After her demonstration, Elaine had tasked Cypher with trying it himself. He had watched closely to see what she had done, and he could, in theory, follow the steps needed to manifest the Duality shield. However, he soon found that following the steps accurately and performing the actual task of controlling the elements was easier said than done.
The process could be broken down like this: First, one had to call up a base of mental energy. This would serve as the mold for the spell itself and come in handy later for more fine control. Next, one would have to begin summoning each of the four primary elements. This was a bit easier since Cypher was familiar with doing that much when casting normal spells.
Once they were all summoned, one then had to use the earth element as a metaphorical frame for the other three. Water would be layered over the earthen frame, followed by wind, and lastly fire. At this point, one would need to condense them, and then begin using the higher elements of Light and Darkness.
The light would provide something similar to heat in an oven, while the darkness would constantly work to cool off that heat. It was a strange cohabitation, but Elaine had done it just fine. Of course, that led to the last step of the process. Once all the elements were in place, one had to use their mental energy to bend the laws and properties of each element to their extreme.
This is why the mental energy from before was important. It would act as a sort of switch that allowed the end result to be maintained or deactivated. However, this required fine and precise control since the elements also needed to be forced to become one. Forced to become balanced and therefore cancel each other out while also empowering one another at the same time.
It was a fairly simple process on paper, but when applied in the real world, it was one of the most challenging spells Cypher had ever come across. It was no wonder that it required someone in the fourth rank to master it. Cypher wondered why having Null affinity helped in this process.
He struggled constantly to find a balance in his conjured elements. However, each time he got close to passing the third step, his power would spike and a stray beam containing each element would fire off into the ground or nearby trees. Whatever got hit wouldn't survive and simply vanished, however, the backlash from that sent Cypher flying off into the distance, or straight into the ground.
He simply wasn't able to control the release of that kind of power just yet. After all, he was messing with the primary elements. Conductors used these elements often, but one couldn't forget that they were also the basis of the world.
The primary and higher elements made up the overall structure of everything. What he was trying to do now could be compared to what the Divines had done while creating the world, only on a much much smaller scale.
An entire week passed after that first attempt, and still, Cypher showed no results. Elaine would often give him tips while he was working, and while they did help overall, they always caused him to fail and sent those dangerous beams shooting outwards. They were of course, easy for Elaine to avoid. However, Cypher accidentally incinerated a few wild animals in the process of his training.
Cypher would try, "No, no no! Focus on separating the Earth element before Wind!"
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Then he would try again, "Ugh no! Make sure you're layering them properly! Keep watch of every bit of every element you have summoned!"
And he would try once more, "Why in the hell did you forget to set down a layer of mental energy first?!?"
Each time he failed, Elaine would have something to say in the middle of the process and Cypher felt like that was the cause of his failure. However, Elaine was always right, and in actuality, she would only speak up when he was doing something wrong in the first place.
At the end of each week, on the first day, he and Elaine would spar. That would leave him an exhausted mess by the time they were through. Of course, that training helped to hone his mind and body further. As a result, his control over the energy became even more perfected and he soon started producing better results when using the Duality Shield.
He still had a long way to go though, this was a high-level technique after all, but it bothered him that he couldn't get the hang of it quickly. Learning had always been easy for him and he always picked up on things faster than normal, however, in this, he was lagging behind.
Of course, it couldn't be helped. In all honestly, he was progressing as fast as he possibly could at this point. Even Elaine was surprised that he was grasping it so quickly. However, Cypher either didn't or couldn't realize that.
Then on the second day of the weekend, he would spend the early morning either helping Alex harvest his crops or with his own training. The two of them still felt uneasy about the Minus. Since Cypher had told Alvin about the issue they felt somewhat better, but right now their main concern was growing strong enough to resist him on their own. Louis had shaken their resolve and almost caused them to abandon their paths.
However, they pushed through it and together were training harder than they ever had. Cypher with his Duality Shield, Alex with his own personal exploits. But, in the backs of their minds, they knew that the time was coming when Louis would return for them and they would have be ready for him.
In the afternoons, however, Cypher would find himself spending more and more time with Melodi. They would chat and even train a little. But a lot of their time was spent in the library of his home. They would pull up stacks of interesting books and Melodi would lay across his lap while the two of them read. He would play with her hair and she would hum happily as she read.
Of course, they would also spend time in the Market district. Cypher had once been wealthy, but now all his funds went towards his training, or into resources for future endeavors. As it was, Melodi would often buy him things during her shopping sprees. However, she wasn't a typical girl from a wealthy family. She would spend her money on armor, weapons, and various enchanted baubles, not clothes, and jewels that meant nothing to those who practiced Conduction.
For the time being, life was good, their power was growing steadily, and even Alvin would pay him a visit to talk about his recent findings on the belt. Of course, there was never a whole lot to say about it. But Alvin was making progress towards uncovering the truth of that artifact.
Still, despite the easygoing life, Cypher soldiered on and kept his training and overall schedule constant. He wouldn't let up at all. To him, it felt like learning this spell would bring him closer to his father. However, layered underneath that, was a desire to protect his friends.
Alex and Melodi were of course new in his life relatively speaking. But over the last month and a half, Cypher had gotten to know them both much better. He had grown very fond of them and found that they had become a stable constant in his life that had mostly known loneliness. Of course, it went without saying that he also cared for Alvin and Glenda.
Even Elaine was starting to rub off on him, despite her brash and overly honest nature. He was truly happy, and that was something he wasn't used to. His circle of comrades was steadily growing and although the threat of something dangerous happening in the near future still lingered in his mind, he enjoyed this feeling while it lasted. This was a brand new kind of light in his life and Cypher was basking in it for all it was worth.