Emperor Lind Frey's strange speech seed to energize the many students and teachers inside the capitol.
Further, the words were spreading like lighting to the farthest reaches of the empire.
Those that had already graduated found clarity in their lives as they had been trying to figure out what was expected of them.
Not all was smooth as so disciples rely wanted more strength and found the changes around them disruptive.
Still, the teachers kept the discipline strictly adhered to.
Sparring helped blow off so steam but 3 disciples were a bit different.
Ruby was actually really happy.
When she saw Emperor Frey speak, she had worried sothing bad was coming but his words were like the light of the sun ending a long night.
She had struggled a lot to progress due to her complex physique and bloodline issues but now she thought about what she wanted to do.
It made the issues she had been working through seem much more feasible and simple obstacles!
Sa, on the other hand, seed down.
His abilities were clearly for combat and he had been proud of how powerful he had beco but he had no idea what to do outside of fighting.
He struggled but did not despair.
He rembered the orders of the Emperor and went to find his master, Shoti.
Teela was different.
Lind was her master for most of her training.
Her strength was monstrous compared to others in her realm.
While Ethry and Kora could withstand her easily, they were natural beasts, but Lind was human originally.
He understood dealing with a body that was too strong better than most.
She had been closest to him and seen the odd things.
At tis he would be a lovey dovey husband and father, a cold Emperor other tis, but then there were the tis her body felt terror.
Like when he ca to the impromptu fight between the 3 brothers.
That aura at the very beginning was not ssing around.
It was dark and terrifying just as everyone had felt.
It had changed quickly but she said nothing as her entire body was telling her to run.
Yet, the fight resolved and his sons seed to bring out the calr side of him.
The man who gave that speech was not soone she knew at all.
She knew Ruby was inspired and Sa frustrated but she could not help them.
Instead, she was whaling on a dummy specially designed for her by her master.
It was a Forged humanoid shape that was able to be adjusted for flexibility, absorption, and so forth to push her responses as training required.
It was not as good as fighting Lind but he was very busy.
Also, the few aether beast masters were terrified of her strength as well.
As she progressed, her physique had her strength easily surpass her current realm, but conversely the beings she needed to fight were all very critical mbers of the empire.
Teela was about to prepare her first set of combat practice when she felt a familiar presence.
She slowly turned back to see a stranger with a familiar face.
He looked like Lind Frey, but he was no longer feeling dangerous or fragile to her heightened senses.
Lind smiled and it was far warr than recent mory told her it could be.
She also saw her Majesty Qing with him.
"I just ca to watch.
Please, proceed."
Teela frowned as that was not how things usually went but she bowed and began to puml the dummy.
She started with a simple warmup with no response really from the dummy but then she adjusted it to counter her moves.
A thick tube slapped out after her fist slamd into the torso area and she had to dodge it.
It was all basic until she finally activated a certain weaving engraved into it.
The once lifeless dummy moved on its own!
It began to go through a set pattern but the air rippled like crazy due to the sheer power of each attack.
It showed how terrifying Teela's own strength was that it took such power to even threaten her.
It was going well when she made a mistake.
It had happened before but the once flabby arm of the dummy was now a dangerous weapon in density heading for her face!
Just as she closed her eyes to handle the pain, the air shifted around her as an erald claw stopped the dummy cold!
The scales were bright and powerful but Teela felt her body tremble at the aura coming from that hand unlike ever before!
"I think that was a little much.
Rest for a mont."
Lind's calm voice was disturbing to her as he usually was harder on her.
A mistake was drilled into her until she learned from it, but now he prevented it.
A flash of sadness in his eyes also bothered her.
He reset the dummy as she assud the lotus position and recovered.
Lind seed to examine her flow of Qi which was normal but he was displeased.
Why?
She had been diligent.
"So that is what I was doing."
His mumbled words made her want to ask questions but he looked at his wife who nodded at him.
"Teela, stop for a mont."
She looked up and saw him sit across from her.
"Your Golden Physique is in excellent condition but
your elents are only being used for combat, correct?"
She slowly nodded as that had been the focus of most of her training.
It had been going well she thought but now he seed to be displeased with it.
"Follow what I do."
She saw earth and fire flow in certain ways as light flared up like a fine thread over it all.
She was always amazed how he could select elents when she could only use those 3.
Still she studied the rope-like structure and attempted to pull it off.
It was not a defensive or offensive Art but a pure conjuring.
It was very delicate but she took her ti and he had infinite patience.
He usually could be either that or harsh but she preferred the patient version.
Still, compared to his effortless actions, she was sweating heavily as the Qi kept trying to slip from her control.
Very slowly, as the sun moved across the sky to nearly sundown, she finally built about half the length of rope he had.
Fire was one thread, earth the other, and light Qi filling in the gaps.
It was very difficult but once she reached that far, a shift in her dantian occurred.
The flow of Qi beca imnsely easier and her ridian surged with pain when impurities began to flow off her body like a river!
She had broken through but did not ascend.
It was a qualitative one!
She had been at the peak but it was like she suddenly felt like half her strength had been unleashed!
"Excellent!"
Lind smiled wide as did Qing.
Teela was damned confused, however.
What was going on?
"Master, what–"
He held up his hand and gave her an elixir.
It was a simple Recovery Elixir that let her recover her Qi and stamina.
She downed it and felt it spread through her body quickly.
"While your physique does help with combat, its true power can be only pulled out by delicate Qi control.
A rope is fairly simple at first glance but you grasped the problem and applied a solution."
Teela did know indeed.
She had to prevent the elents combining as they wished to as all 3 were very easy to combine after all her training.
She had to keep them separate and still hold the shape.
Brute force did not work but Ruby's lessons with Qi actually helped her figure it out.
Why had Lind never taught her that before?
"Work on making the rope longer, say 100 ters long, before you try to break through to the Star Tier."
She slowly nodded but had many questions on how he knew how long to make it.
He simply smiled at her and laid down a worn book of notes.
"I was frustrated on why your Qi seed half the strength it should be but could not see the solution.
I was–narrow minded."
He had been about to say sothing else, she was sure of it but she examined the notes and slowly nodded.
It was progress about her, Ruby, and Sa.
She also saw notes about his children but they were more vague.
Likely, based on what she saw, it was drawing parallels.
"Master, who are you?"
Her question made him smile as he looked back at Qing but she shook hers.
Teela was not a fool.
Empress Qing's specialty was known to her but it made her sad that her master did not trust her.
"You are on the right path in spite of my issues, Teela."
Her eyes went wide as she looked up at him.
He looked at her warmly but she also saw how tired he was.
It was very clear to her he was exhausted.
The speech must have been more than she realized.
"What about the others?"
He nodded at her question.
"There will be issues, in fact they are already started but we will work through it.
Thankfully, you all had the best defenders one could ask for."
He looked back at Qing once more and Teela bowed low.
The Empress' had corrected the issue it seed.
Her Master was not a dictator but one among equals.
"Now, focus on your training and think about what you want to be when you are on your own.
That day is coming soon."
She panicked but he gave her no ti to ask more as he took back the notes and followed Qing out of the training room.
She had a lot to consider about her future but of one thing she was sure.
It was in the Sanctuary Empire.
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