Mudan walked towards me and in a hushed tone asked. "Do you really need additional strength at this point?" "With enemies that are as strong as me, I need the technical edge." I answered. I handed over his sword back to him. Maybe I can learn swordsmanship here as well. When we fought, I had the obvious reach advantage but he always seemed flexible enough to counter and block my strikes. "If that is the case then I believe you need to train under the best our clan has to offer. I will find better and suitable tutors. Have you ever tried the sword before?" Mudan asked. Finally I get a chance to try the sword . "No. I was always strong and had no need of a weapon till I landed on this continent. I am trying all kinds of weapons to find my fit." I answered. I did not count the throwing of spears as part of me owning a weapon. It is simply like picking a stone to kill a snake. You can't really say that a stone is part of your weapon. "There are various other weapons to train here but some like dagger training would be useless for you. I think you should ask around and you will get to know about them." Mudan said. The siblings were no longer part of my training. Later on, I would find out that they were too scared of me to face me again.
We headed back to the village with Mudan who was offering his advice on the various techniques I could learn if I trained under him in swordsmanship. He was excited with the prospects of having to train me. I agreed to his request and scheduled my meetings with him every afternoon.The following morning, I went to a nearby fae settlement to train for archery. My tutor was a very nimble fellow referred to as Windan. He was light on his feet and a little thin compared to the rest of his kin. "You are the famous White Eagle who beat my cousins." He asked while smiling. "Not really. I never touched them." I answered. "Yes I heard about that ha-ha. They attacked you yet for some reason they could not harm you." Windan said. We talked a little more about what my training would entail. It was not very difficult work to be honest. I only had to maintain a constant supply of mana from my body to the speeding arrow. I had never thought about controlling inanimate objects like this. By the fourth day I had learnt all the basics from him. I still practiced every night on controlling inanimate objects by maintaining a mana flow through them. I graduated the archery class after having my arrow rotate around my training area twice and hit my target.
"You have graduated very fast but you should know that your speeds are very slow. Let me demonstrate." Windan said. He completed the same task in an instant while it took me more than a minute to do so. "As you can see, you still have room for improvement." Windan said. That is what I did every night on the same training field. I repeated the exercise over and over again. Due to my abundance in mana, I did not need to take a break to replenish therefore my improvements were very rapid. After two weeks, I succeeded in replicating the speed of my tutor. However, by this time I learnt that I could control attack spells the same way I did with arrows. This therefore meant that I did not need a bow. I tried it with a volley of lightning bolts and soon learnt that I could make them change directions midflight. The lessons learnt from archery themselves were helpful but archery in itself was not going to be beneficial for me. The attacks were simply too weak. So I gave up on ever using it. It was difficult to come to terms with having spent such a large portion of time and effort.
Mudan's swordsmanship lessons were not as simple as those of archery. We were training from the afternoon to evening with wooden swords. I practiced a thirty move technique continuously like a form of routine. I would do this routine from the time I entered the training session till the time I left. Mudan would correct my posture here and there and offer some words of advice. This continued on for three weeks repeating the technique day in day out. To be frank I did not see the point of it at first but that changed later on.
It was now the beginning of the fourth week and Mudan rarely had to correct my posture anymore. "You seem to have slightly mastered the technique. But from now on I want you to do the same routine at three times the speed." Mudan said. Here I began to see myself striking, parrying, avoiding and blocking various attacks that may be thrown at me. I made various mistakes at this speed that were met with Mudan's shouting. "Repeat!" That is what I did for the next two weeks while increasing the speed until it reached a point where Mudan could not follow my movements. "Do not worry about me. I can see the after images of our beautiful technique passed down through various generations." Mudan answered after I asked him if he could observe me. After that, we conducted a mock battle where i limited my speed and strength to normal. I could block and counter attack with minimal movement reminiscent of the beautiful technique I had observed from Mudan before. The whole training lasted for a month and three weeks. I had graduated and was now ready to practice by myself. The sword techniques were powerful but only at close ranges. The archery was weak but effective at long ranges. I was faced with a dilemma. I wanted a technique that was both strong and powerful at long and close ranges. After a week of serious consideration, I decided that the spear techniques would not solve my current problem. I needed something new and different.
