The next day, Dirin went back to the training field with a duffel bag full of extra clothes. He looked towards the center of the field and saw Mr. Till standing there with his left hand folded under his right one as he looked at a clipboard.
Dirin brought Keith and Ritchard with him today, but he didn't have any plans on having them join yet. He was careful with how he stepped, hoping to catch him off guard, but he underestimated a Rank 4 and found that the whip of water already wrapped around his foot, making him lose his footing again.
The same thing from last time happened, but now Keith and Ritchard were watching this time. Keith looked away and went to the other side of the training field while Ritchard followed him as well. Keith didn't want to get wet from the water. He didn't have much to train today. He only came here because he couldn't stand the annoying tapping he heard from that one girl. And she was there every day.
Dirin tried to go right this time and was about to get hit by a wave, but he switched his footing and dived through it. He was not really good at rolling, but he seemed able to this time as he got to his feet quickly and sprinted towards Mr. Till, who stopped sending more waves.
He didn't send any more waves, but a large stream of water gathered and launched itself as Dirin, which caused him to get carried back to the wall. Dirin was able to catch his breath this time, though. On his way over here, he thought constantly about how to catch his breath and how to conserve his energy as he got attacked.
What made this harder for him, though, was that he was still sore from yesterday and his muscles ached every time he tried to move. The water also didn't feel good on them either. When the steam of water finally stopped, he slowly got up. There was no more water coming at him. He thought maybe Mr. Till would give him a break, but as he looked up and saw countless droplets of water floating.
It wasn't possible to dodge by the time the raindrops of water started to hit him, feeling like needles hitting his skin. None of them left blood or caused any injury other than making his sore muscles feel even more pain as they hit. He had to bite back a small groan as they assaulted him.
He slowly moved towards Mr. Till as the droplets kept on assaulting him. They weren't moving any faster or stronger than fast rain, so moving was possible. The only difficulty was how much pain they caused him, and he knew Mr. Till wasn't going to stop either, so he moved just for the hope of ending this all now.
Mr. Till watched Dirin with a blank expression. He knew how much pain he was causing, but he couldn't stop because it would only lessen his plans for the kid. He needed him to try everything possible to overcome what he was throwing. This also involved training mid-fight. It was another way of trying to get him to progress quickly. Right now, it wasn't doing anything other than help him train some form of prediction and dodging, but the more desperate he got, the more he would be willing to try. That's how he pictured it at least.
It just seemed like there was going to be a little bit more resistance that Mr. Till would have to get rid of before Dirin could become desperate from how he was seeing things. Dirin was trying to do everything he could to get out of the rain and keep moving forward. Mr. Till saw this and made the water even thicker as he started to launch them at Dirin again.
As the thick droplets of water hit Dirin, they popped and sprayed everywhere on his skin. Dirin couldn't move anymore. It was clear as his legs started to shake again. His legs felt like jelly again despite it being so early. Mr. Till saw this and kept up the pressure by making the rain even thicker as it hit Dirin.
Keith and Ritchard were doing their own thing as they tried to ignore what was happening. Keith had to keep his back to Dirin, so he didn't see anything, while Ritchard just had to turn away a bit. Keith was now trying to see if he could change how cool a shadow could be by using different sources of light. Ritchard was doing a couple of swings with various weapons. They could both clearly hear the pops of the water against Dirin. Neither of them did anything.
Keith had to clench his hands as he tried to focus all of his attention on the thermometer inside his shadow as he used various lights, like a match or a flashlight. There were minor variations as he went through the different sources of light. He found it hard to find any joy in his discovery, though, as he heard the water against Dirin.
Ritchard was also having similar trouble. It wasn't as bad as Keith, but he did feel a pang of something every time he heard another drop of water hit Dirin. Mr. Till was doing this on purpose. He wanted to see how much those two can concentrate despite their friend being in pain.
He put his attention back on Dirin and saw that he was now sliding back a couple of inches. There wasn't any desperation in his eyes yet, from what Mr. Till could see. That was fine. He would get there eventually. It didn't matter how long it took. It was even better if it took him longer to reach a point of trying things he wasn't even capable of. The longer it took, the harder it would be for him to lose it. Mr. Till wanted to see how long he could hold out till he got to that point as well.
A couple of hours went by, and it seemed like a lot less people entered the training field. Dirin thought that taking attendance would make Mr. Till lose some concentration, but he felt that even more rain hit him as he saw Mr. Till take the names of the students and put their names on the clipboard. Some of the students inquired about what was happening, but Mr. Till just said 'Training' and moved on.
Everyone accepted it and threw a glance at Dirin and wondered how this could be considered training, but they didn't want to ask too many questions as they went to various other places to do their own training. As Keith was training, he heard an all too familiar sound as he turned his head and saw her. She was watching Dirin get pummeled by the rain as she clicked her pen.
Keith groaned even louder as he tried to find his earplugs, which he brought along. Her long brown hair was now in pigtails, and she wore a dark green sweater with a band on it. She was very focused as she tapped her pen to a beat. He recently figured out her name was Vale, but he wasn't focused on it at all and only tried to find those earplugs.
Ritchard didn't mind the tapping, but he was surprised that she was so focused on Dirin. The other thing he found surprising was that she was totally off beat. Her pen was tapping irregularly, and she seemed pissed off by that. She couldn't line up any of the droplets with her pen, and it was annoying her.
While feeling the sting of each bead of water, Dirin slowly moved to the side. He wanted to get out of this stupid rain and get some rest, but every step he took to get out of the rain, Mr. Till would just redirect it to hit him like it was before. Dirin started to move a little bit faster. He had to stop himself from stumbling consciously, but with every step, he grew a little bit more confident and a little bit faster. He never thought that being able to take a step would make him feel so satisfied.
With each step that he took, his strides became longer and faster. He found himself walking at a normal pace despite the heavy amount of rain that was hitting him. It felt good to be able to walk. His legs ached and pained with every step, but it was progress for him. He finally wasn't standing still and was now moving in whatever direction he could.
Mr. Till saw this and smirked. He saw the satisfaction in Dirin and was slightly proud that he was still able to keep moving despite how much he was getting attacked. The amount of power he was using was equivalent to someone who was able to become a Rank 3, so it was the power of someone at the peak of Rank 2.
So, he also used some water to trap Dirin's feet in place. Getting rid of all the satisfaction that Dirin had in one fell swoop.