The garrison was relatively quiet despite the few soldiers and mages who were out practicing. The high noon sun bathed the area in a warm, radiant light that shone brightly against the lush green grass. A graceful and gentle wind blew around the area, rustling the grass and leaves, creating a beautiful natural chorus of rustling plants.

  Standing upon the lush grass with an intent expression, Nicholas remained motionless. His messy blonde hair danced gracefully in the wind despite a few strands that were clinging to his sweaty forehead. His right hand was clutching his staff tightly, with the top end pointing toward the ground.

  Across from Nicholas, Zera stood straight with an indifferent gaze, holding her staff casually in her right hand. Her amethyst eyes were locked on Nicholas', unblinking.

  After a few more tense moments of silence passed between them, Zera's lips curled ever so slightly, "Well? I'm waiting."

  Nicholas' eyes narrowed, the only signs of movement he had displayed in the last minute or so. He knew Zera was just trying to egg him on to make the first move, but honestly, he didn't care. He was tired of waiting.

  With a swift movement, Nicholas raised his staff above his head and twirled it around in a circular motion. Several swirls of lava and lightning magic formed in the air above him before forming into dagger-sized lava spikes that were coated in lightning. With a flick of his wrist, he sent the lava spikes darting toward Zera.

  Zera smirked, seeing her little nudge to get Nicholas to act worked. She quickly raised and slammed her staff into the ground, conjuring an ice wall in front of her. The lava spikes crashed into the wall, breaking off chunks of ice while also shooting plumes of steam into the air with each hit. The lighting coating the spikes washed over the ice as the spikes broke apart before dying off.

  Once the last spike hit the ice wall, Zera raised her staff into the air and broke the ice apart into dozens of tiny icy shards. Thrusting her staff forward, she shot the shards toward Nicholas at a high velocity. While Zera would usually feel a little apprehensive about attacking like this in a spar with someone of Nicholas' age, she felt confident in his abilities after months of training with him.

  Nicholas' eyes narrowed, seeing the oncoming attack, and he quickly swirled his staff around him over his head. Wind magic swirled around him, covering him in a cloak and raising him slightly off the ground. Using the wind spell, Nicholas quickly glided out of the way, avoiding the attack.

  Zera's eyes followed Nicholas while also canceling the ice shards, as she didn't want them accidentally hitting someone. Zera continued to pivot on her feet, keeping Nicholas in front of her as he circled around her. Her eyes narrowed as she watched Nicholas twirl his staff, and she smirked as she watched him use the wind from his glide spell to send two chicken egg-sized wind bullets at her.

  Zera admittedly felt proud seeing Nicholas complete such a complicated tactic. She had taught him about spell manipulation and how mages could use the elements from their current active spells for different purposes. Like breaking apart the ice from an ice wall that was made for defense and forming them into shards for an offensive move, or using the wind from the glide spell, which was a mobility spell, and using it for offensive purposes. She had explained to him that such a tactic was like juggling, like how one adds more balls to make the act seem more impressive. In this instance, the mage just had to add more to the single spell for more desired effects.

  Zera raised her staff, conjuring a mana shield to block the small wind attack.

  Taking this opportunity while Zera was on the defensive, Nicholas canceled the glide spell, and his feet fell to the ground. He quickly waved his staff, manipulating the wind around him before it dissipated and congregating it into one point in front of him. Forming a ball of wind the size of a grapefruit that was rotating at an alarming rate, Nicholas thrust his staff forward, shooting the ball into the air above Zera.

  Zera blocked the two wind bullets with her mana shield, and her eyes darted to the ball of wind Nicholas had conjured just as it flew above her head. The ball exploded, and Zera yelled as a powerful gust of wind shot down, bathing her in a wind waterfall. The mana shield dispersed as Zera lost her concentration, and she fell to her right knee.

  Seeing she was open for attack, Nicholas thrust his staff forward, shooting a beam of water toward Zera. He didn't add any other elements to the beam, as his only intention was to knock her down, claiming victory for the spar. However, his eyes widened in surprise just as the beam was about to strike her. Fire magic quickly formed around Zera before shooting toward Nicholas in a powerful wave.

  Steam quickly flooded the air as the intensity of the heat from Zera's spell evaporated the water from Nicholas' attack, and it quickly closed in on him. Seeing the unavoidable tsunami of flame, Nicholas gritted his teeth and quickly used the water magic to form a water barrier around him.

  The water barrier around Nicholas glowed brightly and rippled as the fire slammed into it, creating a cloud of steam around him. Nicholas groaned a little as he held the spell, not because of the force he felt from the fire crashing into his barrier, but because of the heat he could feel from the water beginning to boil around him. He quickly poured more cold water magic into the spell, attempting to keep it cool.

