~ • ~ • ~ • ~ • ~
clear your head, clear your mind
even when you're not fine.
love yourself, I won't mind
even if you reject mine.
-R.
~ • ~ • ~ • ~ • ~
Days flew by, and finally, Kairo was the first one to find out what Grisia hoped for them to realize.
During training, he sliced the tall boulder cleanly in two in his heavy attack. The deep, loud rumbling of the two halves parting alerted Grisia and Aisia who were nearby.
"What the..." Kairo was surprised by the unprecedented result of his attack. He coughed and fanned away the dust born from the commotion with his free hand.
"You did it," Grisia spoke, walking towards him.
"How? What is this?"
Kairo gazed upon his shortsword. It was now coated in his light blue ki as well. Swinging it around, it felt weightless and was like an extension of himself.
"You enveloped your weapon with your ki aura. It took quicker than I expected... but this is a crucial start to a myriad of new possibilities."
Grisia aimed for them to start thinking outside of the mechanics that he introduced to them. He didn't want them to rely entirely on him to learn. He wanted them to be able to progress at the same rate or more without too much of his guidance. Though they discovered combining power systems on their own, he wanted to make sure that it wasn't merely a fluke that it happened.
"Why didn't you just tell us about it in the first place? We could've figured it out sooner then!" Aisia complained while jumping in annoyance.
"And rob you of your chance to discover things on your own? You must be taught how to learn by yourselves. I merely pointed you to a direction, after that, it depends on you whether you find something significant there or not," he argued back.
"Hrr...! Damn it," she exclaimed before turning to Kairo, pointing at him. "You'll see, I won't get left behind! I'm not as pitiful as you think I am, Kairo!"
"Catch up to me if you can," Kairo snickered, he gestured at his sword enveloped in ki. "Don't get too full from eating my dust, which should be a problem since you're always hungry!"
Grisia found that Kairo was no longer too worried about the differences between him and Aisia. It seemed to him that they'd come to terms with their inevitable rivalry after their confrontation in the library. Instead of pitying her, he now saw her as someone who he could continue to improve with, and the same goes for her.
"Can you do that too, Sia?" Grisia asked, turning to his foster daughter.
"If he can do it, then there's no doubt that I can too!... but give me a minute, let me figure it out first," she replied, turning sheepish at the end.
Kairo stood beside Grisia as they watched Aisia focus on her two daggers.
He asked, "I realized that you haven't been casting that warming spell on us while we trained in the cold."
"Minor adaptive coat of temperature spell," Grisia corrected.
"Right, that. But we never had to complain about the cold, why is that?"
"Your ki aura serves as protection from attacks and can make your own attacks stronger. But you can allocate more ki for defense if that is your will, do you follow?"
"HA!"
"Then, when it's snowing, you subconsciously think that it's going to be chilly," he caught a lone, falling snowflake on his open palm. "Your subconscious is also a type of will, therefore, your ki aura will protect you from the weather and environment without you having to think of it."
"Sick," Kairo said in awe.
"This means that you can dive underwater, go through fire, shelter yourself in the rain, and such all by coating yourself in your ki aura. Think of it as a very convenient and flexible suit of armor that could cover your entire body and others'."
"And others'?"
"Yes, much like how you can imbue your sword with your own ki, you can affect other people with it."
Grisia thought back to when he and Esmeralda were snooping around at the library, listening in on Aisia and Kairo.
Lately, Aisia and Kairo were now able to sense ki after continuously doing ki training. Considering that they were also able to do so without having manifested their ki previously, and despite them being absorbed in their conversation, they would've spotted his and Esmeralda's passive ki aura behind the bookshelves regardless.
This was why he had to dampen his own ki and Esmeralda's. Esmeralda knew about the power「 Ki 」, and not much about the specifics of it, but she knew that her lord used it, and Grisia was aware of this.
She didn't practice「 Ki 」, and even so, she still had a ki aura because she was a sentient, living being. This was why Grisia had to hold on to her over the course of them spying on the two in the library. He enveloped her ki aura with his own, and when he hid his own ki, hers was also hidden.
This did not affect Esmeralda at all. To her, it only looked and felt like her lord was resting his hand on her shoulder. Grisia explained all of this to her beforehand since he surmised that they may be found out the second they went in without doing so.
"I see. Does that follow the same principle as when two powers are combined?" Kairo continued to ask.
