Supreme Magus

Chapter 4063: Inner Conflict (Part 2)

"A Hydra always has not only an arsenal of spells at their disposal, but also several battle, contingency, and escape plans. Having multiple heads means having no blind spot and being able to use every aspect of your surroundings to your advantage." Faluel said.

Friya nodded, taking a few practice swings with Dreadnought and performing warm-up exercises to test her new body’s balance. Swordsmanship allowed Friya to clear her head and let go of the frustration that tensed her muscles.

"I need to ask Dad to make me a bigger rapier. This one feels more like a short sword now." She said after finishing a full set of basic movements and getting used to her new center of gravity.

"I can take care of the rapier, if you want." Faluel said. "After all, I’m your master, and that would reassure your father that I’m not going to use you to get my hands on the Ernas’ legacy."

"That’s very thoughtful of you, Master Faluel, but I think Dad won’t care about that. He always says that he likes Forgemastering our weapons because this way a part of him is always there to protect us." Friya replied.

"A noble sentiment." The Hydra nodded. "Still, let Orion know about my offer and discuss it with him. The final choice is yours."

"I will." Friya said. "What about my tail? Can I use it in battle?"

"It’s way too soon for that. Let’s keep focusing on your heads." Faluel replied. "Keep practicing the basics, but have head number one always look behind you while the other six focus on your imaginary opponent."

"That’s easy." Friya said, turning her necks in unison and tripping over a pile of gold after two steps. "I stand corrected."

"More like you fall corrected." Faluel chuckled as Friya got up to her feet. "Remember the trick with the eyes."

"Okay." Friya turned her middle head back before opening the eyes of the heads that were still looking forward. "I did it! Your trick works like a charm."

"Try to relax before resuming your training." Faluel said. "It will be a bumpy ride for head number one, and it mustn’t order your body."

"Why a bumpy ride?" Friya #1 got her answer as her other heads moved faster, and the world started spinning out of control.

Neck number one whipped around, out of synch with the rest of the body and unable to keep itself steady. The graceful moves of her swordsmanship felt like a ride on a rollercoaster, with her head going up, down, left, and right without control.

"Please, stop!" Friya’s body suddenly tensed up and ended up tumbling down on the ground again.

"Why did you do that, number one? We were doing great!" The other six heads hissed in irritation.

Head number one replied by puking Friya’s guts out.

"Get up and resume your training." Faluel said. "You have trained your body for less than ten minutes. Fifty more left."

"Fifty minutes?" The heads echoed amid retching sounds. "Please, tell me that at least we are done after that."

"In your dreams, kid." Faluel replied. "Next comes our mind link training. Then you can go home for lunch, and then I expect you to come back here to start over from your magic training. If we have time left, we’ll check on your regeneration abilities."

"Just kill me already!" Friya whined.

"And this is not being a Lith at all." Faluel tutted. "He had to learn how to use his wings, horns, and tail. He also had to learn to fly without spells and keep gravity fusion always active. Did you hear him complain?"

"No." Friya thought back to all the times she had seen Lith train with Faluel and Feela. "But he made it look so easy."

"That’s because he didn’t complain. Every time he failed, he asked what he had done wrong and worked on correcting his mistakes."

"I’m sorry." Friya lowered her heads, the comparison was becoming more humiliating by the second.

’Don’t beat yourself up too much.’ Faluel switched from talking to telepathy to prove her sincerity. ’The first head is always the hardest. Once you get used to one, the rest is easy. Besides, we both know there’s no way Lith didn’t complain.

’I’m convinced that Solus took the brunt of his brooding and spared the rest of us all.’

’Yeah, she’s a saint.’ Friya chuckled. ’Speaking of Solus, shouldn’t we ask her to help us with our mind link training? She’s an expert compared to us.’

’I didn’t propose it myself because I know how much Nalrond hates Dawn.’ Faluel replied. ’We’d learn her technique and might need her whenever there’s something Solus can’t explain clearly or has yet to master herself.

’Nalrond can barely stand the idea of being Dawn’s unwilling apprentice. I don’t know how he would feel if you took lessons from her as well.’

’Oh.’ Friya’s eyes widened in realization. ’I’ll talk with him and let him know.’

’Good.’ Faluel nodded. ’Now get to work.’

Friya managed to complete the warm-up and spar with Faluel for almost one minute before puking again.

***

Trawn Woods, Solus’ tower, at the same time.

Everybody had mastered Swirling Wind, but the human bloodline abilities were another story entirely. Vital Storm produced mostly sparks, and Balefire boiled water slower than a stove.

Zoreth had better success, but only if she consumed part of the elemental energy stored in her arms.

"You guys suck." Garrik chuckled as he flew circles around the group, both literally and metaphorically. "You have to work harder."

"It’s not our fault. It’s just you being that good, little brother." Morok said, making the young Fomor-Tyrant hybrid twirl in the air with pride.

Nobody mentioned that Morok had proto-wings, Zoreth’s human aspect was just a Balor, and the others had much less time than Garrik to devote to their training. Between their families, their magical research, and sparring, there was only so much time in a day.

"He’s not wrong, though." Lith shapeshifted from Indech to Tiamat every now and then, checking on his progress in absorbing the world energy via his black feathers. "I struggle at this as an Indech, but I suck as a Divine Beast.

"I’m lucky that during the reveal I’ll be in my Indech form and above a mana geyser, or I’d be in deep trouble."

"While we are at it, which bloodline ability are you going to showcase after the wedding, big brother?" Tista asked.

"Vital Storm." Lith took a deep breath, and one-sixth of his feathers turned yellow. "Balefire would just be mistaken for Origin Flames, adding nothing new to my arsenal.

"Raging Severance and Umbral Shift, I’d rather keep a secret to maximize the surprise effect when I use them in battle. As for Lightforged and Arcane Bulwark, they are not flashy enough.

"They are barely visible, and I would have to explain and demonstrate their effect to avoid people doubting me and thinking it’s just a light show."

"Which goes against your plans." Morok nodded as small sparks of electricity started to arch across the Indech’s body.

"Correct." Lith said, amplifying the sparks into jolts. "Vital Storm is a power I can share with others, so its reveal will boost the morale of the Kingdom’s troops whenever they know we’ll work together."