Over the next few days, Josec and Harry, Buern and Estelle and Jason and Fleur spent their time strengthening their individual abilities. Fleur's understanding of the Elemental Balance had improved tremendously and she began to perceive how each individual element affected the plants. She could also now see which combinations of quantity, intensity and quality of the various elements were optimum for supporting plant growth and which ones adversely affected plant growth.
Jason on the other hand was experimenting with magnetism and how he could utilise it to enhance both mobility and defense. His movements with regards to magnetic levitation had become more natural and almost instinctive. He also experimented with altering the shape of the magnetic dust and by compressing it could create and control magnetic spears and swords and could form fields of these weapons around himself.
In terms of defense, he could now utilise magnetic repulsion to deflect metallic weapons and could use magnetic attraction set up a distance away from himself to alter the path of metallic weapons directed against him.
Buern and Estelle too had improved greatly. They could now sync their elemental wavelengths and joki output to greatly enhance the destructive capabilities of their attacks and their teamwork was almost flawless. Their extrasensory perception had greatly improved as well.
Josec and Harry sharpened their defensive techniques and ability to utilise multiple elements. They sparred continuously though most of their practice ended in a stalemate.
After about three weeks of continuous training, the Students reassembled.
"It's been a while you guys. I wonder how much stronger you've become since we commenced our training. Hopefully we may have come up with a couple of ideas to bypass the limitations of our current Psychorage Fusion. For now let's discuss the improvements we've made to our various abilities" Harry said.
"I'll go first" Fleur volunteered.
The others nodded.
"When Jason and I commenced our training, Jason advised me to focus on sharpening my understanding of the elemental balance since he noticed that my focus was on developing techniques that could help me effectively serve as Yggdrasil's sentinel. To do this he suggested I should focus on sharpening my ability to utilise the elements of Light, Water, Wind, Fire and Earth" Fleur explained.
"Why is that?" Buern asked.
"It's because plants need Sunlight, Water, Warmth, Fertile Soil and Air to survive and thrive. I focused on regulating the intensities of these elements separately and then tried various combinations to find out which conditions were optimum for plant growth. With regards to temperature, if it was too low, plant growth was stunted and in the worst case halted. When it was too high, the plants began to dry up and die. They didn't do well in dim sunlight or dark areas either. Without water they began to dry up but they didn't do so well in excess water either. Without air, their growth was affected adversely as well. In terms of soil quality, different plants thrived under specific conditions and it was the same with some of the other elements. Some plants tended to thrive in arid areas, others did better in waterlogged areas. I guess in the end I realised that I needed to focus on each individual variety of plant and try to create for each variety, the conditions that best supported their growth. It was quite similar to 'Farming the Desert Of Confusion' in some respects" Fleur admitted. "Jason also seemed to imply that animals and humans also need similar conditions that plants need to thrive but he said my understanding of the Elemental Balance would need to evolve before I can effectively apply my regenerative abilities consciously to animals and humans" Fleur said with a sigh.
Everyone stared at her in shock.
"Fleur, I definitely think you're on the right track if your motivation for strengthening your abilities is to protect Yggdrasil. The Class Of Dryad is really something" Buern said with a laugh.
The others agreed.
"What of you Jason? How have you developed your abilities?" Harry asked.
"Well, I tried to focus on techniques that could enhance our mobility and inadvertently discovered a way to improve our defense and offense. The principle revolves around magnetism. By merging my clothes with magnetic dust and manipulating fields of magnetic dust above myself, I can use their cumulative mass and magnetic attraction to levitate. By manipulating the movement of the dust with my joki, I can also manipulate my own movements" Jason said.
"Interesting" Josec said.
"With regards to defence, I can utilise magnetic repulsion to repel metallic weapons directed against me and I can utilise magnetic attraction in areas isolated from myself to deflect incoming metallic weapons. With regards to offense, I can manipulate spears and shields made out of compressed magnetic dust around myself to defend or attack" Jason said.
