Ray

"But why not train them all? The answer is simple. Imagine you are building a city. The more people you have, the easier it is to gather even more. However, people with very different cultures don't get along very well."

Kayden already understood what she meant. It was easier to learn advanced spells of a certain element if you already knew a few things about it.

"It's the same with the elements, Kayden. The more you know about fire, the easier it is to do more fire spells. I'm not going to lock you up here to waste your time", the teacher had a pitying look at the boy. "Go home and think about which element you are going to choose."

Kayden was politely dismissed again, but the message was clear: the teacher didn't think he was up to the task at this point.

He decided not to go home directly, but to stop by the gym. Since he had gone back to level 1, he hadn't been able to train with the trainer again. In a few minutes, he was in place.

Seeing the same door brought back memories for the boy. Time had passed quickly. It had been two years since he had first set foot there. Going down the stairs, he went directly to greet the knight in charge of the place.

"Hello, Coach," the man looked the same as ever and cheerfully greeted Kayden.

"Oh Kayden, long time no see. How have you been?" The trainer slapped the boy on the back, nearly dismantling him in two.

"I'm doing fine," the boy coughed after the slap. "I'm finally ready to get back to training."

"Show me what you've learned during that time, boy." The man picked up a wooden sword from the ground and positioned himself.

Kayden knew this was not the time for words. It was time to show what he had learned, fighting for his life. He began by inaudibly withdrawing his sword from its scabbard. This has already generated a compliment from the coach.

"Congratulations, Kayden. I see you haven't been idle."

Then the boy started with his favorite position, holding the sword raised in both hands. With a quick step, he approached the coach and delivered a side blow.

The blow was easily parried by the wooden sword, but it was evident to the trainer that it was just a blow to test the opponent's strength. Then came many more, but none were strong or intended to harm.

The coach, realizing that the boy was just waiting for an opening on his part, decided to join Kayden's game. Drawing his sword up, he tried to land a horizontal slash towards the boy.

Kayden dodged to the side and, with a swift flick of his blade, sent the trainer's sword crashing to the ground. Before a breath, Kayden's katana was already in the man's chest. It was obvious to Kayden that the trainer had purposely left an opening.

"You've improved, boy. Back in the day, you wouldn't even have been able to draw your sword properly, let alone take advantage of an opponent's opening." A smile appeared on the man's face.

"I can say that you finally entered the path of the sword. Now you can call me by name, I'm Jarvan." The man held out his hand to the boy.

"Thanks, Coach. Hope you can keep teaching me." Kayden shook the man's hand in a friendly way.

For the rest of the day, Kayden spent sparring with the knight. He couldn't take advantage of any more openings; in fact, he found himself at a disadvantage in every fight that took place.

Upon returning home, he began to think about the elements he could choose. There was a wide variety, but he wanted something strong that could boost his current stats.

What was your fighting style? Neither did he. Was he a magic swordsman or a conventional magician? Thanks to his heart, he could be both, so he needed an element that could deal with damage and add basic attributes like speed or strength.

Fire was pretty much just an attack spell, it wouldn't be much use to him. The land? It would be defense-oriented and low on mobility, something Kayden disliked; it was very average.

The wind would increase his speed and agility, maybe it would be strong in the future, but at the moment it wouldn't be useful. Water was discarded; although her main purpose was healing, make no mistake, she could also perform frightening offensive spells. The problem is that they were in the minority.

He went through the variant options and discarded them one by one. It was clear that he was looking for something that dealt damage and could keep up with his skills as a swordsman. Ice wouldn't do. The heat was a weaker variation of fire. Acid didn't seem very helpful. Magnetism seemed to be more useful on the magic side. Poisons? They required a lot of prior knowledge.

After a few hours of thinking, he was left with two choices: Lightning or Magma. The first was a pure element, which would increase your damage and speed, but that's about it. Magma would be a mixture of earth and fire, offering some protection from the earth element and some damage from the fire element. However, it didn't feel right for Kayden.

He could also choose to use both, reaching a balance in all four areas. But that was something he quickly dismissed, since very early on he realized something reading novels: balance is the mastery of fools. If you're going to choose something, just do one thing and be the best at it. It is not possible to dedicate yourself completely when attention is divided.

It's a matter of time management.

In the end, he chose lightning. It was a destructive element, which would increase his speed and agility. He could even use it on his katana to deal melee damage. Also, it was a common element, which would make it easier to find techniques.

Kayden came to think of elements like light or dark, but the problem was finding techniques for them. It would be very difficult to progress, and Kayden had no talent or predisposition for them.

The next day, as soon as he woke up, Kayden went to the library to look for examples of mages who used lightning. Thanks to its flashy nature, there were many examples and spells available. At his level, he was only capable of learning element manipulation. He would need to reach at least third rank to be able to use lightning-related spells. Therefore, he decided to continue cultivating and training. It would be pointless to devote time to anything other than that. Other elements could learn spells at second rank. The elements were fire and wind, among others. Its main feature was the low initial mana cost.

Another thing Kayden has overlooked lately is the path he heard when he was younger. He knew he had to dedicate a little more time to this or he would have problems in the future.

He decided to start some self-knowledge and meditation exercises. It was the best option he could think of. At that moment, Kayden was on his way to the academy again. He got there and addressed Jarvan once more.

"Hello, Coach. I'd like to train again," Kayden got straight to the point, as usual.

"Hello, kid. Today we're going to do something different. You're going to fight other people of your level. If you're just fighting me, you won't gain enough experience." It was true, the difference in skills between them was too great.

"Could be, but against whom?" Kayden was curious to see how he fared against someone of his level.