“I thought you've used up most of your Uua, how much power did you put into the barrier?”

“Not much,” I reply tiredly, collapsing on the ground.

“Hmm.” He says with a look of interest as his eyes turn golden.

He scans me for some time before moving away. I stare at the sky above me, feeling too tired to do anything else. At this point, I don’t even have any Uua to circulate to relieve the pain in my muscles. I find it strange that using energy that does not even come from my physical body can make me so tired but in the same vein isn’t it strange that that same energy can improve my body? As I ruminate over this I hear someone sit near me.

“Sup,” Lathia says as she plops down beside me.

“Hey,” I replied tiredly.

She lets out a small laugh. “You sound like you want to die.”

“I feel like I want to die.”

“I told you so. That learning katas is far easier than training your skills with Uua, but you just won’t listen.”

“Whatever,” I reply sleepily.

“Is that sarcasm?” She punches my shoulder lightly. Though the punch is light, the pain my tired limbs feel is anything but light.

“Can you please not hit me, my body can’t take that right now.”

“Oh, sorry.”

At this moment my stomach lets out a sharp growl.

“Don’t worry, we still have like thirty minutes till Drew finishes cooking.”

“That isn’t helping.”

“It wasn’t meant to. You know, I’m kinda surprised that you’re still awake. I sort of expected you to sleep the moment training was over.”

“Well, I’m stronger than I was before.”

“Of course you are.”

We keep making small talk until Drew finishes cooking. After eating, I head into the tent I share with Drew and sleep. The next morning I am a bit surprised when Drew walks up to me and says: “Our training is starting now.”

“Wait, aren’t we going to go to the cliffs today.” Yesterday, Drew had exposed that the place we would be visiting would be some cliff. He hadn’t explained what was so special about it though.

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“We will after you’ve completed your training for today.”

He leads the confused me not too far from our camp before turning to face me.

“Today, I’m going to teach you how to improve your speed. From what I saw during our previous fights, you’re as slow as a snail.”

“I’m pretty sure I’m faster than a snail.”

“True, but to me, you’re no different from one.” All of a sudden he disappears and I hear a voice beside my ear. “For instance, I’m sure you have no idea when I moved.”

I jump startled and turn to look at Drew who is now behind me. I hadn’t even seen him move. One moment he was in front of me, and the next he is speaking into my ear, a Cheshire-like grin on his face. After calming my heart I can’t help but ask, a bit excited. “What’s the noer for it.”

He shakes his head. “You aren’t ready for what I just did. For your lesson today, your Uua is all we will be using.”

He then dashes towards me, releasing a small controlled burst of Uua from his feet. He is fast, very fast, but he isn’t as fast as he was before when he basically teleported. It reminds me of my fight with the golems where I had done something similar, except then it didn't end to well and I ended up forgetting about it.

“Do you see what I just did?”

I nod. “You released Uua from your feet, I’m guessing that pushed you forward making you faster.”

He nods. “Take off your shoes.”

“Why?”

“If you want to destroy your shoes that’s fine by me.”

It’s then I realized that I would be releasing a burst of Uua from my feet. Considering how volatile Uua is, one burst would probably be enough to obliterate the soles of the shoes.

“But why didn’t you take off your shoes?”

“They’re enchanted. And I have greater control over my Uua than you do.”

“Prove it.”

He rolls his eyes, not moving an inch. At that moment I notice something in the corner of my eyes. I turn and see an orb of Uua heading toward me. Remembering my training yesterday, I waste no time summoning a barrier. The orb hits the barrier and dissipates, leaving me a bit surprised by how weak it was.

“How did you do that?” I ask.

“Residual Uua. From the burst I used to run earlier.” He looks at me and as if knowing why I am about to ask, he explains. “Most times when we use Uua, small bits of it are left in the surroundings, if it is still within your domain, you can regain control of it to do things like what I just did.”

I nod, the inkling of an idea beginning to form in my mind. “How do I learn to control it.”

“Figure it out on your own, anyway, take off your shoes.”

I nod, stashing the idea somewhere in my mind for later, and take off my shoes.

Slowly Drew begins to explain how it works. Basically, a small but slightly powerful burst of Uua must be released from the feet at the right moment when running. The Uua, being as volatile as it is, makes a small explosion that pushes me forwards, while thankfully leaving me mostly unharmed because of its attribute of being unable to harm its owner. Before I start using the real skill, Drew first tells me to run, teaching me to shout ‘now’ at specific moments when I should release the Uua. I quickly get the rhythm, but it does seem a little funny in my head as I run up and down shouting 'NOW!' periodically

Once Drew is satisfied he tells me to begin practicing the real thing. He gives me a little advice first before leaving me alone. By this time Lathia and the rest who seem to have nothing to do are all sitting around watching me.

“You can do it!” Lathia cheers as I prep myself.

I take a deep breath and begin running, shouting ‘now now now!’ in my mind at specific times to get myself used to the rhythm, following Drew’s advice. Once I feel like I have the rhythm down, I finally decide to do the real thing. At the moment when I am about to shout ‘now!’ in my mind, I release a burst of Uua from my feet. I suddenly shoot forward and despite expecting the boost I receive, I immediately lose the rhythm and mistime my landing. I slip and end up sprawled on the ground.

“This,” I chuckle as I stand up, “is harder than you make it look.”

“Just keep trying.” Drew encourages me. “You’ll get the hang of it soon.”

I nod and prepare myself for the next try. The next few tries I am unable to take more than a step without stumbling. Sometimes because I mistime the burst, other times because I am still not used to this type of running. Still, I keep on trying. Soon I am able to take more than one step, increasing it to two or three, but then I always keep losing track of the rhythm and end up on the ground.

Time passes and slowly I begin to get the hang of it. After some time I stop running, a wide smile on my face. In my previous lap, I had run flawlessly. To be honest, this way of running is quite exhilarating, the feel of the wind as I am propelled through the air more than three times my normal speed just fills me with this strange excitement.

“Okay, we’re running to the cliffs,” Drew says suddenly.

“Why?”

“It’s faster. Come on, the others are waiting.”

It is then I notice that everyone has packed up their stuff and are waiting for me.

“You go first,” Drew says once we get to where the others are. “And use burst.”

I nod and pick up my shoes before I start running. Normally at first, before beginning to release Uua after a few steps. For a moment I am a bit worried that I will lose my rhythm and slip up but nothing happens and I finally settle into the rhythm before relaxing a bit.