Destroyer of Ice and Fire

Early in the morning, in the forest of huge trees inside Holy Dawn Academy, two human figures pierced through the white mist at peerless speed.

"That's good enough."

All of a sudden, the figure in front skimmed upward in quick succession all the way to the top of a huge tree before stopping.

The one in the back gasped slightly. He immediately asked, following after the first person, "What's good enough?"

The sun rose on the eastern horizon just at this time. Sunlight sprinkled down, not yet harsh on the eyes, splashing on both of them as they stood on the treetop.

One of them looked even more delicate than a girl, while the other seemed to be overflowing with enthusiasm and fighting spirit. They were, of course, Rinloran and Ayrin.

"I'm saying that, when it comes to all kinds of movements during high-speed motion, you're already around the same level as me. At first, when you were chasing behind me, the posture of your body would often look very awkward when you dodged some branches, when you stepped sideways, or when you twisted your body to pass through some narrow cracks. But right now, I think that you wouldn't feel awkward if you were to do the same movements again." Rinloran turned to look at Ayrin, half his face shining golden under the sunlight. "Ayrin, you're really a genius. Your body seems to have a memory. It seems like it can remember and learn many skills and movements on its own, as long as you get to see them once."

"What? I think that the real geniuses are people like Stingham who opened two arcane gates very fast." Ayrin seems a little dispirited on the contrary. "Plus, I still can't catch you."

But the next instant, Ayrin couldn't help but exclaim, looking at the sun rising from the unbroken ranges of mountains in the distance, "The sunrise looks really beautiful from here!"

Rinloran also turned around and watched the rise of the sun. "Why does it seem like you like the sun in particular, like you especially like to watch the sunrise? You say the same thing every day, you already said it four days in a row."

"That's because back in Cororin, I used to dig ores every day in the mining shafts. I could only see the sunlight in the morning, before going into the mines. It was often night by the time I came out, the sun had already set." Ayrin scratched his head, a little embarrassed, saying, "Maybe it's because I saw it too rarely before, that's why it's so beautiful to me now."

After a small pause, Ayrin said again, "Now I can see the sunrise every day. I can bask in this warm sunlight. It's like there's someone always reminding me that the arduous and miserable days are already over, that things will be better and better from now on."

"The arduous and miserable days are things of the past. Things will become better day by day from now on?" Thinking on Ayrin's words, Rinloran was lost in thought for a long while.

"Ayrin, your training in body movement is already there. You already understand what are the most reasonable dodging motions you should make during high-speed motion, and you also drilled your body to the point some very violent twisting motions won't feel awkward." When the sunlight became more and more blinding, Rinloran turned his head around and said to Ayrin in a serious tone, "As to why you still can't catch me, there are two important reasons."

"There are two important reasons?" Ayrin stared.

"Yes." Rinloran nodded, saying, "The first reason is that, while we move at full speed, I always control my arcane particles to the bottom of my feet. This way, I can make the arcane particles flow out of the bottom of my feet as soon as I want to use an arcane skill. So I can always launch my movement skills a little faster than you. It's true that we with eleven blood are much more nimble and have much better body coordination compared to ordinary people. But starting from the era of the War of the Dragons until now, the reason why many arcane masters with elven blood came to be known for absolute speed is also because almost every elven bloodline clan has this kind of custom."

"Why didn't I think of that!" Ayrin became excited all of a sudden. "This way, you really can shorten the time it takes for the arcane particles to flow from the arcane gates to the bottom of the feet. The time may be short, but it's a huge difference during instant changes of direction!"

"It sounds simple, but you still need to spend quite some time to exercise it. You won't need any less time compared to the training you did these few days on body movement." Rinloran said to him, "Try it now and you'll understand."

"Is that so? Let me try!"

As soon as Ayrin's voice rose, he started bouncing on some nearby trees, like a ball shooting at high speed.

"It's really true. If you don't control your arcane particles, they'll flow like blood and return to the arcane gates.

"Also, if you don't control them well, your feet will become very heavy instead. Some arcane particles will also flow out from your soles and be wasted," Ayrin said quickly, the instant he returned to Rinloran's side.

Rinloran nodded, "You'll only succeed if you can control at the bottom of your feet the right amount of arcane particle for one arcane skill, without letting them flow out or disturb your normal movements and skill invocation."

"It seems very hard," Ayrin said.

