“So, what four techniques of mine that you wish to learn, Miss Priya?” Valerian asked her respectfully.

Priya scrutinized him as if he said something odd but decided against it as she had more important matters to do. So, she responded to him with a small smile that was forming on her face.

“Any four that you are willing to impart your input on, but make sure it’s not a technique you will regret sharing later on since this assessment will be observed by everyone involved.”

The Storm Titan appeared as though he was thinking over her words before he shook his head and replied, “It’s fine. I don’t believe I have any technique worthy of keeping a secret from others.”

“You sure?” She asked cautiously, and he nodded with a small smile. Priya continued to look at him in curiosity for a moment before she nodded in understanding and asked with a smile, “Just show me four different techniques of different elements so that they don’t overlap with one another.”

Her words made Valerian blink three times in surprise before he asked uncertainly, “Different techniques of… different elements? You mean like Attack and Defence type techniques?”

His words took her by surprise as it appeared as though he did not know what she was talking about.

“You mean to tell me… you don’t know about the elements and other types of magic?” She asked uncertainly.

When he stared at her blankly, she widened her eyes in realisation of the lack of knowledge he possessed about what she was telling him about.

“I-Is he serious?” She wondered to herself. “When annayya told me Valerian’s knowledge is outdated, I was prepared somewhat but to this extent? I’m starting to wonder… can he really help me with my assignment?”

Feeling anxious, she glanced over her shoulder to look at her brother and saw him playing a game of tag with Indira. The sight of the siblings playing made her feel a sudden twinge of annoyance before she turned back to focus on the task at hand.

“Okay. Let me explain what I mean,” she began, and he immediately looked to be paying her the fullest attention. “You see, the techniques are not divided into attack and defence like you mentioned. Instead, they are dividend into different types of techniques such as Fire, Water, Wind, Earth, Lightning, Wood, Metal, Ice, Light, Darkness, Healing, Barrier, Illusion, Gravity, Transport, Boost and Sensor. Did you get all that?”

By the time she finished and proposed her question, Valerian’s facial expression was that of someone that heard something remarkable. He simply stared at her fixedly with his jaw dropped slightly in awe from the surprise he received from suddenly receiving so much information all at once.

“Valerian?” She asked him curiously.

“Oh. Sorry,” he apologised quickly, realising he was awestruck for too long and looked embarrassed while she eyed him with curiosity. “I was just surprised that the techniques got dividend into so many different names. I’m sorry but it will take time for me to remember all of them.”

Seeing him look so sorry made her feel sympathy for him and say encouragingly, “It’s okay. You’ll eventually memorise them as time passes, and you interact more with our current terminology. But this really proves that you’re from a simpler time.”

To that, he smiled softly and said, “We were constantly at war and anything complicated was gone with the waves because it just got in the way. Anyway, what do you want me to do now?”

He had asked her looking and sounding lost due to the unexpected issue of his lack of current era’s knowledge. Priya saw the innocent look on his face and reflexively let out a chuckle at how cute he appeared to her.

“Is something wrong?” He asked her, tilting his head and looking puzzled.

Still smiling, she shook her head and replied, “No. It’s nothing.” Then she took a deep breath and breathed out slowly to relax before facing him and asking him, “Just demonstrate four different techniques that you are willing to share and are proud of.”

He nodded and smiled widely as he understood easy enough what she wanted from him and said, “Should’ve said that from the start.”

To that, she made a wry smile and thought, “How was I supposed to know about his outdated knowledge? I’ll give you an earful, annayya!”

With determination, she told him, “Please, go ahead.”

“Understood. But first, please step a little distance away from me,” he told her, and she could hear him becoming energetic for the first time since coming there.

Heeding to his words, she backed several paces away from him until he gestured for her to stop to observe him from what he deemed was a safe distance. Confirming this, he turned to face towards an empty field before him and made movements with his right arm. Joining his forefinger and middle finger side-by-side, he placed them on the centre of his chest and when a visible glow appeared around them, he moved them away and aimed them in front of him as he said the magic word out loud.

“Stadraik.”

In an instant, a large sized spherical ball of lighting formed that began to emit electricity out of it. A moment later, he exerted his energy and launched the sphere from his hand, which seemed to move at a walking pace away from him. In the next moment, Valerian folded his middle-finger to point only his forefinger at the moving sphere before firing a smaller sphere at it.

