Back inside the estate, I was fed a hearty meal prepared with all the nutrients I needed after the torture I had just gone through.
After breakfast, the whole family left me alone for the time being to let me train with Sir Chiron. In which he took me down to the training floor to teach me the basics of Will manipulation.
Arriving at the training floor by elevator, which I learned is what they call the box from a couple days ago, we made our way through the main training studio and exited into a hallway, located to the very right of the weapon rack wall. Immediately to the left upon entering the hallway was where we would be training for the day, the Sparring Studio. The room had thicker protective walls made of reinforced metal, specifically made for absorbing the destructive force of attributes instead of reflecting. Unlike the Training Studio, the Sparring Studio had a hard ground, meaning every takedown would be fully felt. There were a few nobs and dials behind a protective glass room in the wall used for viewing.
"The reason we are in here is to contain the power of your Will, in case you lose control. Since you are unfamiliar with controlling an attribute, I didn't want to take any chances." Sir Chiron said reassuringly. "This is the usual chamber for Will training, however."
Once we reached the center of the room, Sir Chiron's tone changed. He stared directly into my eyes, reading my every emotion, and spoke with weight, "Let's begin, shall we? Stand over there." Directing me a few meters in front of him. "Rin, listen carefully. You have no idea what you are doing. You are ignorant of Will's, this family, and what it all means. You may have gotten this Will, but do not consider yourself lucky. In fact, don't consider yourself anything at all. From this point you are a weapon, a tool for the family to use as they see fit. At one point, you will become trained and be put to work. If you are reliable, you will become sharp and used again; if not, you will rust, and this family will see you thrown away. This is not where your new life starts, Rin. It is only where your old one dies. Do you understand?"
"Yes." That was all I could say.
"You belong to the family, in more ways than one. And should you prove useful, you shall be bestowed with a new life. This is the in between. You will be trained to be a killer in the shadows, a killer by contract, a killer who does not feel bad about killing. You will make enemies, many enemies… but no allies. Do not trust that someone will save or help you. Only believe you can help yourself. You are just like everyone else; you are not special. Do not consider yourself special. You are meant… to blend in. If you consider yourself special, consider this: what can you do that others haven't already done before you? There is no 'in your place' or 'in your case' that makes you different; there is only the place, and you. The rest…" He gestures to me with both hands. Slowly waving them from my head to my toes. "Relies on you. You are not being trained to be the best killer. You are being trained to learn how to survive. Killing is a byproduct of that. Should you live long enough, life will teach you more. The best fighters don't come from a training studio."
Sir Chiron paused, letting his words hang in the air. Before stepping out with his right leg, circling me.
"Since you have just attained a Will with an attribute, we will first go over the basics. As your Will is at the level of a Mid-Will Holder, I will treat you as such. Every Rank of a Will grants a new capability, unlocking a new one at each Rank. Starting with Mid-Will Rank, which has two, and Lord, which has six. The capabilities are mostly broad classifications, used to easily describe what one might be doing to achieve the desired effect. The two that come with Mid-Will Rank are Condense and Disperse, but first, I will have you start with simply unleashing the essence of your Will…"
Following Sir Chiron's explanation, I raised my right hand out in front of me and felt for the power in my Will. Just like releasing essence into my visa, I did the same thing here, but without the focus of channeling it into anything.
As this was something I was already familiar with, it didn't take much effort to get the result. What transpired from unleashing my Will was a cold mist that released from my hand.
"Good. Now, let's go over Disperse…"
Sir Chiron described Disperse like filling a glass with as little liquid as possible. To do that, you must heat it. When a liquid increases in temperature, it takes up more space. A liquid can take any shape desired, so long as the glass it's filling is purposeful. It fills as much space as possible before rising in level. I need to spread my essence out as much as possible before trying to control what I need it to do.
Raising my right hand out in front of me, I took a deep breath. Unleashing my will on the exhale. Essence vibrated in my Will's core, below my sternum. Awakening, readying itself to be used. The faintest tinglling sensation permeated my core, quickly rising to my shoulder, then down my arm. The particles of essence left behind a slight soothing chill. Upon reaching my hand and fingers, the chilly sensation grew, and the faint tingle grew into a small tremor.
My essence unleashed through my hand in a cold mist, gracefully falling to the floor. Before it could freeze the ground, I imagined the liquid extending to fill as much space as possible before rising in level.
The mist stopped falling, instead spreading out to cover as much space as possible. When the dispersion began to strain my core, no longer extending out, the mist continued its path to the ground.
Contained within the mist were tiny flakes of frost. Reaching my limit in dispersion, they lingered in the air before popping into specks, in a dull blue flash. The floor below my hand, slowly covered with a layer of ice upon contact with the vapour.
"That is enough, Rin." Sir Chiron said calmly, prompting me to stop. "You are getting confused between 'extending' your essence and dispersing your essence. Take this, for example."
Sir Chiron raised his arm and unleashed his Water Will, taking the form of a large sphere slightly bigger than his head, in the palm of his hand. "Think of this sphere as your mist of essence. Essentially, what you are doing is growing it. Adding more essence until it's too big for your untrained Will to control." As he said this, the sphere of water grew in size.
Shrinking the sphere back down to its original size, he continued, "Dispersing your Will means taking as little essence as possible, and spreading it to fill as much space as it can." To exemplify his words, smaller spheres of water began breaking off from the larger one. Until all that was left were hundreds of tiny drops of water, hovering in the air above his hand. "Is that clear?" Dispersing the tiny droplets, Sir Chiron lowered his hand, evaporating them all into vapour.
I nodded my head in understanding.
Trying again, I raised my hand, taking a deep breath. Following Sir Chiron's instructions and example, I unleashed my essence, but only a little to start. The cold mist spread from my hand, falling, before dissapating into nothing a few inches from my palm. Dispersing the essence to spread as far from each other as possible, most of the tiny flakes of frost began to pop. The essence fought to stay as close together as possible, but when faced with my command to disperse, they unshackled from each other in a reactive separation.
When all the flakes popped, dispersing the mist, I unleashed even more than before. Until I was left with a constant stream of mist that spread a foot down before popping. Like a waterfall of explosions, the popping flakes created a bright show of blue light in front of me. Bathing my body in a beautiful, glowing display.
I waved my left arm through the flakes, only for a sharp piercing to dig into my skin. Quickly pulling my hand away, I checked to make sure it wasn't badly damaged. Lingering flakes of frost continued to pop on my skin, freezing it at a pace I was never capable of before. My skin was mostly undamaged, but I was left with a frozen hand.
I'm not perfectly or naturally shielded from my own essence, it seems. I'm sure that would have frozen someone else's hand off.
Sir Chiron gave a light chuckle at my display before praising my show of proficiency.