The brisk morning air made Su Yan shiver as he and Nihilister followed Teacher Lin toward the lakeside training spot she had chosen.
Despite how early it was, the road was already busy. Merchants, labourers, and townsfolk moved in and out of Nuoding in a steady flow, and more than one caravan rolled past under heavier escort than usual. Su Yan noticed that even some of the larger merchant groups had multiple Spirit Masters travelling with them.
He guessed Spirit Hall had already spread word of the recent surge in Soul Beast activity.
The sight of the guards reminded him of the Zhao siblings. For a moment, he found himself hoping he might spot them among the caravans, but as the crowds thinned, no familiar faces appeared.
After about an hour of walking along the road, Teacher Lin suddenly led them off into the forest undergrowth. The morning sunlight turned muted beneath the canopy overhead, and the creak of wagons and murmur of voices quickly faded, leaving only the whisper of leaves and the layered cries of wildlife.
The dimmer light and shorter sightlines put Su Yan slightly on edge, his mind drifting back to the wolf ambush. But seeing the relaxed demeanour of Teacher Lin and Nihilister, he forced himself to calm down.
Once the main road was completely out of sight, they continued for a while longer until the trees began to thin. When they finally stepped out of the treeline, Su Yan was blinded for a moment. He raised a hand to shield his eyes from the sudden brightness, and as he squinted into the light, he took stock of his surroundings.
In front of him lay a broad lake stretching well into the distance, sunlight shimmering across its crystal-clear surface. On the far bank, Su Yan could just make out the shapes of several Soul Beasts lowering their heads to drink.
"Well, here we are."
Teacher Lin turned to face Su Yan and Nihilister with a faint smile.
"What do you think of the place?"
Su Yan let his gaze linger on the lake for a moment before answering.
"It's beautiful. How did you even find somewhere like this?"
Teacher Lin's smile softened, a distant look entering her eyes.
"It's a place I used to come to with a friend when I was younger."
A moment later, she returned her attention to the present.
"In any case, this is where we'll start your training. A little farther down, there's a flatter stretch where the shoreline turns sandy. We'll set up there."
As they headed in the direction Teacher Lin had indicated, Su Yan spotted the bank before they reached it: a small stretch of beige sand along the lakeshore, tucked into a shallow dip between the treeline and the water like a hidden little beach.
When they reached it, Teacher Lin set the supplies down on a large rock and swept her gaze over the shoreline and the water beyond before looking back at Su Yan.
"Su Yan, stretch first before you get in. And stay to the shallower area when you start swimming. This place is usually safe enough, but it's been a while since I was last here. There's no telling whether anything new has moved in."
"I understand, Teacher Lin."
Su Yan answered seriously before beginning to warm up.
Nihilister sat on a nearby rock, chin propped on one hand, her gaze drifting toward the treeline.
"If you two are settled, I'm going to have a look around. See whether there's anything here worth my time."
A feral smile crept across her face as she headed for the forest.
Su Yan watched her go, and as she stepped beneath the shadow of the treeline, her silhouette shifted. The equipment she had kept hidden unfolded at her sides, broadening her outline before the trees swallowed her from view.
In hindsight, Su Yan probably should have warned her not to burn down too many things, but it was a little late for that now.
Su Yan sighed and continued his stretches. Once he finally felt ready, he stripped off his outer layer and moved closer to the water.
"Teacher Lin, I'm going to start now."
"Be careful, Su Yan," Teacher Lin said, her eyes still on the lake and the surrounding shoreline.
The moment he dove into the water, cold wrapped around him. The morning sun had done little to warm the lake, and for an instant the chill bit deep into his skin. Su Yan pushed through it, and as he swam, his body slowly began to adapt.
Before long, he settled into a rhythm: swimming until he felt a little tired, then floating on the surface for a short while before starting again. Honestly, it felt far better than the running he had been doing. Relaxing, he closed his eyes and simply enjoyed the warmth of the sun on his skin and the gentle rocking of the water, not realizing he had drifted a little farther from shore than he intended.
Su Yan's eyes snapped open as he felt movement below him. Righting himself at once, he looked down and saw a mass of green beneath the surface. His first thought was that it must just be water plants—until he felt the water shift again, in a way the plants could not have caused.
A cold spike of panic shot up his spine. His mind raced for a solution and latched onto the most familiar one.
"Bastion!"
Su Yan shouted as a jade-green barrier materialized just above the water. He practically threw himself at it, scrambling on top as fast as he could. He stared at the surface, his breath somewhat ragged, as a grey-skinned head rose above the water, followed by a broad, moss-dark shell large enough for him to lie across.
Su Yan found himself staring into the eyes of a turtle that was slowly chewing through a mass of water plants it had apparently gathered from below. It stared back at him, worked through the mouthful at its own pace, swallowed, and then sank beneath the surface again with barely a ripple.
Su Yan sat there in silence for a moment before dropping down onto the barrier and burying his face in his hands.
"Su Yan! Are you alright over there?!"
Teacher Lin shouted from the shore.
Pulling his face from his hands, Su Yan shouted back,
"I'm okay! Just a false alarm!"
Even as he answered, heat crept into his face.
As his racing heart began to settle, Su Yan finally took stock of the situation—and of the fact that he was somehow sitting atop the barrier, suspended above the water.
"Huh. Neat."
His mind jumped at once to the idea of a flying carpet, and he reached for that familiar connection to the barrier. He tugged at it, trying to make the barrier move, but no matter how much Spirit Power he pushed into it, it refused to budge.
Frowning, he decided to try something else. Rising to his feet, he steadied himself, then jumped and pulled at the connection again. Below him, the barrier shifted. Excitement welled up in his chest—right up until he landed badly and slipped, tumbling straight back into the water.
