Now consider the requirements. To undergo initiation, you first had to drain at least one bender of another element. That bender had to be captured alive. Then you had to successfully carry out the process. All this while remembering that the captive bender could very well be spiritually stronger than his captor. After all, this was back when energybending had not yet been completely forgotten.
That meant the prisoner had at least a fifty-percent chance of turning the tables and draining the attacker instead.
After that, it was a matter of luck. Maybe death. Maybe becoming a squib. Either way, all the effort spent mastering your own element would have gone to waste.
Not exactly an appealing prospect.
Now add the fact that achieving even moderate proficiency in a newly acquired element would require at least five years of training... Oh, and while we're at it, let's throw in one more little detail: finding teachers for an "enemy" element wasn't exactly easy either. No one was going to teach an outsider.
The result was obvious. Back when such things were still possible, the reward simply wasn't worth the cost. The risks were enormous, the effort required was immense, and it took ten to twenty years to become mediocre in multiple elements. Yes, by the time such a universal bender reached eighty or ninety years of age, he would be an absolute monster. The problem was that he would also be a mortal enemy to three-quarters of the world, and his chances of surviving to such an age were far from guaranteed.
In other words, without cheats, it was vastly easier, more profitable, and more sensible to focus on a single element.
I, however, did have cheats.
Wan Shi Tong had already implanted the bending styles into my head. Translating them from theory into practice would still be difficult, but entirely possible—especially if those other elements were merely supplements to Fire. The Avatar, however, was an even bigger cheater. With the support of the Great Spirit and the accumulated memories of his predecessors, he could not only master all four elements at the level of a Grand Master in record time, but also enter his own version of Bankai, boosting his power tenfold or even a hundredfold.
At least there was one consolation: the current "peacemaker" was still just a boy. A boy raised by easygoing pacifists, at that. Where someone from other nations would have kept grinding themselves into the ground out of sheer anger and pride, this kid would most likely back down.
Then again… who the hell knows what goes on inside the head of a being fused with a Spirit? I've certainly got a few screws loose myself.
Still, I'd have some time to improve my Waterbending, and after that... well, we'd see. Pirates with earthbenders among their ranks were hardly in short supply. Airbenders would be more difficult, but I suspected that if I made it a priority and took advantage of my position, locating the Lion Turtles would be entirely possible.
And once that happened, I could start thinking about having a little talk with the Avatar about his behavior.
The important thing was not getting caught beforehand. Otherwise, Lord Ozai might react... unpleasantly. And even if he reacted pleasantly, he'd probably just lock me away somewhere in the General Staff Academy and order me to drill future generations for the rest of my life.
I'm still far too young to retire like that.
Besides, I'm still nowhere near being a true Master. Water, certainly not. And Fire...
Yeah. I really should get around to Lightning. I've been putting that off for far too long already.
Now if only I could find the time for all of it...
Ah, well. We'll see.
***
The ships damaged by the airborne menace's acts of vandalism had been repaired as much as circumstances allowed. Provisions, medicine, and weapons had been loaded into the holds. The wounded had been selected, while the prisoners and those "potentially willing to cooperate" had been sorted and distributed among the main forces. It was time to say goodbye to Zuko and Iroh.
And I must admit, the prince really was a genius. Not as an administrator, perhaps, but as a tracker? Spirits above, the boy had a genuine gift. He also turned out to be a decent instructor... well, decent for an army instructor, meaning a bastard of a drill sergeant.
At the very least, the soldiers who had gone through his "advanced training course" now had a reasonably good idea of how to track fishheads specifically on the Pole. They were also very, very happy to be rid of the royal offspring.
Ah, if I hadn't needed them so badly myself, I would have sent them along as Zuko's escort and reinforcements. The boy would have been delighted. Heh.
(End of Chapter)
P@treon: /SadRaven
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