Kestevere stopped by the cafeteria briefly for breakfast. Instead of sitting down to eat and potentially being late for his first meeting with his new mentor, he took his breakfast and ate as he walked to the training area. He was happy to be taken out of class today, and he'd avoided Gerold the night before, waiting until the light was out in the room to return. He wanted an easy day where he didn't have to think about his failure, and even though it was him running away, he wasn't too prideful to admit it. He didn't hold anything against Gerold and would instead hold a grudge against him had he'd taken it easy on him. Kestevere was just shocked at the ruthlessness that Gerold had shown in their battle, and he was ashamed for being unable to overcome his friend despite the gap in experience. Kestevere needed to accept that he was not used to battle and his abilities like his friends. It was as if he didn't belong around them. He pulled himself from the dark thoughts that circled in his head as he approached the training area.
"Hurry it up, kid. We've been here for a while already," Sven said, glowering. Kestevere was intimidated by him, but he felt true fear when he looked at the short woman beside Sven. She was smaller in stature but far more significant in power. Even the ice-sheet-colored eyes gave off power, and it froze Kestevere in his tracks. Kestevere reached towards the elements that comforted him after his loss. The flames strengthened his resolve, and he began walking forward once again.
"Seems you weren't exaggerating," the woman said with a smile. The waves of power disappeared, and Kestevere could approach without resistance. The woman didn't appear to be very old, but her power was very real. She wore the facade of a young woman well before her powers were released.
"My name is Velkine. I'm going to be guiding you from now on. Sven and I have been acquainted for some time, but he has never asked me for any assistance or favors. He speaks highly of you, a rarity for him and less often for someone so young. He and I both benefit since I have searched for a promising person to take my teaching upon them before I begin my journey," she said, a playful smile playing across her lips. "Let's see what you're made of, little elementalist."
Sven beckoned for Kestevere to follow them, and the group was soon out of the gates. Kestevere was anxious because of the first time Sven had taken him out of the gates for a lesson. He knew that he'd be facing a new test, one to impress Velkine. She was sure to be critical, and Kestevere's own mind was his greatest enemy. Surely, he could do better than yesterday. He'd given a good showing, but it wasn't his best, was it? The hour of travel allowed Kestevere to face the highs and lows of his own mind, arguing against and for his strength. Doubt crept into his mind, only to be washed away by pride in his strength. The war inside of his mind was constant, and he didn't notice that the two walking in front had stopped until he nearly walked into them.
"Get your head in the game Kestevere. If you lose your focus, you could lose your life. This isn't training; these aren't illusions, and you aren't able to be carted away to the medics. We're strong, but even we may not be able to save you in time," Sven growled with disapproval.
"Oh, be nice, Sven. He fought a hard battle yesterday. I'm sure he's in the midst of a great change," Velkine retorted, her smile instilling much-needed confidence in Kestevere. "Now, Kestevere, there is a powerful enemy in there for someone of your level. This beast is just within the Human level of power, but it's at the peak of that level. We are here to back you up and protect you from death, but we will not step in unless you're sure to die. Show me what you have, and I'll help you through this. Remember, our primary goal is to retrieve the magic crystals the monster feeds off of within the cavern."
"Yes, ma'am, I'll do my best!" Kestevere nearly shouted, and he cautiously made his way into the cave before them. Sven and Velkine followed the young boy from a distance, and Kestevere could hear them speaking softly, but he couldn't make out what they were saying. He instead focused on what was before him in the cave. The darkness was difficult to see through, and Kestevere had to use his magical senses in order to see through the cave. It helped some, but the darkness continued to prevent him from seeing far ahead. Kestevere pushed air through the cave and followed the path, and he used the connection between himself and the elements instead of his vision. Up ahead, he could feel something resting on the earth. He stopped at a corner that led into a cavernous room. When he surrounded it with a blanket of air, he felt the magnitude of the foe he was about to face. He didn't know what it was, but the beast was easily three times the size of the bear he'd encountered in the entrance exam. Kestevere found himself feeling parched, but it was merely fear drying his mouth. Kestevere took a breath and rounded the corner to see that hundreds of shimmering crystals lit the room.
Below the gentle blue light, a beast lay before him. It was sleeping, and each breath out sent light vibrations through the ground below them. Scales covered the creature's body, and Kestevere saw that it was almost humanlike in the structure of its body. The beast had six limbs, four arms, two legs, and two heads. Kestevere could see why it was so threatening. The best decision was to take the monster out by bringing the entire cavern down on the monster, but the earlier conversation about grabbing the crystals remained in his thoughts. Kestevere sighed softly, knowing that this test was multifaceted, but he strode forward anyway.
