In the dark, the young woman made a worried face, Eros watched her waiting for her to speak.
"Master, with everything that happened I forgot that I had to go home, it's already night, I…" the young woman's words stopped, she was scared and nervous.
She understood, she had been attacked, she was worried that it would happen again, the man smiled raising his chest.
"Don't worry, I will walk you home when the training is over, so focus on continuing to practice, this barrier is special, the time is different than in the real world, here one day is only 24 seconds in the real world, I can keep this barrier for 6 minutes, so we have 15 days before we leave" Midory's worried expression turned to terror.
Many possibilities ran through her head, the older one felt bad for overwhelming her.
"And the food? The water? The sanitary needs? I don't want to smell bad and be dirty" the young woman complained loudly, the older man was uncomfortable because of the high-pitched voice, it was obvious that he would say those things, it made him remember when he was a trainee and his peers made those same demands, the answer would be the same as back then.
"Midory, listen, in a barrier you can't feel hungry, sleepy, thirsty or any other need, you don't sweat either, so you'll be fine" explained the eldest in a soft tone, the young woman stopped her yelling, the look of suspicion of the minor made He smiled nervously at Eros, knowing he would ask.
"I recently fell unconscious and I'm not willing to be in the same clothes for 15 days" she said airily, her Master scratched his head.
"I don't know why you become unconscious when using techniques, but I assure you it's not normal" he spoke, the young woman looked at him annoyed, the clothes had not been touched at all.
Eros had no way to explain to him about that, he always trained with the same clothes for hours at the barrier and he didn't feel different, maybe a little dirty, but he was used to it, however, his disciple thought differently about it.
"Let's do something, I'll lend you clothes for as long as we're here, I know how to sew so it's not hard for me to make some adjustments, okay?" anger turned to embarrassment, Midory wasn't sure she accepted, the man smiled mockingly seeing that he had managed to silence her.
"No, thanks, I'm fine like this" she whispered tightening her school shirt, the older one nodded in agreement. It was what she wanted, she hadn't even brought extra clothes, back then she was in a hurry to create the barrier so she barely had time to grab a pillow and sheet.
During the night, Eros explained a few things about the natural elements, their uses, their strengths and weaknesses.
"Light is a versatile element, but they have few battle techniques, hence it is considered defensive, although some think that it should be a support due to its inefficiency against certain attacks, I am in that group" he affirmed, Eros was a High-grade guardian, specialized in 5 elements, he mastered all of them at intermediate level, except his birth element, that one was at a level that not even Midory could imagine. Furthermore, he was skilled in energy management, so he had a deep understanding in that area.
The young woman listened to the information, if Eros did not show her with examples what he was saying, he would treat him as crazy or he would not understand him.
After midnight, Midory realized that Eros was right, she hadn't felt hunger, thirst or any other need in that time, she seemed to be dreaming.
"Now I will show you how to fight using elements, I need you to know everything about offensive techniques" commented the man creating a sphere of light, it was the element he was linked to at that moment.
This was possible following a set of steps:
1) Gain understanding of an item.
Understanding could be obtained by embedding energy in any object that contained the natural law that you wanted to use, in the case of light, it focused on covering a lit bulb, it had to control the energy to understand the properties and characteristics of the element, it had taken a few months to do it. Then I continue with the second step.
2) Merge your understanding with your techniques.
It was the simplest step, he had to control the energy around him, then combine it with the object until he could control the law that it contained within, for this step he had to use everything he had learned so that the rate of success would increase, if If it failed, it could try again later, and if it succeeded, it could continue with the third step.
3) Condense and stabilize the elemental nucleus.
It consisted of gathering the natural law obtained from the object in his body, creating a compressed sphere the size of a nail, it was stored near the thorax, behind some organs, it was very dangerous, failure meant significant damage to the body, even death In addition, all the progress achieved would be lost, having to start from scratch.
Because of the implications it had, the last step was the most important, besides the risk, depending on how strong the core was, the better its elemental control would be.
Even with all that said, there were things that could not be done by their very nature.
You couldn't have two elemental cores at the same time or the body would explode, the laws contained in each one were very dominant, making it impossible between them to let another prevail, because of that, both would fight fiercely, ending with the death of the bearer.
Because of that, anyone who wanted to train a new item had to delete their current core.
The only advantage was that the comprehension would be maintained, making it easy to reform a nucleus that he already dominated, however, it still caused Eros sadness, he dominated the 5 elements, he could do many things if that rule did not exist, conforming was not to his liking .
Nothing could be done about that matter, there were years of research behind the energy and its uses, these were inviolable in most cases, with some exceptions.
And although there was a limit to each element, its usefulness was visible when working in a group, being more effective to focus on one than on several.
Eros showed Midory how to fight and what to do depending on the distance of her opponent to cast light techniques.
The theory was complicated, the examples made things easier.
After an hour, it was time to test the young woman.
Eros was waiting.
"She is capable of defending herself, but can she attack?" that question haunted the older man's mind while his disciple prepared herself.
Midory closed her eyes remembering her teacher's words, he watched her with nerves in his body.
Depending on what happened, her disciple's way of fighting would change, that would affect her future battles, for Eros it was very important.
In the organization it was one of the tests to become an apprentice, he had seen many acquaintances obtain different destinations just because of their attitudes in battle, he had had a hard time in those times, now they were a memory.
After thinking, Midory blanked out, what did it mean to attack? That doubt came to her, she knew it was defending, she experienced it by saving her teacher, but attacking was a new experience.
He tried to remember some feeling where he will attack someone, however, to no avail.
Midory never wanted to hurt someone in her life, maybe if they experienced what she felt, but not to hurt.
The look of the young woman was sad, the elder understood.
"You can't attack, a relic with no offensive power, were the rumors true?" the elder thought ruefully.
The organization had records of several existing relics in the world, each classified according to its level of strength.
The relic of light was one of the weakest, second only to another relic, the one of truth.
However, regret arose from other information.
A bearer of the relic of light had a destiny in this world, to die without a chance to save himself, no one had ever met an expert who would last more than a year using that relic, he was considered a cursed object, causing misfortunes to those who they had it
Eros did not believe in that, the light was not strong, but it was versatile, if a bearer used that quality he would survive, however, that applied if he could defeat his enemy.
Attacking was necessary, defending not so much, there was a saying about that.
"Defending yourself is digging your own grave with every attack you receive"
Lost in his thoughts, he forgot that the young woman was looking at him attentively, nervous because of her teacher's expressions.
She saw the eldest lost, who was in a confused pain.
"Should I leave her? With these options she will die even if she learns to fight…" That thought crossed her mind, she looked at her disciple who was clutching her necklace tightly.
He couldn't give up, if he wanted to fulfill his dream, he had to do the impossible.
He wouldn't go against fate though, he had to make sure the other person did the same or they would fail.
He thought the words carefully before speaking.
"Midory, I want you to listen to me carefully" he said in a serious tone, the young woman understood that when her Master got like that it was because he was going to say something important "You have no way of attacking, that puts you at a disadvantage against other enemies, I want that you understand how dangerous it will be if you fight like that, hence I want you to decide, will you still go against this fate with your forces?" the voice loaded with authority shook the minor.
She lowered her head observing her necklace, her mind remembered why she had come here and the danger it represented for her family, accompanied by her master's words, the answer was vague.
It was up to her to take it or not.
"I want to go home" she whispered with fear in her eyes. Disappointment and heartbreak weighed on Eros, yet he accepted his decision.
The barrier shook before disappearing, a grimace of pain shook the major, observing some wounds on his arms.
They had gone out.
Next Chapter: A parting gift.