As the wind gently blows over the field, Jacob, after a few swings of his sword, notices that Ivy is still staring directly at him.
'hmm?, She's been staring at me for a while now. I mean, could it be that she's upset over me playing with my sword.'
"Umm, Ivy...is everything okay?"
"Everything is absolutely fine." She says this as she continues to stare at Jacob.
'Then stop staring at me, it's creeping me out!' Jacob thought as he looked on at Ivy.
"Yeah? but you seem to be really lost in thought?"
"Oh, I was just thinking about the dream I had" Ivy says this absentmindedly.
"Dream? what was it about?"
"...Don't worry about it, you're not involved by any means."
"But I didn't ask if I was involved."
"Precisely, because you are not involved."
'Yeah, that is not suspicious.' Jacob frowns as he thinks this.
"Anyways...let's see how much progress you have made." Ivy says this as she approaches Jacob.
Ivy's eyes glow as she appraises Jacob. 'He has improved quite significantly.' She says this as she looks at the surrounding energy flowing in and out of Jacob.
'He has also increased his aether absorption rate, which seems to have given quite the boost to his natural stats with the exclusion of the multiplier technique, I mean his aura changed from that translucent form.'
A colourless aura surrounding Jacob seems to be raging wildly and gives off a monster like vibe.
'Yep, based off his aura, his natural physical capabilities have definitely improved.'
"So, how did I do?"
"Not bad at all.....for a first timer that is." Jacob's chest puffs up at the first sentence but as he hears the second, his mood dampens quite greatly.
"To be honest I'm quite surprised, you've managed to raise your aether absorption capacity by 45%."
"Really? That's awesome." Jacob replies as his mood picks up again.
"Yeah, and it only took two years."
"Yeah and it only took two.....wait, what?"
"Well technically one year, but time moves relatively slow in this world."
"What?"
"It's about time for your next lesson."
"What?"
"Which is controlling the elements."
"Wait, So I'm gonna learn how to shoot fire from my hands?" Jacob asks this as with a sparkle in his eyes.
'Well, you can already do that though, I just meant you will learn to wield them properly.' Ivy looks at Jacob's excited face.
"Sure, you will learn to shoot fire from your hands."
"Awesome, I'm gonna show those mages what I'm made of." Ivy giggles when she hears this.
"Awesome indeed, now just go to that cave."
"What cave?"
Ivy then points at the southern direction and Jacob looks back and forth in shock.
"The HELL!" That was definitely not there a moment ago.
"Jacob, just go already."
Jacob then runs towards the cave at an incredible speed and reaches the cave in a matter of seconds.
As he walks into the cave, he notices that the cave is has a series of tunnels but for some strange reason, he can see some faint blue spiritual residues. With no other alternative he follows the path.
'strange, I don't sense any monsters, usually I encounter all sorts of dangers when I'm alone. But now that I think about it, I've always been in danger when I'm alone, what's with that anyway?'
As he exits the cave, he sees a flowing narrow lake alon with boulders and pebbles on the sides. As he follows the lake's path he notices the lake ends at a massive boulder.
He sees a woman with long silky black hair, a fair complexion, blue eyes and is wearing a blue coat and black pants. needless to say she's a beauty comparable to Ivy.
'Man she's pretty, but compared to Ivy, she seems to be a bit lacking in the chest department.' Jacob sneaks a few peeks at the woman's chest before finally focusing on her eyes.
The woman is sitting cross legged on the massive boulder and has her hands resting uniformly on the boulder, giving off a laid back vibe.
"Well, this is interesting, just who might you be?"
"Jacob, and you?"
"Aqua."
"As in, the goddess?" Jacob's eyes slowly widen.
"Well, no. My siblings and I have been named after the gods of our respective elements."
"I see, but I do have a question?"
"Which is?"
"What's up with that waterfall behind you? it's really silent, to be honest, it's kinda creeping me out."
