Zalan awoke the next morning to the sound of a waterfall of sand breaking apart around him as Nold took down the protective wall. He had slept surprisingly well, his body taking advantage of every moment of rest that he had. He flexed his hands and winced, seeing they were still tender with their fresh wounds.

“I saw you use your feet for Elemental power last night. Good work. It is a good use of watch time to practice,” Nold said as Zalan rubbed his eyes.

“You were awake for that?”

“I am never in a state in which someone could ambush me,” Nold said firmly. Zalan thought it was a weird sentiment to have. Everyone had to sleep at some point. But he decided not to challenge his instructor.

Rep and Zalan remembered to check their Experience this morning now that they had fought and killed Boznoks and a Sand Shark the day before. Rep was at 30 Experience and Zalan at 40. It was a much slower progress than Zalan was used to and he was starting to catch on to why his previous party were all below Level 10. The scaling was hard to keep up with, especially if you killed monsters that you could overpower.

They were on the move almost immediately, making quick progress compared to the day before. The wind appeared out of nowhere and was at their back, giving them an additional energy with each step. It felt like a Wind Elemental was on their side.

Rep and Zalan were granted an uneventful morning in which they didn’t come across any monsters. Unlike the area they were in the day before, the land ahead of them was barren, making it easy to see anything approaching them on the horizon. Nothing appeared to Rep and Zalan’s relief and they both had the opportunity to rest their wounded arms. Nold seemed displeased by the lack of real world training, but chose not to agitate his pupils the same way he did the day before. He resolved to take more time to spar with them in the evening if they were unable to fight anything worthwhile in the day time.

After stopping for a meal, they finally saw something moving on the horizon. Before Rep and Zalan could even make out the shapes, Nold was confident in what they were. He clapped his hands once, excited by the creatures.

“Excellent. Fogfangs. You will defeat them with nothing but your legs,” Nold said, then smirked. “As a reminder, you need not remove your footwear in order to fire Elemental power from your feet.”

Zalan’s face went warm, but was again surprised that Nold was both awake and could hear the quiet exchange between Rep and himself the night before.

“Must we use our feet? I never learned to emit power from there,” Rep admitted.

“Yes,” Nold said without a hint of sympathy.

Rep seemed miffed, but didn’t offer any more pushback. He seemed rather calm about the situation and Zalan took that to mean that Fogfangs would be a relatively easy foe. Though that didn’t stop Rep from looking nervous about being forced to use nothing but his feet. They began to make their way toward the monsters.

“How could you tell what they were at this distance?” Rep asked Nold.

“I recognized their shape by running some Elemental power through them,” Nold said.

“You can do that?” Zalan asked, amazed.

Nold smiled silently in response.

“Are you sure you can do that at this distance? That would take incredible high Wisdom or an Artifact of some sort,” Rep said.

Nold frowned silently in response. Rep looked over Nold’s equipment and saw nothing out of the ordinary. Though his robes were long and his gloves overly thick. He could have hid many things away from his traveling companions.

After a few minutes of walking, they were close enough for Zalan to make out the Fogfang’s features. They were about the size of a large dog with thick gray fur. Their long, sharp claws were juxtaposed by their toothless mouths.

“Fogfangs don’t have fangs?” Zalan asked, curious.

“Indeed,” Rep nodded. “They are relatively weak creatures, but they will obscure the area in opaque fog when they feel they are in danger. Once hidden, they will try and cut you down with their claws. Do not get caught blind in the fog and you will remain safe. Though they become very difficult to keep track of in their fog.”

“Is their fog poisonous to breathe?” Zalan asked.

“No, it is perfectly innocuous. But I would still recommend you keep a distance and use Elemental power rather than take them on directly.”

“Or, you could kick them with an Elementally-imbued foot. Blind or not, it would do devastating damage,” Nold offered.

Zalan considered whether that would be a good idea. He didn’t want to accidentally shred apart the skin on his feet the way he’d been hurting his hands. But the idea of being able to fully imbue himself was so enticing. He wanted to speed up the learning process, even if it meant having to hurt himself on the way.

“Perhaps if you take off your shoes, your smell alone will be enough to incapacitate them,” Rep teased. Zalan broke into a slight smile.

“Maybe you can convince them you’re too scared about hurting them and they’ll back down in pity,” Zalan shot back.

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“Stop stalling and get over there,” Nold said.

The earth swelled below them as Nold created a slope out of sand to force them to stumble toward the monsters. Zalan hopped on one foot measuring how best to deliver lightning when both he and his target was moving. He kicked out the other foot and was happy to find that lightning came out from his shoe. He knew that he should trust Nold and Rep when they said it would, but it was much more comforting to see it happen firsthand. His lightning strike missed drastically. The Fogfangs that were previously milling about snapped toward them. Upon recognizing predators, they emitted a wall of thick fog around them, quickly obscuring them all from sight.

“Now what?” Zalan asked, not wanting to step into the thick fog.

“Blindly fire until we kill them all?” Rep shrugged.

Zalan shrugged in response. The two of them spent the next minute hopping unbalanced on one foot and firing their Elements from the other. Often their blasts were so far off that they didn’t even reach the fog. They couldn’t tell if any of the attacks that entered the fog were reaching their targets. Rep was having a hard time getting a good fireball made from his feet and constantly stumbled before being able to emit a cohesive attack. Zalan was doing most of the work, though he wasn’t sure he was getting any more results.

