Amos remains silent as a question he’s been thinking himself is asked.

  Alea and Taleya both look at Will expectantly.

  “Well,” Will scratches the back of his head, “I have a decent understanding of my own, and a basic understanding of some others. There were some elements that Amos tested me on that I wouldn’t know anything about, but others I know one or two things.” After a second of thought he adds “I doubt I know anything more than someone who’s been using their element for years doesn’t already know though.”

  “We’ll discuss this later.” Amos said. “For now, let’s get back to training.”

  The four step outside and face one another.

  “Now Will, you’re going to have to start using your element slowly. Incredibly slowly. Through slow and steady use, your spirit should begin to slowly acclimate to the strain from using such a powerful form of lightning. Aside from your morning cultivation, evening workout and then meditation, I’ll still work with you on combat training, but mostly you’ll be working primarily with Taleya. She’s an adept teacher at guiding cultivators through their element training.” Amos said.

  “And Alea,” Taleya speaks up. “You’ll be joining Will in his training in the mornings and evenings. Besides that, you’ll be working mostly with Amos on practical combat. Your use and incorporation of your element is already excellent, but your combat has started to fall behind.”

  “Yes ma’am.”

  “Will, let’s take a walk.” Taleya says.

  Will falls into step beside Taleya and before long they’re a decent way from the cabin, heading west, deeper into the forest.

  “What do you know about time?”

  Will takes a couple of minutes to think about his response before answering.

  “Time is complicated and not fully understood. I know it’s considered the fourth dimension and is affected by large bodies of gravitational mass; slowing down in strong presences of it. How that works or why that is is beyond me.”

  Taleya stops dead in her tracks and stares at Will. Her expression switching from one of shock to one of profound contemplation.

  After a few minutes of silence, Taleya seems to come to a decision with herself.

  “I’ll respect Amos’s wishes and not ask how you know that. How you even know about concepts that are supposed to be secrets kept among those in the highest circles. You’ve given me much to think about. But that’s not what I was asking. What I meant was, what do you about cultivators abilities concerning the use of time?”

  Highest circles? I’m really going to have to work on keeping my mouth shut.

  “Oh. Um, honestly not much. I’ve never run into anyone who could use it.” Will shrugged internally. A misleading fact, but still technically true.

  Taleya eyed him skeptically, but then continued to walk and motioned him to follow again.

  “Time magic is indeed mysterious but also peculiar. It is not as straightforward as other elements and as such has unique abilities. One of those is it can be used to help strengthen the spirit of others.”

  “It can? Seems like an odd trait to have, but I’m not complaining. How exactly does that work?”

  “I can manipulate the spirit in small ways. One such way is, while someone is training their spirit, slow the perception of time for the spirit, allowing it to grow stronger faster. It’s not a drastic increase, but it will help you.”

  Will had an idea and became extremely excited. He turned to Taleya with a hopeful look on his face, but she cut him off before he could even get the first couple words of his question out.

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  “No, I cannot form a bubble of slowed time around you so that you can train for years while only a few seconds pass in real time.”

  Will laughs slightly and rubs the back of his head with his hand. “Get that request a lot I guess?”

  “Once or twice. It slowed down once I became strong enough.”

  “I’m sorry for the rude question master Taleya. I’ll do better.”

  “You know the way Amos talks about you I figured you would be more brusque.”

  “Haha yea. I would say I just get too excited sometimes.”

  “Enthusiasm should never be punished. You’re forgiven.”

  “Thank you. So how do I train the spirit exactly?”

  “You will sit and calm your mind. Then you will form that spark over your finger as many times as you can while I do what I can with your spirit. You will also be required to form that spark at different points all over your body so you don’t form a bad habit and ensure you can summon your lighting from any point on yourself.”

  “For how long?”

  “Well that depends on what gives out first.”

  “Gives out first?” Will looks at her in confusion.

  “Your body or your spirit.” Taleya smiles an evil grin. “After all, if you’re not training to unconsciousness, are you even training?”

  …

  After Will and her master walked off into the woods, Amos speaks up.

  “Now girl, come at me.”

  “Come at you? I’m sorry sir but what do you mean?”

  “I’m not Taleya who will hold your hand gently through the training process.”

  Is he insane? Alea thinks. That woman is a slave driver.

  “I need to see where your level of skill is at. Now, come at me.”

  Alea shrugs internally. As long as he’s sure.

  She attacks him head-on. After the fight with Will she’s determined to prove herself. So she uses all of her skill and every ounce of her strength without using her flame.

  She attacks him relentlessly for a few minutes, going for ferocity over technique, but when he seems especially unimpressed, she switches to focusing on form and skill.

  After a while she even tries to incorporate a few of the combinations that Will had used on her earlier.

  That made Amos smirk slightly, but he broke each combination almost before they even started.

  The fight went on for a full half hour before Amos finally called a halt. She gratefully stopped, taking a few steps back and putting her hands on her knees gasping for breath as sweat pours off her face. He, meanwhile, wasn’t even breathing hard.

  “Your stamina is decent, but could use some work. At where you’re at right now, Will could outlast you. You’re fierce, brutal, and don’t show fear as you go after an opponent head on. I don’t know if you always fight like this, but it’s not a bad way to fight. Your reaction time is acceptable, but you rely too heavily on the power from your flame which has left your raw fighting technique sloppy.”

  “Yes sir.”

  For the rest of the day Amos teaches Alea how to optimize her fighting technique. How to prevent wasted movement. How to capitalize on her brutal style and when to back off. He began to refine her skill and began teaching her more that she could incorporate into her already existing technique.

  She got instruction from master Taleya of course, but she had mostly been going off instinct and the direction of the occasional instructor that Taleya could find for her. Master Taleya was an expert in teaching elemental technique. She could fight of course, but her fighting style revolved heavily around her element. So teaching Alea anything more than the basics had proved challenging.

  In terms of talent and skill in physical combat, master Amos put them all to shame.

  She knew he was good, you can’t have a reputation like his without being deadly. But she had always assumed he was just an excellent metal mage.

  To find out he was in fact a master martial artist who also happened to be an excellent metal mage was a surprise. After some thought she realized it shouldn’t be, but it still came as a shock.

  Master Taleya was right. This is an opportunity that she couldn’t afford to pass up.

  For him to be able to witness her style and then come up with additional moves to add on to it instead of asking her to forget what she has spent years refining and learn his way of fighting is incredible.

  The proficiency in martial arts he must command, the sheer number of techniques and styles he must have mastered to be able to teach her like this is astounding.

  After a couple hours of training master Amos allows her a couple seconds to catch her breath.

  “No…wonder…Will is…so good at…fighting.”

  Amos raises an eyebrow at her.

  “I consider myself an adept teacher sure. But that boy is a natural born fighter. Will is as good as he is because he works unfailingly, relentlessly hard. You add that kind of work ethic to a talent like his…you’ll get a monster.”

  Alea let that sink in for a second. It was a sobering thought. She had been told for most of her life that she was a generational talent. Someone who would rarely, if ever, meet her match at or around the same tier of power. For master Amos to say something like that about Will…

  She thought it would make her frustrated or insulted. Instead it made her excited. She wanted to keep fighting against him even more now.

  Her breathing finally steadied and she stood up straight, signaling to Amos that she was ready to keep going.

  She would surpass Will. And if she couldn’t do that, she would make sure she wouldn’t be left behind.