After a thorough trouncing by Damian, their group training finally began. The only big change was the switched positions of Everest and Wura. They found that Everest had a talent for frontline tactical fighting and could set up traps far more easily from the front. Noah stood in the middle as the mainline of defense.
In the mid-range were Nico and Asela. Since they both brought fire to the table and did not practice melee combat often. Fire seemed weaker the further it traveled from its starting point. However, both had grown in fire manipulation, and it appeared that that was where Asela’s talent lay. She couldn’t produce much fire but could steal it from others.
Wura found that her power was more imaginative than she initially thought. It didn’t have to be a weapon or a shield. Instead, she could conjure small long-range projectiles that slowed down those she hit or even freeze them through Kiara’s power over ice. The thing is, mixing the metal with fire created a toxic combination for those without training.
Kiara’s archery continued to grow, but she seemed to spend more time doing physical training. Due to her innate frailty. She knew how to fight but lacked the endurance gains from her spirit that a few others received.
Kyrion was able to restrain and attack from afar consistently. When worse came to worse, he could provide healing. From what they could tell, there weren’t any other student healers at the academy. And when the nurse found out about this gift, his free time was filled with more supplementary lessons. By this point, Kyrion felt his head would explode, but basic knowledge on healing magic turned out to be really important.
Weeks went by in a flash before they had their big strategy meeting. Nico and Damian stood next to each other, the former holding some slips of paper. The latter had a familiar stoic expression plastered on his face.
“Today we will begin by giving you all various tasks that need to be completed between now and a week before the start of the third trial. Group A, will focus on physical training. It’s that simple. I will be assisting at the start of these exercises but that isn’t my main group.”
Nico handed a slip to Kiara, Asela, and then took one for himself. “This is group A.”
“Group B, will be weapons training. Again I will assist at the beginning, but a couple of you are a bit sloppy. Those whose abilities let them make weapons should at least know the in’s and outs of them.”
Nico handed a slip to Everest, Wura, and Noah. “This is for group B.”
“Group C will focus on gathering information, and assisting everyone else with their training if they aren’t in training.”
Nico handed a second slip to Everest and one to both Kyrion and Damian.” Group C.”
“Wait. Why am I in 2 groups!” Everest protested.
“Because you could use the training. Group C ends its morning stuff two hours before your training begins. I’ll be helping out with all your training and Kyrion will heal your exhaustion. Which will be the focus of his training.”
Kyrion looked up from his slip. “You aren’t gonna make this easy are you?”
“Nope, we need to get as much done before time runs out. This close to the start should be where everyone else is polishing what they know. You know what they say, knowledge is half the battle.” Damian recited.
Kyrion eyed his friend for a solid second. “Great.”
Damian led the groups in various exercises and whenever a teammate showed exhaustion. Kyrion would come and heal their fatigue. Finally, the day ended with everyone save for Damian in heaps on the training ground. After Kyrion ran out of mana.
Kyrion went back to his room, where his roommate Edwin was resting. Edwin’s team didn’t score in the top ten in the first trial, but it was forced to end early. He didn’t care much for the person with whom he shared a room, however. There was just something about him that just didn’t mix.
Kyrion rose early in the morning, an ingrained habit from his life back home, and went to the meeting spot discussed the day before. It was a distance away from a second training ground due to Kyrions eyesight and a pair of binoculars. Watching from this distance was easy. However, it was far enough that no one would suspect anything, as Damian meditated under the tree. Everest gave Kyrion a disguise and noticed that the tailor was already dressed in a pair. After climbing the top of the tree, Kyrion fed mana to the branches to make leaves grow around them.
The boys waited as Brion’s group arrived. After the first trial, they adopted two more people into their group. Bringing the number up to six total. Brion was a tall blond kid, possibly around ten in age. Where Damian carried a thin sword, Brion carried a great axe. Where one was lean, the other seemed bulky. At his side was a much shorter kid with a spear taller than he was. His hair was emerald green, and the wind around him was controlled. He looked somewhat familiar to Kyrion, but he couldn’t place it.
On Brion’s other side was a kid roughly his height wielding a greatsword. His black hair was tied back in a braided tail. He seemed much less controlled in his movements. Behind the trio was a brown-haired boy holding a quarterstaff. Where the others seemed athletic in one way or another, this guy was just scrawny. But his mannerisms resembled that of their friend Nico.
Bringing up the back were a pair of blond-haired twins, both wielding bows and quivers. Oddly enough, they seemed to resemble Kiara in a way. “They look a little like Kiara.” Kyrion said aloud.
