Nagisa was lying on the side of the river and desperately gasping for air only wearing his underwear. His entire body was completely wet while he dragged himself closer to the shore.
"That was pathetic, kid." Kagero hovered next to Nagisa while looking down at him. Nagisa had found out that Kagero was a stage 8, 2-star spear master! The ranking of combatants was slightly different from the one of the mages. While they both had 9 stages, combatants didn't have 9 levels but 3 stars for each stage. But that didn't mean that it was easier to be a combatant! It was way harder to gain a star than to raise a level! On top of that, combatants had to go through a tiny breakthrough every time they gained a star, basically an easier and less painful version of a stage breakthrough.
Combatants and mages gained the ability to hover and fly around once they reach the seventh stage of their class. Kagero hadn't told Nagisa the reason behind it saying that it was still too early for him to worry about that.
Right now, Nagisa was collapsed on the ground with his entire back showing an unnatural red color. "You're crazy!" Nagisa cried out after finally catching his breath, "That's just not possible!" Nagisa complained as he carefully touched his back while hissing out of pain.
"Is that so?" Kagero raised an eyebrow while walking towards a 500-meter tall waterfall. He stood there for a second before swiftly jumping up against the stream using only a few rocks as footing.
"…" Nagisa lips twitched a little when Kagero nonchalantly turned around and looked down at him from the top of the waterfall as if he was mocking him.
As soon as they had started Nagisa's training, Kagero had grabbed Nagisa after ordering him to take his clothes off and brought him to this waterfall.
Without Nagisa even understanding what Kagero had been doing, he had smashed a huge rock into thin long pieces before knocking them into the wall behind the waterfall creating a sort of rock climbing wall under the stream of the waterfall. He had then grabbed Nagisa again and had dropped him on a rock about 5 meters away from the top and had told him to climb back up against the stream.
Completely unprepared, Nagisa had gotten washed away by the stream instantly and had landed on his back 500 meters deeper on the water surface. "You're a stage 8 spear master! That's not the same!" Nagisa continued to complain.
"I didn't use a single drop of my aura there." Kagero retorted emotionlessly, "I only used my physical prowess just like you."
"…" Nagisa rolled his eyes and sighed, even if Kagero was a being a major jerk right now, he could tell that he wasn't lying, "What's the point of climbing a waterfall anyway?!" Nagisa instead asked.
"What do you think are the most important things for a combatant or a mage?" Kagero asked after floating back down to Nagisa.
"Aura and mana?" Nagisa guessed, raising an eyebrow.
"That's not entirely right." Kagero said while shaking his head, "See it like this, aura and mana are merely the fuel for combatants and mages, but before you can efficiently utilize your fuel, you need a decent container to conserve the fuel.
"Mages train their mind and combatants their body..." Nagisa suddenly remembered what Kaede had told him back in the cell.
"Correct! Your body and mind are the containers for your aura and mana! The better the container, the more fuel you can store in it! If you mindlessly try to add fuel into a container that is too small, the container will crack and break eventually." Kagero nodded at Nagisa's answer.
"So climbing this waterfall is to train my body? Isn't there a less dangerous way to do that?" Nagisa complained while getting back on his feet.
"Of course there is, but do you think a good container is all you need to be a great combatant or mage?" Kagero asked and Nagisa shook his head.
"Well you need talent as well I guess." Nagisa answered while slightly stretching his aching body.
"That is also correct, but what is talent?" Kagero asked again, "What decides if someone has talent or not?"
"Huh? What do you mean?" Nagisa frowned out of confusion.
"I think you already know since you've been deemed as talentless for half your lifetime." Kagero smirked at Nagisa while reminding him.
"… Element compatibility." Nagisa grimaced at the topic.
"Yes, your compatibility with an element decides if you have talent or not. But unpolished talent is still nothing!" Kagero nodded.
"But my compatibility was terrible!" Nagisa retorted, "And I'm still doing decently well!"
"That is not true Nagisa." Kagero shook his head with an awkward smile this time, "the test you took back in your tribe was flawed.".
"Huh? Why?" Nagisa frowned slightly. He was having a really bad feeling.
"It's because of your second scale, you took the test while both scales were in effect making them neglect each other. You probably subconsciously deactivated your left scale when you were taught how to meditate. Try to feel it yourself, when you put your focus on your right scale, the water elements around you should become a lot clearer and easier to spot." Kagero explained.
"You're right! ...So you're telling me." Nagisa had a blank look on his face after he confirmed what Kagero had said.
"Yes, your test turned out horribly because back then you had no idea how to stop the influence of your second scale. That's why your numbers were so terrible." Kagero laughed awkwardly, "The glove we gave you only added to it. You can probably feel the elements even better now since the glove is removed. It also had the effect to suppress your talents."
