The training ground instantly turned into a battleground, the air thick with anticipation and volatile mana. With Kaelus using only his innate Wind magic and a wooden sword, his teammates were eager to test the strange, bottomless power humming inside him. Kaelus had explicitly told them: "Push me to my absolute limits. I need to be forced to manifest the Fire and Earth elements I just consumed." Their goal was simple: push Kaelus until those dormant elements erupted, or until his gigantic mana reserve finally ran dry.
Zathis, his eyes bright with competitive excitement, claimed the first spar. He shouted and launched a powerful spiral of boiling steam—his Geyser Element (Fire/Water). It was a deadly, fast attack meant to melt anything it touched.
Kaelus didn't hesitate. He was too fast, moving not like a regular mage, but like a gust of wind given form, disappearing completely and leaving only a hazy ghost image behind.
The Geyser Strike roared past the afterimage. Kaelus instantly reappeared behind Zathis, slamming the flat of his wooden sword onto Zathis's back. It was a soft hit, but the sheer speed of his dodge and counter-attack was stunning.
Zathis quickly rolled away, wrapped in protective steam. "Too fast! But where's the power? Hit me with a Wind Blade!"
Kaelus swung the wooden sword and sent out a Wind Blade. It wasn't the usual small, green crescent. It was a massive, tightly packed wall of air that cut across the ground. It sliced straight through Zathis's steam shield and forced him to raise a second, tougher shield just to block the blow.
"That was a Wind spell, Kaelus!" Zathis yelled. "But there's no other Wind Mage who can produce that force with a basic spell! Your mana density is unreal!"
Kaelus didn't wait for the comment to register. He used the huge Wind Blade as a distraction to mask his true movement. As Zathis braced against the dense wave of air, Kaelus instantly blurred to his right side and unleashed a condensed sphere of spinning wind—the Vortex Sphere skill.
Zathis, still reeling from the force of the initial Wind Blade, was too late to react. The Vortex Sphere slammed into his ribs with the impact of a charging boulder. He cried out, the force making him fly backward almost uncontrollably. Kaelan reacted instantly, slamming his hands onto the ground and raising a soft, thick Earth Cushion just seconds before Zathis hit. Zathis bounced harmlessly but was clearly winded.
Zane walked over, his expression serious. "Work together with the others, Zathis. Take this battle seriously."
Next, Jian (Lava Element, Fire/Earth) joined the fight, working with Kaelan and Grund (Wood Element, Earth/Water). They created an unbreakable defense focused on the elements Kaelus had failed to gain.
Jian pounded his fist down, instantly raising a thick wall of solid lava. At the same time, Kaelan and Grund joined their power to grow a massive, tangled Wood Barrier right behind it, creating a double wall.
"Try to break this, Wind Mage!" Jian challenged.
Kaelus took a deep breath. He focused his newly expanded mana pool entirely into his movements, not for a spell, but for pure physical force. He sprinted toward the wall. When he reached it, he delivered a rapid, invisible storm of strikes with the wooden sword.
Crack-Crack-CRACK!
The sound was like small explosions. The lava wall, which should have been impervious, cracked like old glass. With one final, focused push, Kaelus punched a clean hole straight through both the lava and wood defenses, stepping casually through the wreckage.
"He didn't use any other element," Sylva noted, completely amazed. "He just used raw physical force amplified by his Wind mana. I don't know we can use the Wind magic like this. I am learning in real-time."
Kaelus was frustrated that he still couldn't access Fire or Earth. He sat down briefly, forcing his consciousness into his core, feeling the immense, dormant power. The energy is still in my core, just converted. Maybe with intense focus and training, I can still manifest the properties of Fire and Earth. He knew he had to push himself harder, believing the elements were only dormant, waiting for a powerful catalyst.
"I need a better test," Kaelus told Zane. "Hit me with everything you've got. I need real pressure."
Zane and Sylva stepped into the arena, forming a dangerous partnership. Zane's Petrify Element (Wind/Earth) specialized in stopping movement, while Sylva's Plasma Element (Wind/Fire) delivered pure, concentrated destruction.
"We won't hold back, Kaelus. If you get hit, you might be stuck for good," Zane warned, his hands already glowing with a dull, earthy brown light.
Sylva didn't waste time. She gathered energy, and the air around her crackled violently before she unleashed a focused beam of pure, searing Plasma.
Kaelus moved before the Plasma hit. He was enveloped in a thin, humming layer of Wind mana, pushing his speed far beyond what any 4-Star mage should be capable of. He didn't just dodge; he flowed around the beam, weaving closer to Sylva.
Zane moved to intercept. He slammed his fist down, casting Petrify Web. Invisible threads of hardening Earth mana shot out, aiming to instantly lock Kaelus's legs in place.
Kaelus was trapped between the immediate threat of being immobilized by Petrify and being vaporized by Plasma. He didn't use a spell. Instead, he channeled his massive mana pool into his feet and jumped—not just vertically, but with a massive kinetic blast that shattered the ground beneath him. The resulting shockwave tore through the air and disrupted Zane's Petrify Web just as it was tightening around his ankles.