"Are you really a Dryad?!" Josec exclaimed in disbelief.
"The abilities of Dryads revolve around the life of flora and fauna so we can manipulate any element that can enhance their growth. Our focus is mainly on preserving the life of fauna and flora but that doesn't necessarily mean that we lack offensive and defensive capabilities" Jason pointed out.
"I see" Harry realised what Jason was getting at.
"What of you Estelle and Buern?" Jason asked.
"Well, we focused on developing and sharpening our joki's offensive strength and penetrative abilities since the elders said we'd need the ability of the Warrior Class to penetrate Souryu's scales. We had to sync our joki's output strength and wavelengths as well as our ability to simultaneously aim our attacks at a single target. By narrowing and focusing our joki, our offensive capabilities were greatly enhanced but in order to sync our joki and wavelengths perfectly, we had to enhance our extrasensory capabilities" Buern explained.
"What of you two, Josec and Harry?" Estelle asked.
"Well we focused on sharpening our ability to alter our wavelengths and bond with the joki of an adversary for offense and defense. Josec sharpened his Zone Of Absolute Defense and I honed my Rune Knight Ver. Omni ability. You were saying something about sharpening your extrasensory perception and that ability somehow improving your ability to sync joki output strength and wavelengths?" Harry asked.
"Yeah, you guys should try syncing wavelengths with the air around you. I think you'll be surprised" Buern said with a smirk.
"Sync wavelengths with the surrounding air? I see, I never even considered that possibility" Harry admitted.
Everyone synced wavelengths with the surrounding air. In the next instant, immense images of the Hidden Phoenix Village filled their minds. They could also see each other as human shaped distortions with colours similar to that of the surrounding air.
"This is pretty amazing! So this is the ranged perception the elders mentioned" Fleur exclaimed happily.
"But what are those dark areas a bit farther from us?" Jason asked.
"They are...well initially Estelle and I thought they were blindspots but they are areas where the wavelength of the air differs from the wavelength of air currently surrounding us. They are not exactly blindspots though because we can see them as distorted shapes in our field of vision" Buern explained.
"Interesting, I'll attempt altering my wavelength. Tell me how I appear in your field of vision" Josec said and altered his wavelength.
"Your joki has become slightly darker in our field of vision" Buern said.
"I'll keep altering my wavelength" Josec said and began to alter his wavelength continuously.
"At times, your wavelength appears to be brighter than the wavelength of the surrounding air and at times it appears to be darker" Buern said.
"How does it appear now?" Josec asked.
"It's darker than the wavelength of the surrounding air currently" Buern said.
"I'll create a field around myself matching my current wavelength. Attempt making contact with this field Harry. Oh, and do it without matching my wavelength" Josec said and Harry sighed.
"You could hurt yourself Harry" Estelle said worriedly.
"I think I know what Josec is getting at. It's worth a try" Harry said and laid a hand on the field Josec had created.
"Ouch! It burns!" Harry withdrew his hand sharply.
"I'll keep altering my wavelength. Inform me when it becomes brighter than the surrounding air" Josec said and continued to alter his wavelength.
"Wait Josec!" Buern suddenly exclaimed.
"Is it brighter than the surrounding air?" Josec asked.
Buern nodded.
"Harry, attempt making contact with the field now" Josec said.
Harry touched the field. He showed no expression of pain. He smiled.
"It's soothing now" he said.
"What?! It doesn't hurt even though your current affinities are different?!" Buern exclaimed in disbelief.
"No, it doesn't" Harry said.
"How come?" Jason asked.
"My mother informed me in her lesson on wavelengths that each element has an infinite variety of wavelength types however a human can only utilize a limited range out of the unlimited range and this depends on how vast the human's experience is. If each element has an infinite variety of wavelength types, then there are adjacent wavelengths in each element type. A wavelength type for one element that harmonises with a wavelength from a different element. When the wavelength type is incompatible with a person's joki, it appears darker than the person's joki. When the wavelength is compatible, it appears to be the same or brighter than the person's joki. To bypass our current inability to utilise different elements in our Psychorage Fusion, we need to find adjacent wavelengths in our various elemental affinities and sync our abilities via these adjacent wavelengths. Though the elements are different, the similarities in wavelength types will nullify the capacity of the elements to inflict harm when we attempt to sync our abilities" Harry explained.
