The World Cataclysm

"Just stop whining," Dave said with a serious tone. "It wasn't a bad result for our first sparring session. I'm sure you all will get better in it after a week or a month."

"We're gonna keep doing it a month!? No...please, spare me!" Brian's face changed in colours as he all alone expressed the thoughts of a whole group. Adam's face darkened as he heard Dave, Rachel shook slightly, Rebecca fell on her knees in a fluster and Adrian started struggling even more to free himself from the mana threads. His suggestion was disapproved by a whole group.

"Yeah, quit complaining about it. We don't know what dangers we'll encounter in the future. Perhaps, zombies aren't only the monsters that have appeared in the world...or that would appear. We need to prepare ourselves while we still have time, so it won't be too late when trouble arises." Dave tried to convince them and wanted to instil an appropriate attitude that will help them to survive in a new world.

"Ehh...Right, we need to keep doing it; otherwise, we won't survive for long." Adam sighed as he gathered his thoughts and agreed with Dave. Considering that zombies were already evolving and growing stronger, he agreed with Dave that they needed to train. They were just normal students without any military training, so they needed to adapt quickly to their situation...unless they didn't want to die.

"Fine, we'll keep doing it. But Dave, please, just go easy on us," Brian said while grumbling. He didn't like an idea to get beaten by Dave every morning, yet if it was a necessary thing to do...He could cope with it.

Dave chuckled when he heard Brian since he was already going easy on them. He didn't use Mana Enhancement and Reinforced Breathing to increase his strength and agility, nor did he use Mana Bullet, fearing from accidentally harming them. He even fought without any weapon, so he already thought he was giving them plenty of chances.

"Anything that someone wants to add?" Dave turned to Rebecca and Rachel, but getting no objections from them, he said, "Then, I'll start by giving feedback. I'll give them after every sparring session we'll be having in the morning, so listen carefully and try to learn from it. But before that..."

Dave approached Adrian lying on the ground and freed him from his mana threads. Touching blue threads, they magically disappeared into thin air. Although it looked so, he just severed his connection with them. Without him controlling them, mana threads just dissipated into surroundings.

"Argh...You didn't hurry with freeing me...But thanks anyway!" Adrian said as he stood up. Dave considered him the most pitiful among them since he was the first one with whom he dealt with, and he lost quite helplessly. He didn't even have a chance to do much in a spar and didn't show everything he was able to do.

"Let's go in an order that I took you down. First, Adrian..." Dave turned to him as he said his name. "I don't have much to say since you went down pretty quickly and didn't show everything you are able to do...But don't just recklessly run at your opponent. You should have dodged me and attacked from behind, so you need to build up your battle experience. Fighting more with zombies should help you."

Adrian listened to him attentively and got flustered at the end. From the fight, he understood where his flaws were, so he easily agreed with Dave as he nodded to him.

"Next, let's move to Adam." Dave turned to his friend. "Adam, your choice of positions wasn't bad for the first time, yet you should have gotten positioned Rebecca at the front, so she could fight along with her elemental spirit."

Pausing a bit, Dave continued, "As for you, Adam, you need to work on your battle style. You either fight at the front or stay at back and command from there. If you choose to fight at the front, you need to learn how to combine Telekinesis with close combat. You need to be able to multitask, so your innate ability won't get in your way.

As for the second option, you may solely concentrate on your innate ability for attacking and coordinate the movements of a team. In both options, you need to further develop your innate ability. At first, I suggest you try controlling several objects at the same time. It would be nice if we could obtain for you throwing knives or other items from Treasure Chests. For now, you may get yourself knives from the kitchen."

"En...Okay, I'll work on it." Adam nodded his head as he listened to Dave. He made same conclusions as Dave during the spar since he couldn't freely switch between his innate ability and his own movements. To bring full potential of his ability, he needed to use Telekinesis at the same time he was fighting in close combat, which was impossible unless he had two minds to do so. At best, he could make a transition between Telekinesis and his movements smoother than now.

"Next, since both of you fell at the same time, let's start with Brian. Hmm...you have grasped your role quite well, Brian. You were able to shoot fireballs at the right moment, and considering it, I guess you weren't wasting your time this week and learned how to keep fireball around you till you shoot it."

"Yeah, I can keep a fireball floating in front of me after I finish an incantation. It's quite convenient, considering I can shoot it whenever I want after chanting an incantation. However, I can't keep it for long since it still depletes my spirit. Also, I started breaking down the incantation into meaningful parts. It's quite interesting, like deciphering the code. But I'm making a little progress in it," Brian said smugly. It seemed he was finding satisfaction in analyzing the incantation.

Dave was quite surprised by the progress he was making in it, even further consolidating his idea to make a mage from Brian. Although he wasn't a mage in his past life and knew a little about that stuff, he still wanted to help Brian. "Yeah...So far, you're making remarkable progress with your spell."

"If it may help you, try to form several small fireballs with one incantation. That way, you can kill more zombies. And also, try adapting your fireball to your foes. If you're against an ordinary zombie, try making your fireballs smaller yet less mana-consuming. Can you do this?" Dave explained to Brian a general principle of what he had seen from other mages in his past life.

"Using one chant to form several fireballs...Why didn't I think of it before?" Brian said with sparkling eyes. He seemed to show genuine interest in Dave's words as he already went theorizing about it.

Noticing how Brian went into himself, he next turned to Rebecca. "As for you, Rebecca, you may consider fighting at the front positions. You should have already felt it, but Star doesn't need any complicated control to attack. It's enough to give commands to it, while you fight your own battle. You can't stand idly, while your spirit fights instead of you; otherwise, you'll lose all advantages an elemental spirit brings to you."

Understanding what he meant, Rebecca got flustered as she listened to him since she also felt like she was standing idly. Not that she wasn't contributing to the spar, but she felt she could do much more than it.

That was what he liked in having an elemental spirit: you could fight your own battle, while your spirit assisted you as much as it could. It was similar to having a pet that could fight alongside you.

And next, he turned to Rachel who was the last one to concede though he was ignoring her presence in the spar. "Please, don't be discouraged by the fact that I ignored you in the fight. You just weren't a threat to me at all, so I had gone after more troublesome opponents than you. I guess you lack a battle experience like all of us, so you need to train fighting an ordinary zombie."

He didn't want to demotivate her since it wasn't her fault. However, his following words were more relatable with her, so he said it as it was, "Ohh...And also, you should be more decisive in your blows as well as in your attacks. Although I wasn't paying much attention to you, you still could act as a nuisance to me if you had kept attacking me. Perhaps, in that case, you would have gone down right after Adrian, yet you decided not to give your fullest to the spar. In an actual fight, you wouldn't have any luxury to do so, keep that in mind."

"En...Okay, I'll try harder next time." Rachel hurriedly nodded her head as in understanding. However, Dave understood that Rachel wasn't much of a fighter in the first place. She lacked spirit and courage needed in close combat. Perhaps, her talents lay in another field, so he didn't pressure her any further. He was okay if she at least gained battle experience from their sparring sessions.