Five weeks of fighting, monster hunting, and relaxing travel wrapped up with the team heading right back to where they started. The Turtle Fortress that would be carrying them on to the next destination was still parked at the coastal city they had first arrived at. Heading back took them three days, which ended up as an extension of their continental tour.

Along the way, since their time on this mountainous continent was officially coming to an end, Blaine decided to give them each a breakdown of their performance from his perspective.

"I think I'll start with the two of you who aren't my students. Sorry, but I have less to say because I'm not directly teaching you any of your core skills. I can only give you general advice." He started. Cat and Erik nodded. They both knew that Blaine was more invested in Caeden and Lily. It didn't bother them in the slightest. Neither wanted to learn swordsmanship, and Erik was walking his own path of Ki.

"Now, Cat. You've made some impressive strides in handling larger groups of your specters and coordinating multiple types together. I've also noticed that your efficiency and timing have improved in general. Expanding your specter collection to include non-human designs is a big step forward. Obviously, your Swarm needs some fine-tuning to reach the same level of quality as your other mnemonic designs, but it's a good first step to having a much broader ability set. I'd encourage you to embrace that. Your shroud seems to have a near-limitless capacity for your creativity. Push it. Make new, inventive specters that can work in situations where your humanoid designs won't cut it."

Cat nodded. She was already working in that direction, but it was nice to hear from an experienced veteran that she was leaning in the right direction.

"Next, Erik." He turned to look across the skiff bench at the lanky student. "You're in a different boat. I think you need to narrow your focus a bit. Stitch is a limited domain, and your focus on martial arts is a good counter to that limitation. However, I think you've gone too broad. I've seen you use no less than fifteen different martial techniques in the last few weeks. None of them are at the quality level you should strive to achieve. Same with your mnemonics. They need more attention. Aim for a similar level to Cat. Her specters are perfectly refined examples of how far mnemonics can go with the proper attention. Otherwise, your combat skills continue to grow at a frankly ridiculous rate. I can't call you anything other than a prodigy in unarmed combat. If you'd just refine a technique after making it, you'd be much stronger."

Erik took those words to heart. He had come to view martial arts with the same level of pride and professionalism that he did in his medical practice. Hearing that he might have been neglecting an aspect of this new passion was hard to hear, but he did his best to take it as the constructive criticism it was.

"Now," Blaine turned to face the skiff's stern. They had made some modifications to the vessel. Namely, Caeden had made some modifications. Previously the front row of benches had been removed, taking six down to four. This had been done to accommodate Snowball's massive bear body. Caeden had taken the rear benches and moved them forward, meaning the back row was now the empty one.

Which led to Blaine turning around to see Lily resting in a cocoon of Snowball fluff with Sky perched on her fellow bonded monster, watching her with hawklike intensity. Suitable, considering the Midnight Roc resembled a harpy eagle with dark blue plumage. She had hardly let Lily out of her sight when she wasn't in a hotel ever since their underground adventure. Caeden was sitting in the pilot's seat, controlling the skiff as they cruised through yet another valley, this one a barren desert. One of the frozen variety, full of ice and snow, not sand.

"Let's start with Lily. First, your progress unrelated to my teachings. I like how you're smoothing over the process of switching between splinters. That can be a major stumbling block for even the most accomplished shrouded. Working on it now, early in your path, is a wise investment for the future. Your progress in using infusion, particularly formshift, for Ice has taken leaps forward. Don't be surprised if you reach your Embodiment or Infusion sometime soon. The only reason you aren't there already is because your shroud evolved, and you've spent the last few months refamiliarizing yourself with it."

"Onto swordwork and Ki. You're becoming a tad overzealous about only striking weak points. Against monsters, this isn't really an issue until you start finding intelligent ones, and you're a long way off from that level. However, against other shrouded, that tendency could become a weakness. Sometimes you have to settle for a less than perfect strike because it's better than giving your opponent a pattern to exploit. More than that, a truly skilled opponent will never leave a true opening."

"Your Ki is coming along much better. I realize this has been your focus over basic swordsmanship, which is a smart choice. Your shroud has some obvious weaknesses, and Ki is a perfect supplement for any time you must combat a fire or heat-based monster or shrouded. At this point, you've mastered Ki Creation, and I'm confident you can move on to Ki Manipulation. We'll work on developing more defined and articulated Ki constructs moving forward. Things better than just a line of raw Ki."

Lily nodded. She felt Blaine's assessment was fair and accurate. Her swordsmanship was a distant third to more important aspects of her powers. Namely, using her splinters better as parts of a whole rather than separate abilities, and Ki. Hearing that she was ready for the next stage was gratifying, an acknowledgment of all the effort she had put into that one aspect out of all her abilities.

