035 - The Birth of Bend… er… Controller? 2

  Return to Emilio's POV.

  “So you accidentally cast an unknown magic while sparring?"

  I was quite surprised when my subordinate suddenly called me to the training ground. I thought someone got heavily injured by accident or something. But the matter is bigger than I thought.

  Rocky managed to cast an unknown magic that followed his punching gesture? Why did it feel so familiar? Well, let's not prematurely jump to conclusions. Let's hear the details from him first.

  “So, have you tried re-enacting that spell again after that?"

  “Yes, master. I'm afraid that I would forget the sensation that I felt so I have been trying to grasp it again but I have yet to succeed”

  "Can you show me how you tried?"

  “Like this, master"

  Then Rocky shows me how he tried to re-enact the unknown magic…

  By stumbling backward and throwing a left hook.

  Oookay… that caught me off guard. Yes, Rocky and Leon indeed said that Rocky unintentionally cast the unknown spell without chanting when he was trying to dodge Leon's attack. But this doesn't feel like the right way to try re-enacting the spell.

  Let's see. How was it done in that greatest Western cartoon of all time again? In that cartoon, it seems that the style of body movement did reflect what kind of elements it could well… bend.

  Earth element user would look heavy and stiff, Water element user is flowing and splashing, Fire element would be menacing and fiery, and Wind element… wait, what kind of move did wind element possess again? Agile and airy?

  “So, do you have anything, Master?"

  “Hmm, I think trying to re-enact the magic by tracing it from the point you stumble backward is not the best way as it seems to be an application of the technique in the advanced stage. Why not try to get to the basics first?"

  "I see. While breaking your fall safely might be a beginner's lesson, it is still a profound concept and has a high mastery ceiling. And trying to combine it up with a counter is even more complex”

  Of course, I taught the orphans martial arts.

  That fall-breaking technique comes from Judo and it was called ukemi. It is basically a technique to learn how to fall the correct way, using your arms and legs to redirect the force in the body so the practitioner can reduce the damage they receive when they fall.

  It is an important technique to have in this isekai as fighting is the norm here and it won't be funny if you manage to block your enemy's attack but get your bones broken because you don't know how to safely fall.

  And of course, I don't just teach them ukemi.

  “Rocky, how about you try lifting up a clump of earth by doing a heavy stomp? And if you can, try shooting that earth clump forward with a justice punch”

  Anyone might be asking, what on earth is a justice punch, right? Well, it is simply a karate style front punch. Complete with the stance and full body rotation.

  Karate as a martial art has this awe-inspiring and prideful style in its movement so I introduce it in this isekai as the virtue style martial art. It seeks to face any opponent directly with a tough, immovable stance. And most importantly, the style is mostly grounded. Doesn't it feel compatible with the earth element as they are both tough and immovable? That's why I ordered Rocky to try it with karate or well, virtue style martial arts.

  And while I am losing my thoughts in reminiscing, Rocky made his move.

  “HAH! CHESUTO!"

  *Crack! *Crash!

  I am going to comment a bit about the way he screams after each move but Rocky actually did it. He managed to lift a lump of earth and sent it blasting like a bullet.

  The first loud noise was from the projectile hitting the wooden target and smashing it. The second noise is from that projectile still flying after hitting the wooden target and smashing on the outer wall.

  “Wow"

  Me, Leon, and Rocky said that at the same time.

  That was such an amazing destructive power. A lump of earth the size of a fist was thrown away like a cannon and smashing everything in its path. It ended up getting crushed on the wall because it is not hard enough but still, that's a great offensive spell nonetheless.

  “I did it"

  “Yes, you did it. That's some great offensive spell you did there"

  "So did this mean I did a variant of justice punch accidentally at that moment I tried to deflect Captain's sword?”

  “Hmm, it is still too early to draw a conclusion. Why don't you try to… well, control the earth more while keeping the virtue style in your movement, Rocky?”

  "Right away Master!”

  Rocky then started to move around while keeping karate or rather, the virtue stance all the time. First, he tried the common kata or the movement pattern for virtue martial arts.

