Relearning Shadowcloak proved every bit as much of a challenge as Arran had expected it to be.

It was a difficult spell to begin with, and unlike Flamestrike, it needed to be maintained constantly. This provided plenty of opportunity for Arran to fall back into the bad habits he'd grown accustomed to over the years, and maintaining the proper technique required constant effort.

He struggled for well over a month, but he refused to let himself be discouraged by this slow progress. Eliminating flaws that had festered for years would take time, and no amount of complaining would change that.

Instead, he persisted with stubborn determination, set on correcting his past mistakes. Whenever he noticed himself slipping into old techniques, he would immediately stop his casting and start anew, paying extra attention to those parts of the spell that had given him trouble.

It was a burdensome path, but after another two weeks, he finally succeeded — and the result immediately filled him with excitement.

With Flamestrike, his new foundation had allowed him to cast a far more powerful version of the spell than he had previously managed, with the Essence being used far more effectively.

Yet with Shadowcloak, the effect was a different one. Arran's use of Essence had become more efficient here, as well, but since the Shadowcloak gained no benefit from additional strength, the result was that he consumed far less Essence to maintain the spell.

With wide eyes, he realized that where he had previously only been able to use Shadowcloak for a minute or two, now, he should be able to maintain it for well over an hour.

Sustaining a Shadowcloak for such an amount of time was impossible even for the strongest adepts, and Arran briefly found himself dumbfounded by the result. He had expected to see some improvements, but this surpassed even his wildest dreams.

But after he gave it some thought, he realized it made sense.

For most mages, Shadow was among their weakest Realms. Yet Arran's Shadow Realm had twice been forcefully expanded by large quantities of Realm Opening Pills, and in the years following that, he had used Shadow Essence more than any other of his Realms.

That his Shadow Realm was freakishly strong should come as no surprise, and previously, he had used that strength to compensate for his flawed foundation. But now, he could finally put that vast fount of Shadow Essence to good use.

Yet pleased though he was with the result of his training so far, he knew he wasn't done yet.

He had painstakingly corrected his foundation, then relearned the two most complex spells he knew. Now, all he lacked was practice in truly using them — like weapons that he could control without a thought, rather than spells he needed to focus to cast.

He knew this was a step he could not skip. Only by using skills under pressure would he truly comprehend them, and only by comprehending how to use Fire and Shadow Essence would he be able to merge the two.

This posed a problem, however. The type of training he needed was something that needed an opponent — a sparring partner or enemies, who could pressure him as he used his spells.

But he was all alone in the valley, and although the mountains should hold at least some hostile beasts, he was certain none of them would pose even the slightest challenge.

For a moment, he considered heading into the cavern, to see if perhaps it held some unknown dangers or enemies. Yet he quickly thought better of it — although facing enemies would benefit him, blindly charging into unknown territory just to see if he could find a battle would be more than foolish.

Instead, he let out a deep sigh, then turned his attention to the mountain opposite the cave.

Without hesitation, he drew his starmetal sword and used his Shadowcloak to conceal himself, then attacked the mountainside with a furious barrage of Flamestrikes and sword strokes, assaulting the cold rock as if it was a living enemy.

He understood that this was nowhere even close to facing a real opponent, but it was the option he had available. And if the mountain didn't provide him with the pressure of battle, he would just have to push himself to the point where his own exhaustion became his enemy.

For three days he fought against this silent opponent, cutting and burning a mile-long tunnel into the side of the mountain. He neither slept nor ate, instead focusing all his energy on maintaining the attack.

He used his Shadowcloak as much as he could, only dropping it when he ran out of Shadow Essence — and even then, he renewed it the moment his Shadow Essence was replenished.

When he attacked, he used Flamestrike when he had Fire Essence available, and his sword when he did not. While tearing through the rock with his blade had little practical benefit, it furthered his exhaustion, ensuring he had not even the slightest moment of rest.

The strategy, ridiculous though it was, proved effective.

After only a single day he was already trembling with fatigue, and the challenge of casting the two complex spells perfectly despite his increasing exhaustion helped his skill and control improve even further than it already had.

Yet after half a week, deep within the mountain, he unexpectedly came upon another cavern. He took a brief look inside this time, but when he found nothing, he blocked and sealed the tunnel.

Then, he moved back to the valley and renewed his assault on the mountain in another place.

He kept this up for over a month, waging a relentless war against the mountains that he only interrupted for rest whenever his body would truly go no more.

During the month of training he dug a dozen deep wounds in the mountainside, and twice more he encountered caverns hidden far beneath the mountains. Both of these he sealed and blocked, though by now, he was beginning to suspect that beneath the mountains lay a vast network of caves and tunnels.

He was curious to see where the tunnels led — if they led anywhere at all — but he suppressed his desire to venture beneath the mountains and find out for himself. Until he finished his training, he would not let himself be distracted.

Finally, well over a month after he'd launched his campaign against the mountain range, he decided he'd had enough.

Perhaps there were more gains to be had if he continued for another few months, but there was only so much time a man could assault mountains before he started to doubt his own sanity.

Not to mention that he'd grown increasingly worried that an entire mountain might collapse on top of him — something that would be troublesome even with the strength of his body.

More importantly, while he might not have completely perfected his control yet, he was confident that he was ready for the final step — merging Fire and Shadow Essence.

Before he set to work on that last task, however, he first spent a full week resting. After the self-inflicted ordeal, both his mind and his body were in desperate need of recovery.

When the exhaustion from a month of tearing through mountains had worn off, he prepared himself to face the final task. He dug deep into his memories, remembering exactly how the Sixth Valley's Patriarch had effortlessly merged the Essence within his body.

Only when he was certain there wasn't a single detail he'd forgotten or ignored did he move on, finally ready to accomplish the task that had taken him all these months of preparation.

He gathered Fire and Shadow Essence in equal amounts within his body, using the control he'd gained through nearly a year of constant training to command the two dense clouds of energy.

Then, he moved them together in the same way Snowcloud's grandfather had shown him, and…

He blinked in surprise when he realized he'd succeeded on his very first try. He had expected the task would still take him weeks if not months, but instead, drawing upon his memories, success had come instantly and without the slightest bit of effort.

His body now held a dense cloud of Essence that was neither Shadow nor Fire, but at the same time held qualities of both. And this Shadowfire Essence was entirely stable, as if he had drawn it from its own Realm.

Yet even before his surprise could turn to joy, he made a discovery that made him want to scream in frustration.

The Shadowfire Essence was different enough from Fire and Shadow Essence that the foundation he had built in both was all but useless. Which meant that to control it properly, he would have to start his training anew.

For three days he sat in the valley with gloomy eyes, feeling a boundless sense of frustration now that he understood that he would once more have to spend months practicing the Forms, this time with Shadowfire Essence.

But then, he wearily stood up, and forced himself to get to work. Just a few more months, and if nothing else went wrong, he'd finally be done with this infernal task.