Kestevere placed his hands on the ground and controlled the earth surrounding them. The earth deep below the sand of the cavern molded into serrated blades that were meant to impale and become stuck inside of his opponent. This wasn't a school match between himself and a student; this was a battle of life and death that he couldn't afford to lose. He had to do better than before. It had to be flawless. The sand began swirling beneath the monster like a sandy whirlpool that pulled the beast deeper into the ground. It roared with enough force to shake some of the crystals above loose, but it was powerless to stop itself from being pulled beneath the surface. Kestevere could feel the spikes below breaking off, but once disconnected from the walls, they disappeared into the power that swirled below. Kestevere felt the beast stop moving after some time and stopped the attack.
"Do we need to gather the crystals now? Do we have anything to carry them in?" Kestevere asked the two behind him. When there was no answer, he glanced behind himself as he walked towards the center of the cavern. Velkine shook with laughter, and Sven was covering his face as if from embarrassment. The ground shook, and Kestevere narrowly avoided being wrapped within the four arms of the monster as it burst from the ground. Power thrummed through Kestevere's body as he continued creating distance between himself and the monster. He reached out to the earth with his mana, creating a spinning spiral lance to pierce the monster instead of cutting it with blades. The beast could ball its scaled body up, and the drill slid off the monster and struck the ground instead without leaving so much as a scratch on it.
"That monster's known as a scale giant. It's a rare beast that surrounds itself with the earth. The scales on its body are rounded for deflecting attacks, and even an iron sword cannot pierce it without monstrous strength. Even with that kind of strength, the sword would likely shatter first," Sven shared. Kestevere mentally berated himself for not extending his studies of beasts to those outside the course curriculum. Kestevere watched as the monster unfurled itself and let out another ear-piercing roar that momentarily stunned Kestevere. The monster launched itself at Kestevere, and he couldn't manage to do anything but fall backward and stare as time seemed to slow. The hands of the monster reached towards him, ready to rip him apart. Kestevere heard a snap, and suddenly, the monster was encased in ice a couple of feet in front of him.
"Focus. What did you do wrong?" Velkine asked Kestevere, who shook in front of her with fear and adrenaline. "Never mind, just listen. You didn't know your enemy. You allowed your enemy to disappear from your sight. You assumed you defeated your enemy. These are the most severe mistakes you made."
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"Yes, ma'am," Kestevere said, rising from where he'd fallen.
"Did you see what I did to create the ice in front of you?" Velkine asked.
"No, all I saw was the creature leaping one moment and then ice capturing it the next," Kestevere admitted, embarrassed.
"That's fine. I didn't expect you to since our levels are completely different. I'd be shocked if Sven could follow it," Velkine teased as Sven sulked at the entrance to the cavern. "You're not using your blessing to the best of your ability. Any elementalist can see the surrounding elements, but most tend to have one that they truly resonate with. You may, or you may be a more general Elementalist. That remains to be seen, but the concept is the same. You should always be surrounded by the element you are most in tune with. If you aren't prepared, you die. You have already died once in this fight, so learn from your mistakes."
"I understand," Kestevere choked out, and Velkine placed a hand on her face as the tears began to fall.
"I forget sometimes that you're a child. It's easy to ignore that when the nation is training all of you for war in these desperate times. You're doing fine, Kestevere. This is why we train, okay?" She asked softly, raising his head with her hands so that he met her eyes with his own. "We've all been here, and we survived and improved. You will, too. Give it time, and don't let anyone speak ill of you."
"Okay," Kestevere began, wiping his face with his arm, "I'll get stronger. I'll do better to make the people I care about proud of me."
"No, do it for yourself. You'll always be there for yourself, and your opinion is the only one that should matter," Velkine lightly chided before beginning a lesson in what she did. She explained that she'd gathered the sparse water element on their walk from the city and through the cave system. She explained that it was close to being the size of a pond and was following beneath them. The water was also in a misty form, following her at all times so that it could be weaponized, and she only had to force the water forward with her mana and then freeze it. It was a technique that she'd developed over time and named Flash-freeze.
"Use this battle to develop your skills. Learn to surround yourself and use the available elements to beat that monster. You've got the strength. You just have to learn to use it," she said before walking back towards the cavern entrance. Kestevere nodded and followed her some ways before turning back towards the scale giant. Kestevere saw the ice forming more cracks as the shaking within increased in intensity. He gave a thumbs up to Velkine without looking away from the monster, and the ice dissolved instantly. The scale giant released a roar of rage, but Kestevere was prepared for it this time. He reinforced his body with mana and covered himself with air to defend against the ear-piercing sound. Kestevere analyzed the monster and saw that it had two areas where the scales didn't defend it. The stomach wasn't protected, and its eyes weren't covered. He would use those areas to his advantage.
