Lee River sat in his room alone with the letter he received from the old man. It was one he had been waiting for ever since he sent his own letter about a week ago. In it he explained what the tournament was and talked about the friends he had made. That he planned to train and prepare them for the tournament and his hopes that if he went far enough he may be able to use it as a way to find the old man's students. He quickly opened it.

*****

Dear Lee,

I'm happy to hear you're doing well. Your parents and Allie have missed you a great deal. I'm glad to hear you're making friends at school. When it comes to your idea to train your friends and go into the tournament to try to find someone being taught by one of my former students; I must admit it gave me pause. At first I was not keen on the idea. It'll put you in the public eye and that could be very dangerous.

Sadly, it appears we can't wait around forever. I've come no closer to tracking down any of them myself; so for now there is no better option than to follow your plan. I only ask you be careful and remember; Even if you find my students, if something happen to you then it's meaningless to me. Take care and stay safe.

-the old man

*****

Lee was honestly surprised the old man didn't tell him to give up on the idea and that it was too dangerous. Lee probably wouldn't have fully followed that advice but he was surprised none the less. There was only one reason why the old man didn't do it. The situation was more dire than he was letting on. Perhaps if he didn't find the other students within the next few years the barrier would come down completely.

He felt more urgency now than ever. Since he had decided to participate in the tournament and make sure to have a team with him who could help him get to the very end he had looked closely at the student body. No one in the 2nd year class was truly exceptional. When it comes to the 3rd years he thought the student president was fairly strong and perhaps could be helpful going forward.

The rest of the 3rd years were barely stronger than Mary Saint Cloud right now. She would pass them all by the end of the year, even without his help. Clearly she was a great talent. He had learned being from the main Cloud house as well as one of the potential heirs clearly meant a great deal. They must have invested a lot of time and money into her training. On top of that she truly was a great talent that shinned above others and would definitely be a good ally.

Tom Sky would be a strong ally as well and his talent wasn't far behind hers. Lee was sure he could make him become a great teammate. The problem was the others. Rain, Lee had learned, wasn't naturally spectacular. His training from top teachers in the past had made him stronger than almost all other first years here but his natural ability with mana control didn't exist. Hill and Clover both had much more pure talent but were so far behind Rain as far as experience. He would need to find the best training for all of them to raise them up quickly.

River woke up the next day and went to his classes. He didn't bother to listen much to what the teacher said about magic theory. He already knew all of it and realized a fair amount of what they taught was incorrect. He did learn what kind of answers they'd like to hear and learned to give them. In his classes he mostly practiced mana control sitting at his desk and planned on how to best train his friends.

At night they all met and trained together. For Derrick Hill and Amanda Clover he didn't even let them spar. He had them solely focus on mana training for now. He told them both to do it every waking hour they could.

“I'm not trying to complain, but why don't we get to spar with the others and work on duel casting and larger spells?” Amanda was worried this would make her fall behind even more.

Lee answered. “Your mana control foundations are both too low. You only have so many years to build up your foundation. You both are far behind in this aspect. Unless you want yourselves to be limited with your power in the future you need to put all of your effort into this for now.”

Derrick Hill was equally concerned. “But we are falling behind them even more like this! It's like you're saying that no matter what we do we'll never catch up!”

Lee thought for a moment on how best to explain it to them. “Doesn't a rider who stops to fix a broken wheel in his carriage also fall behind the riders who go on ahead?” They both nodded this was true.

“That's what both of you are right now in comparison to be blunt. Don't worry. I promise you'll be able to catch up and be strong if you apply yourselves. If you focus truly mastering mana control with all your being you'll be able to train more efficiently. If you get good enough at it they'll be the ones unable to keep up with you!

Of course, they can try to master mana control to the same degree. So you'll just need to stay ahead of the rest of them with it comes to mana control. I believe both of you very possibly can if you push yourselves. You both have good overall talent but I sense a particularly excellent ability to feel and control mana in you two. More than the others and perhaps even myself to be honest. Keep training and you'll reach great heights, I promise.”

