Teran spotted the two and waved, walking over.

“Good morning you two!” 

The bald man sat down by Ruith, letting out a sigh.

“I’ll take you back to the Bastion in about an hour, so you have a bit more time to train here.”

Ruith nodded.

“Teran, I was wondering about something. Is it fine if I ask a few questions related to my ability?”

“Of course! What is it?”

Ruith proceeded to explain what his ability was, and then asked if Teran knew a better way to use it. He also added how he felt the strange mana inside of the tree.

“Nature Manipulation, huh? Never heard of an ability like that, but I think I can help you a bit.”

He paused before continuing.

“All living things absorb and store mana, however, only humans, beasts, and Voidborne have mana cores. In this case trees absorb mana in order to grow faster than they would simply using normal means. The mana of plants is easily manipulated, as there is no will behind it. Even I, though my ability is Air Control, am able to slightly manipulate the mana of plants. I assume it will be much easier for you due to your ability though.”

Ruith pondered this for a moment. Previously he had tried to affect the mana within the tree, but perhaps he had not done it correctly? 

“Teran, how do I manipulate the mana?” Ruith questioned with excitement in his voice.

Vaeri’s father told him how to do it, and it was surprisingly simple. All he had to do was ‘wrap’ the tree’s mana with his own, and then he would be able to guide it in a way.

Teran explained that a person’s own mana had their will attached to it, but the tree’s mana did not have that will, resulting in it being extremely easy to manipulate.

Ruith quickly tested it out. He sent his mana into the entire tree, and then wrapped it around all of the foreign mana. 

At first the feeling was quite strange, as he was not able to directly control the mana, but he quickly got used to it.

Sending his mana through a root, the foreign mana moved with his. Ruith then did what he normally would, using his mana to grow the root towards the surface. However, this time the tree’s mana was assisting him. 

SHHH!

A sharp root with the diameter of Ruith’s pinky shot out of the ground and pierced two feet into the air. 

“Holy shit…”

Ruith’s eyes widened in disbelief. All of his mana had been used by doing that, but previously he wouldn’t even have achieved 20% of that effect.

‘I finally have an actual attack!’

Ruith was ecstatic. He would actually be able to use this in a fight. The root moved fast, was durable, and the tip was sharp. 

Of course, he had to name it. The boy decided on [Root Pierce], a simple name for his first attack.

Teran smiled as he watched the boy, when he was younger he had acted the same way upon creating his first attack.

Ruith sent more of his mana into the tree, and discovered that his attack had used 20% of the mana within. For such a small attack it used quite a bit, but trees grew slowly and did not need to store a ton in the first place. He felt the tree restoring its mana slowly, about 5% every minute.

Despite this, he was still extremely pleased. The tree wasn’t even that large compared to others, and he was able to achieve this. As Ruith’s own power grew, he would be able to use the energy of more and more trees at once.

He daydreamed of himself in the future, possessing the power of entire forests, his enemies utterly overwhelmed.

Ruith continued to practice with this new method, exhausting both his and the tree's mana multiple times.

Eventually, Teran spoke to him again.

“I’m sure there are even more ways to use Nature to help your ability, but I have no experience with that. Good luck, Ruith.” 

The older man gave a light smile, and Ruith thanked him for the help.

“How do you feel about staying with us for a bit longer? This is a better place for you to train, and I’m sure Vaeri will appreciate the company while I’m not here.”

Ruith instantly agreed to stay. This place was far less dangerous than the Bastion, and he wouldn’t mind spending more time with Vaeri. Even though he was used to avoiding people, the lack of social connection had affected him a bit.

“Alright you two, I have business to attend to in the Bastion.”

Teran stood and said goodbye to them.

WHOOM!

The man blasted into the air at an insane speed, disappearing in the direction of the city.

Now left alone, Vaeri walked over to Ruith. 

“Since you can attack with your ability now, let’s have a real spar.”

She swung her sword around, waiting for Ruith to stand. Once he had fully recovered his mana, he stood in front of the girl.

“Alright, go.”

BOOM!

A small dent appeared in the ground where Vaeri was standing, and she shot at Ruith at an incredible speed. Luckily, the boy was able to just barely react.

Her sword pierced towards his chest, but Ruith sidestepped. The short girl did not pause, following up with a slash towards his neck.