As soon as the Council handed him the sword, they were amazed to see him pull out a shoulder sling, and put it on over his back where it barely avoided scraping the floor because of its length. The sword he had on his hip, they were amazed to see was nearly the same quality.
"It has been a long time since I have seen the sword that your Mother wielded. She was the only other one I know that could combine the Elemental Powers in such a way." Griffin told him as she looked at the now full synced wrist device and saw that his Life, and Death Elements were the lowest ranked.
"My dad always said I was as special as she was. He was always jealous however that I could wield all 9 and he could only do 7." Airic said knowing that was the wild ability he inherited from his father. The ability to combine him was from his mother, and he had not yet shown him his own wild talent.
"It seemed he knew what he was doing when he married your mother, especially since they had you. I think we can expect great things from you." Councilor Daft said with a smile.
"I plan to use my time in school to continue improving on my skills and abilities. We shall see what this library and city have to offer in that way, for I assure you that I am the new Champion of House Carter, and I will be coming to all of the appropriate Challenges." He informed the Couniclors he knew of the House Battles that occured every 4 years to show how much strength they held.
"Once you become an adult you are more than welcome too Lord Airic. However the law is quite clear you must have already completed your 2 years of duty before you are eligible." Councilor Swan said pleasantly. "Though it will be extremely satisfying to see what you will truly be capable of once you finish school."
"We shall see Councilor, we shall see." Airic said before he turned and left with the rest of his class as they had to return to the school. They would still be selecting thier Elemental Path today, but Airic knew it was going to be a long conversation when they returned.
The trip from the Arena back to the school was just as interesting as Airic believed it was going to be as each of his professors attempted to even touch the sword his father had crafted and wielded for many years.
"How long have you known what you were capable of?" General Shank asked as 3 of the Professors joined them for the ride.
"Dad began training me when I was 3, and activated his sword one day. When I was 6 he spent the summer training me with a beginner sword he made for me, that well, let's just say it is still useful even though I reforged it with his help. At 9 I was big enough for moms old sword, and have used it since. His sword may take a few more years before I can use properly, but when I can I will be fully trained with it." Airic replied.
"Can you teach anyone else to do what you can?" Captain Wong asked him.
"We shall see, there are a couple in my Platoon I might be able to. You as well Captain Wong, everyone else in here no." Airic said sure of the impressions he was getting.
"That will have to be a club for after school. As powerful as that display was, I can tell from your fathers band you have room to improve several of those Elemental Abilities. And you have not yet mastered any of them. We still have things you can learn." Captain Bright said to him as he nodded.
"I do not intend to take the easy way out, and will be focusing on my weaknesses while here. For you are correct, there is much I have to learn and I look forward to learning it. But I learn quickly and will be studying on my own as well. As I said, it will be interesting what this city has to offer me to strengthen my abilities. That includes this academy." Airic said ad they pulled into the school grounds.
"Should we have those he feels might be capable of learning to select thier Elemental Paths today?" Captain Wong said.
"I have another idea if you do not mind. As I understand it, you immediately command them to fuse with the use using a specific element?" He asked.
"That is the traditional procedure, with the Element they choose." General Shank said as he nodded.
"Instead of ordering it to lock a specific Elemental Ability, simply command it to fuse with the user." Airic said as the Professors looked at each other and he sighed. "Bracelet Override Elemental lockout and begin scan of subject abilities." He ordered as all of the bracelets listened to what he said. His was quick as it had just completed the scan and came back with the same results. However 2 if the Professors and General Shank were surprised to see that thier bracelets came back with 2 and 4 Elemental Abilities, although the ones they hadn't trained were level 1s. Captain Wong was the one with 4, while General Shank had 2. Just as the last scan finished he looked at the Professors in the car. "Seems I am not the only one with some training to do."
Captain Wong laughed as he opened the door, and was the first one out as Airoc followed him and the other door was opened as well.
"It seems we need to rethink how we operate all of the Academies, as well as the Military. If this ability is more widespread than we thought, than we might be able to turn the tide of war." General Shank said as he went into the admin building and none of them followed him.
That evening the Cadets gathered in thier homeroom class after dinner, and General Shank had found it took someone with the Technology Element to override the bracelets. Captain Wong was the homeroom for Airics class, and he was surprised that there were Cadets from every year in here.
"Normally we are all gathered at different times for homeroom, however today is a special circumstance. Our Tradition has been challenged and proven wrong by one of our brand new Cadets, who has thus far shown a lot of promise." Captain Wong said as one of the Cadets from year 3 raised his hand.
"Sir, why does your power bracelet now show 4 seperate colors?" He asked as Wong laughed.
