Fuyumi hiked down a trail lined with wooden planks. Fig trees danced in the breeze as a calm stream flowed beside her. Small houses and huts made of straw made up either side with locals carrying baskets up and down the stream, the lifeblood of the village. The stream's gentle bobbing mingled with laughter and conversations, producing a tranquil atmosphere.

Families gathered at the water's edge, washing clothes and sharing news while children played, kicking around homemade soccer balls. Fishermen hauled large nets onto rafts while dozens of fish flailed around inside. On the opposite side, farmers tended to their fields, plucking weeds and sprinkling fertilizer.

A dark-haired boy with freckles spotting his face awkwardly flung wet clothes over a line to dry before noticing Fuyumi walking toward him. Her presence alone was enough to light up his eyes and spread a wide smile across his face. He sprinted up to her, abandoning the basket of clothes, and threw his arms around her waist as she returned the gesture.

"Welcome back, sis!" the boy gushed.

"Hey, Kei," she patted his head, glancing left and right before reaching into her pocket. "Here."

She pried him off and pulled out a glistening stone. He watched in awe as it dazzled in the sunlight.

"Woah! What is it?"

She took his hand and placed it in his palm before closing his fist.

"A souvenir. Don't tell anyone you have this."

"Okay, can I tell dad?"

"Sure. Where is he anyway?"

Just then, a tall, muscular man emerged from their shed carrying harvesting tools. He had short silver hair that merged seamlessly into his beard. An annoyed expression formed on his face after seeing Kei had abandoned his chores, but when he realized why, his face softened considerably.

"Fuyumi!" the man exclaimed.

Kei ran up to him, proceeding to ignore his sister's warning as he waved around his new shiny stone to the man, earning a facepalm from Fuyumi.

"Dad, look! Look what Fuyumi got me!"

He set his tools down before kneeling to inspect it closer.

"Wow, what a find! But don't let anyone see it, buddy, okay? Find a secret hiding spot for it in the house."

"Okay!"

Clutching onto it, Kei darted inside the house. Her father's attention returned to Fuyumi as she approached, embracing her.

"Hey," she mumbled, her voice still as monotone as ever.

"You had me worried for a sec."

Before she left home, she'd notified her family that she'd be going on a mission after the examination. Her father, and even her brother, knew how talented she was when it came to combat so they doubted the guild would hand her an F-ranking.

What they didn't expect, however, was all the accumulating missing persons nowadays. She didn't think she'd stay in Hanataru for an extended period either so her father must've assumed the worst.

"I know. The mission led us to a village but I ended up staying there longer than expected."

"Did you, now?"

Kei rushed out of the house, sliding in front of his sister.

"So what happened in the exam? Were there a lot of people? Were they strong? Do you have a party? Did you fight monsters? What kind were they?" The boisterous kid bombarded her with an endless stream of questions.

She dealt with this sort of behavior from him regularly so naturally she developed a surefire way to stop his interrogation cold. With an annoyed expression, she raised her hand just above his eyes and flicked his forehead with just enough force to make his head recoil.

"Ow!" He rubbed his throbbing forehead.

"If you calm down, I'll tell you."

After settling down, she explained everything that had happened up until her return.

Being the child that he was, Kei's eyes glowed with fascination. Naturally, he believed her knack for combat made her invincible and thus had no comprehension of the danger she was in. But her father knew better.

Her father still displayed signs of worry. As such, she intentionally left out key details from her story. Namely, what happened to her during the dungeon raid. Although she was fortunate enough to have a capable ally practically save her, she couldn't bring herself to burden her father with the stress of knowing she could've lost her life.

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"You fought all those monsters without even getting hurt?" Kei questioned.

"Uhm...yeah, I guess I did." she hesitated.

"Awesome!"

After her story concluded, a couple of kids made their way over a small bridge connecting both sides of the stream. One of them held a black striped ball.

"Hey, Kei! You were still gonna play with us right?" a kid yelled out.

"Oh yeah, let's go!"

His father gripped his shoulder, holding him back.

"No you don't." He pointed at the forgotten basket of clothes. "Finish the rest of your chores first, then you can play."

Kei's shoulders slumped in disappointment.

"Okayyy..." he sighed, looking over at the two kids.

"Sorry guys, I have to finish my chores. I'll join you later."

"It's okay," they reassured him. "Just hurry up!"

They ran back across the bridge, scurrying off to an open field as Kei dramatically dragged his feet back to the basket. It was always like this. Kei would usually get sidetracked, sometimes even neglecting his chores, but their father would always be there to set him straight. Kei didn't seem to realize this now but his pouting act never worked on their father.

Turning back to his daughter, he regarded her with a worried yet stern look, his eyes demanding she tell the truth. She might've gotten away with lying to her brother but her old man wasn't nearly as naive.