The smaller sphere sped away at a speed that was faster than the larger sphere that was launched not too long ago. As soon as the smaller sphere collided against the larger sphere, there was a sudden surge of power that caused the ground to quake and sink around where the sphere was at. At the same time, a burst of energy and lightning occurred from the larger sphere as it expanded horizontally and vertically like a field.

As the field expanded quite wide horizontally and vertically, a strange pulse manifested itself at the centre of that of it. Lakshman suddenly sensed what was coming and immediately activated a barrier to protect himself and his family just as a powerful wave of destruction burst forth. It soared away at high speed while exhibiting lightning before it hit a certain spot in the distance and resulted in a great explosion.

Everyone braced themselves while Priya reacted quickly in a panic to cast a barrier on herself against the wild winds and shock waves that swept towards them. Once it passed, dust seemed to spread everywhere to cloud their view. This lasted for several seconds before everything returned to normal and the dust slowly settled to bring the view back to normal.

Even with the barrier cast around her, Priya still had her clothes rustled by the strong wind and shock waves. It went to show the great power the output of such an attack had held. Even after witnessing such an unusual attack, she could not believe it because of the great power it held despite appearing to look small.

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“How was that?” Valerian asked her as he approached where she stood with an uncertain look on his face.

“How was it, you ask?” She asked him back with a look of disbelief on her face. “I’d like to ask you what the heck was that?! First you fired a sphere of what appeared to be lighting in a spherical shape and then fired a small sphere that was merely energy that resulted in the larger sphere expanding violently on contact that resulted in such a powerful wave being unleashed! That’s so odd! Care to explain?”

The Storm Titan was taken aback by her reaction before he smiled with a satisfied look on his face to her surprise.

“I’m sorry if this is upsetting but that was the main goal of that attack; to confuse my enemies,” he told her with a smile, and she blinked as if she could not believe her ears.

“To confuse the enemies?” She asked uncertainly.

“You see, the first sphere of lightning that gets launched acts as a distraction to surprise and throw the enemy off while I charge up and fire my actual attack,” he explained with a smile, showing more energy than he had shown till now in his mannerism.

Priya was impressed both by the excitement that was radiating from him at explaining how his technique worked. She also noticed him watching in anticipation on how she felt the technique was and felt like she was dealing with a kid showing off the toy he got for his birthday. It made her smile and decide to be honest with him.

“Honestly, it’s a good attack but… rather confusing,” she said, and his shoulders slumped a little, but she went on to state, “but since that was your aim from the beginning, I believe the technique did what it was intended to do exceptionally well. If I was your opponent, I would’ve been thrown off by you firing such a slow-moving sphere of lightning and never expect you to do something else with it. So, well done to your creative thinking!”

At her praise, he smiled once more, and his shoulders also rose up as he said brightly, “Yes! My mother always told me that in battle, it’s not the strongest that wins the fight; it’s the most cunning one.”

“Your mother spoke wise words,” admitted Priya with a smile, but she also added with a brighter smile, “but against an opponent like my annayya, I doubt such a technique would faze him.” 

Valerian nodded and said, “You are right. He is a remarkable person and a powerful warrior to contend with. However, I am confident that it would surprise him and leave him wondering what to expect from it since firing it as a wave is one of many ways that I can use it.”

This statement caused her to blinked twice in surprise before asking unsure, “You can use it in… different ways?”

He nodded and hurried away while saying, “Watch!”

She watched him go in surprise before recovering to activate the barrier that she dispelled moments before. A moment later, Valerian reached the position he stood on and did the same placement of two fingers to his chest and then aimed them in front of him before firing the sphere of lightning that moved much quicker than before. Then he aimed at it with his forefinger but instead of firing a sphere of energy, he merely exerted his energy while focusing on the fast-moving sphere of lightning.

In an instant, the sphere of lightning emitted a pulse before it expanded drastically to a large size before compressing. This resulted in an explosion that caused the wind to blow wilder than before while sending more shock waves than the previous time.

Everyone got buffeted while the barriers did their best to safeguard their respective occupants from the effects. A few seconds later, the wind settled and the dust slowly cleared to reveal a view where a massive hole in the ground appeared where the sphere had exploded.

“See that?” The Storm Titan asked her excitedly as he hurried over to her while she stared at the exploded spot in shock. “I can use it in more ways than just a wave.”

