The first days spent in the Circular Forest had gone surprisingly well. Aria was steadily leveling up, facing dangers with growing confidence. So far, they had only needed to use a single healing potion to close the wound on her shoulder from the fight against the Silver Spiders.
Night was slowly falling, wrapping the forest in a bluish veil. Shadows stretched between the trees, and the songs of nocturnal creatures gradually replaced the silence of day.
They had set up a simple but functional camp. Logan had hung two hammocks between the sturdiest trunks, each fitted with a blanket. A modest fire crackled between them, just strong enough to warm the air and cook their meal.
They ate quietly. Aria sat by the fire, savoring the warmth of the food to comfort herself after the day's battles. But her gaze quickly settled on Logan.
He ate calmly, almost mechanically, his face serene, as if he were perfectly at home in this wild environment. She watched him for a long moment in silence, fascinated by the impression of control and peace that he gave off.
Then, as if sensing her gaze, Logan slowly raised his eyes to hers, and their eyes met.
"What is it?" he asked quietly.
"Well, do you have any advice for me?" she asked, slightly flustered.
Logan set his empty bowl beside him, crossed his arms, and replied with the same calm demeanor:
"Well, for now, you're doing very well. But you could have killed the spiders much faster for example, by drowning them with your water element. You also probably could have dodged the webs coming at your back if you had relied on your hearing. You managed to hear the wolves coming from much farther away. So don't hesitate to use all of your senses to their fullest. And finally, you could have also coated your feet with those ice claws to move more efficiently."
Aria nodded slowly, mentally taking note of each remark.
"I see. Thanks for the advice, I'll try that. But for my water element… I've never really trained with it actually, never. So I'm bad at using it properly."
"Well, we're here to train you; we'll fix that. Are you done eating?"
"Ah, yes," she replied, lowering her eyes to her empty bowl.
"Perfect. Then, could you put out the fire?"
"Of course."
She extended her hand, letting her mana flow to her palm. A cold breath began to flow out, ready to cover the embers… but Logan suddenly raised his hand to stop her.
"No, with your water element."
"Ah, okay."
She focused, slowly channeling her mana toward her hands. A thin stream of water gushed out almost immediately, but with no form or control. The liquid spilled like an open faucet, falling limply onto the still-red embers. The water barely managed to put out the fire, evaporating in places with a faint hiss.
Logan watched silently.
"So she really has never trained with this element…" he thought, his eyes following the shapeless stream.
He looked at her for a moment longer, then calmly said:
"Can you shape the water into a ball?"
"Yes," she nodded.
Aria closed her eyes for a moment, carefully centering her magic. Slowly, the water in her hands began to rise, swirling gently until it took on a spherical form. The ball, still imperfect, floated between her palms, unstable but formed.
However, after a few seconds, her arms began to tremble slightly. Her concentration slipped, her mana weakened… and suddenly, the sphere burst with a small pop, spraying water in all directions.
A good portion landed directly on Logan's face.
Silence settled for a second. Logan, face dripping, remained perfectly still as water trickled down his hair.
Aria, frozen with panic at first, widened her eyes.
"I… I'm so sorry!" she exclaimed, visibly embarrassed.
But despite her awkwardness, a nervous little laugh escaped her. The sight of Logan soaked, stoic like a statue, was too much to ignore. She clamped a hand over her mouth, trying not to laugh… in vain.
"Maintaining a solid and liquid element are two entirely different things," Logan declared in a calm tone, his face still streaming with water. He hadn't moved an inch; his gaze remained focused, unperturbed.
Without a word, he slowly clenched his fist and the fire went out instantly, smothered as if the air around it had been sucked away.
Then, he turned his eyes to Aria:
"From now on, you are forbidden to use your ice element."
"But…" she whined softly in protest.
She lowered her head slightly, unsettled. Her ice element was her weapon, her refuge, her strength. To forbid her from using it felt like taking away her shield.
But Logan continued in a calm, almost instructional voice:
"You need to catch up with your second element. If you rely too much on what you already master, it will become a weakness. Mastering both will make you much stronger and, above all, open the way to combinations that will add several weapons to your arsenal."
