The following few days went by quickly. Despite having been rescued, there was a small part of him that had been expecting more of that slop in the morning. He was happy that he'd been wrong.
The three of them ate together out on the deck. The food was stale and nothing like what it was on Wale Port, but to Red it tasted delicious. Red finally finished telling Derrin how he had ended up in the Gearborn prison. Ayjax had also wanted to know, so Red had managed to do storytime just like he wanted. Unfortunately, Derrin just seemed to think he was insane. Ayjax only laughed like it was the funniest thing in the world.
Red spent the first morning back in the weapons room. He felt that he was on the precipice of a breakthrough. Despite the system being a nightmare to deal with, it had given him the boost of inspiration he needed. Ayjax was grateful to him for taking some of the useless parts off his hands. Torrent wasn't so happy.
He would have had no problem spending the rest of the day…and the following three in the weapons room. Ayjax had other plans. Around noon, the blasted man had practically dragged him outside to train. The dark clouds had finally passed, and they could see both the sun and the teal sea.
"What exactly are you expecting me to do?" Red asked.
"It's simple, I want you to reinforce your body with your mist."
"I thought that couldn't be done. That's what I was taught, at least. I would need the layer from Valencia…"
Ayjax shook his head, "In theory, that is correct. Each of the sea's various hearts allows a person to unlock the next layer and the power related to it. However, the Valencian Sea is a bit different. That's because the concept of enhancing one's body comes in a wide variety of forms. You already understand the basics by using mist to increase your healing speed. However, I want you to concentrate it on specific points. I want you to inverse it."
"Inverse it? Honestly, I'm more confused than before you started talking," Red remarked.
Ayjax grunted, "There is a reason I'm not teaching at that damn academy, kid. Instead of simply pushing your mist from your core to a part of your body. I want you to concentrate it into one spot… like your fist. Instead of allowing it to spread throughout your fist, focus everything in as small a spot as you can in the direct center of your fist."
Red was skeptical, but he did as instructed. Controlling the mist into his fist was easy enough. He could do that with just a little concentration. The problem came when he tried to focus it all in one spot. It had been the same issue with trying to fill the keyhole. His mist was simply too…misty.
Every time he thought it was focused, a bit began leaking out. When he attempted to fix it, the other areas weakened, and eventually it escaped back to his core. After a while, he managed to get all but a small amount locked down in his fist. The mist still leaked out, but at a much more manageable amount.
"I got it!" he said, a bead of sweat rolling down his face.
"Great! Now punch me."
The statement was so sudden that Red very nearly lost control of the mist in his hand. "What?"
"Hit me. You need to practice controlling the mist while moving."
Red nodded and punched the man in the stomach. Just as he began to move, the mist fluttered back to his core, and he landed a totally normal punch. Ayjax glanced down where Red's fist had collided with his abdomen. His gaze landed on the open hand where he had been intending for Red to hit.
"What?" Red asked, confused, "You told me to punch you."
Ayjax laughed, "I see. Now, since you've got the basics. Punch that sandbag until you can get the mist to remain in your fist."
Red gave him a flat stare but complied. That had been his first mistake. Keeping the mist in a concentrated blow was much more difficult than he had anticipated. After a while, Ayjax had wandered back into the interior of the ship.
He had considered stopping right then and there, but realized that Torrent would just inform Ayjax. Instead, he slowed his pace by half. After a few hours of doing nothing but punching a damn sandbag, he was ready to grind his teeth off.
"You are doing it wrong," Derrin said as he approached.
Red hadn't even noticed him exiting the ship, but here he was.
"Yeah, like what?" He failed to keep the irritation from his voice.
Derrin stepped closer until he was standing in front of the sandbag as well. "You keep trying to control the mist."
Red blinked, "What!"
Wasn't that exactly what Ayjax had just said he needed to do?
"You can't stop the sea," Derrin replied, "Mist is a part of the sea, and you can't stop it from doing what it wants. So you need to convince it to do what you want."
Red scratched his head, "Do you expect me to whisper to myself? That's a bit weird."
Derrin smiled, "Of course not. Our mist may be a part of the sea, but it is also a part of us. As such, you need to figure out what it is that your mist truly embodies. What does it want? In Montrel, that is one of the first steps in finding yourself. Understanding what the essence of your mist is helps one learn about what they are inside."