“They’re her cousins from what we gathered and managed to get out of Kiara. While they use bows, their spirits lend themselves to detaining their foes.” Everest answered.
“This is annoying.” Kyrion scratched his head. “So we take those two out of the fight first?” Kyrion asked.
“It won’t be easy. It’s a team built for fighting. I don’t think there is much we can do if we have to face them head on,” Everest replied.
Shock hit Kyrions face. “Then why are we up here?”
“So that we don’t have to fight them head on.” Damian said as the sparring matches began.” Stay sharp.”Their leader went back into meditation.
After an hour of watching team Brion train, Damian got up, and his group mates followed. The second day was horrible. But better than the first. It seems restoring stamina after a training session helped push his squishy teammates into shape. Every once and a while, he would catch Damian staring at him in deep thought as though he had a question. But despite his growth, even he had limits.
By the time their group finished their training, the only one who seemed winded was Kyrion. While he restored their stamina, his own seemed to bottom out.
“That was… way… harder than it was… yesterday.” Kyrion panted heavily.
“Yes it was. Having a healer on hand is a great opportunity. We can push ourselves as hard as possible and not worry about drawbacks.” Damian replied.
“Please don’t. I can’t heal anything too crazy yet.” Kyrion backed up and took a deep breath. “Miss nurse lady also said that we should take a full day to rest when doing this kind of training. Helps the body adjust and stuff.”
“You should probably pay more attention. Actually, do pay more attention to her instructions. Finding a good healer in this country is hard. Also please try to remember her name.”
“I do, it’s just hard to pronounce.” Kyrion imagines the word in his head, Boudreaux, he brings it to his mouth.” Boo-droww.”
“That wasn’t hard.” Damian said.
“No, something doesn’t feel right. I’ll stick to using Miss nurse.”
“She’s a doc… Ok so about the day of rest. Any ideas on what we should do?”
“Nothing. Isn’t that the point?” Kyrion scratched his head.
“I mean something like all of us hanging out together.”
“Damian. Damian. I’ll be honest, I don’t think I could hang out with you on a free day without it somehow becoming a training session.” Kyrion patted his friend on the shoulder. “Oh yeah. Asela’s birthday is in four weeks. We can do something together then.”
“Huh after the third trial… wait why didn’t you tell us sooner?” Damian started pacing.
“To be honest, I almost forgot with everything going on, but she’d have my head if I forgot to get her a present...I could try making something with lots of flowers, but I’ll need seeds.
Stolen story; please report.
“We could ask to go to the forest outside of the school with a chaperone.”
“We can do what now? I can leave whenever I want?” Kyrion seemed irritated.
“Yes you can do that once you enter class three.”
“But I’m not in class three.”
“Yes. you are… Have you been going to your new classes?”
Kyrion stared at Damian for a long second. “So those five hour breaks in between training sessions weren’t breaks….That makes a lot more sense.”
“No… They weren’t. Class three is a bit different in a sense. Most of the training revolves around accuracy and application of your abilities. What were you doing in between our training sessions then?”
Kyrion looked away into the middle distance. “Uh… I practiced healing, and stuff.” He avoided eye contact.
“Does stuff have anything to do with plants spontaneously growing to trip people passing through the courtyard?”
“I gotta go find a present for Asela, and then find my classes bye!” Kyrion ran off in a hurry.
After a few minutes of searching, Kyrion found professor Lok in his classroom. The boy looked a bit panicked, and his clothes seemed dusty. While the professor seemed to have raised an eyebrow at the sudden visit.
“Uh teacher?”
“Yes, Kyrion?”
“It seems I have new classes.”
“Of course you advanced to class three.”
“I just heard… Iv’e been out for a bit as you may know.”
“Where are you going with this?”
“I need to figure out which class I’m in now.” He blurted out.
“Ah. I see, did you ever get your reward from trial one?”
“What reward? I won something?” Kyrion looks at the professor, squinting.
“Your group won second place. The reward was a personal instructor for your training along with the promise that they will help you find your first core.” Lok explained.
Kyrions jaw dropped. “What?”
“You can also go off campus with them as a chaperone.” He finished. “If you don’t know your teacher I can find out for you.”
“That would be great. Thank you.” Kyrion bowed.
Lok pulled out a leaf and just let it fall to the ground slowly. The two watched the leaf very closely as it shifted motions and twisted. After a while, it landed on the reinforced wooden floor before splitting in two.
