Artas gave Austin a little more free rein for the beginning of his training than the first time Austin trained with him. This was because Austin needed to work through the development of new techniques before he started on anything else. This led to Austin poring through books about Shapers. He read through various stories like they were textbooks instead of stories. He skimmed the details and tried to find information that could be relevant to him. He especially looked for cases of people using more physical affinities for Shaper techniques. This proved to be difficult because many people rarely used Shaper techniques if they had a physical affinity. It was like how many fire affinity users seemed to struggle outside of Shaper techniques, except to a more severe degree.

  Austin tried to break down the aspects of his affinity. He knew that the major aspects were hardness, conductivity, and magnetism. He did not really think there was much he could do with hardness, but the other two aspects could probably be used. He just had to get a little creative with it.

  “Can I go to that training area? I think I have an idea for some techniques,” Austin asked Artas as he looked up from some notes he made.

  “Sure, do you want me to set up some targets for you?” Artas asked.

  “Yeah, I think I’ll need some,” Austin nodded.

  Artas nodded and led Austin to the training area. As they arrived, Austin was reminded of the familiar open space. A clearing in the wild plant life where Austin previously developed his techniques. He was so unfamiliar with Essence back then, and now so much had changed. There was still so much for Austin to learn, but he had changed so much since back then.

  Artas lifted his hand in the air, and roots started to erupt from the ground. As they rose, they twisted together and started to take the form of signposts. There were now various targets throughout the training field for Austin to practice with.

  “There you go! I’ll be in mediation, but you can ask me to make more at any time,” Artas said as he sat by a nearby tree.

  “Thank you, I really appreciate it,” Austin replied before he turned to look at the various targets. It was time to test some of his concepts out. He just had to hope that they worked as intended.

  Austin cracked his neck as he looked over the targets. Then he raised his hand and started to send Essence into his palm. Silver light formed in his palm and started to take shape as an orb. Despite the fact it was purely made of energy, it looked like a smooth crystal with streaks of silver dancing within. Austin pointed his hand at one of the targets and shot the orb forward. The orb dashed through the air and hit the target. The target looked barely damaged from Austin’s technique.

  Austin was not shocked at the result of his technique. In fact, that was exactly what he expected. The point of his technique was not to damage but to apply an effect. He just had to see if the effect did what he wanted.

  Over the last few months, Austin spent a considerable amount of time refining his techniques. Specifically, he spent a lot of time refining Breaker Ball. The attack was slow and hard to use in a fight. So, he wanted to turn it into a technique that could be used faster.

  Austin channeled Essence into the palm of his hand, and tiny beads of metal started to form. His solution for the Breaker Ball was to instead create tiny balls that he could easily throw. The problem was that the quick throw made it difficult to be accurate. That was what his new technique was supposed to remedy.

  Austin threw the balls all at once towards the target. As they flew towards the target, their trajectory started to change midair. They left Austin’s hand as a scattershot but changed to lock on to the target. The target was torn apart by several of the balls, but not all of them. The technique had been a partial success. Austin’s goal was to add a magnetic property to an object or enemy to force the balls to hit. It seemed like he was able to apply the magnetic property like he wanted, but it was not strong enough to draw all the balls. He would have to reassess the right amount of strength to apply to the technique.

  Austin could apply a drastically stronger magnetic charge to his technique, but that would require a good deal of Essence. He wanted to find the correct balance of strength where he did not have to use too much Essence but could still create a strong enough magnetic force to draw in all the balls. At least his first experiment with the technique did prove that it was possible. That alone was a win for Austin for a first try.

  Austin continued to experiment with the other targets. As he used different versions of his technique, he started to write down his results. He would mark the amount of Essence used and how it affected the trajectory of his metal balls. As Austin made notes, he started to become more and more familiar with the control of his Essence output. Prior to this technique's development, he had just done what felt right. The development had enforced a new approach to Essence that was more methodical and exact.

  Austin’s experiments took the better part of the day, and soon all of the targets were destroyed. He decided that would be enough for the day. He needed to review his results and determine the best amount of Essence to use. He was pretty sure that he had the technique down, though. He just needed to solidify it and review his data.

  “I think I’m done for now,” Austin said as he approached Artas in meditation.

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  “Good, you shouldn’t overdo it,” Artas replied as his eyes shot open. “Did you make good progress?”

  “Yeah, I think so,” Austin said. “I think tomorrow I should have this technique down.”

  “Good to hear!” Artas smiled widely as he stood up. He then patted Austin on the back. “That’s another reason I brought you here. So, you could have time just focusing on your training.”

  “I appreciate it,” Austin nodded. “I guess there is a lot that keeps my mind busy back on Earth. But isn’t this like cheating?”

