Burst

"Huh? Healing him with sorcery?" She said, with a dumbfounded expression.

"Yup. You said you're an Apprentice level sorcerer. You should be able to do this." I explained.

"OK, I guess." She said after much hesitation.

As she knelt over the unconscious Luca, she looked at me.

"OK, what now?" She asked.

"I don't know. I don't have a nature affinity. This is all you. Remember what I told you, command your Ichor to do what you want, and it will listen." 

As she closed her eyes, a few minutes passed. Suddenly a greenish glow appeared on her hands as she placed it on Luca's bruises. Even the exhausted Colt couldn't help but perk his head up to look.

After a while, the greenish glow finally subsided, and there was a visible change in Luca's face, as before it had quite a few bruises. 

"I did it!" Exclaimed a joyful Stacy.

"But why isn't he waking up?" She asked

"He used all his ichor when he was sparring with Alex. He'll need to rest to get it back." I explained.

"I didn't know ichor was used in personal aspects. I don't use any in mine." Stated Alex.

"It's only for some. For Luca, his aspect needs something to be powered by, therefore it uses ichor. You don't use any because your aspect comes with its own power supply. Then there are passive personal aspects that don't need it, such as Lia's Adaptability, Aaron's enhanced Endurance and I'm assuming Colts Elemental Resistance." I explained to him.

"Oh, that makes sense. Alex, would you like me to heal you next?" Asked Stacy.

"Oh no thank you, I can do it myself, my aspect comes with self-healing. I'll use the rest of the energy I have left to do it." He said proudly.

"Ah. And yet you made me waste those supplies on you yesterday." She said, with a sinister smile.

"Umm, I'm sorry." He said with a frightened expression.

After Stacy healed the muscle fatigue off Colt too, we trained our ichor circulation for the rest of the day. 

This same routine of Luca and Alex sparring with their personal aspects, Colt training in the pool of mud while also working on his core strength with Stacy sitting on his back and circulating her ichor, carried on for another two days. Until the others were finally off the bed and ready to get back to training.

I sat in front of the mansion at sunrise. They came on time as usual, only this time they were accompanied by everyone else. 

"I trust you've all made a full recovery and that Stacy has caught you up to speed as to what we've been doing," I said, to which they nodded.

"Alright. Everyone apart from Colt, Alex and Luca, start circulating your Ichor."

"No sorcery. You guys were lucky you were spread out last time, someone could've been hurt."

"Stacy, if they try to pull anything, smash them with a giant tree," I said, to which she looked nervous.

As we left I brought Alex and Luca to their sparring ground. Over the last couple of days, they had completely changed the landscape within this small area, to the point that it didn't even match the surroundings any more. It stuck out like a sore thumb.

"Alright you guys know the drill," I told them as they picked up their wooden weapons.

"Only today, you guys won't be fighting with personal aspects. You'll be using your elements." I told them. Their faces were surprised as they hadn't expected this.

"You've got a good grasp on your respective aspects, now it's time to do the same with your elements. Since you have mediocre control over your ichor now, you should be able to use it without dropping to the ground after one spell."

"Alex has a high affinity for the earth element and Luca is a dual Elementalist of the solar and sky Elements. This'll be fun," I said as I began to observe them.

As soon as the fight began, Alex dashed in with his wooden staff. As he made his way to Luca, he brought down his staff vertically toward Luca's head.

Luca on the other hand was slowly observing him. He had dealt with Alex at much greater speeds, this was easier.

As Luca easily blocked this attack, Alex started to grin.

He slid his foot back a couple of centimetres, and at the same time, a small patch of earth that Luca was standing on, slid back unnaturally, making Luca fall to his knees.

As he used this motion, Alex kneed Luca in the nose, blooding his face in the process.

Alex prepared another attack, but Luca brought his empty hand to Alex's face. While Alex was confused, a blinding light of concentrated flames, emerged from Luca's hand, making Alex step back a few inches, grasping at his eyes.

Luca took this opportunity to smash his wooden sword on the side of Alex's face, to which he stumbled back a couple of steps. Getting back to his feet, one would notice that there was a medium-sized cut above his eyebrow and a bruise on the side of his face.

"Woah, these guys are monsters." Admired Colt as he observed them.

