TBATE - The third beginning

Chapter 43 Training with Kordri

Arthur Pov:

Yesterday was strange. Not only did my now grandfather allow my friends to stay here but also gave into all of my demands. I was allowed to learn from other clan elders instead of him. My "adoptive" family got a bond and was not punished because I am now part human. Could it be that he fears me or does he fear losing me after mom "died"?

But that is not important right now. Today is the day when I start my training. I don't know which training comes first but I am already happy that he was so cooperative.

"Lord Arthur. Are you ready?"
"I am coming elder Windsom and please Arthur is enough there is no need for the lord. I honestly feel strange being called with a title."

"Okay Arthur. We will go and meet your first instructor. Remember he still thinks that you are lessers and will treat you as one. We will keep that a secret because if other clans find out about your ancestry they will do anything to keep you away from the battlefield. In addition they might ask why a member of the Indrath clan gets tutored by the elders of an other clan. You might be in danger before you know it. So just keep silent about it."

"And how should I explain my draconic body?"

"There is a Vivum based aether art. It is forbidden but can still be used. We are telling them for now that lady Sylvia has used this Vivum aether art to get you her body and also her will. With that you will also be able to use your realm heart freely."

"I understand. Can I now which genus my mother had? I have the Spatium genus and can use static void but nothing more. Is that similar to her?"

"I don't know about her genus. Normally one does not tell their genus to others since it is like their secret weapon."

"Oh my apologies it is just that mages in Dicathen tell others which elemental affinities they have so I thought it is similar with aether arts for the Indrath clan."

"None taken. You are still new to this ordeal. Just remember that you should not tell anyone about your abilities. But I am intrigued how you learned those arts."

"I learned the ability I call god step instinctively. The other abilities were more forced. I tried to do the same as mother and when I found some old and long left hide out I saw a portal and tried to replicate it. I was not able to do that but with some kind of black orb that was there I was able to learn that. The only bad thing is that it crumbled to dust after I could give it to Sylvie to learn the same thing."

"Mhm. That must have been a relic of the Djinn. He was lucky to find one." Windsom mumbled.

"Sorry I did not understand."

"Ah no don't worry. It was nothing important."

"As you say. Now where are we going exactly?"

"First you will be trained by the Thyestes clan. They are known for their fighting capability. Be it with the sword or other weapons but most frightening are their abilities in hand-to-hand combat. They are unparalleled."

"Thank you for the information. And who will be the elder that is training me?"

"His name is Kordri. He is a true Pantheon. He is also the instructor for the young members of the Thyestes clan."

"Why is he a "true" Pantheon?"

"Only people that have successful passed the training that all Pantheons go through can call them true Pantheons. He is one of the few that have finished their training in a few years time and can be called the beast teacher in that metier. He will teach you how to augment your body efficiently, how you use your body in a battle, how to realize what is happening, sharpen your senses and teach you some basic mana arts. But I guess that is not needed since you can already use a basic mana art."

"I can?" I asked as surprised as possible.

"Yes. The art where you absorb the same amount of mana as you release is called mirage walk. The Thyestes clan prides themselves on this technique. It was quite a shock for Aldir to see you use it. Which brings up the question. You used realm heart didn't you? You lied to him at that time."

"Yes I lied to him by saying that I used an illusion but I did not use realm heart. I used a technique called realm eyes. It is a lesser version of the technique. It uses no aether or only a minuscule amount of it. The only thing that happens is that you I am able to see the ambient mana in the atmosphere. But am not able to see ambient aether. Only mana."

"So it was a lesser version. Why use it?"

"I wanted to learn new spells and the spell that he used looked powerful. But it was too complex to learn it just by looking at it once. I know that it was a earth based mana art and I guess it has something to do with gravity since he pushed the Greysunders to bits but I don't know more then that."

"That is impressive enough. How were you able to learn that technique?"

"I asked myself if there was a way to use realm heart less obvious. Then I looked at my runes covering my body. And I tried to understand them. With that I got a new rune inside my eyes. This runes was also able to be copied so I gave it to Nico and Cecilia since seeing ambient mana is very useful for us."

"I don't understand how just seeing the mana can be of use to them or you. Of course understanding the mana better can help you somehow but with some time that should come natural."

"We can each use all elements and have therefore a unique relationship to it. Imagine if a mage conjures up a spell but the conjurer doesn't finish his spell instantly. What can you do?"

"Kill him."

"Not like that. If you use realm heart we can see the ambient mana that builds up the spell. Since we can use the same attribute out of which the spell is made of we can cancel it out by changing a piece of the spell. This causes the spell to collapse in on itself and disband. There are also other ways to use such arts. We can also overload the spell causing it to go highwire and explode hurting the caster in the proses."

"That is some creative usage of those ability. For us this has more been of a warning that a spell has been conjured up since we cannot use elemental mana. But now be silent and don't talk about that."

We came to a place that remembers me of several traumas. Me getting broken bones holes inside my body or my body getting crushed as a whole. There stands Kordri. My now again instructor. He seemed to be waiting without much patience or interest. Understandable. His standards are very high and now he has to tutor a person he sees as insignificant.

"Is this the boy that I am to teach?"

"Yes he is. Don't treat him like you would a lesser. He has gotten the will of lady Sylvia along with her body. He is far stronger then he looks like. Even though his mana core has just reached the white core stage half a year ago his control over it is unrivalled by lessers."

"I understand. So brat I will teach you the basics in how to fight hand to hand and I advise you not to slack off even after you fail several times to survive." I drew back feigning fear.

"Don't worry Arthur. I have been given an artifact that will let you train longer with Kordri and even if you die inside this world it won't kill you in the real world."

"But you will feal every bit of damage that was done to you."

Deciding to not say anything I just nodded and looked at how Windsom gave Kordri an aether orb. He motioned to me to get close and sit inside the small pond. I sit down right next to him and et transported to a seemingly unending landscape with just gras.

We are inside of the aether orb. In here time flows faster and therefore we can train for a longer time. At first we will train with only using our physical strength and then we will slowly let your grow. After some time we will use mana to strengthen our bodies. Let's just hope that you will get to that point in time.