Chapter 26 - Building Stamina

"I should say that everything I know about air essence was either taught to me by my brother or I figured it out myself." Via explained. "So I may not be the most reliable person to teach this stuff, but I still plan to do my best."

"Understood." Aaron answered.

Instead of training by the pond, they moved over to a small clearing in the trees not far from the pond. Kenzo and Elder Claire stayed to watch over them while the others left to carry out other duties.

"Before we start I've been wanting to ask you, what's the deal with your ability to move vines and stuff?" Aaron asked.

"Oh, that's an old practice I read about in one of the books my mom found long ago. It was considered as magic more than anything else as it was a practice primarily used by witches."

"I'm confused, what are you talkin' about?" Kaden asked.

"The practice of moving organic matter with your own life essence." Via explained. "Like this... déno."

After placing her palm on the ground beneath her, the grass around Kaden and Aaron began to grow quickly. Then in a flash, it wrapped itself around their bodies.

"Oh?" Claire said as she watched on.

Kenzo calmly placed his hand on the handle of his blade but otherwise gave no reaction.

"Okay, yeah, this is pretty tight." Kaden said as he struggled to free himself.

"Iýo." Via said as the grass restraints receded back into the ground. "This is a forbidden practice though, because with elemental essence if you overuse it, the most that'll happen is the user passing out. If you overuse this however you could be putting your own life at risk since it requires life essence."

"Is that so?" Claire questioned with her usual calm smile.

"Ehehe, back to the lesson. Kaden could you send out a burst of wind. Don't think about it to much just send out an average burst."

"Alright sensei." Kaden replied as he aimed his palm away from everyone.

With ease he produced a decent gust of wind which blew some leaves off of trees and ruffled the grass on the ground.

"Alright, now jog in place." Via ordered.

"Que?"

"Huh?"

"I said what?"

"Jog in place."

"Teacher said jog in place." Aaron repeated.

"For how long?" Kaden asked.

"Until I say stop of course."

"...I didn't sign up for all this." Kaden said with a sigh as he began jogging in place.

"Air essence is actually pretty easy to control if you ask me. I would think that both water essence and fire essence would be harder to use effectively."

"I'll believe it since I haven't even awaken my water essence yet."

"Your water essence?"

"Oh yeah, I don't think your situation was fully explained to her." Aaron said.

"Situation?"

"Kaden was reincarnated in this world just like me, but the circumstances were different from what I understand." Aaron explained. "I can use wind essence because this was Venmi's body, but Kaden can actually use all four elemental essences."

"Your a lost soul?!" Via exclaimed.

"Don't ask me about it... cause I still don't really understand." Kaden replied as he started panting. "Hey, how much longer do I have to keep this up?"

"You can stop now, and before you catch your breath I want you to fire off another burst of wind. Again, don't think about it, just release a burst."

Kaden once again raised his palm in the same direction as before and released a gust of wind. However this time the burst was much weaker and barely shook the leaves on the trees.

"Pathetic." Via stated.

"Alright kid, you're getting to comfortable." Kaden replied.

Aaron and Via both chuckled from Kaden's response.

"When it comes to air essence, the main component needed to use it well is stamina. If you tire out easily you'll find that maintaining the strength of your air essence would be extremely hard. So to start us off we won't actually be doing any essence training, instead I have some drills for you two to complete."

"You're joking right?"

"Not at all student."

"You don't think she's enjoying this too much?" Kaden asked Aaron lightly.

"Let her have her fun." Aaron replied.

"Miss Claire, is it okay for us to use the steps that lead to the Elders Courtyard for my training?"

"You have my permission sweetie." Claire responded. "I'll be leaving now Kenzo."

"Yes ma'am." Kenzo replied with a quick bow.

"Mai should be joining you all soon and same goes for Damien. I believe he's having a brief meeting with Sister Treya."

"Understood."

"Watch over the kiddies now." Claire said as she walked off.

"Alright boys let's begin!" Via exclaimed.

.....

"I'm really late, hopefully they didn't leave from the pond yet." Mai thought as she made her way over to where she was supposed meet Kaden and the others. "I just that this works for him..."

"Good day Lady Aira." Damien said as he crossed paths with her.

"Oh, good day to you too Damien."

"Are you heading over to your training pond?" Damien asked.

"Yes I am actually."

"I'll escort you there, I'm suppose to be backing up Kenzo."

"I see..."

"Even though I'm a guard in training the others don't even look at me that way." Mai thought. "Still referring to me as "Lady Aira" and feeling the need to escort me around."

"Is it alright for me to talk to you casually about something Lady Aira?"

"Sure, by the way I'd prefer it if you called me Mai rather than "Lady Aira"."

"Alright Mai, it's about what happened two weeks ago at the gate of pride. What can you tell me about the Luminents?"

Mai paused from walking for a second as she suddenly recalled her encounter with those people.

"Who told you about us getting attacked?" Mai questioned.

"Elder Treya just did, but it was more of a warning that they are out there. She didn't give me any real information about them."

"I see..."

"If possible can you inform me about how strong were they, their fighting styles, any noticeable quirks or tendencies or even-"

"Alright Damien." Mai abruptly replied. "Later today I'll talk to Kenzo and we'll have a discussion about the encounter."

Damien took notice of the troubled expression on Mai's face and decided not to press her about what had happened. She appeared as if she was still working on opening up about the matter, but Mai was actually disappointed in herself. While she was concerned about how she was being addressed and seen by others, an actual guard like Damien immediately began to dissect the actual problem once confronted by one. Mai had purposely ignored all conversations about what had happened that day, but now she sees reasons to confront it.

