Masteria Online: Shattering the Dark God's Grand Scheme-Chapter 69 - Learning of Wind

Lumi used the flight time to get to know his team better. They were surprisingly easy to talk to once the ice was broken, which Jin had broken instantly without even a semblance of courtesy.

As they talked, Lumi found himself enjoying their company.

Marcus, the Fire Wizard, was actually born on Mora. He explained. "My family wasn’t thrilled when I kept insisting on leaving Mora. I wanted to be a hero just like Rena, who came from Mora. Ended up joining the knights. I miss my family sometimes. I send them money, though."

Lumi was curious. "Is that why you ended up with this mission assigned?"

"Probably not." he grinned. "Grand Tactician Azir is very meticulous about all that he does. I severely doubt that he would be so sentimental as to assign me this mission solely because of my origins."

Lumi gave a wry smile. "I meant it in the sense that you would be familiar with the island, being born there."

"Oh." Marcus blinked. "I didn’t consider that angle." 𝐟𝕣𝗲𝕖𝕨𝗲𝐛𝗻𝗼𝐯𝗲𝚕.𝗰𝚘𝐦

Zara spoke less than the others. When she did speak, however, it somehow managed to be the least relevant, most off topic statements of them all.

"I made some pancakes recently." She explained when Lumi asked about what a Shadester was. It was a tangent that didn’t remotely correlate to what was asked. "I don’t normally make pancakes. You have to listen to me though, I had an idea. Chocolate pancakes? I mixed chocolate into the batter. I think it came out okay, but the rest of my family didn’t seem to like it."

Lumi blinked. "What?" After a few stunned seconds, he gave a short apology. "Sorry, if that was a metaphor for something, I didn’t understand it."

Zara skipped over something mentally and instead explained. "Oh, as mentioned before, Shadester is our superior take on a thief. The shadows are our domain which we can use for mobility, offense, and defense. This also means our greatest asset is stealth. I admit, we may not have the miscellaneous skills thieves usually have, nor the overwhelming offense, but there’s much you can do when you simply aren’t seen."

As for Jin, his enthusiasm was infectious, even if his Lightning Caller techniques sounded like nonsense. "Listen, you know water? Ok cool, and what about lightning? Well what if I told you, the two are the same. If you don’t believe me, don’t worry! It’s because it’s not true. To be a Lightning Caller, you need to act as if it were true."

"That sounds incredibly dangerous." Lumi noted.

"Oh, it is! I’ve stopped my own heart twice. But the meditation techniques restart it, so it’s fine. Mostly fine. Ninety percent fine."

Valeria shared less personal information, and spoke more seriously. She seemed hesitant to join in on the casual talk, so she instead explained Eclipse Knight techniques. "Most people get confused when they hear we have a dawn and dusk stance. It isn’t so complicated."

"In this context, a stance does not hold the traditional meaning, but instead refers to a mode you enter. In dawn stance, you channel one energy. In dusk stance, you channel another. You must switch between both. Imagine you are in dawn stance, and filled with dawn energy. Just because you switch doesn’t mean you lose the dawn energy. You start collecting dusk energy, yet retain your dawn energy. Eventually you will consume your dawn energy, which necessitates another switch. By balancing both, you can achieve a strong empowered state at all times."

Lumi had intended to walk to Elara next. That woman had been leaning on one of the ships rails, looking off into the skies, the wind blowing through her deep green hair. Noticing her position away from the main group, Lumi paused, examining her closer.

She seemed a bit uncomfortable.

He was going to leave her be, but she looked over first, and gestured for him to come closer. Lumi slowly approached. "Elara, you’re off alone here."

Elara gave a small nod. "True." Her gaze returned to the skies. "I’m just enjoying the wind. I don’t feel like being crowded today."

Lumi nodded. "I can understand the feeling. Should I leave you be?"

"In a bit." Elara stated. "I want to say something though. I noticed the others told you about their classes. I suppose I should tell you about the Wind, then.

Watching her light discomfort, Lumi offered. "You can do it later, if you aren’t feeling up to it."

Elara ignored it, and began explaining. "Wind’s not your enemy unless you make it one. The wind carries information. Temperature changes, movement, scent trails, even conversations. There’s much wind can do. And so, if you can control wind, you control all of what I mentioned and more."

"Could you teach me to read the wind like that later?" Lumi asked. While he couldn’t learn foreign skills, if it was a matter of information, he was always willing to learn.

She studied him appraisingly. "Maybe. If we have downtime..." She paused, and looked around. "Well, it’s downtime."

"I’m willing to learn."

"Hm. Okay."

Elara gave a faint nod. "Close your eyes."

Lumi obeyed.

"Now," she continued, "listen. Feel. Don’t reach for the wind. Let it come to you. It’s not something you grasp. It’s something you invite."

There was silence for a few moments, broken only by the steady hum of the skyship’s engines. Lumi breathed in slowly, trying to still his thoughts. He opened his eyes. "I feel the wind but that’s all. It’s quick, it’s cold, a bit harsh against the face. It’s dry."

"There." Elara said quietly, watching him. "You felt it."

"I did?" Lumi tilted his head in confusion. He wasn’t very familiar with the Windshot class, so he didn’t know what to think.

Elara gave a nod. "Didn’t you? It conveyed information. Information that you are moving at a high speed. Information about the temperature. Information about the humidity. Don’t you see? It may be surface level, but it’s still information."

Lumi slowly nodded, unsure what to think. As if sensing his thoughts, Elara continued. "Don’t be disappointed. You are probably thinking that this is regular information everyone can feel. True. However, most people don’t stop and think about the implications of what they feel. Even if you were feeling that it was dry, would your mind have internalized that thought?’"

Lumi considered that. "No." he admitted. "I think I would’ve just ignored the sensation and moved on."

Elara smiled faintly. "That’s the first step. Observation is easy. Interpretation takes time. Wind isn’t just air. It’s history in motion. It tells a story." She waved her hand. "Now, onto the finer aspects..."