The night passed, and his new teacher returned, finding the duo again sitting on the floor as they looked at the less vibrant flower. His master, still not comfortable with that, sat across him with a frown, still contemplating the situation before him. After a few minutes, he finally began talking.

  "I consulted some associates of mine, and they agree with me, either you choose not to train one of your talents, or you choose not to train at all."

  "Can I ask why I can't use both? I don't see why not."

  He gave a small sigh.

  "Your question ties into what I wanted to teach today, so instead of answering, I'll simply wait until we begin that lesson. But something more immediate to satisfy your curiosity, the root base of metal and lightning do not work together, and in truth, I am confused as to why you would think that, don't the heavenly spears strike at the earth so often?"

  That-that, makes no goddamn sense! He isn't the best at science, admittedly, but he knew, like most, that metal conducted electricity very well, better than most other things anyway. And while he's never seen lightning in this world so far, he doubted it could be THAT different, right?

  "I can see your confusion, and while it should be known even to your kind, I assumed you yourself would know such basics, perhaps we could educate the tribesmen, it might make interrogations easier?"

  Jack chose to ignore that last part.

  "Still, today I shall give my lesson and tell you of why your elements cannot work together."

  He stood up and reached into the arm space of his robes, pulling out a thick, rolled-up scroll. Looking at Jack, he threw it into the air as it unrolled and expanded into a giant canvas with detailed embroidery and images, creating a border around the empty center.

  "This is a long canvas, made by an inscriptionist to become bigger, often they come with an endless inkwell and quill and can clean themselves if made correctly."

  It was a whiteboard, a magic whiteboard, that floated.

  He continued.

  "This world is composed of elements, too many, some might say, but they all trace their roots to the base four: earth, water, air, and fire, the prime elements they are often called. These four then mix and match to form different elements, and those new ones mix with others to form more, and so on. However, each of the prime elements repels one of the others."

  With a flick of his wrist, lines of ink were drawn into four symbols, each of which branched into each other and outward to form more. The entire thing was graceful, but whether it was a cultivator thing or he was just that practiced, Jack didn't know. But as the example was finished, the canvas cleared itself, leaving only the four elements symbols.

  "Each prime element has a specific opposite: fire and water, earth and air. These pairs, at their base selves, repel one another. Fire boils water, and water extinguishes fire, while air is trapped by earth, and earth is eroded by air. Are you understanding?"

  "So far."

  "Hm, when the great spirits of heaven bless one with spiritual energy, they are born with an innate talent that is one of the prime elements. Using this innate affinity, one can become a sage, someone who cultivates power into various forms. However, to cultivate opposing elements should make this impossible, even being born should have been impossible, and yet here you are."

  "So, what, I'm some impossible being?"

  "No, oddities such as you have always existed. Why, I once knew a young man who could control small animals, for no reason other than that he could. No, in all likelihood, you are simply unfortunate."

  "I can't be a cult-sage then?"

  Another wrist flick, this time two drawn figures were shown, one with a sword in hand while the other had a lightning bolt.

  "You should be able to choose one or the other, of course, I would heavily suggest you cultivate your metal talent, it is quite powerful."

  "I...see then."

  The author's tale has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.

  He... didn't know how to feel about that, to be honest. It was relieving that he could still do it, but being told that he was, more or less, half of a true sage was disheartening. But no, Jack wouldn't give up; he didn't know if he could go home, but this path, that of a sage, was the only way to know.

  "So, where would I begin?"

  He smiled, satisfied Jack was going to continue.

  "Good choice, and thankfully, I was prepared just in case."

  He twisted a ring on his finger, causing a large box to appear in his hands. Noticing his surprised face, the man smiled.

  "A storage ring, connected to a small world created for it, perhaps one day you'll be able to afford one, or take one from an enemy, either way."

  From the box, he pulled out several cylinders, each beautifully decorated with many different images and lettering.

  "These are techniques, spiritual guides that you use to help your growth, each of them was created by a master in their own time, and each is waiting for someone capable of using them."

  "How do they know?"

  "They just will, besides, these were created to only respond to someone with the right talents. Hopefully, you will be able to get a few."

  "So do I just wave my hand and it'll fly to me?"

  "HAH, that's funny, but no. You'll have to inject some energy into them, and if they bind to you, then you will be successful."

