Above The Sky
Chapter 103 - 103 98 Seaside Training

103: Chapter 98 Seaside Training 103: Chapter 98 Seaside Training Terra Calendar 767, January 28th.

Storm Day.

The clouds gathered like a churning black sea above the South Ridge coastline, as the icy sea breeze swiftly brought torrential rains.

The floating rainwater in the sky appeared as a shaken curtain, expanding and changing shape with the wind.

The rain lashed the coast.

Due to the terrain, the rainwater in the coastal forests converged into temporary streams, forming trickles that flowed into the sandy tidal flats.

With the temperatures hovering around freezing, even the most industrious Terra People preferred to stay indoors and stare blankly at their firepots.

Yet, there were two figures training on the deserted beach.

“Only five hits out of ten tries, one short of passing.

Again!”

In the pouring rain, Hiliard’s gray-brown eyes were fixed on the blindfolded child in front of him.

The white-haired boy had a serious expression, his eyes covered with a black cloth, and his body bore many marks of sand being pelted against it.

“Let’s begin, teacher.” Ian faced Hiliard squarely, his eyes blinded, holding a wooden stick in his hand, his voice calm, “I feel that I have grasped the trick.”

Clutching a handful of sand, the old knight didn’t utter a word, then suddenly raised his hand and threw.

The sand clump should have scattered in mid-air, but a force kept it together…

even allowed it to rotate in a non-linear manner, spiraling towards Ian!

Smack!

Yet Ian seemed to sense something.

He swung the wooden stick in his hand, hitting the sand clump dead on, shattering it.

Hiliard didn’t pause.

He continued to hurl clumps of sand, sometimes quickly, sometimes slowly, sometimes curving them from behind, sometimes spinning them in a spiral just like before.

Each sand clump was silent without the slightest hint, and the rumble of rain pounding the rocks and the sea muffled all other sounds.

But Ian kept swinging his stick.

He couldn’t see, couldn’t hear, but he truly sensed each of Hiliard’s throws and responded accordingly.

Although due to the old knight’s tricky throwing technique, he couldn’t block every single one with his stick, even when he missed, it was just by a slightly wrong angle, not for lack of awareness.

“Not bad!”

After finishing the throws, Hiliard’s expression brightened, and he praised, “You hit seven out of ten this time.

Your talent in Origin Sensing is indeed very sharp.

Keep it up!”

“Mm.”

Ian took a relieved breath.

Over this past month, he had gone from not being able to catch a single one to being able to catch most of them.

The sand throwing training, on a rainy day at the seaside where the world had only water and earth elements, involved Hiliard throwing sand clumps, while the blindfolded Ian, with his sense of hearing affected by the rain, intercepted the sand clumps by sensing their presence alone.

This training was meant to hone Ian’s sensitivity to the earth and his control over his body.

If this training was successful, then even if Ian lost his sight and hearing, he could still fight purely through ‘Origin Sensing.’

Of course, Ian could not use Spirit Energy—using Spirit Energy would be too easy and of no benefit to his training, not to mention that if this sensory ability were developed, it would be advantageous for Ian’s future control of his own Spirit Energy Sensing.

It sounds difficult.

But in reality, this was just one of the simpler exercises in the many training routines Ian had been through over the past month or so.

“Three minutes of rest, then we start the next training exercise!”

Hiliard looked up at the rain clouds, satisfied that the rain would continue for a long while, then nodded contentedly, “Control the sand and soil to cover your body without being washed away by the rain—five minutes to pass!”

“Yes!”

Responding energetically, after a brief rest, Ian began to manipulate the gravel on the surrounding beach, or to be precise, to cover his body with ‘silicon dioxide.’

The Sand Armor Apprentice’s sensing of dirt and gravel is essentially a sensing of silicon dioxide, or say, of the ‘silicon element.’

The silicon dioxide content in soil is about sixty percent, with other components like aluminum oxide, calcium oxide, and iron oxide also important, combined with water, microorganisms, and various organic components, overall, it’s much harder to control than the higher-purity sands of the beach.

However, even so, controlling the gravel to cling to the body and not be washed away by the rain was a tough task.

This tested Ian’s Origin Control Power, endurance, and focus.

It should be noted that even the Mud Shield of the Swamp Crocodile Dragon couldn’t block the washing effect of rain and would be carried away.

It’s just that it controlled such a large amount of mud, constantly replenishing and repairing, that even a day of impact didn’t matter, and so it seemed unaffected.

But coincidentally, these were Ian’s strong points.

Though this training, more difficult than hitting the sand clumps while blindfolded, came easy to Ian, who could effortlessly keep the gravel from being washed away by the rain, maintaining it for more than the passable five minutes without issue.

After Hiliard’s testing, Ian’s extreme focus time surpassed half an hour, which is a level many adult Sublimators find difficult to reach.

After all, changing the concept, it means that if Ian had enough Origin Quality and a strong body, he could fight continuously at his peak for more than half an hour without needing any rest or respite.

Beyond that, there was swimming.

It may sound simple—Isn’t swimming easy to pick up?

As long as one masters the technique, it isn’t hard, so how could it be part of a Sublimator’s training?

