Leo enters the guild building, seeing Bron and Kaly at a table, facing each other, the former waving at him. He walks to them, reaching the table.
"Good morning boy, how was the test?" asked Bron as soon as Leo reached the table.
"Easy."
"Yeah, no surprise there."
"Anlo is known for failing only those who hold their noses to high. The faces they make when they realize that they can't ride a beast in battle are always funny." added Kaly.
Leo takes a sit next to Bron.
"How you eaten yet, this time is on me." said Bron happily.
"Has something good happened since yesterday or should I dispel a spell that you are under?" said Kaly jokingly.
"Don't worry, just order something that you would like."
Kaly stands still staring at Bron with an ice cold glare.
Bron sighs in defeat saying "Fine, I got reevaluated earlier and I finally reached mid rank."
"That's awesome, I guess our last mission gave a good impression."
"Yeah, better yet, this makes me eligible to lead expeditions and exterminations. It's perfect timing with the seasonal extermination being right around the corner."
A waiter brings to the table three bowls of hot stew.
"When did you even order." asked Kaly surprised.
"I think it was around when you were staring at him."
"Well then, let's dig in." said Bron before taking a spoonful of stew.
They all started eating in silence, before Bron started talking.
"Oh yeah, Leo, can you help me train my parrying after we eat?"
"You are already throwing me away." said Kaly jokingly.
"I already got used to your attacks."
"Sure, but can anyone learn this ability?" asked Leo
"Yes, want me to teach you?"
"Yes."
"Just so you know, it's a hard skill to use. Bron is one of the few people crazy enough to use it as part of their fighting style. He might just be one of the best at it too." warned Kaly before continuing to eat.
"It's a strong skill though. As long as you get the timing right you can block even a grade 6 spell as a grade 2 adventurer." added Bron in defense.
"I just want to learn it just in case. It could be helpful to have a second person that can tank attacks."
"Nice idea, I will make sure to teach you as well as I can. As a tip, don't anger Kaly, she can use some painful mana balls when she wants." warned Bron silently.
"Bron, sweety, I can hear you!" said Kaly angrily.
"Well, I just dug my own grave."
After a few moments both Kaly and Bron burst into laughter while Leo kept eating.
Half an hour later, the three of them were outside in the arena.
"Can we really use this space?" asked Leo
"Sure, as long as we make sure to not brake anything expensive or kill someone we can do anything, this place is empty most of the time anyway." reassured him Bron "Now let's begin with the basics. The parry ability is a controlled explosion of mana that redirects mana particles, which then push a spell or mana infused attack in another direction. While you could do it anywhere on the attack, it will have different results based on the mana concentration. Now the bad part is that mana flows, it doesn't stay in one place, so even if you can see mana it can change it's concentration if you don't act fast enough. A way that I found to deal with this is to do it multiple times on a wider area, a shield or big weapon can make this possible, this uses more mana though. Is everything clear so far?"
"I think I understand. Can you redirect an attack back to the enemy?"
"Maybe, If you do it to perfection it should be pushed back to the enemy, but not even the creator could do such a thing. Now, to use it you just need to infuse your dagger with mana and make an explosion when it comes in contact with the attack, Kaly will help you practice a few times."
"Understood." said Leo while unsheathing his dagger.
Kaly raises her right arm in front of her, in a few moments a small but bright blue ball appeared.
"Are you ready?" asked Kaly.
Leo nodded while staring at the ball.
"Here it comes!" said Kaly before launching the attack.
Leo waited until the ball got one meter away from him before slicing at it. The dagger being pushed back by the ball before disappearing in a small explosion.
"Did I do it?" asked Leo confused.
"Nope, you missed the timing. Try to start the explosion a moment before it touches the ball." advised him, Bron.
Leo retakes his position while Kaly creates another mana ball.
"Ready?" said Kaly before Leo nodded "Here it comes!"
Leo did the same as before, this time starting the explosion a moment early. His dagger was pushed back again, the ball disappearing once again.
"You were close this time, you hit a bad spot though. Try again."
Kaly prepared another attack launching it at Leo, Leo tried again but yet again he failed.
"Hmm, how about I show you how to do it?" said Bron.