"So how badly were you hurt?" He laid a gentle hand on her shoulder.

Her eyes drifted to the corner, unable to meet his gaze like a child being scolded.

"...it wasn't that bad. Just a cut on my leg, that's all. I'm fine."

He still got the sense she was softening her story for his sake but decided not to press her on it. Instead, he patted her arm, urging her inside.

"Go rest up. You had a pretty eventful first experience and did a lot for that village...your mother would be proud of you."

"Yeah...I guess she would."

*****

An hour had passed since Yakeru started helping Kenji with his training in the same grassy field. The constant firing of energy beams had attracted an audience of neighboring children who couldn't help but spectate the two rangers in wonder. Of course, they had no clue what the two were up to which was why their parents instructed them to keep a safe distance.

Kenji closed his eyes and held staff in the air. Ambient radiance streamed into it, giving it an amber glow.

"Now fire!" Yakeru ordered.

He did as instructed, firing a projectile that soared through the air toward a crudely made dummy Yakeru found collecting dust in the house. It was mostly made from straw and had a wooden post anchoring it to the ground. The projectile struck the dummy rather lightly before fizzling out upon impact.

After carefully observing each projectile Kenji fired over the course of his training, he noted a couple different things. The first was each projectile would lose mass after being fired. The second was that their speed would greatly diminish about halfway to its target. These two combined made it nearly impossible for Kenji's attacks to deal any noticeable damage indicated by the relatively unharmed dummy besides a few scratches.

'Doesn't seem like he can pack much of a punch. Is it because he can't gather enough radiance to do any real damage?'

Perhaps it was time to revisit the basics. To Yakeru's knowledge, one could manipulate radiance in two ways.

The first was by using their radiance already absorbed and stored within the body. The second was using ambient radiance in the atmosphere. The reason why it was still draining for those who practiced the latter was because they have to use their own radiance that they'd coded so the ambient radiance knew how to behave.

Yakeru snapped his fingers.

"I got it."

"Yeah?"

"Let's try something."

Yakeru thought back to a little exercise he'd used to do to get a better feel for radiance during his earlier days under Akari's mentorship. Since it was designed for melee fighters he'd have to modify it to suit a conjurer.

"Try what?" Kenji perked up.

"We'll train your control over radiance instead." Yakeru pointed at the dummy. "I want you to gather as much of it as you can and focus it around the dummy."

The idea was to strengthen one's connection to radiance. Likewise to a muscle, training it over time would make it stronger. The more they used radiance, the more of it they'd be able to command at a time.

"I want you to make it fall over. Do that and we can move on to something heavier."

Kenji stared at the dummy and then glanced at Yakeru who gave him a nod.

"Okay then."

He raised his staff, amber particles swirling around it as the dummy swayed mockingly.

"That's it!" Yakeru encouraged him as an amber glow enveloped the dummy, forcing it to hunch over.

Minutes passed and the dummy hadn't moved an inch after Kenji had initially tilted it forward. His grip tightened around his staff and his hands began to tremble, his limits fast approaching and the dummy still hadn't budged. His rather unimpressive showcase only frustrated him further.

Eventually, he released the spell and the dummy snapped back to its original position. Air burst from Kenji's mouth as he hadn't realized he had been holding his breath.

"I can't even make a stupid dummy fall over!" He grunted, chucking his staff aside and plopping down in frustration.

"Don't beat yourself up. It's gonna take time." Yakeru sat beside him.

"You don't get it!" Kenji snapped back. "You don't give it a second thought cuz you can do this stuff so much better than I can. Even Fuyumi's the embodiment of talent."

Yakeru was taken aback by his sudden outburst, rendering him speechless for a moment.

"U-uhm, well, there are things you're better at than we are."

Kenji turned to him with an eyebrow raised.

"Oh really?" he spoke in a mocking tone, irritation still in his eyes. "Like what?"

"Well, conjurers are better at manipulating radiance in the atmosphere while people like me rely more on the radiance we've already absorbed. Conjurers naturally have more options when it comes to different abilities."

Kenji sighed, running a hand through his short, curly hair.

"What good is having options if I can't access those options in the first place, Yakeru?"

"Don't get so worked up. You don't just get stronger overnight. You'll get it with time."

The tension in his shoulders subsided a bit, allowing them to relax more.

"...I just don't wanna burden anyone. No one respects those without power."

"Kenji..."

Yakeru's mind went blank. As much as he wanted to give advice, he couldn't. He wasn't in the same boat as Kenji. Yakeru laid a reassuring hand on his shoulder.

"How about we take a break?"

"Yeah...maybe I just need a break...sorry I lashed out."

Yakeru offered him a warm smile.

"Hey, don't worry about it."