But not to mention that the place where Hiliard was training Ian was along the coast of Harrison Port, where storms were frequent and the waves turbulent, the body density of a Sublimator also differs greatly from that of ordinary people.

If they don’t use Origin Quality, the majority of Sublimators that fall into water will end up no better than rocks, at best bubbling a bit more.

As a Sublimator who specializes in earth attributes, after Ian advanced to be a Sand Armor Apprentice and his spinal bones began to transform into “Crystal Bone,” the density of his bones increased significantly— One need not say how much difficulty that added to swimming and floating.

Rather, the fact that Ian could float in water without sinking was already because his Origin Quality balancing skills were extremely exquisite.

After floating in the water for nearly an hour again, Ian felt that he indeed had become thoroughly exhausted, full of seawater, and could not squeeze out a bit of strength from his body, Hiliard would then pull him up.

The mentor and apprentice went to a small camp in the nearby woods to eat some grilled fish and drink some fruit puree milk.

The fruit puree was a mixture of several sour and sweet local berries from South Ridge which were red, yellow, blue, green, sweet, tart, sour, and bitter, and not too expensive, although they were somewhat toxic and could easily upset the stomach of ordinary people if consumed in excess.

But for Sublimators, it was akin to an extra meal; toxins are also a substance and could similarly be digested.

Especially since all the Origin Quality organs in Ian’s body possessed some resistance to, absorption of, and ability to ignore toxins.

As for the milk, thanks were due to The Empire’s aid; of the twelve Bison Giant Cows they sent, eight were females, three of which were even pregnant.

From this perspective, this aid from the Imperial Capital was indeed solid without any watered-down elements.

If not for Fiery Flame Land having opened up the mountain passage and confronting The Empire in the Western Region, causing The Empire’s strategic focus to shift, Harrison Port would have continued to receive assistance to such an extent that it might have become a large port city within seven or eight years.

Of course, the aid convoy on paper was thirty-five giant cows, but in reality, only twelve arrived, which everyone with understanding understood.

After all, having twelve left over after such a long distance from the Imperial Capital to Harrison Port was already considered very honest.

There’s no need to talk about the nutritional value of Bison milk.

Paired with fruit puree, it can supplement a large amount of protein and vitamins and restore vitality.

It was Elder Prude who arranged it thanks to his connections, and Ian shared some with Elan.

The rest served as a nutritional supplement to assist his training.

“In the past month, the training has shown significant results,”

In front of the campfire, Hiliard slowly added firewood as sparks scattered around the flames.

The old knight turned his head to look at Ian, who was silently eating fish, and seriously commented, “But don’t get complacent; training and actual combat are different.

Not to mention, your training hasn’t been perfect— Even if I’m unable to accompany you in the future, you must maintain your training every day to ensure you don’t fall behind.”

——This statement was false.

In fact, Hiliard was secretly alarmed by Ian’s training progress, even feeling a sense of disbelief at ‘Is this really an eight-year-old?!’, but the fact was so, and the old knight was astonished but could only accept it.

“…Yes, I will,”

After swallowing the food in his mouth, Ian responded just as seriously, “But teacher, didn’t you say the ‘anomaly’ and the ‘great storm’ won’t appear again for at least five or six years, and normally it might take seven or eight years?”

“The great storm is only the result, the true cause of the anomaly actually lies in the pre-era ruins deep beneath the sea…

Recently, I’ve been searching for a way to enter them, but I can’t find an approach,”

Lifting his head, Hiliard gazed at the distant sea.

After Ian had become a Sublimator, he no longer kept some news from Ian.

Looking at the depths of the azure sea, the old knight sighed, “Let’s not talk about that.

Ian, when Elder Prude called you over recently, aside from teaching you some knowledge about Sublimators and Spirit Energy, did he mention anything else?”

With Ian’s current knowledge, the teachings of Elder Prude naturally came off as somewhat outdated and one-sided.

But for Ian, it was also a process of review, moreover, Elder Prude was proficient in Inscriptions and was a very competent teacher.

In recent days, he had even prepared a set of small engraving tools for Ian to learn about Aether Armaments, which were quite expensive.

In Ian’s heart, the Elder was also a good teacher.

“Normal lessons, but Elder Prude also took me to the Elder’s Hall to meet some seniors,”

After finishing the fruit puree milk, Ian looked at the campfire and said calmly, “Guard Squad Vice Captain Redd, the Alchemist from the Viscount’s Mansion, Minning, and Captain Badanli from the White Chamber Fleet— Elder Prude introduced me to these White Folks seniors and announced that he has formally taken me on as his Apprentice.”

Clearly, these were important leaders of the White Folks in Harrison Port, involved in military, trade, and technology, and none of them were so foolish as to become officials.

Unlike other regions of The Empire, at this frontier of The Empire, where Viscount Grant’s trusted followers alone held great power over Harrison Port’s military, politics, and finances, it really didn’t matter whether someone was in an official position or not, one only needed to align closely with this Imperial Noble’s interests.

“Oh?”

Hiliard didn’t particularly care how many teachers Ian had; he wished for Ian to learn as much as possible and have as broad a network as possible.

The old knight was mainly interested in the interpersonal relationships: “Those old generations of White Folks, seeing you as this suddenly inserted ‘official disciple’…

weren’t they dissatisfied?”