The next morning, Yakeru wasted no time getting ready for the day. It was going to be his first training session with his new mentor, Itsuki. The last time he was this excited was when Akari had finally agreed to let him be a ranger on the condition that she trained him vigorously. He clad himself in his brand new light armor forged by the scale of a behemoth, hugged his sister goodbye, and made his way to Itsuki's village.

A couple of hours later, he was approaching Itsuki's brick home. Just like the first time he'd visited, a small quake shook the ground around his property. Perhaps this was the reason the veteran ranger decided to make his house more sturdy than the rest. As he turned the corner, he found Itsuki once again on the training ground, honing his strikes. Just as the man was about to perform an overhead slash and no doubt cause another quake, he noticed the youth using the brick wall for stability, preparing himself.

"Ah, you're here," Itsuki said as Dash trotted up to the boy with a limp rodent in his jaws. Dropping his food, he sniffed Yakeru's leg as the kid released the wall and kneeled down to greet him with a head pat.

"Yes. Are you always out training when you're not on missions?" Yakeru asked as he approached.

"Of course. That's precious time to do something productive." Itsuki looked the kid up and down. He'd met many rangers in his time but rarely ever saw such quality armor. "That's quite the armor you have."

"Just got it the other day."

"I see. Well, I'm sure you're eager to learn but before we start, I wanna get one thing out the way." Itsuki stabbed his claymore into the ground and rested his arm on the handle as he casually ignited his hand with radiance.

Yakeru had seen him do this before but to see it again and up close made him gaze at it in amazement. Unlike a conduit that would glow when radiance was funneled into it, radiance imbued into the body appeared as a gentle flame.

"As you can see, it's not impossible to infuse your body. It's just a tedious process to learn." Itsuki explained, extinguishing his hand before giving it a shake to soothe the throbbing. "For the next few days, I want you to get more comfortable infusing your legs so you won't need your sword."

"My legs?" Yakeru echoed. "Why only my legs?"

"Although encompassing your entire body comes with benefits like increased strength, speed, and durability, it'll drain you much faster as opposed to focusing on certain parts of the body. The second reason is that your fighting style focuses more on speed. At least that's what I gathered from our little game the other day." He patted the kid's back with a smirk.

"Right."

Itsuki took a few steps back as Dash dug into his freshly caught meal beside the tamer. Yakeru closed his eyes, concentrating on guiding his radiance into his lower half. After a few moments, vines of amber crawled down his legs, and patches of his skin began to shine through the fabric of his armor. His legs weren't fully infused yet and he still winced from the growing pain. His form began to tremble as his muscles contracted involuntarily, a reflex to prevent him from tearing his body apart. Blinding heat strangled his legs as the light gradually covered his bottom half. Eventually, the pain grew too much to bear and he was forced to release it.

He plopped to the grass as his legs now struggled to support him. "How in the world are you so good at this?"

"It takes time. Although I know that's not a luxury you have right now, but don't you worry. I'll mold you into a force the Fiends will fear." He winked. "Now get up and try again."

Yakeru was starting to understand why people used conduits as a substitute. He already knew trying this unorthodox technique wouldn't be easy but practicing it made it more evident. Since conduits were more commonly used, the human body didn't adapt to withstand the stress of imbuing itself. Drawing out that power without having anywhere to funnel it into would slowly rip the body apart. If it took every ounce of willpower to push through the pain, he didn't have a clue how he was supposed to maintain it while in motion.

The periodic breaks he took would usually consist of him either spectating Itsuki's training or watching Dash scare squirrels out of his territory. Since twin-tailed foxes were relatively low on the food chain, they've developed heightened senses and enhanced agility to easily traverse through harsh terrain. Seeing the little critter outmaneuver and snatch up an intruder at blistering speeds was entertaining to watch...and frightening.

'I guess that's why he named him Dash.' Yakeru mused as he resumed his torturous workout.

