The people were stupefied. They thought the eagle would cause a disaster for the plane, but they were wrong.
The vice captain turned pale. Earlier, he had raised his voice against Maya. With this level of strength, no one would really say anything if the other party decided to beat him.
Meanwhile, Maya simply stood in mid-air.
Auric squinted his eyes. "Hmm?"
Lindwurm explained, "You must have seen it already. She is creating a platform beneath her feet. The platform perfectly matches the size of her shoes, so it looks like she is standing in the air."
'Can I do that?'
"If your control has reached a certain level, yes."
Auric took a deep breath. As expected, even though he was staring at his teacher, hoping to understand a bit of her battle technique, it was difficult to figure out a higher-level battle technique.
'For a higher-level battle technique, the amount of energy circulating around the body is simply too much for my eyes to handle right now.'
"That is normal." Lindwurm raised one claw. "Because of the evolution as well as the strength of the battle technique, it will be hard for the current you to figure out their power. However, if you evolve, your sensitivity will increase further."
'At that time, I can definitely see through those battle techniques…'
Maya stomped the air, releasing a wave of dark energy that killed the remaining vultures. She then flicked her finger toward the rank 2 vulture, shooting a Dark Arrow into its head.
After that, Maya leaped back to the boat.
As soon as she landed, her gaze shifted to the vice captain.
The vice captain lowered his head, his back drenched in sweat, and his legs shaking.
It felt suffocating, not knowing what the other party was going to do.
"Teacher, thank you for your hard work." Auric smiled.
"Hmph." Maya harrumphed before walking to Auric. "Did you learn anything?"
"A bit."
"Good. Let's go back to the cabin then."
Before Auric and Maya could walk away, the captain returned. "Thank you very much for helping us. And my deepest apologies for any inconvenience that my subordinates may have caused you."
Maya waved without looking back, as if she were saying, "Just a simple matter."
The captain let out a breath of relief.
The attendant hurried back to take care of the VVIPs. Even she didn't expect them to be so strong.
After sending the attendant away, Maya continued with her small lesson. "What have you learned?"
"Your control. The one that you used to stand in the air doesn't seem to be a battle technique. The beasts still follow their instincts, and their killing intent is quite overwhelming. In addition, a group of beasts is much more dangerous than a single beast."
Maya nodded, satisfied. "Good enough. That's right. A group of beasts can help each other. Even though they're moving by instinct, they still recognize their own kin."
Auric raised one finger. "There is still one thing that I don't understand, Teacher. If beasts are killing each other and the rule of the jungle still applies, why can't we retrain the beasts? Maybe they can become pets again."
"No. The killing intent is overwhelming. The magical energy has strengthened their instincts, so they will most likely kill you. There is a lot of research on taming beasts, but none of it has shown enough proof that such a thing is possible."
"That's a shame." Auric nodded in understanding. "By the way, what will we do at our destination?"
"I'll keep that a secret for the time being." Maya winked playfully. "However, there is one thing I can tell you. I will be training you for the next four days."
Auric turned serious. It was rare for Maya to take the initiative in teaching him. It looked like whatever she was going to teach him was essential.
"By the way, Teacher. I have made an agreement with Ellia. I'm planning to enter the ruins."
Since she was his teacher, Auric thought he should get permission from Maya first. After all, he might face danger outside.
He expected Maya to stop him, but surprisingly, Maya actually didn't mind. "Sure. If you are planning to leave, it must be after your introductory period is over."
"You're not going to ask me where?"
"Should I? There are dangers, but if you remain in the city all the time, you won't gain the experience to hone your skills. That's why I don't mind if you want to leave. Besides, you will leave with Ellia, so that's all right."
"Your trust in her is that high?" Auric blinked his eyes a few times.
Maya chuckled. "You may not know, but that girl defeated a third-year student ten months after she entered Grand Magica College. Her avatar was still in its baby form back then, while the other party had a juvenile-form avatar."
"She is that strong?" Auric was quite surprised.
"Yes. People pitied her for having a unique element, which made her progress stagnant, because people had a lot of expectations of her. Now that she has evolved, all students will probably have to be wary of her again."
"She's that strong?" Auric looked down, contemplating. It looked like her combat talent was similar to his talent as an evolution master.
"Anyway, enough talk. It's time to enjoy the luxury."
With her having stopped the discussion, Auric couldn't really say anything else. Then again, it looked like the service also kept him from talking as food came in one after another.
It took them two hours to reach the city called Nereneda.
The pilot approached them. "Thank you for helping us through such a danger. Although it isn't much, please take our company car. The driver will bring you to wherever you want to go."
Maya didn't reject the offer. In the end, she asked the driver to bring them directly to the hotel where they were planning to stay.
Once they reached their suite, Maya asked him to come to her after he had finished unloading their luggage.
Maya was already sitting on the couch with her arms crossed. "All right. I will be teaching you two things. They are pretty simple for someone with your talent. They are the importance of control and the adjustment of your battle techniques."