"Alright, it's your turn. Let's go." I told him as we left these two to Duke it out.

After walking for a bit we came to a single dummy. 

"We aren't doing mud training today," I told him, as he practically cried in happiness.

"Today I'll be teaching you a technique called 'Burst'. It's a technique usually used by hand-to-hand fighters."

"You once asked me how you could fight these beasts with just your hands, this is how."

"Burst is the process in which hand-to-hand fighters strengthen their attack with Ichor. When throwing a punch, I want you to command your Ichor to the hand you're throwing the punch with. Then as soon as you're about to make contact with the opponent, you force your Ichor out of your body."

"With the momentum built with throwing your punch and the sudden expulsion of ichor, this should create a devastating blow that will cause serious damage to your enemy.".

"However, the more ichor you use in your burst, the more taxing it will be on your muscles and bones, therefore you should always be wary about the amount you use."

"You must also be extremely accurate with this technique, as releasing the burst too late or too early will be meaningless," I said

I began to demonstrate the movements, and when I threw my punch a loud BOOM was heard. 

"WOAH!!" Colt screamed.

"OK, now you try."

"Alright, so command Ichor, time the punch, then boom" He mumbled as he recalled the steps. 

He got into his stance and prepared for a punch. When he finally threw it, it slammed against the dummy, not doing anything.

"GODDAMN!!" He shouted as he looked at his fist.

"You were too late, the ichor was just left in your hand with nowhere to go. Again."

As he got back into his stance he prepared for another punch. As he brought his hand up for the attack he was met with an ear-piercing BOOM.

"Now you did it too early," I told him as he shook his hand due to being unprepared for the attack. "Again." 

This went on for a couple of minutes until he was visibly fatigued and couldn't go on any longer.

"That's enough. We'll carry on tomorrow." I began to walk away until I heard "NO!" 

"I can do it! One more time!" He said while panting.

I gave him a look saying 'go on' as he got into his stance.

He looked much more concentrated this time. He controlled his breathing and after a couple of seconds, he mumbled something.

"1,2…3" 

BOOM

He punched the head clean off the dummy. 

Interestingly, he synchronised his movements with his counting, as to have better accuracy. 

"I DID IT!!" He said as he fell, bottom first to the floor.

"You've done well. Can you walk?" I asked.

"Yeah, no problem." He was lying. Just from standing his legs were wobbling all over the place.

I walked up to him and knelt.

"Get on," I said with my back turned toward him.

He looked at my back for a couple of seconds before mounting it.

As we made our way to Alex and Luca, we were met with a bloody scene. Both of them had their face and clothes covered with blood and were panting heavily. They were running low on ichor.

"Alright, guys that's enough. Alex, heal yourself with your energy and carry Luca on your back." I said as I cast a fire all at him.

We all left and made our way back to the others. We were met with Stacy trying her best to grow a flower out of the ground. When she was done the others looked at it amazed.

I put down Colt and started to walk toward them. 

STOMP

"What the hell is this crap! You're an Apprentice level sorcerer, you should be creating and commanding giant trees by now! How long are you going to continue with these party tricks!" I exclaimed after stomping on the flower.

As Stacy looked at me her eyes started to tear up and soon she was completely wailing.

"Hey, you didn't have to speak to her like that!" Said Noa. She didn't care about Stacy, she just saw this as a chance to have everyone turn on me.

"You should apologise." Said Liam.

As I looked at her for a couple of seconds, I slowly put my hand on her shoulder. 

"Hey relax, I didn't…" before I could even finish what I was saying, she slapped my hand off of her.

As she did this, a giant tree root emerged from the ground, coming straight at me, at extremely high speeds.

I reached for my two blades and quickly flicked them open. 

"I can't use it now, everyone's here." I thought to myself.

The tree root slammed into my two blades as I put them up to guard my chest. But it was too strong, I couldn't even push back. It had hit me unexpectedly, I didn't even have time to brace myself properly.

I tried to push back as much as I could, but as the second went by, I felt myself growing weaker and losing my footing.

Before I knew it, my defences had fallen. The root slammed into me so hard that my feet left the ground. I was flung 50 feet into the air.

I went so far that I passed the hill the mansion was on, making my descent even further. 

"Shit," I said as I left everyone's sight.