She slowly nodded and said in a quiet voice, “Yes. You can also use it as a bomb as well.” Then she recovered and looked at him curiously as she asked, “Out of curiosity but… just how many more ways can you use it?”

“Many more,” he replied with a smile filled with excitement. “Let me show you,” and he turned to leave when she grabbed his arm to stop him from going.

“Don’t show me; just tell me instead,” she insisted with a firm look on her face.

He reacted in surprise at being grabbed by a female and nodded nervously while eying her arm wrapping around his before he managed to say, “P-Please… let go…!”

“Oh. Sorry,” she apologised and released him.

He reeled his hand back and massaged it as if he was injured, which surprised her. The truth was that he rubbed his arm not due to that it hurt but the fact that he had come in direct contact with someone of the opposite gender for the first time. As such, his reflex was to steer clear away from them as he was not sure how to deal with what had happened.

“What’s wrong? Your face is red,” she commented, completely unaware of the cause or the fact that she was the cause of it in the first place.

“It’s nothing!” Valerian replied quickly and turned away while thinking pleadingly, “This is not good. Just being touched like that made my heart beat faster! How do I deal with a girl? Mother! Please… help me!”

“What’s the matter, Val?” Priya asked him curiously.

At the sudden shortening of her using his name, Valerian turned to her in bewilderment and asked, “W-What did you j-just call me?”

She blinked in surprise by his reaction and responded with, “I called you Val.” Then she thought of something and looked a little as she asked, “Sorry if I’m not supposed to do that. I just thought that… since we’re friends… I could call you by a nickname.”

The Storm Titan was alarmed to see her looking dejected and immediately stated, “It’s okay! No need to apologise! Please call me Val! We are friends, so it’s only natural for you to do that, so it’s okay! Do call me Val from now on!”

Priya reacted happily and said, “Great! In that case, call me Priya in return, Val.”

He blinked at her request and hesitantly said, “Um… Miss Priya.”

She was unsatisfied and said, “It’s not ‘Miss Priya’. It’s just Priya!”

“Um…” hesitated Valerian nervously.

“Priya…! P. R. I. Y. A!” She insisted with a firm look on her face while placing her hands on her hips.

He became silent while cold sweat began forming on his face as he thought, “Mother…! Help me!”

Meanwhile, Lakshman was watching their exchange from afar with a dubious look on his face.

“Wow. What’s with their interaction?” He wondered aloud in wonderment.

To his surprise, he heard his wives chuckle and even Stuart say proudly, “Oh, Lucky. You actually noticed. You’ve grown so much, I’m so proud of you.”

Lakshman blinked at his ghostly form of his friend and reacted with, “I’m not sure if I should react with happiness... or with irritation at the rudeness that I felt.”

“You’re imagining things, Lucky,” expressed Tetra with a smile.

“Yeah because you never used to notice these things since we always did our best to get your attention and all but you were so dense and silly that you just thought that we were just getting along,” supplied Cantia happily.

“Cantia!” Tetra and Ondine said sharply, and the Camdra Beast Clan’s lady reacted in surprise before realising what she did and placed both of her hands over her mouth in shock.

Still, the words were out now, and he heard every bit of it. In doing so, he realised why Stuart had remarked in such a way and could only sigh wearily while forming a wry smile on his face.

“I suppose being sheltered is the primary cause of that,” he admitted finally in a wry voice.

“I never said that,” said Stuart while letting out a sigh.

While the others looked on with a perplexed looks on their faces, a baby’s voice was heard suddenly shouting. They turned and looked towards Emilia’s baby son, who was shouting at them to get their attention. He was shaking his head and hitting his mother’s lap where Emilia had him sitting on with support from her hands wrapped around his waist.

Lakshman was surprised by the action of his son and moved over to get a hold of him and brought him over to himself from his wife’s lap. His baby son to shake his head while shouting in disapproval. It was as if he was disapproving of what Lakshman had said.

“You think it’s not bad being raised in a sheltered environment?” Lakshman asked him curiously.

“Ou!” The baby boy replied firmly with a serious look on his face.

His father reacted in surprise as well as everyone else did but then they all broke into smiles while Lakshman said, “Oh you…! I don’t know if you understood me or not, but I can’t take you so seriously when you look so innocent and cute like that!”

With that, Lakshman hugged his baby son warmly, and his child began to make cute sounds that only a baby could make. Then he broke the hug and placed him on his lap while turning back to watch the interaction taking place between Valerian and Priya.