I went out in the wild to deeply think about my predicament. One fateful day I saw two poisonous snakes, I picked up a single stone and challenged myself to hit both at once. That was exactly what happened and I was very proud of myself. Chakrams! Yes chakrams would be perfect for me. They are both strong in close and long distances. I decided to try them out.
Metal discs with sharpened edges were formed. I floated above the ground and threw them around me while infusing mana in them. The discs flew fast and always came back to me. I needed a technique that did not yet exist for this weapons. I had to get creative.
[Certainly. I will guide you through one.]
I spent the next two days learning under the tutelage of Jenga. The technique allowed me to use various attributes with the Chakrams. The speeds of the chakrams were higher than those of arrows in archery and more destructive than swords and spears. This was the ultimate technique. I continued training in secret for the next one month and I was at a point where I had mastered the technique completely. It was now obvious that I was not going to learn anything else from here so it was time for me to leave. I went to the elder, Mudan and told him of my decision to move closer to the front lines. He was glad to have tutored me and he saw me off in the next three days.
This time however, I decided to fly and meet with Zari instead of taking a carriage. The area she was stationed in had a massive landmark near it that was visible from the sky. It took thirty seconds to travel there which was a distance of about 10 km. I stopped above a humungous tree to observe it. This was the landmark that I was going to be using. Suddenly, Jenga changed into a membrane that covered my whole body. What is happening? I saw a flash of light from my peripheral vision that hit my back. Of course I was unharmed. "Who are you?" A familiar voice shouted. "Your worst nightmare." I responded to a floating Zari with a smile. She took an offensive position. Why is she fighting me? Does she not recognize who I am? It must be this red membrane from Jenga. I hurriedly removed it and I could see a sense of relief from her face. "Have you grown weaker perhaps. That attack did not even itch me." I said smiling. "What a cocky thing to say. Are you asking for a beating?" Zari responded with a matching grin. "Believe me. I have grown stronger. It will not even be a competition." I boasted. I was looking for a chance to boast to Zari because her trash talks were really infuriating every time she won a match. Jenga covered my body with his membrane once more and I invited her to attack me. "You must be really out of your mind. No matter I will show you your place." Zora said as she dashed forward. I did not move which threw her off guard a bit but she recovered. She launched barrages of attacks in human form that did not affect me. I then started taunting her. "Are you sure you are Zari and not an impostor?" I said. It was getting to her and she started using more violent attacks but it was all for naught. "Having a bad day?" I asked. She was now irritated. "I am going all out. Do not blame me for it." She said while smiling. She turned into her dragon form and unleashed powerful heat attacks but those did not harm me. In fact, they were absorbed and turned to mana. After a few more tries she was out of breath. I took this chance to announce my entrance into the battle."Let me show you the epitome of strength that you can only dream of reaching" I declared to her. I asked Jenga to provide the long chain with arrow protrusions at the end while maintaining the barrier. It was a normal chain unlike the flame chain used against Zora. I swung it around and aimed at the dragon floating next to me. Its whole body was caught and the wings were folded. It fell to the ground while struggling to free itself. I flew next to the crushing site. "Admit defeat and I will let you go." I said. "I will free myself in no time." Zari answered. I stood there offering her words of encouragement while she tried every trick imaginable including turning back to human form but she could not break free. "I admit." She murmured. I freed her and then she added "it is hot today." What is she saying? "I never admitted defeat only that the weather is hot today." Zari said while smiling. This was exactly what to expect from her. Stubborn to the core this one. "Well in that case, I will go all out." I said putting back the Orin membrane. "Now now. There is no hurry, we still have a few millennia together don't we?" Zari said. What does that have to do with anything? I was not going to have a win so I relaxed my posture. "Today's match will be considered a draw. Good work." Zari added. What the hell? "A draw?" I shouted. Zari quickly changed the topic. "Come let me show you to the settlement." Zari said. I conceded, after all you cannot really expect much from this Dragon.
The settlement was a military outpost that had a large number of fae in the area. Zora was also present here. It had been 3 months since we last saw each other in Katarak. "Chrono my friend. It has been a long time." Zora greeted me. I went towards him and we exchanged pleasantries. We then began exchanging information on what happened to the other person. I told Zora about my training while he filled me on the information about the war. Plans had been accelerated and it was expected that an imminent attack was on its way within a month's time. I was asked to participate in a ground reconnaissance mission in the next two days to determine the strength of the attacking force.