Arran set to work on building a foundation in controlling Shadowfire Essence with angry determination.

His earlier training had been fueled by excitement at finally improving his magical abilities, but the prospect of going through it all again extinguished whatever enthusiasm he had left.

Frustration proved as effective a fuel as excitement, however, and it took him three months to build a stable foundation in Shadowfire Essence — though admittedly, these months felt more like years.

In learning to command the Shadowfire Essence, Arran also learned more about the Essence itself, and despite his annoyance at training, he found himself intrigued by the strange type of Essence.

Rather than merely being a mixture of Shadow and Fire, it was something entirely new, the result combining the qualities of both its constituent parts.

Like Fire Essence, it was violent and destructive, capable of burning holes in rocks even without being used in a spell. Yet like Shadow Essence, it was invisible, with only Arran's connection to his own Essence allowing him to Sense it.

But most surprisingly, it was far more powerful than it should be.

Arran had expected Shadowfire Essence to only have the destructive power of the Fire Essence that went into it. But instead, it was twice as powerful — as if the Shadow Essence it contained also contributed to this destructive strength.

He needed little imagination to understand how this could be invaluable in battle. Shadow Essence had little offensive power, but by fusing it with Fire Essence, a mage would instantly double his strength reserves.

Despite his frustration at having to build yet another foundation, Arran felt some excitement at this discovery. Even if his sword was still a better weapon than his magic, the difference had grown smaller over the past year. And with this, he had made another step toward closing the gap entirely.

At the end of three months, when he had finished his work at building the foundation, Arran immediately set to work on learning the Shadowflame spell.

This was his purpose in coming to the valley, and now that he had learned to create and command Shadowfire Essence, all that remained was to learn the spell. And that, he knew, was a simple matter of time and effort.

Much as he expected, Shadowflame proved hideously difficult to learn. But he now had a solid foundation to go along with the memories from the Sixth Valley's Patriarch, and combined, these things allowed Arran to make steady progress.

His studies were slow but uneventful, and after another three months had passed, Arran finally learned the spell he had worked so hard to master.

By now, any excitement he felt was long gone. Instead, all he felt was relief. Apart from the week of rest he'd taken after practicing Flamestrike and Shadowcloak, he'd done little but study and train for the past year and a half.

Still, if learning Shadowflame didn't bring him much excitement, he was more than a little pleased at its effects.

He had already known that Shadowflame much resembled Flamestrike, but now that he could compare the two, he found that it was a fair bit stronger. And while that alone would have made the effort it took to learn worthwhile, it held another — even bigger — advantage.

Just like the Shadowfire Essence used by the spell, the attacks it produced were completely invisible to both sight and Sense. Other than the considerable damage it caused, the spell might as well have been formed from pure Shadow Essence.

That would make it horrifyingly effective in battle. Any enemy caught unaware would only know he was being attacked once the spell hit him, and by that point, it would be too late to raise a defense.

Better yet, Arran quickly discovered that he could cast the spell while hidden beneath a Shadowcloak. And that meant he could kill people without them ever even knowing they were under attack.

Of course, mages with Shadowsight would not be caught so easily, and enemies with a resistance to magic — like dragons, or Hunters — might survive such an ambush. But any enemy who lacked these things would die without even the chance to resist.

Arran had no foolish notions about honor in battle, but still, he could not help but think commoners' distrust of mages was well-justified.

To face stronger enemies was one thing, but foes who could kill without ever revealing themselves was quite another. Had he not been a mage himself — and one with considerable resistance to magic — he would have avoided magic users like the plague.

But Arran was a mage, and rather than avoid this terrible new power, he spent several weeks carefully practicing it.

He had seen the spell in action when Snowcloud's grandfather used it, and although he suspected the old man had imbued it with some insight to boost its power, he knew well just how devastating it could be.

Without any bad habits to unlearn, his progress was far quicker than it had been with Flamestrike and Shadowcloak. Just a few weeks of intense practice were enough for him to reach a good level of familiarity with the spell.

Finally, he had completed the task that had brought him to the Valley. It had taken a year and a half of training, but in the end, he had succeeded.

Yet now, he would have to decide what to do next.

He still needed to build a foundation for his other Realms — Wind, Force, Earth, and Stone — but even if he could find the willpower to spend another year retreading his steps, he lacked the time to do so.

Brightblade had said she expected him to finish in under two years, after which he was to head toward the Hunters' lands. And with tensions in the borderlands already running high, Arran knew that even two years would be tight — it wouldn't surprise him in the least if war broke out far sooner than Brightblade had expected.

Moreover, he was supposed to study the books Brightblade had given him, as well. And although all he knew about them was that they contained information on seals, he had little doubt that they would prove both challenging and time-consuming.

But after some thought, he rejected the idea of starting work on the books right away.

After the many months he'd spent training and studying, his mind was utterly exhausted. Even during the last few weeks of practice, his focus had faltered more than once, and further work would only increase the burden.

Before anything else, he needed rest, and enough of it to restore his drained reserves.

Yet although he needed rest, he had no desire to waste several weeks doing nothing at all. He needed something more interesting, to take his mind off his studies.

He glanced at the cave at the end of the valley, and a small grin appeared on his face.

In truth, he'd already decided to explore the tunnels the moment he finished learning Shadowflame. He had wanted to do so ever since he found them, and the only thing holding him back had been the task he had to complete.

But now that he had achieved his goal, he could no longer contain his curiosity. If the tunnels led to the starmetal deposit, he would try his best to find it. There might be danger along the way, but then, with great danger came great rewards.

And, if nothing else, he might get the chance to put his new skills to use.

He unsealed the cave with delay, spending half an hour carefully removing the wards he had placed and the rocks he had used to block the way. Then, he broke through the damaged wall at the end of the cave and stepped into the dark cavern.

At once, he was filled with a sense of excitement he had dearly missed during his many months of training. It wasn't just the possibility of finding treasure that attracted him — there was something about the chance of facing danger that attracted him, as well.

With danger came experience and the chance to truly hone his skills. The strength he had, he largely owed to the threats he had faced along his path. And while many of them had brought him to the brink of death, they had ultimately allowed him to gain the power to protect himself.

Inside the cavern, he carefully inspected the area with both his Sense and his Shadowsight. When he found nothing, he used some Fire Essence to light up the area, but his eyes saw nothing he hadn't already found.

The large cavern in which he stood was completely empty, with its rock walls gray and bare. The only thing of note were two dark tunnels, leading to his left and right.

He thought for a moment, then chose the left one. And with a slight grin on his face, he ventured into the darkness, eager to find whatever it was these tunnels held.