Vol 1 Chapter 12: First Element
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After the day of our re-mourning to Ely, I continued to further hone my skills. Aside from my Mana, that is at the initial level, and my Quick Witted and Spatial Awareness, all of my passives are set to max
It sounds stupid of me to train further, but I believe that its also best to practice my swordsmanship without relying on my passives. Since my stamina is set to max, I'm able to train as much as I wanted to
In between my days of training, I was able to turn off my passive 'Swordsmanship' by internally imagining it switching off. I don't know how I was able to do it, but at that time, I believed that I could pull it off with just some sheer will
And thanks to my Quick Witted ability, I am able to correct my mistakes such as my posture, my stance, the way I grip and use the sword, and the like without the help of my Swordsmanship ability
With that training plan in mind, I was confident that I will get even stronger with just my natural abilities
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"Last one!"
!
...
It was then, that I was able to break multiple boulders with a sword
"...That should be enough for now..."
The training ground, which was quite away from Master Shin's house, had been transformed into a wasteland, there is almost no sign of patches of grass, or even trees surrounding the training ground. With over 6 months of training with my Master, it is to be expected that this place would eventually turn out into something like this
"I wonder where he has gone off to..."
Master Shin told me earlier that he needs to scout the house's area, to know how big the ward or what we call, 'Ely's Protection' is. After what happened yesterday, Master Shin was eager to know how effective it is
"If its taking him this long, then I suppose he hasn't still figured out how big Ely's Protection is..."
I took a moment to think about what I should do as of this moment
"...Master Shin's Earth element..."
...
It was powerful, no doubt. When I was facing him head on, he had good control of his Earth magic...
"I wonder if there's this affinity thingy where the stronger your affinity in ones' element, the stronger your magic is? Like the ones in the animes I've watched..."
...
"...Or do I even have the magic to do what Master Shin can do?"
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"There's no point if I don't try!"
With my determination, I raised my right hand, directly giving my whole attention to it
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But that said, how should I even start?
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"Should I just do what the main characters do? Imagining it forming?"
Hmm...doesn't hurt to try...
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With lack of creativeness and imagination, I simply imagined how a stone turns into stone...
"...!"
Small particles of seemingly what I can distinguish from as sand, starts to accumulate into my hand, compressing, changing its color, and slowly forming itself into something I want it to be...
...Simply enough, I was able to form a stone out of my hands
"...I can't believe it worked. But compared to Master Shin's boulders, this stone is my first step to mastering Earth Magic-"
Urk!
Suddenly, my head started twitching
"Ack! What now?!"
After a few seconds of pain, words that seemed like a notification, showed in front of me
Passive Learned: Earth Mastery - I
"Huh? Passive? Isn't it supposed to be a skill?"
Weird...why's it considered as a passive when I can actively cast it?
"I guess what matters right now is that I can cast it if I can imagine it..."
I looked around me, thinking of something else
"...I wonder if I can cast it onto anything I see?"
Like, if it can spawn stones on the area I specified it? like what Master Shin does?
...
"Looks like I'll just have to do it!"
I looked at the area I want it to spawn, and then closed my eyes...
...imagine it...
...remember the area...
...imagine the stones forming around it...
...imagine it...
...imagine it!
...
I felt something was happening while I had my eyes closed the whole time, when suddenly-
"What are you doing?"
"?!"
My focus completely shattered once I heard Master Shin's voice
"Whoa! Can you not sneak up on me?!"
"Hm? I thought you already knew I was here"
Is he talking about my Spatial Awareness passive? That is a good question...
...Although I can detect creatures within the area, I somehow cannot detect Master Shin's presence...
That is also weird, considering that I was able to detect him and his magic the first time I activated it...
"Anyways, you should wrap up for today's training"
"Why's that?"
"The range of Ely's blessing isn't a ward that we think of. It's actually something else"
"Something else?"
"The creatures does avoid the vicinity of our home, but when I got certainly far, they would avoid me as well"
"Isn't that just because you're strong?"
"That can be the case, but most creatures in Myriad Forest always acts in their own instinct, they don't have their own will"
"So they would attack you regardless"
"Hm...now that I think about it, before you were even here, the creatures tends to avoid me, that's why I had to chase them down for resources"
"How come you never even noticed that?"
"I don't know, I didn't bother to take those things in mind"
"But what made you so sure that the house we lived in isn't a set range that is blessed by Ely?"
"Because although they avoided me, they would still be vigilant around me whenever I go"
Which indicates that they want to attack him, yet they can't due to Ely's Blessing
"I'm pretty sure its the same for you, since we live in the same house"
"So what you meant to say is-"
"Yeah, I think Ely blesses those who had entered our home as well as those I've taken in or known of. That's just my speculation"
That is the most logical thing to think of but...
...Master Shin and I aren't glowing like the house does. So can we really say for sure that, that is the case?
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"Now that out of the way, Its time we should go back"
"Why? I don't see any reason to go back from what you've said"
"Its exactly the reason why we should go back now"
"Huh?"
Master Shin sighs, then further explains the situation
"While I was investigating Ely's Blessing, Herbs around the forest started to wither"
"So? What does have to do with anything?"
"I should've expected you wouldn't know, you just came here after all"
My self started to brace itself for what I think is some serious issue
"Why? is the herbs withering a big problem?"
"That itself isn't the problem"
"Then what is?"
Master Shin looked at me with dead serious eyes as he said his next words
"The withering of herbs around the Myriad Forest...is the sign of a Rare Crimson Moon happening"
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