Elias stood in the ruined temple, gripping the wooden training sword Selene had handed him. His body ached from the relentless drills of the past two days, but his mind was sharp, ready.

  Selene crossed her arms, watching him. “Channel your energy. Make it flow evenly, like a steady current, not a wild surge.” Elias closed his eyes and focused. He could feel the energy within him—raw, untamed. He reached for it, willed it to extend over the sword, to coat it like an extension of himself. For a brief moment, a pale shimmer appeared around the blade, but almost instantly, it flickered and vanished. He had been unsuccessful in maintaining this state for long from past to days.

  Frustrated, he exhaled sharply. “Again.”

  He tried once more. This time, the glow lasted longer, but the energy pulsed erratically, uneven in strength. Before he could stabilize it, the energy dissipated again. Selene sighed. “You’re forcing it. Energy isn’t about brute control. It’s about balance.”

  She lifted her own sword, a faint blue aura wrapping around it effortlessly. “Watch.”

  She swung downward at a stone pillar. The energy-coated blade sliced through the rock like paper, leaving a clean cut. Elias stared, knowing that if he tried the same, his sword would bounce off harmlessly.

  Selene turned to him. “Your benchmark is simple. Sustain energy over one weapon for at least 10 minutes. If you can’t do even that, you won’t be able to last against the various enemies that you are to face in the future.”

  Elias nodded, setting his jaw. Two minutes. He could do this.

  He tried again. The energy came quicker this time, forming a thin layer around the sword, but it flickered—unstable, inconsistent. His grip tightened as he fought to hold it, but within seconds, his strength drained, and the glow faded.

  Selene frowned. “Again.”

  Hours passed. Elias repeated the exercise over and over, but no matter what he did, the energy wouldn’t hold. His arms burned, his breath came in short gasps, and his mind screamed at him to stop. But he didn’t.

  Another attempt. Another failure.

  Elias clenched his fists. “Damn it.”

  Selene watched him carefully. His energy was strong—stronger than most she had seen at his level—but he was pushing too hard, trying to force it into submission instead of flowing with it.

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  She had made the same mistake once.

  She remembered her own training, years ago. She had struggled to maintain energy flow with a bow and arrow. At the beginning, she barely managed to keep her shots steady, the energy dissipating before the arrow even left the string. She trained for weeks with little progress—until she moved to the forest. Something about the trees, the wind, the unpredictability of the environment had changed everything. The moment she adapted, she became unstoppable.

  It was a simple but powerful concept “The easiest way to change your inner beliefs and working is to change the environment”. She had read somewhere that "Environment is stronger than will power."

  Elias needed that change too.

  She sheathed her sword. “We’re done here.”

  Elias wiped sweat from his forehead. “What? I can keep going.”

  “You’re training wrong,” Selene said simply. “You’re treating this like a static exercise. That’s not how your energy works.” She turned toward the exit. “Come on. We’re done for the day. Lets go home and start tomorrow”

  The next day Elias had expected another brutal round of sword drills. Instead, as he reached the temple , he saw another portal mysteriously in the centre of the big ground with Selene standing in front of it.

  "Come lets go to a new place today, may be today will be different" said Selene as she took a step into the portal and vanished. By now Elias was used to "the abnormal" so he simply followed. He carefully walked towards the portal and took a step inside.

  As he came out he saw Selene standing at the edge of the coastline, the ocean stretching endlessly before him. Waves playing cat and mouse game with the shore. A surfboard lay at her feet.

  He stared at it, then at Selene. “You’re joking.”

  She smirked. “Not at all. If you can’t control your energy on land, maybe you’ll learn to do it on water.”

  “This is ridiculous.” “Dorian mentioned you were a surfing instructor. And so I am hoping that your instincts are naturally better when you surf, aren’t they?”

  Elias frowned. She wasn’t wrong. Surfing had always been second nature to him, a rhythm he never had to think about. But how did that connect to molding energy?

  Selene gestured toward the board. “ Get into the water, Infuse it with energy. Then, stay on it for as long as you can without losing control.”

  Skeptical but with no choice, Elias placed his hands on the surfboard and concentrated. He pushed his energy into it, willing it to spread evenly across its surface. For a moment, it worked—the board pulsed with a faint glow, energy running along its edges.

  He stepped onto it. The glow flickered.

  A second later, the energy cut out, and Elias plunged straight into the ocean.

  Saltwater filled his mouth as he surfaced, but being used to ocean he recovered quickly. Selene stood at the shore, arms crossed, expression unreadable.

  “Again,” she said as her lips gently formed a smile.

  Elias gritted his teeth and dragged himself back onto the board.

  For the next few hours, he struggled to maintain energy on the surfboard. Every time he thought he had it, the glow would falter, his balance would slip, and he’d be thrown into the waves.

  But something was different here. Unlike before, when failure had only brought frustration, this felt… natural. Like falling was part of learning, not a sign of weakness.

  The sun dipped lower in the sky, and finally, he stayed on the board for one full minute before the energy cut out.

  It wasn’t much.

  But it was a start.

  Selene watched from the shore, arms still crossed and her face no longer tensed. He was getting it.

  Tomorrow, he would do better.