Chapter 245 A Brief Respite (1/2)
Brightblade's review proved to be exactly what Arran had expected
She spent three days going over every spell and seal he had learned, evaluating his progress in excruciating detail And whenever she encountered a gap in his knowledge, she sht
That herher old friend was obvious, but Arran benefited all the same Even if he had initially been reluctant to spend even yet tihts were extreeable about ic as the Matriarch, and if her lessons weren't quite as structured and organized, at least she did not have hihtfall
Still, Arran rejoiced when they finished with the last of the spells
Brightblade ht be more pleasant as a teacher than the Matriarch, but after aincessantly on the useless spells and seals, he desperately needed a change of pace
Fortunately, Brightblade appeared to sense his exasperation, and when Arran completed his work on the final spell, she said, ”Take the evening off Tomorroe'll practice soh of relief
He spent the evening doing little of anything While he experimented with his Destruction Real himself He casually turned a dozen rocks and two old enchanted swords to dust, then abandoned the pursuit for the ti
Instead, he read the Earth Realm Scroll, then used Destruction Essence to quickly open the Real else, at least it could do this — no small benefit, since it would have taken him days or even weeks otherwise
He awoke at dawn the next htblade
Facing her was both challenging and enjoyable He struggled to th, but the exertion did hiht, it felt as if much of the stress from the previousdays, she instructed him in the Shadowflame spell and several simpler variants of the Shadowcloak spell
While he was supposed to learn these things frohtblade correctly surmised that the Matriarch had left Arran little time to focus on otherthat
Brightblade's help proved invaluable
With her guidance, it barely took him a day to learn the Shadow spell to conceal objects And while the spell itself wasn't especially useful — it only worked on sress than he'dwith Oraia
The Shadowflahtblade's explanations certainly helped his understanding of it, the spell was frustratingly complex Even after his improvements over the past month, he knew that his current level of skill was far froh to learn it
And that was only half the problee Shadow and Fire Essence, and no matter how often he tried, the task seehtblade of this, she nodded in response ”It's ih practice, even the impossible can be achieved”
Her cryptic words were of little help to Arran, but he kept practicing all the sa the spell, and from that, he knew it could be done
And then, the week came to an end They left shortly after dawn on the final day Arran had expected that Brightblade would want to make full use of every hour she had available, but when he asked her about it, she shook her head
”Some rest will help you,” she explained ”Rhea'syou too far will only slow your progress”
Naturally, Arran had no objections to this decision Whatever rest he could get, he would gladly take
They traveled back into the Valley at a casual run, taking several breaks to eat along the way Without a need to hurry, Arran took his tih the Valley
Away from the capital, the Ninth Valley was roild everywhere but on the roads Only the occasional mansion or estate could be found in the area, and in several hours of travel, they only encountered a handful of other travelers
It was a pleasant environment, to Arran The densely populated parts of the Valley still filled him with a sense of unease, and if this wasn't exactly a true wilderness, it was close enough to
They parted ways near the capital, with Brightblade returning to the House of Swords as Arran made his way back to the House of Seals
Arran arrived at hispolitely as he entered the walled gardens
Almost immediately, he was approached by Jovan How the man had learned of his return Arran did not know, but it was clear that he had been waiting
”Lord Ghostblade,” the steward said, raising his hand in greeting ”You looklook
”I took your advice and got sorin