Kazi spent his time looking for who could teach him more powerful and useful techniques, really, he accepted every and all techniques, as long as they were above D rank. Of course, he couldn't find a lot of people who would teach A rank techniques, some were greedy while others just didn't know any. This was mainly because he had been targeting second class sutori and low rank first class, any higher than that and the pride wouldn't allow them, he was seen as just a nosy third class at times after all.
After that first large scale battle, there wasn't another that took place for a while. It was mainly because they had whipped out the forces Jalam, so they would have to send more people to start anything, meanwhile, the forces from Atar who were on that camp couldn't advance further because they hadn't received the order to do so from the higher ups.
'Really, they sit in comfortable positions back at home and send us to our deaths, nothing has changed.' This was one thing that really made Kazi unhappy with the military system. Though this age was older, the way things worked was more modern, if not, the big-shots would be going with them to the battle grounds and fighting alongside with them, anyway...
The camp received more people, and Kazi was really surprised, he knew the tak was big and had a lot of citizens, but he had not understood just how many sutori they possessed, the military power was quite shocking.
These days, the only fights that took place were in small groups of maybe scouts clashing, or special teams sent to infiltrate getting caught.
After several weeks, Kazi had added more than 20 new techniques to his arsenal, he undoubtedly felt more powerful now, even though not invincible.
Since the third class sutori would rarely be put in scouting teams, it was mostly the second class and first class who had to face the dangers. When they were running low on manpower however, this changed, and the more talented third classes were included in the teams, this meant Kazi and Linx also got to be part of such teams.
Kazi was part of the team that would scout closer to the enemy territory to check up on their development in case they had started gathering again, this team naturally had a long job on their hands since they would be gone for a week minimum as they maintained their position closer to the enemy lands and come back after a week or more to give reports in person. Using messenger pigeons was not the safest in such times of war.
Linx on the other hand was in a team of sutori whose job was to deliver message to other camps, which meant they would most definitely be encountering enemy sutori frequently. There was no real choice, so they obeyed orders and set off, unlike Linx, Kazi wasn't so eager to prove himself so much to put his life in obvious danger. It was certain that the enemy would expect them to wait and study their movements and development, so they were basically sitting ducks to some extent.
"Hey kid, you must be the new addition, welcome to the team." One of the seniors there said to Kazi.
"Get together, we'll be heading out in a few minutes. I am your group captain, Yaku, and this is Zain, my second in command, then Iro and Sami. Introduce yourselves." Yaku ordered.
Kazi introduced himself quickly with a name and rank and the rest did the same. Unexpectedly, Lanira was also part of this team, this meant she had performed well, it wasn't unexpected, despite her foul mouth, she was indeed talented.
"Alright, we head out." Yaku ordered, and they set out.
Apart from Kazi and Lanira, there were two others. The plan was to form two groups with Zain leading the second one so that they could observe from different points.
Lanira and Kazi ended up being in the same team with Zain and Iro, while the others formed the first team with Yaku. Right from the camp, they travelled as different teams. The journey was nearly a one day journey away, but if they didn't stop to rest, they could reach there earlier.
Apart from Sami, all the others were first class sutori, so Kazi felt a little safety being with two first class, at least he could use them as shields to hold off the enemies which would give him more time to escape, and they would be strong shields too.
During the cause of the travel, they had to stop once since Lanira couldn't keep up and needed a little rest, during that time, Kazi used the opportunity to talk with Zain and Iro. He found out that Zain was a wind user too, while Iro was a light user. This was also the first time he had met someone who uses light techniques, he knew they were even rarer than those who use darkness.
When they arrived at their destination, Zain's group stationed towards the west, while Yaku's was towards the east. Then, they also created some secret codes and counter codes to make sure there was no spying of any kind in the future. Apart from the codes, they would change position three to five times everyday to ensure that they weren't just making themselves into sitting ducks.
Now, unlike Yaku who seemed to be a stiff person, Zain was not at all, and Iro was even more friendly, one would be heartbroken if they were told these bright and lively guys were cold killers. With this, it was really easy for Kazi to ask for them to teach him some techniques.
This time, Kazi benefitted a lot since he could learn a high level wind technique from Zain, 'Air Vacuum Technique' and its three variations, but Kazi was taught only one for a start, the first variation, 'Air Vacuum Technique – Sword'.
The way the technique was, with each variation, there was a rise in the rank of the technique, this meant that the final variation would be S rank... Kazi was excited for it.
'The first variation, 'Air Vacuum Technique – Sword'... It's like a super improved version of my 'wind blade slash' awesome.'
"With this particular technique, I was able to achieve first class, don't under estimate it, hahahaha." Zain seemed to be proud to teach this technique to Kazi, and Kazi didn't mind at all. As for Lanira, it would seem that her jealousy only increased with this new development, after all, Kazi was getting more and more away from her reach. The two adults thought it was cute, after all, she was a very young girl and these things were normal with children, but for Kazi, this was also a threat, after all, he knew Lanira more than anyone else, it was customary to know one's enemy more than you do your friend... well, even potential enemies had to be studied too, it was the only way to be safe in such a world where you could die from a curse sent from the other side of the world.