Chapter 73: Unreliable

Teo sat down by the stage watching Windle and Lia spar.

They both had improved quite a bit. Lia was agile with a decent power behind her hits, while Windle had a strong guard and great power despite his lack of speed. He was less reliant on his elementalist powers, but would use it quite often to control people’s movements using [Firewall].

Teo eventually could not concentrate on spectating the match. His arms throbbed in pain as his thoughts wandered.

‘Did it’s power suddenly ran out?’

He peeked under his shirt but did not notice anything different with the array. Even with his [God’s Eyes], Teo could never really unravel the secrets of this array but he still looked to see if there were any changes.

His sore arm and backside were evidence that its defensive abilities had changed, or more likely vanished. He slammed his stick into his arm while bracing for impact as an experiment. Unfortunately, his guess was right on the money.

Cold sweat coated his back as fear gripped his heart. Teo had always relied on this defensive ability during spars. Even his first win in a real duel against Kristofer was won partly because of this array.

Teo was unsure when the change had happened since it had been a long time since he had last sparred. With the sudden disappearance of one of his main tools in combat, he felt extremely vulnerable.

‘Maybe it’ll come back after a while,’ He hoped futilely.

“Teo, are you feeling better?” Lia asked as she approached. Windle could still be seen on the stage panting heavily.

“No, I think I’m done sparring for the day”

“Okay, well let’s start the reviewing session then. Windle come over here!” Lia suggested.

After a three way sparring session, they would often give each other feedback on things they noticed. Strengths, possible weakness, habits or any other things that might help them improve.

“I’ll start, Teo, you really should switch to a single sword. Your dual wielding is cool and all but...you really suck at it. Windle, you are getting lazy on your speed. If you aren’t relying on your fire attribute, then you need to increase your speed more,” Lia critiqued

“I know, but I don’t know any other move. Instructor Diana never taught me anything concrete and you are too fast for me to handle,” Windle complained

He tried to learn as many fire techniques he could. He tried imitating that skills of that flame guild elementalist he saw, but it was too difficult to work out on his own.

“There’s some books on the second floor with elementalist skills. There are also some combat related for cultivators,” Teo chimed in

“Really?!” both of them asked Teo with expectant gazes

Teo nodded and said “Yeah, but it’s all in books, I don’t think they have too many drawn pictures in them”

“Wanna go?” Lia invited

“Let’s go!” Windle accepted, but Teo suddenly shook his head and replied “I’m good for now, I think I’ll rest a bit in my room”

Windle’s jaw dropped and Lia thought hell had finally frozen over.

“Teo? You’re Teo right?” She asked as if her friend for 2 years suddenly changed into another person.

Teo gave a smile and said, “I’m just not feeling too well today, let’s meet again tomorrow”

After Teo had left, the two looked at each other

“I guess he really is not feeling well today,” Windle concluded

“Maybe some impostor is disguising as him!” Lia declared and smiled

-----

A blank book laid in front of Windle as he read. He flipped the pages one after the other before briefly glancing at Lia beside him.

Lia was intently reading a martial art book, but her eyes started to crisscross.

“Gah!! I don’t know how you and Teo can do this!”

She screamed as the martial art text was not as simple as she had thought. After a tirade of ‘shhh’ and ‘be quiet’, Lia quickly gave an apologetic gesture to the elders and other students.

“You just need to get used to it,” Windle said calmly as he flipped another page.

“This is more like a medical book than a martial art book! Look at this, what’s this ‘solar plexus’ thingy,” Lia complained.

The book spoke of the natural weaknesses of the human body, and Lia had no clue which part was called what.

“Well, the book I found is quite intriguing. A fire elementalist’s basic guide! I didn’t realize fire could be used in several different ways!” Windle declared as he continued to read

Windle only had skills using his fire element. [Fire Ball], [Fire Wall], and [Flame Enchantment]

Even though it was considered one of the most basic guides, a plethora of different skills and their properties were listed down in great detail.

