Training(Once again)

"You have heard of how bats use a very neat ability to locate their prey called echolocation? All vampires come with that ability, and now with your sound ether ability, you can also learn it. You can't always really focus on your eyes or your ears. You will develop a sixth sense that allows you to feel sounds and vibrations." Tenebrea walked around Julius, who was standing still wearing a blindfold.

"First we will begin with you hearing, and then we will move on to feeling." Tenebrea looked at Scarlet, who was in the trees with her bow, targeting Julius with blunt arrows. Tenebrea nodded, signaling Scarlet to begin her attack.

An arrow flew across, hitting Julius in the chest. He groaned in pain, but he stood right up. He tried listening, but all he heard was wind rustling through trees and the sounds of crickets. He could not focus on only one sound.

"Try to lock every sound out. Only pick the one you want to hear." Julius heard what Tenebrea said, but it was not as easy as she made it sound. He had been hit by several arrows, and now his body was swelling. Scarlet felt this was an enjoyable feeling, bullying her fellow disciple, but she tried not to let the feeling distract her as she fired arrows upon arrows till Tenebrea told her to stop. Apparently, they had been at this for over two hours.

"Time really flies when you're having fun," she sighed silently.

Julius lay on the floor, panting in pain. He was a barbarian, so he was a bit pain-resistant, but he did not understand why those blunt arrows hurt so much. He kept wincing.

"I imbued the blunt arrows with an herb that seeps into your muscles. It makes it very durable, but it is also very painful. A normal demon would be paralyzed in pain. The barbarian bloodline really is impressive." Tenebrea laughed as she patted Julius on the floor, who felt like a thousand thorns were injected into one spot at the same time.

"Scarlet, let's go train your crimson cinder." Scarlet nodded as she followed. She looked at the barbarian on the floor, who was in a world of pain, and hoped her own training would never be this painful.

Julius lay on the ground, trying to digest what his master was talking about.

'Different actions have different sounds. Isolate the sound you want to hear.' He repeated the phrase in his head, but he still could not hear the sound of an arrow.

Meanwhile, Scarlet was shaping her flames into different objects. She was already exhausted after firing several arrows at Julius, and now she had to give her utmost concentration when shaping the flames into whatever she wanted them to be. Tenebrea had already told her she could not stop until she was satisfied.

Tenebrea just stayed watching as the flame took the shape of inanimate and living creatures, though it was not perfect, her mastery over the flame started to look better.

Scarlet tried to hide an expression from showing on her face, but she was not successful as a smile crept up. Tenebrea saw the smile and had a naughty thought in her head. She could not fully control the crimson cinder but she could at least manipulate it.

Tenebrea secretly waved her hands, and the flame started to go haywire. It then warped and died down. Scarlet was confused, as she felt she had full control over the flame before it went haywire.

"Pride is different from confidence. You need to be 100% sure you have the ability before you should have the confidence; if not, your pride might be disastrous." Tenebrea said, looking all sage-like, while she was snickering like a devil in her mind.

"Master, you are right. I thought I was already getting really good at manipulating the crimson cinder and had become complacent. I will not repeat such a mistake again."

"At least you know your mistake. Don't worry, you are actually improving faster than even the most talented of geniuses, so you can be a bit proud," Tenebrea said. 'I'm such a good master; after my disciple felt down, I made her feel better than she was before.'

Tenebrea told Scarlet to call it a night shortly after the 'accident'. The training continued for two more weeks with both Scarlet, Julius, and even Maverick, who was now included in the training.

In the forest, an extremely fit teenager could be seen blindfolded but still dodging and catching arrows that were sent flying at him. He flipped, swatted, and narrowly dodged, but every move he made seemed calculated, like he could tell where each attack was coming from.

After two weeks, Julius could zero in on the sound of the arrows separately from the rustling of leaves, the sounds of crickets, and other sounds in a forest. Scarlet continued to fire arrows at him, but not a single one connected.

"Alright, that's enough. Julius, you've made tremendous progress" Tenebrea praised Julius, who had his chest puffed, but she easily deflated it with her next words. "But that was just the first and easiest lesson. There is more to come, and trust me, it will be painful."

Julius felt his skin crawl as he heard what his master said. Scarlet had also improved tremendously on the manipulation of the crimson cinder.

"My liege, we are very close to the Devon moorland where the dark pixies inhabit. Should we try to go around them?" Anastasia asked

"Nah, it's been a while since I've seen a pixie. Let's go right through." Tenebrea shot down Anastasia's idea, as she felt a big treasure was waiting in the moorlands.

They continued onward. Julius was still blindfolded, walking on his own without Maverick. This was the new training that Tenebrea recommended for him.

Every movement creates vibration, and all those vibrations can be used to map environments, like bats do. Tenebrea told Julius to get used to it. Right now, he was not used to it. He was still running into objects, but way less than he did when he started. After a while, they had gotten to the moorlands.