"WHY!?" Nagisa cried out in confusion and anger, "Why would you do that?!"
"Your parents had a lot of enemies kid, and a lot of them know that your mother was pregnant when she died. While a lot of them think that you died with her, we still wanted to prevent you from catching any attention. Both your parents were considered geniuses so the chance that you would be just as talented was rather high and we wanted to hide that."
"What is my actual compatibility then?" Nagisa asked rather eagerly. Being shunned and ignored because of this was a childhood trauma for him after all. Even if he had come to accept that rather well.
"91, we call people with a number of 90 or higher children of the elements, your father took the test personally before he left you. Frankly, you're a genius, the highest number the water tribe has seen in the last 3000 years." Kagero sighed when Nagisa lowered his head after his eyes had widened, "Must have been hard huh?"
"Hehehe… that's just so..." Nagisa shook his head after letting out a sad chuckle, "But I guess I should be happy now huh? Damn… and I thought I didn't care what others think of me for years now." Nagisa mocked himself quietly.
"You did good kid, be proud." Kagero placed his hand on Nagisa's head and ruffled his hair, "But now back to the topic, sulking won't do you anything, you said that one needs talent to go far, that is correct, but talent has to be polished."
"How do you polish compatibility?" Nagisa wondered while quickly adjusting to the change of topic, Kagero was right, sulking wouldn't help him right now.
"What is compatibility?" Kagero asked again.
Nagisa really liked Kagero's way of teaching, instead of just telling him what he needed to know, he made Nagisa think for himself, he let him come to his own conclusion before expanding his knowledge based on that.
"How clearly you can sense an element." Nagisa answered.
"Good, and what else do you need except a strong container, plenty of fuel and a good sense for your element?"
"…" Nagisa frowned while working his brain, but nothing was coming to him, "I can't think of anything else." Nagisa shook his head when he gave up and looked to Kagero so he would explain.
"Knowledge of your element!" Kagero said, "Because you can sense your element better, it is also easier for you to understand your element. When you truly understand your element, you can do so much more with them, just like the way you used your Unique Skill when you tried to jump over the cliff. You did that because you know that water expands in volume when it turns into steam, that's what we call knowledge of your element. I'm asking you to climb a waterfall because while you climb it, you will also notice how the water changes with the way you act! Try to understand these changes and use them to your advantage. That is why you're climbing a waterfall instead of simply training your body."
"Yes, Shisho!" Nagisa nodded determinedly after hearing Kagero's explanation, "But when do I meditate?" Nagisa wondered.
"At night." Kagero answered, "You will meditate at night when your body is so exhausted that you can't move anymore and while you meditate, you will also try to understand your other element, shadow."
"Wait… how am I supposed to meditate if you want me to focus on the shadow element? I meditate by absorbing and filtering water elements and adding them to my pool." Nagisa frowned and asked.
"Try to connect to both elements at the same time." Kagero suggested.
"… is that possible?" Nagisa questioned, "And when do I sleep?!" He suddenly realized in terror! If he was meditating at night, he'd barely have time to sleep!
"You will be meditating instead of sleeping, I know a few mages who do that, it will be strange at first, but you will get used to it." Kagero said in a monotone.
"Huh?! Even you are still sleeping!" Nagisa complained.
"Well I'm no mage, am I now? And you can't afford to meditate during daytime so that's your only option. Or you just give up on being a mage." Kagero taunted.
"Urgh…fine…" Nagisa sighed unwillingly before agreeing.
"Good, now up you go!" Kagero nodded before grabbing Nagisa again.
"H-Hey! Wait a seco… WOAAAAAHH!" SPLASH!
Nagisa was gritting his teeth like crazy while using every ounce of strength left in his body to pull himself up the last meter of the waterfall. His entire body was shaking, and his body was struggling to move upwards while the raging stream was trying to knock Nagisa back down.
Letting out a deep groan while keeping his mouth tightly shut, Nagisa forced the last bit of strength out of his body and pulled himself up the last rock and into a cave behind the waterfall. "Ha… Ha… ha…" Nagisa panted heavily while rolling deeper into the cave so that he wouldn't accidentally get knocked down again.
"Not bad, I thought you'd need at least a week before managing the 10 meters. Guess all that fieldwork back in the tribe were of some use after all." Kagero stated while adding more wood to the campfire he was sitting next to.
"Ha… half a year… of mining… every single… day… wasn't that easy… either… Ha… ha…" Nagisa grinned slightly while still gasping for air.
"I see." Kagero nodded approvingly but then frowned slightly, "But if that's what you did for the 5 months in there you should be more capable than you are now."
"Lack of… nutrition." Nagisa rolled his eyes, "Not exactly… effective… huuuu."
"Right… forgot about that." Kagero nodded again, "Since you managed the 10 meters, we'll go with 15 tomorrow."
