Chapter 30

Nate navigated through the mage’s tower until he arrived at Citlali’s door. He knocked on the door, and with Citlali’s permission, entered.

Citlali sat in his lab surrounded by mounds of paperwork and other magicl knick-knacks. He looked up from a complex diagram he was working on and watched as Nate approached.

“Well if it isn’t my young apprentice. How goes your studies?” Citlali said.

“Fine.” Nate answered.

Citlali observed him for a minute with a concerned look on his face. “Are you troubled? That girl was a close friend of yours, wasn’t she?”

Nate shook his head but didn’t elaborate. Ahri had disappeared two days ago. A few hours after she left, members of the Mage Council security team had arrived and questioned everyone about her whereabouts. Nate and Snog were questioned the most because of their close relationship with her.

“You’re angry,” Citlali noticed. “Angry enough to chase after her?”

Nate shook his head, again. “I’m no match for her.” He admitted.

Citlali smiled. “You realize your limitations, and you’ve managed to keep the demon at bay. No doubt its tearing at you right now, baying for blood, yet you have it under control?”

Nate nodded his head. The demon was impulsive, but it could be controlled. The more he interacted with it, the more he learned.

“Very good. But saying you’re no match for her is a bit premature.”

The frown on Nate’s face asked the question his lips did not.

“Your biggest weakness, Nate, is that you have no concept of your real power. Yes you can transform into a demon, and use spirit energy, and a bit of magic. With the ability to do these three things you should be an inquisitor already. The only reason why you’re not is because of your lack of experience.”

“I’ve been in plenty of fights though.” Nate replied.

“I’ve watched your sparring session with Scar. You definitely have some skills, but your biggest weakness is your lack of awareness. You don’t know the limits of your demon physiology, or what magical spells can aid you in your battle. Even your spirit usage is sub-par. What you need to learn is how to consolidate your strength. How can you expect to defeat someone else, if you don’t know much about your own powers?”

“So, what should I do?” Nate asked.

“Scar’s the best spirit energy instructor on this side of the realm. Learn everything you can from him. You’ll have your sessions with me, and your other obligations, but whenever you find a moment alone to yourself; train. The Spirit school has several rooms where you can exert your full power without destroying property.”

“Where will I find the time for that?” Nate muttered.

Citlali shook his head. “Doesn’t have to be every day. But ultimately you need practice. Scar will only teach you spirit energy usage. To learn about your other powers and how to incorporate it into a combat style that fits you, that is your mission.”

…

Nate had a lot to think about as he entered his dorm room that night. His mind was plagued by Ahri. What were her intentions? The demon she spoke to was definitely the man he’d seen once before, in his soul core. That man had introduced himself as his father.

Ahri also called him father. That would mean he was related to Ahri, the demon that had murdered his whole family. What kind of person would do something like that? Nate liked Ahri, before he found out who she was. Was all of it just a game? A sick joke to entertain her while she was on a mission for her father? Their father?

“Fuck!” Nate cursed as he slammed a fist into the wall. Although the walls were reinforced by magic, Nate’s fist left cracks. The pain in his knuckles helped get his mind off Ahri.

All I can do is focus on me. He thought to himself as he recounted the guidance he’d received from Citlali. He realized the man was right, his biggest weakness was his lack of knowledge. He didn’t know much about spirit and mental energy manipulation. His spells were relatively weak as a mage. And the most glaring weakness was that he barely knew how to use a spear.

That’s where I’ll start. If my main weapon is the spear, I need to learn how to use it properly. Only when the foundation is established can I build on it.

A plan began to form in his mind of how he could begin his training. The planning had preoccupied his mind and eased the anxiety that was building up. Rather then reflect on Ahri and her intentions, he jumped feet-first into planning a proper training schedule.

“Where the hell am I going to learn proper spear techniques?” Nate wondered aloud. “I doubt Youtube will do me much good.”

That’s when he realized his mistake. He’d assumed all the knowledge he’d ever need would be found on the internet, but that wasn’t the case here in Albacore city. The greatest source of information would be found in the school’s library. There, they were able to preserve books with magic that would make the book seem like it hadn’t aged a day.

“There should be some training manuals there.” Although Scar had offered to teach him how to fight, Nate realized the man couldn’t know everything. He’d seen Scar’s weapon, it was a large axe. He wouldn’t be able to give Nate the proper advice he’d need as a spear user, and even if he could, there were a dozen other students in the combat class.