Aria, thoughtful, recalled her years of relying solely on ice. Since childhood, it had become a habit, almost instinctual. The water element had remained dormant inside her.
She finally looked up, determined:
"It's true that since I was a child, I've only ever used my primary element," she admitted, understanding the necessity of his approach.
"In that case, it's settled. From now on, you'll have to master your second element."
After their exchange, they each settled into their hammocks, hung at a comfortable distance from one another. Logan had deliberately chosen that space: he knew Aria still carried invisible wounds. It was better to give her a safe space, a perimeter of comfort that wouldn't stir painful memories.
Despite the harshness of the day or perhaps because of it Aria quickly fell asleep. Her breathing became slow, steady. The accumulated fatigue, combined with the simple comfort of the hammock and the lingering warmth of the fire, soon wrapped her in deep peace.
Logan, however, did not sleep. He lay down but remained perfectly awake, all his senses on alert. This forest was treacherous. Falling asleep without a watch would be a stupid, potentially fatal gamble.
Thanks to his control over vectors, he maintained an extended sensory perception around the camp. Every vibration, every displacement of air, every movement in the environment was detected and analyzed.
But this ability had its limits. He couldn't maintain it while sleeping not yet. And he had no intention of making Aria take over. Not now; she needed rest.
So he kept watch, but Logan didn't spend this time idle. Eyes closed, body relaxed, he connected inwardly to the Encyclopedia.
Diving into this ability wasn't physical; it was like surrendering to an ocean of infinite knowledge. An immense mental library, with endless shelves, where the totality of theoretical, practical, forgotten, or hidden human knowledge lay.
It was a calm, serene place; for him, it was a form of meditation. And if he had opened this inner library, it wasn't out of curiosity but to train.
"You can increase your Physical stat by training your body. Your Agility, if you work on evasion and mobility. So can I improve my Calculation stat by directly stimulating it?"
He closed his eyes, still connected to the Encyclopedia, and immediately thousands of pieces of information scrolled before him. Among them, he deliberately selected a series of advanced mathematical exercises: abstract algebra, formal logic, differential calculus, nonlinear equations. Problems that would take hours for an ordinary mind.
However, for Logan, this was a playground. He focused, began solving the equations one by one, breaking down each structure, testing new approaches. Chains of symbols and matrices scrolled through his mind like notes on a well-known score.
A few minutes later, a mental notification appeared in his perception:
Logan opened one eye, a faint smile on his lips:
"Well… at least I won't be bored tonight," he whispered, amused.
And without wasting a second, he dove back into the infinite sea of knowledge to become stronger.
When the first rays of the sun filtered through the dense foliage, a soft birdsong rose in the quiet of the forest. The fresh morning air caressed the leaves, and the discreet warmth of the fire still crackled faintly in the camp's center.
Aria slowly opened her eyes.
The first thing she saw was Logan, already awake, crouched near the fire, cooking breakfast.
The smell of grilled meat and warm eggs mingled with the morning air.
"Come eat," he said simply, without turning around.
Still a bit groggy, Aria got up and came to sit by the fire. Logan handed her a plate filled with roasted meat and lightly browned eggs. She took a bite, and her eyes lit up.
"It's really good," she said, a sincere smile spreading across her tired face.
Logan watched her calmly.
"She's still too thin; the years of slavery have left visible traces. It'll take time before she regains a healthier constitution," he thought.
Without a word, he placed another portion of meat on her plate.
"Glad you like it, but sorry it's nothing fancy. There's no pepper, no salt… and I cooked them on a simple metal plate," Logan said in a quiet tone, gently stirring the meat on the heated plate.
Aria looked up at him, her smile still there but tinged with a certain gravity.
"It's already much better than what I was given to eat as a slave."
Her voice was soft, steady, but behind her words lay a heavy weight: the years spent surviving, enduring.
Logan looked at her for a moment, then nodded seriously before replying:
"You're right. From today onward, I'll make sure you always eat your fill."
He said it simply, without flourish. But those words, so simple to him, resonated deeply within her. She froze; her hand trembled slightly as she still held her plate. A rush of emotion rose, brutal and uncontrollable. Her eyes filled with tears before she could even stop them.
