"Hello," Ryan greeted Colin and Emily as they entered the suite.

"Hello," Colin responded.

"How are you today?" Emily asked.

"A little hungry," Ryan answered. "Lunch wasn't quite filling."

"Tyler's not outside your door," Colin commented as they sat across from Ryan on the floor, his sister setting a duffel bag between them and Ryan. "Did he decide to not act like a guard today?"

"The university canceled its classes because of the snowstorm this morning," Ryan explained. "So I managed to convince him to hang out with Michael."

Which was not an easy thing to do. Tyler wanted to stay near Ryan just in case, even though he'd been made aware of the power of the pair of Blessed Ones. An instinct the servant and bodyguard possessed drove him to that insistence, which made convincing him to do something else nothing less than a pain in Ryan's ass.

"That must have been a feat," Colin commented, and Ryan watched as the Blessed One pulled a small block of of some sort out of a bag. "This is a wooden board two inches thick, four inches wide, and four inches long. Now, that's the size before the treatment it received at the factory, so it's actually around half an inch shorter than that on all but the length, as I cut it to four inches from a longer board."

The Blessed One held out the board, and Ryan accepted it, measuring it with his senses. He knew that wasn't the reason he was being handed the block of wood, but was grateful that Colin understood his desire to learn how to properly measure distances through his senses.

"Okay," Ryan said once he finished assessing the block. "Why do I have a block of wood?"

"For today's training," Colin answered. "So far, we've taught you plenty of things in areas of magic you already know. Today, we'll be teaching you an entirely new branch of non-elemental magic: shaping."

"Shaping?" Ryan asked.

"Yes," Colin responded. "Shaping. As a god, you have an innate understanding of magic. When you try to cast a spell, you tap into that innate understanding. The more basic the spell is, the quicker that understanding is accessed. When you've already cast similar spells before, it becomes easier and easier to access that innate understanding.

"With shaping," Colin continued. "You've not cast any form of it before. Sure, you have shaped your magic and shaped the elements, but the magic of shaping is different."

Colin pulled out another block of wood from the bag, and it immediately began to reshape, restructuring itself until it resembled a perfect cube, taking only a few seconds to complete.

"As you witnessed," the Blessed One told Ryan. "The art of shaping is reshaping an item. This is not transmutation, where you turn it from one thing into something else, such as lead into gold. You change its form, not its makeup. Try shaping an image into the block, such as a circle."

Ryan had never heard of shaping before, but found it interesting. Not as interesting as transmutation, which he'd only heard of as myths spread by a few Jewels who wanted to make a name for themselves, but interesting, nonetheless.

So he began focusing on the block as he drew upon his power in an effort to shape a circle into its surface. The Blessed Ones watched, giving occasional advice, until finally, a crude circle formed on the surface of the block.

"My art skills aren't that good," Ryan said when he accomplished the task. "But I think I did it."

"Good job," Colin said. "As your experience with the spell grows, you'll be able to create the images more accurately, and more quickly as well. Why don't you try fixing your circle?"

Ryan promptly began reshaping the wood until his circle met an acceptable standard. Colin reshaped the block back to its original state, and Ryan tried again. For the next hour, Ryan made circles, stars, squares, triangles, and other shapes in the wood, before focusing on rounding its edges and shaping the surface into a smooth state.

After succeeding in that a few times, Ryan decided to attempt to shape the block in half, only to discover he could not. The most he could manage was shaping it into two parts connected by a thin piece of wood.

"It won't shape into two pieces," Ryan commented after his fifth failed attempt as splitting the block into two pieces.

"Shaping doesn't allow that," Colin said, and Ryan sensed him shaking his head. "You can alter its current form with shaping, but you cannot add to or remove from it."

"Ah."

"Try this," Colin took the block of wood and handed Ryan a short metal rod from the bag, which he returned the block to.

Ryan accepted it, then began reshaping the rod, first turning it into a sphere, before reverting it back to a rod. From there, he reshaped the rod into twists, spirals, and curves, until an idea came to him. After a few minutes of thought and a few moments of shaping, he held in his hand a crude knife.

"Did you just make a weapon?" Emily asked.

"Yep!" Ryan grinned, then began reshaping it back into a rod. "It wasn't as sharp as it could have been, but it was my first try, so I give myself full points."

"Of course you do," Colin chuckled. "Try it a few more times."

