This time, the rune that Cairo uses was the one in his left hand and two cubic meters of sand appeared on top of the kid. Cairo can now also make sands out of magic but it was still hard and inefficient while the basic training ground he has inside the lab has a cemented floor
Cairo controlled the sands and they turned into a line of sand that surrounded him
The sand dummy charges at Cairo and its fist bulge, a sign that its punch will pack more power than usual
Cairo calculated in his mind where the dummy's attack will land and moved his fortified sands in that area to block
BAM!
The sound of the dummy's fist hitting Cairo's Sand Guard was quite loud but the kid manages to defend himself. However, the sand dummy is still not finished attacking
The dummy's left hand turned into a sharp weapon and it uses that to stab at Cairo
Cairo was a bit taken aback but he still has some experience and is not as unskillful as before. "[Leg Boost!]" Cairo uses his body strengthening magic again and runes formed in front of his legs before they 'entered' his skin
Cairo dodges by jumping away and while he was still in the air, his sands went to counterattack the enemy
The 'head' of the sands were fortified by magic and it approached the sand dummy at a fast speed
The dummy crossed its arms in front of it and blocked Cairo's sands. As Del made the dummy's strength and defense to be appropriate in becoming Cairo's sparring partner, the sand dummy was pushed a bit because of the impact while a small dent appeared in its arms
Soon, Cairo landed in the ground and was about to use his sands to wrapped in his enemy's body but the dummy made another move
Sands appeared below the dummy's feet and the sands raise its body before small bullet size sands went to attack Cairo
Fortunately, Cairo's [Leg Boost] is still active and he runs around to dodge. However, as he needs to focus on running, Cairo's own sands fell in the ground due to the lack of enough mental capacity to continue controlling them
Things would be easier if Cairo can still stimulate his blood. Too bad that simply recovering mana doesn't mean he can boil his blood again
The thing back at the Blood Sand Town when Cairo can defeat the eagle if he didn't use Boiling Blood might happen here too
Cairo activated the rune in his right hand and uses five threads of blood. The blood slapped away the sand bullets and Cairo managed to protect himself
After the bullet attacks became ineffective, the dummy then made larger balls of sands. Cairo's blood threads would simply be snapped if he uses them to block
Without a choice, Cairo controlled more sands inside the rune in his left hand and a small scale sand tsunami around only one meter in height appeared
That uses a lot of Cairo's mana and the sands that the dummy was standing on were destroyed. Del also stimulated what will happen to a real enemy if they were attacked in that situation. The dummy 'loses control' over the larger sand balls and fell to the ground
Cairo slammed his palms in the ground and the sands around the dummy were wrapped in its body
"[Sand Magic: Sand Kill!]" The sands on the dummy's body tightened and if it was a human, there is a high chance that the bones inside his body would break
After that, Del clapped his hands and congratulated Cairo. "The Young Master's strength grew again"
As Del is the one that is often with Cairo, he was the one that is the clearest about his progress. Cairo started as a mage that is not special in terms of the Kingdom's standards, in fact, even until now he was still average
However, Del can see that the more time that pass, the more that Cairo is moving himself away from the 'average people'
It can be because of Kira providing him with more than enough resources but nonetheless, progress is still progress. There are people out there that just won't improve no matter how much resources you give to them
Cairo still has some strength left and trained more before stopping as New Years is getting nearer
----
After taking some rest, Cairo can be seen standing on a terrace while looking at the sky with Del behind him
"Is my sister not going to celebrate the New Year?" Cairo asked and Del sighed before answering. "I'm afraid not, the Queen is really busy" Del answered and Cairo can feel sadness in his heart again
Although Cairo already knows that Kira won't be able to spend New Year with him and he already asked the same question earlier, he still can't help but be sad and disappointed
"I want to go out tonight" Cairo said after some time and Del agreed. Cairo is always cooped up inside the Royal Palace or his real training grounds. That wouldn't be good for a child that is still growing
"I will arrange a carriage for Young Master" Del replied but Cairo shook his head. "No, I want you to fly me"
Cairo misses the feeling of flying but he still needs some time before he reaches the level at which he can fly
Cairo is now at the peak of Acolyte Rank. If he ascended into the next rank, he would become a real Mage. When that time comes, the increase in strength would be more than what he had when he only became an Acolyte till he reaches its peak
However, only Great Mage can fly and Cairo still needs to ascend two ranks to do that
As for Del, he was at the same rank as the Nobles and Kira. He is a mage even above the Great Mage Rank. Cairo read a lot of books already and although he hasn't personally seen it but those above the Great Mage Ranks can even destroy a whole mountain
Cairo doesn't show his sadness but as Del already spends a lot of time with him, the man knows how the kid really feels and comply with what he wants
Besides, the danger level is low. Even if the Nobles make a move, Del himself is also strong and he can buy some time so that reinforcements will arrive and help both of them
Cairo felt some power wrapping around his body and he and his guard start floating in the air. At normal times, Cairo would be uncomfortable that a power that can kill him was wrapped around him but Del's life is literally in his hands
Only people that have slave collars, markings, and other things that will make them a slave can be a guard of a Royal. That is to ensure that they will never betray their masters
The familiar feeling of strong winds hitting one's body can be felt by Cairo again and he can't stop himself from closing his eyes to savor the feeling
The two flew in the air and soon arrived at a bustling part of the town. No one can see them though as Del uses magic to conceal their bodies
A mage can't easily fly in the Royal City especially at New Years'. But Del knew that if he flew because of Cairo, even if the Queen knows it, they wouldn't be punished
Cairo is adapted by the Royal Family and he is now a Royal! Royals have a lot of privileges and one of them is flying inside the city
However, flying as if they owned the world will attract a lot of attention and Cairo wouldn't be able to enjoy himself on this lively night
The two descended in a bit of a secluded alley before walking towards the bustling part of the City. However, after they turn into a few corners, a figure almost slammed into Cairo's body
Fortunately, Del issued a force that prevented the figure from hitting Cairo
"You dumb thief! Come back here!"
On the kid's hand was a small bread and behind him were three fierce-looking men holding sticks in their hands. As people cannot easily use offensive type magic in the Royal City in the fear that the magic fluctuations will attract the guards that will imprison them, the kid managed to steal a piece of bread from these people
Nobles might be strong and can prevent people from stealing with them but the same cannot be true for the civilians that have weaker powers. Not to mention, they can't easily use any magic that has an attacking power
The three people stared at Del and Cairo, from the clothing of the two, the three can see that they are not normal people
Cairo is only wearing a simple black shirt with a black cape and the men can see the image of a Griffin in his clothes
Griffins are the emblem of the Royal Family and only they can have the image of it in their clothing!