The next day, Ilario went to meet Queen Agnes firstly. She said she had something to talk to him before started the advance training.

“You came. I read the progress report of your training. The results are excellent for all. You have improved greatly, even some advance training. The next step will be the real fight. You will practice for fighting with magic power in the morning, then fighting in close combat without using magic power in the afternoon. It will be harder because we needed to practice you to fight by instinct. So, you can fight in many kinds of situations freely. I casted the barrier at the training ground already. You can fight with your extent. We will observe you and recommend you right away,” Queen Agnes said.

Ilario went to the training ground which has changed to be a small arena.

Mr. Marius was waiting for him. He was in charge of fighting with magic power. He was excellent. It was hard to fight and win against him for now.

“Your opponent today would be this one,” Mr. Marius said while he was making a big golem 3 meters high.

The golem was making rocks and throwing it to him continually.

Ilario dodged with wind speed and activated “Wind Barrier” to protect himself and “Fire Shooting” to shoot at the golem head.

The golem got some damage and attacked him back by throwing the bigger rocks, some rock passed through his wind barrier and scratched his arm.

Ilario activated “Fire Breath” the ability to attack like dragon breathing fire but the power release out from hand instead of mouth, to release the strong fire at the golem and burn it continually. He thought that he could destroy it completely, but turned out it regenerated itself from high damage. He thought about the elements theory and remembered that earth cannot resist stronger fire. The wind barrier could not resist the earth much but he needed the speed from wind magic power. He must finish it quickly.

The golem threw many big rocks at him continually.

He dodged its attacks and find a chance to burn it.

The golem attacked him nonstop. He changed the tactic by activating “Wind Storm” to blow all the rocks, then activated “Fire Burn” to burn the body of golem continually until it could not regenerate itself.

A fight with golem exhausted him. He used too much magic power just to win against them.

“You did very well. I tricked you by regenerating the golem and you found the way to destroy it yourself. Take some rest. I will teach you how to mix the magic powers,” said Mr. Marius kindly.

“Thank you,” Ilario said and took a rest.

After he got some rest, Mr. Marius started to teach him.

“I will teach you the way to mix many types of magic powers. Let’s start with 2 types first. If you succeeded all, we will try to mix more than 2 types. How about ice magic power?” Mr. Marius said and suggested.

“Yes,” Ilario said.

“The ice magic power is the ability that was mixed by wind and water magic power. Try to activate each type from both of you hand, make wind magic moving around as fast as you can, then pour water into it slowly like this,” Mr. Marius said while he was showing him how to do step by step.

Wind magic power slowly change to be icy ball after poured water in it.

“The principle of ice is the solid water which occurred from water freezes to ice at the very low temperature. That’s why we need to make the cool air to lower the temperature first, then freezes the water to be ice. Try it,” Mr. Marius said.

Ilario activated wind magic power first, he made it move around speedy. He activated water magic power after he felt the cool air, then slowly poured it into the cool air. The shape slowly changed to be icy ball. He succeeded in his first try, even though he took longer time than Mr. Marius.

“Well done. Try to activate ice magic power at once. Normally, it can process from inside your body but I let you activate it outside to make you understand the principle and feeling,” Mr. Marius said.

Ilario concentrated and balanced the magic powers inside his body. He imagined about icy ball, then activated ice magic power in shape of icy ball. He succeeded since the first try. It seemed that he got the knowledge and make it happen with his imagination.

“Good, let’s try to mix more than 2 types. I think lightning magic power would be a good choice. It’s the mixed power of fire, water, wind magic powers. For the principle, lightning occurred from the natural process which evaporated to be cloud, the high speed of wind circulated inside cloud and made the friction between water drop and ice, and then caused the heat and shock wave and release to be lightning. Try to active the lightning magic power with this principle,” Mr. Marius said.

Ilario repeated the information inside his mind several time. He concentrated and balanced the magic powers inside his body. He imagined about lightning, then activated magic power.

‘Boom’ the loud sound of thunder.