  “HAP!”

  "DORYA!”

  "HYAT!”

  “HAA!"

  Oh, I was about to explain about the yelling that Rocky screams out. Well, back in my previous life, I was quite a martial arts enthusiast. At first, I was just trying to keep myself healthy by practicing martial arts but I gradually got fascinated by it. With the influence of entertainment media, especially fighting games, I learned quite a lot about the various martial arts around the world.

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  And yeah… the answer for that weird yelling when Rocky did his kata is because of that influence. When I taught the orphans martial arts, I kept yelling random words as an example so the kids could choose which yell fit them the most. But in the end, they follow me in yelling random words.

  Anyway, I'm getting off track here. Let's focus back on this new control method.

  Unsurprisingly, all of Rocky’s common kata like punching, kicking, blocking, and open palm variants didn't seem to be able to control earth in the slightest. It seems like pure karate, or virtue martial arts could not be used to invoke this earth bend… er… controlling traits like before. Or maybe Rocky isn't strong enough yet or hasn't understood enough about earth… control yet to produce results with virtue martial art.

  “Hmm… it doesn't work huh. Rocky, how about you try the gesture of ‘moving things’ like raising earth, moving to the sides, moving forward and backward, all those variants? Of course, while maintaining the virtue stance and imagining it in your mind”

  “Ah, I see. I lack visualization for the basic kata. No wonder nothing happened"

  Indeed, element control is a new discovery after all. So there's no way I taught the orphans how to match your movement with your visualization.

  "So I should do like how Master does it when he controls shadow”

  Yup, yup. That's right. Eh? Like how I do it?

  Did I actually do element control without realizing it?

  While I am being dumbfounded by Rocky's statement, he closes his eyes to focus on his visualization.

  And still in his horse stance, Rocky made a big and powerful gesture of raising the earth.

  *Rumble!

  With the sound of earth moving, a small rising rose in front of Rocky. It's only about half of a human’s height but even so, Rocky managed to control the earth without any spell!

  “Master, I did it! I managed to control the earth!"

  “Great! Now try to experiment with a lot of things. Try to get familiar with your newfound technique and find out everything you can about it!"

  “Yes, master!"

  Gleefully, Rocky tried doing everything he could think of. He moved the mini hill he raised to the front, back, left, and right. He tried shaping the earth into a spear, sword, and even a fist which doesn't go that well. He even tried to shadow-fight with it.

  While I am observing Rocky who is like a child that has gotten a new toy, an unexpected person comes asking.

  “If you have that kind of fighting technique, why don't you teach us that instead of just telling us to run in the obstacle course all the time?"

  “I have my reason for that, my princess. And now here's the question for you. Why do you think I just train you in running in these few days? Don't forget that you are a mage, princess. Even if we mainly practice your physique for now, never stop thinking. Okay?"

  “Alright, alright. Geez, you are just like Gramps"

  “It is my honor, your highness"

  It was Isabella who was also here in the training ground along with her twin sword maidens and Celestine to do their daily drills.

  “Hmph, always tried to have the last word, you petty man. But still, being able to cast magic with just gesture is highly advantageous in battle"

  “You are correct, my princess. But it will take some process before you reach there so return to your own training for now”

  "Okay, okay”

  "One okay is enough, right?”

  "Oooooookaaaaayyyyyyyyy”

  Princess, were you this kind of character before? Or maybe your resentment of your drill sergeant (me) had reached a new high? I guess it's time to add more to the menu as I imagine having an evil smile in my mind.

  Well, let's leave her for a while. Let's focus back on Rocky here.

  He could still keep going on ‘controlling’ earth which is quite surprising. If my calculations are correct, if Rocky were to use conventional magic to move that much earth around, he should have spent all his mana around now but he still keeps on going at it.

  I want to ask about his mana consumption rate using the control technique but he seems to be in deep contemplation now and I would hate to disturb his chance at understanding something.