They agreed and went back to controlling their mana, spinning it within their bodies. Lee walked behind them and tried to feel their mana. “I'm going to put a hand on your shoulder so I can feel the flow of your mana. Don't let me break your concentration.” He put a hand on Hill's shoulder

“You need to compact the mana more as your spin it inside yourself. Also, keep focusing on the mana as it is spun. This is not like a bowl of water with you spinning a spoon in it. You are the pool of water and you control it yourself. Make sure to feel and control all of it as you spin it.”

Derrick wrinkled his brow and focused more “I'll try.”

He walked over to Amanda and put his hand on her shoulder. Rain shot a look at Lee and made an annoyed face but went back to his training. No one but Tom Sky saw it. Amanda didn't mind as she was too focused on her training and knew Lee was a man she could trust not to do anything indecent. She was focusing harder than Derrick. While Lee had spoken to both as if they were at in same position, she believed she was the most behind of all. She would need to put in the most effort to catch up.

Lee focused on the mana flow in her body. “You're control and concentration is great but you're actually trying too hard and spinning it too fast. If you put too much force and effort into controlling it you will tire yourself faster. Slow down the amount you are spinning the mana in your body and instead focus on the flow above all. When you do this perfectly it should almost feel as you are simply guiding a spin and flow that's natural.”

Amanda exhaled and tried to relax her body more “Okay, I’ll try my best.”

David Rain saw his hand was still on her shoulder. He decided that had gone on long enough and asked “what about me Lee? What should I do?” He said it as much due to eagerness to increase his power and annoyance for Lee having a hand on Amanda. Not that she was his girlfriend or anything. He just didn't like other guys touching her is all. For purely protective reasons, at least he told himself that.

Lee turned to David “we'll talk after we're done training for the day. I want to give you some one on one training and tips.”

David thought that was odd but there was nothing to be done about it. He continued to train with Tom Sky. Lee walked over to them “How about you spar with Ms. Cloud for a bit David. I want to go over something with Tom.”

David nodded and walked over to Mary to spar. She never held back so he wasn't the least bit happy about fighting with her.

“So what do you want to talk to me about Lee?” Tom was curious what Lee would have to say

“You're a fairly well rounded wizard but you still have not recognized your biggest weakness even though I told you it in our first match.” Tom was confused. He remembered the match but wasn't sure what Lee meant. Lee saw his confusion.

“You're immobile Tom. In our match you barely moved from your spot on the floor. I told you during the match didn't I? For attack and life movement was vital. I heard about your fight with that white masked wizard. You were hit by such a simple attack and you were knocked into the tree. It was all because you couldn't move.”

Tom thought for a moment. He supposed now that he thought about it he has been a bit of a sitting duck. “I guess that's true, but what else am I to do? I'm only good at using water, earth and fire magic. The only time I use wind magic is for my families ultimate technique and it takes forever to set it up because I’m so poor with wind magic. And wind is the magic that has to do with mobility the most right?”

River expected this “It's true that other elements of magic aren't so good for movement. Water can be used to an extent but the amount of mana needed to push yourself with water magic is much larger and overall it's not a good idea to use it in such away. That's why magic won't be our main focus. I want you to be able to use water magic to move in a pinch, but most of your training will focus on pure natural agility.”

Tom Sky was confused “but that isn't even magic training.”

Lee River said “no, but it's the kind of training that will keep you alive. This won't be like combat training were you need to learn to fight. This will solely be training yourself to be quick, fast and react nearly instantly”.

“How will I train that?”

Lee smiled “don't worry, I have a great idea.” He held up his hand and shot wind magic at Tom knocking him to the ground.

“Dammit Lee, that hurt!”

Lee smiled a wicked smile. “I have no doubt about that, but it won't hurt as much as this one will!” Tom rolled to the side to avoid the wind attack. “Rolling is fine, but you really need to get on your feet Tom.” He shot a few more spells at him. Tom dodged two but blocked the third with magic. Lee lowered his hand. “No more use of magic in our training unless I tell you to. This is non-negotiable.”