‘Fire element have several ways of being used, one of which is its heat, while the other is using its explosive force,’ Windle mentally read

Lia slumped down on the desk as she slowly read.

“Hey Windle…”

“Hm?..”

“It’s nothing..”

Lia sighed as her thoughts drifted to think of other things. She wanted to ask why Windle was so motivated to go to the Capital, but she knew every time she asked that question, Windle had always dodged the question.

Her thoughts drifted back to her memories of the past...

-----

Five years ago...

“Big brother! Wait! Don’t go!”

A young girl dashes out of her home grabbing hold of her brother’s arms.

“You can’t go *sniff* you j-just got back..”

The young man knelt down and hugged his little sister. Lia could feel his warmth as tears dropped from her cheeks onto his shirt.

“Little Lia, once you grow up, you’ll see that the world is much a bigger place than this village. I am going to find my place within the world.”

“But.. but.. *sniff* ”

“Don’t cry now, you’re a big girl already. Although big brother will miss you, there is a place I want to see with my own eyes.”

“Fine go! I hate Vin!”

Little Lia ran inside, running past both her parents who stood near the entrance.

“Lia! Li- *sigh*,” Vin tried to explain it but Lia was already inside.

“Don’t worry about her, I’ll try to explain it to her”

“Mother.. I..thanks”

Vin’s parents already knew it a year before since he came back from the academy. Many children would come back from, no longer kids but youths with many aspirations and dreams.

“Vincent, take care of yourself out there. It might become a dangerous trip, make sure your friends watch each others’ backs”

“Yes father, we have quite a few. I am guessing it might take more than a year to reach the Capital. I’ll send letters back home once I get there.”

After her brother had left, she cried herself to sleep.

As a child growing up, Lia had never met her brother before. He had already left for the academy before she was even born, but as she grew up she heard of her brother from the letters he sent.

Eventually, Lia sent her first letter to Vincent and since then, they exchanged letters as often as they could. They would only talk through letters, but a bond between siblings still grew after a few years. Once his beloved brother had come back, he stayed with the family for a year. He would often tell her stories, buy her many gifts, teach her many new things and even gave the nickname ‘Lia’ to her.

A year after Vincent left, letters from him started coming in. He finally reached the capital and expressed the wonders of the city and told stories of his adventure. Lia who was still upset with her brother, refused to reply despite being amazed by her brother’s experiences.

It wasn’t until a year later that the letters suddenly stopped coming.

-----

Lia looked towards Windle and could feel that he was the same. She never talked about her brother with the others, and Windle had always refused to talk about his parents.

She continued to flip through the pages, as to hide the worry in her heart.

‘Big brother, where are you? I wanted to say that I’m sorry..’

-----

Laying on his bed, Teo felt his left arm pulsating in pain.

The next day, Teo tested the array again but the power of the defensive array failed to activate. The situation was quite troubling as his defensive capabilities were clearly reduced.

‘I have always thought that the old man’s these things were reliable...’

He felt a sudden helplessness as he wanted questions answered but the old man had yet to return even after so much time had passed. With time running out, he knew that trouble would be right around the corner once again.

Zachery and his goons were going to recover soon and Teo expected that after the tournament ended, his protection from the older students was going to vanish.

An urgent feeling emerged in his mind, and he quickly poured his Qi into the array on his chest. Soon, his consciousness entered into the dark night of the inner world.

Sitting down in front of the pond, the glow of his eyes disappeared. After deactivating [God’s eyes], he took a bag that had never left this inner world. The bag had ten different colored stone; one representing a different element.

‘If I can’t rely on his protective array, then I can’t rely on these eyes either.’

Teo closed his eyes and started sensing the elemental energies.

With the abilities given to him by the old man becoming unreliable, Teo’s urgency to get stronger was ignited once more!

[Edited by thisisnate]

[Proofread by Soeir]

[Author's Note: If you wish to read ahead, check out byCienz. Thanks for reading and have a nice day!]