"Wow!" Alex shouted, pointing at the light ball floating above Azaroth. "He did it! He used a skill!"

They all looked at Azaroth, at the small ball of red light that floated just above his head. Azaroth increased the essence he was channeling into the formation and the ball grew to the size of a fist.

"Good Azaroth, at least one of you gets it. Now, can you move it? Just imagine where you want it to be," Kael said.

Azaroth raised his right hand and imagined the light ball coming to him. At first, nothing happened, then the light ball gently bobbed towards his hand.

It was surprisingly warm to the touch, not the hot energy Azaroth thought it would be. It wasn’t solid but wasn’t liquid either. Azaroth imagined it starting to spin around him and the ball began doing so.

"Good, good!" Kael said. "Well, get back to it, guys! And don’t forget to channel the essence slowly."

Azaroth kept channeling and kept the light ball rolling. Did his chaos technique have a light formation too? Azaroth doubted it.

Catena was the one to get his light ball next, a bright green ball the size of an egg appeared in front of him and the tall boy smiled. "So this means my technique color will be green."

"You’ve started to understand. This is also part of your attunement between your technique and core since that light formation was made with your techniques in mind." Kael moved closer to Catena.

A chiming sound echoed and a blue ball of light existed in front of Stallus. It was a blue much lighter than her eyes, almost translucent as it floated in the air, yet Azaroth could see the light it provided.

Stallus stared at the light in wonder, her hand lifted as if with a mind of its own and caressed the light ball, murmuring. "So beautiful."

Alex snorted. "There’s nothing beautiful there! It’s just a light ball just like this..."

Alex concentrated, his jaw going slack and his eyes unfocused, then he smiled. "Got it."

A hiss like an echo of thunder before a blinding light flashed in the room. Azaroth flinched, closing his eyes as it burned with the glare of the white light. He deactivated the light formation.

He heard the others cursing and Alex groaning even as he closed his eyes tighter.

Kael was laughing. "I knew this would happen! I was waiting for it actually, and I was almost disappointed. Thank you, Alex." 𝑓𝓇𝘦ℯ𝘸𝘦𝑏𝓃𝑜𝘷ℯ𝑙.𝑐𝑜𝓂

Kael laughed again, looking like the light didn’t affect him.

"If I catch you, Alex! If I catch you!" Stallus threatened. "And why can’t you warn us?"

Azaroth could also feel the glare in her eyes even though he knew she must still be closing them just like he was doing. The burn had lessened but he still couldn’t open his eyes.

"It is better you all learn with this. Putting too much essence into a skill you haven’t mastered is a recipe for disaster. It’s better to learn with a harmless skill now before it turns into something else," Kael said.

Beside him, Azaroth heard Catena drop into a resting position with a groan.

"You still should have warned us!" Stallus insisted.

"Well, you should always be prepared for any attack at any time. If it had been an explosive skill, this is how you would have been blown to bits," Kael warned.

"It would have been your fault," Stallus said flatly.

"Maybe, but you should remember you are responsible for your own life," Kael said.

"Not here. Not now in the Inferno Legion," Stallus whispered bitterly.

There was silence then, broken only by Alex moaning in pain.

Stallus snorted. "At least you got the bigger end of the stick, Alex. Serves you right."

"You should pity me," Alex said between painful breaths.

"Maybe when I get my eyes back," Stallus quipped.

Azaroth opened his eyes and at first, all he saw was a double blur that rolled together and made his eyes water. He closed them and tried again before he could at least keep them open without discomfort.

It took a while before Azaroth’s vision stabilized and he could see again. Alex was curled into a ball with his head between his knees and Stallus was blinking furiously while trying to glare at Alex.

Kael sat in front of them, glancing through a small book in front of him. He raised his masked face as he felt Azaroth’s eyes on him. "Oh... you’re back to normal."

Azaroth shrugged. "That light skill doesn’t seem as harmless as you said."

"A school of thought once said anything could be a weapon when used just right, and I agree with it," Kael said.

"Does the mask block the light for you?" Azaroth asked.

"Yes, but that’s not all. As you advance, you will unconsciously start channeling essence into some parts of your body. Like your eyes to make them sharp and to protect them. Your ears and nose to increase their sensitivity," Kael said.

Azaroth nodded slowly, he hadn’t known that. It seemed to him he was always learning new things about Awakeners every day, and he had a suspicion that it would always be like that.

"Why didn’t he just suffer alone? He didn’t have to include us in his blindness," Stallus said, her eyes now open even though they were a little red and puffy.

"That’s why you should always be conscious of your surroundings, but still, didn’t Alex remember I told him to channel slowly?" Kael asked.

Stallus snorted. "He’s a fool, he must have put half of his essence in that!"

Azaroth doubted that. The light ball didn’t consume much essence, but then again he had been channeling it slowly, not like how Alex did his.

Catena rolled and sat up, his eyes even more closed than before. "This formation and channeling is causing me massive headaches."

"You’ll get used to it. For now, you are still stretching your mind. Soon your mind will adjust," Kael said.