"I believe so. While your ki is active, you may use other powers to multiply their potency. At least that's true for chakra, as you've already found out. Magic as well, since the weapons you use are made from a spell I cast."
"Then, can all powers be combined with「 Ki 」?"
"Some powers do, some don't. If it works, it works. It's a lousy explanation, but that's essentially how it is in my experience."
"HA!" Kairo replied. He didn't think Grisia was being awkward with his explanation at all, he understood that Grisia meant what he said as that was simply the case. It works for others, it doesn't for the rest. He began thinking about which powers to mix and match in the future.
"We're now idly standing by, waiting for Sia," Grisia thought to himself. "But even so, Kairo has his ki aura active while we're on standby. They're able to sustain their aura for around two hours now. Their training is going swimmingly. Maybe it's time for them to do some actual combat. With Tiraga? Hmm... not yet. I wonder..."
"She did it," Kairo spoke, turning Grisia's attention to Aisia. She clutched her two daggers which were enveloped in her faintly yellow ki.
"Great job, Sia. Now..." Grisia walked away from them and faced the open field, shouting with his arms raised, "Earth: Land Upheaval!"
The ground shook violently as if an earthquake was occurring. The two fell down to their knees, trying to recalibrate themselves amidst the rumbling.
The ground where Grisia was facing cracked open. Multiple larger and tougher boulders grew from the cracks. It was akin to ten or more Earth: Stone Ascent chakra techniques being cast at the same time.
"Holy rocks..." Kairo muttered.
The trembling of the earth slowly ceased. Grisia turned around to face them after he was done.
"The peak of a mountain..." Kairo thought to himself as he stared at Grisia, a horde of elevated landmass littered the once flat view behind him. It was a callback to his conversation with Esmeralda about Grisia's incantationless magic. This show of power must mean that Grisia was also impressive when it came to chakra.
Grisia walked past them, their heads following him. He exhaled and acted as if he broke a sweat, wiping his forehead of nothing.
"Well, I'll go back home and get a drink. Take these spires down strictly using only your ki-imbued weapons until you can't anymore before going home. Not that you can without it. Until we meet again," he said before vanishing in front of their eyes.
The two turned back to face the rows and rows of tall spires that they had to work through. They were darker than the boulders Grisia created when he only used Earth: Stone Ascent.
When Kairo tried to do the same move he did with the boulder that he cut in half earlier, it only sliced a small chunk of the boulder. Then his sword got stuck, he had to pull hard to get it out.
Their eyes twitched as they formed a worried smile at the sight of where they knew they would be spending their whole day.
Grisia swiftly returned to the mansion, indeed grabbing a drink from the kitchen.
Tiraga was cooking breakfast for everyone but she didn't mind Grisia's sudden appearance. The three maids that helped Kairo set up the table in the past were helping her with the meal prep. They sobbed audibly to get their master's attention, hoping that he'd tell off Tiraga for her strict and rough demeanor towards them.
Grisia looked at them for a moment before ignoring their antics and squeezing himself a fruit juice. They pouted, knowing that their master noticed what they were doing, but ignored them intentionally. Tiraga called them out for being distracted with a shout, returning their attention to their duties.
Finding the fruit juice lukewarm, Grisia used chakra to make some ice cubes.
"Ice: Cold Cubes," he said softly.
Three small cubes of ice perfectly formed in his ceramic beverage mug. He took a sip and was proud of himself for leaving behind two partially exhausted kids a few kilometers away from home, out in the middle of winter.
"I am a great teacher," he took another self-indulgent sip and Esmeralda entered the kitchen.
"Lord Grisia."
"Esmeralda," he took another sip. "Would you care for some iced fruit juice?"
"N-No. It's... the middle of winter. I'd rather have hot tea. But that's besides the matter, the head of the adventurer's guild is here for an emergency quest for you."
Grisia licked his lips to savor the juice. "Already? That was quick. What's the trouble?"
"I've escorted him to the lounge room. He says that he wishes to discuss it with you personally."
"Very well," he said, heading towards the lounge room. "Oh, he wouldn't mind if I drank some fruit juice in front of him, right?"
"I... don't think so."
"Yeah, he wouldn't. But just to be sure..." he squeezed another serving of fruit juice for his guest and made some ice cubes in it as well. "So, he wouldn't get jealous or think I'm being rude. I'd really like to finish my juice."
"You're quite... adamant about your juice, my lord."
Esmeralda bowed as Grisia left the room.