Chương 62: My Mother The Unrelenting

"Half a centimeter higher on that swing. You should take a slightly greater step to the right to better position yourself for your next movement. Increase your breathing rate slightly, then decrease it with the flow of combat. Tighten up your dagger throws, predict the flow of combat. Your aim is poor. Adjust it." As I fought the horde of humanoid bear creatures on the 8 th layer, my mother kept up a running commentary of things I needed to correct.

I had been down here with her and Healer Melon for almost a year now. My rate of improvement was immense, I could feel it. However, to my mother, the Supreme Warlady Elena, it seemed slow, and I needed to work harder. I moved around the level 40 monsters with ease, cutting them apart. Each move flowed into the next.

"Don't fall into a rhythm. Increase your combat tempo," my mother called out, and I forced myself to speed up.

"Don't let your accuracy decrease. Your blade is off-angle by 1 to 2 degrees. Dodge, don't deflect. I keep telling you this. Mind your footwork. Use your off-hand to assist, but watch its positioning. Tighten up your movements along your waistline." Mother gave one comment after another in the middle of combat. She thought I wasn't improving or listening well enough, so she had taken to this method of instruction. I was reaching a breaking point. While she had useful advice, I couldn't focus on it while fighting.

Our time down here in the dungeon was becoming more miserable for both of us by the day. I killed off the last monster and turned to face my mother.

"Enough. I can't take your constant commentary while I am fighting. It is hard enough to pay attention to the fight, my skills, and the environment, but listening to you as well is impossible." I was breathing heavily and sent her a glare.

"Complaining again?" she asked with her own glare.

"Being realistic. Let's enjoy these last couple of days and end without a fight."

"Are you improving?"

"Yes." I knew I was improving rapidly under her guidance, but it was infuriating.

"Then there is no basis for your complaint. Learn to focus on multiple things at once. Correcting you after your fights is too slow. Constantly iterating and improving while fighting is far more effective and helpful to leveling up your skills."

"It is infuriating!"

"So?" I said nothing as I kept glaring at her.

"Your moodiness is getting worse. I suppose we have been down here for almost a year." I let out a sigh of relief at that. Fighting monsters near my mother and arguing with her was the worst. Every second of every day was a test, a quiz, or trying to push a skill further. It was utterly exhausting. Mentally exhausting, not physically, since Healer Melon was standing by at all times to boost my healing and stamina points. I knew other people would kill to get such training, but it wasn't with their mother.

She seemed to take delight in finding everything wrong that she could. Getting instructions during fights was too much. I was my own person, not some puppet for her to control.

"Get to work," she said, and I got to work helping Healer Melon get the cores out of the monsters. My mother had saved them all up in her spatial storage.

"What is happening after this?" I asked as she loomed over me. I was waiting for her to critique my monster processing, but it was one of the few skills she didn't have much input on.

"We will return to the surface, and you will sell your monster cores. The next six months will be up to you."

"What? Really?"

"Yes. You clearly don't appreciate my detailed instructions. So, consider the next six months for you to do what you want to do. Go back into the dungeon, train some skills, relax, it is up to you,""And after that?"

"Enrollment at the College of Advancement. I will meet you there on the enrollment day." Love this novel? Read it on Royal Road to ensure the author gets credit.

"You are coming along?"

"Yes. To review your initial course selection and to speak with The Mathemancer about your time at his college. I know he will rope me into a guest lecture, but my presence will let any other legends know not to mess with you."

"Is it that concerning?"

"Anywhere else, yes. But the College of Advancement is safe from outside forces. If you leave, anything can happen. But while you are there, The Mathemancer will only subject you to his torture, not anyone else's."

"Torture? How hard are the classes?"

"Brutal, my son. You think I am harsh, this is kindness. As for preparing, you need to keep the mindset I have tried to instill in you down here. Constant improvement. But we shall see how you compare."

"I just need to graduate as the top student in my class?"

"Yes. That's my only requirement. Not even every year, since I doubt you will be the top student in your first year."

"Doubting me?"

"Yes. Your mentality is weak. While you can put in the effort, you are always looking towards the end and not focusing on the present moment as much as you should. Distractions are a weakness for leveling," she declared, dealing some more emotional damage. No matter how much I thought I was ready, she always struck right at my heart. If there were an emotional resistance skill, I should have gotten it long ago.

