Chương 21: First Lesson

"Punch me."

"What?"

"Punch my hand."

"Oh." Jonny got into his stance, then delivered a solid straight to Igrette's outstretched palm.

"Same stance, other hand," she said. He jabbed her hand, and when he pulled his arm back, she turned her hand to the side.

"Punch my palm." Jonny raised an eyebrow at her, then hit her hand with a hook. She turned her palm downward, and he followed with an uppercut.

"Your form is good," she said.

"Who taught you?" Jonny shrugged. Shrugging seemed to work as a good response when adults asked questions he didn't want to answer.

"Did someone teach you, or did you figure it out yourself?" Jonny shrugged again.

"A shrug isn't an answer." Shit.

"I figured it out myself."

"Did you?"

"Yeah." She clearly did not fully believe him, but did not press further. Instead, she sighed and stood up from her knees, stretching her back. The two of them were currently alone in the backyard. The rest of the children were still inside, but since Jonny couldn't practice normal magic with them, he was now learning magical combat from Igrette. It was the first such lesson after Igrette agreed to teach him the previous night.

"Well, that was going to be my lesson for the day," she said.

"But it looks like I'll have to find something else."

"Internal mana techniques!" said Jonny.

"You're not ready for anything more advanced than you already know."

"Why not?"

"How many bones do you have in your hand?"

"What?"

"How many bones do you have in your hand?" Jonny grabbed his right hand and started feeling around, trying to count the bones. He was able to figure out his fingers and upper palm easily enough, but when it came time to the base of the palm and wrist, he got lost.

"Twenty three?" he guessed.

"Twenty seven," said Igrette.

"And what about muscles, tendons and ligaments? Major blood vessels? How many layers of skin do you have? Which ones have nerve endings?" Jonny gaped like a fish, unable to even begin answering any of those questions.

"If you want to properly master internal mana techniques, you need to understand your body," said Igrette.

"Every single piece of it. Every bone, every muscle, every joint, how your blood flows, how your digestive system works, and more importantly, how it all works together. A punch isn't just an arm movement. It involves your arm, your shoulder, your back, your core, and your legs. If you only strengthen your arm for a punch, you will not be achieving maximum results. Without properly understanding your body, you're better off just strengthening your entire body at once.

"I plan to teach you everything there is to know about anatomy, but until then, your internal mana techniques will remain simple, and any training we do out here will be focused solely on combat itself… but I'm beginning to wonder how useful that will be. How good do you think you are at fighting?" Jonny hesitated, not sure how to answer. The honest answer was pretty damn good, but that wasn't an answer a five year old would give. Or was it?

"I'm the best," he said. Igrette snorted.

"Right. Then you won't have any trouble hitting me, right?"

"What?"

"Try to hit me," she said.

"I won't use any internal mana techniques. You can do whatever you'd like."

"Really?"

"Yes."

"And what happens when I hit you?""'When'? If you hit me, then I'll know what level you're at, and I'll be able to tailor your lessons better."

"Oh." Jonny was mildly disappointed. He was hoping he'd win something for success. That was usually how these kinds of challenges went at the gym. A meal, or few $20 bills were a customary bet. But then again, he was five. Why would Igrette make a bet with a five year old?

"Okay, I'm ready," he said.

"You may start whenever you're ready." Jonny took a deep breath, then dashed forward, aiming a quick jab at Igette's thigh. She backstepped out of his range, and continued to backstep as he threw out a long combination. Jonny tried a few more punch combinations before feinting a hook and actually throwing a roundhouse kick. He caught her eyes widening in surprise, but she still was able to avoid it easily.

He amped up his combos, throwing more kicks, and even involving a few running or flying attacks, trying to catch her off guard, but she just smoothly dodged everything. Despite her age, and his fitness, there was clearly quite a large raw physical strength disparity that Jonny couldn't hope to match. Not as he was, at least. He started cycling his mana faster, compressing it further and enhancing his entire body as he resumed his assault.

Igrette was still able to dodge every strike, but it was closer than it was before, and he saw a subtle shift in her demeanor as she began taking him a bit more seriously. This book's true home is on another platform. Check it out there for the real experience. As he moved, though, Jonny realized that something was off. He was still doing alright, but he felt off.

With his strength amplified, his steps took him further than he anticipated, and his punches and kicks carried more momentum, making them more difficult to pull back. He thought he had adapted to his child-sized body already, but with the addition of magic into the mix, he was all thrown off again. Being able to change his strength on a whim like this added a whole new layer to battle. The spar went on, and Jonny slowly forgot what the original goal was, as his attention was mostly focused inward.

With every failed attack, he started making micro-adjustments. His balance improved with every strike, and he got better at regulating his mana to control his body movements. As Igrette said, doing more precise manipulation of his internal mana seemed beyond him. He could send mana to different parts of his body easily, but now that she had told him about it, he really felt the mismatch in the motions.

Sure, his punches were stronger when there was more mana in his arms, but it put undue strain on his back and core. I wonder how this affects grappling, he wondered. Getting Igrette into grappling range wasn't going to be any easier than getting her in striking range, but he was optimistic about it. Takedowns were completely different from strikes, and there was a chance he could catch her off guard.

His pace had already slowed as he tried figuring out how magic affected his body, but he slowed it even further as he tried to set up his takedown attempt. She reacted perfectly to every strike he threw, and even seemed to notice that he was backing her into the corner where the fence met the building, but she seemed more curious than wary. She played along with his attempts, getting further and further into the corner until he decided it was time.

He lunged forward with a strong overhand, sending her stepping back, then flowed the overhand into a takedown attempt, lowering his body and launching himself forward. She dodged, of course, but he had been expecting that, and with her back to the wall, there were only two directions she could go. And since he had chosen to dive at her right side, she dodged to the left, right where he wanted her.