  As Nicholas continued to keep the water barrier cool, giving him a slight reprieve, his thoughts quickly raced, trying to think of a way out of this. He could tell Zera was constantly berating him with this fire on purpose to see how he was going to escape. Between the two of them, Zera had a lot more mana to spend, so in a battle of attrition, she would win. It was one of the things Zera had taught him. The weakest part of a mage was their mind. While an individual's mana core strength plays a great deal in a battle, so does their imagination. A mage could accomplish tremendous and powerful things with a strong imagination and an open mind.

  As he stood there, Nicholas constantly considered his options. In the end, he came up with one idea, which was both stupid and crazy—that's why he loved it.

  Making the water barrier as cold as possible, Nicholas took a deep breath and collapsed it on himself. He felt the cold water crash into him, and the world around him brightened as the fire beat against his water shell. Next, he began to swirl the water around him, gradually picking up the speed of its current. It didn't take long for the water to start spinning around him rapidly, and Nicholas' feet left the ground, almost like a hydro glide spell.

  Nicholas chuckled, thinking Hydro Glide was a good name, and thought about adding it to his spell book.

  But Nicholas couldn't think about it for long since he only had a limited amount of air. So, it was time for him to make his move.

  Zera's eyes had narrowed the moment she noticed the water barrier around Nicholas had collapsed. She was standing straight now, with her staff thrust out, looking toward Nicholas with some concern. She had been pelting him with a beam of fire magic to see what he would do, but now, she was concerned she had gone overboard. She was about to cancel her spell when her eyes widened, seeing steam explode and head directly toward her.

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  Zera took a step back, but didn't have a chance to make it far since the cloud of steam was upon her in almost a second. The cloud exploded, and Zera yelped as she covered her face, canceling the fire spell. She felt steam hit her skin, but the next moment, she was hit with a wave of cold water. Zera grunted as the water knocked her to the ground, nearly knocking the wind out of her. Then, lucky for her, the water harmlessly washed over her, and she was met with sweet air again.

  Zera coughed a couple of times, blinking as she sat up. She rubbed her eyes, trying to regain her composure.

  "Well? How did I do?"

  Zera froze and slowly looked up, seeing Nicholas standing there, completely drenched, with a wide smile. It didn't take her long to surmise he had somehow manipulated the water barrier into a different technique.

  Zera smiled proudly. "You did incredibly well, Nicholas." She grabbed her staff and stored it in her spatial ring as she stood up. She snapped her fingers, and an emerald energy washed over her, and the next moment she was completely dry. Looking at Nicholas curiously, she asked, "What spell did you use?"

  Nicholas held his chin high, "Hydro Glide."

  Zera raised a brow, "Hydro what?"

  Nicholas chuckled, "I just came up with it. I basically used the water as a glide spell and rammed into you while surrounded by water."

  Zera raised a brow, "You—" A moment later, she laughed a little. "What a crazy idea. Well done."

  Nicholas smiled contentedly, "Why, thank you."

  Zera nodded, "Now, go ahead and stay here. I'm going to tell Freya we are done."

  Nicholas nodded and watched as Zera walked off toward the First Battalion building. Once she disappeared, Nicholas took a deep breath and looked up with a gratifying smile, knowing he had won the spar. He closed his eyes, enjoying the warm sun and cool wind against his drenched body. However, his smile faded, and his brows furrowed when he heard quick footfalls behind him. Not even a moment later, he grunted loudly as someone slammed into him and hugged him from behind.

  "Ew, what the heck!!" The person hugging him yelled as they quickly stepped back. "Why are you all wet?!"

  Nicholas chuckled comically as he opened his eyes and turned around. His eyes fell on Elianna, who was looking down at herself with a sour expression, seeing that her front was now wet. "Sorry, Zera and I just got done sparring."

  Elianna looked up to him with a raised brow, "That still doesn't fully explain why you're literally drenched."

  Nicholas casually shrugged, "Zera had me surrounded with fire, so I swirled water around myself and rammed into her."

  Elianna remained motionless for a second before she smiled and casually asked, "Oh, did you win?"

  Nicholas nodded proudly, "I sure did!"

  "Congrats!" Elianna chirped and moved forward to hug him. But she quickly froze when her eyes flicked to his wet apparel, and she stepped back.

  Nicholas looked down at himself, "Ah, I guess I should dry myself off." Looking at Elianna, seeing how her shirt was wet, he smiled and said, "Here."

  With a snap of his fingers, an emerald energy washed over both of them, drying them both off.

  Elianna glanced between them, a little surprised, before smiling, "Hey, that's handy!" A second later, she looked at Nicholas, confused, "Wait. Why don't you ever do that after we're done swimming?"

  Nicholas coughed and looked to the side, "Oh, uh. Never thought about it."

  His cheeks turned a little red, thinking it was really because he didn't mind the view of Elianna drying herself off.

  Elianna looked at Nicholas comically and said, "Nick, you goof. Maybe you should use it next time. It'll be more convenient."

  Nicholas smiled slightly, "Yeah, maybe." He looked at her curiously, "How did your training go?"