“So… What does that mean?”
“Abyss if I know.” Lok replied bluntly.
Kyrions looked aghast, as he was at a loss for words.
“That was a joke. Your teacher seems to be a troublesome person. He wouldn’t have shown himself if he didn’t have to.” Lok looked up at a tree.
Kyrion looked at the spot for quite a long time before an old white-haired man slowly became visible. His eyes were a startling yellow and slit like a cat. As the old man approached, a wooden cane grew from the ground and appeared in his hands. As the man approached, he grew younger and taller before ending at a solid six feet tall as his hair was a dirty blonde.
Kyrion watched as the guy kept walking at an exceptionally low pace. “Uhh...Are they doing that on purpose?”
“Can’t tell. His spirit seems to manipulate illusions to a degree.”
“Seems to?” Kyrion looked skeptically at his teacher.
“Illusions don’t normally take up space and have mass. Nor do they affect multiple senses. He is a guest teacher for this batch of students. He may also try to recruit you for his own school if he likes you.”
“I see.” Kyrion did not in fact, see.
The man arrives and looks at the boy. “Three months late. Although two of those weren’t necessarily your fault.”
“Wha..?” Kyrion began.
“Don’t worry. I’ll make sure you’re caught up. No more slacking off you hear?”
“But I don’t….”
“Your training begins now, follow me.”
Kyrion gave up on talking and looked to Lok, who nodded solemnly.
“I wish you well.” He said as he took a seat and waited for the pair to leave.
The newly formed master and disciple pair headed back into the shall and into an empty classroom. Where his master sat in midair.
“So... I’m Kyrion, who are you?” The boy asked, eyeing the odd man in suspicion.
“Oh. No-one important, but you will call me master Gan.”
“Why that?”
“Because I said so. Now take a seat.” Master Gan pointed to a spot in the empty room.
Kyron squinted and took a seat on the floor.
“No imagination, for shame.” His master tsked.
“What do you mean?”
“It means your going to be doing alot of reading.”
“Ah. I see.” Kyrion stood up and dashed out the open door. Or at least he tried to. Unfortunately, Kyrion ran slap first into some sort of invisible wall. He got up and tried pushing and clawing his way out before he found himself exhausted.
“Are you done?” Master Gan smirked.
“Will you let the wall go if I say yes?” Kyrion asked.
“This doesn’t cost me any mana so I can keep it up forever.”
“What if I have to use the bathroom?”
“You don’t, so quit trying to escape.” Gan pulled out a book from out of nowhere and passed it to the boy.
The book had few words and lots of pictures. The terms and concepts seemed simple for the child. Kyrion felt quite entertained by said book and actually enjoyed reading it. He then looked at the teacher in suspension.
“What’s your game?” He asked the teacher.
“To help you with visualization. While your control is great for your rank. If all you use it for are simple techniques then it’s a waste. The books I’m going to have you read will help you learn how to use your imagination.”
“Why me then? You could have choses someone more qaualified" Kyrion protested.
"No one as fun to mess with. Also I’ve seen what you use your powers for during your free time. Tripping students with knotted weeds as they pass. Hiding bird seed on other practice fields. Feeding said birds organic laxatives… How you know what that is at your age? I don’t want to know. You tend to have a bit of time for mischief. So I know there is a brain in there somewhere. Hence why I chose you.”
Kyrion looked worried, eyes going left and then right before making eye contact with the teacher. “Am I in trouble? Does the headmaster know?”
“Of course he knows it’s his school. How this affects who still wants you after hearing about your nature may change. I hear it’s not the first time there has been a troublesome student on campus. Something about red hair and green eyes being a bad omen.”
“I see….” Kyrion did not, in fact, see, and Master Gan saw through the statement.
“Well if that’s the case we move onto more practical stuff. Read 3 of these books a day, take a thirty minute nap and we spend the remaining time recreating the story with your elements. All of your elements.” Gan handed him a stack of very thin picture books and left the room.
Kyrion followed right behind and ran slap into the invisible wall. “Its still up?” Kyrion sat down and got to his special training. Glad for the thirty-minute nap. He woke up outside under a tree. Much to his confusion.
“What!” Kyrion looked around and felt the warm dirt on the ground. He really was outside.
Gan was sitting under an adjacent tree with another book in his hands. He looked up as Kyrion started to acknowledge his surroundings.