  Jack picked up a random one, focusing on its opening.

  His teacher snapped his fingers.

  "Try to remember the feeling when you were feeding the seed, it should be similar, but not as intense."

  He nodded, recalling the pleasant feeling of warmth flowing from his hands to the cylinder. But once the warmth spread from his hand to it, he felt something like a wall keeping him from actually sending the energy into it. He frowned and looked at his teacher.

  "It happens, all you can do is put it back and try again."

  Jack took another, and another, and another, all failures.

  "Are you certain I can do this?"

  "You already are; the issue is that none of these are suited to you."

  "But don't we know, for the most part, what I should be able to use?"

  "Yes, but techniques only show themselves once they are bound, and I didn't have an affinity with these. So, I nor anyone that might have had them before, would know what they are, save perhaps the one who made it."

  He took another scroll, prepared to be disappointed, until he felt his energy flow into it. The artwork on the scroll glowed and began to fly off the tube, showing the image of a great being striking down foes with spears of lightning and air. Words, surprisingly in English, wrote themselves on the cylinder in hot red. From the scroll, he could feel images of himself breathing in storms and hurricanes, only to breathe out tornadoes and blasts of wind and thunder so great, they crushed the mountainside.

  "Let me see what it's called...hm?"

  "Is there an issue with it?"

  "Hm? No, it's just I cannot read this, it's not imperial, and it doesn't look like your people's writing either, can you read it?."

  ....

  "By your expression, you are greatly confused about my sight, I imagine?"

  "Very."

  "Youngster, you'll learn that nothing is out of reach when you grow your talents, even blindness won't stop you, though it is a hindrance. Tell me what it says if you can."

  The words stopped glowing as Jack looked at them.

  "Sky Dragon's Spear."

  Teacher seemed to twitch for a second.

  "You're certain it says that, and I mean truly certain?"

  "Yes."

  He patted Jack's back, probably leaving a bruise with how skinny he still was.

  "Excellent, no, glorious! Dragon arts are old but amongst the most powerful, a shame it's for your lesser affinity. I'd be careful if I were you, someone might really try to kill you for it."

  The scroll felt heavier in his hands, and Jack looked uncertain to his teacher.

  "Oh, don't give me that face, if I were able to use it, then you'd never have the chance to know it existed, much less keep it."

  "You'll let me keep these?"

  "Of course, you are my student after all."

  "I thought that was only for three days."

  He got up and started to laugh as he leaned on the water basin, the stone deforming under his grip. He seemed to truly find Jack's statement hilarious.

  "HAHA, haa, young man, I wouldn't have accepted the offer to train you if I didn't intend on doing it proper. I don't know what my granddaughter told you, but you'll be stuck with me until I say so, HA."

  Oh

  "But what about the sect, won't that be an issue once I get there?"

  "Not as much as you think, the sect will respect prior connections so long as they do not cause issues or are evil in nature."

  "Evil?"

  "Another time, for now, let us focus on your scrolls, go through the rest, and see if any of them suit you."

  Jack repeated the sequence with the rest, going through another two dozen scrolls before he was done. Aside from his dragon technique, two others opened themselves to him without the same fanfare. He handed them to Teacher for review.

  "Let's see, this first one is 'Black Steel Fortress, ' a defensive body technique, and the other is... something?"

  "Is it written differently again?"

  "No, no, it's in imperial, but I don't understand the meaning."

  "What does it say?"

  "It claims to be of a man who slew dragons, an impossibility even in eras past. Even baby dragons can destroy hills, not to mention that a good sage doesn't need such frivolous armor."

  "Then it should be good, right?"

  "Maybe, tell me, do your kind know of someone named Gen'orge the dragonslayer?"

  That sounded-wait.

  "Could you repeat that name?"

  "Gen'orge"

  Taking the scroll and injecting energy again, the image of a European knight cutting the head of an eastern dragon was displayed. Holding it, he could almost feel the strength of faith and the weight of steel as he parted scaly flesh. It told him that none may rise to the heavens but by HIS grace, especially not arrogant beasts. Setting it down, Jack felt the thoughts and feelings from it recede. What he had before him didn't fit with the world around him, instead, this technique was dedicated to Saint George, the Dragon Slayer of Britannia.

  What on earth was this doing here?