And then, she broke down crying. It wasn't sudden pain but a relief so profound it shattered the inner walls she had slowly built over the years. Logan didn't say anything; he simply let the moment exist.
For the first time in a long time, she wasn't crying because someone had hurt her—but because someone was finally taking care of her.
All these years, she had only known fear, hunger, loneliness, and pain. But there, around a fire, with a simple plate of warm meat in her hands, she was rediscovering what it meant to truly live.
Once the meal was finished and their stomachs were full, there was no room left for rest. Training resumed, and this time, the difficulty was about to rise a notch.
For Aria, now deprived of her ice element, the learning process was entering a new phase. Logan had been clear: from now on, only the water element was allowed. A necessary decision, but a demanding one.
However, Logan was not irresponsible. He knew perfectly well that sending her into battle like this without proper preparation would have been suicide. Aria, talented as she was, was not yet capable of using this element offensively or defensively.
So he did what any good instructor would do: he went back to the basics.
Logan had read everything there was to know about elemental training and mana control in the Guild's library. And thanks to his Ultra-Fast Learning skill, every principle, every exercise, every teaching method was engraved in his mind as if he had studied them for years.
The training began with the fundamental exercises:
Materialization: This was a basic but essential step consciously making one's element emerge from mana by moving it through the magical circuits. A phase that Aria already managed, though with less precision than with ice. Water flowed from her hands, but often irregularly, without a defined shape or stable control.
Shaping: Here it was no longer just about making the element appear, but exerting true will over its form. The water had to respond to her mind, take shape, bend, obey.
This was where the difficulties began. The exercise consisted of going beyond simple materialization. She now had to shape the element.
Shaping required Aria to give water precise forms, starting with the most basic: spheres, cubes, cylinders, pyramids. Seemingly simple figures, but they already demanded great concentration to stabilize the liquid element in three dimensions.
Once she mastered these forms, she moved to a higher level: creating complex shapes — tools, weapons, chains, even rough copies of everyday objects. The more detailed the shape, the greater the mental effort required.
Intensification: This stage of training focused on power, density, and control. It was about channeling the right amount of mana to achieve the desired effect: not too much, not too little. Poor intensity could make the water too diffuse or too unstable to be usable. In other words, Aria had to learn to balance force, fluidity, and precision — three fundamental pillars of magical manipulation.
Finally, the last step: Synchronization.
Mastery of all the previous steps in order to achieve instinctive, fluid, and fast control. Eliminating any need for conscious focus. Controlling elements and mana effortlessly, as an extension of oneself.
Fortunately, she already had a solid foundation thanks to her long familiarity with the ice element. Ice being a solid element like earth or wood the concepts of form and structure were not foreign to her.
But water was an entirely different challenge: unstable, elusive, fluid by nature. Where ice obeyed rigidity, water demanded flexibility and intuition. It took her time to adapt to this new logic.
After seven days of daily training, of trials, failures, frustration, and small progress. Of repetitions, corrections, and adjustments, Aria finally achieved a concrete result.
That morning, as the sunlight filtered through the trees, she launched her very first elemental attack.
"Splash!"
Aria had just fired off a new water attack aimed at a stone target Logan had created for the exercise. The jet hit the surface, splashing slightly before dribbling weakly onto the ground. The rock suffered no damage, not even a crack.
As if she had just thrown a water balloon at it.
Aria's attacks existed, yes, but they still lacked power. She would need time, practice, and mastery. And fortunately, they had plenty of time.
Each day, Aria redoubled her efforts, starting over relentlessly. Her eyes always shone with determination, and each failure only strengthened her will to improve.
Logan, true to himself, supported her. Present, silent, always ready to correct, explain, and demonstrate.
Their days followed a steady rhythm, marked by training fights, magical exercises, and meals. Logan cooked with whatever they could find: freshly hunted monster meat, edible roots, aromatic herbs, and sometimes better-preserved food that he pulled from his item bag.
When evening came, after putting out the fire, they sometimes shared a few nighttime conversations the kind where voices relax, masks slip a little. The kind where you get to know each other, away from the shadow of immediate danger.
But Logan, for his part, hardly ever slept. He spent night after night awake, tirelessly watching over the safety of their camp. He monitored the vibrations in the ground with his vectors, ready to react at the slightest suspicious movement. Aria rarely took watch duty, exhausted from the intense training.