As he was absorbed in his training, his perception of time had gotten lost somewhere down the line. The sun had already begun to touch the horizon.

"Let's call it a day, kid," Itsuki said, wiping sweat from his face.

"Right." Yakeru agreed not because it was getting late, but because he'd begun to lose feeling in his legs.

The next morning, he followed the same rigorous routine but this time was different. He noticed he was able to extend the infusion duration by a second or two. Although his legs burned and ached, he couldn't help but smile at his progress, even if it was at a snail's pace.

Aside from the problem of sustainability, he ran into another issue that he'd have to address eventually which was his plummeting reserves. He'd always have to rest not only so his body could recover, but for his channels to replenish.

He could only practice for two minutes at a time—three if he mustered every ounce of will to push his limits—before stopping to resupply his channels. From the time he'd become a ranger until now, he could feel that his channels had become more developed, but even then, this 'improper' way of utilizing radiance ate through too much of his reserves.

It wasn't until the fifth day that he felt he had built up enough resilience to hold it for about five seconds.

The author's tale has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.

"Good. You're improving faster than I thought. Keep this up and you'll be in a good position to face Kane." Itsuki praised after gulping down water to cool himself from his own training.

Yakeru released the infusion, his legs giving out from under him and dropping to the ground. "I still can't hold it as long as you can."

"Because I've been doing this since before you even held a sword. Trust me, you're doing just fine. Once you've rested up, I'm gonna show you the next part of your training."

"Does it include more torture?" Yakeru asked sarcastically.

Itsuki responded with a knowing smirk. "It definitely won't be any easier. I'll demonstrate for you."

Itsuki took a few steps back as he began imbuing his body. Unlike focusing on his arms like last time, he decided to imbue his bottom half. As the radiance slowly crawled down the length of his legs, Yakeru couldn't help but notice how little he reacted to the pain. The only indication of an uncomfortable feeling was the single twitch of his brow.

With his legs fully infused, he slid his left foot back and launched himself forward. There was barely any time for Yakeru's eyes to register movement, only the trail of amber left behind and the vague silhouette of a person. Just as he was about to lose track of his mentor, Itsuki slowed to a screeching halt, creating a dust cloud that struggled to keep up. The boy wanted to comment on how amazing that feat was but the words were lost on his tongue as he could only stare in awe.

"It's trickier than it looks but with enough practice, you'll get a good handle on it," Itsuki said, releasing the radiance and turning to the kid to find his mouth agape.

"You...you didn't even need the help of a conjurer." Yakeru stammered.

"Neat right? I'm not very skilled when it comes to speed so I was a little slow there." He stated, earning an unconvinced look from Yakeru. "However, there's a caveat to this. Augmenting yourself instead of having a conjurer do it means it'll be significantly harder to cast another radiant-based attack at the same time, especially if you're a beginner. For now, just practice walking while infused."

"I see...I'll try."

Itsuki spectated along with Dash as Yakeru attempted to replicate what he'd just seen. Infusing his legs, he lifted his foot to take a step forward, feeling lighter than before. However, the moment his foot left the ground, his radiance dissipated immediately.

"Don't get complacent because you learned how to walk during infancy. Try again." Itsuki said.

The kid infused his legs once more and went to take a step but it ended with the same results.

"Again," Itsuki repeated.

The day went on with the boy repeatedly trying to walk and although he hadn't seen any progress, he quickly took note of the main problem he had with this technique. Even now, self-infusion was still a bit challenging but sustaining it while in motion was the hurdle he'd dreaded.

He drew a line in the soil two feet ahead of him and made it his mission to reach it without breaking focus or before five seconds was up. He failed again and again but by the next day, he was finally able to 'comfortably' make it two feet before his concentration wavered.

By the end of the week, he was able to painstakingly make it to six feet. To make things worse, he wasn't walking as naturally as he'd like, his legs jittering awkwardly before completing a step. Occasionally, he'd catch himself comparing his sluggish walking to Itsuki's fluid sprinting.