He was frightened by its sound. His hand was bleeding heavily from magic exploded. Fortunately, he was in a posture of attack, he shot the lightning to hit the barrier.

He understood why Queen Agnes repeated him not to mix magic types before he reached the age of 8. He has never thought that it may cause him to die for real. He changed his attitude after he saw it with his own eyes. It was like he got a bomb exploded directly.

He activated “Regenerate” to regenerate his hand because it was badly injured and some of his fingers were gone. Afterward, his hand became normal as if it has nothing happened.

“Did you hurt yourself?” Mr. Marius asked, he has a surprise expression on his face.

His hand healed completely before he asked. He thought that it was good that he possessed healing magic power, otherwise he must suffer from badly injured.

“My hand got burned from magic exploded but I already healed it,” Ilario said and showed his hand to him. Some part of his hand was covered with blood.

“It must be hard for you to control fire magic power when it mixed with other types,” Mr. Marius said, “it’s enough for today. We will practice again tomorrow. You succeeded to activate lightning magic power but you need to control and reduce fire magic power to avoid magic exploded like today.”

***

Ilario felt better after he rested for a while. He was exhausted, he used too much magic power in the morning.

He wanted to get a sick leave when he was thinking about the upcoming fight in the afternoon.

For the real situation, he could do nothing but went direct to the training ground.

Oliver was waiting for him. He prepared real dagger knives for both of us to fight against each other.

Ilario warmed up his body and prepared himself to fight with him. He must use everything he had learned to fight with him today.

Ilario and Oliver were ready to fight.

Oliver attacked Ilario first, his attack was fast and furious. He attacked him hard and nonstop.

Ilario could do only block and dodge. His hands were shanking when he was blocking his attacks.

Oliver attacked him faster and harder as time went by. He used his dagger knives to hit and slash him.

Ilario could not resist his harder attacks. He changed to be dodging and running instead. His speed was faster him but his physical body was still weaker than him. He was observing his attacks while running around. He learned his movements as much as he could. After he was running for a short while he could learn some of his movements. He stopped to run around. He was on guard and waited for a chance to attack him back.

Oliver was slashing him like boxing with dagger knives instead of punching with bare hands.

Oliver slashed up on the left and the right at Ilario’s body. Ilario blocked and dodged, then turned to stab him back.

Oliver dodged his attack and slashed him back at his arm. Ilario’s arm was bleeding.

Ilario stepped backward and stayed on his guard. He was thinking about the tactic while he was on guarding. He needed to find his non-defense spot and hit him at once.

Oliver did not waste his time and chance. He continued to attack him.

Ilario guessed his next attack. He pretended to be on guard, then bent his knees to dodge his attack and slashed up his leg and stepped out of his range of attack quickly. Oliver’s leg was bleeding.

Oliver followed him and attacked him harder. Ilario blocked and dodged and tried to stab back at him. Oliver blocked with counterattack and pointed his dagger knife on Ilario’s neck.

Ilario admitted defeat.

“You improved a lot,” said Oliver proudly.

“I’m still far from you. I knew you held back yourself,” Ilario said while he was healing his wound and Oliver’s wound.

“We will compete in the archery next. The rule is simple, the winner is the one who got the highest scores. There are marks on your arrows. We will shoot the moving targets,”

Oliver activated wind magic power to make the moving targets. He made it float randomly in the air.

Ilario shot the moving targets as fast as he could.

Lyra was very great and fast at shooting. She shot the moving targets without miss.

Ilario rushed himself to make more scores. He knew that he will lose for sure but he did not want to lose her in high range of scores.

As the result, Lyra won with highest scores. She got 15 scores and Ilario got 9 scores. He succeeded to reduce the range of scores. He thought that he would lost her more than half of total scores.

“You need to practice more,” Lyra said and left.

The next morning, Ilario went to the training ground as usual.

“You will fight with this one today,” Mr. Marius said while he was activating fire magic power in shape of large griffin. He made it move like the real griffin.

The fire griffin was flying in the air and breathing fire.

Ilario activated “Wind Barrier” to protect himself and “Wind Dragon Wings” to fly in the air. He was ready to fight.

