As he reached the target he set before he went ahead and dived into his crazy cultivation streak, Emery didn't need to spend any more time in the origin stone room. Hence, he utilized all the remaining days in close training with Magus Xion, polishing his spells and combat strength.
With his increase in rank and spirit force, courtesy to his recent advancement, Emery's capabilities on spell control, casting speed and spell power had increased into another level altogether.
[Shadow Root Binding]
Since his overall improvement on his spells due to the advancement, Emery could summon seven shadow roots at the same time. Each of the tentacle-like darkish roots were slithering at great speed, not only chasing but also forming into an encirclement to the three little thundermouse.
When they noticed the entrapment, the three poor things could only squeak in panic as Emery was able to successfully capture all three thundermouse simultaneously.
Emery released and captured the three continuously until the three little creatures finally lost their arrogant attitude. Emery, of course, stopped tormenting them once he got used to the challenge. In fact, he found himself liking the little creatures now that he understood the meaning of Magus Xion's training with the cute creatures.
On the eighth day, Magus Xion finally added another challenge to Emery's current training regime. The extra challenge was to fight the magus in swordsmanship. But the catch was Emery still had to keep casting his [Shadow Root Binding] spell trying to catch the little things roaming around. Hence, these things surely added several levels of difficulty to the training.
Previously, Emery only needed to stand still and focus his mind on the control of his spell and how to direct it. Now, he had to cast and control the roots, while evading and blocking the magus' relentless sword attacks. Doing one of the tasks, while maintaining his focus was difficult enough, let alone two.
The added challenge made the training an impossible matter for the current Emery. However, that was exactly the purpose of the challenge: to let Emery overcome his limits and improve his strength.
On the ninth day, Magus Xion proceeded to guide Emery to learn a new spell. With Emery having already reached rank 7 acolyte, he was now eligible to learn a tier 4 spell. Unfortunately, with the limited time he currently had, Emery only had enough time to learn one new tier 4 darkness spell, leaving the other three elements for another time.
Emery's left arm grabbed the wrist of his right, as his mind concentrated the energy inside his dark core into his right palm. Gradually, black smokes were materializing and gathering into a tiny glowing light and turned bigger over time.
[Dark Matter - Tier 4 Darkness Spell]
When Emery seemed unable to contain the energy anymore, he immediately threw it flying towards Magus Xion. The magus swiftly used his special [shadow edge] blade technique to counter the incoming spell. When both hit each other, a blast appeared on the location of contact.
Kaboomm!!!
The tier 4 darkness spell was kind of similar to the low tier fire spell, [Fireball]. But, instead of releasing a ball of fire that exploded upon contact, it released a sphere of pure darkness energy that would corrupt matter on impact. This was exactly the spell Emery needed at the moment, a strong offensive spell.
[Dark matter] was the strongest tier 4 darkness offensive spell. However, even though the spell was quite common, mastering the spell was not easy. Moreover, this spell was considered a channelled spell, which meant the stronger the user spirit core, the stronger the strength of the spell became.
"Emery, I honestly have seen many darkness acolytes using this spell, but none of them could beat yours in terms of strength. Even so, the weakness of this spell is the time it needs to gather the power."
"I understand, master. That means I need something I can quickly use to complement this spell's deficiency." Emery replied, he then turned silent for a moment. "I think... The blade technique you showed earlier will be the best combination for this." Emery said with a grin.
Magus Xion squinted his eyes, as he knew Emery was only saying nice things, so he would teach him the special blade technique.
"Haha... you can't learn my skill in days, Emery. Not a chance. Maybe later, when you reach rank 8 acolyte. Yeah... at that time, you could learn this technique."
Hearing that, Emery was in shock, then in disbelief, "Rank 8? Master! You previously said rank 7! You yourself said you would teach me when I reach rank 7."
"Did I say that? I don't think so...""
"You definitely did, master."
"Ahh!! If only anyone was here and heard what I said, surely my apprentice will not treat me like a common liar."
Emery instantly turned speechless, as he faced against this shameless side of his master. Alas, there was nothing he could do.
Emery could only channel this 'injustice' he experienced through combat. With the new spell and his increased power, the last day became a duel between the two, where Emery used everything in his repertoire to at least try to take down Magus Xion.
The duel-format training main objective was to practice fighting strategies that Emery could implement later in the game, and having an experienced magus as his training partner surely would improve his skill.
In the end, by the closure of the tenth day, Emery was not even able to lay a scratch on the magus. But despite the failure, he still gained a lot of improvement and confidence as he persisted through the training.
Magus Xion decided to mark the end of the training with another hot beverages' moment.
While sipping the tea that was brewed by his master, Emery said, "Master, what do you think about my progress? Do you think I will have my chance against those top acolytes?"
Pouring his own cup with tea, Magus Xion replied, "Honestly, your darkness spirit core is special, Emery. However, you will be fighting against acolytes who are born to be the best. They already have the best training prepared for them since infant."
Emery was just a low noble from the lower world. Therefore, it was normal that the training he received during childhood was incomparable to these elites.
Magus Xion was silent for a moment before continuing, "Being chosen in the privileged class is no longer the matter of hard training and impressive stats, but also unique talents. In the privileged class, they are all acolytes who have talent beyond the 10 elements and the S aptitude. I saw your fight with some of those people. The gravity user, the boy who has purple flame, the crystal-like ice user, those are considered unique talents."
As Emery heard Magus Xion's explanation, his mind recalled the sight of Micah using his almost unbreakable crystal-like ice, Lodos who easily decimated group of acolytes, and impressive firepower Gerri showed; those acolytes didn't even manage to enter the privileged class. The revelation made Emery concerned about what kind of monsters existed and exceeded those people.
"You will see that all of the privileged acolytes have stronger capabilities than the opponents you had faced before. After all, they are considered to be the protected jewel of the academy. So Emery, in the end, remembers to understand your enemy and yourself as that is the secret to win the fight."
Emery was grateful with all the training and guidance by the magus, Reflecting on this again, Emery wondered how Magus Xion, an official magus, had the time to privately and personally guide him.
"Master, please tell me. Why did you help me?"
Upon hearing Emery's question, Magus Xion didn't answer right away. Instead, a few seconds of silence happened between the two of them.
"At first, it was because my grand master. She is everything for me."
Emery remembered the first he had met Magus Xion was because the grandmaster was using the stone room privately and making the magus owe him a favor.
"However, as I get to know more about you, I begin to really like you, Emery. The current condition your world face also reminds me of a mistake that I made. Perhaps by helping you, I get to somehow pay for my mistake"
On the last day, Emery had a deep conversation with Magus Xion. The magus told Emery about a certain mission where he was involved in the death of billions of lower world civilisations. Because of that, he hoped for Emery's world would not face the same fate.
With a serious tone the magus asks "You told me that you wanted to protect the people that are important to you, right?"
Emery nodded his head as he recalled about their last conversation.
"Power, Emery. You will need power to stand tall and hold onto your resolve."