Valerius felt ready for whatever the world was going to throw at him. For the past.. how long? The seconds had blended into minutes, the minutes blending into hours, hours to days, days to weeks, weeks to months. His training had fallen into a monotone, pushing through physical conditioning and archery practice. He also started learning how Aumzale moved so quickly and quietly. "I call it the Whisper Step," Aumzale had explained, "I don't know how it would work for you, but how it worked for me was I focused on wind blowing on smoke, and I don't really start moving fast but the world around me seems to slow, and I still move at normal speeds. That's why I leave behind a puff of smoke, as I rely on my visual of wind and smoke to activate the Whisper Step."

Valerius was in great physical shape, but no matter how hard he tried the Whisper Step, he coudln't figure it out. He was experimenting with the Whisper Step on a tree stump while Aumzale was sleeping, but then, a large, ferocious, serpentine animal with very sharp claws and a spiky tail roared behind him. "AAAAAH!" Valerius jumped up in surprise, "Aumzale! HELP!" No reply came. Valerius focused on what he had been experimenting with, and what he could express as a sound wave emitted from him and then the world slowed down, similar to how Aumzale had described. He ran away from the monster, hardly believing that he had just learned Whisper Step. The monster seemed to be in pain as the sound wave hit it. Valerius arrived at the camp and deactivated his Whisper Step. "Aumzale! Wake up!" Valerius cried.

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"Nmmm..." Aumzale rubbed his eyes, "Why are you waking me up?"

"I learned Whisper Step!" Valerius exclaimed.

"Wait... you did?!" Aumzale sat straight up. "Good for you! What effect does your Whisper Step leave behind?"

"It leaves behind a damaging sound wave. I'm not sure if it hurts allies though," Valerius replied, "I know this because I was running away from an animal with sharp claws and a spiky tail. The sound wave seemed to hurt it."

"Wait... does it have a serpentine shape?" Aumzale asked.

"Yes...?" Valerius replied.

"Don't tell me it's a Snakeclaw..." Aumzale muttered. "Oh well, come kill the Snakeclaw with me." Aumzale beckoned for Valerius to follow. Valerius shrugged, and followed Aumzale for the fight.