Austin spent much of the morning working on his technique. He was able to find the perfect balance of Essence output to magnetism. After that, he started work on his other techniques. He had several other techniques to work on for preparation for his sparring match with Artas. Once he got the first technique down, the rest seemed to come together easily.

  Austin sat down as he overlooked the targets. They were blown away in every direction. Some targets were torn to shreds, while others were burnt away. Austin felt satisfied with his new techniques. Before he went to Artas for their match, he closed his eyes and entered meditation.

  Essence flowed through Austin’s body like a gentle current. Essence gathered in his core and ran through his branches. It was a very different sensation. His Essence used to feel like a stationary thing that would rarely stir. The change to his internal structure made his Essence feel more alive and sent energy throughout his body and mind.

  Despite the newfound energy flowing through Austin, he felt calm and clearheaded. He brought in Essence and allowed it to join his core and branches. The process was rhythmic and soothing. Like his mind just allowed itself to become part of the flow.

  After Austin felt like he was cleared of stress, he opened his eyes and broke the meditation. While he always drew in Essence during meditation, that was not the central purpose of this session. It was instead to clear his mind and prepare himself for his sparring match with Artas. While it was not a serious contest, he still wanted a clear head for their match.

  “You ready?” Austin asked Artas as he walked towards him. Artas was in meditation against a nearby tree.

  “You should be asking yourself that,” Artas said with a smile. He stood up and started to stretch his arms. “I have restrictions on, but I still won’t make this an easy match for you.”

  “I wouldn’t have it any other way,” Austin said with a smile of his own. “How else am I going to make sure my techniques work?”

  “Good point,” Artas nodded. “Let’s get started then.”

  Austin nodded in agreement, and the two walked further into the field. They stood a small distance from each other as they each entered a ready stance. With a small nod, they began the match. The pair charged each other as they summoned their weapons. Brown roots twisted in Artas’s hand until they formed the shape of a glaive. In a quick flash of light, a silver shield with spiked edges appeared on Austin’s arm. Artas’s glaive pierced forward as Austin charged forward with his shield. The weapons clashed and pushed both of the fighters away from each other.

  As Austin was pushed back, he already started to form a silver orb of light in his hand. He quickly threw the orb at Artas. As the orb sped towards Artas, Artas slashed at it with his glaive. The light broke apart as it made contact with the glaive. The weapon looked completely unharmed by the attack.

  “You’re going to have to do better than that,” Artas chuckled. “I expected a stronger attack from my student.”

  Austin did not say anything. He instead kept a calm face at Artas’s comment. The technique did not hit its intended target, but he could still work with it. He started to form another orb in his hand. Before he could even throw it, Artas started to grip his glaive tightly. Artas planted his feet firmly into the ground as his glaive started to force him forward. Artas was confused and frustrated with his glaive. He could not understand why it was pulling him. As Artas struggled with his glaive, Austin threw his newly formed orb over Artas’s head and into the far treeline.

  As the orb drew closer to Artas, the glaive became harder for him to keep hold of. By the time it reached over his head, he had no choice but to let go of his weapon. The weapon flew in the same direction as the orb. Austin quickly used Artas’s distraction at losing a glaive to throw another orb at him. This time, the orb landed directly on Artas’s chest.

  “Pretty neat trick you got there,” Artas commented.

  “Thanks, but there is still a lot more,” Austin smirked.

  “Well then, show me!” Artas replied as he charged Austin.

  As Artas grew closer to Austin, a translucent barrier started to form around Austin’s body. Artas was not going to let a barrier stop him and continued his charge. As he drew closer, he was shocked that he could not seem to move any further. It felt like every time he tried to, a strong force prevented him. Artas tried to force through, but the more he tried to force himself forward, the stronger he was thrown backward.

  This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report.

  Metal beads shot towards Artas before he could fully recover. As they did, Artas tried to dodge, but they shifted towards him mid-flight. Artas was shocked by their change of direction and took the full force of the beads as they peppered into his chest.

  “Didn’t expect that,” Artas grinned through the pain of the blow.

  “That’s not even the start of it,” Austin said as he formed more beads in his hand. He casually threw them up and down in his hand before he tossed them at Artas.

  The casual toss betrayed the actual speed of the beads. As they entered the air, they suddenly increased in speed and targeted Artas. Artas knew that he could not just dodge the attacks and instead went into a full sprint away from the beads. Even then, it did not matter. The beads relentlessly chased Artas as he ran away. Every change in his direction was met by a change in the direction of the beads.

