Chapter 4 : Other motives

"That's encouraging, master!" The disciple couldn't hide his deception.

Erec sighed and quickly replied: "Don't think that it will be easy, to enter the apprentice mastery level you need to manipulate the three elements instinctively." The wind started blowing up and surrounding the master soon after he finished his sentence, its movement was accurate, fast, and sharp.

The water soon took off the flour as if it was extracted and was carried away by the air stream, immediately imitated by fire that seemed to be created out of the blue.

William couldn't hide his admiration when facing this tri-elementary whirlwind. The maelstrom dissipated as Erec casually waved his hand.

His face seemed so calm, yet no one in his academy could do such a complex manipulation, even high-rank knights would struggle to do it!

Facing his apprentice's reaction, Erec understood that he maybe went overboard. It's not that he didn't want fame or glory, but he preferred to be careful since he knew almost nothing of this world.

Erec is actually at the Expert mastery level and the advanced heart strength. His high proficiency was due to his inner disadvantages, like a blind that would develop a good hearing; he trained the only domain where he was on an equal footing with the others.

"Wow that was impressive; you surely deserve to be my master!" Said, William.

"If it wasn't for your mom who warmly welcomed and accommodated me, I would've already given up on teaching you anything."

"I highly doubt this to be your only motive" Answered William. He was sporting a serious and piercing gaze.

The master raised an eyebrow from disappointment, he was blindsided by the sudden change of tone.

"When it comes to insight, you're not your age." Said Erec with a friendly chuckle, and reassured him: "Well, I won't deny that I have other plans but nothing evil."

The apprentice stood up and bowed to his master: "Anyway, you saved my beloved mom and Elvira, this disciple is grateful."

Erec sighed and lied on his back under the shadow of the unique still highest oak standing in the middle of this glade, he was reminiscing his previous life, his relationship with Talia, his little brother Elmer, his father who disappeared when he was 4, and finally, his mom who was already seriously ill.

If he could come 300 years ago, then he believed that he'll make it back.

* * * * * * * * * * * *

Meanwhile a few miles away, in the high quarters, a stressed dad, a tormented mother, and a guilty daughter were coming out of a big hall where nobles used to discuss important matters.

"Is this what I deserve for educating you for 14 years? You're having inappropriate relationships behind our backs? And what about Vincent?" The dad shouted, he was disheveled and freaked out.

"I already told you that I don't love that Vincent, nor will I marry him. Despite having no background Willy is way more pleasant to frequent." The young girl looked serious while challenging her parents; her hair was a tint of pinky-white looking like those blooming cherry flowers and her gait was quite indecent for a girl her age. Boys and even grown adults turn back every time passing by her, which achieved irritating her dad.

"Moreover, this William isn't even half Vincent status!"

"…"

"But it's not a problem anymore, I appeased the Soyle clan and your pleasant clown will die in 3 days."

* * * * * * * * *

"Let's resume our lesson, Master!" Said the energetic William.

"If you're done memorizing what I already taught you, then I shall now explain to you the basic Shin mastery. As you already know, you need to expel the Shin from your body before materializing any element, try to do it now."

William nodded and sat down in the Burmese posture. He closed his eyes and tried his best to expel even a tiny quantity of Shin but despite his contracted facial muscles witnessing his profound concentration nothing came out. He sighed of deception and looked at his master with begging eyes.

He stood up and evacuated a huge quantity, making his disciple look at him with admiration. "See? It's easy. Just think of it as if it was a fluid- like blood- that comes from your heart and travels through your body."

William nodded and tried again, after a few minutes, when he finally got it, a huge quantity of a translucent fluid as light as air, a slightly bluish color.

It swiftly invaded the whole clearing, inflicting a strong pressure over all beings in a 25-meter area.

"You're being too aggressive, try to calm yourself, your Shin is representative of your mind and soul's state," Erec advised him. "Try to condense it, if it's too expanded, it won't be able to inflect any harm and it'll be difficult to control it."

The atmosphere instantly became calm and peaceful and the murderous cravings quickly dissipated, leaving a cool feeling in everyone entering the magic area that is now a 5-meter radius.

'He learns quite fast' thought Erec who was proud of his disciple.

"You can both harm and heal people with raw Shin manipulation, the strength of the effect depends on its quality and your intentions." Erec seemed to hesitate for a moment but then said: "talking about intentions, I would like to ask you for some services after the training."

"I would do everything I could to pay my debt to master."

"Don't worry it's nothing hard."

Since Erec just popped off in this world, he had nothing. Hina can offer him a living and some food, but he will soon go on an exploration journey to find out the truth. And he will need money to afford the equipment, transport, and food supply.

He already had an idea on how to do it, but he needs some credibility, this death match couldn't have come at a better timing.

"I think that I shall leave you for now. Continue the training until you can maintain it without concentrating, and then you should be able to hunt low-ranked beasts."

* * * * * * * * * *

In his route back through the forest, Erec did multiple detours to pick overly ripe fruits.

When back home he prepared some closed pots where he put sugar a few other nutrients and a tube for air circulation.

He then picked some of the fruits after analyzing them with a hawk eye and threw the rotten parts in the pots.

Hina entered without knocking on the door and raised an eyebrow as she witnessed the scene. "W-what are you doing?"

"It's not a big deal, just some experiments, it's for my headache."

Her jaws dropped of shock: "Are you a charlatan?!"

"Of course no, I'm a researcher scientist specialized in medicine, and also a surgeon in my spare time!"

Erec was interested in surgery and has done medical studies along with his main academic classes, and more specifically in using magic within the surgery.

But in this timeline, the medical domain was still underdeveloped, and charlatans often quackery people to steal their money.

This is only making it harder for him since people would doubt the efficacy of any medicine.

"Anyway, dinner is ready!"

Before following her, he lighted a magic deep red fire to maintain his pots at approximately 24-celsius degrees.