*Slash* *Hiss*

Sorin continued working with the infusion technique into his weapon and then began doing it to a second sword to ensure that his training method was not going to be interrupted by an imbalance. After an additional couple of hours, he got the balance and control down to the point he could adjust the power up and down for power. As he was working with the swords and his techniques while channeling his abilities he kept an eye on the aether drain.

AP: 337/400

The drain was minimal for this technique. Corporal Reis had noticed him pausing and staring at something in front of him and advised.

"The techniques we are teaching you are designed to be used in drawn out battles especially if you are using it sporadically and as needed. As a spirit tier one, you should have plenty left for the next phase of training."

Sorin nodded knowing he wasn't a tier one but a tier 2, yet he wasn't going to volunteer free information. Knowing the endurance of an opponent is a critical piece of information. The more they believe he is a tier one the better for him.

He continued going through the dual wielding forms making sure he didn't make the few mistakes he had in the early hours where he had burned himself being clumsy. Heat manipulation and sense as well as his other abilities doesn't mean he is immune to his own fire. At this point now he was working through the forms at a normal pace maintaining a good burn on the blades and keeping the durability at a strong yet slightly flexible state. He found that if he packed too much in but not enough to destroy the blades, they became super solid, but brittle. During this time Sorin had been trying to figure out how he was going to use his path in a defensive manner.

He had a few ideas for defending against other aether attacks and only one for physical attacks. It required testing to see if it were possible to do what he wanted, and it required more information.

"Halt! Fall to formation!" Ries shouted and the group of them formed a small formation in front of him.

"I will now go over a few standard methods of defense that is commonly seen. The first method especially for those of you with a high spirit and mind rating is to pack aether into a wall in front of you to stop or slow aether attacks and even physical attacks. When done right you will see a translucent barrier in front or even a full manifestation of your element or sub element. The key to this is, are a few factors."

Reis held up one finger "Speed of aether manipulation through a strong mind stat and practice." The second finger went up "Control also using the mind stat to make sure your aether is in proper alignment with no holes in the field that can be exploited by enemy aether." A third finger went up "Third is the amount and how tightly packed your aether is before impact." A fourth finger went up. "Lastly is tier. What tier someone is will determine how much power and defense someone can bring to bear against their opponent. Each point that is in your spirit rating is 10 aether.

When you get to the peak of tier one you will have 100. When you break through to tier two your aether pool will double as will the gains from each. When you push into tier three it will double again. This is what makes battle so dangerous and why information is key. If you go up against a tier three as a tier one there is little chance of your survival because that person could be essentially ten times if not stronger than you are. That is in spirit alone and not factoring in the same when it comes to body, and they will be faster with greater mana control than you with a stronger mind stat. Now with all that said...YOU! Step forward."

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Reis pointed to the ogre. "I want you to attack me either with aether or physically as hard as you can. You will face no consequences as this is a training exercise and I'm a higher tier than you."

The man stepped forward after acknowledging the command given. Corporal Reis stood casually watching the ogre. With a growl and a sneer, the ogre brough his wooden hammer down toward the head of Reis who raised a hand making a silver extremely solid looking barrier appear before him. With a crack the wooden hammer exploded against the barrier and the ogre was thrown backwards to his rear.

"On your feet and fall back to formation!" Reis yelled as the ogre slowly got up and shuffled to formation. It seemed there was some sort of transfer when he struck the barrier. "There are infinite amounts of affects the barriers can take on and different types of defenses. Some of the greatest warriors have been known to maintain their defenses all the time they are awake. Now...spread out and begin working on your defense. Minimum standard is going to be a projection of a barrier. For you." Looking to the dwarf who could not project. "I need to see your internal aether used to strengthen your skin so that when impact does happen you can block it in the same manner that the captain did at receiving."

Turning to the rest of the group he spoke once more. "You are on your own time until an hour before end of the days training. you will be tested. Failure to meet the minimum standard will result in removal as per usual. Begin"

Sorin found his own area and sat down to focus. He opened up his sense and saw all around him doing different things to work on their defense ability. Some were throwing aether out which Sorin could see as heat of different temperatures. Sorin saw the dwarf sitting and working the aether inside and he could see the temperature within him in a constant state of flux as he was working how to strengthen himself. The vampire.... Sorin could not distinguish him from ambient temperature including any aether use. Looking at the vampire Sorin saw him actively moving what appeared to be red aether. Sorin had been brainstorming this and wanted to try a few things out, but before he did that, he needed to do the bare minimum before his other projects. Turning his palms to the ceiling he allowed aether to forcefully expel from the channels in his hands moving rapidly into a small, curved shield in front of him.

He could see the molecules moving and lining up according to his will, but still stubbornly didn't want to be close together, so like every good solution, Sorin forced them closer causing the ignition effect. Sorin brough up his aether points to make sure he didn't let out too much as to give away his elevated tier. He was already down 15 points. Looking at the shield in front of him, it looked almost like a laser shield from a movie he saw where red shields would periodically open and close near a reactor the characters were fighting with their laser swords. Sorin reached into the sand and grabbed a small rock and threw it into the shield. With a shower of sparks the rock was scorched and shot back in his direction. Sorin yelled and dodged losing his concentration causing the shield to destabilize and break apart.

"Easy enough." He mumbled to himself as he settled back in to begin work his other idea. He moved his aether out and around his hand about a centimeter from his skin and began pushing it tightly together. Before he pushed it to ignition, he put a barrier of cooler heat aether before the tightly packed aether to serve as a buffer then he ignited the aether. A smile crossed Sorin's face as he held up a red gauntlet. Slowly he closed his hand careful to make sure the aether flowed and moved with him. He had to focus to keep it moving with him as it had the tendency to flicker when his concentration lagged behind. He reached his hand down into the sand beside him and the sand began to smoke as the bits of burnable items in the sand began to burn and other elements began to spark and interact. He pulled his hand back and there was a scorch mark where his hand was. There was plenty of room for improvement.

Sorin continued to work with the idea he had expanding it and growing it, getting used to the mental gymnastics required for coordinating the armor he had in mind. He needed a way to get used to this, but he could only focus on some many things at once.

"Halt! Fall to formation!" Came the call from Corporal Reis.

Exam time! He said with a grin.