For a week, the Students combined their extrasensory perception with the Psychorage Improvisation and explored all their experiences in an attempt to discover adjacent wavelengths they possessed. They tried this with various elements and kept trying. Then a month passed within the Hidden Phoenix Village with the Students still in training. They had discovered some adjacent wavelengths they shared when they equipped specific elements. They wanted to reach a level where they could utilise adjacent wavelengths in different combinations but this was much harder to do than it appeared because for one thing, they had to zone in on specific wavelengths amongst all their experiences that were adjacent. Searching all their experiences was tasking in itself. On the other hand, when they couldn't find an adjacent wavelength for a specific element, it implied that they did not possess enough mastery over that element. They didn't risk bonding with incompatible wavelength ranges because they now understood that attempting to do this would result in their inflicting wounds upon one another.
After five months in the Hidden Phoenix Village from the moment they commenced their training they had finally mastered the ability to utilise adjacent wavelengths for all elements.
"It's finally time to attempt a Psychorage Fusion with everything we've learnt" Harry said.
The Students altered their affinities, each Student equipping a unique element. Then they synced wavelengths and created a field of joki around themselves. Their telepathic synchronization activated and they could now communicate their thoughts and emotions directly to one another through Harry who acted as a link.
The field of joki gradually began to alter in nature periodically transforming into each element the Students had equipped. Dust enveloped the area concealing the Students. There were multiple brilliant discharges of energy and when the dust settled, the figure of a Phoenix appeared in place of the Students. The Phoenix had brilliant Crimson Wings and Eyes but the rest of its body kept altering in colour and elements.
"ELEMENTAL RAINBOW PHOENIX!" The Students called out.
"Let's attempt integrating our new techniques into the Fusion Psychorage" Buern's voice sounded within the Students' minds.
Estelle and Buern focused on the image of the drill around the talons of the Phoenix and in the next instant, fierce talons made out of varied elements materialised.
"Impressive" Josec's voice was heard saying.
"Our offensive strength is optimum now. With varied elements, we can adjust our wavelengths to Souryu's for offense and defense. Our probability of inflicting the Light's Wound Limit Break has been greatly increased" Buern said.
"Josec, it's our turn now" Jason's voice sounded within their minds.
"What should we do?" Josec asked.
"Utilise your Zone Of Absolute Defense, I'll enhance our defensive capabilities" Jason said.
"Okay" Josec said and raised his Zone Of Absolute Defense. An electric field appeared around the Phoenix.
Jason flowed his joki into the field.
"Nothing seems to be happening" Buern said.
"Not yet, give it a few seconds" Jason said.
In the next instant, sharp rods began to fly towards the Phoenix from all directions.
"What did you do Jason?!" Buern exclaimed in concern.
"I buried tons of iron rods made out of compressed magnetic dust all around the field set to activate once my joki merged with Josec's Zone. Josec's Zone Of Absolute Defense now merged with my joki has transformed the Zone from an electric field to an electromagnetic field" Jason said as he altered his wavelength.
The rods were suddenly repelled.
"With this ability we can now attract and repel metallic objects and weapons that possess magnetic attributes. We could also use this field..." Jason said as he attracted the rods and manipulated them around the Phoenix. "...for omnidirectional attack and defense. Let's call this the Elemental Rainbow Phoenix Ver. Electromagnetic Defense" Jason said with a smirk.
"Sounds cool to me" Harry said.
"I'm also certain that Fleur's current abilities have more than doubled our regenerative capabilities. Thankfully, we've been able to avoid wounding ourselves. This ability will be pretty helpful in actual battle" Jason's voice sounded within everyone's minds.