"That must make me a damn scummy bastard because that's all my mist seems to be," Red grumbled.
Derrin scratched his head as if seriously considering the possibility, "No. I think maybe you need to try convincing your mist that you don't want it in your fist."
"How does that make any sense?"
"Instead of getting angry that it is escaping, get angry that it is there in the first place."
Red rubbed his neck absently. These blasted crazies and their weird ideas. Convince his mist that he didn't want it somewhere. What the bloody hell. Punch a damn sandbag until you feel stronger. Like what the actual hell. Why couldn't he just keep engineering in the weapons' room?
Having nothing better to do, Red decided listening to Derrin was his best course of action. He allowed the mist to absently flow into his fist. Performing this action was far different than trying to force it to one spot. Red wasn't sure what the difference was, but he was just fine leaving it that way. It was like Ayjax had failed to explain.
Inverse the mist.
As the mist entered his fist, he immediately concentrated all of his mind on forcing the stuff into his fist. It went exactly as it had the previous hundred times…except. Except this time, he found himself growing angry that it was still there. Why was the damn mist in his fist in the first place? Why was he doing this at all? Why couldn't that damn mist just do what it was told?
Red didn't wait. He punched. The sandbag exploded in all directions. Sand blasted into his face as the wind whirled the dust cloud around the two of them. He stared at his fist in surprise. It had not gone how he had expected in the slightest.
Derrin clapped him on the shoulder, "Well done. I was honestly surprised you got it so fast. Most of the trainees in Montrel spend weeks on just this one concept."
Red stared at the remains of the sandbag. "What about you?"
Derrin sighed, "I am a different case…"
"Why is that? Ayjax had said something about you being unable to help direct the ship. Now that I think about it, the Herald also mentioned something about incapacitating injuries," Red paused, "If you don't mind me asking."
Derrin hesitated.
"You don't have to tell me if you don't want to."
"No. It is alright. The reason I can't is that my core is shattered."
That snapped Red out of his stupor, "What do you mean? I thought you managed to gain an extra layer from your aura control. Did that mean it happened more recently?"
"No. I was born with a defective core. My core is shattered, and I can't simply restore mist as you can. I have to actually focus my mist on remaining in the center of my shattered core. As a result, I have to remain focused to slowly charge up my core. Losing control will let the mist escape into my body."
"So that attack you did on the ship, that was saved up?"
Derrin shook his head, "No. I can't use any abilities because of my shattered core. All I can do is enhance my body's own abilities. That slash you witnessed was an ability of my sword itself. My family spent a lot of money and resources to get me this forged blade. It can absorb my mist and allow it to perform abilities. It's similar to most mist-powered weapons. The only difference is that it is specifically tailored to me, and it is the only way I can properly get mist from my body."
"That means…you were able to do all of that fighting without using any abilities," Red paused, "Is that why you know so much about internal mist control?"
"Indeed. Since I am very limited in other areas, I have been forced to utilize what abilities I do have to their fullest extent."
He decided to ask the question that he had been meaning to ask for a while now, "Did you mean what you said earlier?"
"What part?"
"The whole honor blood debt saving thing you said when we were escaping."
"Of course."
Red wasn't really sure what to say in response. Instead, he turned back to practicing the advice that Derrin had given him. Eventually, he left. Red had been expecting Ayjax to return at some point, but he was clearly not paying attention. That's how the rest of the day went.
The following two days followed a similar pattern. He woke up in the morning and ate with Derrin and Ayjax. Afterwards, he spent a few hours working on his barrier design. It was inching closer and closer to completion. At noon, he was forced by Ayjax to continue training.
After the punching, Ayjax insisted that he learn to do the same to many other parts of his body. It was tedious, but he could definitely tell his ability to manipulate mist had improved a lot.
Red had fully leaned into Derrin's piece of advice, and instead of trying to force the mist to do what he wanted…he tricked it. Sometimes it was much harder than others, but eventually he got it almost every time. His mist was supposed to embody something, and he didn't like how devious it was. He was still wondering what this trickery had to do with him.
However, the next day would be the last of his short training.