Chapter 10 - Training

Alex followed Kai out after class, he had much to practice working on. Raiden described that he had some things he wanted to do back at his dorm and that he would join them in a little while.

Heading to the gym, the two students exchanged their opinions on the discovery of Raiden’s abilities, before Alex brought up a fact with a darker undernote.

“Sticking with him will help y’know,” Alex told Salem, the boy who protested every time he used the kid’s nickname.

“I’m aware, why do you think I’m hanging around with you two?” he argued.

“But-!” Alex protested.

“We’re rivals, aren’t we?” Kai turned around with a smile. “The better the competition, the stronger we get,” he continued, Alex smiling in turn.

“I see, then I’ll have to get to it,” he added, picking up the pace.

“Hey! Slow down, there’s no rush!” Salem said, rushing after him.

Arriving at the gym, they both made their way over to an empty spot, they weren’t the only students there, of course, both the dorm-staying students and the members who lived off-campus sharing the facility. Luckily, the place was huge, space was abundant and the two future Pathfinders found their spot on a floormat.

“By the way” Alex began, “I think I’m finally getting the hang of the whole wind matter thing!” he continued, excitement and determination showing in his eyes. “While you and Raiden were sparring earlier, I felt some kind of invisible… breeze,” the black-haired man said.

“That’s probably it, were you able to imbue your weapon with it?” Salem answered in turn.

“No, but it did contort when I tried to force it to, it didn’t respond to physical interaction, it was more like… Trying to will it to condense itself, to move around freely but in a confined space.” Alex added. “Fire was so, brazen. It just moved with me, following my actions and acting so much more physically.”

“That sounds about right, it’s probably in correlation to wind being a very precise element, more manipulative than fire.” the younger boy replied.

“Alright, regardless, I need to practice to get it under control before Raiden gets here, you should put some effort in too if we want to catch up to him.”

Raiden sat in his bed, listening to music while calming himself down. It’s only the second day in class, and all this already…

While Raiden had been at the dorms themselves for nearly a week now, today was only the second day of official courses and also the first full day of Frontline academy. His practical classes were about five hours in duration, and his technical ones about three. This disproportionate number was to be expected, practical information more important to Pathfinders who would spend weeks at a time out and in the dangerous wild. It was nearly 3:30 PM now, Emily’s teachings ending at about three o’clock.

He had promised to catch up with Kai and Alex in a bit, but he’d decided that he’d need some time to organize his thoughts first.

While being a Superior, and one that wielded the dark element no less, was a massive advantage, he’d have to account for this change in his plans. It would cause everything to move up. While he hadn’t intended to join a rogue company for another few months, now he could likely join in only a month from now.

He knew his teacher would likely give him special treatment, being intrinsically more powerful than the other students had such merits. But what he couldn’t wrap his head around was why now. How come he couldn’t have discovered his secondary matter affinity sooner, he could have made more money and sooner. Signed a scholarship with Frontline perhaps, saving his dad from grueling work day after day, saving his father from working that day.

Raiden was aware that it wasn’t his fault, he had no way of knowing after all, but he couldn’t help but blame himself. Had he put the same effort into studying matter properties as his sister, perhaps he could have learned sooner. Saved the lives of his parent, as well as those he would kill for his vengeance.

He stood up out of his bed and slapped himself, the finger with his ring hurting a little more than the others.

Not right now, not when so much still needs to be done. He told himself, knowing that despite all the timings for his plans being advanced, he still didn’t have time to doddle.

I still need to be stronger, more powerful. Being a superior isn’t a shortcut, in fact, it’s just an even longer path.

Determined, he set out for the building between the male and female dorms.

“Raiden! Took you long enough, it’s nearly four already.” Alex shouted, seeing his classmate walk towards them from a distance.

“If you aren’t careful, we’ll overtake you in no time!” Salem added.

“Alright, alright, I know,” their target replied.

Hold on a second… “Is that what I think it is?” Raiden asked, pointing at Alex’s wooden sword.

“You can see it? I wonder why…” Alex said dejectedly, wanting to surprise Raiden with his wind. “Can you see it too Kai?”