"Well, I have confidence in myself. I might look forward to breaks, but after enduring this kind of training for a year, anyone would."

"Weak. But enjoy your sweets and spa days, my son," she said with a touch of mockery in her voice. I winced, since that was what I had planned after leaving the dungeon.

"I'm still young. I am building up my mentality."

"Whatever you say to comfort yourself and deflect from your weakness. Perhaps you should have been a noble instead," she replied, dealing another critical blow. My mother wasn't afraid to mix it up with me verbally. If I wanted to talk back to her, she was unrelenting in her verbal beatdowns. I knew she loved me, since there was no way she would do all of this and put up with my nonsense from anyone else. But it was suffocating in the extreme.

At the College of Advancement, no matter how brutal it was, my mother wouldn't be looming over everything.

"You didn't get a teaching position at the College of Advancement?" I asked with a touch of fear.

"No. I would never work under anyone else, especially that old man. Instead, I will sort out my equipment in the next six months for a long descent after that. During your time at the College of Advancement, I plan to accomplish several things, from meeting with Blood Gore the Butcher to honing some skills." That was one thing I liked about her, despite all her faults. She didn't hesitate to answer my questions. Not some vague wording that I wasn't ready to know, or that I would find out later.

"Is he stronger than you?" I asked, referring to Blood Gore the Butcher.

"No, but he is more feral and aggressive in his fighting style. Pray that you never meet him, since he shows no mercy to anyone or anything."

"Really? But he is a supreme legend?"

"Indeed. He is a pig and a brute, though his help on a long descent would be invaluable. If he can be convinced to cooperate, another front-line combatant will reduce a lot of the pressure on me."

"Don't die," I breathed.

"My son, do not worry about such things. I am Elena. When death comes for me, I shall kill death and carry on." For a moment, I honestly didn't have any doubts about her. My mother was a woman of single-minded determination. I asked if we were heading back up after collecting the last monster cores and giving them to my mother for her spatial storage.

"Yes. I shall give you a treat. I know how you are. You want to see me use my skills in a fight," my mother said, and I nodded eagerly at this.

"Come, the passage up to the next layer is a chamber over," she said, and I quickly followed her along with Healer Melon, his bald head glinting in the dim ambient light of the dungeon. We reached a ruined wooden scaffolding leading upwards.

"Stand in front of me. I will grab you. Watch the upcoming fight closely." My mother grabbed the back of each of our necks and kicked off the ground. We went soaring into the air through the wooden scaffolding, and she used her head to smash through the way forward. Clearing the top of the passage, we landed on the 7 th layer of the dungeon. There was a massive figure in dark armor with an enormous ball and chain. The Champion monster for this passage was a level 70 monster. My mother dropped us and drew her sword.

She took a small step to the side as the ball and chain went flying past her.

"Minimal movement for a dodge." She brought the flat of her blade and knocked the chain away.

"Deflect with the flat of the blade." She ran forward.

"Advance quickly. Then, unleash your skills. Or your most powerful skill. Watch closely, I will only do this once. Consider it a reward for working hard this last year, my son. Dawnbreaker Destruction!" She pulled all the Mana in the chamber into her blade, and everything seemed to slow down. It glowed with immense light. This was a Tier 6 skill. I felt my heart clench and my eyes water from just trying to witness it. Her sword swung forward, leaving a trail of fiery white light behind it.

The leading edge of the blade drew everything in, including the air from my lungs, forcing it out and creating an instant vortex of Mana, air, and debris. A white inferno rushed forward at the monster as my mother swung her blade. Everything, including the vortex, surged ahead. The attack destroyed the monster and the chamber wall, causing the dungeon to shake and the room to crumble. Also, the heat from the skill partly fused the debris.

My mother waved her blade several times, sending out flaming attacks across the chamber to various lesser knight monsters that were rushing forward towards us and her. They instantly exploded into piles of melted scrap. She then returned her blade to its sheath, not one speck of dust on her armor. She then turned to face me.

"And that, my son, is why your mother is the best in the world." I nodded quickly at this as my mouth hung open in shock.