  Elianna smiled happily, "It went well! My dad and I actually got a full training session in!"

  Nicholas' lips curved, and he blushed slightly, seeing her practically glowing jovially, "I'm glad. Did you guys spar?"

  Elianna nodded, "Yeah. But it was more to work on technique than a test."

  "Technique is always important."

  Nicholas and Elianna looked toward the voice and smiled, seeing Freya approaching them with Zera behind her.

  "Hey, Aunt Freya."

  "Hello, Mrs. Argyle."

  "Hello, you two," Freya greeted warmly. Freya looked at Nicholas proudly, "Zera told me about your spar. Very well done."

  Nicholas smiled, "Thank you." He looked at Zera curiously, "So, are we done for the day, then?"

  Zera shook her head. "No. We are going to work on one more thing today: channeling."

  Nicholas' smile instantly faded, and even Elianna paled. Memories of their first time channeling flooded both of their minds. They could vividly remember everyone's expressions that day as they stared at them in shock.

  "I—" Nicholas gulped a little. "Channeling?"

  Freya's brows furrowed, looking at her nephew with concern. This was why she wanted to be here for this; she wasn't sure how he would react to this training. Sure, what transpired happened years ago. But that didn't mean Nicholas wasn't still affected by it. And when her eyes flicked to Elianna, Freya could see she was concerned as well.

  Zera kept a calm smile and nodded. However, she was admittedly a little nervous. She also remembered what transpired that day, and was a little hesitant. However, she wasn't going to let her fears dictate how she trained Nicholas.

  "Yes," Zera said calmly. "Channeling."

  Nicholas was motionless for a few moments before his eyes flicked to Elianna. Sensing his gaze, Elianna looked toward him, and they could see the uncertainty and fear in each other's eyes.

  "Nicholas," Freya said gently, eyeing him with some concern. "Are you okay?"

  Looking back toward his aunt, Nicholas smiled slightly and hesitantly nodded, "Y-yeah."

  Freya glanced at Nicholas for a moment before nodding, "Alright. Are you up to trying it?"

  Nicholas gulped but nodded, "S-sure."

  Freya eyed him for a moment longer before saying, "Okay." Looking at Zera, she nodded.

  Zera returned Freya's nod before stepping up to Nicholas. "Alright, Nicholas. So, you've already been explained the context of channeling. So, when we begin, just cast Hydro Blast. It's a—"

  "Fifth-level spell," Nicholas quickly finished. But there was no excitement in his voice. His tone was flat, and his expression was wary. "I know."

  Zera nodded and hesitated for a brief moment before stepping beside him and placing her hand on his shoulder.

  "Elianna, dear," Freya said, smiling at her. "Let's stand to the side."

  Elianna nodded slowly, shooting Nicholas a worried glance before following Freya to a safe distance. Her eyes were locked on Nicholas, with images of a raging fire dancing behind her eyes. Her heart was beating rapidly in her chest, and she felt worried about him. Just the thought of him being injured made her stomach drop.

  "Okay," Zera said calmly. "I'm going to begin."

  Nicholas nodded, his lips tightly pressed together. His shoulder felt warm when he felt Zera begin to push mana into him. However, as soon as her mana reached his mana core, he saw nothing but fire behind his eyes. With a hiss, he jerked away from Zera and stepped back, becoming pale.

  "Nick!" Elianna yelled and didn't hesitate to run to him. As she reached him, she gently placed her hands on his chest, standing inches away from him, looking at him with a worried expression. "N-Nick? Are you okay??"

  Nicholas was silent, breathing heavily, and his eyes were closed. His grip on his staff was tight and shaking, and he saw nothing but fire raging behind his eyes.

  Freya and Zera shared a concerned gaze.

  "Nick," Elianna whispered gently, leaning closer, her body slightly touching his. "Look at me."

  Slowly, Nicholas opened his sea-green eyes. When his gaze fell on Elianna's beautiful celestial blue gems, he felt a sense of serenity wash over him. Seeing her worried expression, Nicholas mustered a smile, "I'm fine."

  "Nicholas."

  Nicholas and Elianna looked toward Freya.

  Freya smiled, "Why don't you rest for the remainder of the day?"

  Nicholas' eyes fell, and he stored his staff into his spatial ring, thinking it was a good idea, "Okay."

  "Come on," Elianna said, not hesitating to take his hand. "Let's go relax at our usual spot."

  Nicholas smiled and nodded, not resisting as Elianna pulled him toward the tree line, "Alright."

  Watching as Elianna and Nicholas walked off, Zera approached Freya. "What do you think?"

  Freya sighed, eyeing her nephew, "I'm thinking that this is a huge mental barrier that will greatly restrict him."

  Zera nodded and looked at Freya questioningly, "And if he can't get over this said barrier?"

  Freya's eyes fell, "Then... he won't be going to field training."