"Huu… Hu…" Auric breathed heavily while wiping his sweat. He never thought it would be this hard.
The killing intent was too intense. In the end, he only managed to take four out of the ten steps required to reach her.
"All right. Let's stop here." Maya waved her hand, signaling the end of the training. "Since it's already quite late, will you go home or stay here?"
"I think I will stay here. I will call my mother later." Auric thought it would be better to stay here.
First, he wanted to start practicing with Lindwurm, especially for the footwork and breathing techniques.
He started very late, but he still has the greatest advantage he could hope for—his sensitivity. Thanks to this sensitivity, controlling elements became easier.
It allowed him to spend less time in this kind of training. That was why he could put his whole heart into the basics first.
Maya had told him that he could use her place any time he liked, so she pointed up. "The first floor is as you can see. Living room, dining room, and so on. There is even a gym here. The second floor is your room. Just don't go into the rooms on the left. Do you understand?"
"Don't worry. I won't go there no matter how curious I am." Auric nodded. Even if a piano sound started playing in that room, he would definitely not go there.
He wanted to respect his teacher's boundaries, just like she did.
"Good. You can take whatever room you want on the right side. Just mark it so that I know which room is yours. And I don't think I need to say this, but don't mess this place up. No party, no alcohol. If you want to sleep with someone, go to a hotel or something."
"Ahaha. You don't have to worry about that." Auric smiled wryly.
"Good. Do you want me to bring some clothes for you?"
Auric opened his Space Storage and showed spare clothes. "I've got this from a certain person."
"Oh? Space Storage. Have you copied Ellia's element? There is no one else besides her with that element in this town."
"Indeed."
"Now, I'm starting to get jealous. That technique is so convenient."
Auric nodded in agreement.
"All right. In that case, I don't have to worry anymore. There is one more thing I want to confirm. Do you need any materials to increase your elements?"
Auric wondered whether he should answer this question or not. Ultimately, he shook his head. "No. I originally planned to use the materials for my store."
"How about I adjust the resources for you? Since you don't need materials, I can exchange it for access to the training room. There are plenty of things there, such as a gravity room. That can help you build your physique faster."
Auric still had plenty of money from being an evolution master, so he really didn't need the materials from the promised resource. He could feed Lindwurm by himself.
So, changing it to a different resource that was more suitable for his growth sounded like a good idea.
"I understand. Let's change it that way."
"Sure. I will tell you once it has been processed. I should get going now. Make yourself comfortable here." She stood up, preparing to leave.
"Please be careful on your way, Teacher."
She chuckled. "I'm planning to stay here for a while to guide you. So, you can ask me whenever I'm here. If I'm not here, I'm probably in my office or training center."
"Ah! My apologies." Auric felt sorry that she had to stay here for his sake.
"It's fine. It's my job as your teacher. Your job as a student is to…" She suddenly paused as if she were thinking of the perfect word to use. "Beat up other students."
"Is that what a teacher should say?" Auric chuckled.
She just laughed it off while waving her hand. "Anyway, see you later."
"Yes." Auric nodded.
Before she exited the house, she actually stopped as she remembered something. "Ah. That's right. How is the matter with the disciple of the Lightning Emperor? I don't care about that guy, but has the Lightning Emperor caused you any trouble?"
Auric shook his head. "No. The matter with the Lightning Emperor has been handled well. I will just take care of the matter with Simon."
"Is that so? Just don't hesitate to tell me if the old man messes with you." She tilted her head. "Now that I think about it, since you don't know much about me, I guess you don't know about that as well."
"That?"
"It's nothing. Just believe in your teacher. There is nothing in this small town that I can't take care of. Of course, having 100 female students suddenly get pregnant might be an exception."
After teasing him, she closed the door, leaving Auric no chance to correct her.
Auric was speechless. The people around him were quite unique lately.
"Anyway, Lindwurm, you are awfully quiet today." Auric raised his head.
"What are you talking about? I was watching the entire show the whole time. She got you good, Auric." Lindwurm smirked, teasing him.
Auric rolled his eyes. "Well, I will ignore that remark for now. Let's start with the practice, shall we?"
"Sure. Do you need my help?"
"Which one should I start first? The breathing technique or the footwork?"
"The footwork is quite flexible and simple. It will be quite beneficial to stabilize your posture and allow you to combine it with movement-type battle techniques like the Void Step. On the other hand, the breathing technique will help you maintain the circulation of your energy. Your strongest point is your mind, so I suggest the breathing technique first."
"I see. It's still 3 PM, so that means 4 hours of breathing training and 2 hours of movement training. I will spend the rest of my time gathering the Eternal Night element. It should be more effective to do it at night, so that's perfect."