  Who knows, he might get enlightened again after the one mass enlightenment at Master Alfonse’s place.

  But as we keep on watching Rocky, Leon seems to have something in mind that bothers him.

  “It looks pretty much like how you use full body gestures to control shadow, master. It's almost like you are ball dancing without a partner or should I say your shadow is your partner”

  “Okay, wait for a bit there. So in your eyes, my control of shadow is similar to this earth control? Why didn't I realize it?"

  "Master, I can assure you that it is the same with only the element controlled and movement style that differs the two”

  Leon’s answer befuddled me. Did I actually do shadow bending all this time without realizing it? I just do it just like how that blind shadow puppeteer assassin moves in the game. I even modified one of the moves so I could move around faster while in battle.

  But wait. Let’s take a step back. Maybe I am trapped by my own prejudice here. In that greatest Western cartoon of all time, there are only 4 main elements existing with some variation that can be seen as an ‘upgrade’ to the basic 4 elements. There is thunder bending which is the ‘upgrade’ for fire, metal bending which is the ‘upgrade’ of earth, and blood bending which is the ‘upgrade’ for water. There might be other variations added later but that’s not the problem here.

  The problem is, this world has more than just 4 elements. Some might get included in that upgraded version of 4 basic elements, some others are completely nonexistent in that greatest western cartoon. And those are darkness, light, and nature as far as I know.

  So basically, this world also has elemental control techniques just like in the greatest Western cartoon but that technique got expanded because the available elements are more varied? As I am still stuck with my old common sense, did I fail to realize my shadow-bending ability?

  Okay, that makes sense. Old habits die hard and if not because Rocky found out about earth control and Leon pointed it out to me, I will probably never realize that.

  “... Thanks, Leon. I realized my mistake because of you”

  “Did you, Milo? Well, I actually still have another one for you if you are interested”

  “Ugh, did I actually get myself into trouble?”

  “Well, you are the one who told me to remind you if I have anything in mind”

  “Ugh”

  I can only let out a sigh. Leon is a good talent and is actually helpful. Just the perfect partner / general that I want to have beside me. But he’s sometimes… no, most of the time just being too strict. Either to his own self or to others around him. And dealing with that is just too troublesome.

  I let out another sigh. I kinda have a feeling I know what he’s going to say to me but… should I postpone it for later and focus on this new controlling technique first or…

  Argh, well, might as well deal with the problem first then get to the other.

  “Okay, okay, let’s hear it. It is for the good of myself after all”

  “You neglected your fleshmancy, Milo”

  “Yeah, I also get that feeling”

  “Then why don't you research it from every angle possible like you would usually do with every new magic you learn?"

  "... The simple answer would be: because I'm afraid”

  Hearing my answer, Leon shows a look of understanding.

  “No wonder. Both times that were related to fleshmancy was a life-threatening situation for you after all"

  "Yeah, I still feel wary of it. I'm worried that the evil god that ‘bestows’ this magic would still have control over it even with the purifying method I accidentally found. I don't have much fear for the spells related to flesh consuming as I can expand my power storage. But that's all that I dare to use”

  "But you still need to learn about them all the same. I'm still alive thanks to that mentality after all. And now that I'm talking about it. I also realized that sword control could also be similar to this earth control”

  “Sword control and element control can be categorized as the same? That's an interesting point of view there. It saved you the last time you saved the kidnapped mother, right? Being able to escape with only a broken arm was really a miracle. But I have never heard the detailed story yet. Would you mind?"

  “Don't you have other things to do like coaching the two princesses?”

  “It is exactly because of that, that I can only listen to your story now. Come on, you also said that sword control has some relevance with Rocky’s earth control, right? We might get something from your story”

  “Sigh, okay. But Milo, don’t forget about studying your fleshmancy after this, okay?”

  “Tell us the story oh experienced bard”

  “I’m also interested in the story, let’s take a break for a bit”

  Rocky, who was still absorbed in trying earth control a moment ago suddenly appeared beside us. He seemed to have overheard our talk and decided to join in. This is gonna be fun.