The fire griffin breathed fire to him continually.

Ilario activated “Water Shooting” to attack its body. It could regenerate itself as he expected.

The fire griffin swooped to attack him quickly. He dodged and activated “Wind Storm”, the ability that mixed by wind and water magic powers, to devour its whole body.

The fire griffin was gone, like the magic power was forced to cancel.

“You are great with the elements. It’s the main point for fighting with magic power. You must know which element could not resist in which element. So, you can fight with the most effective. You have a good sense for fighting,” Mr. Marius said and smiled at him.

“Let’s practice more about lightning magic power. Don’t forget to reduce your fire magic power,”

Ilario activated “Lightning Force”, the ability to attack like lightning strike, to shoot at the target. The wooden target was burned with fire. It was still powerful but it did not explode like yesterday.

“Great, keep controlling your fire magic power like this. You must be careful with all the abilities that have fire magic power mixed with. You need to balance and release it less than the other types of magic powers. It would be safety for you to not make it explode like last time. Anyway, you don’t need to worry about this matter too much because your physical body was being stronger as time went by. It will help you to handle magic power well and no more explode,” Mr. Marius said.

“Could you please tell me how many years for my body to be in that state?” Ilario asked curiously.

“I think 2 years at least for your case,” Mr. Marius said and smiled at him.

Ilario went back to treehouse to have lunch and get some rest.

He was thinking about the strategy to fight with Oliver while he was resting. Even though his body grew up fast, his height still could not compare to the adult.

He went to the training ground after he got enough rest. He warmed up his body first.

Oliver and Lyra came toward him.

“You came early,” Oliver said.

“I wanted to warm up my body before our fight,” Ilario said.

Ilario and Oliver were ready to fight.

Oliver attacked him faster and harder than yesterday. He did not hold himself much today.

Ilario blocked and dodged his attacks back and forth. He had no chance to attack him back even once. He thought that Oliver might use the same concept by increasing the hardness every day. It was the best way to improve him faster.

Oliver was attacking him nonstop. He trapped him and pointed his dagger knife on his neck.

Ilario admitted his defeat. He could do nothing for today.

While Ilario was fighting with Oliver, Lyra set the archery area by putting the targets which made from iron.

She came toward Ilario after he finished fighting with Oliver.

“I will you teach you how to shoot the arrow with magic power. Start from wind magic power first,” Lyra said.

“Hold an arrow and activate wind magic power to cover it. The more power you activate on it, the more speed and damage you can make. Shoot the arrow together with magic power. I will show you,” said Lyra, she activated wind magic power on arrow and shot at iron target. The arrow pierced through the iron target and hit to the barrier.

Ilario activated wind magic power on arrow and shot at the iron target. The result was the same as Lyra.

She looked at him with a surprise expression on her face. She has never seen him use magic power before.

He was also surprised by her expression. It was the first time that he saw the other expression on her face. He saw only calm expression on her face in the past 3 years.

She trained him as if he was one of military forces. She taught, ordered, and left. She has never talked to him in a friendly way.

“Good! Hit the moving target next,” Lyra said.

Oliver made the moving targets, he made it float in the air randomly.

Ilario shot the wind magic arrows to all the moving targets quickly. It was easy for him when he did something with magic power.

“Let’s compete like yesterday,” Lyra said.

Oliver used his magic power to move the moving targets. He made it float faster.

Ilario concentrated and shot the arrows at the moving targets as much as he could. He did not miss a shot. It was like we were competing with our speed.

The result was a draw, Lyra got 12 scores and Ilario got 12 scores.

“You have talent with magic power,” said Lyra calmly.

“Thank you,” Ilario said.

“Wow! You are the first being praised,” said Oliver amusingly.

“Shut up Oliver,” Lyra said and left, her ears turned a bit red.

Lyra has a very high standard. He was glad for her praise. He hoped that we can talk in a friendly way someday. He also wanted to ask her about the magic ability to make him lost consciousness on the day when she went to help him from the kidnappers.

***