Maya stood up and walked toward him. "Erect your barrier. A diamond barrier is fine."
Auric raised his palm and formed the diamond barrier. This battle technique was the current strongest defensive ability he had.
"Compared to me, you are weak. You were bullied by those people from the Dragon and Phoenix Society because you were weak. I'm sure you understand that, right?"
"Yes." Auric nodded with a solemn expression.
"You are not going to say you have just awakened not too long ago?"
"Does saying such a thing stop me from being weak or bullied?" Auric shook his head. "I can complain all I want in my head, but I don't plan to make it an excuse."
"Good." Maya raised one finger. "Since you understand that you are weak, you need to become stronger. However, getting stronger is easier said than done. You need time to get stronger, so what can you do to become stronger? That's simple. It's control."
Maya then moved that one finger to touch the diamond barrier. Without using much of her energy, the diamond gradually cracked, turned into dark mist, and disappeared without a trace.
"!!!" Auric widened his eyes. Others might not be able to see what happened, but Auric could see it.
Maya released a bit of energy into his barrier. The black particles spread across the outer layer of the barrier and chipped away at Auric's particles within the barrier, weakening the barrier. Then, with just a little push, the already weakened barrier crumbled.
"You may not be able to see—" Maya wanted to explain, but Auric interjected. "I saw what happened. You injected your power into my barrier to chip away at my energy, thus weakening it. Then, you simply destroyed the rest, right?"
Maya smiled helplessly. "You are right. It looks like you understand how it works. That's great. I don't have to explain the rest to you. This shows the importance of control."
Maya raised her palm, forming a ball of dark energy. Then, this ball transformed into a fish. It wasn't a simple fish. All the details, including the scales, were clearly present.
"If you are able to control your energy as though you're moving your body, I don't have to worry about you anymore. Of course, there is also another form. Summon your barrier again."
Auric followed the instructions.
"In a battle, you rarely have a chance to touch your opponent. Your enemy will most likely prevent you from coming closer. If they're using close-range weapons, you will be in trouble, as they're better than you at close combat. And so, what should you do?"
Auric could see a trace of energy coming from her fingers. This energy created a very thin line, like a needle. It then flowed through his barrier and burst as soon as it hit Auric's head.
"Khh…" Auric touched his forehead.
"Saw what happened?"
"You created energy so thin that it bypassed my power."
"That's right. With your current sloppy mastery, you won't be able to stop something that refined. First, you need to ensure that your technique doesn't leave any gaps. Second, you need to refine your power as thinly as possible."
Auric thought for a moment. He thought these two methods were something he was capable of learning.
The first method was basically inserting his energy into someone's ability. Since he could see through the energy particles, he simply had to channel his energy and break them apart.
The second method was the same. He might struggle to control an energy line that was as thin as a needle, but forming one should be possible for him. And bypassing the enemy's power through this method might be possible.
Auric took a deep breath before raising both hands. In the gap between his palms, a strand of energy started to form. He carefully created it so that it would match the thickness of Maya's energy line.
But as expected, controlling this line of energy was much harder than forming it. He tried to let it fly forward, but it disappeared just a short distance from his hand.
"Don't be too focused on the form that I've shown you. These two methods can be applied to other things."
Lindwurm also gave an additional instruction. "That's right. Remember the two methods I taught you when you visited the Training Hall?"
Auric closed his eyes, concentrating.
He raised his hand and formed the diamond barrier one more time, but this time, he changed the structure slightly. The particles became even more consistent. It was as if multiple smaller barriers were combined into one.
"Something like this?" Auric exhaled deeply.
His barrier was not as simple as glass anymore. It had become more robust. However, creating one also took more time and required more concentration.
He had to practice it to increase its speed.
"That's good enough. As expected, you're able to learn it just fine. However, you need to master it. Understood?"
"Understood." Auric nodded and closed his eyes one more time. He pumped the energy from his heart to his hand and waved it as though he were throwing something.
This was the same method he used to make the Dark Arrow much more powerful.
Yet, instead of unleashing it like the Dark Arrow, he was trying to unleash this power as thinly as possible.
"!!!" Even Maya was slightly surprised by this method. For some reason, Auric had learned an advanced technique without her knowledge.
The thin energy line flew toward her forehead. It would end like a flick just as she had done to Auric, but her own energy dispersed it.
"Huuu…" Auric let out a long breath. "Controlling it is harder than I originally thought."
"You can even create an even more concentrated energy to pack more punch. Depending on how you use this power, you will be able to unleash power beyond your current capability, thus allowing you to defeat someone stronger than you."
"Understood. I will definitely practice it in the next four days. At least to a usable level."
"There is one more thing." Maya stopped him. "Since you can wield all elements but can't fully use them yet, it's best for you to learn this second technique. You have to adjust your battle techniques to suit your current element."