  “That’s a silly thing to worry about,” Artas chuckled. “You aren’t the only one with a master who has a time dilation realm. I guarantee you that Brian and Natasha are taking advantage of it. It’s just using the resources provided to you. It’s no different than using elixirs and pills to assist your growth.”

  “I guess that’s a good point. What do you mean by Brian, though?” Austin asked.

  “Let’s talk as we walk back,” Artas said as he started to walk. Austin followed closely behind. “Brian was given James’s amulet and has taken his place as a student.”

  “Oh, I guess I did not realize that. How did you know that?” Austin asked.

  “My amulet gives me some sight into your world. I have been watching everyone. You probably have just been too busy to notice, but Brian has significantly improved,” Artas explained.

  “Interesting, I’m shocked James’s master was so willing to just replace him with Brian. You said most of the masters have criteria for selection,” Austin said.

  “Yeah, but we also want a little bit of a foothold of influence on your world. So, I’m not too shocked. If you died, I would try to take your wife as my student.”

  “Fair enough, that makes sense. So, each of you wants some influence on our world. Do I need to worry about Natasha and Brian? Like would their masters influence them to betray me?”

  “They wouldn’t do that. Causing internal turmoil would only weaken their position. I will say this: they have probably made Natasha and Brian aware of the towers as well. So they will be your rivals when the towers rise.”

  “Interesting, I hope that doesn’t cause too many problems,” Austin said as they arrived back at the shrine.

  “Maybe you’ll get lucky, and multiple towers will pop up,” Artas said. “That does happen sometimes. But if you are going to continue being the leader of your town, then you need to conquer one before them.”

  “That’s true. I guess I’ll need to really step up my training then,” Austin nodded.

  “Yep, but all good training has break time,” Artas said with a smile. “So, now we have one of my famous dinners! I know you were looking forward to it.”

  “That does sound nice,” Austin replied with a grin.

  Artas pulled his array of cooking tools and various ingredients from storage scrolls. As Artas prepared dinner, Austin sat down to review his notes. At this point in his experiments, he just needed to pick from his various tests. Then he could move on to his next technique. He felt pretty good about his progress. This technique would be the foundation of his other techniques, and he wanted to get it ready as soon as possible.

  “After I do some tests tomorrow, do you mind sparring with me?” Austin raised his voice to ask Artas. Loud sizzles and pops came from Artas’s pan, and Austin needed to almost yell over it.

  “That works for me,” Artas said as he flipped over a chunk of meat with a pair of tongs. “I could use the exercise.”

  “Great! I don’t get much of a chance either. I feel like I’m too busy with other things. Not to mention, very few people are at my level,” Austin said.

  “You need to get in some healthy sparring,” Artas said. “Otherwise, you will get rusty. Sparring with people below your rank will also be good practice for Essence control.”

  “Yeah, you’re right. It just feels hard lately,” Austin sighed.

  “You’ve been cutting out time for meditation. You can cut out time for physical training,” Artas reprimanded before he ran his hands through his hair. “You need to stop with these bad habits. I’m supposed to be the fun master. Not the one that is always lecturing you.”

  “Sorry, I’ll try to do better,” Austin nodded.

  “No, you will do better,” Artas said with a broad smile as he finished plating the food. He then presented the plates to Austin. “Now, let’s eat!”

  Artas set the plates on a nearby table, and they both sat down. As usual, his food looked very good. There was an assortment of vegetables, which Austin could not quite identify all of them. The star of the plate was a slab of meat that looked like pork with a ruby red sauce. Austin sliced the meat and had some of the sauce, and it had a sweet and tangy flavor. It seemed to perfectly complement the savory flavor of the meat.

  “What do you think of the sauce?” Artas asked as he looked at Austin with anticipation.

  “Uh, it’s really good,” Austin said as he swallowed another piece. He was caught off guard by how excited Artas seemed about the meal.

  “Great! It’s a new recipe from some berries I created,” Artas said with a wide smile.

  “You created berries?” Austin raised an eyebrow in confusion.

  “Well, I used my Essence to manipulate already existing berries. I like to see what I can do with different fruits and vegetables,” Artas explained. “It’s a really fun application of my Essence.”

  “Makes me kind of jealous,” Austin chuckled. “I don’t think there is much I could do with mine.”

  “You don’t know that. You just have to think creatively,” Artas smiled.

  Austin nodded and considered the words. He wondered if there was a hobby that he could do with his Essence. He pondered on the subject as the two continued to eat. It would be nice to create a hobby out of his Essence. It probably could work as a form of practice and entertainment. It was something he had to continue to think about.