Hearing what Maria had just told her, Rin took a deep breath and walked up to her.

"Oh, uh, awesome, what... What are we going to do?"

"For now, just watch. Excuse me, I need to prepare... I haven't used these techniques in some time."

As Maria prepared herself, Rin took a step back. Maria turned to the right, facing the wall, and then, she raised her fists. She did a strange, circular motion with them, and then punched toward the open wall, out to the world. From her fist, a white dragon emerged. Maria punched again, but this time, her fist launched out a blast of wind, made visible by streaks of white in the air.

"There are three stages to master in order to reach the peak of martial arts," Maria said, and Rin could hear her voice shaking a little. [Did it take that much effort?] Rin wondered. "The first, the Stage of the Body."

Maria walked over to a wooden dummy that Rin hadn't noticed was sitting by the right side of the room. She picked it up with one hand, and then with her right, she punched straight through it. Her fist hit the wall and dug deep into it, forming a web of cracks.

"The second stage, the Stage of Essence."

Then, she put her hands down, as though she was pushing against something in the air, and her skin began exuding blue fumes, almost giving her a visible aura.

"And, the third stage, the Stage of Divinity."

Maria closed her eyes, and when she re-opened them, they were glowing a bright golden color. It only lasted for a second, before she apparently turned the ability off. Taking a deep breath, Rin walked forward.

"Wow," she muttered, stunned. "What was all that?"

"What you have to look forward to, Rin."

And, with that being said, the two of them sat down and Maria began to explain in detail.

"The first two stages can be tackled in whichever order you prefer. The Stage of the Body revolves around training your physical form to its absolute peak. It's fairly simple and in order to progress in it, you simply need to continue tempering your physique using Essence, as you've been doing. The second stage, the Stage of Essence, is one that overlaps with the path of your average spellweaver. You must meditate, grow the Essence inside of you until your natural Essence pool is as large as it will be. Finally, the Stage of Divinity can only be tackled once both of the earlier stages have been cleared. No one has managed to master this stage fully, but once you do, it is believed that you transcend humanity itself."

"... Damn," Rin said. Suddenly, it felt like she had a lot more to do than she'd expected. "How long did it take you to do all of that?"

"A decade and I'm still not done," Maria replied. "If you are serious about being an adventurer though, then you will have more than enough time to accomplish all of this. To that end, I will help you as much as I can."

Nodding, Rin continued to internalize what had been said to her. She couldn't picture herself doing anything like that. Nor could she picture herself working at this for such a long time. Still, with Maria here to guide her, it didn't feel impossible.

"... Okay," Rin said, as she took a deep breath. "Where do we start?"

She was so eager to learn, she put aside the ability she'd picked up back at Derain, figuring she'd let Maria know about it after this.

"Well, for now, let's go to what I call... 'bread-and-butter' techniques. These are just moves you will be using throughout your career. I will only teach you one today, though, as you will need to grow your Essence to be able to use more."

"Wait," Rin raised a hand, "I... My Essence is pretty bad. Does that matter?"

"Yes," Maria answered. "Unfortunately. However, everyone is capable of growing their Essence to some extent. Your natural Essence pool, however, does limit this. Think of this mathematically," she continued. "If your Essence is a 1, and you multiply that by 4, you will have an Essence of 4. However, if someone has an Essence of 10, and they multiply that by 4, even though they put in the same amount of effort as you, they will have an Essence of 40. Still, if you have four abilities, and each one uses 1 Essence, then, an Essence of 4 is enough to work, understand?"

"... I think I get it," Rin nodded along.

"Come," Maria stood up. "Let me show you."

The two of them then stood next to each other, side-by-side. Maria wanted Rin to follow along with her, as she showed what she was supposed to do.

"Rin, can you explain to me how you draw a spellsign?" Maria asked.

"Sure. So, you push your Essence into your fingertips, then you draw the sign."

"Yes. Now, what do you think would happen if you attempted that very thing, but using your entire fist instead?"

Rin paused.

"I... don't know."

"The answer is that a different kind of spell would result from that act. After all, each spellsign is just a result of different strokes. Pouring Essence into your fists, or your legs, and then moving them, you can view it as painting with a bigger brush. That means that performing certain moves like this yields specific effects. And, that leads me to your first bread-and-butter technique."

Maria then clenched her right hand into a fist and pulled it back as blue Essence poured out from her hand.

"This move is called the [Empowered Straight Punch]. It is the most basic bread-and-butter move in weaponless combat. Move your hand exactly as I do, while letting your Essence come out from the entirety of your fist. It will feel... funny. Like a small buzzing. Then, lower your fist, and push it forward."

Maria punched the air, and the Essence that had been covering her fist spread out, dissipating.

"Okay, let me give it a shot."

"Do not think it over too hard," Maria told her. "Unlike with regular spellweaving, if you make a mistake all that'll happen is that your ability will not activate."

Rin heard that, and then prepared herself. She readied her fist, driving her Essence into it and trying to bring it out. She was successful fairly quickly. Like Maria said, it felt more like giving her hand a buzz than anything else. She pulled her fist back, lowered it a little, and then thrust it forward.

As she punched the air, she genuinely felt the power in the strike.

"... Oh crap," Rin mumbled as she looked at her own hand.

"I had wanted to develop your Essence a little more before I showed you that," Maria told her. "But, like I said, we will be accelerating your training a little."

"Awesome... So, what's next?"

---

{Elisa}

Walking into the Academy had a tendency of drawing eyes onto her. Walking into the Academy wearing a high-end dress? The effect was amplified. Elisa was too distracted to care though.

[That despicable...] She gritted her teeth as she walked into the building, bathed in moonlight as she'd returned late after she left. Trying her hardest to clear her mind, she walked up to her room, eager to slip into clothing that was a little more comfortable.

However, looking like this did have one positive effect that almost made the entire evening worth it. When Elisa walked into her room, she found Rin laying by the bed, holding a bag on her stomach.

It had sounded like she'd been talking to herself just before Elisa entered the room, but as soon as she did, Rin froze. Her eyes widened as she laid them on Elisa's figure and the blonde held back a grin.

[... I suppose there was one good part to all of this,] she thought as she walked over to her drawers and pulled out some clothes.

Elisa took her clothes off then and changed into some basic sleepwear, feeling Rin's eyes on her throughout it all. When she was done, she went over to her bed and laid down.

"Ah... How was your day, roomie?" Elisa asked.

"... Good," Rin said, as she looked away. She remained quiet for a moment, before speaking up again. "Hey, can I ask you something?"

"Sure."

This felt a little sudden, but Elisa was curious to hear what was on her mind.

"... Were you serious?" Rin asked.

"About what?"

"Talking to Eve later, or whatever."

[Oh. I'm guessing she told her about that,] Elisa thought. It was an easy question to answer.

"Yeah," Elisa nodded. "I told you. I've really been impressed with her lately. And, I am sorry for just assuming things about her."

Rin nodded, and Elisa continued.

"I'm not expecting you to change your opinion of me so quickly, but, I would like to show you that I'm not just another bitchy noblewoman."

"... Okay," Rin replied as she stood up and placed her bag on her own drawers. "I... I appreciate that."