Tom was in shock “that's insane! I'm a wizard and you're telling me to not practice magic or mana control?”

“You can practice mana control but no magic or spells. I'm not here to debate, but to instruct. You're here to be trained by me. I promised you I'd make you as strong as I could and that's what I intend to do. If you don't want to do it my way then I'll need to ask you to leave. I can't explain right now, but it's very important we win this tournament and I can't afford to waste any of my efforts Tom.”

Tom was silent for a moment. Surely Lee would not steer him wrong but it was a tough idea to accept. Finally he gave an exhale and reigned himself to it. “Fine, no magic until you say. I hope I don't regret this.”

“Thank you Tom. Trust me, you'll become stronger if you stick with this. Oh I almost forgot, I brought you something that I want you to wear under your clothes from now on.” He walked over to a table and grabbed a bag he had brought into the room before they started training. He handed it to Tom. When he took the bag it dropped to the floor pulling his arm with it.

“What the hell is in this?” Tom tried to pick it up but only could with great effort. How did Lee walk with this so casually?

“Weighted clothing. Overall it's 75 lbs. I got you 2 sets. One 25 lb set and one 50 lb set when you get strong enough. Put on the 25 lb set now if you'd please. It's an adjustable vest with ankle and wrist weights. It should be fairly comfortable. Once it's on we'll continue your training. Make sure to wear it all day, every day from now on.” Lee said this very casually like it wasn't a big deal. Tom started to wonder if Lee wasn't a bit crazy.

Tom put on the weights though he felt a bit uncomfortable taking off his shirt to put this on under it in front of everyone. He was surprised what a difference he felt just wearing 25 more pounds. Moving was slower and it took him more effort and get his weight going in one direction quickly.

After getting it on Lee made him stand a distance away and began to shoot at him with wind attacks. Lee made him dodge attack after attack. Soon Tom's calfs were absolutely on fire. He felt tired and his breath was short but Lee made him keep going. Only stopping once Tom was about to fall over.

Lee told Rain to train with Sky so he could move on to Mary. Frankly there wasn't all that much he had to do with her except teach the fundamentals. She was pretty far ahead of the others and already was a fairly mobile fire who could duel cast a decent amount and do so silently. “I'd like to check your mana control again Mary, if you wouldn't mind.”

She blushed with the thought of him touching her but acted defiant and indifferent. “Like I’d care. Go ahead but don't get any ideas.” She turned her back and Lee put his hand on her shoulder.

Lee tried to understand everything about her mana system. “Overall you have good mana control but if you want to go further it needs to be better all around. Every day focus on one thing and try to improve that. If you try to improve everything at the same time you'll get nowhere. Today focus on compression, tomorrow shape control outside the body and the day after the flow of mana as you spin it within yourself.”

“Fine, now if you're done remove your hand immediately. I don't want you feeling like you can be so familiar with me. It isn't like we're a couple or anything so you're to touch me only the limited amount of time needed to check my mana control. Is that understood?”

Lee sighed to himself as he removed his hand. He walked in front of her “very well Mary. When not doing mana control I want you to work on your cast speed. It's true you're faster than most, but if you could be just a little faster it would truly become a weapon for you against nearly any level of opponent. Let me show you what I mean. Cast your wind spell straight at me and try to knock me down.”

Lee backed up till he stood a mere 10 from her. She was annoyed he stood so close and asked her to attack him. He was a bit too arrogant. She shot without warning. Lee blocked it easily.

“I'm not starting my spell until I've already seen you start to cast yours. 10 feet should be incredibly difficult to for any wizard to block if you can gather mana, create a spell and get it out fast enough. The reason your spell isn't even close to reaching me is cause by the time you cast your spell, due to how slow your mana gathering from nature is compared to mine, I've already caught up.”

