing there was snow in the training area Walker would have preferred to manipulate water. But the guild seemed very good at clearing away and keeping things clean. 

Feeling the rumble in the ground Everyone knew something big was coming, Bengal also sensed this and moved forward to slash again, still able to barely dodge Walker had finished what he wanted to do. Walls of earth rose from the ground around them, they were starting to close in in to a dome shape trying to capture Bengal. Walker himself dodged one of Bengal's slashed and narrowly jumped out of the last opening. The earth slammed shut leaving an angry tiger inside. Sweat poured down Walker's face, not only was he low on mana but he had pushed his body while trying to reach the dance of the rabid rabbit. The onlookers had grown slightly as some younger tamers couldn't help but wonder what was going on. 

Thinking he had trapped Bengal had been a mistake, the earth trembles and cracks int he earth dome Walker had made became prevalent. More and more shaking could be seen in the earth before another muffled roar was heard. Flame escaped the cracks as the dome shatter sending flaming debris everywhere. Some unlucky young tamers became victims of the debris, they had earned their first bruises from the guild master's training decisions, it was a badge of honor. Bengal who had just shown his force sprinted towards Walker. Not expecting Bengal to recover instantly Walker desperately tried to turn to dodge but he wasn't able to. Bengal swatted him with his large paw sending him tumbling five times landing gracefully on his bottom. 

"HAHAHA you took some time to get riled up but I'm finally starting to see the energetic kitten Laurence managed to find abandoned in an alleyway." Ribbolt laughed seeing the final strike, Bengal had retreated toward Laurence wanting to go back to rest. Now that Bengal had worked hard and shaken the laziness from his body Laurence knew that he would want to rest, he also knew that Ribbolt may just let up on him seeing that the two hadn't gone too soft from their lack of training. 

Walker who was still sitting there stunned seeing Ribbolt laughing to himself wasn't sure if this meant the sparring match was a success. Moving from their safe viewing spot Gil and Su helped Walker stand back up. After some minutes of brushing himself clean most of the dirt and sweat previously visible had been wiped away. Laurence had returned the victorious Bengal to the beast ring before he walked over to make sure Walker was OK. Easily seeing that there were no problems he relaxed, " I did not expect you to use Elise's strategy, Stella would have been jealous seeing another harpy dive bombing someone in battle. Although I think the swords were more surprising, where did that idea come from?" 

Feeling a little better after hearing the praise Walker recovered his bruised pride from being knocked down in one swipe. "My father is a guard as you know, he once took me to meet an instructor of his that used two swords. Seeing that you wouldn't actually try to kill me i thought it best to test out something I only ever dreamed of. There are a few other things i should practice in but to be honest my mana is too lacking." Slightly disappointed with his low mana Walker wanted to start creating gear or having gear made for him which could store away mana, if he could do this properly he would no longer be limited in battle. This was a very commonly used technique for the more experienced or high ranking adventurers. 

"That sounds to be right, you should conserve mana as much as possible. Your strategy wasn't bad, kid. But you fail when it comes to creativity!" Ribbolt had finally decided to enter in to the conversation again. "I am sure you often rely on your party to pick up your shortfalls but how would you have defeated a larger enemy like that on your own? Could you have created a larger fire creation? What about using a strategy of numbers? You could have made a swarm of bees out of that fire could you not? Those earth swords were not bad but much too weak, not ever going to land a scratch without the proper skills. You were able to make that earth wall dome which was definitely your best idea but it looked like you made it and that was it. No reinforcements, no secondary wells, lack of knowledge on structure to make the earth more dense. I will put it bluntly, you're a novice at best, you need to spend more time understanding your skills, if I understand your system even a little you're blessed to have many possible skills. But you rush through them like a fool!" Ribbolt was a bit harsh but not a single person could argue with what he had said. They had all noticed this even Walker, when using the elemental manipulation Walker rarely fused elements properly but instead used their basic forms. If he put the same study in to the mix of elements he may be able to find a way for the combination that creates lightning to become a skill. If so he would be able to make it usable in battle safely. 

Taking all of this in, Walker hesitated for a moment, "Thank you for the advice, I agree, I could use a lot of training. I may have let myself get caught up too much in quests and wanting to increase my level that I have gotten ahead of myself." 

"Good you do that, also Ranger boy, widen your view when watching a battle you were too focused on one thing. Shield girl, stop tensing at every movement of an enemy I could see you twitch every time the kitten swatted at your leader, if you were in that battle you would have been knocked off balance in a second. You, violent girl, you need to burn some energy and calm down you're way too worked up seeing a fight. I am sure you will rush in to your death like this. And you two chatted the whole time, I could see the two of your bodies moving, it's obvious you two were analyzing the battle but if your opponent can read you like a book even talking in your heads will give you away. You two need better poker faces." Ribbolt ma be a bit rough around the edges personality wise but his knowledge and advice was sound. He was very wise after years of battle being able to pick out weaknesses even from those witnessing a fight. All of the things he said were painfully true, so much so that they were all stunned. "Elise where is that harpy sister of yours? Bring her out and have her practice with that fire the boy made, she should try fighting herself for a change it could really help her. Riley you head off to the closed training rooms in the basement, I don't want you out of there until one of those boars kneels to you." Laurence became fearful himself, when Ribbolt got on a roll like this anyone he saw was judged and given a training task, how much Laurence now regretted waking Ribbolt today. "Laurence ran off and get something to burn for the boys magic, I saw that magic take in a lot of fuel to move you will be responsible for keeping the next one moving for Elise and Stella." this was definitely his punishment for waking him, Laurence had been downgraded to fetching firewood.