Zalan shot out of bed in a matter of minutes. He tenderly stretched his hands and arms, until satisfied that he’d fully healed himself. He punched his arm out excitedly, not having been able to use his arms for days. He swung his legs off the mattress and looked to Nold who was standing at the door. 

“Can we go?” Zalan asked impatiently. 

Nold shook his head and silently nodded to Rep on the other bed. Rep was sound asleep, the discoloration on his face caused by the Slimescorp ebbing away with every second that passed. Zalan was able to witness the healing happen in real time. It was fascinating. The cut from the Slimescorp was no longer a blemish on his face, fading away. His hands twitched as all bruises and wounds danced away from his hands. His skin was clear, as though it had never seen adventure before.

Rep snorted and rolled over groggily, the healing complete.

“I am awake,” Rep murmured half-consciously.  

“Great, now can we go? How much time has passed?” Zalan asked. 

“Not long. We can leave if you are ready,” Nold said.

Zalan jumped out of bed and rushed to the door, to which Rep suddenly snapped to attention and went to chase after him. Rep caught his arm just as he was about to leave the room.

“You are not going after that Slauson character, are you?” Rep asked. 

“What if I am?” 

“You could be disqualified from the tournament,” Rep warned. 

“I don’t care,” Zalan snapped angrily. 

Rep shook his head slightly, stunned. Zalan tried to twist his arm away, but Rep pulled back forcefully, a reminder of their difference in Strength.

“What about you? Do you not care if he disqualifies himself?” Rep asked Nold.

“I do not,” Nold shrugged. 

Both Rep and Zalan looked at him in surprise. Zalan stopped trying to pull away.

“You don’t care?” Zalan prodded Nold. 

“The goal of my teaching is to enhance your powers and abilities. The tournament is usually a goal that my students aim for. But there are many reasons to want to enhance one’s power. If Zalan has decided he has new priorities, I trust him,” Nold said. 

Trust. The simple word brought his mood back from a boil to a simmer. His instructor trusted him. More than Rep, evidently. It meant a lot to him. A trusting bond was forming between himself and Nold. The intensity in his stance slackened.

“Am I the last sane person here?” Rep asked, astonished. “I thought the entire plan was to enter the tournament. When did we decide against that?”

“No, no, you’re right,” Zalan said, relaxing himself. “I won’t do anything stupid. We need to go to the tournament.”

In the grand scheme of things, Rep was right. He needed to enter the tournament. That was the whole plan. Now, there was the added benefit of having the chance to beat Slauson in a fight. Rep watched Zalan carefully, but let go of him. 

“To the courtyard, then,” Nold led the way, not giving a second thought to the tension rising between his students.

Rep and Zalan wanted to ask why they were headed to the courtyard instead of back to the path, but Nold had already left the room.

They exited the inn out to the back where there was an open courtyard for training. The residents of Naverforth were aware of contestants wanting to get last minute training, so many places of business would allow entry to a neighboring courtyard as part of payment. Like a hotel that came with a pool. An inn that came with a training ground.

“Can’t we just get a move on?” Zalan asked. 

“You will show me how much you have improved. I suspect you will hurt yourselves when trying to show me your ability to imbue. When that happens, we will heal again, then we shall leave,” Nold answered. 

Zalan looked ambivalent, but didn’t offer any more objections. It would be nice to be able to use his full power when a chance to heal was within walking distance. 

Nold set up two straw dummies apart from one another in the courtyard. He then moved to stand in between the dummies. He raised a fist straight in the air and fired a ball of flame. Without Nold even looking up, the flame split in two and came back down and struck both of the dummies like heat-seeking missiles. Rep and Zalan were amazed that Nold still had surprises to offer them. 

“Show me how well you can redirect your powers,” Nold said to the two as he stepped away. “You will not have to turn it all the way around as I have demonstrated, but look to the left and redirect it all the way to the right.”

“So, like a 90 degree turn?” Zalan clarified. 

“A what? Just turn it perpendicular to where you emit it,” Nold said. 

Zalan nodded and directed himself away from the dummy. He put his hand out in front of him and threw a blast of lightning, trying his best to twist it in a new direction. It was slow to turn and hit the courtyard fence before he could turn it more than 20 degrees. He sighed in disappointment. He was hoping that once he had full use of his hands again, he would be able to curve a lot better than his feet, but he was way off. He wondered how well his opponents would be able to curve in the tournament.

“Good progress from not being able to curve at all only a few days ago,” Nold nodded. “But you have much to improve.”

“Yeah, I know,” Zalan grumbled. 

Rep went next, turning away from his dummy and breathing in deep. He let out his breath as well as a fireball. Without much motion from his arms, he was able to curve it all the way around to a full right angle. It slammed into the ground next to the dummy. His aim was a bit off, but he was able to curve the fire enough to be satisfied. 

“You did it!” Zalan said, amazed. 

“I suppose I did,” Rep said, not really believing it himself as he stared at the dark mark in the earth. 

