Chapter 116: Demonstration of Power
POV: Adam
The Lodge's training grounds sprawled across a valley that magic had carved from solid mountain.
Artificial terrain covered acres—forest sections for tracking exercises, open fields for combat drills, a lake for water-based training, even a volcanic outcropping that someone had apparently imported from distant lands. The scale spoke to resources accumulated over centuries, power measured not just in magical ability but in the infrastructure supporting it.
"Impressive, isn't it?" Margarita Laux-Antille had taken to Ciri's instruction with enthusiasm that seemed genuine. "The Lodge's founders wanted complete training facilities. Took three generations to build."
"It's certainly... thorough."
"Thorough is one word. Excessive might be another." The scholarly sorceress guided Ciri toward a pavilion set aside for dimensional training. "Your lesson today focuses on teleportation anchoring. The ability to mark locations and return to them regardless of distance."
Through our soulbond, I felt Ciri's interest kindle. Teleportation had always been instinctive for her—panic-driven escapes that deposited her somewhere safe without conscious direction. Learning to control the process meant gaining tactical options that pure survival instinct couldn't provide.
I settled into an observation position, watching but not participating. My role here was support, not student. The Lodge tolerated my presence because removing me meant removing Ciri, but they hadn't offered to teach me anything.
Not that I needed their instruction. My elements developed through paths the sorceresses couldn't understand.
—Scene Break—
POV: Ciri
The teleportation exercises proved simultaneously simple and complex.
"Elder Blood provides the power," Margarita explained, drawing diagrams in the air with light trails. "What you lack is the framework—mental structures for directing that power consistently. Right now, you jump and land wherever your subconscious decides. We're teaching your conscious mind to overwrite those instincts."
"So I'm not learning magic. I'm learning control over magic I already have."
"Precisely. Your raw capability exceeds most trained mages. Your refinement..." Margarita's diplomatic pause said everything. "Needs work."
The first exercise involved marking a stone across the training field, then teleporting to it repeatedly until the destination became instinctive. The stone was perhaps fifty meters distant—trivial range, but the precision required made it challenging.
Her first attempt landed her ten meters short. The second, five meters past. The third, directly on target but oriented backward.
"Progress." Margarita's encouragement carried genuine pleasure. "Most students need days to achieve directional consistency. You've managed it in hours."
"Elder Blood helps."
"Elder Blood is the help. You're just learning to use it properly." The sorceress consulted notes she'd been keeping throughout the session. "At this rate, you'll master short-range teleportation within weeks. Long-range will take months, but the foundation is solid."
Through the bond, Ciri felt Adam's pride—warm satisfaction at her achievements that bolstered her own confidence.
—Scene Break—
POV: Adam
The challenge came during the afternoon break.
Fringilla Vigo approached with the casual grace of someone who'd spent decades in royal courts learning to make demands sound like suggestions. Her Nilfgaardian accent flavored words designed to manipulate.
"The Lodge has heard so much about your elemental capabilities." Her smile carried no warmth. "Educational demonstrations would benefit our younger members. A practical display, perhaps?"
The phrasing was deniable—just a request for education, nothing threatening. But the subtext was clear: prove you're as dangerous as rumored, or admit you're not.
"What kind of demonstration did you have in mind?"
"Something comprehensive. Your three elements working in concert." Fringilla's gesture encompassed the training grounds. "We've prepared space. Several Lodge members have expressed... curiosity."
I glanced at Ciri, felt her concern through our bond. They're testing you.
I know. But refusing looks weak.
Then don't refuse. Show them exactly what they're dealing with.
—Scene Break—
POV: Geralt
The witcher watched the crowd gather with professional assessment.
Not just Lodge members—various mages, scholars, even servants had found reasons to be near the training grounds. Word had spread quickly once Fringilla's "request" became known. Everyone wanted to see whether the Element Master lived up to his reputation.
"This is a trap." Lambert's observation came quiet.
"Everything the Lodge does is a trap. Question is what kind." Geralt positioned himself where he could see both Adam and the sorceresses watching. "If he disappoints them, they'll push harder—test boundaries, probe weaknesses. If he impresses them..."
"They'll want to control him instead of just Ciri."
"They already want to control him. This determines whether they think they can."
Adam stepped into the cleared space at the training field's center. The crowd formed a loose circle, maintaining distance that spoke to uncertainty about what they were about to witness.
"Three elements, I'm told." Fringilla's voice carried to the assembled observers. "Perhaps a demonstration of each, separately, then combined?"