She hadn't noticed it right away. It was only when she saw Logan's face, now with deep dark circles, his features drawn, his gaze tired but still focused, that she understood.
He had held on alone, without complaint, without faltering, and guilt struck her suddenly. She dropped to her knees, head bowed, eyes glistening.
"I'm sorry… I'm sorry, I'm so sorry!"
Logan flinched slightly, taken aback, and looked away, visibly embarrassed.
"It's fine, Aria… it's nothing," he said in a tired but gentle voice.
He ran a hand through his hair, trying to maintain composure. Even exhausted, he hadn't stopped his little mental sessions in the Encyclopedia, continuing to solve equations each night.
A new mental notification appeared:
Finally, after several sleepless nights, Logan allowed himself a few hours of well-deserved rest. This time, Aria took the watch; she wanted to share the burden fairly.
"I can finally sleep…" he murmured, his eyelids heavy, as he lay down in his hammock.
A few moments later, he drifted off, his breathing gradually steadying. The weight of the sleepless days slowly lifted, his body finally finding some respite.
That night, it was Aria who stood guard. She sat near the fire, her gaze fixed not on the forest's shadows but on Logan's sleeping face.
It was the first time she had seen him like this: relaxed, peaceful, almost vulnerable. He, the inflexible man, always calm, always in control, now slept deeply as if the world were no longer a threat.
Around them, the Circular Forest hadn't softened. It remained the same: wild, unpredictable, full of dangers lurking in the dark.
But that night, it seemed strangely quiet. The clear sky revealed a vault of brilliant stars. Two moons shone high above, one a bright blue, the other a deeper red, casting a soft light through the foliage.
That light bathed the camp in an almost unreal aura. And in this calm atmosphere, beautiful despite the hostility of the place, Aria felt something strange, something new.
Gratitude, of course. Respect, but perhaps something else as well. Something deeper, that she didn't yet know how to name.
So she stayed there, silent, watching over the one who had watched over her.
World Note: Elemental Control Training
Phase 1: Materialization (Elemental Awakening)
Goal: Transform raw mana into an active element.Principle: The mage channels mana through their magical circuits, attuning it to their elemental affinity or affinities.Difficulty: Moderate at first; highly unstable for beginners.Common Issues:Partial or chaotic manifestation (flickering flames, splashing water with no form, random gusts of wind…).Mana leakage due to unstable circuits.Exercises:Make the pure element appear (flame, water bubble, breeze, levitated stone).Maintain the element steadily for several seconds without loss.
Phase 2: Shaping (Mastery of Form)
Goal: Give the materialized element a precise and stable shape.Principle: Mental control and precision of mana flow within the circuits.Difficulty: High; requires excellent concentration and mental coordination.Progression Steps:Basic geometric forms: spheres, cubes, columns, discs.Simple complex forms: chains, spikes, blades, rudimentary tools.Detailed complex forms: elaborate structures, replicas of objects, moving shapes.Common Issues:Collapse of form.Instability along edges or contours.Gradual dissipation of the structure after a few seconds.
Phase 3: Intensification (Control of Power and Density)
Goal: Adjust the amount of mana invested according to the desired effect.Principle: Combine mastery of matter with impact power and duration.Key Parameters to Manage:Quantity of mana injected.Energy density of the element (e.g.: liquid water vs. highly pressurized water).Impact force and speed of application.Common Issues:Over-intensification: uncontrolled explosions, overheating, circuit overload.Under-intensification: weak effects, dissipation before usage.
Phase 4: Synchronization (Body-Mind-Mana Fusion)
Goal: Achieve instinctive, fluid, and rapid control.Principle: Eliminate the need for conscious focus; commands become automatic.Advanced Exercises:Reflexive reactions: defend, attack, shape under stress.Real combat: rapid chaining, instant adaptation.Remote control (projecting mana to form the element away from the body).Mental fatigue: failure in higher phases often comes from psychological exhaustion rather than lack of mana.
"Making the element appear is easy. Controlling it, mastering it, refining it until it becomes an extension of your own body that's something else entirely."
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