“I told you to stop calling me that! But nah, I know you figured it out, but I can’t see it, it’s just wind after all” Salem responded, a concentrated look in his eyes directed towards Alex’s blade. “Probably just superior stuff…” he mumbled with dismay.

“Anyways, well done Alex!” Raiden changed the topic. “How long does it take you to imbue your weapon?”

“About a minute, at first it was a bit longer, but I’m a quick learner” he replied, smiling giddily.

“So does that mean you’ll try to imbue it with fire next?” Kai joined the conversation, the three young men now finding themselves standing on the same mat.

Alex looked at Kai now, thinking. I wonder how long it’ll take him to figure it out... Raiden stood thinking, considering how long it would take the older man to figure out his fire compared to his wind. Being a Superior offered many powerful options to a Pathfinder, but it required much more effort as well.

“I might as well try, I don’t think it will be too long before I get it, I could already feel it this whole time after all,” Alex finished, walking back to his mat and falling deep into focus.

Incredible… Raiden watched as fire erupted from Alexander’s blade, not so much as scorching the wood it enveloped, whether because of his control or because of the enhancements that imbuement brought to a weapon. It hadn’t taken Alex more than a minute to summon his burning matter.

“Impressive!” Kai yelled towards the man wielding a claymore of flames.

Many of the other students were looking towards the fledgling Pathfinders now, the second years not paying them much mind, however. It wasn’t long before Kai followed Alex’s example and began shadowboxing on a floormat, tough-looking stones enveloping his fists.

Guess I should get started too. Raiden found himself alone on his rubber gym tile now, and fell into a lowered stance, practically exuding danger. This was of course until his presence all but vanished.

While Raiden’s weapons were still visible, his hands and the fresh pair of daggers he got after class today were shrouded by an otherworldly black mist. It made your eyes wander past them, like how you wouldn’t pay any mind to the moving shadows of trees in the wind. They were hidden in plain sight, obscured by the second element Raiden was learning to manipulate. He began to practice the five angles of attack he learned yesterday, and only one thing came to mind while his body ached, sore.

I think I’m getting the hang of it… Raiden had been able to imbue his weapons while moving since the bout earlier today, that was as long as he amplified his lightning with the ethereal darkness he’d learned to feel now. He had been looking for it the wrong way before, or more accurately, he hadn’t found it because he was looking for it.

The lightning that pulsed around him without using his abilities as a superior let off frequent semi-loud crackles and snaps as he wielded his daggers. The hardened wood keeping sturdy however with its increased density. This volume became all the more pronounced when compared to the same lightning combined with the darkness Raiden had control of now.

Crackles dimmed to whispers, and the snaps were more silent than what Raiden could hear snapping his fingers.

What the three prospective hunters needed now was a larger area to practice their abilities, the constant need to hold themselves back limiting them harshly.

It was about six o’clock when Kai was the first to interrupt their training session, their improvements were obvious, rapidly increasing while training in the gym compared to the sandy arena they found themselves in, able to focus without any distractions. Alex had learned to control both his fire and his wind, able to imbue both into his weapons at the same time in only twenty seconds, the talent of a superior. Kai had begun moving properly while channeling, if only just. It took him about eight seconds for stone to surround his gloves.

Raiden had seen marginal improvement, already at the limits of what the first stage of his matter capacity allowed. He was able to imbue lightning into his blade alone while moving now, in about twelve seconds. It was when he added his second element that he far surpassed the abilities of Salem, who constantly remarked on the unfairness of the act. It took him only a few seconds to imbue both elements, the darkness working as an amplifier instead of a separate field to work with.

It was of course only Raiden who had this capability out of the three, Alex and Kai not wielding Light or Dark elements after all.

“Uh, You guys down to get something to eat?” Salem asked, his stomach letting out a pronounced cry.

“I’m down!” Alex retorted, excited.

“That doesn’t leave me with much choice in the matter, not that I’m against it anyway…” Raiden said, before he recalled a few things.

“Can we head to town for a bit, I’ve got a few things I need to do while I’m over there, aside from dinner.”