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"Caeden. You have the most complicated set of abilities out of everyone. Two shrouds and a shrouded weapon with hundreds of different variations is a lot to handle. Right now, the best you can do is build a solid base, which I think you've very nearly achieved. Establishing roles for each shroud is a great way to maximize efficiency in combat without overloading your ability to act. Obviously, you're missing out on some opportunities that a more flexible approach might be able to capitalize on, but you're never paralyzed by having too many options. I've seen many overeager students in similar situations. Usually, those that form too many splinters. They become obsessed with optimizing which splinter to use in any given situation without realizing that the fast answer is often the best."

"Just be aware, don't fall into the trap of forgetting that your shrouds can do more than you use them for. So far, you've been using Sharp for long-range attacks and support, while Physical Enhancement acts as your main defense and offense. Remember, when used properly, those shrouds can take over each other's role. If you ever run into a wall, switch it up. Change your patterns. You have the greatest opportunity to be completely unpredictable."

"In comparison to your shroud abilities, your Ki training has lagged behind. You're still firmly in the Ki Creation stage, and I don't see you leaving it any time soon. Honestly, after several weeks of watching you in live combat, I'm not sure how much you need it. As much as it pains me as your Ki instructor, I would suggest setting it aside for the foreseeable future. There's not much Ki training has to offer you until the later stages, a realm that you couldn't reach for decades anyway."

"By comparison, I've noticed you making a concerted effort to use every aspect of your shrouded weapon, maximizing its unique potential. Well done. Your skills with every weapon form at your disposal has grown immensely. Begin thinking about what kind of martial art you'd like to develop, as I think you'll reach that level soon."

Caeden was surprised by the entire latter half of Blaine's assessment. He would have never expected the man to dissuade him from pursuing Ki. In fact, he had been expecting to be berated for his lack of progress. The idea that his weapon skills were nearing the level necessary to begin forming his own martial art like Erik was a complete surprise. Caeden generally had no concept for what that level of skill was or how close he was to it. He knew he was improving, but not to that degree.

But now he was excited. Trying to integrate his shrouds into his movements as a martial technique, a process that landed somewhere between a kata and a mnemonic, would be a brand new level of difficulty. After seeing the results Erik could produce, Caeden was more than willing to take up the challenge.

Lily reached over and patted his unoccupied hand, smiling warmly. He smiled back. Small gestures like that had become a new addition ever since they committed to progressing their relationship. Lily wasn't ready for a high level of physical intimacy, let alone sex. Honestly, neither was Caeden. But they had both committed to becoming more comfortable with each other. Sometimes that meant small touches like Lily's hand resting on his; sometimes that meant a private hug.

Erik and Cat thought they were hilarious and melodramatic. Caeden thought that was a bit ironic, as both of them had an extreme aversion to emotionally intimate relationships. Both were fine with the physical side of romance but didn't want to even try sharing their feelings or secrets with a partner. As far as Caeden was concerned, that put them on the same level as him and Lily.

Looking back, Caeden could honestly say that he and Lily had been at a romantic relationship level when it came to communication and trust. Both of them had been open with their feelings and desires with each other for months. It just so happened that they were both more reserved when it came to getting, as Erik put it, 'touchy-feely' with each other. Which was fine. They were happy with where things were and where they were going.

On a certain level, Caeden had been surprised that his and Lily's day-to-day interactions had been almost exactly the same before and after they made their intent official. Some part of him felt that there should have been a momentous change. He felt different. Every time he talked with Lily or looked at her, it felt different than before. Special. But the actual content of what they did, the words they said, and the actions they took were the same things they had done for months.

He had brought it up one night just to see what she thought of it, and Lily had agreed. Their newly minted romance had made them feel different, but it hadn't actually made them different. Which led to a long conversation about whether or not they were somehow doing relationships wrong because they both felt like their commitment should have changed them somehow. Then they realized they were being stupid. If they were happy with each other and how things were, then this was working. Who cared if they didn't actually act any different?

Apparently, Erik and Cat cared. Both had been expecting Caeden and Lily to shift into overwhelmingly cheesy bundles of lovey-dovey nonsense that they could make fun of. Their friends remaining essentially the same completely ruined their enjoyment of the budding relationship as the two closest bystanders. Caeden had no idea where they got that from. What about him and Lily led them to believe they would act anything like that? Calling each other cutesy pet names or feeding each other were not something either was comfortable with, so they didn't do it. Maybe they'd get there eventually, but he personally doubted it.

Caeden turned his hand over, letting his three remaining fingers close around Lily's hand, earning him a cute smirk in return. They were happy and moving forward at their own pace. That was what mattered. The rest of the trip was spent in companionable silence as each of them processed their teacher's feedback on over a month of deadly battles and fun travels.

Now it was time to move on.