I headed to the training grounds to meet with Chiron and the main cast. Today was our weekly training session. Since the first quest, it's been a few days. Things have begun settling down and the main cast has become closer with each other after the first quest.
The night Nadia came to the camp, she was quickly claimed by Artemis. Then Nadia was added to our group as Adriel and others asked Chiron to do so. So now our group was complete and all the members of the main cast were together.
After a bit of walking, I arrived at the training ground where, unsurprisingly, no one was present. As always, I was the first one to come and the main cast came a few minutes after me.
"Hey, Blake! What's up?"
Adriel's greetings had doubled since our first quest. It had come to the point where I couldn't ignore him anymore. So I waved at him casually to please him. Behind him was the girl trio. They greeted me as well like Adriel. I guess after practically saving their lives, they started to act more friendly around me.
"Why did Chiron call us?"
"Oh, Right. This is your first training session. So what we basically do is that once a week we gather here and do a lesson with Chiron as our mentor."
Eleanor answered Nadia's question and further explained the contents of the lesson. As the conversation came to an end, Chiron arrived as well.
"Good! Everyone is already here. Then let's start with today's program. First Nadia will choose her weapon and examine the status window if she hasn't already."
Nadia looked through the weapons to find the bow section. Without an ounce of hesitation, she picked a bow she found convenient for her. It wasn't a surprise since her mother was Artemis and she was a natural archer. After that, she tested the status window and we proceeded.
"Okay, good choice. The next thing on the list is-"
"Chiron, I want to change my weapon too."
Everyone turned their heads to Amelia. I was too taken aback when I heard her. Although her switching weapons was a part of the plot, it was meant to happen further in the future. Though this wasn't necessarily a bad thing since it would only make the main cast stronger, it still was not called for.
"Is that so? Which weapon are you going to choose then?"
"Sword."
"Are you sure? If you change weapons frequently, you may fall behind in mastery."
"I know."
"Okay. You can go ahead and change it now."
Everyone watched her replace her bow with a sword. Adriel seemed puzzled. He looked like she had a lot to ask Amelia for her rather questionable choice. By now, Adriel and Elanor knew Amelia enough to figure out she was afraid of close combat and the cruelty of battle. So seeing Amelia changing her weapon to a sword was unexpected. With those questions stuck in their head, the lesson carried on.
"Today we won't be doing duels. Instead, we are going to work on your divine energy control. I thought it would be cool to do the lesson in a different environment. So just for this lesson, we are going to the gulf."
"Yes!"
"You are the best mentor!"
The main cast began cheering like little kids. I was also content with this decision. More precisely, the contents of the lesson. Although I had a profound understanding of divine energy thanks to the descriptions in the novel, I still had many shortcomings. This lesson was an opportunity for me to gain a new insight into the divine energy.
As we were walking towards the gulf, Adriel finally found the chance to ask Amelia about her choice. As we walked in the front, Adriel and Amelia slowed their pace to be left alone. But I could still hear their conversation.
"Amelia. Why did you switch to a sword?"
"What do you mean? The bow didn't suit me as I thought so I changed it."
"I am not asking that... I thought you were reluctant to choose a sword because you wanted to avoid having direct combat with monsters."
"I know..."
"Then why? Are you going to be okay?"
Although Adreil was obviously worried about Amelia, he was going too far with the interrogation. Not having the patience to endure Adriel intruding upon her choice, she decided to spill out her bottled-up feelings.
"Because... Because I can't even use a bow! Haven't you seen it? I wasn't even able to shoot a single arrow to that monster. And..."
Her voice trembled as her eyes teared up a bit.
"And... because of me, you were almost going to die!"
"No. It wasn't your fault. We were ambushed-"
"Stop..."
"What?"
"Stop trying to comfort me with sweet lies. I am fully aware that I was useless. I was just a burden."
She threw a glance at my direction for a split moment then continued speaking.
"If not for Eleanor and Blake, we would have died there. Because of me..."
"No, no. Don't think like that."
"..."
"Still... Switching to a sword... It's dangerous for you..."
"Adriel. I know you are worried about me. But please understand me... I don't wanna hide behind others and hope for the best without doing anything out of fear forever. Something needs to change, I have no other choice but to face my fears! I don't want to be behind you, I want to fight beside you. I can't let you guys handle everything and babysit me."
She breathed in to calm her trembling voice down.
"I don't want to feel weak again."
After a moment of silence, Adriel digested what he heard and kindly smiled.
"I see... If that's what you really want, I have nothing to do but support you."
"Thank you..."
Amelia averted her eyes and looked down. A small smile formed on Amelia's lips as if she was freed from the weights on her shoulder.
As I eavesdropped their conversation, I noticed how similar it was to the conversation in the novel. Just like right now, Adriel and Amelia would also talk about this same topic in the novel. Though this time, this development happened earlier, the aftermath was still almost the same.
Normally, for Amelia to change her weapon, Adriel should have escaped death by a strand of hair. Upon this incident, Amelia would blame herself for being useless and almost causing Adriel to die. Thus changing her weapon. However, because of the plot change and the monster ambush, a similar event had occurred, triggering this development earlier.
'That should be alright...'
Adriel and Amelia caught up to us after some time and we reached our destination. the ground beneath us gradually turned from soil to sand as what seemed to be a huge lake came into sight. But it wasn't a lake, it was a gulf.
At the opposite end of us, there was a passage that connected this body of water to the ocean. The shore encircled the gulf until it was opened to the ocean. The relaxing sound of the water and the serene environment here were perfect for concentration. It wasn't hard to understand why Chiron had decided to bring us here for this lesson.
"Sit on the sand and begin exerting your divine energy. I will analyze your divine energy and give personal feedback."
Thus everyone began circulating their divine energy and using it in different ways. I used It to enhance my body, covering it with a black-red hue. My muscles were filled with energy as my senses became clearer.
After a couple of minutes of maintaining the circulation of divine energy in my body, I noticed Chiron making his way toward me. He had a bemused expression on his face.
"Blake, from what I see, you don't seem to effectively circulate your divine energy within your body. It's as if you are not directing your divine energy through your built-in channels. Instead, you are making your divine energy force its way inside your body. Try to find your natural divine energy channels and utilize them."
"Understood."
Chiron went to help Adriel after giving me valuable feedback. Although I was aware that I wasn't circulating my divine energy in a perfect way, his way of putting my situation into words made me realize a very important fact.
Firstly, this world was dualist, meaning there was a physical body and a metaphysical soul. The soul was the center of consciousness, where the divine energy was controlled. Therefore, the pathway of circulation was created by the soul or mind.
Normally, a body and a soul are perfectly aligned with each other to create a cohesive system. Therefore, the channels inside the body through which divine energy is supposed to flow are defined and constructed by the soul. So that when the soul orders the divine energy to circulate in the body, the paths inside the body would correlate with the order.
However in my case,
'My soul is not aligned with this body...'
That meant when I tried to circulate my divine energy, it forced its way through my body because my soul wasn't used to this body. My soul couldn't make the divine energy flow through the natural channels of this body which were created by the original owner of this body.
This resulted in a decreased output and longer casting time. To fix it, I had only one option: To create my own channels from scratch.
"Alright! Good work everyone! You are free for the rest of the day. See you next week!"
Well, I will have to leave that for tomorrow.