Avatar: Mage of All Elements

This morning had been a fun morning. After helping everyone with their accommodations, I now knew where their beds were. So, after quietly making a passageway in their walls, I simultaneously threw everyone out of their beds and into the street. Even Poppy. And in front of me stood five sleepy but eerily angry bodies.

«Good morning!» I thundered, smiling happily. «Since we have arrived at the location, your training has finally begun. Before, you could say it was a warm-up. While you slept peacefully last night, I prepared an obstacle course just for you. See this place?» I pointed to the path. «That's where you're going to run through. So that you don't get bored, I'll run with you and keep you going. Magic is forbidden. Is that clear? Then let's run.»

And without listening to any more lazy objections, I drove them all down the road that only I knew. I slept only two hours today, and I did all the obstacles today, but I didn't even do half of what I had planned. But I have plenty of time.

Right now, this obstacle course is practically empty. At most, there are ledges at the top and bottom. But it goes around the whole mountain, which is about twenty kilometers. When I have time, I will add more obstacles so that everyone will have some kind of exercise in the morning. I also plan to build a kind of air hockey and an arena for sparring in the form of a game.

But now it is not necessary, because even this lane they could not pass in time. We spent a little over half an hour on it. That's a lot. But when they came to their senses, I showed them a small lake that I had made, which was not so easy. But I still managed to get the spring almost to the top and make a small stream flow.

It was not a hot spring, but a very ordinary one, which made the water ice-cold. But it was better than nothing at all. So I made a small pond a little below it, about five meters deep, so that it would be convenient to wash.

We bathed in it one by one. Even though it was wide enough, everyone should have a private space. Poppy went in first. Then the boys went in. It took half an hour just to wash off the sweat, and then we went into the village.

There we bought food and meat, bowls and spoons, warm clothes, rags for training, all at once. We went back loaded to the brim. And later the real training began.

I sparred with everyone and pointed out their mistakes, forced to practice techniques to automaticity, physically loaded and forced to eat a lot of food, we played King of the Mountain, I also built a field for air hockey. But the heat started when I finished the arena.

I had to calculate everything so that it wouldn't fall apart even if it was heavily damaged. But it was done, and then I put the guys there permanently. To keep them from getting bored, I had to go out and fight them myself sometimes, or make up different rules to make the sparring more interesting, and they changed all the time.

Still, there were four of them, plus Poppy sometimes. Her reserve had grown, of course, but she was still the weakest of the bunch. Her control was near perfect, though, which made the ground obey her without question, and she gave the boys a lot of headaches in sparring.

My training and meditation also paid off. One day I realized that this vision is nothing more than a circular impulse, and the stronger it is, the easier it is to feel all the obstacles in its path, and the more detailed the little things are. At first I had to listen hard to feel anything, but soon it became easier and easier.

It got to the point where I could hear insects and worms in the ground. All I had to do was learn how to tell the difference. But it didn't take long, all I had to do was walk around with my eyes closed and wait for my brain to adjust. And when it did, a whole new world opened up to me.

Now, in battle, my students had no chance, every move they made was seen by me and stopped at the very beginning. Knowing the direction of the attack and its strength, I could deflect almost any attack with minimal movement and minimal strength. It was powerful because I had reached a new level, and the fruits of my training had yielded an unreal effect.

I was satisfied. But I didn't forget what it was all for. I wanted to master metal magic, and this «Sensitivity» of the earth was only the first step. It just needed to be honed to the point of automaticity, and then I could move on to metal.

My sudden amplification did not go unnoticed by my students.

«Master, where is this power coming from?» Poppy once asked me. She is the one we spend the most time with, as she requires extra training and sparring.

«It's simple», I smiled meaningfully. «While you're practicing one thing, I'm learning something else.»

«I see», she said thoughtfully, sinking into herself. I know her well enough now to know that she'll stay like that until the evening, and in the morning she'll either make up her mind and forget about it, or she'll draw conclusions and move on with her life.

There wasn't much time left before the end of the training. Since everyone has become stronger, I have taught them earth steps, so we will reach the base in a week at the most. For now, we mostly rest or occasionally spar. Each of them already knows their weaknesses and how to fight against them, and since I'm not their babysitter, they do it on their own. It's a blessing. But there have been problems along the way.

For example, Poppy fell in love with me. I realized it too late and couldn't stop it. And I remember she got engaged. I mean, she's beautiful and all that, but I have principles that keep me away from married women. Still, my past life has left a scar on my soul.

As they say, it's only a step from love to hate. I used the opposite principle and became a tyrant to her. But it didn't help much and I had to set up a situation where I went to the village girls and while I was having fun with them, I was «Caught» by Poppy. A lot was said at the time, but it solved the situation. Do I regret it? If she hadn't been married, it wouldn't have been a problem, but alas.

But even that time has come to an end and now we have to go back. I don't know about my students, but this time has been good for me. As soon as I close my eyes, all the colors fade, giving me an unrealistically clear and detailed world. But there is one small drawback: the farther I want to look in this way, the stronger the impulse is needed.

I can look several kilometers away with this method, but it is too much for the brain, and I need a very strong circular impulse, because the target loses energy too quickly at long distances.