"Denver really just spouts a whole lot of nonsense but sometimes he does say something actually insightful." Alix was walking out of the library thinking about the fool's words one more time. He had actually given her a good piece of advice.
"Mayhaps, my calling of them fools was too harsh."
"What?!" Mo stared at Alix appalled. "You feel bad about call those idiots fools but ya call me a drama queen all the time without feeling even a lick of regret! What the hell is this favoritism?!" Alix rolled her eyes.
Poor Mo didn't even realize that he was being overdramatic even now. Alix ignored the ravings of her companion and moved in the direction of her final class for the day.
For the most part, all of her classes throughout the day while in the Martial path were relatively useless to her as they were just body conditioning. But her final class was one that she actually felt like she could learn something.
Energy Development was the name of the class. It was a class fully dedicated to improving the students' Lis control and expanding the ways that they are able to use it. And while Alix has quite strong Lis and very good control she does understand that she could improve her methods further.
This class being the perfect chance to do as such. 'If these classes are truly helpful I may be able to apply it to my experiments.' Alix nodded to herself as she waltzed into the class. It was one that several students were recommended to take so it was rather full but Alix had begun to grow used to it after an entire week of this.
She found the usual spot that she stood and waited for the instructor to come into the room while the other students engaged in conversation.
"Hey, did you see Colson earlier?" One boy asked.
"Oh yeah! Didn't he look like he'd been in a fight?" A girl responded.
"He did! I heard Nasak was in his training room with some other kid! Man, that boy's always liked messing with him." Another girl responded.
"I think it has something to do with Tyrant Storm? I think I remember him messing with Dandelion too?" The sudden mentioning of Dandelion must have had some sort of magical power as the girl strutted into the room the moment her name was spoken.
"Hey, kiddos." Dandelion said unenthusiastically. All the students turned to the front of the class. "The instructor has run into an unfortunate situation that I will not tell you about because it isn't your business. All you need to know is that I, as TA, will be teaching today's lesson."
Alix clicked her teeth which would have been considered rude if it could be heard over massive uproar of cheers that spawned the instant the TA finished speaking.
"We get to learn from an S-Class student!? Is this for real?!"
"Yeees! I bet she has all sorts of secrets that she can show us. I wonder if she'll teach us her own techniques?" The students were very excited to be learning from Dandelion. Alix, on the other hand, could not care any less.
Don't get her wrong, Alix hasn't had any really bad interactions with Dandelion Howard ever since that first day of classes but she still didn't like the girl very much. It just felt like she had something against Alix specifically sometimes. Not hate but...disappointment?
Alix could never grasp what emotion the older girl felt towards her. She just knew that she didn't like how she looked at her. After the class's excitement died down a bit Dandelion began teaching the lesson. She asked for all of the students to close their eyes and stand as straight as possible.
The students followed her instructions and stood almost rigidly straight, all except for Alix who stood straight yet relaxed as her mother had taught her. Dandelion began pacing around the room.
"I want you all to begin activating your Lis and moving it to each individual body part as you did during your last class. This isn't a very difficult skill to learn yet it is one that is very important for us on the Martial path. During battle being able to quickly move your Lis to reinforce a body part is like life or death. Move too slow and your opponent's weapon may just deal a decisive blow."
The students concentrated on moving their Lis as best as they could. Some began to sweat from the difficulty of the exercise while others were already at the edge of their stamina breathing heavily. Alix was fine, of course, as she slowly breathed in and out to reserve her strength and didn't rush her Lis movements as she did not want to cause internal damage.
Three students suddenly coughed up blood at the same time. They each hit the ground writhing in pain as they felt like something within their body had ruptured. Dandelion squatted in front of them.
"This is what happens when you focus too much on speed. You forget to follow the blood pathways within your body and cause internal damage to yourself leaving you completely open to an attack. Remember everyone, speed is not the only purpose of this exercise. It is also very helpful in learning how your body can react if you don't focus enough or focus too much."
Dandelion stood up and looked around the class for anyone else that may be on the verge of failure when Alix caught her eye.
While all of the other students were straining and sweating Alix looked as though she were standing in the middle of a peaceful field enjoying the evening breeze. Dandelion stared at the girl analyzing her technique for a moment longer before returning to the front of the room.
She made the students do this exercise for around thirty minutes before she decided enough time had passed.
"Alright, everyone stop." Several students fell to the their knees when they were finally allowed to stop. They struggled to catch their breath some were even coughing and wheezing.
"I understand that this may seem kind of boring for some of you or uselessly difficult but you need to get over it. This is the sort of training that the knights of our nation perform while doing other training. This will eventually become second nature to you. You may start activating Lis without realizing it..." Dandelion continued giving this big speech about how Lis is more than just our life energy it is our first and last defense and weapon.
Alix listened to the girl's words but she didn't really feel the need to. She would rather not need to use her physical body too much in combat seeing as she was actually a spellcaster. Not that physical tempering is a bad thing for spellcasters but it was more so that they could increase their stamina.
'This is just another reason for me to hurry out of this class."
'Oh, yer done focusin'. That's good because I have something to tell ya." Alix had asked Mo not to bother her during certain classes so that she could learn something while she was stuck in the sweat box of the Martial path.
'What is it?" Alix was bored out of her mind so she really needed something to distract her from the rest of this speech.
'Trouler's been tryin' to call ya for the last twenty minutes."
"What? Trouler?" Alix perked up instantly. She hadn't gotten any word from the little red since her dream last night. She immediately focused on Trouler's heartstring.
'Trouler. Trouler! Are you there?" Alix called out the young peccary's name in her head until she got a response. The response wasn't words but images. Several images some of which she'd seen last night but they were more clear and there were a few new images.