Mary got angry at his words and cast another spell. Lee blocked it easily and took a step forward. She tried again and again was blocked. Lee took another step forward decreasing the distance again. Only 8 feet stood between them. Then 7 feet, 6 feet, 5 feet, 4 feet... Lee stopped there for a while. He was struggling to block them now. Still he didn't let a single one hit. She always prided herself on her speed. She felt like he was stepping on her pride by doing this.

“You're cast speed is excellent. You pride yourself on it I bet. It must be maddening how I can block it from such a range. I might be able to get this close to you now, but if you could gather nature energy 1/10th of a second faster I would need to stand at least 10 feet back to block it, if not more. When it comes to mana, just a little faster can make a large difference. We'll work on this until I need to stand 10 feet back to block you. After that we'll work on increasing the power of our spells.”

As practice finishing Lee was quite proud of his friends, “Good job everyone. Remember what I've said to work on and we'll meet back here tomorrow. David, stay after so we can talk a bit about your training.”

After they all left Lee walked up to David. Lee paused for a second. This would be difficult to say. “There's no easy way to say this David so I'll just say it. To be completely honest, your talent for magic is bad. Only slightly better than mine. The difference is I was taught by a wizard who had methods that would work around even the worst talent since I was 8. You were taught with conventional methods all your life.”

“So what are you saying?”

“This means it'll be particularly hard for you to keep up with the others as this training goes forward. You need to build up your foundation a lot more. They can build theirs up a good deal in a mere year. For you it will take many years to be able to build them up the same amount.

This doesn't mean you still can't be a great wizard in the future or that you are limited by how great you can be. But it does mean you'll soon lag behind the others in magical ability. Maybe before the year is over. You'll be able to possibly catch up after a few years if you can master the fundamentals effectively but there are no short cuts in building them.”

David yelled in a rage “I don't accept that! You're telling me that there's nothing I can do to change it no matter how hard I work? That is completely unfair!”

“Sadly, life isn't always fair. But just because life isn't always fair doesn't mean life isn't full of possibilities. “

“What do you mean? What possibilities?”

“Well, I thought you wouldn't like this news so I figured out a way for you to keep up with the others while you make up your lack of foundation. As a bonus. It'll also give you a way to possibly surpass them all once you have caught up.” Lee hoped this would cheer David up.

“What is it? Some special spell or magical training?”

“No, like I said, you will fall behind in magic. That is why as you train your fundamentals you'll also learn martial arts. This is the best way for you to keep up with them for now. They are better off training their magic to gain power. Since that will be harder for you, we'll have you train your body as well. Wizards who can fight well are rare. It seems I'm the first one any of you has ever seen. Remember how great an advantage that was in our fight?”

David was silent for a moment “I guess so... but will I really be able to keep up with them like that?”

“It depends on how hard you work. It isn't like your magic is bad. You can use many powerful spells and I'm not telling you to abandon using magic in a real fight. Like I said, you'll be able to be a great wizard and able to catch up in magical power eventually if you work hard. But if you don't focus on fundamentals like mana control and density now it will be impossible to do so later. You only have so many years to develop those skills. Don't waste your chance to do it.”

David nodded “fine, I'll focus on mana control and fundamentals of magic and learn martial arts.”

Lee put a hand on his shoulder “don't be sad, you'll soon see how powerful this will make you and how fierce a wizard too! The only downside is your training will be the most painful of all.”

“That's okay. I can take anything as long as I get stronger!”

Lee smiled “I'm glad to hear so, that's a good spirit to have. Now for our first lesson. What to if an opponent lets you get to close to them.” Lee moved like lightning. His hand moved from David's shoulder to his wrist. Lee turned his hips in and flipped David over his shoulder and onto the ground.

David let out a slow “oooooowe....”

“Now, the next step, how to subdue an opponent on the ground. There are a lot of ways to do this and they are all rather painful. Let's go over a few.”

“Can we start over? I wasn't ready. That hurts! It feels like my wrist is about to break! What are you doing to my leg? I don't think it can bend that far BACK! Wait, not the neck. NOT THE NECK!”