Master Of None

”Slow!” That was all Walker could say as Gil’s disjointed movements came toward him. The battle techniques that Gil had been trying to assemble were all broken. The water elf dagger technique was the most developed out of all of them. It was the first that Gil had been able to master to a degree.

However, the other techniques seemed unpracticed. It wasn’t that Gil had yet to master the movements. He clearly had trained them in to his muscle memory. It was the fact that Gil seemed to miss the feelings behind the movements.

”I know they are slow when I switch to the stone elf style, but it’s because they are more movements meant for deflecting and blocking.” Gil’s frustration was clear. He felt that he was letting every elf down that he had promised. He had yet to put all the dagger technique fluidly together to return to the high elf dagger technique.

”You need to think about why they were split. Why were the techniques made to be used with certain elemental manas? That has to be what’s missing. The water technique clearly moves very smoothly. You turn on yourself and attack in odd ways that makes we feel like you are flowing in to whirlpools and other water currents. But the earth style seems like you are just standing there without moving. The fire is even worse. You are too calm.”

”What about the wind? I try and use it but I feel clunky. When I go to move it seems like all of a sudden I am heavier than anything. I thought I should be light on my feet and move on my toes slightly.” The idea wasn’t bad but Gil needed to push himself more. He needed to move more smoothly.

”You know how I move when I use my skill to walk through the air?” Walker watched as Gil nodded his head. ”Then try and replicate that or how Scylla moves in the air. Or imagine Zephyr. She is always moving around playfully. The wind is soft and playful but also quick and sharp.”

”If I copy how the wind elves move I would need their skill. I can’t just walk through the air…or, maybe I can?” Gil realized that he was still adapting to having a closer bond with Zephyr. He was the avatar of the wind. It meant that his wind elemental affinity was now tied to his system and his skills were not what a normal arcane archer would have.

”Then let’s see if you can learn the wind ripple skill I use to travel through the air. Or maybe you can use wind stride like the wind elves.” The idea was a good one and Walker immediately decided to push Gil to work on it.

The challenge began simply. Gil thought that the best way to do this would be to focus on the fact that he could already bring the wind under his control to wrap his body. This was a simple skill that was related to his affinity to wind and also to his arcane archer class.

”I have the wound wrapping skill. It’s mainly to protect me from arrows. It’s an archer’s protection when fighting other archers. I was not surprised to get it since it is listed as a normal arcane archer skill when it comes to wind affinity. But it should help me…” Gil tried to take a step up in to the air and ended up just putting his foot down.

”No no no no no.” Zephyr materialized out of the wind. She had felt that Gil was trying to learn more. She had grasped what Walker and Gil were talking about in an instant. ”You are treating the air like it is a solid stone step. You need to play in the wind. Float. Try and fly!”

”I’m not trying to say that your description is wrong, but, I don’t think Gil knows what that feels like yet. He needs to start simple.” Before Zephyr got too far ahead, Walker stopped her and changed the wording a bit. ” You should think of the wind like water. You can easily kick yourself up in to the air like swimming. It’s just a little less dense than water. Watch me.”

Walker effortlessly stepped in to the air before using the wind to copy how Gil wrapped his body. He noticed the wind wrapping skill appear but ignored it since it was not that important at the moment. He had similar skills that wrapped his body in elemental mana so this was just another that he officially had.

Using the wind wrapping and a little wind manipulation, Walker pretended to swim up in to the air by kicking his feet. It caused rough gusts of wind to come down to the ground but it was a nice start. ”Not bad. Not bad. It’s unrefined but you have the chance to dance in the air like I can.” Walker just rolled his eyes at Zephyr since he had literally danced in the air before using his other movement skills. But he held his tongue since it seemed Zephyr was happy to praise someone.

”So I should try to do this?” Gil attempted the same step in to the air and pushed the wind around his body. A very weak gust appeared beneath his foot which was enough to cause him to float for a second. Yet, that second was enough. He was able to feel the slight difference in the air and how he should move. For Gil, his affinity begged him to use skills like this. It was like connecting the pieces of a puzzle that had been waiting for him to complete it his whole life.

”I can do this!” Gil leaped up a little stronger this time. The effect was still not perfect but it was better. Instead of only being in the air for a moment, Gil was able to stay floating for a few seconds. The progress was just what he needed to fully grasp the concept.

With this, Walker started to challenge Gil to move higher and higher while Zephyr floated around them watching the training. She knew that the better Gil got at using the wind elemental mana and walking through it, the better her bond with him would be. She wanted him to be able to use more wind skills whenever he needed to. It was the best way for him to remain safe.

The hour of training this alone passed in the blink of an eye. Before Walker knew it, Gil was able to stand in the air without moving at all. All that was left was to learn the balance of staying in the air to be ankle to walk through it. ”You should rest. If you do this too much you will exhaust your body and overwhelm yourself.”

Zephyr could sense that Gil was absorbing too much wind elemental mana at once to force himself to keep moving through the air. She knew that for him, this was a dangerous game. Gil was low on his own mana which meant he was replacing his mana with wind elemental mana. It was not a natural progression at his current understanding of wind elemental mana at all.

”Zephyr is right. It’s best that we call it a day for this training. Just take the time to think about the emotions and the reasons that the elemental affiliation with the different elven techniques is there. If you can I believe that you can bring them together in to the high elf dagger techniques. It’s similar to how I am combining the elemental mana to make natural mana. You are just returning to a proper state of being for mana.”

Thai enlightening advice made Gil want to head back to the elven archives that had been created in the forest elf living area. He had already gained a great deal of information about his archery there. If he looks more in to the history of the elves he might be able to add more to his techniques.

”I have a few ideas too. Thanks for the help today, we will try this again tomorrow. I want to have the elven techniques combined before we even think about leaving again.” The determination was clear on Gil’s face as he sat down to take a minute to breathe.

”I am going to see if Midnight wants to train. Maybe Mordant or Ignus will train with me too. I want to test myself. The elemental dragon aspect is still too unstable for me to use. I need to increase my level of understanding.” Walker had his own plans which Gil fully agreed with. Their plans for training were perfect for where they were at the moment.

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