As the staff turned to ash then disappeared, Leo was amazed. He never knew he could do that and it was amazing. He freaked out, "Woah! That was so cool! So you're telling me that I can do more than that!?"
The crow jumped, "Yes. The staff is just one of the many milestones when learning your powers."
"What else would I learn to do?"
"Much more. Though today we are going to try to train you to be able to summon your staff in under two seconds."
Leo slowly turned to the crow wide eyed and said, "W-Wait what now? Can you um say it again?"
"You are going to learn how to summon your staff in under two seconds. You may not achieve that today, but that is all we are going to do for the time being. The sooner you master it, the sooner we can move onto harder and more difficult things. The faster you can summon a staff the better. By doing this, it makes you more admirable when fighting and it strengthens and enlarges your physical and mental capacity."
"Ok, I'll try."
Leo took out his phone and clicked on the stopwatch. The crow asked, "What are you doing?"
"Oh, I'm pulling up a stopwatch so that way we can time how long it takes me each time," Leo walked over and kneeled next to the crow, "When I start focussing and trying to summon it, click this button, then once it's finished, click this button. That way we can track my progress."
"Alright."
Leo stood back up and told the crow, "Ok, start."
As Leo began to focus, the crow tapped the button with it's beak and the timer started. Once again, the roots started forming into the shape of the staff. When the staff had fully formed and snapped off the roots, the crow stopped the timer."
Leo took a quick deep breath and looked at the timer. It wasn't an extravagant result or anything, but there was progress. The stopwatch read 10.64 seconds. This wasn't particularly fast, but it was faster than before which took multiple tries and about 15 seconds.
Leo sighed, "So I'm supposed to be able to summon my staff in 2 seconds. Ugh this is gonna take a while."
The crow looked up at him and said, "Yes, it will but with enough practice you should get it by the end of today. We are going to push you to your limits."
"Great," Leo said sarcastically.
For the next couple of hours, they did their routine. The crow would press start when Leo would start summoning the staff and pause it when the staff formed.
It was noon now and Leo was tired. The more they continued, it seemed to take longer for Leo to summon the staff so it was definitely time for a break.
Leo plopped down on his small couch in the living room and the crow jumped up next to him. Overall, it was a success. The shortest amount of time Leo was able to achieve was 4.39 seconds.
The crow spoke, "You did wonderfully. You are very close to the goal. After this milestone, the next goal will be one second, then instantly."
"Instantly!? How am I supposed to do that..."
"With practice," the crow said calmly.
There was a moment of silence and Leo's stomach growled loudly.
He chuckled, "Guess I'm hungry."
He got up and walked to the kitchen, he asked loudly, "Would you like anything to eat?"
"Some seeds and fruits would be appreciated."
Leo got out grapes, blue berries and strawberries out of his fridge, as well as some small nut and seed assortments. He cut up the fruits to make a fruit salad and poured some nuts and seeds onto a small plate and placed some cut fruit on it.
He walked over to the table and set the plates down. The crow flew over and picked and ate at the food.
"Mmm, these fruits are so sweet and juicy." the crow said happily.
"Yeah, I only get the organic ones since the regular ones don't taste as good. Even though they are more expensive."
The two ate and talked for a while. The crow told stories about everywhere it has flown and Leo told the crow about his life after leaving the forest. Though he knew the crow was watching over him, he shared more personal details.
Soon they were both done and it was time to get back to work.
For a few more hours they did the same thing. Leo kept summoning his staff and the crow kept track. Eventually he did it.
"Ok now start."
The crow started the timer and Leo summoned the staff. The staff formed very quickly and looked almost like it was summoned in a flash of golden and green light. Everytime Leo summoned the staff and get faster, his green eyes glowed brighter and brighter. The crow paused the timer and when Leo looked at it, he was overwhelmed with happiness. The timer read 1.39 seconds.
Leo gripped the staff and jumped in the air. He shouted, "Yes! I finally did it! This is amazing!"
The crow flew around him, "Great job! I told you you would be able to do it."
The crow perched on Leo's shoulder.
"Thank you, it was thanks to you that I'm able to do this."
Leo waved the staff around. He was very surprised since the staff was so lightweight, but also for another reason. He had never been a fighter. For his whole life, he's never done martial arts, boxing, or even self defense, but when he held his staff, his body moved like water. It flowed and moved with the staff as if they were one in the same. If someone were to attack him now, they wouldn't stand a chance. Even without the staff, it was as if fighting techniques and skills were imprinted into his mind.
Leo pumped his fist and his staff into the air happily while celebrating.
The crow asked him, "So how do you feel?"
"I feel good, but still really tired." He looked outside and said in shock, "It's so dark what time is it!"
He checked his phone and it was already late at night.
The crow hopped to the porch door signalling Leo to open it. He did and the crow hopped onto the ledge. It said, "I will leave now and I'll be back in about a week. Now that you reached your goal, I expect you to train summoning even without me being here and when I return, I also expect you to be able to summon your staff instantly."
Leo groaned, "Ok, bye then."
"Goodbye," the crow said. Then, it flew off.
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