Ryan did, then when he reverted it again, handed it back to Colin.

"I believe our time is up," he told the Blessed Ones. "Tyler has returned."

"Indeed, it is," Colin said, then packed the items back into his bag and stood, his sister rising as well. "Before we go, I was curious if you have ever been in a combat situation, other than the time you stopped Nadia's assassination attempt."

"Yes and no," Ryan stood. "I sparred against a few of the water elementals on the Mieria Islands, mostly as a way of testing my skills and increasing my reaction time, but no true combat situations."

"You sparred with water elementals?" Emily asked, and Ryan could sense shock and amazement in the Blessed Ones' minds.

"Yes," Ryan answered. "Why do you both seem so surprised?"

"The elementals don't hold back when sparring," Colin explained. "For anyone, especially not a god. How badly were you injured?"

"Just a few scrapes and bruises," Ryan answered. "I learned a little bit of healing magic to mend those, but that's the extent of my practice there."

He sensed amazement in the minds of both Blessed Ones.

"Is it really that amazing?" Ryan asked.

"Ryan," Colin said. "The elementals don't hold back. Even if they did, they wouldn't have for their first sparring match against you just to amuse themselves."

"I assumed as much when you said they don't hold back," Ryan said. "I've worked with enough of them for long enough to figure out that much about their personalities. Why is that a big deal?"

"Because," Colin told him. "Elementals are masters of their elements. If you were able to keep up with one and only get away with a few cuts and bruises…"

The Blessed One sighed, and Ryan sensed a light depression in his mind.

"This is the difference between a demigod and a god," Colin said. "It took Emily and me almost thirty years to be able to spar against a single elemental as equals individually. Twenty just to do it as a pair. The learning curve for gods is truly something else."

"You didn't know that?" Ryan frowned. "But you said-"

"We knew gods learned quickly," Colin interrupted. "We didn't realize they learned that quickly. The gods who raised us were already fully-developed before they came to Earth."

"Ah," Ryan said, then grinned. "Well, even if it took you thirty years longer than me, you two still did it much faster than a human! I bet even my father would not be able to fight an elemental as an equal in his entire life."

"I wouldn't say that much," Colin chuckled. "He might if he trained hard and lived to be around ninety to one hundred. Your father is rather skilled and talented for a human."

"Speaking of that," Ryan frowned. "You two are the children of the first of the three gods who came to Earth. My father is a normal human, but we're descended of you two and your godly father."

"You are wondering if there is a connection between that and you being born a god?" Emily asked.

"Yeah," Ryan answered.

"We don't know," Colin answered. "The gods we were raised by said that the births of gods from mortals is random, but that every world's Natural God is born of two mortals. They told us they didn't know what caused those births. Perhaps there's a connection, perhaps not.

"Either way," Colin put a hand on Ryan's shoulder. "You were born to rule this world as its god. We hope we can help you prepare for that as best we can for when you decide to take that throne."

"That's another thing which confuses me," Ryan decided to broach the topic again. "You two have said that you want to help me come into my godhood and to rule this world, and part of it is out of fear of what would happen if you attempted to interfere, both on my part and the part of the other two gods, for when they return. Why not just leave me be, or leave this world?"

"We would probably incur their wrath for that," Colin chuckled, then removed his hand. "We should leave now, Ryan. Enjoy the rest of your day."

The pair of Blessed Ones left, and Ryan sighed as his servant reentered the room.

"Everything alright?" Tyler asked.

"Yeah," Ryan answered.

The Blessed One gave the same response every time, and every time, there was a hint of fear and worry in the minds of both Blessed Ones as they gave a response. Even as a fledgling god, he was ten thousand times as powerful as they were, yet they showed no fear of him.

That made him wonder just how powerful the other two gods were. Not only were they fully-fledged, but more than a century and a half had passed since their departure, meaning they had likely only grown more powerful.

He wanted to test himself against them, when they returned just to see the difference.

At that thought, Ryan frowned. He wouldn't be able to if what the Blessed Ones had said was true. If it was, they would be reduced to only a thousandth of their power, while his own power would be greatly increased.

"Everything alright?" Tyler asked, reminding Ryan he wasn't alone with just his thoughts to focus on.

"Yeah," Ryan smiled. "I was just thinking about some stuff. What did you do while I was training?"