Aqua smiles when she hears this. 'Saw it at first glance huh? He sure is talented, and here I was planning on teaching him the basics to slowly lean him into the groove....but now that I take a closer look at his aura, maybe the more direct approach will be more efficient.
"Tell me kid, what do you think you are here for?"
"Judging by the waterfall and your attire, I'd say...to master my control over water."
"Yeah, and what do you think it's necessary for you to truly mater water?"
"Uhh.....I don't know."
"It's adaptability, just like how water takes the form of whatever place it's in, you must learn to feel the flow and change in order to better match it, so in a sense, become completely unreadable."
"Unreadable?"
"Precisely. you'll need to adapt to the ever changing water in order to master it, as well as to.....defeat me." The tone in Aqua's voice changes as she utters the last words.
In a swift moment, a powerful burst of stream strikes Jacob, which sends him to the flying rocks.
'What the..?' is the only thought that goes through Jacob's mind as he crashes into the rocks.
Aqua then gently raises her palm, a medium sized of water in the form of a sphere forms and is shot in Jacob's direction.
Jacob swiftly dodges the oncoming attack, he then looks at where the water hot and notices a large dent on one of the more massive rocks.
"Good durability, and an even more impressive reaction speed. Aqua then stands on her bare feet and stretches out her arms. the water in the lake begins to move. Aqua sends consecutive streams of water blasts at Jacob.
Jacob being Jacob, shows off his parkour skills, as he does a variety of flips to successfully dodge all the attacks and lands on a faraway boulder.
'Am I really gonna learn anything with her attacking me like this. Forget it, I should just learn what I can from this fight. On a more important note, her attacks are swift and precise but she is keeping me at a distance probably due to the difference in physical ability. If that's the case, all I'll have to do is get closer.'
"Are you done thinking?" She then readies multiple medium sized water balls and launches them at Jacob.
Jacob narrowly dodges the attacks. 'Damn, as quick I am, I can barely dodge her attacks. But I think I've gotten her attack pattern down.'
'Everytime she attacks, she starts with two consecutive attacks and stalls for an even more powerful attack, and repeats the cycle at a faster pace the longer she attacks.'
'If I want to land a good hit, I'll have to strike h
the moment she prepares the third attack.' Jacob exhales as he focuses his mind to the task at hand.
Jacob proceeds to dodge the attacks, waiting for the right moment to strike. As he is focusing on Aqua's hand, a sudden stream of water from the lake strikes Jacob sending him into the lake.
Jacob immediately leaps out the water and notices a barren field consisting of several rocky platforms far from his position.
As he lands the lake's surface, he explosively bursts from it at a blinding pace. Aqua notices this and smiles. 'What incredible speed.'
Jacob arrives at the barren field with Aqua following closely behind him while riding a wave like a pro surfer.
Jacob leaps up onto one of the platforms and summons his sword as he readies himself for Aqua.
As Aqua arrives on the 20m wave, Jacob launches himself towards Aqua. The force of the launch causes the platform to burst into rubble.
Jacob does an overhead swing which Aqua dodges with ease. The force of the swing, however, cut in half causing a ma massive split in the ground.
'Is he trying to kill me?' As she lands, she laughs nervously "What monstrous strength you have."
"Truth be told, I'm still holding back."
"Oh, then I hope for both our sakes, you don't have to go all out."
"Can't say I feel like I'm close to a breakthrough."
Jacob vanishes and reappears with his sword already at Aqua's neck. Aqua tilts her head back dodging the attack. She then leaps back to put some distance between them.
As she lands, she notices a shadow and looks above only to see Jacob already swinging his sword for a direct vertical slash.
Aqua then side flips to the left in order to dodge the attack, the force of the swing creates a massive gust of wind as well as a long slice on the ground which goes for hundreds of meters.
*tch* Jacob then leaps to the side and readies his sword again.
"You're fast."
"The same could be said for you." Aqua says this as a light blue aura envelops on her entire body.
'Woah, that's some incredible energy.'
Aqua points at Jacob with her right index finger. at the tip of her finger a small condensed sphere of water forms.