“You’re up, great, your first few exercises will be using your powers to create various images of your’s truly. You have an hour to do so. After that we move on whether or not you completed it. Up until the next trial we will be going over this one exercise everyday. After that I will conjure an illusionary beast which I want you to fight. Good luck.” He yawned and took a seat.
“If I know it’s fake, what’s the point?”
“Tell the beast that.” The man seemed to be relaxing in some sort of pose.
Kyrion looked at his teacher and had no idea how to start. “Plants, wind and water. Maybe I could grow something.” So Kyrion began to carve a rough outline of his master in the dirt and sowed seeds in various intervals. After he fished, he added water and made the plants grow with mana. He then began trimming the plants in a way that they somewhat resembled the man. The same way a constellation may resemble a person.
As time ran out, Gan looked up at the piece of art. He smiled and then laughed a bit. “That’s a decent start I guess.”
“Although next time try making it more solid.” He snapped his fingers, and a bipedal three eyed black bear came into existence. It was big, tough, and very intimidating. A generous amount of foam drool came from its mouth.
“Y-you w-want me to f-fight that?” Kyrion looked at the teacher like a deer in the path of a light spirit master.
“It’s just an illusion kid you got this.”
“I see…” Kyrion, for once, did see where this was going. At least it shouldn’t hurt.
Kyrion charged at the bear, and the fight was over in a flash as Kyrion felt himself get bisected in a single stroke. Kyrions body seemed to heal itself and put everything back where it was supposed to when he landed. But Kyrions stomach hurt.
“Charging at a bear is a bad, bad idea. I thought I was done for.” Kyrion looked at it and then his teacher. “I thought that thing was an illusion!”
“Oh, it is an illusion. But you should know an illusionist doesn’t become an expert rank without having some way to kill anything. So get back at it."
Kyrion spent the hour getting utterly decimated by the evil bear. Wind blades hurt but were not enough. His wind walls only slowed attacks down slightly. Drawing water in this environment was also pretty hard to do when one wrong dodge and splat. When that happened, the bear would return to its starting spot, and the ability, Kyrion was concentrating on dispersed.
“Good work. What did you learn from this experience?”
“That I need to keep buckets of water on me at all times and next time I see a bear, run.” Kyrion huffed on the ground.
“As you are, do you think you could defeat that beast?”
“No, of course not. It’s too strong.”
“I see, and if you were to fight it with your whole team. Do you think you could win?”
“Of course!”
“I see the issue.” Gan seemed to grow a beard and start stroking it. “Kyrion, where do you see yourself on the team?”
“I’m support, I’m good at healing things and I don’t have a tough enough body to protect anyone.”
“I see… Kyrion, you have a passive regeneration ability correct?”
“Yes, Master Gan.”
“How much do you exercise before turning it back on?”
“I keep it on until I’m out of mana and then sit out.”
“Good good. Have you tried pushing yourself until you’re unable to move, before turning it on to heal the strain?”
“No. That sounds like it hurts alot.”
“Records would agree with you on that. But it also helps increase a spirit master’s toughness. At least 3 times a week. Plants require sunlight and water to grow right? All you have been doing is giving the plants water.”
“Master Gan we don’t have weeks. The third trial is coming up very soon.” Kyrion was starting to panic.
“Empires aren’t built in a day!” Master Gan tapped the boy on the shoulder, and the world faded to black.
Kyrion awoke under a tree, feeling refreshed. He attended his healing lessons with the nurse and asked her what his master was talking about.
“Ah yes. Keeping the regeneration on, will help increase your defenses over time. It’s slow and consistent. Good for a daily exercise routine, but if you want to get stronger faster, then you need to push your body to its limit before healing it. However I want you to remember this if anything. You have plenty of time to build your foundation, take your time and make sure you do it right.” She said, walking back to her office.
As expected, the time until the third trial came up in a flash, and Kyrion made progress on beating the bear in a one-on-one fight. If you called, surviving against the advances of the creature for a minute, improvement. His artistic abilities were still much to be desired. At least it resembled a person. That was what his master told him. Training without the constant healing was much tougher than he thought. Kyrion didn’t realize how lucky he was until it was gone. He felt much more winded than usual and fell behind the others for a while. His body had to adjust to the strain he had forgotten even existed.
A realization finally came to him when he was looking at his core. The regeneration took a lot of the mana at a constant rate, and with it off, he could draw more from his other powers. Didn’t help with his imagination, but now he could put a bit more oomph into what he was doing. This time Kyrion was going to do more than just support his teammates.