Then he suddenly thought of something, and exclaimed, "Rinloran, when did you condense arcane particles? You couldn't the last time, when we fought against Kybaver and the others, right?"

"Aren't you a little too slow on the uptake?" Rinloran couldn't help but shake his head. "I've always used arcane skills training these few days with you. You actually realized it only just now."

"I always focused single-mindedly on training during these few days, I haven't thought about it at all, haha. Rinloran, really worthy of a high-level elven bloodline, you actually condensed arcane particles so fast."

"I started my foundation exercises much earlier than you, the time I spent on condensing arcane particles must be more than twice longer than you. It's nothing to be proud of." Rinloran turned around. "Alright, you need to train the trick of controlling your arcane particles on your own. Let us talk about the second reason now. Do you see that tree branch?"

"What?" Ayrin followed Rinloran's line of sight. He saw a small tree branch in front of them, only as thick as a thumb.

Rinloran didn't answer immediately. He merely walked toward that tree branch.

"What!"

Ayrin shouted in disbelief. He saw that tree branch faintly swaying, and also bending downward, looking as if it could break at any moment, but it unexpectedly didn't break. Rinloran unexpectedly stood on it, fine and dandy.

"How are you doing that?" he couldn't help but shout.

"In fact, a branch like this isn't as weak as you imagine, and your body isn't as heavy as you imagine." Rinloran looked at Ayrin, saying calmly and patiently, "Both of us got rid of arcane master weights today, this tree branch is absolutely fine bearing our weight."

"If it can't bear it, it's because you did this." Rinloran suddenly crossed a step forward when he said that.

This small branch broke with a snap when his foot landed, though it didn't seem as if he put much strength in it. He landed on a branch below.

"This is?" Ayrin looked on foolishly. He couldn't understand what the difference was, because previously, Rinloran had also stepped straight on it in the same way.

"That's because I put a little more strength when I stepped on it." Rinloran lifted his head and continued to explain, "That's why the branch couldn't bear it. Other than the weight of our bodies, it can't endure the force of our impact. What it can't bear is the strength erupting from inside our bodies."

Ayrin understood then. He nodded repeatedly.

Rinloran added, "I did that to make you directly observe and understand the importance of controlling your strength reasonably. Sometimes, there's no need for us to use as much strength as we imagine when we need to halt, or maybe to suddenly change directions, or to dodge. If you use even a tad more strength than necessary, you'll first have to eliminate the reactive force from the excessive strength you used when you make your next movement. Also, if you use too much force for one movement, then you might not put enough strength in the next. You have to know when to release your strength, and you also have to know when to restrain and control it. We are about at the same level in arcane particles, and your physical strength is much higher than mine, but I'm more adept at using my strength appropriately."

"You try walking on a branch that can barely bear your weight. Try to perceive how to control your strength, how to walk on it but not to cause it to break."

"As long as you can attain a very good control over a suitable amount of arcane strength under your feet, as long as you can master the appropriate amount of strength to use in every movement, you'll definitely be faster than me. More than a level faster than me!"

…

Not far away, on another huge tree, Carter, Ciaran, Donna, Rui, and the others quietly watched Rinloran and Ayrin.

"There really are many special things about high-level elves. These sound so simple. But if you want to reach the level of these people with high-level elven bloodlines, that's really too difficult. Even we can't hope to do it."

"I bet Ayrin can come close to or surpass Rinloran's level."

"Carter, no matter what you're staking, no one is going to bet with you. If not for their situation being just right at the moment, I'd be itching to see Donna teach him Fire Embers, see whether he can learn this arcane skill people call one of the hardest arcane skills to learn."

"No wonder you guys have the confidence to return to the finals. Aren't there really too many monsters among your freshmen?"

"No matter what, you guys look at Rinloran teaching Ayrin right now. Doesn't it look like a strict teacher guiding a studious student?"

"A teacher that's also a friend, that's a very good situation. They'll boost each other more easily this way, make each other progress faster."

Ayrin and Rinloran's silhouettes under the sunlight made these mighty arcane masters of the kingdom remember many happy things from the time of their youth.

"There's only Stingham, he gives me too much of a headache," Carter couldn't resist saying.

"No matter how high the talent, no one can possibly sail smoothly all the way through. Something will happen to him sooner or later, something that makes him change," Rui slowly said.