KATHYLN POV
Stepping through the portal, we found ourselves on top of two small steps leading to a large cavern.
I had already raised my foot to go down the step, but Arthur suddenly put his hand in front of me.
For the first time since he woke up, I had the opportunity to take a look at his new appearance.
His stature remained the same, but his hair, eyes, and runes changed.
Instead of his usual pale, almost white hair, he now had dark blue hair with dozens of white dots sparkling back at me. His eyes looked like windows to the universe itself, each of them reflecting galaxies, his irises were pure purple with a small black pupil. His runes glowed brighter than ever, illuminating a small radius around him.
I couldn't help but blush slightly at his appearance, as I quickly looked away.
After a few seconds of watching the cavern in front of us, Arthur finally spoke.
"The cavern in front of us is not real."
Before I had the opportunity to say anything, the cavern changed into a blossoming garden that even the kings of Dicathen would be envious of.
An old woman with black hair, wearing a plain set of clothes hiding her runes appeared.
"So I was right, you really are special." said the woman, her gaze turning into a smirk.
ARTHUR POV
"If I may ask, what makes me so special?" I said
Thinking about it for a second, the woman declared.
"First of all, your spellforms are unlike anything I have seen before. They are not only able to store aether in large quantities, but also help you control it. Second of all, your appearance. While you have an affinity for all the edicts of aether, the edict of Spatium has always been closest to you. In other words, you have become one with space itself."
"But I can't even shape aether into a more complicated shape than a cube, how could I be one with space?" I challenged
"You can have the knowledge but not the capabilities to use that knowledge, no? I am one of the last living Djinn that can teach you both." She said as her expression turned into a warm smile.
"You live? But I was told that all of the Djinn were exterminated!" I exclaimed, astonished.
Her expression turned somber.
"While I am a master of Spatium, I am also a coward. I was one of the first to hide from the Asuras, and I was lucky to find a huge crystal of aether able to power two pocket dimensions stacked onto each other. I hope teaching you will alleviate my feelings of guilt, if by at least a little."
"Thank you..."
"Eva"
"Thank you Eva. When can we start?"
"Right now" - Eva looked at Kath, then pointed to the large mansion. - "Give me his mana beast and make yourself at home. There is a free training facility you can use if you wish, we will be here for a year after all."
"A whole year? I can't be away for that long, I need to return to Dicathen as soon as possible." I explained
"Oh, don't worry dear. A year in here is a mere two weeks in the outside world. Now, let's go."
Walking silently, the only sound heard was the gravel crunching below our feet, I suddenly remembered something.
"I apologize I forgot to introduce myself, I am Arthur Leywin, this is Sylvie and the black-haired girl is Kathyln." I told Eva with an embarrassed expression.
"It's alright, now let's hurry."
...
We reached a jaw-dropping waterfall, enveloped by a rich and lush forest with various aether beasts in sight. There were some that reminded me of seals, others that reminded me of fish. A delicate ecosystem was being maintained here.
A small boat was laying by the shore, along with a bench not too far behind.
We sat in the boat, and Eva pointed at the waterfall.
"If you please", she said, the kind smile never leaving her wrinkled face.
Using earth and water magic, I slowly guided the boat towards the waterfall.
Reaching close, I parted the waterfall, revealing a large cave with a battle arena inside of it.
A small movement in my hands interrupted my staring, as I saw Sylvie slowly open her eyes.
I instantly got a mental transmission.
'What happened?'
Instead of speaking, I opened up all my memories for her to look for herself.
After a brief moment, Sylv transmitted.
'I understand'
'So, how are you feeling?'
'I'm feeling alright now. Maybe even more powerful, like your forceful mana absorption widened my mana channels.'
Finally reaching the battle arena, Me and Eva stood face to face while Sylvie slept a little more.
"First will be theoretical lessons, then practical, and then employing your own techniques in combat." Said Eva in a strict tone
I merely nodded, when Eva started speaking again.
"You first have to learn how to better manipulate Aether. Funnel all the aether inside your spellforms into your right hand."
I did as instructed, all of the aether stored in my runes quickly travelling into my hand, my body instantly replenishing the lost aether using my now perfected aether rotation.
"Good, this shows you have sufficient control over the aether while it's inside of you. Please, create a cube of aether on your palm."
I did as asked, the cube easily maintaining its shape, unlike before, where it was difficult to keep its corners sharp.
This phenomenon greatly confused me. What really happened during my training with Silver?
"Concentrate on reinforcing it."
A punch broke the cube into pieces as if it was glass.
"Decent, show me your universe flames please."
"Universe flames? What is that?" I asked, genuinely confused.
Dark blue flames suddenly covered my mentor's hands.
"With increasing mastery in Spatium one instinctively unlocks these flames. There exists only one person who has become one with space like you have, and his universe flames were the most powerful I have ever seen."
Curiosity sparked within me as my body burst in dark blue flames, visibly much more potent than Eva's.
"And what are these universe flames? What can they do?"
She chuckled a little before answering.
"They are a combination of mana and aether, joint together into one. The best properties of mana and aether come together, creating universe flames. Just like both mana and aether can destroy or create, so can the universe flames, but arguably on an even larger scale.
As to what they do, some have compared their destructiveness to another edict of Aether, that being destruction. Their main use however, is their ability to work in tandem with aether to ease the burden and lower the cost of mana and aether by stabilizing the dimensional boundary as well as increasing its size and strength."
Looking at my palms, still burning with pristine dark blue flames, I said.
"I understand now."
"You will now be spending every minute of each day learning to manipulate aether, in this time I will be training your companions. When you have reached a sufficient level, I will be teaching you how to correctly use Spatium, then you will have some time to develop techniques of your own. That is the rough curriculum."
I nodded, sitting in a meditative position.
I created a pocket dimension using Sylvia's powers.
"I inherited a rather strong power from an Asura that among other things lets me create pocket dimensions. How do I imbue them with universe flames?"
"It's easy. You see, universe flames are scarily intelligent, some would even call them sentient. Just shoot a burst of them at the pocket dimension, they will do the rest on their own."
A burst of flames shot out towards the pocket dimension, enveloping the entire boundary. The size increased as the boundary got stronger, the already miniscule burden on my body lessening even more.
Happy with my little test, I started practicing manipulating the overabundance of aether in the cave.
3 months later
Eva came to check up on me again, like every week.
I stood up, preparing for the test she was about to give me.
"Greetings, Arthur. Have you made any progress since last week?" She asked this question every time she checked up on me.
"Yes, I believe so."
"Alright, show me a sword of aether."
I created a perfect copy of Night's ballad out of aether, its edge sharp unlike before.
Eva picked up a rock laying next to the cavern entrance, and threw it at me.
I swung down at the rock, and surprisingly, the rock was cut in half and my blade was left unscathed.
With a pleased nod, she said.
"Good, now create a barrier."
A crude, but usable barrier of aether surrounded me. Eva picked up another rock, this time infusing it with aether before throwing it.
As the rock hit my barrier, it made a visible dent but it ultimately bounced off. The dent quickly fixed itself soon after.
More exercises later, and after a bit of thinking Eva finally said.
"Alright, I think you're ready to move on to the second stage"