Training Start

[Enfeeble Blade]

Emery channeled his spirit energy towards his darkness core, recited the spell command and directed the spell towards his hand. As a result, a familiar crescent black line started materializing in front of him, before it shot where his hand was aiming to. The darkish blade rapidly flew through the air and landed on a large boulder in the distance, creating deep gash on it.

Seeing the result of the spell, Emery nodded his head before a frown appeared in his head. It was unknown what he was thinking at the moment. Next, Emery proceeded to cast his water element offensive spell, [Steam Lance].

First, Emery concentrated his mind and slowly delved his consciousness deep inside him, as he tried to connect his will with the water element spirit energy within his body. When he found the energy, he quickly guided it towards his darkness core and made it flow through his core. Just like before, Emery immediately activated the spell command and casted the spell.

This time, billows of water vapor quickly emerged out of thin air before they coalesced together. The vapors rapidly formed into a sharp-looking lance-like construct. When the construct was stabilized, Emery threw it towards the same boulder he struck before. The lance zoomed in the air before it struck above deep gash on the boulder, causing only a small dent on it.

It was extremely clear Emery's darkness offensive spell was several times more powerful than his water element spell, this revelation made him frown deeply. Fortunately, the frown didn't last long, as Emery quickly relaxed his body. But still, he shook his head dejectedly.

Emery had tried to combine both spells in an attempt to create a new combined water and darkness elements spell. Alas, the previous attempts resulted in failure. So did this time, where the same result showed up. Indeed, not all spells could be easily combined.

As the pitch-black darkness of the night was illuminated by some kind of magical items, Magus Xion and Emery could be seen at the large courtyard in the forest behind Xion's hut. The magus told Emery to cast all the spells he was able to cast from his repertoire. All of this in order to let Magus Xion review his current capabilities.

"To cast a spell faster is all about concentration, Emery." Magus Xion stated, as he took a sip of tea he brought out of nowhere together with a table. "You need to focus quickly and cast it without hesitation."

Magus Xion calmly put the tea cup on the table. He then rose from the chair and approached Emery. "After seeing all your spells, it is obvious to me your combined element spells will be your most valuable asset. Hence, our goal will be training them to make sure you can cast those spells much faster. Much, much faster."

The magus walked past Emery and lowered his body, as he grabbed the small cage where the rat-like creature was trapped. He then calmly opened the cage door and took out the animal before he shoved it to Emery.

"This cute little thing is called Thundermouse."

As Magus Xion said that, Emery could see a palm-size rat-like creature dangling in the magus's hand. It had short, thin fur that looked soft and a tail shaped weirdly like a lightning. At first glance, it indeed looked cute. Heck, Emery even wanted to cuddle the little thing.

But when the animal spun around and faced towards Emery, it suddenly turned agitated and bared its mouth, showing dozens of sharp teeth. Emery was so shocked he unconsciously took a step back. He swiftly wiped imaginary sweat off his forehead and looked at Magus Xion, only to found out the man was smiling.

"I-Indeed… Such a cute animal..." Emery replied, laughing nervously.

Xion deliberately ignored Emery's attempt to look tough and took another item from his storage ring. It was a small brown-colored cube with many exotic engravings on its surface.

Before Emery could ask what it was, Magus Xion swiftly threw the cube to the ground. When it landed, it immediately transformed itself and swiftly grew into a cube-shaped structure around 5 meters tall and 50 meters long in a matter of seconds.

While Emery was amazed by that sight, Magus Xion stepped forward first as he beckoned Emery, "Don't freeze and stand there. Let's go inside."

Emery finally got out of his stupor and swiftly followed his master entering the cube. As he stepped inside, Emery was surprised to see the interior being brightly lit, as if there was a sun inside it.

Emery tried to find the source of the light, but he gave up after several seconds.

He swept his gaze around as he scanned the interior. The inside was empty and there were several windows on the walls made from a transparent material, but Emery didn't notice the windows from the outside. So, they must have been made of a very special material.

"Emery, this will be your training room." Magus Xion said, as he looked at the curious Emery.

The magus then released the thundermouse. In the blink of an eye, before it could land on the floor, the creature rapidly flew around the room at a breakneck speed, so fast Emery almost couldn't see it. At one moment, he saw the creature on the floor at the other end of the room. When he blinked his eye again, Emery found the creature gone.

"Let me guess, master. You want me to catch the creature?"

"Exactly, Emery."

At first, Emery thought the training would be hard, looking at the stake of the game. But seeing the creature, even though it was able to fly and really fast at that, Emery was very confident with his speed. Especially with this confined space, Emery believed he would eventually catch this rat-looking creature.

"Okay. Should I start now, master?" Emery said, as he took his running pose. He was about to sped forward when Magus Xion suddenly stopped him, causing him to comically stop his leg and stumbled to the ground.

"No, no, no, Emery. You will not catch it with your hand." Magus Xion said with a smile. "In fact, you aren't allowed to move a step at all. You will try to catch it using one of your combined spells, your favorite one, [Shadow Root Binding]."

Emery was startled, no, stunned. The difficulty of the training had just become a dozen times harder. Fortunately, Emery understood Magus Xion's goal, so he didn't complain.

[Shadow Root Binding] was indeed the best spell he had to practice his concentration. It would train his spirit power, as it needed continuous channeling after casting and it would also train his concentration a lot, as he had to use his will to order the roots. This spell was also a combined element spell, therefore he could also get used to channeling his spirit energy through two elements.

"Do you understand my intent now, Emery?"

"Yes, master."

"Good." Magus Xion said, as he took a sip of tea that had appeared without Emery noticing. "Now let's see how long it will take you to catch it with the spell. When you are able to catch it, you will release it and repeat the training again. Remember, don't hurt the little thing."

After that, Xion walked out of the place, leaving Emery with the creature flying around.

When Emery turned his body around, he saw the creature had stopped several meters away from him, observing him. He could also swear the creature seemed to understand its purpose here and deliberately taunted him, before it disappeared again.

Imaginary veins popped on Emery's forehead and without further due, he started casting the spell. [Shadow Root Binding]