Who Needs Magic in a Fantasy World Anyway?

Chapter 10: Training

Putting the new gloves that her parents gave her to use, Koko struck the training post without fear of the previous night's wounds opening thanks to Teya using some kind of healing magic on them. And even now, Koko was the picture of determination as she attacked her enemy and evaded several imaginary strikes coming from a sword, shield and spear. She didn't know what kind of weapon Ernie would be using, after all, and it never hurt to be prepared for the worst. However, while this training was normal, now Koko was also adding in Serpent Stings into her techniques, flinching every time she heard the wood groan underneath the cushions as the blows bypassed the the harder outer wood and struck the interior. And while she was happy about her new skill, she also didn't want to lose her training post while she still needed it.

"I have to say, that I have never seen anything like this kind of fighting style before in my life." A strange voice said behind her, and Koko spun in place, only to see that James had come back from the mansion to watch her. Though, even if he was David's friend, that didn't mean that Koko trusted him.

"I made it myself." Koko replied, mostly telling the truth as she was the one filling in the gaps of what she remembered from Earth. And there were a LOT of gaps.

"And that yellow-fire palm strike that you do every once in a while, that isn't magic, is it?" James asked, though now that they were finally speaking, Koko finally had a chance to inspect the man. James was only perhaps a year or two older than she was with the same hair-style he'd had before. However, while most knights were chivalrous and muscle-brains, James had a hidden light behind his amber eyes that just seem to shine with intelligence. Though Koko thought that the light made his appearance slightly unsettling, in her opinion.

"It's called focus." Koko explained, unsure if she should be telling him these things or not.

"Focus? Really?!" James seemed surprised. "I've only ever seen focus used when Rangers use long-distance attacks... I've never even heard of a technique that uses it for a close-range assault, so can you tell me what skill it is?"

"Seeing as I don't know you and you might be working with Ernie, no." Koko said while turning around and and getting into her stance again before continuing her training.

"I suppose that makes sense. I did arrive with Ernie after all." James sighed. "So, how about I offer advice on a new skill you can use in return?"

"A new skill?" Koko asked, stopping her training as the conversation had suddenly turned interesting.

"Though, I don't know if it will work for you or not." James shrugged.

"What is it?" Koko asked curiously, thinking that she could at least provide the name from her skill even if his new skill didn't pan out.

"You see, while you've been training here, I haven't see you use any magic at all." James pointed out.

"That's because I have terrible magical ability." Koko sighed, suddenly not interested.

"But what if I told you that there was a way to amplify the power of your strikes with only using a minimal amount of magic?" James countered. "After all, having magic and not using it just seems wasteful in a fight, doesn't it?"

"I suppose so." Koko now gave James her full attention. "So? How do I do it?"

"You know how to concentrate your magic, right?" James asked, holding out his hand in demonstration and making it glow.

"Yeah." Koko confirmed.

"We knights hold our weapons close to us and concentrate our magic rapidly into a single point of our swords right when we attack." James explained. "In doing this, we amplify it's sharpness and we're able to cut through many more things that we're normally not capable of. We call it infusion, however, I'm not sure what would happen if you tried it on your hand."