"If you'd prefer." Adam's tone remained neutral, but Geralt caught the subtle shift in his posture—the stance he adopted when preparing to channel significant power.
—Scene Break—
POV: Adam
I started with earth.
The ground beneath my feet responded like an old friend greeting long absence—stone and soil and bedrock rising to my call with eagerness that never failed to satisfy. I didn't create a simple pillar or wall. Instead, I reached deep, drawing on geological structures that extended hundreds of feet beneath the training grounds.
A mountain emerged.
Not a small hill—an actual mountain, rising from the field's center with speed that made observers scramble backward. Stone compressed and shaped, forming peaks and ridges and a summit that blocked the afternoon sun. The structure stabilized at perhaps two hundred feet height, dwarfing every building in the Lodge's compound.
[ Earthbending: Major Construction ]
[ MP: 1020/1020 → 850/1020 ]
The silence that followed felt like held breath.
"Water next, I think."
The lake beside the training grounds responded before I finished speaking. Not just surface water but the aquifer beneath, moisture drawn from soil and air and the mountain I'd just created. The lake lifted—all of it, thousands of gallons suspended in a sphere that caught sunlight like a liquid crystal.
Then it froze.
Ice crystallized from the sphere's center outward, creating a structure of impossible complexity—frozen waves and cascading falls and geometric patterns that nature would never produce. The frozen lake hung above the mountain, casting prismatic light across observers who'd forgotten to close their mouths.
[ Waterbending: Mass Manipulation + Flash Freeze ]
[ MP: 850/1020 → 650/1020 ]
"And air."
Wind gathered without visible source, compressing around the frozen structure until pressure made the ice creak. Then I released it—directed force that shattered the ice sphere into a million fragments, each piece launching outward at speeds that could have killed.
But the same wind that shattered controlled the debris. Fragments swirled in patterns, creating a blizzard contained within invisible barriers, ice dancing around the mountain in formations that shifted and reformed according to my will.
[ Airbending: Precision Control + Debris Manipulation ]
[ MP: 650/1020 → 500/1020 ]
"Combined, then."
The ice fragments merged with stone from the mountain, air pressure fusing them into a fortress that rose from the peak—walls of ice-reinforced rock, towers that spiraled toward the sky, battlements that could have housed an army. The entire construction process took perhaps thirty seconds, power flowing through me in quantities that should have been exhausting but somehow felt natural.
[ Three-Element Combination: Fortress Construction ]
[ MP: 500/1020 → 300/1020 ]
The fortress stood complete—a monument to capabilities I'd developed through months of training and survival. Then, just as deliberately, I disassembled it. Stone returned to earth, ice melted into mist, wind dispersed into natural patterns. Within another minute, the training grounds looked exactly as they had before.
"Educational enough?" I asked Fringilla.
She didn't answer. Neither did anyone else.
—Scene Break—
POV: Ciri
Pride flooded through the soulbond, mixed with exhaustion she knew Adam was carefully hiding.
The demonstration had cost him—nearly seventy percent of his reserves, far more than casual observers would realize. But the effect on those observers made the expenditure worthwhile.
Lodge members who'd looked at Adam with condescension now watched with something closer to fear. Scholars scribbled notes frantically, trying to document what they'd witnessed. Even Philippa, approaching from the crowd's edge, moved with caution that hadn't been present in their previous interactions.
"Three elements mastered." The blind sorceress's voice carried calculation that made Ciri's skin prickle. "Rumor suggests a fourth exists."
"Fire isn't accessible yet." Adam's deflection came smooth. "Three is sufficient for current purposes."
"Three is sufficient for nearly any purpose. Four would make you..." Philippa paused, selecting words carefully. "Unprecedented. Perhaps unique in continental history."
"I'm not interested in being unprecedented. I'm interested in protecting Ciri."
"The two may not be separable." Philippa's head turned toward Ciri, blind eyes somehow conveying direct attention. "Your partner grows powerful, Princess. Power attracts attention—not just ours. Others will notice. Others will want to control or eliminate him."
"Others are welcome to try." Adam's response carried no arrogance, just statement of fact. "I'm not Lodge property. Neither is Ciri. We're allies against a common enemy, nothing more."
"Nothing more. Of course." Philippa's smile held secrets. "But the Lodge remembers its allies. And its allies' capabilities."
[ XP Gained: 350 (Power Demonstration, Political Positioning) ]
[ Level 46: 30% toward Level 47 ]
[ Public Reputation: Continental Recognition ]
[ Lodge Assessment: Dangerous Ally ]
MORE POWER STONES == MORE CHAPTERS
To supporting Me in Pateron .
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