Tillie threw the lit match into the water, and despite what Dirin believed to be sense, it caught fire. The flame in the water slowly started to consume the water as it kept on burning until there was no water left the causing the flame to die out.
"That wasn't water, was it? What I filled that flask up with wasn't water!" Dirin thought he finally got it until Tillie went over to the barrel, which he used to fill the flask up, and filled another flask with it and took a drink.
Dirin watched with a blank face as she filled it up again and took another drink. She was about to fill it again, but Dirin stopped her by taking the cup. "I get it. How did you do it?"
"I lit a match and threw it in." Her voice was monotonous as she looked at him with a blank face. "It's quite simple."
"Don't try to be silly now, Tillie. I filled that flask myself, so I know there was something fishy with that match."
Tillie looked at Dirin for a bit, scanning him up and down. Her smile shortly found itself back on her face as she looked at him. "Did you?"
"I did. You saw me. I filled it up with water from the same barrel you drank from multiple times, so don't try to convince me otherwise. How did you do it?" Dirin asked as he looked back over at the now-empty flask that held the water.
The training field was silent for a little bit more as they stared at each other with Dirin racking his brain to figure out how she lit it on fire. "I was theorizing something. If I want to be stronger, then shouldn't I try to do things fire can't naturally do? For example, burning water. But how would I burn water? Try it? That could work, but it would not be very effective since it would probably take a while before I got results. So, why don't I use someone as a witness and make them think I lit water on fire? Sometimes it takes an illusion to make a reality. That was my theory."
"Okay. So, you admit to not being able to light water on fire? That's what you're saying, right?"
"Yes, Dirin. I didn't actually light water on fire. While you were obsessing over the concrete, I went over and swapped the water with another flask I prepared earlier." Tillie explained as she showed him the glass that he had filled earlier, which it still filled. "The concrete was also a thing of foam. That's why it was so easy for me to lift and move around. Though I could lift concrete if I absolutely need to."
Dirin felt embarrassed. He was pretty much fooled multiple times. He looked over at the leaves, which were still fine. "And the leaves? What about them? Why didn't they burn?"
Tillie looked over at the leaves. "Metal. They are made of metal. I'm surprised you didn't notice since they are very shiny. Anyway, I have class. I'll get going now. Make sure to take notes and study Dirin." She said as she suddenly left.
***
Keith was in the room where he was studying by himself. He was on a blog about how shadows were windows into the soul or some nonsense like that. Keith didn't believe anything this blog was talking about, but it was still important for him to know since he wanted to study everything related to shadows, even if it was completely horrible.
Beside him, though, was a girl who seemed a year older than Keith. She had long brown hair that was in a braid over her shoulder as she wore a bright blue sweater and dark leggings. She had headphones in her ears as she watched a fight on her laptop and was tapping her pen irregularly.
He did find the girl pretty, but he wasn't glancing at her because of that. He found the inconsistent sound of her tapping annoying. He was tempted to go sit somewhere else, but after looking at every other student here, he decided that she was probably the best choice to sit next to.
Keith kept studying his blogs as she kept tapping her pencil. It was almost as if she was trying to time the taps with what was going on the screen. Keith looked over and saw that it was two Rank 4s fighting. It was a big arena. Rocks the size of small hills were being thrown by one man who had dark, tanned skin and long black hair. He had a massive build and looked like a caveman with how he was dressed.
Every time a rock would crash down and hit something, the girl would tap just before it crashed, and she was getting a little frustrated as she kept going, trying to adjust her timing. Keith watched as she was failing to get whatever timing as her frustration was getting more and more evident on her face.
Eventually, she started to time the taps perfectly with the small hills crashing into the other person. Her smile grew as she kept doing it, finding the rhythm, but then it started to lag behind a bit as she lost her pace, and her frustration started to show again. "Come on... Just throw it faster!" Her tone had obvious aggravation as she narrowed her eyes and furrowed her eyebrows.
The fight kept going, but her timing was completely off from then on. She glanced over and saw Keith staring at him and her laptop which caused him to quickly glance back to his own. He wasn't one to stare at people, but recently it seemed like it was becoming a habit of his.
Going back to his studying, Keith found a couple more articles on shadows and how they worked. He started to learn about how perspective could affect how a shadow looks to people, what makes an object able to cast a shadow, and how distance affects shadows.
There wasn't too much knowledge he could find as he kept researching the topic, but now he felt the girl's glances, and then as she also looked at her screen. Keith was tempted to tilt his screen so she couldn't see, but before he could, she went back to her own and started that annoying tapping again.
Keith was about to leave for another table when the tapping stopped for a while. He glanced back over to see her searching for another fight on the internet. He was curious as he watched, wondering what fight she would watch. He never looked at any himself, but he was starting to think of a couple of ways it could be useful, especially for Dirin.
"What are you doing?" Keith couldn't hold it in anymore and asked as she stopped looking things up and gave him another glance.
"I'm looking at fights to study. They are useful for training and understanding how people of higher ranks fight. I'm using them to practice rhythm." She explained as she kept tapping the pencil. "There is always a hidden rhythm."
"So, you are training in rhythm? Are you a musician or something? How would studying fights help you with anything?" Keith was slowly piecing things together as he thought about it more.
"Because, if I can find a hidden rhythm, then I will know how every attack will appear and approach. All it takes is finding that rhythm. If I can figure out how something will come at me, then I won't have to worry about it surprising me, but only about either defending or escaping. And yes, I am a musician. This is simply one of the paths I'm working on as support for my main path. I won't tell you that, though."
Keith nodded along as she explained everything. It made sense since having a support path related to her main path, which he was just assuming, was a common thing. After a little bit more research, she looked over at Keith.
"The school doesn't offer any classes about music, not in the first week at least. So, I'm here to do my study. It still counts, and I get all the other benefits of being here as well. I get a nice place to study and train, and I can focus on improving my music. I'm also researching different types of music to see how they affect the brain..." She kept on talking about how she was training, which made Keith wonder if she was one of those passionate people who couldn't help but nag on about things they were passionate about, especially since she said she wasn't going to tell him her main path.
"It's very easy for me as well since Falem has everything I need anyway. There is a band and orchestra room that has all the instruments I could hope for, but I prefer the choir room since it has a good echo, and no one uses it either. I have the whole thing to myself. There is also a lot of sheet music and empty sheets that I use. I'm trying to create my own music sheets, but I only have practice in playing and not making so far, but I like to think I'm quite talented!"
The more she went on, the more Keith realized he was correct. He would stop her, but she was currently inspiring him on how to progress himself as well. Classes weren't something he needed since they were too broad or not good enough. He needed to look at faculties and do his own research. That was the biggest thing this place could offer him.