The next two days mostly passed without incident. I didn't spend them crying in bed or anything, but Callie's shadow was definitely there for me while I slept. I was able to use Zagan to help purify some of the lingering effects myself, though I still had a few mental cobwebs. I didn't feel like working on wishes, so I just piled my extra sixteen into the ring, which brought me to fifty one total, counting the ones my friends had outside the ring.

Tomorrow was going to be my next trial, and I wasn't exactly thrilled about it, so instead of dwelling, I decided to spend some time working with my apprentice.

"Now," I told her as we hiked out to a clearing in the woods. "Here's where we take the next step in your training. You have your movement technique, but now you need to learn to use it for actual combat. Moving from safe and stable locations is fine for a beginner, but you need to be able to not only trigger your technique but properly control it in the heat of battle, and that takes practice."

She frowned. "I guess…" she said slowly. "I was going to say Escape Velocity is aimed at escaping rather than active combat, but I could escape attacks as you make them, so it should work. It's more built to disengage than dodge, though."

"Not always an option." I said bluntly. "Sometimes you're dealing with someone faster in flat out acceleration and you need to move around constantly, sometimes you're in a confined space and the entrance is blocked, sometimes you're injured in a way that makes sustained flight impossible but you can still move in short bursts. There are lots of reasons to learn this. Now, you brought your staff?"

She held up the three foot stick confidently. "I went with a smaller version. More maneuverability."

"You sure you want to learn to use one?" I asked. "While it's true that I want to try to pass on my Goetia Staff Art, I'm not sure it can be done. I've never tried to teach a unique Skill before." And I technically wasn't now. Goetia was almost a subskill, though my forms DID have a base of stats like any other Skill, which should make them learnable.

Teaching Bella the staff was something I'd waffled over. I wanted to see if she could learn, but at the same time, it could hypothetically give me away. I didn't think it was TOO big a risk, given how few people knew the details of my power, but it was a chance I was taking on my apprentice. Still, she'd helped me out so much with my Path, and I wanted to pay her back somehow. Sincere instruction seemed like the easiest way.

She nodded seriously. "I totally want to. I've been practicing all the movements you've taught me. All the underlying staff styles of each of your forms." She didn't understand what a form was yet, really, she just thought I meant it in the sense most martial arts would. Practicing the actual martial arts component of the art seemed like the best place to start.

I'd created a unique style of combat for each of my forms, as part of designing the Staff Art. Mephistopheles involved lots of powerful blows and thrusting slams, Belial lots of deflection, I'd been working on proper styles for my more recent forms, and Bael involved lots of feints, but that was the only one I'd gotten so far.

"You get a Skill yet?" I asked hopefully. This was still kind of a proof of concept thing, and even a Minor Skill would be a huge coup.

She shook her head in frustration. "Not yet. I feel like I'm close though."

"Alright, then this might help." I gestured for her to step into the clearing. "Adding your movement technique in will bring you closer to how I actually use my Staff Art. And fighting against it will show you more of how it works. Just stick to the styles I showed you as we fight, there are movements that should work in any situation. I'll do the same, and we can try to get you that Skill."

She grinned eagerly, and I took up a combat position. "So, your first task…don't go down too easily." I moved. Black flames exploded as I vanished, appearing next to her, staff whirling as I brought it smashing toward her head.

Her own burst of flames flared up, but I was already moving, my Waltz carrying me to the spot her eyes had landed on as I continued my whirling series of strikes. Her eyes widened and she squeaked as my staff cracked down on her knee, taking a tumble and landing on the ground with a hiss of pain, cradling her leg.

The author's tale has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.

"Lesson number one." I said as I whirled my staff in lazy figure eights. "Reactive movements are fine, but always know where you're going after your next step. One move ahead means you have no wiggle room. Your need to look around and find an escape route gave me time to mark your next move. If you'd planned ahead, I'd have had to chase you."

Wincing, she climbed to her feet. "Two moves ahead." She said forcefully. "Got it."

"Three is better, but that gets complicated," I admitted. "So yeah, two is fine for now. Reset and let me know when you're ready."

She steadied herself, took a deep breath, and then nodded. I blazed forward, appearing behind her, and she vanished. I noticed the slight flare of heat preceding her move and Waltzed across the distance, marking her again, but this time I was the one reacting. Sadly for her I was doing it in armor that enhanced my black flame, and with a very advanced movement technique.

