A number of those returning ropes were charred black. Clearly showing there was great discharge of electricity that had took place after Alec's interference on the scallop stopped.

Giving a nod to the spire's keeper who returned it back, Alec sailed went past Myr and soon reached the bottom of the spire. There he easily pulled the mast off, and used it to attach the ropes in order to pull the boat up like he usually does. Stopping right next to the two large stone doors.

After some time the keeper reached close to the entrance as well, the doors opened right away and Alec spoke.

"I did it?"

Holding a look as if he had just woke up, Alec spoke in an inquisitive tone almost finding to be unbelievable until he broke out of it and regained composure. He then repeated what he said again, it no longer being a question this time.

"I did it!"

At that Myr replied to him.

"You did."

Running his hand through his hairs, Alec shook off some drops of sea water. A couple of which he stopped from falling on his shoes before letting them go and fall down like the rest.

"Is it fine if I ramble off a little about myself?"

"Of course. Lending you an ear is never an issue as long as you are willing."

"Thanks. What I wanted to say is about how all of this feels so different and wierd from how my life used to be. Despite the few bad years in the school, I still had a decent enough college life. I took a standard four year degrees related to engineering. In hindsight I had no great passion towards it, but it would have helped me secure a job overseas."

Trying to hold a small laugh form coming out with a closed mouth, Alec coughed slightly and then continued speaking further.

"I probably won't need it to ensure a comfortable life, but maybe I will have a try at it anyway. A couple years at most and then I'll go around travelling the world. The skills that I have developed here would make this far easier than it would have been for me a few months ago. Now I just have to ensure my survival through here."

With that said, Alec took his break in order to first eat and note his findings regarding what he found about his powers.

****

Some time later in the third floor of the spire of knowledge, Alec was fighting off a featureless dummy exactly his size. A series of punches and kicks were exchanged between them, all of them were either dodged or blocked with precision. Only with Alec doing more blocks than dodges.

This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

Right when another punch was thrown at him instead of widening the distance then blocking it Alec blocked it with one arm and closed in to kick the front leg perform an inside sweep. This put the dummy off balance and right when Alec thought he had the advantage the fighting dummy put both hands on the ground doing a headspin kick.

This hit Alec right in his stomach, causing him to nearly lose consciousness and marking as the end of the spar today.

By now it had gotten serious enough for both parties to wear protective head gear. Alec for his sake and the dummy had it to make the fight fair on both sides. First removing the helmet off then bandaging some of the bruises, including the one on his stomach, Alec then drank some water then looked back at the place he was fighting.

The dummy was still standing there, and after Alec clapped twice it moved. The movement it showed started with a small running to the forward, stopping at once the dummy made a series of punches and kicks. Meanwhile also shifting it's position as if avoiding something invisible.

All of it was so that Alec could see a repeat of the fight just earlier, allowing him to learn about it by seeing atleast one side. It was done in order for him to understand the spar from a third party perspective and let him get more out of it even when he was physically tired.

Seeing the entire fight like this Alec was nearly able to envision just how he was moving. Especially by the end of the fight which was the most fresh in his mind. There he saw exactly how the dummy made use of a headspin kick, making Alec want to have this move in his arsenal as well.

Readying himself to try to perform it as well, Alec then started to repeat the exact movements by doing a half-back flip, after which he put both his hands on the ground, only for his grip to loosen and causing him to fall on his back.

Getting up to repeat it again Alec then saw Myr from a distance, coming from the staircase that lead to the fourth floor. The keeper was carrying a basket likely filled with a number items, all of them were covered under a large white cloth.

Pausing his head spin practice for a later time, Alec then walked over to Myr's side. Upon recieving the basket from its holder, he sorted through it and picked out a round drum. He held it by its frame, one side of which was transparent, revealing a number of tiny beads. When rolled, these beads produced a noise through the drum, a sound now familiar to Alec as the sound of waves in the large water body.

The item in his hand easily replicated those sounds, the instrument itself was called an ocean drum told to him by Myr. Playing it while keeping it close to his ear, Alec then listened to the sounds before setting it down to do other tasks.

Unwrapping all the bandages most of Alec's light bruises were gone, even the one on his stomach did not look as bad anymore. Cleaning up after himself after that, Alec then got ready to head out to sea to test these few items.

With only a few months left before he had to leave, especially considering that he wanted to leave earlier in order to make time for himself to return back just in case if he suffered an unforeseen danger Alec kept himself at a schedule busy enough to use his time efficiently but not so tight that it would leave him greatly exhausted.

The level of his physique had reached much greater heights than before, as he had achieved the improvement he wished in his endurance. The main focus of the excercise and routine not on creating a bulky figure, rather one that was agile and resilient to face the arduous journey ahead of him.

His hair had grown long enough but he had a plan for it that required it to be a little more longer. It was not long enough to reach below his chin yet, likely a couple months before that to happen. His beard was kept cleanly shaved, the main reason for it was the long hours of swimming and sailing. That he had been doing everyday without any days skipped.

Playing with the instrument in his hand Alec prepared to go out for sailing again. Connecting the parts of his boat Alec then pushed it off to the sea, meanwhile riding alongside with it.

"Soar!"

Saying so the large sails began to act as a parachute easing his fall, allowing Alec to successfully land his sail boat on the sea.

Usually he would measure the path of the winds by the flapping of the sails, not this time as he closed his eyes while bringing the ocean drum close to his ear. Carefully he tilted the drum at a slow pace, allowing the beads to slide forward.

While in the process of him doing that a wave was generated right under Alec's sail boat causing it to move forward. As Alec proceeded to tilt the instrument further the boat moved faster with the tide under it growing.

Beating the drum in a rythm, Alec used the ocean drum to increase the level of his invocation in order to better control the sea water and aid in moving the boat. The perspective of better using emotions also made Alec to try use what seemed like placebo like items to help use in invocation itself caused Alec to bring something like this out.

At first he wanted to use something like a magic wand or wear a pirate captain's clothes. Rejecting both of them, after recognising that he could neither conjure a simple spell like fireball mor have a crew to call upon as his.

Bringing him to his normal get up, as he tried to perform the rest of the tricks with this instrument he found really amusing. Present in the side of the sea with no monsters around, just as a precaution while testing out these different Invocation.