028 Water Arch

When they had some free time, after classes, Liam and Ralph went to the training valley.

"From what Peter has told me, these pills are supposed to increase your focus, making it easier to learn and master new abilities and techniques." Liam said. "Sadly, I have no abilities to learn."

"You're planning on the world knowing that you are a water element user for now, right? You remember the things Kyle could do, with his lava. Lava is also a form of liquid, it won't have the same effect as with water, but you should try. It will help you learn to control your water qi better." Ralph advised Liam, to try and replicate what he saw Kyle do in the fight against Owen.

"That's amazing. What will you do then?" Liam asked him.

"I am developing a technique where a spread my flames as wings, allowing me to fly. Sadly, it is really difficult. Not being able to see it behind my back and all of the little elements you have to remember to fly efficiently. I really hope this pill can help me." Ralph said before he moved a bit away from Liam.

Each of them had a pill in their hands, it was the worst of the bunch, but Liam intended to listen to Peter's advice. Liam looked as Ralph took the pill and in the first 15 or so seconds, nothing happened. Then a burst of flames came from his back, and when they disappeared, a pair of magnificent flaming wings, the fire burned in an almost golden color. Liam starred as his eyes were completely mesmerized.

He looked on as Ralph jumped in the air and flapped his wings, but the best he could do was have a medium to slow descent.

Liam looked away as he now prepared to try on his own. The first thing that came to his mind, were the flashy lava arch blades, that Kyle constantly threw out, trying to hit Owen.

"I guess it's time to see what these can do." Liam got excited again.

Liam ingested the pill in his hand and instantly he felt as if his vision got clearer. He felt as everything was blurry before and now, he could see the world in clear. The pill helped him focus, so he didn't have to much random thoughts roaming around, he instantly got to trying out the skill.

He first made a blob of water, which was easy. He then made it take the shape of an arch. When it reached the shape he wanted, with a sharp blade on the curved side, he propelled it forward. But a few seconds later, the blob of water lost its form and with it it's flying capabilities. soon it fell to the floor.

Liam tried a few more times, trying to put more strength into it, another time he tried to be gentler. But nonetheless, every time he got similar results. He knew that he must have been doing something wrong, so he tried to remember and analyze Kyle's movement when he threw out the arch of lava.

He imagined Kyle in front of him, as he performed the move. He swung his whole arm from the bottom, his hand was freely traveling along with the movement, then from the tip of the fingers small amounts of lava came out. As his hand picked up speed, more and more lava came out. When his hand reached his neck height, he quickly pulled back his hand and closed it into a fist. This caused the now formed arch of lava to detach from his hand and fly out at great speeds.

The whole motion happened very fast, details as such were unnoticeable unless the person showing you, wanted to teach you the move. But somehow Liam has spotted it and had been able to make a clear image of it in his mind. Maybe it was due to the effect of the pill.

Liam rewatched the same thing in his mind over and over again, studying and remembering all of the little details of the move. When he was ready, he stood up and readied his arm, to try it himself.

"I just swing my arm upward, release the water qi, and detach it from myself." Liam repeated these words to himself. He took a deep breath and did the whole motion in one clean swing, everything was flawless and out of his hands came, nothing.

Liam was stunned the first few seconds, then he decided to recollect what had happened.

"My qi was not fast enough to reach the tip of my fingers. Even if it was, there won't be a large enough stream of water qi to form such a big arch." Liam was deep in thought. Then he remembered how his other move worked. You brought all of your water qi in your palms and shot it out with the pressure. This move had no need for the pressure because of the momentum from his arm swing.

"Wait, does that mean." Liam had his eyes wide open. "I have to try this first."

He dropped almost everything he had on his mind, when performing the water arch, now he wanted to try out something new with the water torpedo. Liam looked around until he found one of the same crystal dummies that showed your elemental power. He readied his hand with all of the water qi forming pressure in his palm. Then just before he released the water torpedo, he threw out a palm strike with the same hand, as if he was throwing a punch.

The water torpedo now flew at a much higher speed than his usual and when he hit the dummy, it glowed a dark blue color, that had a slight pink tone to it.

Liam was filled with joy, had he found something so amazing on his own. It took him magic power from just a bit darker blue, to a fully dark blue with pink tone in it. Just one thing was weird to him. The momentum, that was physical strength. They said that your element power is only a testament to your ability to control the element. Why did his magic power get stronger from using his physical strength?

"The normal way to test magic power is as you just did. I thought you were training yourself on purpose, without momentum." The hooded man said from Liam's Sea of soul. "With your original cultivation technique, you should have an above average elemental power. I even think what you got now is pretty weak, you can do better kid."

"So, I achieved nothing." Liam was sad, that what he thought was his big discovery, was actually something so normal, no one even bothered telling him, as everyone imagined he already knew.

Liam mourned a bit, and then he felt as the effects of the pill worn off. A few seconds later, Ralph came to where he was.

"I finally found you! Those pills are so amazing, I almost succeeded, I need another one." Ralph said excitedly.

"Yea, I agree. Let's see how big the difference is between the good and the perfect quality pills. Liam gave one to Ralph and held one in his hand, before he returned the bottles in his pocket.

"Watch me, I think I'm going to succeed soon." Ralph said. With no hesitation, he took the pill and again did nothing for the first fifteen seconds or so.

Then just like before a burst of flames came from his back and even bigger wings came out of his back now. The wings also looked a lot thinner compared to before. Along with the burst of flames a little shockwave hit everything around him.

The grass underneath Ralph was slightly scorched and when he bent his knees as he prepared to jump, the grass had turned fully black.

Liam watched as Ralph jumped high in the sky, his wings close to his body. When he reached the peak of where his jump would take him, his wings spread open partially blocking the sun. Liam looked straight above him, as Ralph started flapping his wings.

He began to very slowly descend as he moved forward at great speeds. Very quickly though, his wings came back into his body and he fell straight to the ground. Ralph stuck the landing as he looked livid.

"If that's how long you're able to fly, it won't be very useful." Liam commented.

"That wasn't flying, it was gliding. I was still losing altitude. I am so close. Next time I can do it, I have to do it." Ralph said as he prepared for another jump.

Ralph let out his wings with a burst of flames and the grass underneath him was already burned so he did no harm, he jumped into the air his wings spread wide when he reached high enough. But this time, his body didn't move. Ralph only hovered in the air as his wings we're constantly moving.

Then, yet again his wings disappeared and he fell to the ground, but this time, he was really happy.

"Yes, I did it. I have a long way to go until this skill is useful, but I did it!!" Ralph was very happy as he hugged Liam.

"Now it's all up to me to succeed." He thought.