"HUH?!" Nagisa exclaimed after barely catching his breath again, "I thought I'm done with this!" Nagisa whined a little.
"You thought it was over?" Kagero raised an eyebrow and looked at Nagisa as if he was questioning his intelligence, "The goal is to climb the entire 500 meters within an hour kid, you took half a day for merely 10 meters today. I'm not teaching you anything else before you can do that."
"… You're kidding." Nagisa almost begged when he said that.
"What did I teach you this morning? You need a good container! Yes, you are rather fit. But that's only compared to civilians, not combatants. You still have a long way to go kid." Kagero smirked while petting Nagisa on his head. "That's enough for today, rest for another 5 minutes and we'll eat dinner, make sure to stuff yourself, you will need the energy."
"Yes… Shisho…" Nagisa groaned in despair while letting his body flop back to the ground.
"I prepared a medical bath that will help your muscles to recover faster. You'll meditate in it the entire night." Kagero told him before walking back into the cave.
While Nagisa was struggling with the waterfall, Kagero had created a new cave with two entrances behind the waterfall. One was the one Nagisa had used, hidden behind the waterfall, while the other one led into the mountain mainly so that Kagero could go hunting and gathering stuff without interrupting Nagisa's training.
Dinner was a feast! It had been a really long time since Nagisa had had a nutritious meal that also tasted good. Of course, his opinion might be biased since he hadn't tasted any flavors in his mouth over the last 5 months.
After resting for another 30 minutes to let the food digest a little, Kagero told Nagisa to climb into a huge pot filled with a greenish liquid. "That's the medical bath?" Nagisa eyes the color warily, "It looks and smells disgusting."
"You can either get in or climb the waterfall with aching muscles tomorrow, it's your choice." Kagero said slightly annoyed.
"I never said I'm not getting in." Nagisa retorted while climbing into the pot and sitting down in it. To his surprise, the water was really comfortable, it had the perfect temperature! "Ehh, Shisho, won't the water get cold overnight?"
"Use your Unique Skill to heat it back up when it gets cold, just a warning, because of some herbs I added, the water turns cold instantly instead of slowly cooling down." Kagero deadpanned, "Meditate and focus your mind on you left scale and get comfortable with your second element."
"These herbs weren't necessary, were they?" Nagisa frowned.
"They were, I had to make sure you don't fall asleep." Kagero explained in all seriousness, "It will also train your awareness of your surrounding while meditating."
"How high is my compatibility with the shadow element?" Nagisa wondered while getting into a comfortable position in his pot.
"You can't rate that, but if you really want to, it's over 100. You are the sole user of that element, there isn't a single other person who has the slightest bit of compatibility with the shadows, you could say that it's your element." Kagero smirked while answering Nagisa's question.
"Over a hundred?!" Nagisa yelled surprised, "Isn't 100 the upper limit?"
"For the other four elements, yes, but that's different. Like I said, you own the element. If someone with a compatibility of 90-100 is called A child of the element, I guess you would be THE child of the element. It's already showing in your behavior, why do you think you like corners that much?"
"Huh?"
"When you're asleep, you subconsciously pull yourself into a corner because you feel safer and more comfortable there." Kagero pointed out.
"I do that?" Nagisa's eyes widened in disbelieve.
"Do you not realize that you wake up in a different spot than you fall asleep in?" Kagero sighed while rolling his eyes.
"…you're right, I never thought about that." Nagisa said fascinated.
Kagero held the bridge of his nose while shaking his head, "Have fun meditating kid, I'll be sleeping right outside the cave."
"Why outside the cave?" Nagisa wondered, wouldn't it be cold out there?
"I don't want to be waked up by your screams when you suddenly realize that you're freezing." Kagero deadpanned while walking away, "Good night."
"Why would I scream?" Nagisa cocked his head to the side and wondered when his eyes suddenly widened, "WOAAH WHAT THE HELL?!" Nagisa screamed while quickly using his Status Control to reheat the water!
The water was a lot harder to heat up than regular water and Nagisa was starting to see what Kagero was doing. Trying to connect to both elements and filtering one of them simultaneously was a lot harder than just doing multiple things at once. It was the perfect training to strengthen Nagisa's mind at the same time.
On top of that, he had to pay attention to the pot he was sitting in! Because if he didn't remember to heat it up every now and then, he would suddenly be bathing in ice cold water! And heating the water will also require him to use his Unique Skill, that way he won't get rusty with using his mana.
Nagisa had to admit that it was a very efficient way to train. But it was also extremely cruel and tiring…
So Nagisa's training begins! There will be a time skip between this and the next chapter and then Nagisa will be heading into the world! Hope you're excited for it!
What do you guys think about the training method Kagero's using? Tell me about it in the reviews!
And as always, thank you so much for your support and I'll see you in the next chapter ;)! You are all amazing!