“Your aim needs work,” Nold criticized, without offering any additional praise. Rep didn’t seem to mind. 

Next, Rep and Zalan made their way in front of the dummies to punch them with an imbued fist. Both students rubbed their hands nervously, knowing that they might hurt themselves more than they hurt the straw targets. They assessed their immobile targets for a few seconds, neither one wanting to initiate the attack. 

“Stop stalling,” Nold warned. 

Zalan went first, summoning his power around his hand and punching the dummy with all his might. The dummy’s neck exploded in an array of sparks, the head flying clean off. Zalan immediately powered down his hand and assessed the damage he did to himself, wincing in anticipation of the incoming pain. 

Except there was no damage. 

Zalan had totally imbued his hand without shocking himself in the slightest. At first his eyes widened in shock, then he smiled like a madman.

“I did it!” Zalan said. “It didn’t hurt at all!”

To make his point, Zalan imbued both hands and punched the dummy’s torso, once again causing it to explode where he made contact. He powered down and looked over his hands, delighted to see not the slightest scratch. 

“Well done!” Nold said, excited. “You can imbue yourself with lightning! That is no small feat! A good display of power!”

Rep was excited to see Zalan succeed and tried to use that upbeat energy to build his own confidence. As soon as he imbued his hand, he cried out and put out the flame. Shaking his hand, he saw it was a dark red and bleeding slightly. He still couldn’t imbue himself without causing himself harm. He massaged his hand, looking over it in disappointment.

“Well,” Rep sighed, disappointed. “At least we both have something to improve.”

“One last test for you, Zappo,” Nold said. “Can you imbue your entire body?”

Zalan thought about it for a moment, then nodded confidently. He had no idea, but was excited enough to want to try. Nold held a piece of straw to Zalan’s neck and waited for him to imbue himself. Zalan let the power loose, feeling the energy surge through every part of him. He felt more powerful than he ever had before, like he wore a chainmail armor of lightning. He shined a bright blue, then the straw in Nold’s hand lit aflame from Zalan’s power. Nold laughed.

“Well done! I would say you are tournament ready!” 

“Really?” Zalan exclaimed, thrilled. Zalan looked over his glowing blue arms, amazed at the display.

“Indeed. The last step is to make your imbue thinner along your body to hide it from your opponents. Keeping it like this is not only very taxing on your energy, but will indicate to everyone what your power is when you want to keep it hidden,” Nold said. “But you have learned some excellent skills. Were you a higher Level, I would be certain that you could win.”

“I thought you said that Levels didn’t matter in hand to hand combat?” Zalan said, deflating a little. 

“I never said they do not matter! If someone of Strength 20 gets a direct hit on you, then you will be incapacitated on the moment of impact. I merely said that one’s Level is not the most important aspect of the fight. You still need to be agile in battle and learn to read your opponent. We have more training to do on the way,” Nold said, moving to leave the courtyard.

“Umm,” Rep mumbled. “Are you not going to wait for me to heal, first?”

Nold turned around and looked at Rep with surprise, like he forgot he was there. 

“Right, yes. Go and heal and then we can be on our way for some more training,” Nold said. 

Rep quickly went back inside and Zalan practiced imbuing his hand over and over in excitement. Only days ago, he had no idea this power existed, but now he felt like a master. He looked to his instructor with admiration. 

“Thank you for your help,” Zalan said graciously, then was suddenly struck by a question. “How much am I going to owe you for all of this? Do you charge per student?”

“I do not require any monetary payment,” Nold shook his head. “But I am certain there will come a time that I will be in need of your Element. I only hope that you will do me the favor of assisting me if the time comes.”

“Of course!” Zalan said, excited to be of any use to Nold. “What kind of place would you need my Elemental power? You already have three, I thought you would be set.” 

“Ah, but there are so many more powers that I could have,” Nold said wistfully. “The high seas are notorious for being surrounded by thunderstorms. I may ask you to assist me in gaining access to lands beyond the sea.”

“What’s out there?” Zalan asked.

“A means for me to gain another Elemental Power,” Nold replied.

“Another one?” Zalan was suddenly very curious to see the Elemental in person. He wanted to know what kind of challenge Nold would be issued when he had three Elemental Powers to begin with. Something like being able to drain the ocean with a straw. “Sure! I’d love to help. I wouldn’t be this powerful without you,” Zalan said. 

“You are far from having reached your potential. Consider the ability to smite others at a distance to be your peak. Until you can summon lighting from the sky on command, I will consider you incomplete,” Nold instructed. 

“When should I be able to do that?”

“When your Wisdom reaches seven, you should be able to conjure your Elemental Power from beyond yourself. So, you should be able to learn the ability within the next Level or two.” 

“Right,” Zalan agreed. The idea sounded amazing to him, being able to call upon lighting from the sky at any moment. 

“Ready!” Rep appeared next to them, fully healed. “If I do not try to imbue myself, we should arrive at the tournament at our full potential.”

“Excellent, let us be off,” Nold said, leading the way out of the town and back to the path toward the Elemental Rage Tournament.