“How much Experience do you have?” Zalan asked, checking his own. 40 Experience.

“I have 30, why do you ask?” Rep replied.

“If the number goes up after we send it attacks, it means it’s working, right?” Zalan suggested.

Rep nodded, following his thought process. They continued hopping and blasting blindly into the ever present fog. The fact that the dark cloud didn’t let up was already a sign that the Fogfangs were still alive within, replenishing whatever was lost.

“Anything?” Zalan asked, checking his Experience.

“No change,” Rep shook his head.

They each stopped their energy output and stared into the fog, trying to see any evidence of the monsters within. Occasionally, they could hear a shuffle of feet and fur, but nothing came to the eye. The Fogfangs were good at evading them. Rep and Zalan turned to look at Nold.

“What do you want me to do?” Nold asked.

“Give us some advice. Teach us,” Zalan said, annoyed.

“I already told you to imbue your feet and get in there,” Nold said.

“Just go around kicking blind? What if we hurt one another?” Rep said uncertainly.

“Then go in one at a time,” Nold shrugged.

Rep and Zalan exchanged an annoyed expression.

“What is it now?” Nold asked, irritated.

“You are not offering anything we could not think of ourselves,” Rep said.

“I thought you were supposed to be this legendary instructor,” Zalan added, waving his hands with a hint of sarcasm.

“Oh, I see. You do not want to put in effort and that reflects poorly on me,” Nold said snippily.

“I’ve put in plenty of effort!” Zalan displayed his wounded arms.

“Not nearly enough!” Nold said immediately, chastising them both. “Your abilities are limited because you continue to believe you have done satisfactory work! Your power has so much more to grow into. Until you can imbue your entire body at once, you should be unhappy with where you stand. I am telling you the exact ways in which to better yourselves and you waste your time ridiculing my methods. Take risks and work hard and you will see the fruits of your labors in the tournament!”

Rep and Zalan exchanged another annoyed glance, but both decided that Nold might know what he was talking about. Zalan sighed and began walking to the cloud of fog. He stretched his legs, preparing for blind kicks, then went within.

It was entirely opaque. He wasn’t prepared to be as blind as he became. Zalan couldn’t see his hand in front of his face. Zalan felt sick at the unsightedness he experienced. It was too disorienting to not know a thing about his surroundings. He stumbled slightly over uneven earth, barely able to keep himself upright. After tripping, he could no longer tell which way he came in from. The all-encompassing fog filled him with a foreboding dread.

After a few steps within, he heard something shuffle right next to him and he kicked with all his might, trying to imbue his foot. He connected with something and swatted it clean out of the fog. It flew sailing away from him. He had no idea what it was. The ignorance made him shiver.

“You got one!” Rep announced helpfully. Zalan breathed, relieved.

Zalan’s foot was tingly from the attempted imbue through his foot. He was growing more accustomed to the idea of imbuing and hurting himself less with every attempt. Another few seconds and he heard another Fogfang run around. It scratched him. He swung his foot out blindly. When he didn’t hit anything, he sent a burst of lightning in the direction he last heard the monster.

“Hey!” Nold’s voice came immediately in protest. “Be careful where you aim!”

Zalan was more disoriented than he thought. He ran outside of the fog, kicking his legs the entire way in case he could accidentally kill another Fogfang on his way out. No such luck. He stumbled out of the fog, rolling on the clear earth and looking back to see if anything chased him. He breathed in deeply with relief. His eyes were working again.

“Your turn,” Zalan said to Rep.

He looked down at the scratch on his foot and only saw a thin cut. There was no blood drawn. He breathed in relief, having been worried that he would be down yet another limb. Rep went within and Zalan watched from next to Nold. Zalan noticed a black mark on the earth at Nold’s feet. It must have been where Zalan’s lightning landed. Zalan cringed apologetically, but Nold paid it no mind.

The fog glowed slightly as Rep tried to strike things within. Occasionally a wisp of fire would peek out from the top of the mist. Though Zalan was much happier on the outside end of the fog, he was still unnerved by knowing he could be totally blinded by stepping inside. He hoped Rep was doing a lot better than he was with the surroundings. Rep suddenly cried out in pain and let out a blast of fire at the same time. Followed by another, larger flame covering a few feet above Rep’s vicinity. The whole gaseous chamber glowed immensely.

“What happened?” Zalan called. “Are you okay?”

Before Rep replied, the fog lifted around him, revealing the remaining four Fogfangs had been killed by Rep’s attack. He sat on the floor, grabbing one leg and wincing in pain.

“Well done. You killed them all,” Nold said.

“Yes, but I burned myself when I tried to imbue my foot,” Rep said, upset with himself.

“Badly?” Zalan asked.

“No, I can still walk. It just hurts,” Rep said.

Zalan helped him to his feet. They took a moment to look upon all the dead Fogfangs.

“Great job, you did a lot of damage with your feet,” Zalan said.

“More a fluke than a plan,” Rep said, appreciating the praise.

Nold scoffed at them and was quickly back on the move. He addressed his students without looking at them.

“No need to bask in your little stumble onto success. Let us continue traveling and training,” Nold said.