"Stress," Tyler answered as Ryan sat on the couch, his servant beginning to prepare food in the suite's kitchen. "They didn't try anything while you were with them, did they?"

"I told you," Ryan said. "They aren't here maliciously. They're just here to teach me magic."

While he was still not completely sure about their motives, Ryan was confident they were not exempt from time. Twice, he spent the same day training with them, including the previous day, which he replayed more than sixty times. On both occasions, their differences in actions were within an acceptable amount, where it was based on a slight change to Ryan's own actions. He had made sure to only reset to just before the pair of Blessed Ones arrived, which meant the elementals were not within range to speak to them.

At least, not unless the Blessed Ones had elemental senses active and stretched past what Ryan could detect. Ryan doubted that, though, especially as neither of the pair asked him why he was resetting it several times. Had they, he would have answered that he was simply wanting to make the most of his time and get the spells down.

Thinking of his elemental senses reminded Ryan of something.

"Tyler," Ryan said. "I think Michael's cousin is gay."

Immediately, he felt worry, confusion, and fear in his servant's mind.

"Why do you think that?" Tyler's voice shook a little, something Ryan had never heard in his friend's voice before.

"I don't think you have to worry about him coming on to you," Ryan said. "It seems he has his own hookup. Both the day Nadia and Amy came here and Nadia tried to attack me, and today, there were a couple of guys having sex across the hall. They were the same people both times, though I don't know who they were. But since only Michael and his cousin use that room, that's the natural conclusion."

"Oh," Tyler said, and his master felt the relief in his mind. "That's… good, I suppose."

"Yeah," Ryan nodded, smelling the pizza his servant was preparing. "So that is what the dough you made this morning was for!"

"Yeah," Tyler answered. "I was thinking of preparing cinnamon rolls for you tomorrow. Michael said university is canceled again tomorrow as well, we could invite him and Amy over for that, too, if you're okay with that."

"Go ahead," Ryan said. "It would be nice to have a quieter breakfast than normal. Anyway, about the thing across the hall-"

He noticed his servant's mind tensing up as his friend's breathing caught for a moment, and the young god sighed.

"I was just curious if you'd met Michael's cousin," Ryan told him. "Don't be so tense. He hasn't done anything to me, either. We haven't met."

"Sorry," Tyler said, and Ryan felt him relaxing again. "No, I haven't met them. I won't tell Michael. I'd be surprised if his cousin wanted him to know, considering how a lot of the Families can be. The Guilds and Orders might have accepted it, but within our culture? It's not seen as something that's allowed."

"Yeah," Ryan said. "The Families are built on blood ties and relations. Full members who do not help to further the line and reach of the Families aren't liked very well. Personally, I don't care either way. Did you know that our cousin Alexandra is a lesbian?"

"She is?" Tyler asked, and his master felt the relief in his mind.

"Yes," Ryan answered as he realized something.

"How did you find out?" Tyler asked. "I'm with you almost all the time, except for here."

"From the 'almost'," Ryan answered. "She was at the main estate one day while you were at school in the spring, and I happened to overhear her while she was on a phone with her girlfriend. She hadn't noticed me and thought she was alone."

"I see," Tyler said.

"Yeah," Ryan said. "So what did you do, other than stress, while I was in my lesson?"

"Michael, Amy, and I were playing pool in the lounge for awhile," Tyler said. "Then Amy had to leave for something, and Michael and I decided to take a break and just talk for a bit. He's planning on traveling to Florida next month to learn how to surf during his break from uni."

"Sounds fun," Ryan said. "Magic-augmented surfing, or regular?"

"He said he wants to do both," Tyler answered, and Ryan sensed the realization in his mind. "Wait, Ryan – how the hell did you know people were having sex across the hall?"

"Hm?" Ryan asked, then remembered that as far as his servant knew, he wouldn't have had a way to know that. "Oh, the Blessed Ones told me. They commented about it happening."

As his servant wasn't around for the training session, he would have to either accept what Ryan said or become suspicious, and Ryan noted that his servant went with the former.

"Sometimes," Tyler said. "I get the feeling you may be some sort of psychic, the way you know things going on here."

"Nah," Ryan said. "I just happen to have ways of receiving information that probably makes no sense to anyone else. You stopped chopping the onion, by the way."

"Oh, right!" Tyler laughed, then returned to work preparing their dinner.