"I see."
'Stronger, huh?'
Cain's lip curled faintly at the memory of flinging Ren around in the air.
'... Maybe I did.'
As Cain was pondering his teaching methods, he saw Ren stand up slowly.
Ren stretched as he got up. Feeling the ache in his body dissipate, he let out a relieved breath and held out a hand toward Cain.
Cain just stared at the outstretched hand for a second, then got up on his own.
"Hey, I may be in my forties, but it's still too early for a kid like you to be helping me up."
Ren looked at him with a devious smirk on his face.
"Alright old man, I'll be careful next time."
Cain shot Ren a warm smile, the air around them growing unsteady.
"Say, Ren. How about we put your ether training to the test?"
Ren broke out in a cold sweat.
"Uh wait um... I'm still recovering from that outburst—"
Before Ren could finish his sentence, a sharp, forceful cut of wind streaked past him.
"Recovered?"
Ren looked at the few strands of hair on his shoulder.
"... Yes."
And he moved.
Ren charged at Cain's flank with his enhanced body, but before he could get closer, a gust of wind blew him back a few steps.
"You didn't think it'd be that easy, did you?"
"..."
Ren stayed silent, calculating the next move in his head.
But before he could execute that move, another wind blade slashed at him.
Ren jumped to the side, avoiding the wind blades while shouting in frustration.
"At least give me a chance!"
Cain rubbed his chin while watching Ren jump around to dodge the oncoming strikes.
"I am giving you a chance though, the current you that is."
Before Ren could retort, a sudden wind current pushed him back, pinning him to the wall.
"What chance?! You're just beating me up!"
A wide grin stretched across Cain's face.
"Maybe I am, but then again, think about what I said before."
Ren let out a grunt as he glared at Cain.
'What he said... wait, he can't be serious, right?'
He threw Cain an incredulous look.
"By any chance... do you want me to fight while channeling my Ether?"
Cain let out a loud chuckle.
"No, of course not! I'm not a monster, I know you can barely move while controlling your Ether!"
Ren let out a premature sigh of relief before hearing Cain's voice once again.
"I want you to reach me while channeling it."
Ren's face sank as he looked dazedly at Cain's still-grinning face.
"How... How am I supposed to do that?! I can barely even walk while controlling my Ether, how do you expect me to reach you with this current pushing me back?!"
Cain shrugged.
"Eh, you won't know until you try."
At that moment, Ren felt his eye twitch as he remembered another reason why he wanted to get stronger at all costs.
'Just you wait... I'm gonna wipe the floor with you one day, Cain!'
As the fire of determination relit in Ren's heart, he started to move his Ether once more, guiding it through his whole body, strengthening him while slowing his movements.
As soon as Ren tapped into his core, he felt a subtle yet monumental difference.
'What the...'
His Ether, which had been difficult to control before, was suddenly much easier to manage.
Readjusting his pace to the new level of control, Ren managed to circulate his Ether across his body in almost half the previous time.
Feeling the force pushing him into the wall weaken, he allowed himself a moment to wonder how his control suddenly improved.
'How did this happen? Just this morning, moving my Ether was as hard as moving my feet while submerged in mud. How did it go from that to being like walking through shallow water?'
Before Ren could finish that trail of thought, a wind blade struck right next to him, snapping him back into focus.
"Are you enjoying the wall that much?"
Ren, stuck to the wall like a starfish on a rock, felt his eyebrow twitch.
'...I'll think about it later, first things first..!'
Ren pushed himself off the wall, setting his stance to move towards Cain when an idea struck him.
'He's gonna beat the hell out of me, isn't he?'
Despite that, Ren still followed his impromptu plan. He started moving, one step, then another, then another.
He moved in small, careful steps, steadily gaining ground on Cain.
"Ho? You're doing better than I thought, I was ready to watch you fall a few times before walking that far."
Ren, completely focused on keeping his pace, didn't reply.
A few more arduous, heavy steps later, Ren was only two steps away from Cain. Then, all of a sudden, the wind current stopped, making Ren stumble and fall forward.
Then, before Ren could process what happened, the wind current started blowing again.
Cain smiled.
"That's more like—"
Before Cain could finish his taunt, he saw Ren lunge at him from the ground in a tackle.
After falling, Ren was almost at Cain's feet, so there was barely any distance for Ren to breach.
Additionally, even though Ren could now move normally with his advanced control, he pretended to still be limited to moving very slowly, so Cain couldn't have expected Ren to lunge at him from that position.
So, Ren's plan worked and his shoulder hit Cain straight in the abdomen.
'Yes!'
The wind in the room died down, and Ren looked up at Cain with a smug smile.
"I got you! Old ma—"
Ren's feet left the ground, and he began spinning in the air.
A vein was visibly bulging on Cain's head.
"Good job, you cunning fool."