After his out-of-body experience, Kahn officially began learning Spiritbending under Iroh's guidance.
As the most ancient bending art—older than Water, Earth, Fire, or Air—Spiritbending did not have the complex forms, stances, or elemental variations of the Four Arts.
Its power felt primitive and profound, almost resembling the spirits themselves.
Of course, this "power" wasn't meant for attacking.
Back in the era when ancient spirits roamed freely, humans stood no chance against them.
Combat was meaningless. Instead, humans relied on Spiritbending to communicate with spirits and seek protection.
In the present day, Spiritbending's strength lies in its overwhelming support abilities.
So far, Kahn had only learned the out-of-body technique. In ancient times, this helped humans communicate with spirits more directly.
Now, however, the same technique functioned like a super reconnaissance skill.
In his soul state, he could ignore terrain, gravity, walls—everything—and move freely in any direction.
Ascending into the sky, slipping through the ground, passing through stone… all were effortless. With deeper mastery, even teleportation would someday be possible.
And since ordinary humans cannot see disembodied souls, no one could stop him except another Spiritbender.
Naturally, his physical body needed to be placed somewhere safe in the meantime.
And the out-of-body technique was only the beginning.
At higher levels, Spiritbending could sharpen one's perception, allow early detection of danger, sense emotions, and eventually even read minds.
It could influence the emotions of others, sense the "spirit" of all living and nonliving things… the list went on.
It might not directly deal damage, but the sheer number of passive buffs and support-type advantages made Kahn practically drool.
His evaluation of Spiritbending could be summarized in two words:
Absolutely awesome.
And while Spiritbending lacked direct offensive power, Kahn had plenty of ideas about how it could be used aggressively. Still, those plans were for the future.
For now, there was one ability he desired more than anything:
Traveling to the Spirit World.
The Spirit World—also known as the God Realm—was home to the spirits. Humans lived in the Human Realm.
Long ago, the two realms were connected.
But for reasons lost to history, the First Avatar sealed the gateway, guiding most spirits to return to the Spirit World.
That same Avatar became the bridge between humans and spirits.
The Human Realm and Spirit World still overlapped, but their environments remained drastically different.
According to Iroh, the Spirit World had no conflict, no deceit—its inhabitants were pure-hearted and kind.
A paradise compared to the Human Realm.
Many times, Kahn thought Iroh was napping. In reality, Iroh had been slipping away to the Spirit World to drink tea with his spirit friends.
You've really been living this leisurely, huh?
And while average humans couldn't cross realms freely, powerful spirits could. Among humans, only two categories could do the same:
The Avatar
Spiritbenders
They had once served as the bridge between the two realms long before the first Avatar existed.
Hearing this, Kahn felt both proud and excited. If Spiritbenders possessed the same privilege, then he fully intended to make the most of it.
Seeing Kahn's glowing eyes, Iroh chuckled.
"Want to visit the Spirit World? You haven't learned how to travel there yourself yet, but I can take you."
"Of course I want to go!"
And so, Kahn's first journey was decided.
Traveling to the Spirit World was surprisingly simple.
With one smooth, instantaneous movement, Iroh brought him across. Kahn barely had time to blink before the scenery changed.
"Is this the Spirit World?"
He found himself standing on a vast grassland, warm sunlight shining overhead. Distant rocky hills contrasted sharply with the steep mountains nearby.
It was beautiful—though not quite what he had imagined.
But when the spirits appeared, any hint of disappointment vanished completely.
Their appearances were bizarre:
Walking brown bears, stoats, and lizards…
Flower-faced spirits, rock spirits…
Cute ones, ugly ones, ugly-cute ones…
And all of them able to speak human language.
For a moment, Kahn genuinely felt like he had stepped into a storybook.
"Iroh, you're here again!"
"Come try this tea I got last week!"
"I want a rematch! Last time didn't count!"
"Iroh!"
Dozens of spirits rushed over to greet Iroh enthusiastically. Clearly, he was immensely popular here.
Iroh laughed and introduced Kahn:
"This is Kahn, my prized disciple."
Kahn bowed politely. "Hello, everyone."
"Another human? Is he the Avatar?"
"Of course not! The Avatar hasn't visited in ages!"
"If Iroh is human, then his student is naturally human too!"
The spirits welcomed Kahn warmly, soon hosting an impromptu tea party in his honor.
Kahn spent a peaceful, pleasant day with them.
The spirits were as pure and kind as Iroh described—there was something incredibly comforting about simply being around them.
During their time together, Iroh explained more about the Spirit World.
Spirits, being pure consciousness, were extremely sensitive to emotion and intent.
Because of this, they were easily influenced—something only the strongest spirits could avoid.
If they sensed goodwill, they responded with warmth.
If they sensed malice, they became fearsome and monstrous.
A perfect mirror of the human heart.
This applied not only to spirits but also to the entire Spirit World.
Good mood brought clear skies; bad mood stirred storms. If someone's spirit was strong enough, even the terrain could shift to reflect their inner world.
No wonder Iroh loved coming here.
Kahn was stunned. The Spirit World truly felt like something out of a different universe.
After returning to the Human Realm, he was more motivated than ever.
He wanted to learn how to travel between the two realms on his own as soon as possible. The Spirit World was too wonderful to only visit under supervision.
But just as he was preparing for more training, someone finally came online.
Azula.
And she was here to challenge him—claiming she was going to "smash his head."
Kahn recalled the Firebending technique he had been developing and couldn't help but grin.
"Come on, then."
...
Author's Note:
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