Dreiki focused, spreading his Ux over the small roll of parchment in his hands. The paper illuminated with a shifting pattern of colors. He was close, but he couldn’t read it yet. Perhaps combining the two methods?

Letters appeared on the page, drifting into place before settling into readable sentences. Dreiki almost screamed out in sheer rapturous joy. He had done it! He had figured it out!

He skimmed over the words, muttering to himself, “When spears are shattered, and shields are broken, the greatest danger has yet to pass. From within the ranks of the chosen anticipate the traitor’s blade. Greet it not with your broken tools, but with your open arms.”

Dreiki felt a wave of lethargy hit him. He readjusted on the branch before he could fall off, his vision fracturing.

You’re not supposed to be here.

He woke up to the sight of Ezo staring down at him. Despite his best efforts it seems he had fallen off of the tree branch anyway. He checked to see if he could still move his limbs. Legs? Check. Arms? Check. Tail? Not check. Why was he checking if he could move his tail? He had never been born with one in the first place.

Ezo nuzzled into him, “Thanks buddy.” He said, rubbing Ezo’s cheek. He looked around. Not too much time had passed since he had fallen asleep. That was strange, he swore it felt like he had been sleeping for a while.

The scroll.

He jolted, patting himself down. Where was it?

Ezo nudged him, spitting out a roll of paper into his palm. Dreiki breathed a sigh of relief, “Good boy.” He rolled it up again and stored it in the dagger. For some strange reason, he did not feel like he needed it anymore.

“Broken spears and shields…” He muttered to himself. If he could coat a page in Ux to read it, what else could he coat in Ux? And if he did so, could that ‘coat’ take a different shape?

He propped himself up with the help of Ezo, stumbling across mangled roots under the snow.

Thump Thump! Thump Thump!

What was that sound? He looked to Ezo who was panting loudly, “You okay?”

Ezo barked loud enough to make Dreiki clutch his ears, “Not so loud!” He shushed him.

The bat drake tilted his head, not seeming to understand.

Thump Thump! Thump Thump!

“What is that sound? Is it your heart?” Dreiki said, leaning in closer, “Why can I hear your heart?” As soon as he asked the question the answer became obvious. His hearing was being bolstered by Ux.

He focused on dimming the effect. He would have to experiment with it later, “So other senses can be heightened too…” He muttered, extending a palm, “And what about magic?”

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A bolt of blue flame burst from his hand and left its smoldering mark in a nearby tree, “Blue fire?” The last time Dreiki had managed blue fire was after some heavy concentration, “It’s a magnifier in the end, huh?”

He turned to Ezo, “Alright Ezo, one more test, come here and bite my arm as hard as you can!”

Ezo tilted his head.

“Don’t worry, I’ll be fine- I think.”

The bat drake dropped low and darted towards him with staggering speed. Dreiki had not been the only one getting stronger from Savekio’s training. Ezo’s powerful body clammed into him as he snarled and chomped down on his arm. What normally would have pierced right through his forearm and crushed his bones instead repelled the drake’s jaws.

Dreiki let out a sight of relief, “Alright, down boy.”

The bat drake dropped down, sniffing and licking at his forearm.

“It’s alright, you didn’t hurt me.” Although he was definitely close.

It was a weird feeling, understanding Ux like he did now. Only a few minutes had passed since reading that scroll and he had come to understand an entire list of fundamental techniques.

“Shield. Redirecting, protecting, and regeneration.” He muttered to himself. “Spear. Magnifying, concentrating, and piercing. Open arms. Sensing, dispelling, and disarming.”

Those were the fundamental techniques of Ux combat. Fundamentals which had such a high skill ceiling Dreiki did not know if he could ever fully master them. He had five days to understand it enough to teach it, though.

Utilizing Shield Ux, he could bolster his defenses in a specific area of his body. The drawback, however, was how it left other parts of his body vulnerable. He also instinctively knew he could use Shield Ux to defend others. Exclude them from his spells, dampen the effects of a blow, or even deflect missiles. It was what allowed him to walk in the harsh blizzards of the mountains.

Spear Ux was the second side of the same coin. He could wrap his weapon or fist in it to pierce through someone else’s Ux. He could utilize it to magnify his spells and make them stronger for the same cost. He could even bolster his physicality with it. Spear Ux could be utilized to avoid drag when running at high speed or to avoid destroying the environment by directing all of the power of your strikes to your target.

Finally, there was Open Arms Ux which allowed him to boost all of his senses. He could see through imperfect invisibility or hear the rhythm of someone’s heart when they told a lie. He could dispel illusion magic, read Ux scrolls, and even paralyze other creatures by imposing the force of his Ux over them.

Dreiki understood what was possible, but when it came to what he could actually do, he still had a long way to go. This was fine, though. He understood how to train himself now. He understood what it felt like when he did a technique correctly even if he had never truly done it before.

And with this understanding came the understanding of just how much left he had to learn. The intricacies and nuances of each skill were so deep he couldn’t even see the bottom of it. For example, he knew he could heighten his hearing to a high degree, but he also knew that with enough practice he could dynamically adjust his hearing to only hear certain sounds. Something like that would prevent him from busting his ear drums by accident.

At the moment, he could not mix those fundamental skills either. If he was attacking with Spear Ux, he would innately be leaving himself open to attack. Being able to switch between and utilize every fundamental at once was something he now knew to be possible, but he did not have the skill for yet.

Ezo’s head perked up, ears swiveling behind him. He barked to get Dreiki’s attention.

Dreiki focused his Ux toward amplifying his hearing. Someone was crying. He pulled his hood up and covered his face with his scarf.

He clutched the dagger in his pocket, keeping Ezo close by. There were a great deal of stories about hearing crying in the forest that his mother had told him. Hardly any of them were good.

Always approach the sounds of despair with caution. Lest you mistake a lure for a flag.