Chapter 54.

PART 1.

On the breakfast next day, Hatori is talking to Zeko. From the conversation, it is clear that it is not going to be a vacation spent lazing around the house, for they were both discussing Hatori’s training.

“So, you must have ended up in some combat situations. Tell me, do you know what you lack?” asked Zeko. He often posed this question to his advanced students to get them in the habit of self-examination.

Sadly, not many of them take it to heart. It wouldn’t surprise him that some of them actually lost the habit once they were out of his clutches. Maybe he should get them back for remedial tor—training.

After thinking about his experiences in single combat, Hatori thinks he will get the power to fight on his own eventually with age and experience. But he also remembers his fight with the rogue yantras, and how difficult it was to control the crowd of enemies.

“I think I need some destructive spells.” he replies.

“Sigh… Every boy of your age eventually wants to learn those things.” Said Zeko.

“Hear me out.” Said Hatori. “I faced a crowd of rogue yantras—”

“Why did they go rogue?” asked Zeko.

Ignoring the question, Hatori continues on. “—and I’ve noticed how hard it is to handle a crowd of enemies, especially when you’re facing them alone. I think spells which do cause wide and destructive effects, or effect the large area around me will be useful in that situation.”

“Your logic is sound.” Zeko agreed with this assessment. “But the problem is, most such spells either require advance knowledge in manipulation of magic, because these are custom spells created by mages for themselves. There are very few general spells like you want. The other problem is, you need elemental manipulation for this, which can be dangerous at your age. Hell, it can be dangerous at my age.”

“The spell you used…” said Hatori.

“What?” asked Zeko.

“I remember the spell which you used during my kidnapping two years ago.” Zeko winced. He hoped that the boy would forget that incident. “You used a custom spell to destroy the house, didn’t you?”

“Yes. Though I’m surprised you remember so much.” Said Zeko. “You did follow my list of recommended books, right?” At Hatori’s nod, Zeko continues. “Now, I will teach you elemental manipulation. I told you to make your body strong for that specifically.”

“But before you can do that, you have another difficult task ahead of you.” said Zeko.

Hatori gets a bad feeling. Those words never meant anything good; he just knew that instinctually.

PART 2.

After his post-breakfast workout, Hatori is missing his sparring with yantras. The house isn’t attacking him for some reason, so he goes to the ring-like room created in this house for sparring. According to Zeko, this room can take a lot of destructive spells, and no damage would show up outside. in short, a perfect place for training the spell-casting in the house.

But Hatori finds Zeko in the room. “Ah, good of you to come here by yourself. Saves me the effort to hunt you down.”

“What?” asked Hatori.

“I will be sparring with you, just like how Neshma used to do.” Said Zeko. “Of course, you won’t have an easy time with me like you did with her.”

Neshma is the former student of Zeko, who was hired by him to be the sparring partner for Hatori to improve his combat skills. They never got along because of her brutal training, and thinking that Hatori was just some brat. Not to mention, she never paid him a single compliment during his entire training with her.

“Now, begin!” orders Zeko, who immediately batts aside the Slicers and Stingers, which came his way after his order.

“That isn’t the only way. If the spells are slow enough, you can literally just move out of their way.” He said while the relentless assault on Hatori is going on.

Demonstrating the practical example, instead of batting aside the spells, he sidestepped out of the way of those spells, which harmlessly splashed on the walls of the room.

Then, he launched his own Stingers and Slicers. He feels like he is literally arguing with children when he casts these spells, since he has not casted such beginner spells for years. Hatori tries to copy him, but he fails to dodge all of them. To protect his body from getting sliced in half, he uses the basic shield which he learned in the Academy to protect himself. But as a result of that, he is pinned now. When Zeko stops casting the Slicers, he lets go of the shield, takes the hard-hitting Stingers as acceptable damage, and tries to retaliate.

Support the author by searching for the original publication of this novel.

When he fails to do that, he once more tries to sidestep the spells coming his way despite the pain of the Stinger spells he took earlier. Hatori is thankful that they aren’t the poison variety; he is certain that Zeko knew that variation, and could have easily used them to make his life harder.

After an hour of sparring, Hatori is groaning on the ground, unable to move. He can’t sidestep, let alone get up from his position. The only thing which he can do is flop on the ground like a waterless fish, or roll like a broken log.

“I think it is enough for today. We will spar like this at least three days a week. Come in the garden after lunch for your elemental training.” Without saying anything more, Zeko leaves the room.

Though he is impressed at how long Hatori lasted. A year ago, a session like him would have hospitalized him. Moving out of the way of the yantras making their way into the room. He is sure he will be back on his feet in no time. But he won’t be ready to spar today, or even tomorrow. That is why, three days every week limit.

But once he shows improvement, he will increase the limit.

PART 3.

Making his way to the garden, Hatori is groggy from the food, and the treatment the yantras have given him after his spar with Zeko to bring his strength back up. He is strictly instructed not to use his magic in combat, though meditation is fine. He is still waiting for the house to attack him, though it hasn’t happened. But he must not drop his guard.

In the garden, they both sit in the shade with their legs crossed, and Zeko begins his instructions. “Now, let’s talk about elemental magic. This type of magic allows you to manipulate the elements around you within your environment. Fire, lightning, earth, wind, and water are the elements. But it goes deeper than that.”

“If you get skilled enough with a particular element, you can actually go deeper. For example, a skilled wind manipulator can change the number of gasses present within the air. This can have devastating effects. Or an earth user could manipulate the minerals. Of course, elemental manipulation is not limited to that. you can actually create artificial elements as well and use them, but that requires much more skill than you currently have.”

“For now, you will start by feeling the flames of the candle.” Zeko lights the candle in question, “And try to make it rise and fall with your breath.”

“Why not lightning?” asked Hatori.

“That will come later.” said Zeko.

“A question. are some people aligned towards certain elements?” asked Hatori.

“no. It all comes down to how well they handle the complicated bits related to that element. They have the chance to potentially learn all the elements in the world, but no one has enough time or patience to do that.” Said Zeko. “Now, perform the task I have assigned you.”

Hatori reaches out to the candle, trying to feel the flame with his magic as Zeko instructed. Meanwhile, Zeko busies himself with his notebook. For a change, though, he doesn’t sound like he is busy researching magic. Instead, he looks to be doing accounting. The narrator is afraid of that subject; therefore, it won’t be described here.

PART 4.

As if the spar today wasn’t humiliating enough, Hatori has to do fire training. He much prefers lightning over fire.

But that isn’t the problem right now. “You’re leaving me with a babysitter?”

“Yes. She will take care of you in my absence.” Said Zeko.

An order has come for Zeko from Porus, so he has to leave immediately. The matter is not important to Hatori, because it is probably outside of his control and understanding. But he can take care of himself. “But I can take care of myself; you can leave me here alone.”

“No, you need some human company boy.” Said Zeko.

“But, but…”

“But nothing. I’m leaving tomorrow. The babysitter will come in the morning. In my absence, don’t neglect your training.”

Hatori just shakes his head. He hasn’t gotten along with babysitters before in his home, and he suspects things will be the same here tomorrow. Speaking of which, Zeko still hasn’t made him talk to his parents.

As if reading his mind, Zeko said. “Once I come back, I’ll make you talk with your parents; that will be the first thing I’ll do.”

‘So that is something.’ Thinks Hatori.

(End.)