In the middle of his takedown attempt, he planted his left foot loading it with mana, and launching himself to the side, only a foot off the ground. Igrette was surprised, but not overly so, and tried stepping away, but Jonny had loaded his leg with more mana than she expected. More mana than his leg expected too, based on the sudden pain he felt, but he would deal with that later. His gamble was a success, and he was just barely able to wrap his fingers around Igrette's ankle.

She tried shaking him off, but he held on with an iron grip, pulling his body closer and swinging himself around to wrap his legs around hers. Before she could react, he had gotten her in an outside leg lock, and driven her down to one knee. When he tried to force her further to the ground, however, his plan fell apart. He put all his strength into it, then all his mana, but now that she had gotten over her initial surprise, her muscles had completely locked up, and Jonny couldn't make her budge.

He burned through his mana rapidly, straining his muscles beyond what was wise, but she stayed rigid, slowly standing back up and raising her leg as Jonny clung to it.

"That's enough," she said, grabbing him by the leg.

"Let go." Jonny sighed and released his grip, letting himself dangle from her hand until she gently set him on the grass.

"That was a very interesting move you pulled," she said.

"Against a weaker opponent, you could have broken their ankle. Where did you learn that?" Jonny shrugged.

"If you keep answering with shrugs, I am going to be displeased."

"I just thought it'd be good," he said, barely stopping himself from shrugging again. Igrette looked at him with suspicion, but once again decided not to press him further.

"Well, I have a good idea of your current level," she said.

"Starting tomorrow, we'll be doing anatomy lessons. For now, we need to go see Helen. You overdid it." Jonny shifted his weight, feeling pain shooting through his leg. It didn't feel like he had torn anything, but he had certainly pulled something. Some healing would definitely be good. Half an hour later, he was resting in the infirmary, staring up at the ceiling. His injuries weren't too severe, but he had apparently oversaturated his body with mana, so Helen couldn't fully heal him in one go.

He would need to rest until that evening when she could finish the job, meaning that for an entire eight hours, he had nothing to do. Lucky for him, Tommy came in to rectify that at lunch time. Oh boy… Jonny cut his ham to pieces while he waited for the other boy to start speaking, but strangely enough, he never did. He just ate in silence in the chair beside the bed, and even when they finished their food, he was still weirdly quiet.

"Tommy?" asked Jonny.

"You learned fighting with Igrette today, right?" Ah, he's just down because he got left out, Jonny realized.

"Yeah, a little," said Jonny.

"But we didn't do very much."

"I wanna learn fighting too."

"Did they not let you?" Tommy did not respond.

"Well?"

"Abbess Helen says I'm getting adopted." Jonny blinked in surprise.

"What?"

"I'm getting adopted."

"When?" Tommy shrugged.

"Soon?"

"She said they're gonna come get me in the winter."

"It's fall right now, right?"

"Yeah."

"Then you still have some time to learn fighting."

"But Sister Igrette says it takes years to get good at fighting. And if I get adopted, I can't learn from Sister Igrette anymore."

"Well… I guess you just have to learn as much as you can until then."

"Yeah…" The two sat in silence for a minute longer until the sound of a nun calling Tommy's name made the other boy start. He looked back, waiting for the voice to call again, then got to his feet.

"I have to go," he said.

"See you later."

"Bye." Jonny watched Tommy leave, then looked down at his bed where both empty trays were still sitting on his bed. Scatterbrained idiot, he thought. I'm glad he's finally leaving. He thought about what his days would look like in the future, doing his workouts and runs outside without Tommy babbling in his ear the whole time. He imagined the peace he would feel, as he got to work out in peace, then frowned. For some reason, he didn't actually feel that glad at all.

"That's not possible," said Helen, dusting cookie crumbs from her hands.

"He was left here when he couldn't even walk properly. Where would he have been trained?"

"I don't know," said Igrette, reaching for a cookie.

"That's what's so confusing."

"I watched that boy grow up. He's had eyes on him almost every second he's been alive. There hasn't been time for anyone to train him."

"Then you're telling me that he somehow managed to become a fully trained fighter on his own with no training, no outside influence, and no one to imitate?"

"I told you, he's a natural-born fighter."

"Helen, he throws better punches than you do."

"Well, I am not a natural-born fighter."

"No, you're just someone who went through military training and spent seven years at war, forced to defend yourself on multiple occasions."

"And?"

"Helen, this is like if he was born already able to re-attach limbs with healing magic. This isn't just 'natural-born fighter.' I've met natural-born fighters. I am a natural-born fighter. That boy may be one of those, but he's also had training."

"Well, that's impossible, so it must be natural. Are you trying to say that he somehow became a master of fighting in the womb?"

"I don't know! I have no idea what he is! Hell, maybe he's an old man who ate too much from the Tree of Life!" Helen snorted with laughter.

"Exactly!" said Igrette, gesturing toward Helen's reaction.

"That's how absurd it is! Something's not right with that kid."

"Well, what do you suggest we do about it?"

"I have no idea. How can we do anything if we don't know anything? He can't be a changeling, because you would have noticed. He can't have learned at the orphanage because there's no one who could have taught him. He can't have learned before the orphanage. So what? Where did he learn this?"

"Well…" Helen raised an eyebrow.

"Not possible," said Igrette.

"The pope would know."

"It would explain it. And it's more plausible than the Tree of Life."

"But it's not possible, so it can't be that."

"Well, just keep an eye on him, I suppose. If there's nothing we can do, then what happens will happen. So be it. Lord willing, it will be good."