'Baby steps, Yakeru. Baby steps.' He reminded himself, prying his mind out of the trap of comparing himself to an expert. He happened to look over at Dash who had stopped eating his meal to watch, an amused expression etched onto the fox's face. "You try learning to walk all over again, fox." He blurted.

"I hear a lot of talking but don't see enough training," Itsuki warned, snapping Yakeru back to the task at hand.

Ten days had passed, and the boy could finally slowly walk more naturally before his legs needed time to rest. During this time, it became more evident that his steps were lighter when infused so it took more time to get used to it.

His next goal was to achieve a fraction of the speed Itsuki had demonstrated days ago. Itsuki watched as the kid went into a clearing, drawing another line in the dirt about ten feet away from where he'd be starting.

After attempting to sprint a few times, he was once again stonewalled by another problem: coordination. His increased speed made it nearly impossible to control his footing and momentum. Attempt after attempt, he always managed to end up eating a mouthful of dirt. Itsuki and his companion shared hysterical laughs at the kid's little comedy skit.

He ignored them as he continued his practice. For this to work, he needed to predict where his foot would land after the first step. It'd be a tedious process, but he figured he'd start by leaping forward once to get an idea of where he'd land.

Itsuki cupped his chin in interest as he watched the boy push himself forward once, return to his starting position, and repeat. He purposely gave him little instructions and guidance to force Yakeru to problem-solve himself so he found it intriguing whenever he discovered workarounds.

"As entertaining as it is, I gotta admit, Dash, the kid has determination." Itsuki pet Dash's head as the fox let out a reluctant sigh of agreeance.

The youth's strategy seemed to work as he was eventually able to chain together a sequence of quick leaps before tumbling.

"Again." Yakeru turned and walked back to the starting point.

"Again." He repeated, wiping the dirt that caked his face.

Somewhere in his training, his leaps gradually started to resemble sprinting, and with each failed attempt, the distance between him and the line shortened.

With his mind somewhat freed from calculating his own movements, he could focus more on sustaining the infusion before he was forced to release it. It was at this point that he realized he'd have to pull this off while in the middle of combat but he shook that thought from his head to worry about later.

"You almost have it." Yakeru encouraged himself, positioning himself at the starting point again.

As the days passed by, he relentlessly trained and pushed himself further.

"One more time!" He pushed off, producing a faint amber trail behind him.

His footing was more stable than before but by the time he'd reached the line, he began to stumble. He released the infusion before his legs gave out and wobbled past the line. Keeping his arms out for balance, he remained upright as he looked back in disbelief. The line was behind him now.

"Hehe..." A meek laugh escaped him as his eyes traced the groove in the ground he'd excavated from the days of practicing this skill.

He allowed his body to flop to the ground as he silently basked in his victory. Itsuki got up from the chair he'd brought outside a couple of days ago and walked over with a satisfied smile.

"Very well done, kid. I'm impressed."

"You better be. Because my legs are shot." Yakeru quipped back.

"Of course they are. You came a long way."

"Yeah. This technique is nothing short of amazing. It makes me wonder why people don't try it." Yakeru panted.

"As humans, we default to whatever option is more convenient. You have to infuse in bursts to keep your radiance from ripping your body apart, concentrate on a specific part of the body you want to be affected, focus on the kind of effect you want to achieve, manage the intensity of the output, all while fighting an opponent or multiple opponents at a time. So it's understandable why people would see it as a daunting and cumbersome task. 'Why go through the hassle when using a conduit is significantly easier?' They're looking for magic through convenience. But what people don't realize is that the real magic comes from the work they usually avoid."

The kid let his words sink in before responding. "I see."

"You can take the day off tomorrow. Afterward, you'll move on to the next part of training."

"Which is?"

Itsuki gave a knowing smirk as he dangled a small silver jingle bell over the boy. "I'm sure you're familiar with that kid's game Snatch-Away, right?"