It was nighttime and Zaphyris was in her private room, just when a maid knocked on the door with an important announcement.
"A letter for me from the Black Pearl Capital?" Zaphyris muttered when she received the news from a maid.
Zaphyris didn't understand what it meant, but she must have thought it was probably some trivial meeting.
When she opened the letter and read its contents, it turned out to be just as she had guessed. "A meeting of little importance…" she said barely.
After thinking about it for several minutes, Zaphyris finally got up from her desk and left her room.
***
"If you are telling me that at this hour, then it means something important, doesn't it Zaphyris-sama?" Ryujinzhu said.
Zaphyris was in the room of the dragon princess building. She wanted to entrust something to Ryujinzhu.
"You are right: I want you to train Lucius while I am away. I cannot think of anyone else for this job. I do not want Lucius to be left waiting for me all this time while I am away from the palace."
Ryujinzhu analyzed what Zaphyris said and thought about it for various minutes before giving a reply. "If you say so, then I will yield."
After saying that, Ryujinzhu continued, "But I will do it differently, since he is not used to my routine and I cannot include him in the general training with the other princesses."
"I trust the dragon people in their effective methods, feel free to do whatever makes you grow. I assure you that Lucius learns very quickly and has great talent."
"The rest will depend on Lucius' own ability, but I will keep him entertained during his time away. Also, do not worry about the safety of the palace and all the princesses while I am present, Zaphyris-sama." Ryujinzhu finished.
With everything decided, the two of them got up from their seats and ended the little night visit.
Training by Ryujinzhu for Lucius would begin tomorrow.
***
Lucius
"Eh? Zaphyris went out and will return after several days?" I asked, puzzled.
Yesterday he didn't seem in any hurry to go out anywhere.
Ryujinzhu is giving me the news while I'm at the training ground where Wolf was supposed to be waiting for me... but even he left with her early in the morning.
If that was a sudden decision, then it must be important .
"Now I will be your teacher during Zaphyris-sama's absence."
"Oh? That's new."
"I hope you are competent and show me satisfactory results"
"As you command, Ryujinzhu-sama!"
Let's see what the training of the famous dragon princess will be like.
We both left the palace training ground and headed towards the back extensions. She seemed to want to do it somewhere different.
When we arrived, we didn't go to the training camp there, but to a familiar-looking waterfall... the same one we had been to once before.
"Why are we here, Ryujinzhu-sama? Surely it is not to sit and talk about the different species of animals..."
"This will be your training place"
"A waterfall...?" I muttered in bewilderment.
I remember training in a similar environment with Wolf, so it doesn't surprise me as much as it did in the early days.
"Does it seem impossible to you?"
"It's not that… I've trained in places like that before… I just didn't expect to do it again."
"That's true," Ryujinzhu said, then continued. "Dragon training is much more demanding. Trying to recreate it here is not the same as receiving it directly from our lands. I can still meet the condition of using the nature of the terrain as part of the training."
As the two of them stood in front of the waterfall in silence, she continued speaking. "The foundation of spiritual strength also lies in control and management, you must remember: spiritual power flows in everything we observe, what we drink, everything we touch, and in the very rocks we walk on; being able to control spiritual power is what distinguishes a good warrior from a bad warrior. It's not all about strength, nor about great Emperor-level or God-level spells; when your skill translates into the power of control, you will understand how simple it is to take a step towards true strength."
Being taught by a dragon person is a true privilege for me... I'll make sure to internalize those words.
"We usually look at people's spiritual circuits to see their capabilities and measure their strength, right?" Ryujinzhu asked.
"Yeah"
"If you try to do the same with any object in the world, you will notice that it also has a spiritual power or circuit in its structure. The same goes for this waterfall in front of us or even our own spells. Everything has a structure that makes up its materialization."
As I stared at the waterfall, trying to process what she was saying, she continued. "Water is a resource that we can manipulate as part of our basic management of the spiritual roots of the body. Now, this waterfall is coming down with a force thanks to the force of gravity, displacing the water and its spiritual flow in the process. The first training is this: as part of basic spiritual control and management, you must be able to control the spiritual flow of your structure that flows through this waterfall. When you master this, you will feel the overall spiritual structure and will handle the circuits with skill. That is the strength of the dragon."
After saying that, Ryujinzhu reached out his hand towards the waterfall and stopped the water from flowing down. With a small gesture, he made the water curve and continue flowing down in that state. Now the waterfall I knew where the water went down in a straight line, was falling from the top in a strange curve and then falling down to the lake on the ground.
It was something impossible to see that defied the laws of physics.
Ryujinzhu refers to the control of power and spiritual flow. Not only internal, but also the general structure behind everything.
Being able to master this makes you stronger and improves your control.
"We will now simulate a real battle as part of an additional example."
"Hey?"
"Just like you heard, attack me with your best blows"
"Are you sure about that?"
"Don't hold back, you would never be able to hurt me in your entire life. Not even if you were reborn a million times."
...those words hurt... I will make sure to remember that until the end of my days...
But what he says is true, I have no intention of being arrogant about it.
Just as Ryujinzhu ordered, I took some distance and prepared to attack: I summoned several ice cannons and fired them hard towards Ryujinzhu but none of them hit the target...
How strange, I remember aiming well.
I then created numerous spears of ice and stones to shoot at her, but none of them hit the target.
"Glacial Ground" I said as I froze the surrounding ground to stop his movements.
Now that Ryujinzhu was motionless in place, I again fired many deadly ice blasts and stone cannons accordingly.
When the dust cleared, she was still intact as ever... without a speck of dirt on her.
"Have you noticed?" Ryujinzhu asked. "None of your attacks are able to touch me. I control their flow of power, just as I demonstrated earlier with the waterfall."
So the attacks are manipulated a second time by Ryujinzhu? I think I understand what you are trying to say about the strength of spiritual power.
"If your spiritual control power is able to handle the general structure of the general roots, then it will forcefully result in results. But there is also something important you should know: if the strength of the external spiritual flow is much greater than your own ability to handle it, it will be difficult to control it and you might automatically fail. Remember that."
"I understand, Ryujinzhu-sama."
"Your training with the waterfall will begin now. I will come by from time to time to check on your progress, in the meantime, I will go train the other princesses. Just call me if you need anything."
"I will do that." When I said that, Ryujinzhu retreated without saying anything else.
Now I find myself alone and in front of a cold waterfall.
Shortly after, I closed my eyes and focused on the target.
This is no different from the spiritual circuits of the body and I can see them clearly.
I stretched out both hands and tried hard to manipulate the flow of water that was pouring down from the top of the tall rocky slope. I tried so hard and manipulated my spiritual roots in my hands until I began to feel fatigue and a headache. When I finally managed to feel the flow of spiritual power from its structure, I tried to move the falling water… but it didn't work out the way I thought.
I barely managed to move a measly little finger-sized speck of water.
He had caused the small amount of water to go off course and fall a little far from the rest.
"Huh? That's all I can do…" I muttered to myself.
I have a long way to go...
As I thought that, my sense of time disappeared and I began to do the same exercise over and over again. I lost count of how many times I tried it, but I didn't care about anything other than the immense flow of spiritual power in front of me.