My staff struck out at her head, but to my delight, she deflected it. Belial. Grinning I came in for another attack, and she stood her ground, defensive staff work bleeding off the power of my strikes ala Mornax, and thrusts towards my joints in response with Mephistopheles.

I could have easily overpowered her, but I pulled back a bit, letting her vanish again before catching up and pressuring her more. The point of this was for her to learn, not take a beating, which meant I needed to pace myself. She was picking things up, and I was excited to see exactly what she could manage.

We battled like that, vanishing and appearing across the clearing, staves clashing against each other as we ran the gamut of the moves I'd taught her, then circled back for more. She looked like she was tiring, but I didn't pull back any more than I was. She needed to learn, and that meant at least some pressure. I couldn't say when the change happened, but it definitely did. Between one second and the next, something about her staff work just…changed.

I was striking at her knee again (because it was safer than a head shot), when her staff licked out and tapped mine. Rather than bounce it away or even slide it off her staff, I felt the force sort of…bend. True deflection, and as I glanced at my weapon, I could have sworn I saw a faint flicker of green.

Backing off, I waited for a reaction, and sure enough, she froze, staring down at her hands and then back up to me. "Master…" she said quietly. "I did it. I got the Skill. Minor Goetia Staff Mastery."

I grinned manically. That was amazing. I could TEACH my staff art. I considered teaching it to my friends, and I would offer through Callie, but I doubted they'd take me up on it. Versatile and powerful as it might be, making any progress learning it would require full dedication.

Ascendants, by and large, picked one or two Skills to focus on, and they were usually either very basic or part of their ability. The only people I'd seen go the other way were people with Jobs that leaned toward multi-skilling, like Mages, who I was pretty sure had some kind of meta-skill to make them learn faster.

At the end of the day, even I had to choose between having a lot of Skills and just one or two. I'd just cheated by making my one major Skill absurdly diversified, and by getting a second ability so it would grow without needing to be manually trained.

I was well aware that without my second ability, not only would I not be nearly as powerful in terms of my Path and techniques, but I'd probably never have managed to get my DS Mastery to Master. Even getting it to Intermediate had been a colossal task, and the effort had been unknowingly weakening the Skill as I'd mashed new ones into it, effectively preventing me from ever using it to create a Chronicle.

You could be known for being really good at one thing, or you could be decent at everything, but you couldn't do both without some kind of workaround.

Bella, however, was on the lookout for a decent combat style. Her 'escape' ability wasn't suited for the kind of lifestyle she wanted to live, and she was willing and able to give her full focus to the Goetia Staff Art. Which was something I realized I WANTED. Part of me wanted to pass on my legacy. I was excited at the possibility that something I created would pass on to future generations.

I held out a hand, pulling her to her feet. "Good work." I said proudly. "Of course, a Minor Skill is nothing. You'll need to grind it up to at least Intermediate before it'll be much use. But hey, you've got plenty to work on. Did you feel a little bit of Belial there just then?"

She nodded eagerly. "I did! It felt like some of the power from the deflection seeped into your staff."

"It did, though it was such a minute amount there was no chance it was going to damage a weapon like mine." I laughed at her disappointed pout. "Don't get down on yourself, a Minor Skill isn't much, like I said. I doubt anyone could have seriously damaged my staff with a Minor Skill at D-rank. It's a good sign though, because it means you're learning."

She nodded slowly. "So, in order to use the energy like you do, I have to use the corresponding style?"

"I imagine so." I said with a shrug. "I created the Skill, so it makes sense I'd be able to use it differently. It's ultimately a martial art, so you need to use certain moves to get certain effects." Benefits of a unique Skill, I supposed. I could just trigger forms with a thought, because the Goetia Staff Art was part of me. But being able to use the forms by mimicking the style was still a huge boost in power if she got it to a decent level.

For my part, I was nearly vibrating with excitement. I'd CREATED a Skill that other people could learn. I'd known that was a thing, in retrospect, but my own personal experiences and creations felt so personal. It was crazy to think that anyone could learn what I could do, if I decided to teach them.

It was a little different, and I was pretty sure she could never pass my own rank in it, but that hardly mattered. I'd contributed to the universe. I'd made something that was a part of this crazy world I lived in, and I was proud.

"Well," I said as she finished processing. "Getting the Skill was just step one. We still need to get it higher. Back in position, we're going again. I'm going to make sure you can use that staff properly if it kills you." Her elated expression became wary, but I just smirked behind my mask and got into position. She needed to learn, and if this part of the training helped me vent some of my frustrations at my own mentors…well, two birds and all that. I'd never claimed to be perfect.