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The shield reacted instantly.
The green necromantic pulse struck the golden surface.
For a second, the two energies pushed against each other.
The shield trembled but did not break.
Instead, the impact spread across the circular pattern and dispersed outward in a controlled ripple.
Ethan watched carefully.
"It works perfectly"
He increased the output slightly and sent another pulse.
This time the shield dimmed but held firm.
No cracks. No instability.
He lowered his hand and dismissed it.
"So that's the difference," he muttered. "Unlike mine this one is spreading it out rather then fully stopping it"
He tried again, this time forming the shield faster.
The first attempt formed too slowly.
The second attempt was better.
By the fifth attempt, the shield appeared almost instantly when he raised his arm.
He nodded once.
Next, he tested combining control.
He formed a small golden mandala in one hand and gathered a thin layer of necromantic energy around his other arm.
Carefully, he brought the two energies closer.
They did not explode.
They resisted each other but remained stable.
"I wonder if this will work," he murmured as he tried to fuse both energies together.
The moment he pushed them directly into each other, they began to destabilize.
If he forced them, they would clash.
If he layered them carefully, they could coexist.
He slowed his breathing and adjusted the flow again.
For a few seconds, a thin layer of golden Eldritch energy wrapped around a core of green necromantic power.
It held.
But the moment his focus slipped, the fusion collapsed and both energies dispersed into the air.
"I can't merge them perfectly right now," he muttered, staring at his hand.
To keep them stable, he had to concentrate constantly.
That was not practical in battle.
"I need to master it subconsciously," he said quietly.
It had to become natural. Automatic.
Only then would it be useful in real combat.
He glanced at the clock on the wall.
"It's almost time to go and teach the others," he said.
He closed the book, placed it back on the shelf, and walked out of the library.
When he reached the courtyard, the six trainees were already waiting.
They stood in a straight line.
Some looked nervous.
Some looked curious.
Ethan stood in front of them calmly.
"Alright," he said. "Form your basic mandalas."
One by one, golden circles appeared in their hands.
Some were stable.
Some flickered.
One collapsed immediately.
Ethan observed silently for a few seconds.
Then he stepped forward and adjusted the hand position of the closest trainee.
"Slow your breathing," he said simply. "You're pushing too much energy at once."
He moved to the next one.
"Your inner ring is rotating too fast. Stabilize it."
He corrected small mistakes one by one.
Within minutes, their constructs improved.
As he watched them struggle and adjust, he realized something.
Explaining it forced him to simplify it.
And simplifying it made his own understanding clearer.
Maybe the Ancient One was right.
Teaching was also training.
One of the trainees raised his hand nervously.
"Sir… how do we make the shield stronger?"
Ethan looked at him.
"You don't make it stronger by adding more power," he said.
"But by perfectly making the required power layered around ecah sigil" He demosntrtaed while explaining it.
He formed a small golden shield in his own hand.
"Look carefully."
The shield rotated slowly. The outer ring moved at a steady speed. The inner symbols stayed aligned.
"If the structure is correct, it can handle more force with less energy."
He tapped his shield lightly. It did not shake.
"Control first. Output later."
The trainees nodded.
Another student struggled again. His mandala kept collapsing after a few seconds.
Ethan stepped behind him.
"Your focus is drifting," he said. "Don't think about holding it. Just maintain the flow."
The student adjusted his breathing.
This time the mandala lasted longer.
Sharon and the others were training on the other side of the courtyard. She glanced toward Ethan briefly.
"Didn't we come here to learn? How come he is teaching others?" Clint asked Wong.
Wong adjusted his sleeves calmly. "He already knows the fundamentals. The Ancient One is letting him teach others so that he can better understand his own basics."
He paused and added, "It is another form of training."
Clint looked back at Ethan, who was correcting a trainee's stance.
"So we wake up at five in the morning," Clint muttered, "and he becomes an instructor."
Sharon crossed her arms. "He's still sparring with the Ancient One in the evening."
Clint paused. "Okay… I take that back. I don't want that schedule."
Storm remained silent, watching carefully.
"He is refining control," Storm said calmly. "Power was never his problem."
Natasha nodded slightly. "Teaching forces discipline."
Wong gave a small approving nod. "Exactly."
On the other side of the courtyard, Ethan dismissed the trainees after finishing the session.
As they left, he rolled his shoulders once.
Teaching had not been physically tiring.
But it required attention.
"It's more difficult than I thought," Ethan admitted to himself.
Then he smiled slightly.
"Though from their mistakes, I did find some clues on how to stabilize my fusion."
Watching beginners struggle with balance and structure helped him see flaws in his own control.
"But yeah, I should do that after mastering Eldritch magic to the same level as my necromancy," he muttered.
He walked toward Sharon's side of the courtyard.
They were still training under Wong.
None of them were able to form a proper mandala yet.
Coulson and Natasha, who had arrived earlier than the others, were only creating small sparks of golden light.
The sparks flickered and disappeared quickly.
Clint's construct collapsed almost immediately every time.
Sharon was managing a faint circular outline, but it broke apart within seconds.
Ethan observed quietly.
Then his gaze shifted to Storm.
Storm had managed to trace a few stable lines of a mandala before it collapsed.
It lasted slightly longer than the others.
"It's only the first day and he already reached that level," Ethan thought. "Ninjas truly have a high level of concentration."
Storm closed his eyes again and adjusted his breathing, trying once more.
Ethan nodded slightly.
Talent mattered.
But discipline mattered more.
And Storm clearly had both.