Heat gathered around Kestevere and began swirling with the air that surrounded him. The scale giant stood and charged him, sending reverberations through the ground. Kestevere pushed the blazing air towards the beast and momentarily blinded it as it continued running. He raised compacted stone from deep in the earth, superheating it, and aimed the blazing spear at the monster. Once it could see again, the monster dived towards Kestevere and directly into his trap. The molten spear shot into the beast, boosted by the air that was sped up by his mana. The heat and speed allowed for the spear to fire through the scale giant completely, but Kestevere wouldn't let up. He pulled water from below the sand where Velkine had stored it, taking control of it for himself, and forced it into the gaping wound that he'd inflicted. Water flooded the monster's body, eventually reaching the lungs, which burst shortly afterward. Kestevere nearly heaved as he realized what he'd done but refused to allow himself to be sick until he ensured the monster was dead. There were no vibrations, and he didn't see any movement by the monster underneath the blue light that the crystals provided. Once he knew the monster was dead, his body relieved itself of all of the emotions he'd felt by ejecting his breakfast. As he continued heaving, Sven and Velkine approached.
"Well, it's not the cleanest hunting method I've seen for this particular monster, but it'll do," Sven chuckled. Velkine shot him a look of disapproval that cut off his laughter.
"You did well, Kestevere. Perhaps we can pay more attention to cleanliness at another time," she began, glaring at Sven before turning her attention back to Kestevere, "but you did perfectly fine. As Sven said, you're a quick learner, and I'll gladly take you on as my apprentice. You'll leave him in the dust soon enough."
"Just because you've reached the level of Hero before me doesn't mean I'm any slower than you. It just means that I still have a job, unlike you," Sven playfully corrected. Kestevere collected himself and looked between the two. They were clearly friends who had known each other for a long time, but he could tell they'd taken different paths. He worried about the same thing happening to himself and his friends. Sven pulled a bag from one of his pockets. He handed it over to Velkine, who quickly and efficiently gathered all of the crystals, including those caught within Kestevere's earthen whirlpool before. Kestevere asked about the bag as Sven pulled another from his pocket and explained that they were bags enchanted with space-controlling magic for storage and keeping the items contained within fresh. As the last of the crystals were gathered, Sven made quick work of butchering the monster and placing it into the other bag of holding with a look of disgust.
The group made their way out of the caves, with Sven leading the way. Kestevere kept a cloak of earth around himself, just as Velkine had with the water. He found that it took constant concentration to do so, much like when he'd been developing his body with the conditioning. He noticed a difference in the amount of control he felt. Mana could be told what to do, but he was forced to beckon to the elements. It was closer to asking a friend to travel with him instead of powering himself up. Still, it wasn't exactly difficult.
Once they made it out of the caves, Kestevere saw a vehicle outside molded out of ice. Velkine motioned for the other two to enter the back of the vehicle, and Kestevere was surprised to find that the inside was made of stone. Velkine explained that she'd created it while they were on the way back outside, and it was something that she liked to use often for travel. Stone and ice could maintain their shapes, so all Velkine had to do was wrap the vehicle in glacial winds for travel.
"Just because you only saw me using ice to attack doesn't mean that I can't use anything else. I'm sure you've seen students using one element or another if they've gone through a few semesters, but that's because they were able to discover what resonated like I have with water," Velkine lectured, and Kestevere merely nodded. The after-effects of a real battle were taking their toll, and although it was a short ride to the city, Kestevere found himself being woken up when they arrived.
"Go get some rest, Kestevere. I'll turn in the monster parts, and you'll get the money credited to your school account," Sven explained. Kestevere said he understood, and Sven walked away without another word. Kestevere turned to Velkine hesitantly, still concerned about not being good enough to warrant her time as his mentor.
"He's right that you need some rest. You'll be returning to your classes tomorrow, but you'll meet me at the training grounds every day after class. During weekends we'll be at the training grounds. You have a month left before you join the tournament, and I've heard that your grades are good enough that you qualify to graduate with scholarly honors. Your body needs to catch up to your brain, so we'll have to work you to the bone to make that happen," Velkine laughed, and despite the looming threat of being overworked, Kestevere felt relief. He was worthy, and that was enough for today. Velkine dismissed Kestevere and walked in the same direction that Sven had gone.
Kestevere was exhausted, but he knew that he'd need to eat before freshening up and getting some sleep. Classes were letting out, so Kestevere made his way to the cafeteria quickly. He selected a large meal option that included various types of meat, potatoes, and rice in a soup stock. He was halfway done eating the bowl when Gerold sat in front of him, and he nearly spit the spoonful of soup on his roommate and friend.
"So, let's talk about yesterday, shall we?" Gerold glared with a threatening grin.