As the man declared, "Let's begin". The celestial tree behind him glowed in soft light as it hummed and swayed. One of its long branches moved closer to the man and William.
WOONG
As it hummed, the branch extended itself and created a bubble. The bubble was transparent and kept growing bigger and bigger. Once it reached the size of a mountain it stopped growing and began to glow in bright white light.
William closed his eyes and covered them with his hands, the light was too bright for him. The light shone for a few minutes before William opened his eyes wide when he heard something that should be impossible.
CHIRP CHIRP
William heard the sound of birds chirping from the bubble, the clear and crisp sound of the birds echoing through the lonely darkness outside. After a few minutes, the chirping of birds was overwhelmed by the sound of the roaring flow of water.
William's eyes widened in disbelief when he saw the scenery in the transparent bubble as the white light began to fade out.
'It's a waterfall!' He was astonished, he never thought that the tree could create such things.
The mysterious man beside William began walking towards the bubble while he nudged his head towards it, wanting William to follow.
William slowly followed the man from behind, he could hear the sound of water growing louder and louder.
Upon reaching the bubble, the man stopped in front of it before turning around towards William, "This will be your training space from now on."
With that said the man turned to the bubble and stepped inside it. William watched curiously as he watched the man step inside the bubble, his image distorted for a moment, like he had stepped into some sort of barrier.
William followed him and walked into the bubble, 'It felt like I had walked through a thick fog.' he thought as he arrived at the other end of the bubble.
The moment he stopped inside, his feet could feel the soft grass beneath them. He felt the cold breeze carrying tiny droplets of cold water from the waterfall kissing his skin.
"How…?" William asked, he was flabbergasted by the scenery before him. The waterfall in the center with lush thick trees surrounding the waterfall. Little birds and squirrels made the trees home.
"That is the power of creation, you will learn it in the future when you are powerful enough." The man muttered.
"Whoa…" His mouth was hung agape and his amethyst pupils shrank in excitement that one day he could learn to harness this amazing power.
"Come with me." The man said while he walked towards the waterfall.
William followed like a baby duck while looking at his surroundings like a curious cat. The squirrels and birds too, looked at William, reflecting the same curiosity as him.
One of the brave ones, a squirrel slowly made its way towards William, stopping once in a while and staring at him, looking for a reaction.
William, noticing the bold squirrel stopped in his tracks and crouched down extending his hand out for the squirrel. The squirrel, noticing this, flinched and took a few steps back and observed him.
"It's okay. I am not going to hurt you." William whispered with a small sweet smile on his face. The squirrel, watching this slowly made its way towards him, stopping once in a while.
SNIFF SNIFF
Once it reached his hand, it began to sniff his fingers before licking them and getting on top of his palm.
CHIRK CHIRK
It turned around to its compatriots who were closely watching the squirrel and called them. The remaining squirrels and the birds cautiously made their way to him while the squirrel happily laid on his hands and fell asleep.
The man, walking towards the waterfall, stopped and turned around to see William slowly petting the squirrel who fell asleep in his hands.
There was no reaction on the man's face; as if expecting this to happen. He slowly made his way towards William, who by now was covered with birds and squirrels.
"They are cute." William said, with a happy smile, his eyes glowed in joy as he watched one of the squirrels pushing another on his hands before laying down.
"Your attribute is nature, so there is no surprise that animals feel like they are in their mother's embrace whenever they are near you." The man said, he then turned his gaze towards the squirrels and continued,
"From now on, your training will be on how mana changes its form and how to fuse and divide the mana to your will and harmonize them with your body"
"Then what about the elemental training? I have to understand different kinds of mana, right?" William asked.
"Hah!" The man scoffed, as if listening to something ridiculous. "Whoever said that is stupid!"
"Hey!" William pouted, not liking the man calling his mother stupid.
"Look, your attribute or rather your power is nature. It encompasses all things, you don't need to individually learn different elemental mana to understand nature." The man explained.
"Everything comes from nature and ends in nature, therefore all you need is to learn the core principles that run nature. If you do that you don't need to individually learn things, you just need to wish for it and it will happen."
"Really?" William exclaimed, stars were shining in his eyes as he listened to the man's explanation.
"Yes, from today on, the moment you appear here. You will sit near the waterfall and observe how the mana changes from being wind mana to water mana then to earth mana. You will study how the mana transforms and also learn how to fuse them together."
"Then let's get started immediately" William replied as he stood up and went towards the waterfall. The birds and squirrels followed him from behind, curious to see what he was up to.
William, upon reaching the waterfall, sat beside and looked towards the man standing beside him, "So…What should I do?"
"Observe" the man muttered before he walked away, giving William no explanation on how to do it.
"....Okay. I will do it." William clenched his fists in determination, ready to take on the challenge.
He then bulged his eyes open and stared at the waterfall. His eyes glowed in amethyst light as the vision of the world in his mind slowly changed.
Mana began to fill William's vision, he could clearly see the earth mana in the ground staying still, he could feel the heaviness of the earth mana.
He then gazed upwards to the sky to see it filled with the wind and fire mana, propagating through the sky.
He then turned towards the waterfall, watching as the ice mana, that gave the water its coldness, flowed through the water as it crashed down onto the ground.
But, 'I can't see the mana interacting with each other' William muttered inwardly as he squinted his eyes as he stared at the edges of the water falling down.
He could clearly see the wind and fire mana touching the ice mana on the surface before bouncing off of each other. William narrowed his eyes, 'But the man said that mana changes from one form to another. Then why can't I see it?'
William, could see the mana clearly, just not how they transformed into one to another.
'Maybe I should look at another place.' He concluded, shifting his gaze towards the ground. Where the fire mana carried by light and wind mana hit the earth mana on the ground but bounced back back as if they were balls.
'What's going on? Why can't I see it?' William wondered while frowning, but still he still kept looking, shifting his gaze once in a while.
A few hours had gone by, but William still couldn't see the mana transforming into each other, "Maybe the man was mistaken?" He mumbled to himself.
"No" A crisp voice came from behind William.
William's whole body jerked as he went on guard while turning around, he only sighed in relief when he saw the mysterious man standing behind him with his arms in the back.
"The reason you can't see it is because you are stupid." The man scolded.
William slumped hearing the man's words, "But I tried everything and yet I couldn't see whatever that you are able to see."
SIGH
The man sighed, he then walked closer to William before answering, "Then Look closer."
"Haah! Alright." William replied, his voice low and defeated, yet determination burned in his eyes, 'I will not give up' William mumbled to himself. As he was about to sit down again and stare at the waterfall.
"That's enough for today. You can continue tomorrow." The man ordered, cutting short William's determination.
"Why?" William protested, displeased by the man abruptly ending the training session.
"Because you are tired." The man replied as flatly as possible.
"No, I'm not. I can go on for another few hours." William replied, whining that he didn't want to end it yet.
"You may not be, but your body is. And go tell your father to arrange some monsters at the rank of an amateur and early adept."
"Why?"
"You will fight with them once you complete the training." The man replied.
"Okay" William said while slowly disintegrating.