Finding Stardust

"I can only teach you aeromancy," Xion said. "If you really want to be stronger, you also have to train your other powers. If I"m not mistaken, you have five of them?"

Emma bit her lip when she heard Xion"s words. She understood the man"s intentions. Xion was suggesting that she asked Therius to teach her too. Therius was both a telemancer and a pyromancer like herself.

If Emma could get training from these two men, she was sure that she would be able to survive.

"Therius is the highest level telemancer and pyromancer I know. And from what I witnessed today, he is apparently a talented teacher," Xion continued his words. "Didn"t you say it yourself that you wouldn"t let your pride hinder you from getting what you want?"

Emma sighed. "You"re right. I can"t let my pride get in the way..."

"Good, if you understand it."

"But ..." Emma"s face looked doubtful.

"But what?" Xion asked.

"Will he be willing to teach me how to defeat him?" asked Emma.

"Hmm ... that, you have to ask him yourself," Xion commented.

Emma nodded. "Okay."

"Fine. We can start now." Xion waved his hand and suddenly, on his right hand, appeared a small squall that looked like it was dancing beautifully.

"I want you to hit the wall in front of you nonstop for 200 times. Use all your strength." Xion moved his hand, and suddenly, a red bullseye sign appeared in the middle of the wall in front of them. "You must hit right into the bullseye 200 times in two hours. Later, after you have finished, you may join me in the lounge to drink wine and relax. Don"t stop before you get to 200." 

"Eh?" Emma looked baffled by Xion"s teaching method. It sounded so ordinary. "Just like that?"

"Yes, for the first meeting, we will learn about endurance. I want to know how well you could use your power. The first lesson in every element-bending exercise is to train your abilities by using it frequently. Just like training your muscles in the gym, you have to train your mind and your powers every day. Use this training room as much as you can. Therius still practices two hours a day even though he has reached the highest level ... He doesn"t allow himself to be lazy," Xion said.

"Hmm ... alright," Emma said. "I"ll start now."

"Alright, I"ll wait in the lounge when you"re done," Xion said as he walked casually into the lounge to the right.

As he reached the entrance, he looked back and saw Emma getting ready to charge toward the wall. Xion smiled slightly. He then entered the lounge and poured himself a drink.

Emma prepared to do the exercise Xion requested. She closed her eyes and regulated her breath. She had never specifically hit a certain target using her aeromancy, like what Xion asked just now. But she felt confident that she would be able to do it.

She focused her mind on her right hand, and then she attacked the red bullseye with a gust of wind. 

ZING!

It was a success! Her attack hit the bullseye easily.

This exercise is too easy, Emma thought. She then attacked again with a gust of wind, but this time, the red bullseye suddenly moved.

"Eh ... what?" Emma was surprised because her second attack hit empty s.p.a.ce. The red bullseye moved to the left at lightning speed. Out of curiosity, she sent a gust of wind to the left, but by the time her attack arrived, the bullseye had again moved, this time to the ceiling.

Emma became curious and immediately attacked repeatedly in various directions, but out of 20 charges, only 2 hit the bullseye.

"d.a.m.n it!" cried the girl.

***

Xion opened the door and frowned when he saw Emma lying on the floor, gasping for breath, and her eyes closed. She looked very tired and out of breath.

"Hey, what"s wrong with you?" Xion asked. He pressed something on the wall and looked at Emma"s training statistics for the past two hours. His face seemed to smile broadly. "Jeez ... in these two hours, you can only hit the target 30 times?"

Emma opened her eyes and glared. "You didn"t say that the target will move."

"Of course, the target will definitely move," Xion grumbled. "You think your enemy will stand still and let you attack him? What are you... stupid?"

Emma bit her lip in annoyance. She didn"t expect Xion to train her like this. She thought he would give her more guidance.

"I thought you would give me direction and ways to train my power. But, you just let me do it alone," Emma said again.

"I did give you direction on how you should do your training. Later I will check your progress and give further instructions," Xion said. He held out his hand and helped Emma up. "You did well. Come on up and let me pour you a drink. "

Emma got up with Xion"s help. Her face looked red, and drops of sweat dripped on her temples. She had exerted so much energy in the past two hours, she felt like she could barely walk.

"Uhm ... thank you. But I want to go back to my room and clean up," Emma said. She patted Xion"s hand then walked out of the training room. "Thanks for today."

She felt tired and sticky. In order to hit her target 200 times, Emma was attacking the bullseye nonstop for two hours and it drained her energy. Now she only wanted to rest.

Xion looked at Emma"s departure with an attentive face. He checked the statistics on the screen once more and then clicked in admiration. Even though Emma failed to hit the target 200 times as he requested, the number 30 she reached was actually quite good for a beginner. He really thought that Emma was talented.

***

The next day, Emma went back to studying with Atila and Anddara in the study room, then had lunch with Xion and continued her study with Therius in the library.

Therius checked her memory of the ten letters she had memorized the day before and asked Emma to write down any words she could think of using the ten letters.

After that, they proceed with the next ten letters. Emma was then asked to write down the 20 letters she had learned and use them to write down a hundred objects.

This reading lesson proved to be very boring, but Emma forced herself to go through it because she knew she would really need it once she arrived at Akkadia.

The ability to read is a life skill that would be very useful in one"s life. Besides, she also could use it to learn other things by reading books and various references. She also will not be deceived by people if she could read.

"All right. Today"s lesson is over," Therius said, closing his book. "We"ll meet again tomorrow at the usual time."

"Hmm ..." Emma nodded. She also closed her book and rose from the chair. Before she left the door, Emma"s steps halted. She turned to Therius and asked in a doubtful voice. "Why are you teaching me all this?"

Therius, who was busy researching several doc.u.ments on his tablet, looked up and stared at Emma. "I can"t have an illiterate wife. People will think you"re stupid. Akkadia needs a smart queen."

At that moment, Emma felt like she wanted to smack the prince"s head with the book she was carrying, but she managed to hold back.

"d.a.m.n it. You"re so confident that you will be able to marry me ..." Emma grumbled.

"And you are very confident that you will be able to defeat me and avoid getting married to me," Therius replied seriously. "You remember our agreement, right? Five years. You have to be able to do it within five years."

"I still remember," Emma said. "If I can defeat you, then you will let me go. Will you keep your words? Can you be trusted?"

"If you do not trust me, you can put it in a binding contract. Xion and Atila can be witnesses," said Therius. "Will that make you satisfied?"

Emma furrowed her brows and was deep in thought. Contract? Ah ... that"s a good idea.

"I will believe that after we have the contract ..." Emma nodded.

"Then, you"ll need to be able to read to make a contract," Therius said. "If you worked hard ... in the next few weeks, you would be able to read and we can make an official agreement."

"All right ..." Emma then thought again. "Uhm .. you also had offered to teach me telemancy ... Is your offer still valid?"

Therius nodded. "Of course, if you want, I will train you telemancy and pyromancy. You can even set the training schedule yourself."

"Uhmm ... okay ..." Emma nodded and continued her journey out of the library. Her mind was filled with various questions.

Why did it feel so easy? Too easy. Did Therius have other plans for her?

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