God of Tricksters

"Stamina?" Theo narrowed his eyes. "I just need to add my Endurance, no?"

"Nope. This is not related to Endurance. What I'm talking about is your mental endurance. Let me ask you, what is the reason most people die under the siege of monsters? It's due to the lack of mental endurance. You will feel stressed after fighting continuously for a period of time and it's not related to Breathing or something.

"It's like burnout if you are a content creator. You will become crazy or fall into despair sooner or later. That's why you need to become strong from the inside too. That's what I will teach you."

"I understand. I will do my best." Theo nodded with a serious expression. Since he ended up becoming her student, it was better to take advantage of it to the fullest. "What should I do right now?"

"Awareness and Breathing are not physical training while Control and Technique are. As for Endurance, you just need to get used to it, so I will be pushing you to the limit every single time." She smirked.

"So, I will be doing all of them at the same time?"

"Yep. I will teach you how to control your Magic Power. After you are tired, you are going to rest while practicing your Awareness. Then, I will teach you about Technique and rest while practicing your breathing. I will push you hard to increase your mental endurance during the practice. We will keep repeating this."

"I can understand the order, but I have a training camp after this. How am I going to—"

Before he finished, his master already smiled and opened her mouth. "I have seen the schedule. Basically, you will stop training at 5 PM due to the lack of light. At that time, You will head to my location and start practicing with me. Don't miss even a single day, alright?"

"How about the meal?"

"I will provide it."

Theo agreed to the arrangement since this was the biggest chance for him to become stronger. "I shall follow Master's arrangement."

"Good. How about your body?"

"Yes. It's been an hour since Master injected that liquid into my body. Although I still feel fatigued, I think I can move." Theo raised both hands and swayed his body left and right, checking whether he was in pain or not. "By the way, what was that liquid, Master?"

"It's a combination of medicine and poison. It has the ability to heal someone's injury, but there is a side effect. Unless you take antidote from me every month, you won't be able to move." She smirked.

"Is that a joke?" Theo's eyebrows twitched as he flinched just hearing it from her mouth.

"Yep." Surprisingly, she admitted it with a big smile as everything was just something she used to tease him. "It was just a regenerative medicine that speeds up your metabolism to heal your wound. You can search for the medicine in Skylink if you don't believe me."

"…" Theo was speechless of her attitude. Sometimes, she acted like a cool Master, but the other time, she acted like a playful granny. Yet, he couldn't tell whether his master was telling the truth or not because of this constant mood swing.

"Ah, you must be thinking how my attitude makes you unable to discern my real thoughts. This is intentional… Well, it's a part of training too. You see, if you have an important position, you need to put on a serious face in front of the media, but to those who know you personally, they will need to know your playful side."

"Why?" Theo tilted his head in confusion. He thought that he needed to be serious, so the others couldn't look down on him like how he had done it this whole time.

"This is not about a fake smile or something. It's deeper. For example, by changing my tone every minute, people will be confused about what is wrong and right. At the same time, when this playful side is known to others, it can create even more pressure in your words alone by simply making a serious expression. I call this deception." She smiled.

"!!!" Theo felt a goosebump. As she said, her words were truly effective to Theo this whole time. "But… Isn't it tiring to keep a persona like that every time?"

"How about you? You are trying to create a persona with that mask of yours. Isn't it the same? Besides, when you are old and have a family, you will love this persona because it's the one bringing the family together. What? Do you want your family filled with tension due to your seriousness?" She stuck her tongue out.

Theo looked down and shook his head helplessly. With his current goal, there was no way for him to have a family since they would be in constant danger.

His master seemed to notice something from his expression and decided to change the topic. "Anyway, let's begin your training."

"I understand." Theo nodded and rose from the ground, picking up his mask and bag. "By the way, can I complete my mission during this time?"

"You can. In fact, I'm planning to train your control over magic power by fighting an enemy," she said while walking toward a tree. "What is magic power anyway?"

"It's something like air. It can't be seen, but you can feel it. Magic power resides in our heart and circulates like blood. Our understanding and strength are related to talent, not magic power. That's why there are magicians, while some are fighters or assassins.

"However, they have the form of gas. When you are using magic, the skill will automatically absorb your power and excrete it through your pore. You should be able to release that magic power without a skill… This is going to be my lesson.

"It's like controlling your magic power to envelop your body to avoid getting injured by something trivial. This is something you will learn in your second year, but I'm going to teach you right now." She placed her hand on the tree with a gentle smile. "And by the time you finish this training…"

She paused for a second and directed the magic power that circulated in her hand to come out of her hand at once.

Bam.

The tree cracked as if it was hit by a huge boulder, only one step away from destroying it. "…You will be able to do this."