He landed on the shattered ground, barely avoiding Sylva's second sweeping Plasma attack. The heat was so intense it burned the air around him. The basic swordsmanship Zane instilled in me is too helpful, Kaelus realized. It's the only reason I can channel this raw Wind power into controlled physical bursts.
"He's using his Wind to push his body to superhuman limits!" Sylva shouted over the noise. "It's all internal amplification!"
Zane quickly cast a wider, slower Petrify Field, trying to solidify the entire ground beneath Kaelus's feet. Kaelus sprinted in a tight circle, forcing his own Wind mana outward. The rapid rotation created a vacuum, lifting him slightly and keeping the hardening Earth mana from gripping his shoes. He countered with a flurry of invisible, amplified wooden sword strikes, targeting the weak points in Zane's shield.
The initial exchange with Zane and Sylva only intensified. They had seen Kaelus's raw power, but now they activated their combined battle strategy, using their wits and diverse elements to overwhelm his insane speed and single-element focus.
"Time for coordination!" Sylva shouted, her eyes gleaming with tactical focus. She recognized that Kaelus's defense was speed, and the only way to beat speed was to eliminate movement options. She continued to lash out with focused, searing Plasma Beams, forcing Kaelus to move in predictable patterns.
Zane, using his sharp battlefield instincts, worked in sync with her. As Kaelus dodged a Plasma Beam by flowing left, Zane immediately slammed his hand to the earth, creating instant, brittle Petrify Spikes to block that escape path.
Meanwhile, Kaelan and Grund joined the attack, shifting their support from defense to restraint. They slammed their hands down, summoning thick, fast-growing Wood Vines from the ground to snake out and hinder Kaelus's feet and arms.
Kaelus was now fighting four separate threats at once. He was forced to push his mana even harder, enveloping himself in a concentrated Wind Barrier to deflect the minor strikes and enhance his reflexes. He became a whirlwind of motion: using a rapid Gale Step to leap over the Petrify Spikes, spinning to create a tiny, sharp wind current to sever the incoming Wood Vines, and instantly dropping his barrier to side-step a massive, sweeping Plasma attack from Sylva.
It was during this complicated sequence that Vara made her move. She had been observing his patterns, and as Kaelus was momentarily tied up with the Vines and Plasma, she hurled a volley of poisoned Mana-Amplified Daggers straight at his predicted landing spot. At the same instant, Zathis fired rapid-succession Geyser Bullets—small, high-pressure blasts of scalding steam—aimed to box him in.
Kaelus grinned, finally feeling the pressure he craved. This is it. He didn't try to dodge. Instead, he channeled a massive surge of Wind mana and released a wide, circular Wind Vacuum. The sudden, outward pressure of the wind blast deflected the Geyser Bullets and knocked Vara's poisoned daggers harmlessly off course. The combined effort, driven by Sylva's tactical mind and Zane's fighting sense, forced Kaelus to expend more mana in seconds than he had during the entire core absorption process. The arena was a mess of shattered earth, scorched marks, and severed wood, but Kaelus stood in the center, panting slightly, his core still humming with untapped power.
Sylva squinted through the dissolving dust, noticing how Vara's long-range attacks were the only ones that forced Kaelus to stop and actively defend. "Distance!" she yelled, regrouping the team. "Let's bombard him with long-range spells!"
The six teammates quickly spread out, launching a coordinated, high-mana assault:
Vara led the charge, firing amplified Poison Daggers that spun wildly, encased in miniature rotating whirlwinds of air. Grund and Kaelan worked together, summoning sharp Wood Spike Bullets reinforced and propelled by powerful Water Jets. Sylva unleashed twin, focused Plasma Beams designed to shear through wind defenses. Zane fired rapid-succession Petrify Beams alongside his own cutting Wind Slash attacks. Finally, Jian rained down explosive Lava Bullets, and Zathis peppered the area with focused Geyser Bullets.
As the continuous bombardment of spells from all six teammates crashed down on him, Kaelus channeled all his focus. Even as he was using mana at an explosive rate, his reserve felt completely full—like a vast ocean barely disturbed by a fishing boat. He knew the only way to genuinely test the limits of his new core was to unleash a truly colossal spell, something that would drain him dry. However, using such a destructive attack in training would seriously injure his teammates.
I guess it can't be helped then... Kaelus thought.
He summoned a Vortex Sphere so large it completely enveloped him, instantly turning the offensive skill into a protective bubble. The massive, swirling vortex nullified all the incoming spells, sucking their energy into its chaotic rotation. Then, Kaelus deliberately expanded the sphere outward, launching a sweeping counter-attack. He maintained absolute control, however, ensuring the massive sphere only brushed past his party members, pushing them back violently but avoiding a direct, lethal hit.
The training ground fell silent. Kaelus stood alone in the center, the gigantic Vortex Sphere dissolving around him, his teammates scattered, shocked, and utterly defeated by the display of controlled, boundless power.