The Technique Library
Today had been hectic for Egil, not only had he officially become a student of Roaring Nature Academy, but the Spirit Ceremony had determined that he had an aptitude for cultivation and two elements!
Egil was currently sitting in his own room, which he had been assigned after he became a student. The room was part of the Multi-Element Dormitory and was amazing. The room consisted of a Double bed, a desk, a large window on the wall above the bed, and its own bathroom. Egil learned from the welcoming pamphlet that the strange contractions in the bathroom were a "Shower," a "Sink" and a "Toilet."
As Egil drifted off into sleep on his bed, which was even more comfortable than the last one, he thought about the hectic day he had tomorrow. Egil had to choose a cultivation technique and he had to select his classes for the entire year, all at once.
…
As Egil predicted, the day was incredibly hectic, as a matter of fact, he had been literally dragged off his bed by some strange force at sunrise. Apparently, the days here started at Sunrise and Ended at Sunset.
As the strange force, which Egil learned was the air element, literally dragged him towards a large and ornate building with long rows of glass windows that extended from the roof to the floor, he saw a small group of other kids, roughly his age, already waiting at what he assumed was the door into the large structure,
The woman who dragged him, who was apparently the dorm supervisor, let him down on the ground just behind the large group of kids his age; she floated to the front of the group and spoke in a surprisingly gruff voice.
"Alright Kiddos, if you couldn't tell you lot are the group of multi-element students of this grade, if you're wondering there are 10 of you, the youngest is 11 and the oldest 13." She Spoke, "The Building behind me is the technique library, which houses all of the techniques available to students here. If you didn't read the welcome pamphlet you are here because you are lucky to get to choose your cultivation technique and an added bonus of an Auxiliary technique due to your status as dual elementallists." the Supervisor said, in what seemed like one breath, but just as Egil was breathing a sigh of relief the supervisor continued " Examples of Auxiliary techniques are, Weapon, Elemental, Movement, Defensive and Unique techniques."
Finally, She stopped talking and opened the doors to the library, but, of course, she had to add one last comment, "All Cultivation Techniques suitable for your elements will be placed on a table with your name on it".
As the supervisor had said, Egil quickly found his own table, with a grand total of 5 techniques, which was easily half of what was on some tables he passed by; he even saw a table with easily over 20 techniques. Alas, there is no use being sad about it, At Least He had some options.
The Dual Element Techniques Available to Egil where:
[Echo of the Ice Age]
[Eternal Melody of the Frozen Ocean]
[Glacial Whale Transformation Art]
[Inverse Ice Tidal Creation Art]
[War Cry of the Arctic Tyrant]
Egil disqualified 2 of the 5 techniques right off the bat, leaving only 3 techniques remaining. Egil eliminated the [Eternal Melody of the Frozen Ocean] because a requirement of the technique was to use an instrument, and he had no desire to learn a new instrument instead of cultivating and becoming stronger. The second technique was [Glacial Whale Transformation Art] because it required him to make a contract with a Whale-type Beast and he vowed in his heart never to contract with a sea beast.
Egil was left with only 3 Techniques: [Echo of the Ice Age], [Inverse Ice Tidal Creation Art], and [War Cry of the Arctic Tyrant]. The 3 remaining techniques all had their pros and cons, namely the [Inverse Ice Tidal Creation Art] Required the user to actually turn ice into water by using sound to manipulate temperature. To Egil this sounded much too complicated to be useful in battle, so he eliminated it. Egil was finally left with only 2 techniques:
[Echo of the Ice Age] And [War Cry of the Arctic Tyrant]
The 2 techniques were very unique in their own right. [Echo of the Ice Age] was the inverse of the [Inverse Ice Tidal Creation Art] as it used sound to lower the temperature and make it easier to summon and manipulate ice. On the other hand, the [War Cry of the Arctic Tyrant] Increased his sound element's ability to disorient and confuse the enemy while Hardening and strengthening his ice.
Although Egil felt like the [War Cry of the Arctic Tyrant] Would provide more immediate benefits as he looked past the immediate benefits, the [Echo of the Ice Age] technique, at least in his mind, came out on top.
With a sigh of relief at having finally chosen a cultivation technique, Egil decided to look for an auxiliary technique that would go well with his chosen cultivation technique. What Egil found was disappointing, to say the least, after an hour of searching he didn't find a single technique for dual elements, only individual elemental techniques.
Despite his annoyance, Egil soldiered on and found a few techniques that interested him. Most of the techniques Egil found interesting were defensive or supportive techniques, however, as he searched on he found a section of the library about weapon techniques. Inside the Weapon Techniques Section of the library, Egil found a manual that grabbed his attention [Axe and Shield Mastery] was a manual that did exactly as the name described, it was a set of techniques and exercises to help the reader master duel-wielding the Axe and Shield. Egil hesitated for a second but in the end decided to take the [Axe and Shield Mastery] Manual in the end
Having chosen his Auxiliary technique and Cultivation Technique he made his way to the exit to find the supervisor still waiting for him despite it being mid-day. Before Egil could say anything though she grabbed the two techniques out of his hand and inspected them.
"I know nothing about the cultivation technique but otherwise you pass the test"
"What test?"
"It's quite simple really, the school doesn't have the resources to invest in idiots so those that choose a suitable Auxiliary technique for their cultivation technique or choose a weapon art, like your [Axe and Shield Mastery] Get placed into the elite class. The rest are sent to fight in the placement tournament for their spot."
"What's the placement tournament?"
"Exactly what it sounds like kid, anyhow welcome to the elite class, I'm your professor, you can call me professor Night and I'm a dual Elementalist like you, see you tomorrow."
So… as it turns out the supervisor who talks a lot is now my teacher and classes are starting tomorrow. Egil hurried back to his room in the dorms and opened up the [Echo of the Ice Age] Technique to begin practicing.
It turns out that the body tempering stage for this manual is fairly simple, all one has to do is temper their body with a mixed ratio of elemental energy, starting with the bones and working outwards. The Idea with the technique in the body tempering realm is to get the body acclimated to sound and ice energy before the energy absorption stage, where this usually happens naturally. The reason this is done is so that the cultivator can redirect the energy from the acclimation process to create "nodes" in the body that, on command, infuse the sound the body makes with a mixture of ice and sound energy to lower the temperature in the environment.
After exhausting himself cultivating Egil took a shower and lay down on his bed. As he was drifting off to sleep Egil spotted the welcome pamphlet sitting on his desk and instantly went white as a sheet.
"I forgot to select my courses!"
Egil rushed out of the dormitory and used the pamphlet to guide himself towards the "admin" building a few turns away. Luckily, Egil got there just before they closed and was able to select his courses. Other than the required courses he had to take, namely: [Basic Combat], [Intro to Dual Elements], [Intro to Cultivation], and [Literacy] Egil was also able to take 2 "electives", which he found out where essentially courses he chose to take. The 2 electives Egil ended up taking were [Basics of the Ice Element] and [Basics of the Sound Element].
With his courses chosen and his techniques picked out Egil finally collapsed on his bed, drifting off into a not-so-peaceful sleep.
…
In the largest building in the entirety of Roaring Nature Academy, a variety of people, only 2 of which Egil would recognize, sat at a large round table.
"How are the new students?" a gruff voice asked
" Pretty bad Jack, 8 out of 10 of the dual elementals got themselves kicked out of the elite class and only 4 were able to succeed in the placement tournament" a female voice responded, which Egil would recognize as professor night.
"Damn, we can't lose the tri-academy tournament again!" the gruff voice from before, Jack, said.
"That's enough, This meeting is over," an old but powerful voice said officially ending the late-night meeting.