Multiple streams of water spread from the sphere and attack Jacob at blinding speeds. Jacob does a few flips to dodge the attacks.
He then goes in for his own attack and swings at Aqua, At this Aqua just sidesteps with ease and kicks Jacob on the right side of his ribs. His body crashes into a rock that's approximately 100m away from Aqua.
"Breakthrough, huh? I'm not seeing much of it though." Aqua says this as she readies a gigantic water ball and launches it at Jacob.
As Jacob barely gets out of the way, he notices immediately that another attack is incoming. But he couldn't react in time and was struck by a highly pressurized stream of water which causes him to crash into the rocks once more.
As Jacob gets up he coughs wildly and notices that his forehead is dripping with blood.
'Damn, how is she doing that? She's not even using the water from the lake, so where is it coming from?'
Suddenly a massive tentacle made of water wraps around Jacob's waist and begins to squeeze.
"Can you feel it kid, by manipulating my spirit energy or what you humans refer to mana, I've increased the water's density, what you're feeling right now is a billion tonnes of weight crushing you."
Jacob's eyes widen at Aqua's statement while gritting his teeth in pain due to being squeezed by the tentacle.
"You know, the fact that you're still conscious in spite of this is kinda scary, but once you pass out we will redo this until you manage to beat me."
Jacob suddenly goes silent and thinks to himself 'I have got to use the multiplier technique, it's my only shot. If you want me to win so bad Aqua, then I'll defeat you...in a flash!'
"Sage mode X10." Jacob begins to resist the tentacle's hold as thin layer of colourless energy forms around him. His hair rises into a spiky manner.
'Sage mode? does that mean he's been fighting with his natural strength the entire time?'
"X50!" Jacob shouts as he breaks free, completely dispersing the water tentacle in the process.
'He....broke free?'
Jacob then looked at Aqua with a deadly serious expression.
Aqua then launches an onslaught of water stream attacks at an even faster speed, Jacob narrowly doges all of them with a calm expression on his face.
'Sage art: Rhythmic Appraisal.' Jacob then continues to narrowly dodge the attacks.
'I see, so that's how she is doing it.' Jacob thinks as he observes the flow of energies surrounding Aqua. Aqua then readies powerful water whips.
'Sage art: Rhythmic Counter. This is a technique that allows my body to dodge any any forms of foreign energy.'
Jacob then proceeds to dodge the relentless attack of the water whips with relative ease. "Sage mode...". Aqua then suddenly rushes at Jacob as she hears those words and attempts to kick him, resulting in her kicking the air.
Jacob reappears behind Aqua, and launches his right fist towards Aqua ".....X500!!".
Jacob's fist stops a few inches from Aqua's face, however, the force generates so much shockwaves, that the surrounding rocks and hills are completely blown away, completely levelling the ground to a point at which a wide trench developed.
Aqua still a bit shaken regains her composure "Why didn't you finish me off, kid?"
"To do this." Jacob opens his hand and water splashes on her face. To which Aqua stiffens in response as a dumbfounded expression dominates her face.
Jacob then crosses his arms and laughs confidently "See I'm a genius, I was able to use water to land an attack on you." He then continues to laugh.
Aqua stares at Jacob in amazement. 'Although the output was poor, he was finally able to manipulate the spirit particles that represent the water element through use of Aether, but to think, he had lasted for so long without using sage mode.'
Aqua then notices the sun is already setting.
"Alright kiddo, you've defeated me and even more,.you've managed to impress me. Needless to say not many can do that, As a reward, I'm going to make you a water elemental master."
Jacob then smiles at Aqua. "Yeah, and I promise to be strong enough, so that one day we can have a fair fight, where you won't need to hold back so much of your power."
Aqua looks on in amazement as she listens to what Jacob said. "Then let's work hard to achieve that, alright?" Aqua gently smiles and stretches her right fist in Jacob's direction.
"Yeah" Jacob replies shortly as he fist bumps with Aqua.