“Tomorrow, after class and before my session with Citlali I’ll head to the library and look for a proper spear technique.”

…

Nate held out hope the library would have at least one spear technique he could use to learn some moves from. He arrived at the library after his classes and asked the librarian where to find spear techniques and manuals. She’d told him all their combat related texts was on the third floor.

When Nate had finally found what he was looking for, he was dumbfounded. There was a whole shelf full of spear techniques. Countless methods of how to utilize the spear.

“How many different ways can you use a spear?” Nate wondered.

He grabbed a random book off the shelf. It was titled, “Pervasive Rain”. He flipped through a couple pages and put the book back on the shelf. Then he grabbed another titled, “Cornered Dragon”. He did the same thing as the first book then put it back on the shelf.

Nate understood now why there were so many different books on spears. Comparing the two books, he found there were a lot of similarities in basic spear maneuvers. The difference lie in the applicational aspect.

“Pervasive Rain” was a spear technique that was nimble and swift, like water. It utilized the swift aspect of the water element and incorporated it into the spear techniques. This was different from the “Cornered Dragon” which used the the defensive properties of water.

Both books utilized the water element, but where “Pervasive Rain” used swiftness to overwhelm, “Cornered Dragon” used the stalwart defense. Each element had many different properties, as taught in our basic magic classes. These spear techniques utlitized the multitude of aspects into its spear work.

Where one spear technique used the water element to attack the enemy, the other used it to defend the user.

Interesting. I should probably look for a lightning type spear technique since my spirit energy uses violet lightning.

Nate continued to peruse the aisles until he found the air element aisle. The air element included the forces of the wind, clouds, sky, and lightning. He picked up several books, but after reading them he put them back down.

Something’s off. Nate thought to himself as he looked through all the lightning spear books. He didn’t feel an attachment to any of them. The descriptions of the books didn’t seem to fit with his lightning ability. I know my lightning element is not the normal kind of lightning, it’s tribulation lightning. Still, I thought since it was similar to normal lightning, these books would do.

Nate grew irritated as he tried to find the right manual for him, but after going through the whole lightning section, he still didn’t find the appropriate book. There were aspects of lightning like stun, paralysis, blindness, and speed.

His violet lightning certainly contained those aspects to a lesser extent. It’s greatest aspect though, was its corrosive aspect. Tribulation lightning was used to rid the world of an abnormality. It was extremely destructive. None of these techniques utilized that aspect.

Before he knew it, Nate had spent hours in the library, flipping through all the books and trying to find the right one. Even though it was simply a spear technique, Nate wanted to find the right one. His spear techniques would be the base of his power, the foundation. He wanted to make sure he built a strong foundation before growing his other abilities.

Finally, Nate settled on a book called “Soul Spear”. It wasn’t as flashy as the other spear techniques, but it was the most ancient technique. According to the text, it was the original spear technique all the other books were derived from. As spear-users began incorporating their own elements into their spear techniques, they gradually deviated from the original set of spear techniques and wrote new manuals.

Nate had settled on this book because there was no spear technique for tribulation lightning. Therefore, he would have to learn from the origin spear technique and gradually incorporate his element into it. There were no special moves that utlitzed his element. Instead, the moves taught in the origin spear technique were the simplest and most basic techniques.

It was unfortunate Nate had to begin from the beginning. But a user of tribulation lightning was very rare, therefore he had to pave his own way.”

…

“I would like you all to welcome the newest member of our class.”

Nate heard Scar say as he rushed towards the group of students from his Advanced combat class. He’d arrived late to his session with Citlali yesterday, and as punishment, he was forced to clean the mess he called a lab.

It took him all night, and when he finally came home, it felt like he only blinked before he was being shaken by Snog to wake up. He’d slept through his alarm and was late for Advanced Combat class.

He approached the group and hid in the back. He saw Aiden on the floor of the arena, similar to how he’d been the first time he’d sparred against Scar. It seems like he missed the duel between the two.

“How good of you to join us Nate.” Scar said aloud, making Nate groan. He’d hoped he had gone unnoticed.

“Sorry sir, I was going to be here earlier but I…”

“No excuses!” Scar interrupted. “Its your duty to be here as soon as class begins. You missed the induction of our newest member to our ranks.” He gestured to Aiden.

Nate glanced at Aiden who was brushing the dirt off his backside.

“As apology for your rude behavior, you can spend the day catching our newest one up on lessons he’s missed.”