Su Yan's head broke the surface as he looked toward the shore. Teacher Lin had seated herself again and, thankfully, didn't look as though she had noticed his little accident.
"At least I'm the only one who saw that."
A sudden swell rose beneath him, and Su Yan felt something lifting him upward. Looking down, he saw the turtle's broad shell from before. As its head cleared the water, it was once again chewing on a mouthful of water plants. It turned its head slightly, glancing first at its own back, then at Su Yan.
Su Yan stared back for a moment before pointing a finger at it.
"Don't you start."
Then he pushed himself off the turtle's shell and climbed back onto the barrier. The turtle kept chewing for a moment longer before drifting away, a half-eaten bit of plant the only evidence it had been there.
Turning his focus back to the barrier, Su Yan formed a second barrier directly beside the first. He stepped onto the new one, then shifted the first ahead to where his next step would fall. Like a bridge rebuilding itself beneath his feet, he slowly began making his way back toward the shore.
After a few awkward steps, the rhythm started to settle in.
As he neared the shallows, Su Yan decided to change things up. Instead of slowly moving the barrier he had left behind, he dispersed it and materialized it directly in the next position. The process sped up noticeably, even if it took a bit more Spirit Power and concentration.
Now that he was nearly at the shore, Su Yan decided to try one more thing. He materialized the next barrier slightly higher than the last, then the next a little higher still.
Looking down, a pleased smile spread across his face. This had a lot of potential.
With utmost care, making sure he did not slip, Su Yan made his way back to the beach, each newly materialized barrier serving as the next step in a rough staircase.
Teacher Lin stared at him in amazement as he finally stepped back onto the sand.
"That was quite the trick, Su Yan."
"I only just figured it out, but I could do so much with it."
"I can imagine," Teacher Lin said. Then a faint smile tugged at her lips. "But, Su Yan… did I happen to see a certain someone slip and fall back there?"
Su Yan's face heated up at once.
"Y-you saw wrong. I just dove back in, that's all."
Teacher Lin's eyes crinkled with amusement.
"Of course you did. I believe you."
Su Yan dropped to a crouch, pulling his knees in and covering his face.
"Ughhh… just kill me now…"
Teacher Lin's amusement lingered for a moment before she steered the conversation back to his Soul Skill. The two talked for a while, until movement from the forest suddenly caught their attention.
From the treeline, Nihilister emerged with a large snake draped over her shoulders, its body battered and broken.
"You're back. Just in time."
She tossed the snake onto the sand in front of Su Yan and Teacher Lin.
"Cook that."
Su Yan stared at the corpse. Wounds marked the length of its body, and its head was little more than a crushed ruin.
"What the heck did this thing do to make you hit it that hard?"
"It thought squeezing me would do something," Nihilister said. "It didn't. Then it tried to eat me, so I crushed its head. Now stop staring and cook it."
She then made her way toward the water. Looking more closely, Su Yan noticed a faint sheen on her skin, likely the snake's saliva. She waded farther in before finally submerging herself.
Looking back at the snake's corpse, Su Yan realized he had no idea where to even begin. He looked helplessly at Teacher Lin.
"Let me get my knife. This is a good chance to show you how to butcher a snake for its meat."
After showing Su Yan the basics of how to process the snake, Teacher Lin sent him to gather firewood.
When he returned, he saw Nihilister emerging from the lake, water still streaming down her body. The segments of her armour and weapons glowed a bright orange, and waves of heat rolled off her as the water on her skin turned rapidly to steam. Within seconds, she was dry.
Glancing down at the firewood in his arms, Su Yan carried it over to the spot Teacher Lin had cleared for the fire and set it down. Then he looked toward Nihilister and called out,
"Nihilister, can you light this for me?"
His answer came less than a second later as a stream of fire struck the pile with perfect accuracy. Even so, Su Yan still felt the wash of heat as the flames passed close by. Glancing over, he saw Nihilister stalk toward a large rock and sprawl across it, clearly in a foul mood.
Knowing there was no point trying to talk to her, Su Yan got to work. He gathered a few sticks, fashioned them into makeshift skewers, and then went back to Teacher Lin for the meat. Before long, he had all the meat roasting over the fire.
Despite being seasoned with little more than salt, the meat gave off an irresistible aroma. Su Yan gulped as he reached for a skewer, only for it to vanish from his hand. Nihilister finished it in two bites, gave a faintly satisfied look, then seized several more before stalking off again.
Seeing that the dragoness was at least somewhat mollified, Su Yan grabbed another skewer and bit down. He was met with an explosion of flavour. The meat all but melted in his mouth, and as it settled in his stomach, a faint warmth spread from his core.
Without another word, he reached for more. Beside him, Teacher Lin was doing much the same. Time passed quickly, the beach filled with the crackle of fire and the quiet sounds of eating, and before long all the meat was gone.
Teacher Lin looked up at the sky, gauging the time.
"It's still a little early, but I think we should call it a day for now."
Su Yan was on his feet at once.
"Teacher Lin, I can keep going. I don't feel all that tired yet."
"You shouldn't overdo it," Teacher Lin said. "You already found a new application for your Soul Skill today, and that alone makes this trip worthwhile. We can talk on the way back. Besides, you shouldn't exhaust yourself training out here when we still have to walk all the way back to the city."
Though slightly reluctant, Su Yan still listened.
As they made their way back toward the road, Su Yan struck up a conversation with Nihilister.
"So, what did you think of today?"
"It was fine."
They walked in silence for a little while, Su Yan glancing at Nihilister from time to time as they went.
"…Fine. I wouldn't mind coming out here again. Even with the snake thing, it was nice not having to hide for a while. There. Don't make me say it again."
Su Yan wore a smile the whole way back.