Leo moved to the side, Bron taking his place. Kaly prepared another attack. Bron took his sword out and sat in wait. Kaly launched the attack just a few moments later. He looked closely at the attack and when it reached his range he sliced at it stopping for a moment before hitting it and realigning his attack to the left, a clang being heard and the ball being thrown to Kaly's side.
"Did you catch it or do you need a second example?" asked Bron after his showing.
"I think I do. You attacked for a specific spot. Was it a mana dense one?"
"Yes. You need to use your mana sense to try and pinpoint it."
"Can I try again?"
"Sure thing. But try to use your mana sense more then your sight."
"Guys, after this one I need a break. It's hard to do so many spells right after a meal." said Kaly with a tired voice.
"You heard her. Try your best or you will not have a second chance." encouraged Bron.
The two switched spots once again, Leo taking a defensive position this time without his dagger.
"Are you sure you want to do this without your weapon?" asked worriedly Kaly.
"Yes, I think it will be easier this time."
"Let him do it, he will not get hurt anyway." added Bron.
"Fine."
Kaly prepared another attack launching it. Leo closed his eyes and when the ball reached his range he punched it pushing it behind him to his left.
"Well done." said Bron while clapping "Still needs some practice, but for your first time it's good. Now can we do my training?"
"Yes. What do you want me to do?"
"Use the lightning bolts that you used against the wolf last time. But try to make them weaker, I want to wake up tomorrow." said Bron jokingly.
"Just that?"
"Just that. I got to used to Kaly's attacks and I need a new challenge.
"I understand. Prepare!"
Bron lifted his sword taking a defensive position. Leo launched an attack which was barely parried by Bron.
"Just like that. Again!" yelled Bron excited.
Leo launching another attack.
Inside the guild building, in the guild master office a meeting was taking place. The guild master, the three examiners and the guild master's secretary were present.
"Welcome back sir." said the three examiners in unison.
"Good day everyone." said the guild master, a huge man with graying hair and a beard down to his neck, before taking a sit at his desk "As much as I would like a good conversation over a meal, we have more urgent matters. How did the exams do?"
"We have a total of 23 new registered adventurers, 17 of which are grade 3 and one grade 4." answered the secretary, a girl with slightly pointy ears and long blond hair.
"Any exemplary recruits."
"There were three that had good fighting skills. An assassin type human boy with lightning affinity, a tank type dwerf man with well established basics and a strong defense and a mage type girl with a strong affinity for ice and an impressive amount of mana, the first two got grade 3 and the girl got grade 4." began the dark knight.
"The assassin boy had pretty bad stats overall, his resistance was higher then most tanks in our guild though. The mage girl has a skill that allows her to get more mana, she didn't disclose more then that." said the dark skinned woman.
"The assassin boy also did the beast master test and showed potential. I already approved his admission." added Anlo.
"Sounds like we got a good harvest this time. Have they found teams to join."
"Yes, the boy joined sir Bron and miss Kaly while the other two joined sir Alexander's party. Both teams have already done a mission each with good results." answered the secretary.
"Good. Now any changes for the extermination day? Has anyone offered to lead the teams?"
"Sir Alexander has already applied, sir Grasy and sir Bron have shown interest too."
"Looks like that is going well. Looks like you will not need to step up this time, Vlad."
"Sadly I will need to stay to the side this time. The rookies need some experience too, after all." said jokingly the dark knight.
"Well then, everything is going well. I declare this meeting over." announced the man.
The three examiners got up and left the room.
"Sarah please order me some steak, I am starting to starve already." ordered the man.
"Very well sir."
In the hallway, Vlad and the woman were walking next to each other.
"Have three newbies given you a hard time brother? Are you already getting rusty?" the woman teased Vlad.
"Not really, they showed promise though. How about you, are you getting rusty?"
"I bet, haven't had a good job for months and now I am stuck with the examiner job too."
"Stef, you know that not many can read mana as well as you."
"Yeah, yeah. I still don't like it though."
The two walk past a window, stopping when they see a flesh of light coming from the arena.
"I see that someone is training."
"Probably Bron, he is pretty much the only one that uses the arena."
"Yeah, anyway, let's go, we have work to do."
"Right behind you."