Lindwurm approved the schedule Auric suggested.
Still, as Auric expected, learning and mastering were two different things.
He could comprehend the breathing technique in an instant. It was simple, so it wasn't even a challenge.
Yet when he followed the instructions, he found himself coughing hard as the air felt like it was stuck in his lungs.
Even if he managed to do it, maintaining that pattern for a while was quite difficult. He wouldn't be able to keep it up during a fight.
Auric knew precisely that he should train it until his body was able to do it as if it were his natural breathing.
"This is harder than I expected." Auric coughed multiple times while shaking his head.
"That's normal. Actually, you can improve it further once you get accustomed to this breathing technique by training in the gravity room or doing strenuous work." Lindwurm suggested.
"I will think about it." Auric cursed from time to time, but he never thought about stopping.
Even when he began his footwork training, he felt quite clumsy.
He stepped on his own foot. He twisted his ankle, so he shifted his center of gravity right away, avoiding a worse injury by letting his whole body take the fall.
"Ugh. It's quite painful." Auric shook his head helplessly.
"Well, you're going to stop?"
"Of course not. If I can't handle this small pain, what will happen if I have to fight in the future? Experiencing broken bones, getting stabbed, or suffering even worse injuries? I don't plan to avoid all this pain. Instead, I will just use this to get used to the pain."
"That's a good mindset." Lindwurm was also satisfied with Auric's thought.
"But I definitely need a healing ability next time. Perhaps I should look for a priest who has a light element with healing abilities next time. Well, since I now have a dark element, maybe I should donate my services to a church or something. I can volunteer to help priests get their avatars evolved."
Lindwurm rolled his eyes. "Well, healing ability is nice."
"I know, right? I can heal my muscle pain and continue training as usual. All these wounds won't stop me from training." Auric gave a cheeky wink.
Lindwurm definitely couldn't say anything about his determination. "As long as you don't do anything illegal or something that will disappoint your parents…"
"Hehehe. You don't have to worry about that." Auric chuckled. "Anyway, I'm going to continue."
Auric continued the training. He stopped only to get dinner and drink some water before continuing.
For him, it was no different from what he did on a daily basis. The only difference was that he spent all this time studying things instead of physical training.
Once he was done with his schedule, he washed up first before going back to training.
Gathering elements was not intense training. He simply stood in the middle of the field as his body gathered more and more elements.
Although he had other elements, he wanted to at least make this strongest element reach a usable level. He wanted enough energy for this particular element so that he could use the two battle techniques given by Maya earlier.
Lindwurm had witnessed it before, but even with the physical strain, Auric trained just as hard as he studied.
He just watched over him, knowing that he would likely continue for a few more hours since Auric usually slept about four to five hours every day unless it was a rest day.
…
A few hours later.
Maya crossed her arms, looking at her note. While recalling the previous training, she muttered, "Auric was able to take four steps despite all that killing intent. I expected him to take only one step.
"Even though he was scared, he had the courage to move forward. He was also aware of his lack of skill and didn't complain when it was hard."
She still remembered Auric's determined face. "His talent is exceptional, but if he doesn't have the heart to improve, it will be a great shame. Fortunately, I don't even have to correct his personality. He may be quite cheeky, but he's not a bad person overall."
She was quite satisfied with what she saw in Auric. "I guess being demoted here is not that bad. I guess my student this time will create quite a big wave not just in this city, but also in the entire country, if not the world. I'm looking forward to it."
Maya looked at the clock before standing up. "It's already midnight. I guess it's time for me to go back. He must have gone to sleep already."
That was what she thought, but when she returned to the small mansion, she was surprised to find Auric standing in the middle of the field.
There was a dark energy circling around him. It was as if his body was naturally absorbing this energy.
'What? I have seen this before, but is this how he's able to use other people's elements? I think I have to adjust my opinion about him.'
This was the first time she had seen a method of becoming stronger. It was no wonder he told her he didn't need any materials.
But that wasn't the only thing that she noticed.
'Wait a minute. His breathing… It's actually different from before. This is similar to the breathing technique I gave him earlier.'
Her eyes then shifted to the ground on the field. Although a portion of the trace had been erased, she could see that the ground was quite messy. It was proof that Auric had been training his footwork.
It was already past midnight, yet he was still training his body.
'Ahaha. I've truly hit the jackpot this time. People say hard work is more valuable than talent, but if this little genius is also working harder than most people… He might become a terrifying monster in the future.'
She clenched her hands into fists excitedly. 'I guess I'll prepare an ointment for his injuries.'