.....

"Don't cheat it, get those hands up in the air!" Via exclaimed.

Mai and Damien looked on from a distance towards a sight they found both intriguing and confusing.

"35... 36... 37... 38..." Aaron and Kaden counted simultaneously.

"I was only giving a suggestion, I didn't think it would turn out like this." Aaron stated.

"I haven't done burpees since high school Aaron. This feels like basketball tryouts all over again."

"Heh, don't get cut this time."

"Fuck you." Kaden replied with a grin.

"Less talking, more counting!" Via stated.

"Counting would still be considered talking yanno." Kaden said.

"Quiet student!"

"What's going on here?" Mai questioned as she and Damien approached Kenzo.

"Burpees... apparently it's an exercise they carried out in their realm." Kenzo explained.

"No I mean, who is that girl?"

"That's the girl who was taken into custody for using the Lake of Lazarus. Via Heder is her name."

"Could you give us a quick rundown of what we've missed." Damien said.

Kaden collapsed to the ground after completing one hundred burpees, while Aaron squated down to catch his breath. Aaron gazed over his right shoulder as he heard others talking nearby.

"It's her from yesterday." Aaron said.

"Who? You mean Mai?" Kaden asked.

"Yeah."

"You know her?" Via asked as she squated next to Aaron.

"I met her yesterday when they took me to talk with Kaden. It seems like she really cares for you Kade."

"She's just a really caring person." Kaden replied.

"I think it's more than that."

"She's coming this way." Via said as she ducked further behind Aaron.

"Good morning." Mai said as she approached the three.

"Good day." Aaron replied as he stood up. "Pleasure to meet you again." He said as he stretched out his hand.

"Thank you for helping him yesterday." Mai said as she shook his hand.

"Yeah that's something I regularly had to do, I guess that isn't about to change."

"You two really about to talk bout me while I'm sitting right here?" Kaden questioned.

"You could jump in the convo whenever you want big bro."

"Well I'm in it now."

"Well since you're in it how about you give us a proper introduction." Aaron stated.

"Sigh, Aaron this is Maira, she was the first person I met when I awoke in this world. She's also teaching me how to bring out my water essence, but no luck with that yet. Maira this is my best friend Aaron."

"Bestfriends to the grave and back." Aaron jokingly said.

"I'll kill ya again if you keep bringing it up."

Aaron chuckled while Mai distinctively watched Via who was hiding behind Aaron.

"I think you're forgetting someone." Mai said as she bent over towards Via.

"Oh, this is Via." Aaron replied as he moved to the side just a bit to uncover her. "She's my little sister and will be teaching both me and Kaden on how to use air essence."

"Is that so..."

Mai noticed Via's nervousness, the way she avoided eye contact and kept herself hidden behind Aaron.

"This is the person that used the lake?" Mai thought to herself. "She seems so timid... in any case I think I've got a grasp on what the Elders have decided now."

"Hey Via, since we have a common student in Kaden, how about we get together sometime to talk about a schedule?" Mai offered with a smile.

"...Okay." Via reluctantly replied.

"Since your session has already begun I'll let you have him today. There is still something I'd like to give you though Kaden."

Mai reached into her pants pocket and cautiously pulled out what seemed to be a piece of string at first glance. Connected to the end of the string was a glowing blue rock shaped like drop of water.

"A necklace?" Kaden questioned.

"Yes, it's for you to wear." Mai replied as she handed it to him.

"Well I'm flattered, but what is this for?"

"That gemstone..."

"Is it sapphire?" Aaron asked.

"Yes it is." Mai answered. "Sapphire is the gemstone which reacts harmoniously with water essence. You may find it easier to draw out your own essence while wearing that."

"Is there a corresponding gemstone for each essence type?" Aaron questioned.

"There is."

"Jade is the gemstone for air essence." Via said softly.

"That's correct. And along with those, there is ruby for fire essence and onyx for earth essence."

"That's pretty cool." Aaron stated. "Is it okay for you to give him that though? Isn't sapphire extremely rare, or is that just the case on our world."

"In other parts of the world it is extremely rare, but here on the water continent it's farely easy to find."

Kaden placed the necklace on around his neck and carefully held the stone in his hand. He then looked over to Via with a puzzled expression.

"So who do you think would win in a fight, a high level air essence user or a high level water essence user?" Kaden questioned.

"Where did that even come from?" Aaron asked.

"I'm just curious."

"Air essence isn't exactly very combat centric." Via answered. "...Of the four elemental essences, air is more on the passive side. Used for quick movements and support while water is a lot more flexible."

"I've told you before that water essence takes a high amount of precision and focus to use." Mai added. "It's an element which can be used effectively for offense and defense while at the same time be used in all three states of matter."

"So what you're saying is the water essence user would win?"

"Why is that important?" Aaron asked.

"I mean we have an air essence user and a water essence user right here." Kaden pointed out.

"You expect them to fight?"

"Well sparring is a common thing here actually." Mai stated. "There's hand to hand combat, weapons combat and essence combat."

"Then let's have an essence sparring match right now." Kaden said out of excitement.

"I think that's too much for Via-"

"I'd do it." Via replied.

"You would?" Aaron questioned.

"Are you sure?" Mai asked.

"Yeah... maybe it'll be fun."

"In that case... Damien! Kenzo!"

"Is this actually happening?" Aaron questioned.

"Relax and grab a seat Aaron." Kaden said. "Like Via said, this should be fun."