  Artas soon realized that there was no escaping the beads. So, he did the best thing he could think of. He skidded to a halt, and thick roots began to emerge from the ground. They formed into a thick wall. The beads made contact with the wall and continued to press against it until they made it to the other side. The wall had considerably reduced the speed of the beads and caused them to do little damage to Artas. Instead, they hit him with light pressure and stuck to his body.

  As Austin started to form more beads in his hand, roots erupted from the ground and started to wrap around his arms and legs. The beads did not take shape as Austin tried to escape from the roots. While he did manage to escape, the roots continued to pursue him. Austin was now forced to keep moving away from the roots. He barely had the time to think and definitely did not have the time to form more beads.

  Artas prepared for an attack while Austin dodged the roots. He had shifted the tide of the battle and was not going to stop his assault. The roots came to a halt as Artas formed wooden stakes in his hand. Austin paid no attention to Artas as he prepared for the roots to continue their assault. Because of this, when Artas threw the stakes, Austin was completely caught off guard. As the stakes grew closer to Austin, they exploded into shards of wood and rained down on him. He tried his best to avoid the shards, but it did not matter. There were too many to dodge them all, and they dug into Austin.

  Austin winced in pain as tiny shards stuck throughout his body. He did not let this deter him. Instead, he created a handful of beads and tossed them in the air. He then quickly followed up with another toss of beads. If Artas was going to use several projectiles, then Austin decided he would do the same.

  Before Artas went on the move, he threw several more stakes at Austin. As the stakes approached, Austin ran away from them. Several handfuls of beads chased Artas. Even though the stakes did not chase Austin, he could not slow down. The explosion of the wooden shards covered such an area that he needed to get as far as possible.

  Artas was the first to halt his movement. As the beads came towards him, he forced his attention on Austin. A root pushed from the ground and forced Austin to trip. When Austin fell to the ground, more roots wrapped around him and tightly held him down. Artas’s maneuver prevented him from reacting to the beads. Each bead shot towards Artas’s body and caused bruises to form around him. Artas’s chest was now covered in metal beads.

  “Looks like I got you,” Artas smiled as he walked towards Austin. Austin struggled to break free from the roots, but he found that he was not strong enough.

  “I guess you win this one,” Austin said in frustration while he continued to squirm and tried to break free.

  “Yeah, but you did a good job. Against a less experienced individual, you probably would have won,” Artas said as he loosened the roots. Once Austin was free, Artas pulled him back to his feet.

  “That might be true, but I need to have the skill to fight an experienced person,” Austin replied as he released the technique on Artas. The beads all dropped to the ground with clacks as the technique was released.

  “I’m glad you understand that,” Artas said. “Which means that we need to have a couple more matches. How about we use your remaining time here for that?”

  “Sounds good to me,” Austin nodded. “You ready for another one?”

  “Let’s have something to eat and heal a bit,” Artas chuckled. “We want to train, not destroy ourselves.”

  “Yeah, I could probably use some recovery,” Austin said as he pulled wooden shards out from his body. He winced as he pulled them out and threw them to the ground.

  “Here, let me see,” Artas said as he placed a hand over Austin. A green light radiated from Artas’s hand and healed Austin. Austin’s wounds quickly healed with the treatment.

  “You healers are so lucky,” Austin commented. “I feel like I got the hard mode of affinities.”

  “Says the guy who was able to effectively fight against a master,” Artas rolled his eyes. “Even with restrictions on my Essence, I have plenty of experience and techniques. You may not be able to heal, but you have pretty crazy offensive capabilities.”

  “You think so?” Austin asked. “I figured they weren’t anything special.”

  “I know so,” Artas smiled as he wrapped an arm around Austin. “You have serious potential.”

  At that, the pair walked back to Artas’s shrine. As Artas prepared a meal, Austin sat in meditation. As the adrenaline of the match died, Austin realized how much Essence he used. If they were going to do another match, he needed to recover some of it.

  After they ate, they went back into a sparring match. Austin spent a few more days in Artas’s realm. The entire time, he alternated between eating, sleeping, meditation, and sparring. While the matches pushed Austin to his limit, it was a welcome break from the day-to-day management of the town. He almost felt sad when he had to return, but he was also ready to see Maya and Elliot.