In one of the images Alix noticed the final two members of the Djinns talking to who Alix could only assume was their client. She couldn't seen any recognizable features on the person due to the peccary's poor line of sight. The next image flashed this time showing Nuka sitting in a cage being held by the Djinns.
'Nuka...' Alix felt pain seeing her friend like this. Nuka's feathers were ruffled and she was clearly not being fed well. The image of Nuka faded and next a full vision began to appear.
Alix was seeing through Trouler's eyes. She couldn't immediately tell where he was but she could here the crashing of the ocean waves very clearly so he was likely somewhere quite close to the sea.
'Probably below sea level.' She reasoned. Trouler quietly snorted questioningly.
'I am here Trouler. Let me see what it is that you wanted to show me." Trouler nodded and slowly started moving through the space. It seemed that he was in some sort of darkened room. It was very dimly lit and quite cluttered.
'How could anyone do anything in here?' Alix questioned. Trouler finally made it to a slightly open space giving Alix a bit more understanding on why the room was so cluttered.
'This is an alchemy lab!' Alix saw a couldron, several vials filled with various colored liquids, and scattered books on herbology and beasts. All things that would be very useful for an alchemist.
'Do you know where this is Trouler?" Alix asked hoping for some sort of hint. Before Trouler could respond, however, an ear piercing screech sounded out. Alix winced in pained.
'What was that?" Trouler let out an uncertain squeal and moved in the direction that the screech came from. Trouler began to go down some stairs that led to that sound.
'Don't go all the way down, Trouler. I don't want whoever works here to see you." Trouler did as he was told stopping about halfway down the stairs and peeked over the side. What Alix saw was a gruesome yet amazing sight. There in the middle of what looked to be a basement of some sort was a giant cell holding a firebird.
Firebirds were a in the Firma category of monsters as they were very much just birds with the ability to set their wings ablaze. But this one was huge. It was about the size of the room that she stayed in at the Pirates Worst Nightmare.
'Do they normally get that big?' Trouler continued to scan around the room for anything that may tell Alix where they were. When a masked figure walked into the room from a side room. The figure's body was covered from head to toe in what Alix assumed was salamander leather. A fire resistant material normally worn by adventurers.
"Now now, my friend. Everything is going to be just fine. I just need a bit more and then we'll be done for the day." The person's voice was muffled through the mask but Alix could still make out what they were saying.
As the person approached the cage the firebird tried to step back but the cage was too small for it to retreat. The person reached the cage and leaned against the bars.
"No no, my friend! You've escaped from me before and I can't let that happen again. Do you know how much shit I got all because of you?! I would have finished that last experiment in time if you had just stayed put! Now, my funding's been cut in half all because of you!" The person slammed their hands against the bars scaring the monster, a sight that Alix never thought that she'd see.
The firebird seemed to be terrified of this person.
"Give me your wing." The firebird didn't move as it sat shaking in the corner. This made the person frustrated as they kicked the cage this time and screamed, "GIVE ME YOUR WING NOW YOU USELESS FREAK!" The firebird complied slowly stretching its wing out.
The alchemist snatched the birds wing and cut into with a small knife. The firebird winced but tried not to make a sound as it's ether started to leak out. Alix noticed that the ether that was pouring out looked a bit different from normal ether but Trouler was too far away for her to tell how it was different.
The person tried to collect some of the ether that leaked from the wing but clearly it wasn't enough as they cut into it again and again until the firebird's wing was covered in slashes. The person had collected several vials and was holding the final one up to the firebird's light. They nodded satisfied as they put it in a small pouch to their side.
"See? That wasn't so hard now was it?" The monster pulled it's wing back shaking and, from what Alix could tell, crying. "Oh, are you crying? Did that hurt?" The person may have been asking for the monster's wellbeing but there was not a hint of true concern in their voice. In fact, it was fill with animosity.
"You see, this is why I can't stand those ball-busting, arrogant, Court Alchemists! They act like my feelings mean nothing! Like I'm the reason that they aren't getting any new creations! They act like they're the ones being hurt when it's really me!" The figure stomped around angrily shouting loud enough to reverberating around the the entire room. They quickly turned to the firebird and lowered their voice.
"You're just like them! Crying and whining all because you can't see the greatness that I'm striving towards. Well this is what I think of your crying. And just so you know..." The person grabbed a lever that was nearby.
"I'm not sorry for raining on your parade." They pulled the lever triggering some sort of mechanism in the wall and floor. First some glass rose from the floor blocking off the cell from the rest of the room. Then the wall directly behind the cell opened slightly allowing a wave of ocean water to flood into the cell.
The bird immediately started to screech in pain as the water put out the flames on it's body, the salt in the water aggravated its cuts and the water rose starting to move into its lungs. Steam started to rise out of the top of the cell as the bird's desperate screeches continued.
'This is...horrible.' Alix could only watch the scene empathetic to the creature. She had never met it before but she felt like she could partially feel its pain. It was suffocating. 'Alright, Trouler. You get out of there." Alix ordered but received no response from the red.
'Trouler?" Alix noticed that Trouler's vision had begun to get blurry and that he was losing balance. She felt her heartrate accelerate as she didn't know why he was suddenly acting this way. Through the blurry vision Alix could still see the bird writhing in pain but noticed something else with its feathers. The flames at the tips were slightly green similar to Nuka's feathers.
Alix had no time to process that information though as Trouler fell on his side and she was yanked out of his vision.
"Hey!" Alix's eyes shot open. Her face was wet with tears and sweat from the pressure that she felt during that entire situation. She looked at the person that had called out to her and noticed that it was the TA, Dandelion Howard.
"Are you okay?"