As I stood in the circle, I found that the movements of the staff had been engraved into my body. I flowed with an easy grace that I would've been jealous of back when I fought the goblin's during the Trial of the Storm. Even so, I still couldn't get it to work! I could feel the Light Elemental Energy, but it either didn't respond to my call, or was sluggish causing me to miss the proper timing to block an attack. It took hours before I finally blocked an attack, and I was so exhausted that I didn't even realize it when I was automatically ejected from the training hall afterwards.
Waking up, I didn't even bother to check the time before reentering the training hall. I'd been in the bootcamp just long enough to realize that powers that come easy to you are mostly worthless, its the ones you have to work and suffer for that will save your life. Just look at my refining technique, I'm only at the third level and I'm already using Air blades to literally hack off portions of my organs. So, pain that has a purpose is good, it makes me stronger!
At least, that was what I kept telling myself as I was bitten, slammed, shocked, decapitated, cut, smashed, shot, frozen, drowned, etc.... over and over again. I had turned the thoughts into a sort of mantra, hypnotizing myself to go on.
It was in a state of extreme exhaustion that I finally managed to get the Light Elemental Energy to react as I wanted it to on every attempt. I didn't even realize when I'd managed to last a minute without being hit, I'd fallen into some kind of a trance. Then, I missed a move because I was so tired and a shark tore me in half. That was when I decided to limit the torture.
'Two hours a day while I'm on break from school, hopefully I'll manage to reach major success before school starts up again.' I thought to myself as I navigated to the implant's menu and clicked on MSE.
Appearing in a flash of light, I took a deep breath and reveled in the feel of Storm's Refuge. I let the waves of Storm Elemental Energy wash over me, revitalizing my body, mind, and soul after torturing myself for the last two days.
"Young master!" Carlos had appeared behind me, bowing in respect.
Sighing, I turned to him. "I really hate it when you call me that." I said.
Smiling, he said, "I know, what held you up? I figured you'd have been here two days ago."
Frowning I said, "I got a new technique and I've been training it. It's more difficult than I thought, but it'll be worth it if I manage to complete it."
"Ah yes, new techniques can be annoying. Master Claudius has asked me to escort you to him, he said something about it being time to choose your path."
I smiled widely as I turned to follow him, arriving at Claudius' villa, he opened the door at a knock.
Bowing in respect I said, "Senior Brother."
"How many times have I told you to leave that bowing and scraping shit to the servants?" He asked, glaring at me with his ancient eyes.
"About as many times as I've asked Senior Carlos to stop calling me 'Young Master'." I said, glaring right back at him.
Sighing, he shook his head. "I heard that you finally got your families technique, and have learnt enough about Mind Refining to make an educated decision so it's time to choose your path."
Following him out the back of his villa, we climbed a staircase carved into the mountain heading towards the peak. At the first step, a massive amount of energy descended upon us and swept our souls checking for the brand. Sensing that we belonged, the energy backed off instead of annihilating us.
Claudius kept talking as we walked, "Have you decided on your path? I can explain some things to you in more detail and give you advice but it's up to you to choose."
"Yes," I said "Although I'm not exactly sure how the best way to go about it is. I wan't to focus on Spirit Calling and my family's defensive abilities."
"Really? I felt for sure that you'd focus on enchanting after you spent last week gathering materials." He said in surprise.
"I needed a weapon really badly, I didn't do the enchanting myself." I explained which got a nod of approval from him.
"Spirit Calling can be very powerful, although it is limited almost exclusively to those who have already reached a certain level of power. Why have you chosen to specialize in it?" He asked as we passed through a cloud barrier and a massive castle with turreted walls surrounding it appeared in front of us. This was the true Storm's Refuge, where all the secrets and strength truly rested.
"I saw a Shaman fighting, he was covered in these tattoo's that represented a different spirit animal and as he fought their shades would aide him in battle. The longer I watched, the more I was inspired. After that, I talked to Carlos and met the Spirits he's contracted with. I decided to look into it, I'm not sure what the exact combination of targeted refining techniques I should use are, but I have a general idea of what direction I'd like to go." I said as we walked through the gates of the castle. I had expected us to move towards the giant library that took up most of the front half of the castle, but instead we continued through a garden area and walked to a small building hidden among the magical plants.
Knocking on the door, a young woman's voice said, "Enter!"
"Claudius this is a surprise, who might this be?" She asked, as her eyes widened in surprise. I finally got a good look at her as I stepped through the doorway. She looked to be in her early twenties with gorgeous green eyes, but I knew that she had to be at least several thousand years old. Wearing a coarse linen shirt and pants covered in stains of various colors she smelled of plants and herbs. Using a mortar and pestle she was mixing together plants of various types before we interrupted her.
"This is Sam Hughes, our newest brother. Sam, this is Ariel, she's our best Spirit Caller"
I bowed in respect and said, "Senior Sister" immediately.
She smiled sweetly as she put her mortar aside and stood from her stool to envelope me in a hug while saying, "Little brother, we don't bow to each other, it's a sign of disrespect among us to act so politely. The Mark of the Storm is actually a symbol of recognition created by the Storm Emperor, the Ruler of all Storm, Lightning, Air, and Water Elemental Spirits! Those who receive his mark are considered his family, making us your family."
I couldn't help smiling at her, something about her just put me at ease. I'd noticed this in the past, but everyone I met who had been branded I felt an immediate connection too, as if I'd known them my whole life. Now, it made more sense to me. "Well then I'll be impolite, I'm about to pick my targeted techniques and I told Claudius that I wanted to focus on Spirit Calling so he brought me here."
He sweet smile suddenly turned hungry as she stared at me greedily, turning to Claudius she said, "Are you sure, we can't go back if we do this."
Claudius nodded and said, "He's a perfect candidate, he managed to stay awake through the branding process, receiving the entire inheritance in one go."
She gasped in shock at that, "What are the levels of your affinities?" She asked me.
"Max Lightning and Air, Extreme Water, Low Light." I said.
Her eyes looked distant, as if she was a thousand miles away as she talked to herself "He'll need to Max out Water so one of his focused techniques will have to instantly raise the Water Affinity, the others..."
"He's from the Demitrov family and would like to use his family's technique." Claudius said, understanding where she was going.
"Yes, yes... that might just work." She said, nodding her head in increased enthusiasm.
"Um, what are you talking about." I asked, completely confused as to what was going on.
Ariel's eyes came back into focus as she said, "Are you sure that you want to pursue Spirit Calling so early? While powerful, it is dangerous to deal with Spirits before you reach a certain level of power."
"Yes," I said, without a second thought.
"Good, let's go to the technique room, we have to pick out the perfect set for you." At this point, the greedy glint in her eyes had returned, and she rushed out of the small building forgetting all about her herbs.