"That is the Special circumstance I was referring to, but not everyone will be effected by what is about to happen. 1st years, normally you would have selected which Element you would have spent your life Mastering, but now we will be doing something else." Wong said as he gave everyone but Cadet Airic a bracelet as he already had one fused to him. As soon as they had all put it on, he walked back to the front of the classroom. "Cadet Airic, if you would."
Airic chuckled as he focused himself and accessed his powers. "Bracelet Command Override, initiate Ability scan of user." He ordered and all of the bracelets including his reset and used its connection to perform a genetic scan of the person who was wearing it. A third of all the Cadets in Wong's homeroom had thier Bracelet turn Multiple Colors. As Airic looked to the First Years in this class which was only a quarter of his platoon, 3 of them had multiple colors, some of them flashing while others were solid. The rest of them were just flashing between the colors that they would be best at.
A third of the students from the other years that called his class homeroom had thier bracelets add atleast one color, and the highest was 5 of them.
"What does this mean professor?" One of the first years asked as his flashed between the colors.
"First years, if your bracelet is flashing, you may select from any of the elements it is flashing between. Remaining Cadets, if your bracelet has added other colors, and any if them are flashing, you must choose between them. Any of them that are solid with a level number shows your power in that particular element. As with any of them, the more you study and practice, the easier it becomes." Airic told them all as this process repeated throughout the Academy at this very time.
"We will be starting a club for those who wish to begin strengthening thier secondary Elemental Abilities, and we will likely make a change to the current curriculum based on what has happened. Any of you who have multiple colors are more than welcome to join us, and as Cadet Lt. Airic pointed out, the choice is yours between the Elements your bracelet is flashing." Wong said as the students began locking in the skills they wanted to learn based on what thier bracelet was communicating.
That night was the first meeting of the new club, and the Arena was able to hold all of them as he had hoped it would. What surprised him was nearly a quarter of the school was able, and reports from the army was that once it was over 20 percent of them would be able to use multiple Elements.
"Welcome everyone, to the Elementals Club." Airic said before one of the older students shouted.
"Why is a first year addressing us like he is in charge?" He demanded.
Airic looked at him and summoned him to the center with them. "What year are you? What is your strongest skill?" He asked the boy who stood a few meters away.
"Level 4 fire skill." He said smugly as Airic nodded. "3rd year."
Airic nodded as he looked at him and nodded. "Impressive, truly impressive. What is your next strongest Element and level?"
The boy looked at his bracelet. "Earth, lvl 1." He said losing some of his luster.
"I also see a level one Water skill. To answer your question it is because I am one of the very few people until now has known it was even possible. I may be a first year Cadet, but I have level 5 Advanced Certifications in Water, Earth, Fire, Mind and Tech Elements. Level 3 in Air and Lightning, and level 2 in Life and Death. 1st year Cadet." Airic told him as he slowly turned his bracelet so he could see the level numbers for himself.
The Cadet gulped as he saw that Airic had brought the sword he always used, and noticed a smaller blade next to it, almost hidden by the bigger sword. "Apologies Cadet Lieutenant, I was not aware skills could be learned before we arrived here."
"Normally people cannot decide what to commit to until they come to Senior Academy. As you can evidence, not everyone is capable of doing what you are here to learn to do. Use multiple Elemental Abilities in your combat skills. Once some of you have learned a few more basic skills in a secondary Element, we will attempt to see if you will have the ability to combine them."
"I might buy into someone can use multiple elements, and even thos many of us can. General Carter was certainly an example of being able to do so. But no one can combine them." Another Cadet said loudly from the stands making the first years and professors groan.
"Will video evidence suffice, or will a practical demonstration be required?" Airic asked.
"I have to see it to believe it." Came the voice as the teachers ran from the immediate vicinity of Airic as his hair stood on end and his eyes went white. It was a common occurence when a higher tier general began casting powerful abilities. Within seconds the students heard the first clap of thunder as they looked up just as a torrential thunderstorm unleashed above thier heads soaking everyone in attendance as the lightning began striking where no one was standing close to.
"How about you feel the evidence." He said as he made the wind start blowing on a cyclone pattern at speeds not fast enough to create a tornado as everyone became soaked. A few seconds later however it stopped and he heated the wind with fire to dry everyone in a small invisible tornado that left all of thier clothes dry like they had never been touched by the rain. They all knew however that he could very easily make if something that hurt like hell.
"We have decided the best approach will be to each week select an element, and those of us who are able will join it. We will seperate into 3 groups, each with a seperate subject for the week. Some weeks your abilities may not be focused on, but the gatherings for that week will be those 3 elements. Feel free to join, as I am not sure that you are absolutely unable to learn another Elemental Ability. We would ask that each of you register the ones you are able to do based on what your bracelets say, that way we can best determine which of the Elements we will cover each week. Each Element will be further broken down depending on skill level, that way all of us will hopefully always have something to learn." Captain Wong said as the Staff member of the Group Council.