Ren's newfound understanding of his spore transformed his experience at the Academy. While he was still far from being the most powerful mage, he was no longer the helpless outcast he had once been. He approached his classes with a newfound confidence, his mind sharp and focused, his senses heightened.
In Beast Mastery, he began to use his spore's sensing abilities to anticipate the movements of the training dummies, guiding his own movements with a precision that surprised even the instructors. He couldn't enhance his strength to the levels of his classmates, but he could outmaneuver them, his movements fluid and efficient.
"Not bad, Ren," the Beast Mastery instructor admitted, a hint of grudging respect in her voice. "You still lack raw power, but your control is...impressive."
In Elemental Control, he struggled less with raw power and more with finesse. He could feel the flow of elemental energy, the heat of a flame, the crackle of lightning, the subtle vibrations of the earth. But channeling that energy was still a challenge. However, he began to make progress by using his spore to find weaknesses in his classmates' control, disrupting their spells with precisely timed counter-magic.
"He's not creating much himself," Damien sneered, after one such demonstration, "but he's certainly good at ruining everyone else's fun."
But it was in Combat Training that Ren's unique abilities truly shone. Paired against students with more powerful bonded beasts, he used his spore to sense their attacks, predicting their every move with uncanny accuracy. He became a master of evasion, a slippery shadow that was impossible to catch. His opponents, frustrated and bewildered, found themselves constantly on the defensive, their superior strength and power negated by Ren's superior awareness.
One day, during a particularly grueling training session against a second-year student with a fearsome bear-like beast, Ren found himself backed into a corner. The bear-beast lunged, its massive claws outstretched, its roar deafening. Ren closed his eyes, focusing his senses, feeling the flow of energy in the bear-beast's muscles, the subtle shift in its weight, the almost imperceptible tensing of its claws.
Instead of trying to block the attack head-on, he sidestepped at the last possible moment, his movements fluid and precise, guided by the whispers of his spore. The bear-beast's claws grazed his arm, leaving a shallow cut, but he was alive. And more than that, he had seen an opportunity.
As the bear-beast stumbled past him, Ren sensed a surge of energy in its left leg, a slight weakness in its stance. He reacted instantly, channeling a small amount of his own magic into a precise strike, targeting that vulnerable point. The bear-beast roared in pain, its leg buckling beneath it, and the second-year student was thrown off balance.
The match was over. Ren had won.